Justice, San Francisco Style

No Justice for the Deceived by Nancy Herriman

A high-society engagement, a masquerade ball, a poisoning, and the death of an innocent young woman are the building blocks upon which Nancy Herriman has constructed her new historical mystery, No Justice for the Deceived (book 6 in the Mysteries of Old San Francisco). And what a mystery it is!

Two wealthy families are about to be joined in matrimony, and it’s the type of engagement that engenders the juiciest gossip in town. One reason for all the gossip? The groom. He’s a philanderer. And worse than that, he’s been accused of being behind a vicious assault on one of his many former amours.

The bride-to-be is a beautiful young woman with a substantial fortune—a fortune that will belong entirely to her husband as soon as they are man and wife. Her dream is to open a women’s clinic similar to Celia’s, but her betrothed has indicated his strong disdain for the project and has no intention of using the money to pay for it.

So it comes as no surprise when someone tries to poison the groom. Unfortunately, the poisoning goes awry and an innocent woman dies instead. Suspects abound.

No Justice for the Deceived brings Celia and Nick, everyone’s favorite San Francisco detective, together again, this time to figure out who wanted the groom dead. As always in this series, it’s a delight to watch Celia and Nick interact. Their banter is witty and sharp and despite Nick’s frequent annoyance with Celia’s attempts to investigate the crime, their deep feelings for each other are clear.

Besides the relationship between Celia and Nick, this book has plenty of twists to keep the reader engaged. And I’m always amazed at the amount of research that the author must put into each book in this series, and I learn something new and fascinating about San Francisco’s history with each successive mystery.

One puzzle remains unsolved at the end of the book—Nick has been receiving strange and disturbing packages in the mail, and he doesn’t know who they’re from or why he’s receiving them. I guess we’ll have to wait until book 7 to get an answer!

I would highly recommend No Justice for the Deceived to anyone who loves historical mysteries, old San Francisco, and great tension between characters.

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And speaking of historical mysteries, Cape Menace, book 1 in the Cape May Historical Mystery Collection, is on sale for $1.99 through April 15, 2024! Don’t forget—you can always gift someone an ebook. Here are the links to each retailer, so pick your favorite … you know what to do.

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

Apple

Google Play

See you next time!

Amy

Black River, Black Deeds

Black River by Matthew Spencer

Two murders of young women in an upscale area of Sydney (Australia) have local residents on edge. The crimes bear significant ritualistic similarities, enough to classify the perpetrator as a serial killer. BMK, he’s called. The Blue Moon Killer.

When a third young woman’s body is found on the grounds of an elite private school during the summer break, there are some indications it could be the work of BMK. But there are differences, too. What do those differences mean? Is BMK toying with the police? Is there a copycat killer out there? Is he altering his modus operandi?

Detective Sergeant Rose Riley, a member of the task force trying to find BMK, is on edge. She’s got this case on her mind night and day. More than anything, she wants justice for the victims. Her quest to do right by the murdered women and their families not only leads her to the hallowed halls of power and money, but also to the sickening depths of human depravity and straight into the sights of a killer.

She and her team need help, and they find it—more or less—in the form of Adam Bowman, a reporter who likes his booze and has a murky connection to the school where the third body was found. Rose and her team feed Adam exclusive but limited information, and his stories serve to rile up certain persons of interest.

The question is this: can Rose and the task force, with Adam’s help, figure out who BMK is before he strikes again?

If you’re looking for a page-turning thriller, this book should be in the running. The action moves at a fast clip and there’s always a lead that needs to be investigated. Rose’s boss is a hard-driving Detective Chief Inspector who lives and breathes the work of the task force. He trusts Rose and gives her the support and freedom she needs to pursue leads and theories. It’s a great working partnership, and that was one of my favorite things about the book.

For the most part, the book alternates between two points of view: Rose’s and Adam’s. I liked getting to know each character in more depth, but at the same time I felt like I knew all the other characters pretty well, too (which is not to say I liked them all—some of them are despicable). Many readers don’t like books that oscillate between points of view, but I find it exciting and a great way to get inside characters’ heads.

The author of this story, Matthew Spencer, is a former journalist who clearly knows his way around a newsroom as well as the ins and outs of working with police and other authorities. His experience shines in the book and gives it an overall aura of authenticity. He’s Australian, too, and readers from elsewhere in the world have an opportunity to learn some Aussie phrases and culture.

I highly recommend this thriller to anyone looking for a book with well-developed characters, a fast pace, and an alternative to the more ubiquitous American or British police procedural.

***

House of the Hanging Jade is on sale for $1.99 this week only! The sale ends at midnight EDT on Friday, 3/15/24, so if you haven’t read it, grab your copy now! Click HERE to go to my website, where you can be redirected to your favorite online bookseller.

My publisher owned the rights to the book until last year, when the rights reverted to me. So I revised the story and had a new cover designed for it (I LOVE the new cover). The new version currently has no reviews on Amazon, so I’d love to see some reviews! Thanks!

See you next time!

Amy

Where They Lie…and lie

Where They Lie by Joe Hart

When a private plane carrying the family of Kaylee Volk, vlogger* and social media influencer, plummets into the ocean, Nora McTavish is the one trying to figure out how it all happened. The only survivor of the crash has a story to tell, but Nora isn’t so sure she’s getting the whole truth.

*vlogger: one who blogs via video

Nora is a case worker with the state child protective services agency and she’s familiar with the Volk family: Kaylee and her husband Justin, along with their three foster children. Nora has even had occasion to investigate the family—someone at school has reported that one of the siblings has bruising around the neck, and that child has confirmed that another sibling is responsible.

Nora is devasted by the loss of the three foster children in the plane crash. Her compulsion to continue investigating the case after the children’s deaths has as much to do with her feeling of unease about the whole situation as it does with her personal history of familial abuse and the foster care system. She is a survivor, and it’s her mission to help other kids survive, too.

What I liked most about this book was Nora’s tenacity. She continues to look for answers on behalf of the three kids despite being suspended from her job, a violent personal assault, and a horrifying attack on her home.

The book is told from Nora’s point of view, though occasionally chapters are interspersed with snippets of Kaylee’s vlog, both on-screen and off. There have been reviewers who believe the snippets are extraneous, but I think they serve an important purpose—they show Kaylee’s family as the rest of the world sees them, but they also show a bit of behind-the-scenes tension between family members as Kaylee shoots her videos.

This book is a thriller, no doubt about it. It moves at a rapid pace, unfurling twist after twist as Nora rushes to find answers in the face of increasing risks and soaring stakes.

Where They Lie isn’t just a thriller—it also offers a commentary on the foster care system and the positives and significant negatives of child protective service laws and related state agencies. There’s also a dark, albeit fictional, look at the culture of social media influencers and how society interacts with them.

One thing that’s important to note: if you’re triggered by child abuse, this might not be the book for you. It deals with some pretty heavy topics. But it’s a good read, and one that I recommend if you’re looking for a thriller to keep you up at night.

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A Traitor Among Us: A Mystery of Revolutionary America, is on sale for 99¢/99p this week only! The sale ends at midnight EST on Friday, 2/16/24, so if you haven’t read it, grab your copy now! Click HERE to go to my website, where you can be redirected to your favorite online bookseller.

See you next time!

Amy

But First, a Word from Me

Hello there! It’s good to be back. Last year I really dropped the ball with respect to my blog and my newsletter, in large part because I couldn’t think of things to say and I was buried in work. My reading pace slowed considerably and I wasn’t able to continue reviewing mysteries as I had been doing.

With that in mind, this year has brought with it a new focus in my business. And at the very heart of that focus is the mystery-loving community: you. Perhaps in future blogs I will tell you more about it, but that’s really the domain of my newsletter. I’ll let you know below how to sign up for it if you’d like to get more information.

But for now, here’s my plan: twelve months, twelve mysteries, twelve blog posts with reviews. If I can get to it, I’ll review more often and blog more often. But if I can’t, at least by the end of the year I will have provided you with recommendations for twelve terrific mysteries.

Have you signed up for the Goodreads 2024 Reading Challenge? I’ve pledged (to myself) to read 52 books this year. I didn’t meet last year’s challenge, but I stopped logging books at one point and never got back to it. Last year I pledged to read 65 books. I don’t know how many books I actually read, but it wasn’t quite 65, so this year I took it down a notch. To join the challenge, go to goodreads.com and click on the banner at the tippy-top of the page.

And now for the January book which, like January, was chilling…

THE SHADOW BOX by Luanne Rice

This domestic thriller is the first book I’ve read by Luanne Rice, and I’ve promised myself I’m going to read more of her stuff. Lots more.

Set against the old-money, seaside backdrop of Connecticut politics, the book is about Griffin Chase and the inner circle of family and friends working to get him elected as the next governor of Connecticut. It’s also about the lengths they’ll go to in order to achieve that goal.

Claire Beaudry Chase is Griffin’s second wife, an artist trapped inside a marriage marked by terrifying psychological abuse where her every move is like walking on eggshells.

But Claire has discovered one of her husband’s deepest, darkest secrets, one she’s suspected for a long time. And he knows it.

And they both know she holds his future in her hands—that is, if she lives long enough to tell anyone about the secret.

This book grabbed me from the first sentence and never let go until I hit the last one. The entire story moved at a fast clip, which kept me turning pages well after my bedtime.

The story is told from multiple points of view, so if you’re not a fan of head-hopping, be aware of that (and there are a lot of characters, though not all of them get chapters to themselves). It’s also told along a jagged timeline, meaning chapters don’t necessarily go in chronological order. It adds a layer of complexity to the story, but could also be a bit confusing for some readers. It’s up to the reader to keep things straight, but I believe the author does an excellent job of telling the reader exactly what day it is and who’s talking or thinking.

At its heart, the story is about the horrors of physical and psychological domestic abuse and it shines a light on the issue in a manner that held me rapt. It examines the issue from many angles—victim, family, friends, the authorities, and, importantly, children.

The author does a brilliant job with the setting, making the reader feel as if she’s right there in the thick of things. Rice also delves deeply into several of the characters’ psyches, helping the reader to understand what drives them to act and make certain decisions.

There is a superficial storyline of class and politics, but I believe the point of it is really to hold up the main plot. These characters move in a world most of us will never be a part of, and to be dropped into a story involving great wealth and status is fascinating. Is it cliché? Maybe. But I don’t care. I loved the book. It’s got an important lesson to teach and it does so thrillingly. I give it 5 enthusiastic stars.

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I mentioned above that I would tell you how to sign up for my newsletter to get more from me, including exclusive content and special access to things like cover reveals and special deals on books. It’s easy: go to www.amymreade.com and right there on the home page, click the link that says “Join my VIP lsit,” and it’ll take you to the sign-up page. As I said, there’s a new website waiting in the wings and it’s got some cool stuff on it. More to come!

Two FREE Juniper Junction Books!

For a limited time, you can get the first two ebooks in the Juniper Junction Cozy Holiday Mystery Series FREE! Just click here to grab yours!

Need a refresher? Here’s what they’re all about:

The Worst Noel

On the busiest shopping day of the year, Lilly opens her jewelry store to discover it’s been burgled. Then she trips over a body. Talk about a Black Friday.

When a second victim is murdered, Lilly finds herself squarely in the crosshairs of suspicion. The clock is ticking as Lilly tries to unwrap the mystery of the real killer’s identity.

As the bodies pile up like so much snow, Lilly is shocked to discover her ex-husband has returned to town after a fifteen-year absence. Could his reappearance have anything to do with the murders? One thing is sure: Lilly doesn’t want him anywhere near their two teenage kids, neither of whom remember him, or her mom, whose mental health is declining.

Can she figure out who killed the victims before she becomes one herself?

Find out if Lilly is about to have herself a merry or scary little Christmas in this cozy, small-town mystery. Recipes included!

***

Dead, White, and Blue

It’s bad enough when the owner of the new bistro in town drops dead at the Independence Day celebration, but when Noley, Lilly’s best friend, is charged with the murder, things start to heat up.

And speaking of heat, there’s a firebug on the loose in Juniper Junction. Houses in town are going up in smoke and when the fires hit a little too close to home, Lilly is pulled into the investigation to uncover the identity of the arsonist.

Can Lilly clear Noley’s name and figure out who’s starting the fires before she becomes a victim herself?

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire in this cozy holiday mystery. Find out if Lilly gets burned as she deals with murder, mayhem, her mother’s dementia, and a coming-of-age issue under her own roof.

Recipes included!

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I am trying to spread the word FAR AND WIDE for this sale! Please help by forwarding this to anyone who might enjoy reading the books! Thanks in advance for your support.

One more time—here’s the link! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SV5593Q

Spellbinding Historical Mystery

Murder in Old Bombay by Nev March

Happy 2023! I wish everyone a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year.

Out with the old….

Last year I had a hard time keeping up with the schedule of reviewing and recommending a mystery every Tuesday. There were two reasons for this. First, I didn’t feel I could recommend some of the mysteries I read. And when that happened, I felt pressure to read another one so I could recommend that one, and I didn’t have time for it. Second, I read lots of other things, too, and since this is a mystery blog, there were weeks I didn’t read a mystery and I would have nothing to recommend come Tuesday morning. I hope I’m making sense.

In with the new…

Thus, my goal this year is to review and recommend a mystery every other Tuesday. My blog posts will alternate with my newsletter, which also goes out every other Tuesday.

So without further ado, my first recommendation of 2023 is Nev March’s beautiful and engrossing mystery, Murder in Old Bombay. This is the first book in March’s Captain Jim and Lady Diana Mysteries (no, not that Lady Diana).

Full disclosure: I have spent time with Nev on several occasions. She is an absolute delight. We belong to a couple of the same writing groups, we have had dinner together, and we have attended at least one reading together. But she doesn’t know I’m writing this review, and everything I say here is the truth. If I didn’t love the book, I wouldn’t recommend it.

When the book opens, we meet main character Captain Jim Agnihotri, a young man recovering from serious wounds sustained in battle. The British maintain control over much of India, and many Indian people harbor deep resentment toward the British. Captain Jim is caught between two worlds: his mother, who died when Jim was very young, was Indian; his father, whom Jim never knew, was British. This was a time in history when one’s pedigree and the color of one’s skin mattered very much, so Jim doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere.

While still in the hospital, Jim has little to read except newspapers and Sherlock Holmes mysteries. When he reads a newspaper story about the deaths of two women from a high-society Bombay family, he is struck by the horrific manner in which they died and by the sorrowful dignity of the man who lost his wife and his sister in the tragedy.

When he is finally released from the hospital, he takes a job as a journalist and one of his assignments is to interview the man whose wife and sister died. When Jim meets the man, Adi Framji, he is immediately drawn to Adi’s calm demeanor, intelligence, and determination to prove to himself and society that his wife and sister did not commit suicide, as the public has been told. The Framjis are an upstanding Parsee family and Jim has an instinctive notion that someone who means the family harm is behind the deaths. It is important to note that Parsees are a subset of the Indian people, having fled persecution in Persia centuries before. They are a relatively small part of the population, so they keenly observe the custom of marrying within the group—this will come into play later in the book.

Adi hires Jim to help him find out what really happened the day Adi’s wife and sister fell from the top of the university clock tower in broad daylight. As Jim soon discovers, his investigations have threatened someone (or more than one!) and that person intends to stop Jim at all costs.

This story is filled with British Raj history, excitement, and well-paced twists and turns. The author describes Bombay and the Indian countryside in vivid color. There’s enough romance to satisfy even the most jaded reader. More importantly, the main character’s pedigree forms the basis of a fascinating and unsettling look at racism and the social structure at that time in Indian history.

And, of course, there’s the mystery. The whodunit weaves complex (in a good way!) and dastardly motives to bring forth a page-turner that will have readers rooting for the Jim as he makes his way forward at a time when personal and professional stagnation might have been the destiny for people with his parentage. Readers are treated to a graceful and powerful arc of Jim’s character as he moves from self-loathing to self-confidence. And the ending…well, it’s highly satisfying. No spoilers.

I loved this mystery and I would highly recommend it to other lovers of historical mystery. I am looking forward to the second book in the series, Peril at the Exposition.

***

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Death in Tinseltown

Over Her Dead Body by Susan Walter

If you like twisty tales with jaw-dropping twists told from multiple points of view, you’ll want to keep reading.

I read Over Her Dead Body in a matter of hours because I couldn’t help myself. The mystery has a fascinating cast of characters, and I had a love-hate relationship with almost every one of them. The story starts out from the point of view of Ashley, a struggling actress in LA. She’s had a few bit parts, but she’s still waiting for her big break (what she doesn’t know is that it may be her heart that experiences the big break).

There’s Louisa, a former casting director who lives near Ashley in a cartoonish house down a creepy, overgrown drive. There’s Nathan, Louisa’s nephew and the only person in Louisa’s family who will have much of anything to do with her.

Louisa’s kids, Winnie and Charlie, have loads of personal issues. Their relationship has gone south in recent years, as a result of Winnie’s descent into alcoholism and Charlie’s marriage to a woman Winnie can’t stand.

There’s Jordan, Ashley’s roommate and probably my favorite character.

When you mix all these personalities together, there’s bound to be an explosion. And what the author gives the reader is an unforgettable explosion preceded by a gradual unfurling of mystery, drama, and high tension.

I love stories that are told from different points of view because the reader gets a glimpse into the psyches of the characters and is able to see different sides to every scene.

Here’s the basic outline: When Ashley’s dog, Brando, runs off for a midnight romp on Louisa’s property, the scene ends with warning gunshots and Ashley is, predictably, terrified. She runs home sans Brando. She and her roommate are leaving to search for him when she gets a phone call. It’s Nathan, Louisa’s nephew, letting her know that Brando is safe at Louisa’s house. Good thing Brando was wearing his collar with Ashley’s contact information.

When Ashley arrives to collect her dog, the sparks fly between her and Nathan. And it gets better—she is delighted to learn that Louisa might be able to help her land a plum movie role. Louisa has Ashley visit her over the next day or two to work on scripts … but everything comes crashing down when Nathan gets a phone call notifying him of Louisa’s sudden death. And—surprise!—Louisa has left her considerable fortune to someone whose identity shocks everyone.

What follows is a zigzag tale of greed, dreams deferred (or abandoned altogether), jealousy, and revenge. By the end, I was feeling (in a good way) like I had whiplash. Can anyone in this story be trusted?

The Hollywood angle is a brilliant stroke of storytelling. This novel wouldn’t be as scintillating if it were set in any other city because the manipulation on display mirrors that which we all associate with Hollywood. There’s glamour, certainly, but it’s mostly in Louisa’s past and that glamour hides a lot of pain. There’s betrayal in spades. If Hollywood wished to mock itself, this would make a great movie.

I highly recommend Over Her Dead Body to anyone who loves wry humor, satirical mystery, and an easy, fun read. Note: there’s some strong language at play in this book, so if you don’t like a lot of swearing, it’s probably not the book for you.

Death in Iceland

Snow Blind by Ragnar Jónasson 

I have been hearing for some time that I need to give Icelandic and Scandinavian fiction a try, so I finally took the plunge and read Snow Blind, Book 1 in Ragnar Jónasson’s Dark Iceland series.

Let me paraphrase what’s coming for the #TLDR (Too Long, Didn’t Read) folks here: I will be reading more Icelandic and Scandinavian fiction, beginning with book 2 in the Dark Iceland series, Night Blind.

Snow Blind is the story of Ari Thór, a theology-student-turned-police-officer who moves from Reykjavik (starting here, I’m not putting the accents over the words because WordPress isn’t allowing it and I. Just. Can’t.) to Siglufjordur, a small town in the remote north of Iceland where the winters are long and dark and the residents seem to know everything about everyone.

Note my use of the word “seem.” Because when a well-known elderly writer in town dies under suspicious circumstances and his death is closely followed by another bizarre and violent occurrence, the residents are suddenly afraid and it quickly becomes clear they don’t know everything about everyone.

As the newcomer to a town where families go back generations and new faces are greeted with guarded suspicion, Ari Thor has his work cut out for him. He’s the rookie cop on the town’s very small police force and he needs to prove to his boss and the residents of Siglufjordur that he is smart and capable. It isn’t easy—he suffers from claustrophobia and now he’s stuck in a town where winter consists of constant darkness and tons and tons (and tons, and tons…) of snow with only one very treacherous road in or out. He’s left behind a serious girlfriend in Reykjavik and she’s unhappy with his decision to take the job. His new boss shifts on a dime from being fatherlike and kind to gruff and angry when Ari Thor suggests the old writer’s death wasn’t an accident.

This book says “Thriller” right on the cover, but I wouldn’t call it a thriller. I would call it a suspense novel. Here’s why: the reader knows certain things that Ari Thor doesn’t know; the story starts with a crime and circles back to it toward the end of the book; and the killer isn’t known until the final reveal near the conclusion of the story.

But with that being said, it’s a thrilling book. Ari Thor puts himself in harm’s way more than once to prove that he’s the right man for the job, and there are times when he’s in danger and the reader wonders how he’s going to fare. There are red herrings aplenty (pun intended—herring? Iceland? Get it?), and I was kept just off-balance enough to keep reading until way past my bedtime because I needed to know whodunit.

The characters in the book are complex and three-dimensional and the plot moves at a nice clip. I am already looking forward to book 2 in the series and I’ll be checking out other Icelandic and Scandinavian authors, too.

I would highly recommend Snow Blind to anyone who loves dark fiction and a clever mystery set in a desolate but beautiful place with plenty of atmosphere and tension.

Small Town Suspense

We are All the Same in the Dark by Julia Heaberlin

This book is told from the perspectives of three people: Wyatt Branson, whose sister, Trumanelle, disappeared ten years before the beginning of the story; Odette Tucker, a police officer in the tiny Texas town where Trumanelle went missing; and Angel, a character we meet on page one.

Wyatt, Odette, and Angel have suffered tragedy. Their lives are thin threads (thin, but made of titanium) that hover between life and death, that hold untold secrets from everyone—and in one case, I think, even themselves—and that become inextricably linked by the events that led to the disappearance of Trumanelle.

With the exception of a few really low-down characters in this book, I felt sorry for almost everyone. The town has kept people, and not just the main characters, in the grip of an almost manic level of mystery surrounding Trumanelle’s disappearance, and no one seems able to escape or let go. Feelings of anger, rage, frustration, and violence run rampant even ten years after the disappearance, and distrust of Wyatt, especially, is a constant undercurrent in the book.

I would describe this novel as a slow-burn psychological suspense, with enough revelations and dirty laundry to make readers keep turning the pages. Though I knew who the villain was (or at least, who the WORST villain was) before the end, I didn’t know why that person did it and I enjoyed the little-by-little unfolding of the tale.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes psychological suspense, small town mysteries, and dark themes.

***

What I’m reading:

2 ARCs (Advance Reader Copies) that I am LOVING and can’t wait to share with you

Audiobook: Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie

A Storm Hits Valparaíso by David Gaughran

***

Until next time,

Amy

A Cryptic Mystery

Murder in the Crypt by Irina Shapiro

Jason Redmond, a physician and Captain in the Union Army during the American Civil War, has seen his fair share of horrors and atrocities—and experienced some of his own as a prisoner of war. When the war ends and Captain Redmond is freed, he discovers that during his absence, his love, Cecilia, has married his best friend. Crushed in spirit and not knowing what to do next, Jason receives word that his English grandfather has passed away, leaving Jason as the heir to his estate and the title that goes along with it.

Accompanied by a young boy (Micah) he met while in prison, Jason goes to England to settle the affairs of his grandfather. His arrival at the manor is the subject of great interest in the village of Birch Hill and its environs, and Jason and Micah haven’t been in residence for twenty-four hours before becoming the subjects of an investigation into a murder that occurred in the church crypt concurrent with their arrival.

The victim, a young man from a disreputable part of London, was discovered by the church pastor inside the tomb of a great ancestor of Birch Hill. A trail of blood led to the tomb, suggesting someone dragged the victim to that spot.

Who was the young man and why was he murdered?

The village constable, Daniel Haze, needs answers to these questions, and he needs them before the inquest, which is scheduled to take place not long after the discovery of the body. After a rather inauspicious beginning to their friendship, Daniel and Jason join forces to figure out who committed the murder and why.

The cover of this book is what attracted me first. It’s spooky and delightfully atmospheric. And the story is every bit as good as the cover. Both Jason and Daniel (and Micah, too) have experienced tragedy; as the story unfurls, the author reveals bits of backstory that continue to haunt the three characters.

The red herrings in this book are intriguing and subtle, and there were enough surprises to keep me turning pages well into the night to reach The End, where everything was explained and where there are tantalizing hints of the next mystery to embroil the team of Captain Redmond and Daniel Haze. I look forward to reading Book Two.

I would recommend this novel to anyone who loves historical mysteries (particularly those set in England during the Victorian Era), anyone who loves mysteries with complex yet relatable characters, and anyone who loves a good, old-fashioned mystery set in an English village.