This post contains affiliate links - using affiliate links from Just A Second helps supply books and coffee.
The Friday Five Link Up is a List Link Up hosted by The Book Date. It can be five connections of any kind. Books can have been read last year or any year. Books can be used more than once. They may not have been read yet. . . It can be as simple or as complicated as you like. Maybe it's not a list of actual books, but things connected to books - e.g. favourite book shops, recipes etc. It might even be five movies related to books or five poems or five poets or five bookish moments, five thoughts about reading - be creative! The link-up will be open each Friday and will close on Thursday. Use the hashtag #connect5books
In Canada, this is the beginning of the long weekend of Victoria Day. The Canadian holiday was first celebrated in 1845, on Queen Victoria's birthday. The holiday is on the third Monday of May and now marks the official birthday celebration of the current Queen of England. For most Canadians, it's just a day off and the unofficial beginning of the summer season. As I saw this holiday on my upcoming calendar, I thought it would make a good connection for novels. Here are five set in Victorian England, and it turns out they are all mysteries too. Hmmm.
*****
A Curious Beginning (A Veronica Speedwell Mystery) by Deanna Raybourn - This series from Raybourn, as well as the Lady Julia series, is set in Victorian England, but I chose to feature this one because (possible spoiler alert!) the mysterious parentage of Veronica Speedwell is connected to the royal family. A mysterious German baron rescues Veronica from an abduction attempt. Convinced she is in danger, the baron brings Veronica to London, and reveals that he knows the identity of her parents. He delivers her for safekeeping to his friend Stoker, a reclusive scientist and explorer with his own dark secrets. However, before Veronica can speak with the baron again, he is murdered in his home. Veronica's only known link to her past is gone, and she and Stoker realize they are considered the prime suspects for the murder. They team up to solve the murder and track down the clues to Veronica's parentage.
A Study In Scarlet Women (The Lady Sherlock Series)
by Sherry Thomas - This novel takes a very different angle on the Victorian era detective stories by proposing that Sherlock was an assumed identity for a very clever young woman named Charlotte Holmes. A scandal surrounding Charlotte escalates when the sudden death of a society matron stirs up suspicion of Charlotte and her family. With her sharp mind, Charlotte sees a connection between that death and two others, and writing letters as Sherlock Holmes, tries to urge the authorities to investigate further. Charlotte's funds are running dangerously low when she strikes up a friendship with a wealthy widow, and soon the two of them think of a way to use the mysterious Sherlock Holmes identity to solve the case and to take clients in need of an investigator.
by Sherry Thomas - This novel takes a very different angle on the Victorian era detective stories by proposing that Sherlock was an assumed identity for a very clever young woman named Charlotte Holmes. A scandal surrounding Charlotte escalates when the sudden death of a society matron stirs up suspicion of Charlotte and her family. With her sharp mind, Charlotte sees a connection between that death and two others, and writing letters as Sherlock Holmes, tries to urge the authorities to investigate further. Charlotte's funds are running dangerously low when she strikes up a friendship with a wealthy widow, and soon the two of them think of a way to use the mysterious Sherlock Holmes identity to solve the case and to take clients in need of an investigator.
The Face of a Stranger by Anne Perry - Another mystery series set in Victorian London, the William Monk series features an enigmatic police detective who has lost much of his memory following an accident. He returns to work and is assigned the case of the murder of a Crimean war hero, all while trying to hide his memory loss from his superior. Perry also writes the Charlotte & Thomas Pitt series, which is also set in Victorian London and makes use of London neighborhoods and street names in the novel titles.
And Only To Deceive by Tasha Alexander - Young society widow Lady Emily Ashton develops an interest in her late husband's dealings in antiquities, which stirs up questions about how he might have been connected to a black market in antiquities and engaged in fraudulent activities. Emily sets out to unravel the mysteries and decide which, if any, of her late husband's friends she can trust. This is the first of the Lady Emily series, in which she and her new love Colin are thrust into intrigues and mysteries as they navigate their new relationship in class-conscience Victorian society.
Lady of Ashes
by Christine Trent - Violet Morgan has been assisting her husband Graham in his undertaking business, and has a real affinity for her work. In fact, she is actually better suited to it than Graham is. Their relationship is deteriorating, and Violet is beginning to uncover a blockade running scheme he and his brother are involved in. Violet notices something strange about some of the bodies she deals with, and suspects a murderer is at large. She must track down the killer and rescue the orphan that she's taken in. In what seems at first to be an unrelated storyline, the Queen requests Violet's involvement in planning the funeral for Prince Albert.
by Christine Trent - Violet Morgan has been assisting her husband Graham in his undertaking business, and has a real affinity for her work. In fact, she is actually better suited to it than Graham is. Their relationship is deteriorating, and Violet is beginning to uncover a blockade running scheme he and his brother are involved in. Violet notices something strange about some of the bodies she deals with, and suspects a murderer is at large. She must track down the killer and rescue the orphan that she's taken in. In what seems at first to be an unrelated storyline, the Queen requests Violet's involvement in planning the funeral for Prince Albert.
©2008-2020 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
by Lori Copeland - A businesswoman on her way to see the logging operation she has just inherited is the only survivor of a wagon accident and has lost her memory. The manager of the logging camp thinks at first that she is the teacher they were expecting. Before communications can be sent out, severe winter weather cuts off travel in and out of the camp for quite awhile - and romance blooms. (Read my full review 
featuring Kiera, an eccentric, widowed artist; and investigator Sebastian Gage. I've read the first four novels and am now awaiting the release of the next book in this series. She is my most recently discovered favorite author.
, the 
