'CRIMINALS ARE BOTH MASCULINE AND FEMININE.AND THEREFORE IT FOLLOWS THAT THE NECESSARY DETECTIVES SHOULD BE OF BOTH SEXES.' London, 1860s: Mrs. Gladden's friends suppose her an innocent dressmaker. But she is in fact a private detective, fiercely dedicated to her trade, and an expert at moving undercover in both high society and the criminal underworld. Not only accomplished in gathering information, but also in analysing it with her formidable skills of logic and deduction, Mrs. Gladden delves to the heart of murders and mysteries that have even the official police baffled.