The Matrimonial Advertisement (Parish Orphans of Devon) (2018) Mimi Matthews Set in England in 1859. Helena Reynolds has fled London. She’s in Devon responding to a matrimonial advertisement, but if this doesn’t work, she return to London. Justin Thornhill was a captain in the British army who served in India, and returned home physically scarred. […]
Any Old Diamonds (2019) K.J. Charles (Lilywhite Boys) Set in England in 1895. Lord Alexander Pyne-ffoulkes–who goes by Alec Pyne–desperately wants revenge upon his father. So he hires the Lilywhite Boys to steal the diamond parvane his father is planning to give his second wife on their 20th anniversary. But Jerry Crozier knows far more […]
A Dangerous Deceit (2017) Alissa Johnson Miss Jane Ballenger is a spinster and a recluse. This is due to the fact she has difficulty hearing, and so avoids going out in public. At one point, he related a story involving three turnips and a brick. She was fairly certain she had misheard that bit, but […]
A Gift for Guile (2016) Alissa Johnson Set in England in 1872 Esther Walker is the daughter of a famous thief and con artist. Although none of her family knows, she also helped her father, acting as his tiny thug, threatening people with the knives she was taught to throw. But the man everyone thinks […]
A Talent for Trickery (2015) Alissa Johnson Set in England in 1872 Owen Renderwell and his partners became famous as the Thief-Takers who rescued a kidnapped duchess, so they became private investigators, however, a series of thefts followed by a murder returns them to the criminals who assisted the government during that time. Charlotte Walker […]
Love In The Afternoon (2010) Lisa Kleypas Set in England in 1854. Beatrix is the youngest Hathaway sister, and the least tame of the family, preferring to spend most of her time with animals. But when a friend is going to dismiss a letter from a soldier without responding, Beatrix asks to reply in her […]
Married By Morning (2010) Lisa Kleypas Set in England in 1852. This is the fourth book in the series. And I really enjoyed this one. Leo Hathaway, Lord Ramsay, spent several self-destructive years after the death of his fiancee. It took him several years to forgive Merripen for saving his life, and it was only […]
Devil in Winter (2006) Lisa Kleypas Set in London in 1843 Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent is an unrepentant rake whose only interest is pleasure. But he’s also broke, and needs a rich wife immediately. “Do you ever think of anyone other than yourself?” The question seemed to pull him out of his absorption, and his […]
Tempt Me at Twilight (2009) Lisa Kleypas Set in England in 1852 The third Hathaway sister, Poppy, is at the end of her third season, and is hoping for a match from the son of a viscount. But an unexpected meeting with the owner of the Rutledge hotel changes everything, when Harry decides that he […]
Seduce Me at Sunrise (2008) Lisa Kleypas Set in England in 1848 Kev Merripen was found beaten and ailing by the Hathaway family, who took him in and treated him as one of their own, despite his obviously being a Rom. He’s stayed only because since the day he laid eyes on her he has […]
Mine Till Midnight (2007) Lisa Kleypas Set in England in 1848. Amelia Hathaway has been holding her family together since her parents died, but after scarlet fever leaves her family in even worse shape, holding things together becomes almost too much for her. Especially when her brother, the head of the family, seems interested only […]
Hello Stranger (2018) Lisa Kleypas Set in England in 1876 Dr. Garrett Gibson is the only female doctor in England, and has spent so much time proving she’s good enough, she’s spared nothing for herself. Ethan Ransom is a Ravanel bastard, former detective for Scotland Yard, and secret agent for the government. He’s also extremely […]
Devil in Spring (2017) Lisa Kleypas Set in London in 1876 Lady Pandora Ravenel doesn’t want to marry. She wants to make board games and live on her own, because women lose all their right as soon as they marry. But when she’s found in a compromising position with Gabriel, Lord St. Vincent, he is […]
Wicked and the Wallflower (2018) Sarah MacLean Set in London in 1837. Felicity Faircloth is on the shelf. She’s been abandoned by those she thought were her friends, and despite a minor scandal, her family is pushing her towards marriage. Devil spent the first ten years of his life in an orphanage, then from the […]
The Hollow of Fear (2018) Sherry Thomas The third Lady Sherlock Mystery. Society is still searching for Charlotte Holmes–and treating her sister Livia with the suspicion of one closely related to a scandal. So Livia is glad to escape to the country home of Mrs Newell–who happens to be a near neighbor of Lord Ingram. […]
A Dangerous Liaison with Detective Lewis (2012) Jillian Stone Set in England and Scotland in 1887. There were so very many things wrong with this story, I can’t even list them all. But I’m going to try my damnedest to give you a sound accounting. Fanny Greyville-Nugent’s father has died in a horrible industrial accident. […]
A Treacherous Curse (2018) Deanna Raybourn Set in London in 1888. The third Veronica Speedwell mystery finds Veronica and Stoker investigating the disappearance of an archeologist and a valuable Egyptian diadem. They get involved because the missing man is the husband of Stoker’s ex-wife–a woman who left him for dead and then completely destroyed his […]
The Viscount and the Vicar’s Daughter (2018) Mimi Matthews Set in England in 1861. Tristan Sinclair, Viscount St. Ashton is a rake bored with his life. Valentine March is a vicar’s daughter, left on her own after the death of her father. When Tristan finds Valentine weeping in the Folly at a house party, he […]
Dreaming of You (1994) Lisa Kleypas Set in historical London some time after pistols but before trains There was so much I liked about this story, yet so much that I found problematic about it. Sara Fielding is the author of a famous novel about a fallen woman, and is in London researching a gambling […]
The Alienist (1994) Caleb Carr Set in New York City in 1896 I read The Alienist soon after it came out, and then read the Angel of Darkness when that came out. And then there it ended, so I forgot about the books. Apparently a TV show based on the book recently came out, and […]
Lady Helena Investigates (2018) Jane Steen Set in Sussex in 1881 Lady Helena Whitcombe survived the death of her first love, and now she must get past the accidental death of her husband. Except that her husband’s doctor doesn’t think the drowning was an accident, but a murder. Helena’s is the youngest of her siblings, […]
After the Wedding (2018) Courtney Milan Set in England in 1867. This is the second book in the Worth Saga, and is the story of the second Worth sister, Camilla. Camilla went to live with her uncle because she feared poverty, and the rift this caused with her older sister meant that when her uncle […]
An Unsuitable Heir (2017) K.J. Charles (Sins of the City) Set in London in 1873 Mark is a private enquiry agent. He and his mother came to England, fleeing Poland after his mother got in trouble one too many times for her anarchism. Through the lawyer who often defended his mother, he came to know […]
An Unnatural Vice (2017) K.J. Charles Set in London in 1873 This book follows–and in some cases overlaps–An Unseen AttractionClem’s brother is dead, his heir has been made a bastard, and now Clem’s friends are trying to keep Clem’s cousin from throwing him out of his home by searching for another possible heir–the children on […]
An Unseen Attraction (2017) K.J. Charles (Sins of the City) Set in London in 1873 This is a MM boinking book. Clem Tallyfer is the keeper of his brother’s lodging house in London. It’s how he makes his living–surviving on the sufferance of his brother. He’s also different, and that makes things even more difficult. […]