As the best-selling author of The Detective Lavender Mysteries, which feature Stephen Lavender, a principal officer with the Bow Street Runners, I’ve always been fascinated with the Georgian Era and the Regency. Despite the crime and the grime and the incessant warfare across Europe and the Americas, this was the last era of fun and frolics before the respectable Victorians choked the life and licentiousness out of society. What’s not to love about a world full of dashing soldiers, duels at dawn, white muslin gowns, and ostrich feathers? This was also the era of the clever, amateur sleuths who cracked the case long before the police force was founded. The books I recommend are full of those likable amateurs.
Northumberland, 1809: A beautiful young heiress disappears from her locked bedchamber at Linn Hagh. The local constables are baffled and the townsfolk cry ‘witchcraft’. The heiress’s uncle summons help from Detective Lavender and his assistant, Constable Woods, who face one of their most challenging cases: the servants and local gypsies aren’t talking; Helen’s siblings are uncooperative and the sullen local farmers are about to take the law into their own hands. Lavender and Woods find themselves trapped in the middle of a simmering feud as they uncover a world of family secrets, intrigue, and deception in their search for the missing heiress.
Taut, wry and delightful, The Heiress of Linn Hagh is a rollicking tale featuring Lavender and woods – a double act worthy of Holmes and Watson.
I can understand why Andrew Taylor is an award-winning writer of historical mysteries. I really enjoyed The Scent of Death which is set in 1778 in the besieged loyalist stronghold of New York in the middle of the War of Independence against Britain. I was particularly fascinated because of our personal connection. Some of our Charlton ancestors emigrated from Northern England to become farmers around New York at this time. When the Yankee rebels won the war, like many loyal to the Crown, they scurried up to Canada. Having now read this vivid description of what life was like at the time, I understand why they fled.
*WINNER of the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger Award 2013* 'Andrew Taylor wrote superb historical fiction long before Hilary Mantel was popular' Daily Telegraph From the No.1 bestselling author of THE AMERICAN BOY comes a new historical thriller set during the American War of Independence.
August, 1778. British-controlled Manhattan is a melting pot of soldiers, traitors and refugees, surrounded by rebel forces as the American War of Independence rages on.
Into this simmering tension sails Edward Savill, a London clerk tasked with assessing the claims of loyalists who have lost out during the war.
Thomas Hawkins is a likable rogue whose ambition to live the life of a lazy, indolent Georgian gentleman is frequently thwarted by powerful and shadowy figures who want him to solve their mysteries and other rogues who simply want to kill him. The action is fast-moving; the dialogue lively; the research impeccable and the characters memorable. The Devil in the Marshalsea won the CWA Dagger for Historical Crime Fiction.
Longlisted for the John Creasey Dagger Award for best debut crime novel of 2014.
London, 1727 - and Tom Hawkins is about to fall from his heaven of card games, brothels and coffee-houses into the hell of a debtors' prison.
The Marshalsea is a savage world of its own, with simple rules: those with family or friends who can lend them a little money may survive in relative comfort. Those with none will starve in squalor and disease. And those who try to escape will suffer a gruesome fate at the hands…
Set in the same period as my Lavender novels, I can recommend this well-researched Regency mystery series. Sebastian St Cyr, otherwise known as Viscount Devlin, is the sleuth and works alongside a Bow Street magistrate to solve the crimes. These are mostly crimes committed by the upper-classes in Belgravia drawing rooms (and the occasional palace) but this enigmatic and restless hero isn't afraid to put on a disguise andscrap on the filthy streets with the villains. There are nineteen books available in this series – and it’s still going strong. A binge reader's paradise! Enjoy!
'Harris' riveting debut delivers a powerful blend of political intrigue and suspense ...This fresh, fast-paced historical is sure to be a hit.' - Publishers WeeklyIt's 1811, and the threat of revolution haunts the upper classes of King George III's England. Then a beautiful young woman is found savagely murdered on the altar steps of an ancient church near Westminster Abbey. A duelling pistol discovered at the scene and the damning testimony of a witness both point to one man, Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, a brilliant young nobleman shattered by his experience in the Napoleonic Wars.Now a fugitive running for…
Like my Detective Lavender books and the Sebastian St Cyr series by C. S. Harris these novels are also set in Regency London. But the protagonist, Charlotte Sloane is an enterprising – and unique – woman who's carved out a secret and successful career for herself as a satirical cartoonist. She’s the perfect match for the mercurial and scientific Earl of Wrexford, her crime-solving partner, and the chemistry between them adds an extra layer of interest to the novels. The secondary characters in this series are delightful, especially the Raven and Hawk, the street-wise young orphans whom Charlotte has taken under her wing.
In Regency London, an unconventional scientist and a fearless female artist form an unlikely alliance to expose a cold-hearted killer . . .
The Earl of Wrexford possesses a brilliant scientific mind, but boredom and pride lead him to reckless behavior. So when pompous, pious Reverend Josiah Holworthy publicly condemns him for debauchery, Wrexford unsheathes his rapier-sharp wit and strikes back. As their war of words escalates, London’s most popular satirical cartoonist, A.J. Quill, skewers them both. But then the clergyman is found slain in a church—his face burned by chemicals, his throat slashed ear to ear—and Wrexford finds himself…
Martine Bailey brings the Georgian period vividly to life and creates brilliant characters. An Appetite for Violetsis set in 18th century Italy while The Penny Heart whisks us through the stench and horror of Newgate Gaol; the drawing rooms of the landed gentry and the fledgling penal colony in Botany Bay. Historical suspense at its best, these novels also have a delicious culinary twist. I'm now reading her third novel, The Almanack.
That's how it is for us servants. No one pays you much heed; mostly you're invisible as furniture. Yet you overhear a conversation here, and add a little gossip there. A writing desk lies open and you cannot help but read a paper. Then you find something, something you should not have found.
Irrepressible Biddy Leigh, under-cook at the foreboding Mawton Hall, only wants to marry her childhood sweetheart and set up her own tavern. But when her elderly master marries the young Lady Carinna, Biddy is unwittingly swept up in a world of scheming, secrets and lies.
Meet Tony Valenti. His high-flying corporate law career just cratered. His society marriage blew up in a bitter divorce. He's returned to the Chicago suburbs to lick his wounds and regroup in the haven of the Valenti family home. But time to heal isn't in the cards.
Tony's elderly father inexplicably shoots a sheriff's deputy on their front porch. Nobody knows why, and Papa isn't talking. Then their house becomes an unlikely target for condemnation and expropriation by corrupt local officials and their cronies.
With money and hope dwindling, Tony steps up to defend his father and take to city hall, and quickly finds himself in peril when he unearths sinister connections between the cases. The audacity of the plot against them fuels a gritty determination to get to the bottom of what really happened—regardless of the risks and ultimate cost to himself. To win, Tony must earn his father's trust and outwit his wily opponents.
Meet Tony Valenti. His high-flying corporate law career just cratered. His society marriage blew up in a bitter divorce. He’s returned to the Chicago suburbs to lick his wounds and regroup in the haven of the Valenti family home. But time to heal isn’t in the cards.
Tony’s elderly father inexplicably shoots a sheriff’s deputy on their front porch. Nobody knows why, and Papa isn’t talking. Then their house becomes an unlikely target for condemnation and expropriation by corrupt local officials and their cronies.
With money and hope dwindling, Tony steps up to defend…
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