Books like 'A Gift for Guile'
Readers who enjoyed A Gift for Guile by Alissa Johnson also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical suspense victorian mystery from hate to love working class heroine warrior-heroine survival found-family outlaw-heroine
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Method of Revenge by Cara Devlin
Murder never shocks Leonora Spencer. Violence is a fact of life in Victorian London, and most of the corpses Leo attends to inside her uncle’s city morgue are its victims... -
Courier of Death by Cara Devlin
Months after a devastating discovery about the murder of her family, Leonora Spencer is still struggling to cope. She has kept her distance from Scotland Yard—and from Detective Inspector Jasper Reid—just as she has vowed to do... -
Murder at Traitors' Gate by Irina Shapiro
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsThe chill of winter has descended on London. But for Sebastian Bell and Gemma Tate, there will be little cheer this season…Gemma Tate has a new job and a new address. She is putting her past – her memories of nursing in the Crimean war – behind her. Until Jacob Harrow, a journalist with ties to Crimea, is found brutally killed, and Gemma is pulled into the investigation... -
Ghost in the Garden by Mary Lancaster
Partners in crime… but not in love?Silver & Grey take on their first official inquiry, when Mrs. Angela Lambert hires Constance and Solomon to discover the truth about the ghost haunting her garden... -
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Betrayal from Beyond by Deb Marlowe
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsEvery betrayal is rife with pain--but betrayal from beyond the grave? Terrifying.After terror, turmoil and more than their fair share of murder, the newly married Duke and Duchess of Sedwick have reached a calmer, more serene phase, both in life and in their relationship... -
A Gentleman in Search of a Wife by Grace Burrowes
Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsLord Julian Caldicott accepts a request to search for the missing wife of Mr. John Tait. Evelyn Tait disappeared five years ago, and as Julian attempts to follow a cold trail, he meets with resistance, lies, and suspicion from those who should seek most eagerly to aid him... -
Cloaked in Deception by Cara Devlin
When masked men storm a charity dinner for the Metropolitan and City Police Orphanage, Leonora Spencer and Detective Inspector Jasper Reid are among the many guests forced to witness the pandemonium—and a brutal murder... -
A Grave Robbery by Deanna Raybourn
Veronica and Stoker discover that not all fairy tales have happy endings, and some end in murder, in this latest historical mystery from New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award–nominated author Deanna Raybourn... -
A Corruption of Blood by Ambrose Parry
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsSHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA HISTORICAL DAGGER 2022A Raven and Fisher Book 3Edinburgh, 1850. This city will bleed you dry.Sarah Fisher is keeping a safe distance from her old flame Dr Will Raven. Having long worked at the side of Dr James Simpson, she has set her sights on learning to practise medicine herself. A notion everyone seems intent on dissuading her from... -
No Stone Unturned by Pam Lecky
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsLucy Lawrence stared down at her husband, his once handsome face now a twisted mask of death. She shivered and pulled her shawl tighter around her shoulders. His life had held so many secrets, and now his sins were hers to bear… England, 1886. In the flickering gaslights of Victorian London, 28-year-old Lucy Lawrence's future hangs in the balance... -
The God of the Hive by Laurie R. King
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsIn Laurie R. King’s latest Mary Russell–Sherlock Holmes mystery, the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author delivers a thriller of ingenious surprises and unrelenting suspense—as the famous husband and wife sleuths are pursued by a killer immune from the sting of justice... -
Murder at the Foundling Hospital by Irina Shapiro
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsGemma’s boots slip on uneven ground and her black cape catches in the wind as she runs. “Please, not Lucy,” she prays. Nurse Gemma Tate is heartbroken when she hears that one of her young charges at the Foundling Hospital has been killed... -
Marriage and Murder by Stephanie Laurens
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratings#1 NYT-bestselling author Stephanie Laurens returns with a puzzling case in which her favorite sleuths must untangle a slew of secrets to expose a coldblooded murderer... -
The Poison Puzzle by Emily Organ
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA secret society. A suspicious death. A trail of deadly clues.London, 1889. When Emma Langley discovers a mysterious symbol in her late husband’s diary, she uncovers a connection to a secretive treasure-hunting group with powerful members. Her investigation takes an unexpected turn when Lord Charles Harpole, a society member, is found dying in his hotel room... -
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The Hidden Hand: Love, Intrigue, and Gender Roles in Victorian Fiction by E.D.E.N. Southworth
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsEmma Southworth's 'The Hidden Hand' is a captivating novel that delves deep into the themes of mystery, romance, and intrigue. Set in the 19th century, this work of literature features a powerful narrative that keeps readers on the edge of their seats... -
The Murder of Thomas Cardwell by Stephanie Laurens
Rated: 4.71 of 5 stars · 7 ratings#1 NYT-bestselling author Stephanie Laurens returns with a perplexing case in which her favorite sleuths must untangle a web of interconnected motives to identify the man who killed Thomas Cardwell... -
The Trick of the Treasure by Mary Lancaster
Rated: 4.71 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsNavigating mystery and lies – and their own precarious love.Struggling with the novelty of their engagement, Constance and Solomon are delighted to dig their teeth into a new mystery – the vanishing of a treasure hoard from a locked strong room.The treasure, only just brought home by adventurer Barnabas Lloyd, was supposed to pay off his debts and rebuild the family’s finances... -
The Orphan in the Peacock Shawl by AnneMarie Brear
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsYorkshire Dales 1850As a terrible storm rages, Annabelle Wallis is shocked to find a distressed young woman at her cottage door, heavy with child. Moments later a baby girl is born. But by dawn, the mother has vanished, leaving behind the helpless child wrapped only in a silk peacock shawl... -
Evidence of Evil: Victorian Historical Romance Mystery by Mary Lancaster
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsPursuing murder and fighting love… Several weeks after they parted company, courtesan Constance calls on the wealthy business-man Solomon Grey to request his help solving another mystery. Her old friend Elizabeth, now the wife of respected magistrate Sir Humphrey Maule, is being accused of murder... -
A Ruse of Shadows by Sherry Thomas
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsCharlotte Holmes is accustomed to solving crimes, not being accused of them, but she finds herself in a dreadfully precarious position as the bestselling Lady Sherlock series continues.Charlotte’s success on the RMS Provence has afforded her a certain measure of time and assurance. Taking advantage of that, she has been busy, plotting to prise the man her sister loves from Moriarty’s iron grip... -
Deadly Illusion by Carla Simpson
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsWhat is real or only an illusion?Ghostly images that appear and float across the stage, objects that levitate into the air, and a beautiful assistant who disappears inside a glass box, then reappears inside a second glass box. All while the audience at the Crystal Palace, including amateur investigator Mikaela Forsythe, watch the performance... -
The Whitechapel Widow by Emily Organ
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsLondon hunts the Ripper. A widow hunts her husband's killer.London, 1888. While Jack the Ripper's reign of terror grips the city, Emma Langley's world shatters when her husband is found murdered in Whitechapel. But grief is quickly overshadowed by a startling William Langley was not the man she thought she knew... -
The Art of Deception by Pam Lecky
Rated: 4.37 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFresh from her adventures abroad, Victorian widow Lucy Lawrence returns to London, eager to start a new chapter. Her world is rocked when an assassin's bullet strikes her new fiancé. As he lies gravely injured, Lucy vows to unmask the culprit...London, 1888. When a brutal murder occurs at her engagement party, Lucy Lawrence finds herself pulled into a new investigation... -
The House at the End of the Moor by Michelle Griep
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWhat Can a London Opera Star and an Escaped Dartmoor Prisoner Have in Common? Opera star Maggie Lee escapes her opulent lifestyle when threatened by a powerful politician who aims to ruin her life. She runs off to the wilds of the moors to live in anonymity. All that changes the day she discovers a half-dead man near her house... -
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The Girl in the Picture by Kerry Barrett
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsTwo women. One house. Centuries of secrets East Sussex Coast, 1855 Violet Hargreaves is the lonely daughter of a widowed industrialist, and an aspiring Pre-Raphaelite painter. One day, the naïve eighteen-year-old meets Edwin; a mysterious and handsome man on the beach, who promises her a world beyond the small costal village she’s trapped in... -
The Royal Assassin: A Victorian era clean cozy mystery by Kate Parker
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWhen the Duke of Blackford enters her bookstore, Georgia knows the Archivist Society is in need of her services. The Tsar of Russia and his family are visiting Queen Victoria on the auspices of the engagement of the Russian princess Kira to the son of the Queen’s cousin... -
Murder in Chelsea by Victoria Thompson
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsSarah Brandt is shattered when she learns that a woman has inquired at Hope’s Daughters Mission for Catherine, the abandoned child she has taken as her daughter. The woman claims she was Catherine’s nursemaid, now acting on behalf of the girl’s mother to reunite them. Unwilling to simply hand Catherine over to a complete stranger, Sarah asks Malloy to investigate... -
The Art of Dying by Ambrose Parry
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsEdinburgh, 1850. Despite being at the forefront of modern medicine, hordes of patients are dying all across the city, with doctors finding their remedies powerless. But it is not just the deaths that dismay the esteemed Dr James Simpson - a whispering campaign seeks to blame him for the death of a patient in suspicious circumstances... -
The Business of Blood by Kerrigan Byrne
London, 1890. Blood and death are Fiona Mahoney’s trade, and business, as they say, is booming. Dying is the only thing people do with any regularity, and Fiona makes her indecorous living cleaning up after the corpses are carted away. Her childhood best friend, Mary, was the last known victim of Jack the Ripper... -
An Indomitable Woman by Sarah F. Noel
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe Investigative Countess, Rapier Sharp Logic paired with Great Insight and Boldness. A Private Inquiry Agent.When the dowager countess receives her first assignment as a private inquiry agent from Tuchinsky, an East End gangster, she immediately throws herself into the case with gusto... -
A Discerning Woman by Sarah F. Noel
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIt seems Christmas will be anything but peaceful this year! Tabitha and Wolf are hoping to spend a quiet Christmas at Glanwyddan Hall, the Pembroke estate in Wales. However, before they even leave London, they receive unsettling news of disturbing pranks happening on the estate... -
Summer in the Highlands by Nichole Van, Heidi Kimball
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFrom the publisher of the USA Today bestselling Timeless Romance Anthology series, comes Summer in the Highlands, with three Victorian Romance novellas by Nichole Van, Heidi Kimball, and Michele Paige Holmes.Remnants of Love by Nichole VanMrs. Christiana Newton—Chrissi to her closest friends—has two simple goals in life. One, earn a living through her archaeological expertise... -
Murder in Moonlight by Mary Lancaster
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA house of secrets, an impossible attraction On a personal quest, Constance Silver, who runs Mayfair’s most exclusive brothel, has lied her way into Greenforth Manor, home of respectable and charismatic provincial banker, Walter Winsom. She feels quite safe from recognition until Solomon Grey joins the party... -
Charmed by a Wily Lass by Amy Jarecki
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThrust into the role of Viscount Berwick, Kenneth arrives in London to investigate the true cause of his brother’s death. The man might have died in his bed, but Kenneth does not agree with the doctor’s findings... -
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The Obsessions of Lord Godfrey Cavanaugh by Stephanie Laurens
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratings#1 New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Laurens concludes the tales of the Cavanaugh siblings with the riveting story of the youngest brother and his search for a family of his own... -
The Beguilement of Lady Eustacia Cavanaugh by Stephanie Laurens
#1 New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Laurens continues the bold tales of the Cavanaugh siblings as the sole Cavanaugh sister discovers that love truly does conquer all... -
A Murder in Mayfair: A Victorian Historical Mystery by Magda Alexander
A sinister murder. An impossible alliance. A scandal-ridden investigation.London, 1889. Lady Rosalynd, a fervent champion of women’s rights, is no stranger to challenging the status quo. But when a brutal murder casts suspicion on Rosalynd’s beloved cousin and implicates the enigmatic Duke of Steele's brother, her fiercely guarded independence is put to the ultimate test... -
The Serpent on the Crown by Elizabeth Peters
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsA priceless relic has been delivered to the Emerson home overlooking the Nile. But more than history surrounds this golden likeness of a forgotten king, for it is said early death will befall anyone who possesses it. The woman who implores the renowned family of archaeologists and adventurers to accept the cursed statue insists the ill-gotten treasure has already killed her husband... -
The Maid's Secret: A compelling historical murder mystery by Emily Organ
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsCyanide in the champagne. A family with deadly intentions... Can an undercover reporter reveal the truth before it’s too late?London, 1884. When reporter Penny Green is tasked with going undercover as a maid to spy on a Victorian industrialist in his South Kensington home, she expects intrigue. But she never imagined murder... -
The Sea Captain's Wife by Jackie French
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsFrom bestselling author Jackie French comes a compelling story of murder, mystery, and mutiny on the high seas - and a love so intense it can overcome two different cultures.You never know what the sea will give you ... or what it will take back... -
The Honorable Rogue by Wendy Vella
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsA gentleman with secrets, a society miss and a treasure they must find to stay alive.When Charles Thomas stumbles upon a mysterious note hidden in an old Russian book, he’s unable to decipher it—until he crosses paths with Miss Violet Althorp. Like him, she’s searching for something to escape the shadows of her past... -
Tomb of the Golden Bird by Elizabeth Peters
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsConvinced that the tomb of the little-known king Tutankhamon lies somewhere in the Valley of the Kings, eminent Egyptologist Radcliffe Emerson and his intrepid wife, Amelia Peabody, seem to have hit a wall. Having been banned forever from the East Valley, Emerson, against Amelia's advice, has tried desperately to persuade Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter to relinquish their digging rights... -
The Inevitable Fall of Christopher Cynster by Stephanie Laurens
#1 New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Laurens returns to the Cynsters' next generation with a rollicking tale of smugglers, counterfeit banknotes, and two people falling in love.A gentleman hoping to avoid falling in love and a lady who believes love has passed her by are flung together in a race to unravel a plot to undermine the realm... -
Murder In the North End by P.B. Ryan
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 24 ratings“It’s always a good day when a new Nell Sweeney book arrives.” —CA Reviews July 1870: Nell Sweeney’s position as governess for the venerable Hewitts of Boston affords her a unique perspective in an era of sharp class distinctions. Neither servant nor gentlewoman, she can fit in among the denizens of a waterfront tenement or the bluebloods of Colonnade Row... -
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Miss Flibbertigibbet and The Barbarian by Stephanie Laurens
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratings#1 New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Laurens returns with a story of two people thrown together on a journey of discovery that defines what each most want of life, love, and family.A gentleman wishing to buy a fabulous horse and a lady set on protecting her family find common ground while pursuing a thief who upends both of their plans... -
A Duke’s Promise: A Historical Regency Romance Novel by Sally Vixen
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratings“You will call me by my name, and you will not curtsy to me.”Lady Isabella absolutely loathes rakes. And the Duke of Sutterton, the man she accidentally finds herself on top of, is the most wicked of them all. She might have no choice but to marry him, but she is determined to stay away from him. Until his lips touch hers, and she finds herself unable to resist him.. -
An Audacious Woman by Sarah F. Noel
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFor fans of Deanna Raybourn, Tasha Alexander, and Andrea Penrose...Step into 1897 Victorian Unravel Love and Intrigue with The Tabitha & Wolf Historical Mystery Series, where Mystery meets Romance with a splash of Humour... -
An Inexplicable Woman by Sarah F. Noel
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsStep into 1897 Victorian Unravel Love and Intrigue with The Tabitha & Wolf Historical Mystery Series, where Mystery meets Romance with a splash of Humour. Who is this mysterious woman from Wolf’s past who can so easily summon him to her side? When Lady Arlene Archibald tracks Wolf down and begs him for help, he plans to travel to Brighton alone to see her... -
The Meriwell Legacy by Stephanie Laurens
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratings#1 NYT-bestselling author Stephanie Laurens returns with her favorite sleuths to unravel a tangled web of family secrets and expose a murderer.When Lord Meriwell collapses and dies at his dining table, Barnaby and Penelope Adair are summoned, along with Inspector Basil Stokes, to discover who, how, and most importantly why someone very close to his lordship saw fit to poison him... -
An Intrepid Woman by Sarah F. Noel
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFinally, Tabitha and Wolf are married and they couldn't be happier. The last thing either of them wants is to be sucked back into a murder investigation.Tabitha and Wolf, eager to embrace their new life as a married couple, have agreed not to take on any new investigations for the time being. Instead, they want to enjoy a peaceful time as newlyweds, uninterrupted by murder and intrigue...
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