The tone of The Secret Book Society is darker than I'd anticipated, but appropriate as Martin explores weighty issues for women in Victorian England. The power of books and of friendship ultimately triumph in Martin's historical fiction. The women in Madeline Martin's Victorian London exist within tightly constrained rules and at the whims of their fathers' or husbands' often controlling, sometimes abusive, always limiting requirements. But when three women, all strangers to

Allision Epstein shapes Charles Dickens's greedy criminal mastermind Jacob Fagin into a character with a rich backstory, showing him to...

The fifth book in the Veronica Speedwell series offers more of Raybourn's magic: witty dialogue, an unorthodox partnership,...

In this installment of Veronica and Stoker's Victorian England mystery-solving, they enter a sinister, gothic scene--and despite spending...

Book two of Thomas's Lady Sherlock series offers a robust dual mystery, clever female characters, priceless gems of insight from...

In the third book in the irresistible Veronica Speedwell series, we learn more about Stoker's past, secrets, heartbreak, and motivations;...

This second book in Raybourn's historical fiction mystery series, set in Victorian London, hooked me even more fully into Veronica and...

In this gothic Victorian tale, Waters offers a slow build to heartbreak, twists and double twists, hesitant attempts at love, and,...

I love an intersection of historical fiction and mystery, two genres I love. Some of the books listed here also have supernatural elements.