The Iola Unity Club met Dec. 11 at the home of Kit McGuffin to learn about the book “Sister Sleuths — Female Detectives In Britain” by Nell Darby.
Judy Arbeiter gave the report. She explained how the 1857 Divorce Act paved the way for a new career for women: private detective.
To divorce then, you needed proof of adultery. Men soon realized that women were adept at infiltrating households and befriending wives, learning secrets and finding evidence.
Previously, women had been informal snoops in their communities. Now, they were getting paid for it, toeing a fine line between offering a useful service and betraying members of their own gender for money.
These were groundbreaking women, working in the shadows, often unnamed in press reports.
Even today, they are something of an unknown. Even though there is intense interest in the public, their work largely has been an enigma.
The new book seeks to shed light on the female detectives who worked over the past century-and-a-half to uncover wrongdoing and solve crimes.
Unity Club will meet next at 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 8 at the home of Donna Lower-Nord. Linda Brocker will provide the program.
