The Hanover Square Affair

I love a well-written underdog, and Ashley Gardner delivers in this book. Captain Gabriel Lacey acts as the bridge between the highest echelons of society and the poor at the bottom, humanizing every one of them while solving twisty crimes.

I adored the unexpected friendship between the retired military man and Grenville, a fashion-conscious man of high society. This long-running series remains one of my absolute favorites because of the mix of upstairs/downstairs intrigues and excellent character development.

I find the Georgian era fascinating (kinda shows, right?) particularly in the years immediately after Waterloo.

Gardner (a pseudonym for prolific author Jennifer Ashley) presents us with a sleuth who is a former officer recently returned from the war. He’s limping in body and spirit, and the puzzles he solves take us from the slums and alleys to high society, and a lot of interesting places in between.

Lacey is grouchy, astute, sweet, and tenacious, I doubt I will ever tire of reading of his exploits. (And if he’s your jam too, you will doubtless enjoy Gardner’s Gladiator Mysteries, and… show more.

Gardner's Captain Gabriel Lacey is a darker protagonist than the other books on my list. He returned from the Napoleonic wars with emotional demons and a war injury that has left him with a limp and chronic pain. Despite these drawbacks, he is getting by when he witnesses a man shot during a riot and offers to help. He learns the man's daughter is missing and gets a renewed sense of purpose. Lacey sets out to discover what happened to her, leading him into both the glittering and the seedy parts of London and into the acquaintance of a variety… show more.