Mr. Bazalgette's Agent (British Library Crime Classics) - Softcover

Leonard Merrick

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0712357025 ISBN 13: 9780712357029

Publisher: The British Library Publishing Division, 2013

Synopsis

When Miriam Lea falls on hard times, an advertisement calling for private agents catches her eye, and within weeks she finds herself in Mr Bazalgette's employ as a private detective, travelling on a train to Hamburg in pursuit of an audacious fraudster. What follows is a journey through some of the great cities of Europe - and eventually to South Africa - as Miss Lea attempts to find her man. Miriam Lea is only the third ever British professional female detective to appear in a work of crime fiction. Originally published in 1888, Mr Bazalgette's Agent presents a determined and resourceful heroine in the figure of Miss Lea, who grapples with some very modern dilemmas of female virtue and vice. Leonard Merrick said of the book, his first: 'It's a terrible book. It's the worst thing I ever wrote. I bought them all up and destroyed them. You can't find any.' It seems Merrick was true to his word since copies of the book can now only be found in private collections and in a handful of university and national libraries throughout the world. This new edition offers the modern crime fiction fan an opportunity to rediscover an enticing and rare detective story.

About this title

Review

The British Library is fast becoming a force in classic crime fiction. --Past Offences

A fascinating read as a piece of history ... I'm sure that fans of Victorian fiction will enjoy it. --In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel

Mr Bazalgette's Agent marks an important text in the evolution of detective fiction ... This is an absorbing early detective story, with a plucky and interesting female central character. It is intermittently and surely consciously funny, too ... Reissues like this are in everybody's interest. --Times Literary Supplement

About the Author

Leonard Merrick (1864-1939) was an English novelist. Although largely forgotten today, he was widely admired by his peers. J. M. Barrie called Merrick the 'novelist's novelist.' He wrote twelve novels as well as collections of short stories and plays. Many of his stories were made into films in the 1920s.

Edition details

• Publisher: The British Library Publishing Division
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0712357025
• ISBN 13: 9780712357029
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 144