Samantha Larsen
Books: Mystery | Historical | Romance
Lady Librarian: A Novel Disguise (2023), Once Upon a Murder (2024)
Lady Librarian
A Novel Disguise (2023)
Set in England in ~1783
Miss Tiffany Woodall knows she is lucky that her half-brother has allowed her to remain to keep house for him, even if she didn’t love or even like him. But after his unexpected death she has nothing, and so decides to pretend to be Uriah, to keep a roof over her head.
She looked remarkably like her brother; except he wore face powder. Opening the jar of white lead somehow felt more intrusive than wearing Uriah’s clothing, but it had to be done. She covered her face in white powder and then used liquid rouge made from alum, benzoin gum powder, and brandy to redden her cheeks and lips. The last things she added were three circular black patches on her left cheek.
However, another death soon leads her to wonder if her brother died of illness as she thought–or if he was murdered.
First, I don’t frequently come across historicals set in the Georgian era of powder and patches. Aside from being horrified by the makeup and dress (Lead power. How quaint.) I enjoyed the dive into an unexpected historical era.
Even better, I adored the research she did into the time period. There is a selected bibliography not just of novels of the time, but of modern resources. AND she references real life people upon whom she based the characters of color in her story: Dean Mohammed, Brian Mackey, Julius Soubise, Ignatius Sancho, Dido Elizabeth Belle, Francis Barber.
Needless to say, this utterly delighted me.
Honestly, I’d guessed part of the mystery pretty quickly, but that rarely bothers me, as I enjoy rereading mysteries. It’s the journey, not the destination.
That’s not the say there were not some weakness, but I am definitely starting the next book in the series.
Characters: Miss Tiffany Woodall, Mr. Uriah Woodall, Constable Samir Lathrop, Mrs. Wheatley, Mr. Simeon Ford, Mr. Septimus Hickenlooper, Miss Sarah Doddridge, Monsieur Bonne, Thomas Montague, Bernard Coram, Emily Jones, Francis Duke of Beaufort, Catharine Duchess of Beaufort , Peregrine Beaufort, Tess Duchess of Surrey, Osmond Surrey, Theophilus Surrey, Doctor Hudson, Mr. Washington Shirley, Mr. Canning, Lord Talgarth, Sir Walter Abney, Judge Phineas Faulkner, Mary Jones
Cover design by Sarah Horgan
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Rating: 8/10
Once Upon a Murder (2024) #2
Set in England in ~1785
Although Tiffany Woodall enjoys being the librarian for the Duchess of Beaufort, not all is good in her world, as she has barely seen Samir Lathrop since the events of the previous book, despite her feelings for him.
For many years she’d hated the very sight of it. The hope chest stood for everything that she had wanted in life but didn’t have.
And the duchess is hiring a governess to take over young Beau’s education.
For pretty good reason.
Beau gave her back her sword. “Now, we must practice our sword fighting with each other.”
“Very good,” Tiffany said, raising the weapon to her face. “En garde!”
Neither she nor Beau had any practical knowledge of fencing, so they mostly hit each other’s weapons and tried to make the other person drop their sword.
But then she discovers a new murder, and there are other events to grab her attention.
The door to the library opened, and Thomas burst into the room, out of breath. “Whatever is the matter, Mother?”
The duchess held up the baby. “Miss Woodall has acquired a baby.”
Like Mr. Ford, Thomas appeared to be so stunned that he couldn’t move.
Several things bordered the edge of ridiculous, but never went over the line, and some of the things that seemed ridiculous, were actually factual.
Daniel Pool notes that between 1750–1850, “there were some 380 of these do-it-yourself divorces effected in rural England.” Records note that the wife was led to the auction with a rope around her neck, like an animal.
That’s a hell of a thing.
It was fun, and again I very much liked the historical details (such as that bit above) woven into the story.
Characters: Miss Tiffany Woodall, Constable Samir Lathrop, Mr. Thomas Montague, Catharine Duchess of Beaufort, Beau / Lord Peregrine Francis Alfred David Erskine, Mr. Simeon Ford, Mrs. Ludmilla Phelps Coram Ford, Monsieur Bonne, Mrs. Wheatley, Miss Emily Jones, Mary, Miss Drummond, Doctor Hudson, Mrs. Balogh, Mrs. Evangeline Coram Lathrop, Mr. Bernard Coram, Mr. Zedekiah Coram, Mr. Frank Day, Mrs. Day, Jessica Day, Judge Phineas Faulkner, Sir Walter Abney, Miss Chandler, Caro Anstey, Luke Anstey, Mrs. Able, Widow Hadfield, Mr. Lawrence Hadfield, Tess the Duchess of Surrey, Miss Euphemia Drummond, Mrs. Ford, Farmer Coram, Farmer Thackeray, Mrs. Shirley, Mr. Giffin, Mr. Sanger, Nathaniel Lathrop, Priya Elizabeth Lathrop
Cover design by Sarah Horgan
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Rating: 7.5/10