German woman beginning to detect criminal deception (5)
I believe the answer is:
fraud
'criminal deception' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'german woman beginning to detect' is the wordplay.
'german woman' becomes 'frau' (German equivalent to Mrs).
'beginning to' says to take the initial letters.
The initial letter of 'detect' is 'd'.
'frau'+'d'='FRAUD'
(Other definitions for fraud that I've seen before include "Impostor" , "Diddling" , "Deliberate deception to gain benefit" , "Charlatan" , "Swindle" .)