Mary Copeland: Victorian detective examines the life of this young woman who is raised by her uncle and aunt in London in the late nineteenth century and who develops into a detective of stature who works on request for Scotland Yard. As a woman, however, it is almost impossible to fulfil a social function and so she has to do her job anonymously. She is assisted in this by employees of Scotland Yard, with whom she forms a secret unit over time.
The stories, which take place from 1888, include many painters from the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The titles of the four stories are taken from paintings from that time. Swiers impressively manages to portray the London of those days, just after The Ripper Murders and before The London Dock Strike.
In the Netherlands, the first four books on Mary Copeland were published between 2019 and 2022 and subsequent volumes are in preparation.