Historical

Allison Montclair: Murder at the White Palace

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Sparks & Bainbridge #6

Simply put, the Sparks & Bainbridge historical mysteries are among the best of their kind being written at the moment. In the uncertainty of post-war London, series protagonists odd couple Iris Sparks and Gwen Bainbridge run The Right Sort, a marriage bureau. Iris is a working-class woman who operated as an espionage agent during the war, and Gwen is a titled member of the upper class, a war widow raising a son with the intermittent help of her former in-laws. The yin and yang of Iris and Gwen works perfectly, and they have drawn ever closer through the now six books in this wonderful series. read more

Andrea Penrose: The Diamond of London

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Andrea Penrose has a long series of historical mysteries, but here she pivots to straight historical fiction, illuminating the life of Lady Hester Stanhope, who lived during the Regency period in England. After her mother, who was related to the powerful Pitt family, died young, she was left with an eccentric father and the responsibility for three stepbrothers.  Hester spent much of her young adult life with her grandmother, Lady Chatham, and a bit later served as hostess and secretary to her uncle, William Pitt, who served as Prime Minister. read more

Jeri Westerson: The Twilight Queen

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King’s Fool #2

I am a hardcore Tudor fan, mostly because of the long ago 70’s TV series The Six Wives of Henry VIII and Elizabeth R.  I inhaled everything Tudor during high school and went on to major in history in college.  So when Jeri Westerson asked me if I’d care to read her book about Will Sommers, Henry VIII’s jester, the answer was easy.  Set a few months before Anne Boleyn’s ultimate demise, Will is called to the Queen’s presence one evening as she’s discovered a corpse under her bed.  She doesn’t know who the man is, but she does know that a dead body in her chamber will be bad and she asks Will to move it. Reluctantly, he agrees, and moves the man to the garden. read more

Jess Armstrong: The Curse of Penryth Hall

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Debut

This was an interesting and unexpected read. Set just post WWI, it’s the story of Ruby Vaughn, an orphaned heiress who makes a living selling books. She works for an elderly Exeter bookseller, and as the novel opens, he’s sending her to Cornwall to deliver a trunk full which he warns her not to open. Mystified, she complies. The village where he’s sending her is the home of her former best friend and perhaps former lover, Tamsyn. Tamsyn is married to Sir Edward Chenowyth of Penryth Hall, a marriage that broke their friendship. read more

Rosemary Simpson: Murder Wears a Hidden Face

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Gilded Age #8

Murder Wears a Hidden Face is the eighth book in Rosemary Simpson’s series set in Gilded Age New York City.  The two protagonists are Prudence MacKenzie and Geoffrey Hunter, partners in an investigative law and detective firm.  Prudence, the daughter of a prominent judge, was raised in New York’s high society, but rebelled against her upbringing and became only the second woman in New York State to pass the bar exam, even though she still cannot argue cases in court.  Geoffrey, who is somewhat older than Prudence, is a former Pinkerton agent and a Southerner who came north around the time of the Civil War because of his antislavery beliefs.  He and Prudence have a slow-burning romance that develops throughout the series.  Geoffrey was quicker to acknowledge his feelings than Prudence was, but now she is beginning to recognize her attraction to Geoffrey as what it is, even though she still doesn’t want to get married and lose her independence. read more

Celeste Connally: Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord

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Lady Petra Inquires #1

Joining the now crowded regency mystery field, Celeste Connally manages to make her entry a stand out in her series debut.  Set in 1815, Lady Petra Forsyth has declared to all of society that she plans to remain unmarried.  Unusually for the time, she has her own monies left to her by her mother, and she’s mourning not only a dead fiancé but the loss of her dearest childhood friend, Duncan Shawcross.  The two were raised together and parted on a terrible note after the death of Petra’s beloved, who was also Duncan’s best friend. read more

Amanda Flower: I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died

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Emily Dickinson #2

I hardly ever think the second book in a series is better than the first, but in this case, I do.  Amanda Flower introduced Emily Dickinson as a detective in the first audacious book. She detects with her maid, Willa Noble.  While the first book was mostly about Willa and her family, this one is more a melding of the two women’s lives, centering on a visit by Ralph Waldo Emerson to the home of Emily’s brother, Austin, and his new wife, Susan.

As the story opens Austin and Susan have just returned from their honeymoon, and Emily insists that Willa help them out for the week, preparing the house for Emerson’s arrival.  She blithely insists Willa can do her work at her house when she’s finished for the day at Austin’s.  One feature of this book, a bit more than the first, is Emily’s lack of awareness of the different life of a servant, and the constraints under which they function.  She’s constantly putting Willa into situations where no other maid would find herself and where Willa is supremely uncomfortable. This friction, mostly undiscerned by Emily herself, adds depth to the story. read more

Rhys Bowen: The Proof of the Pudding

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Royal Spyness #17

The fun factor in this series never diminishes.  In this outing, Lady Georgie is awaiting the arrival of her baby.  She’s settled in her godfather’s house, and her big issue is finding a chef.  At the moment, her longtime employee Queenie is running the kitchen, but she’s not a trained chef and Georgie has found a candidate in Paris who is about to appear.  Queenie is in a classic huff, saying she won’t take orders from foreigners, when the dashing Pierre appears at the front door and all Queenie’s objections disappear. read more

Vanessa Riley: Murder in Drury Lane

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Lady Worthing #2

The second book in Vanessa Riley’s Lady Worthing Series, Murder in Drury Lane, starts off with a recently reformed rake getting stabbed with a theater prop. Though Anthony Danielson had lived far from a blameless life, and died with others owing him money they couldn’t pay, it seems he truly had turned over a new leaf. Newly married to the previously upstanding Joanna Mathews Danielson, Anthony had a lot to look forward to. He was even writing a new play that he was sure would be a smash hit. read more

Clara McKenna: Murder on Mistletoe Lane

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Stella & Lyndy #5

Murder on Mistletoe Lane is the fifth book in Clara McKenna’s series about a newly-married couple, Stella Kendrick and Viscount “Lyndy” Lyndhurst, set in the New Forest region of England in the early 1900s.  Lyndy is the son of an impoverished aristocrat, and Stella is a wealthy American who grew up on a horse farm in Kentucky.  Their marriage was arranged by their fathers and, happily, they fell in love not long after they met.  But Lyndy’s mother, Lady Atherly, has always disapproved of Stella and her American ways, even though she needed Stella’s money to make improvements to the crumbling family estate, Morrington Hall.  Stella and Lyndy share a love of horses, and some of the best scenes in the book are the ones where Stella takes her beloved mare, Tully, for a ride.  Lady Atherly sees that her son and Stella are in love, and recently the two women have come to an uneasy truce, but they are still far from being friends. read more