Westaway's Agency

Type

office

Style

Victorian commercial

First appears

Book 2 · Ch. 13

Books

1

Westaway's Agency begins as a discreet West End employment bureau catering to governesses and professional women, its ledgers and waiting room serving as the first port of call for clients seeking discreet domestic staff. Across the canon the agency quietly expands its remit, becoming an unofficial clearing-house for confidential references and character checks that Holmes himself occasionally exploits. By the later stories its modest premises have evolved into a trusted repository of personal histories, allowing the detective to trace the hidden threads of blackmail, inheritance, and social scandal without ever leaving London.