Reading Lists - It’s a mystery, my dear Watson.

With the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution, Scotland Yard and Jack the Ripper, the Victorian Age (1837-1901) was not as straight-laced as we may tend to believe. Sherlock Holmes may be the best known detective of this time, but now he is certainly in very good company.

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

The moonstone is a yellow diamond of unearthly beauty brought from India and given to Rachel Verrinder as an eighteenth birthday present, but the fabled diamond carries with it a terrible curse.

 The Cater Street Hangman by Anne Perry

While the Ellison girls were out paying calls and drinking tea like proper Victorian ladies, a maid in their household was strangled to death. The quiet and young Inspector Pitt investigates the scene and finds no one above suspicion. His intense questioning causes many a composed facade to crumble.

Some Danger Involved by Will Thomas

This atmospheric debut set on the gritty streets of Victorian London introduces detective Cyrus Barker and his assistant, Thomas Llewelyn, as they work to solve the gruesome murder of a young scholar in London's Jewish ghetto.

A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch

Charles Lenox, Victorian gentleman and armchair explorer, likes nothing more than to relax in his private study with a cup of tea, a roaring fire and a good book. But when his lifelong friend Lady Jane asks for his help, Lenox cannot resist the chance to unravel the  mysterious death of her friend.

Mr. Timothy by Louis Bayard

Seeking to gain independence from his benefactor, Ebenezer Scrooge, Timothy Cratchit loses himself in the underworld of 1860s London, where the discovery of two murdered girls prompts him to protect a third would-be victim.

The Yard by Alex Grecian

Suffering public contempt after the Metropolitan Police's failure to capture Jack the Ripper, Walter Day, a member of Victorian London's recently formed "Murder Squad” partners with Scotland Yard's first forensic pathologist to track down a killer who is targeting their colleagues. (It’s a “violent cesspool of squalid depravity” out there!)

  Murder as a Fine Art David Morrell

Thomas De Quincey is the major suspect in a series of ferocious mass murders identical to ones that terrorized London forty-three years earlier. Desperate to clear his name he is aided by his devoted daughter Emily and a pair of determined Scotland Yard detectives.

And if you like a little romance with your suspense, try these:

Don’t Look Back by Amanda Quick

Together, private inquiry agent Lavinia Lake and her sometime-partner, Tobias March, undertake a tantalizing investigation that leads them from the glittering ballrooms of the ton to London's seediest taverns.

Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn

Sir Edward Grey collapses and dies at his London home. Determined to bring her husband's murderer to justice, Lady Julia engages the enigmatic Nicholas Brisbane to help her investigate Edward's demise.

And Only to Deceive by Tasha Alexander

When Emily's dashing young husband died on safari soon after their wedding, she felt little grief. After all, she barely knew him. Now, nearly two years later, she discovers that Philip was murdered. In the quiet corridors of the British Museum, one of her husband's favorite places, amid priceless ancient statues, she uncovers dark, dangerous secrets.