sleuthing

plural sleuthings

1. countableuncountableDetective work.

   “Wotcher, me old cock sparrow, how's the sleuthing business?” bellowed Sandy, pausing and balancing his saddle on one knee while he looped up the girth.

   1962, Dick Francis, chapter 19, in Dead Cert, published 2004, page 266

   2 more examples

   Keane's speeches have not reduced the number of Amerasian births, but a decade of sleuthing has helped nearly 600 Amerasian orphans find new homes in the United States.

   1980, Geo, volume 2, number 2, page 80

   You knew less about sex than you knew about sleuthing, but you soon figured out what the goods were and got them. You were not so much a private eye as an eyer of privates.

   2010, Robert Coover, Noir, New York: Overlook Duckworth, page 97

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of sleuth