Did we use the word old fashioned to describe the Victorian era? True, many of the conveniences we take for granted today hadn't been invented a century ago, the phonograph, the bicycle, the electric light, the motor car. The telephone had only just been patented. Nevertheless, in Victorian times, if you sent a telegraph in London, it would be delivered in one hour. If you mailed a letter before lunch, the recipient might be reading it before dinner. And as for crime detection, suppose we let Loveday Brook, London's first police woman, paint the scene for us.