Historical

S.K. Golden: The Socialite’s Guide to Sleuthing and Secrets

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Pinnacle Hotel #3

This adorable series continues to be both adorable and thoughtful.  The heroine, hotel heiress and agoraphobe Evelyn Murphy, dresses almost completely in pink and dyes her hair blonde like her idol, Marilyn.  It’s 1958 and Elvis rules, as does Evelyn’s spoiled pom, Presley.  Evelyn’s almost boyfriend Mac has taken off for parts unknown, and so she’s entertaining ideas of other suitors throughout the book.

The main story, however, centers on the “Ladies Who Love to Sparkle”, women who sell costume jewellery, Tupperware party style.  As Evelyn enjoys tea in her hotel’s dining room, one of the sparkle ladies asks her to join them.  They share their catalogue, and all share a glass of champagne.  So far so good, but then the leader of the group collapses in Evelyn’s lap and later dies in the hospital. read more

Radha Vatsal: No. 10 Doyers Street

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Archana “Archie” Morley is a journalist working in 1907 New York City.  She’s a double outsider: she’s a woman, and she’s from India.  Her physician husband, who has defied his family to marry her, is quite tolerant of her choice to don pants and traverse dangerous parts of the city looking for stories.  And boy, does she find some.  While her editor has her latched on to the notorious murder of Stanford White by Harry Thaw, Archie gets distracted by a gang style shooting in Chinatown and the gangster who may or may not be behind it, Mock Duck. read more

E.L. Johnson: Winter’s Poison

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Winter Murders #1

There are not many mysteries set in the tumultuous court of King Stephen (1096-1154). A Winter’s Poison by E.L. Johnson is certainly the first I have personally read. It follows teenage Baker’s daughter Bronwyn, adept in the kitchen herself, as she is pulled into it making a fairly routine delivery. A nobleman named De Grecy orders fancy white rolls from her father’s shop on a whim, and Bronwyn discovers they are intended for the king and queen only when she arrives to drop them off. However, as she is departing, she sees a cloaked figure fiddling with the food and tries to report it to the head cook. It’s clear that someone has added mushrooms to the top of the rolls. read more

Jeanne M. Dams: Murder of a Recluse

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Oak Park Village #3

I read the first book in this series, Murder in the Park, when it came out in 2021.  It stuck in my head, and when I picked up the latest book four years later, the place and characters came back to me right away.  Set in a Chicago suburb in the 20’s, the books follow now new bride Elizabeth Wilkins.  She’s separated herself at last from a difficult and controlling mother and is finding life as a young bride very pleasant.  She and her husband are building a house and are making space for his Aunt Lucy in their new home. read more

S.J. Bennett: A Death in Diamonds

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Her Majesty the Queen Investigates #4

I love this series, and with this title its excellence continues.  It was originally published in the UK last year, but thanks to a change of publishers, readers in the US have had to wait until now to get their hands on it.  While the central premise of Queen Elizabeth having a private secretary who helps her with undercover investigations may sound a bit silly, Bennet pulls it off thanks to her way with smart plots, great characters and humor.  The Queen has access to all kinds of things, of course, but there are also topics that the people around her think a royal should not concern herself with.  As portrayed by Bennett, Elizabeth loves solving puzzles, and her private secretary becomes her eyes and ears out in the world. read more

Rob Osler: The Case of the Missing Maid

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Harriet Morrow Investigates #1

This fun historical mystery from Rob Osler features an unusual heroine: Harriet Morrow, an LGBTQ woman at the turn of the 20th century who has just secured a job as the first female operative at a detective agency in Chicago.  In 1898, law enforcement remained somewhat haphazard, so private detectives did lots of investigative work that today would be handled by regular law enforcement. Consequently, when Harriet tells someone she’s an investigator, they tend to pay serious attention and respond to her questions. read more

Clara McKenna: Murder at Glenloch Hill

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Stella & Lyndy #6

Murder at Glenloch Hill is the sixth book in Clara McKenna’s Stella and Lyndy series set in early 1900s England (or, in this case, Scotland).  The two protagonists are a recently married couple: Stella Kendrick, the daughter of a wealthy Kentucky horse farmer, and Edwin “Lyndy” Lyndhurst, a British aristocrat from an impoverished noble family.  The marriage was arranged by their fathers because Lyndy’s family needed Stella’s fortune to save their estate, and Stella’s father wanted the prestige of an aristocratic title in the family.  Luckily for the couple, they fell in love, with the help of a shared love of horses.  Stella’s father has died since then (murdered in a previous book), and Lyndy’s father is always away, indulging his passion for fossil-hunting.  Lyndy’s snobbish mother, Lady Atherly, disapproves of Stella because she’s American and because of her adventurous spirit, which means she doesn’t always follow society’s expectations of an aristocratic lady.  Lately, though, she and Stella have been getting along better, but, at the beginning of this novel, Lady Atherly is disappointed in Stella because she has yet to produce an heir. read more

Rosemary Simpson: Death Takes the Lead

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Gilded Age #9

Death Takes the Lead is the ninth book in Rosemary Simpson’s Gilded Age Mystery series set in New York City in the 1890s, with protagonists Prudence MacKenzie and Geoffrey Hunter.  Prudence comes from one of New York’s wealthiest families–one of Mrs. Astor’s Four Hundred.  Rebelling against the life of a society lady, she has passed the New York bar and become one of the first female lawyers in the state.  Geoffrey is an ex-Pinkerton agent and a Civil War veteran.  He is the son of a Southern plantation owner and, after seeing the horrors of slavery firsthand, has run away from his home and fought for the North.  Both characters are rebels against the society in which they were born, and the two are now partners in an investigative law firm.  A slow-burning romance has developed between them, and, I am pleased to say, without giving away too much, this book takes it to a new level. read more

Kristi Jones: Murder in the Ranks

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Debut

Another WWII book….nooooo….but, wait.  It was a big war with lots of unexpected corners and revelations, and this book highlights a bit of the war I hadn’t ever known about.  It’s focused on the WAACs, or Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps.  As originally created, the women who volunteered to serve had none of the rights of the men in the regular army.  This was pretty quickly corrected and the WAACs became simply the WACs, without “auxiliary” in the moniker.  For the purposes of this novel, however, Auxiliary Dottie Lincoln has signed up as a WAAC and is serving alongside other women in Algiers, at a time when the war wasn’t going so well for the Allies. read more

Celeste Connally: All’s Fair in Love and Treachery

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Lady Petra Inquires #2

Celeste Connally introduced the intrepid, fearless, convention defying Lady Petra in last year’s Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord.  Lady Petra is defying convention purposefully, declaring she will never marry, and since she’s given a house and allowance by her father, she is wealthy enough to do as she pleases.  She also has the ear of the Queen.  It’s 1815, and London is on the verge of Wellington’s triumph at Waterloo.  Queen Charlotte was a force at court thanks to the mental health challenges of King George III.  This affects Lady Petra, as the Queen invites her to investigate the mysterious death of the matron at an orphan’s home. read more