Historical

Charles Todd: A Day Of Judgement

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Inspector Ian Rutledge #25

Chief Inspector Ian Rutledge’s long-awaited return is set in July 1921. He’s still suffering from shell shock and England is suffering from a heat wave when a body washes up near the island of Lindisfarne in Northumberland. Since the “holy island,” home to Saints Cuthbert and Aidan, is a popular pilgrimage destination, the Church of England is concerned about how the murder will affect its reputation and that of Lindisfarne itself.

Newly promoted Chief Inspector Ian Rutledge is sent to investigate the murder and to use his social and political skills to protect the Church’s reputation. He finds locals who are suspicious of outsiders and still angry about U-boat attacks off their coast during WWI. He also finds that police jurisdiction is in the midst of a post-war reorganization that raises questions about who should be involved in the investigation with Rutledge. read more

Deanna Raybourn: A Ghastly Catastrophe

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Veronica Speedwell #10

Although she certainly owes a debt to Elizabeth Peters and her character Amelia Peabody, Deanna Raybourn has managed her own memorable creations in the amusing Veronica Speedwell and her intriguing partner, Stoker.  Veronica is an intrepid explorer and sleuth in London in the late 1880s who specializes in the study of butterflies. Her unmarried partnership with taxidermist and fellow explorer Stoker is beyond unconventional, but their shared aristocratic lineage lets them get away with a lot. They live on the estate of Lord Rosmorran as they catalogue his extensive collection of objects, but this idyllic existence seems fated to be interrupted by the murders and mysteries that inevitably come their way. read more

Patrice McDonough: Murder by Moonrise

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Dr. Julia Lewis #3

In 1867 London, the Isle of Wight was a holiday destination, one even favored by the royal family.  Queen Victoria had a home there and was often in residence.  In our story, Dr. Julia Lewis is vacationing on the Isle of Wight with her grandparents and missing and wondering about Detective Richard Tennant, who has been abroad and on the hunt for a villain for months.  She hasn’t heard from him and alongside worrying that he’s OK, she’s also worried that she was too forward, and that he doesn’t feel about her as she does about him. read more

Mollie Ann Cox: The Widow Hamilton

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Eliza Hamilton #2

I had never given much thought to what became of Alexander Hamilton’s widow, but Mollie Ann Cox is here to provide readers with the details of this remarkable woman’s life.  Though she wasn’t actually a sleuth as posited here, she did live a long life with her many children, founded a large orphanage, and dedicated much of her life to preserving her husband’s legacy, organizing his papers and keeping him in the public eye. Along with Dolley Madison and Louisa Adams, she raised the funds for the Washington Monument. read more

Pam Lecky: The Carver Affair

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Lucy Lawrence #5

The Carver Affair is the fifth book in the Lucy Lawrence mystery series, and the first in the series that I’ve read. The story follows Lucy as she travels to Ireland for her husband’s work, settling in for the summer in a charming rented house with her staff and kids. Shortly, though, things go awry – her loyal housemaid, Mary, reports that her nieces Peggy and Bridget have gone missing looking for work in the city. The reader already knows, however, that Peggy has been murdered and that Bridget is nowhere to be found. read more

Ross Montgomery: The Murder at World’s End

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Series debut

In 1910 many people thought that poison gases in the tail of the soon to be arriving Halley’s Comet would mean the end of the world, providing a memorable milieu for this clever mystery set in England.  At Tithe Hall in remote World’s End, the Lord of the manor, Viscount Stockingham-Welt, is so convinced of the coming apocalypse that he’s filling his house full of guests (as well as servants) and sealing them in their rooms to prevent entry of poisonous gasses.  Into this “Masque of the Red Death”  steps Stephen Pike, recently released from prison, thinking he’s secured a job as a second footman. read more

Allison Montclair: Fire Must Burn

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Sparks & Bainbridge #8

I just love this series.  It has two wonderful main characters, spectacular plotting, and, in post war London, a fascinating time period and setting, making it simply one of the best contemporary traditional detective series out there. In this outing, our two heroines, Iris Sparks and Gwen Bainbridge, are tasked by English government intelligence to assign a woman through their marriage bureau (The Right Sort) to act as an agent as a means to discover if a certain diplomatic employee is loyal to their government or perhaps another. read more

Clara McKenna: Murder at Cottonwood Creek

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Stella & Lyndy #7

Murder At Cottonwood Creek Is the seventh book in Clara McKenna’s series set in the early 20th century, about Viscount “Lyndy” Lyndhurst, a British aristocrat, and Stella, his American-born wife, the daughter of a Kentucky horse farmer who was murdered in an earlier book.  It was an arranged marriage at first, but the couple grew to love each other.  A shared love of horses certainly helped.  This book takes place outside the series’ usual setting of the New Forest region of England, as Stella and Lyndy travel to a ranch in Montana, owned by her mother’s second husband, Ned Smith.  There, Lyndy’s father, Lord Atherly, pursues his passion for fossil-hunting, as he works with a paleontologist, Professor Gridley, to search for the fossils of prehistoric horses.  Lyndy, a fan of dime novels, is excited about seeing the “Wild West,” even though he is disappointed that the herds of buffalo have largely died out.  Stella is glad to finally meet her stepfather and twelve-year-old brother.  She has recently settled her father’s estate in Kentucky and brought thoroughbred horses to the ranch. read more

Valerie Wilson Wesley: The Mysterious Death of Junetta Plum

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Series Debut

Harriet Stone is named for Harriet Tubman – the legendary Tubman had saved her father from slavery (he referred to her as “the General”). Our Harriet is intrepid and courageous, though she herself may not quite be aware of it.  Set in 1926, she’s has lost most of her family as well as her fiancée to the Spanish flu, and she’s in charge of the orphaned Lovey, who is not quite young enough to be her daughter and not quite old enough to be her sister.  Their relationship teeters between the two designations. read more

Rhys Bowen: From Cradle to Grave

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Royal Spyness #19

February 1937.  King Edward VIII has abdicated the British throne to be with his beloved Mrs. Simpson in Paris, his brother George VI awaits his coronation, and Lady Georgie is busy enjoying being a new mother and running the country house of her godfather, Sir Hubert. Alas, her peaceful home life is soon destroyed by the arrival of the horrible Nanny Hardbottle, sent by her dreadful sister-in-law Fig to bring Georgie’s life up to Fig’s cold worst-of-British childrearing standards. As if the anti-Mary Poppins isn’t bad enough, Fig herself soon arrives and settles into Georgie’s comfortable house to avoid the worst of the Scottish winter and shows no sign of leaving. read more