MELISSA SCHAUB is Associate Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, USA. Her research focuses on literature by British women authors, particularly domestic, serial, and middlebrow novels. She teaches courses on British and women's literature, and especially enjoys introducing undergraduates to feminist readings of literature and history.

Preface Introduction: Middlebrow Women and Detective Fiction Victorian Contexts: Failed Gentlemen and New Women Anatomy of the Female Gentleman Conclusion: Assessing the Female Gentleman Bibliography Index

This is a feminist study of a recurring character type in classic British detective fiction by women - a woman who behaves like a Victorian gentleman. Exploring this character type leads to a new evaluation of the politics of classic detective fiction and the middlebrow novel as a whole.