Haia Shpayer-Makov currently teaches British and European history at the University of Haifa, Israel. She began her academic career by concentrating on the anarchist movement in Britain, but later shifted her interest to the study of the anarchists' enemies--policemen. Author of The Making of a Policeman. A Social History of a Labour Force in Metropolitan London (2002), and co-editor with Professor Clive Emsley of Police Detectives in History, 1750-1950 (2006), she has also published extensively in leading scholarly journals.

"[W]ell written and exhaustively researched....The writing is extremely clear and precise, and the author's choice of illuminating examples enlivens her analysis considerably."--Journal of Modern History

"This is a detailed and well-organized look at the British detective at the scene of the crime, in the newspaper, and in novels. At the start of this rich historical account, the very idea of a detective force is acceptable to no members of any class within Britain, and by the end, the detective is regarded as, if not a hero, then at least a stolid, hardworking official with the best interests of the public at heart. An ascent indeed."--The Dispatch

"This is a fascinating foray through many types of print sources discussing detectives...[T]he careful attention to the cultural forces at work in the creation of both the profession and detective genre makes Ascent of the Detective a vade mecum to anyone embarking on further study of this subject."--Journal of British Studies

"While Shpayer-Makov's history follows the broad outlines of previous histories....The Ascent of the Detective provides such an enormous amount of textual support that it will be an invaluable resource for scholars entering the conversation as well as those interested in the vast body of detective narratives beyond the usual suspects."--Victorian Studies