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. […]
A Conspiracy in Belgravia (2017) Sherry Thomas This is the second Lady Sherlock Holmes book, and as I’ve mentioned before, I generally hate Sherlock Holmes stories, but this one I don’t mind as such, since instead of taking the characters are Doyle wrote them, she has imagined that Sherlock Holmes was based upon a woman, […]
The Black Hand (2008) Will Thomas The fifth Barker & Llewelyn book finds the inquiry agent and his apprentice asked to find a solution to mafia killings that have come to London. “Are many of them Sicilian?” “Sicilian?” Dunham asked, as if it were a new word to his vocabulary. “Dunno ’bout that. One I-talian’s […]
The Hellfire Conspiracy (2007) Will Thomas Set in London in 1885. Barker and Llewellyn are pulled into a case possibly involving the white slave trade–the sale of girls into prostitution. I’d seen women in the East End, pursuing their occupation boldly in the light of day, but it had never occurred to me that they […]
The Limehouse Text (2006) Will Thomas Set in London in 1885. Inspector Bainbridge has come to Barker with new evidence in the case of the murder of Barker’s former assistant, Quong: a pawn ticket. This reopens a year-old case, and leads to several new murders before Barker and Llewellyn discover the murderer. “What exactly is […]
To Kingdom Come (2005) Will Thomas Set in London in 1884. Unknown Irish bombers have blown up Scotland Yard and several others places in London, as part of their fight for freedom. Because they have threatened another bombing within a month, and because Scotland Yard has been unable to infiltrate the Irish factions, Barker decides […]
A Study In Scarlet Women (2016) Sherry Thomas Let me be blunt: I never read Sherlock Holmes stories that were not written by ACD. I hate them. I also can’t stand having the character appropriated by other authors. Honestly, I don’t even care as much for the last couple of Sherlock Holmes stories written by […]
Her Every Wish (2016) Courtney Milan Set in England in 1866 This is a novella in the Worth Saga, and follows after Once Upon a Marquess. Daisy Whitlaw is struggling to keep herself and her mother housed and fed. Everyone tells her to let her mother go, that she can’t support the two of them, […]