Meade, L T - The Sorceress Of The Strand

Wildly popular series that ran installments in the Strand magazine.
Madame Sara, beautician to the rich and titled, also masterminds a murderous criminal ring.
Blackmail, extortion, theft and assassination.
She is on cordial terms with her prime adversaries, Dixon Druce, manager of a detective agency, and police surgeon Eric Vandeleur. Cordial because she is often two steps ahead of them.
Madame Sara was a delicious femme fatale of fin de siècle England. Not only was a foreigner, but she was also an empowered woman in an era terrified of such.
I read about Meade’s villainess last year, and ordered a copy for my wife, knowing I would read it eventually.
The Broadview Press edition, highly recommended, contained academic essays on the New Women phenomena, and numerous engravings from the Strand run.
The Sorceress Of The Strand is also available via WikiSource, as is The Brotherhood Of The Seven Kings (the latter illustrated by Sidney Paget).