{"id":18891,"date":"2024-12-30T10:00:43","date_gmt":"2024-12-30T15:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/?p=18891"},"modified":"2026-03-19T19:51:45","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T23:51:45","slug":"the-books-of-2024-mystery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/archives\/18891","title":{"rendered":"The Books of 2024: Mystery"},"content":{"rendered":"
Nightingale Mysteries by Katharine Schellman<\/a><\/h5>\n

\"Last<\/a>Historical, Queer<\/em><\/p>\n

In NYC during prohibition, a young woman who works as a seamstress and spends her nights at a speakeasy comes across the body of a murdered man.<\/p>\n

If they had been out on the street, Vivian knew that Bea would have never spoken to the distinguished white man at all, and he would never have glanced at the Black waitress or her Irish friend, no matter how pretty they were or polite he was. But the rules could be different behind back-alley doors with no addresses.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This series is much darker than her Lily Adler series.<\/p>\n

(W)orking at a dressmaker\u2019s shop meant they both had to be fashionable at work, though not too fashionable or customers would think they were getting above themselves. Miss Ethel, the shop\u2019s owner, preferred her seamstresses and shopgirls to look a little conservative\u2014to counteract what she clearly believed were the loose morals of any girl without a family supporting her in the city.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Both series have characters of color and queer characters, but Lily Adler is a comfortably settled widow while Vivian and her friends live always on the edge of poverty and disaster.<\/p>\n

Rating: 7.5\/10 to 8.5\/10<\/p>\n

Published by Minotaur<\/p>\n

Last Call at the Nightingale<\/em><\/a>\u00a0 8.5\/10, The Last Drop of Hemlock<\/em><\/a>\u00a0 8\/10, The Last Note of Warning<\/em><\/a>\u00a0 7.5\/10<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies<\/em><\/a> (2023) by Alison Goodman<\/a><\/h5>\n

\"The<\/a>Historical, Queer<\/em><\/p>\n

Gus and her twin sister are spinsters who, while they have a comfortable existence, still have to follow the demands of society and are dictated to by their younger brother.<\/p>\n

It was also true that after I learned about coverture from my reading, I became less and less inclined to hand over my half of our inherited fortune and all my legal and property rights\u2014including the rights of my own body\u2014to a husband. It would have to be a grand love, indeed, for me to willingly merge so completely with a man that I was all but legally obliterated. Most women did not have the choice to say no, but I did.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When they inadvertently become involved in intrigue, Gus discovers she enjoys the adventure and becomes involved in several other adventures.<\/p>\n

Be sure to check the trigger warnings for this book–there are quite a few mostly related to the times in which they lived.<\/p>\n

Rating: 8\/10<\/p>\n

Published by Berkley Prime Crime<\/p>\n

(The Ill-Mannered Ladies)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kat Holloway \/ Below Stairs Mysteries by Jennifer Ashley<\/a><\/h5>\n

\"Mrs.<\/a><\/p>\n

Mrs.Holloway\u2019s Christmas Pudding<\/em><\/a>* (2023),\u00a0 Speculations in Sin<\/em><\/a> (2024), A Measure of Menace<\/em><\/a>* (2024)<\/p>\n

Historical, Novella*<\/em><\/p>\n

This year I read two novellas and one novel in this series. All three were very good, although I’m not certain you could jump into the series at this point.<\/p>\n

Rating: 8\/10 to 8.5\/10<\/p>\n

Self-Published \/ Published by Berkley<\/p>\n

Kat Holloway: A Soup\u00e7on of Poison<\/a><\/em>, Death Below Stairs<\/a><\/em>, Scandal Above Stairs<\/a><\/em>, Death in Kew Gardens<\/a><\/em>, Murder in the East End<\/a><\/em>, Death at the Crystal Palace<\/a><\/em>, The Secret of Bow Lane<\/em><\/a>, The Price of Lemon Cake<\/em><\/a>, Mrs. Holloway\u2019s Christmas Pudding<\/em><\/a>, Speculations in Sin<\/em><\/a>, A Measure of Menace<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A Scandal in Mayfair<\/em><\/a> (2024) Katharine Schellman<\/a><\/h5>\n

\"A<\/a>Historical<\/em><\/p>\n

I’ve been listening to this series and am enjoying spending more time in this world.<\/p>\n

I like best the mysteries and the dialog.<\/p>\n

As Lily made her way down the stairs, she heard Amelia asking, \u201cCan you teach me to pick locks too?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly, miss,\u201d Jem replied, at the same time as Jack declared,<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely not.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Rating: 8.5\/10<\/p>\n

Published by Crooked Lane Books<\/p>\n

Lily Adler: The Body in the Garden<\/em><\/a>, Silence in the Library<\/em><\/a>, Death at the Manor<\/em><\/a>, Murder at Midnight<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Lady Ambition\u2019s Dilemma<\/em><\/a> (2024) Jane Steen<\/a><\/h5>\n

\"Lady<\/a>Historical<\/em><\/p>\n

This series has a new book every couple years, and I wish she were able to write faster.<\/p>\n

Lady Helena has a large family, and despite the spread in their ages (she has nieces and nephews her own age) they are close and regularly involved in each others lives (whether Helena wants them or not).<\/p>\n

The third book finds one of Helena’s nephews embroiled in scandal and murder, but more than that we learn more about her friends and the world in which she lives.<\/p>\n

This series doesn’t have witty dialog, but it has characters who care about each other and are interesting in their own rights.<\/p>\n

“It hasn\u2019t helped to have Jonathan here, reminding us all he can fight and ride and stride around in that ridiculous uniform while I play children\u2019s games. I\u2019m angry\u2014not at him, but at this.\u201d He put his good hand under the elbow of his withered arm, lifting it into view.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis doesn\u2019t make you less of a man.\u201d I caught his twisted right hand in mine, caressing it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Rating: 9\/10<\/p>\n

Published by Aspidistra Press<\/p>\n

Lady Helena Investigates: Lady Helena Investigates<\/a><\/em>, Lady Odelia\u2019s Secret<\/a><\/em>, Lady Ambition\u2019s Dilemma<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Books of 2024<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nightingale Mysteries by Katharine Schellman Historical, Queer In NYC during prohibition, a young woman who works as a seamstress and spends her nights at a speakeasy comes across the body of a murdered man. If they had been out on the street, Vivian knew that Bea would have never spoken to the distinguished white man […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,1090],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books-reading","category-years-favorites"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pefxA-4UH","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18891"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19576,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18891\/revisions\/19576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}