Books like 'Deadly Illusion'
Readers who enjoyed Deadly Illusion by Carla Simpson also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical victorian mystery suspense
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Deadly Secrets by Carla Simpson
Rated: 4.41 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA severed foot. Fingerprints left on a wine glass. A secret cypher code. The scent of orange and cinnamon left behind by the murderer...Categorized as:
mystery suspense victorian historical 20th century multicultural heroine sleuth length-medium -
A Deadly Game by Carla Simpson
Rated: 4.41 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsLondon, 1890:It's a New Year, but murder never takes a holiday.The past reaches out to the unlikely investigative team of Angus Brodie and Mikaela Forsythe when a man Mikaela was once engaged to seeks her assistance to find his young runaway son... -
A Deadly Affair by Carla Simpson
London 1889 — Murder, mystery, and two people in a most unlikely partnership.She's an unconventional lady who has traveled the world, practices the art of self defense most excellently, and has an interesting tattoo in, ahem... a very unusual place... -
A Singular Woman by Sarah F. Noel
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsWolf had hoped he could put his thief-taking life behind him when he unexpectedly inherited an earldom. Wolf, the new Earl of Pembroke, against his better judgment, finds himself sucked back into another investigation. He knows better than to think he can keep Tabitha out of it... -
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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: 4.29 of 5 stars · 23 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... -
The Game by Laurie R. King
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsIt’s only the second day of 1924, but Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, find themselves embroiled in intrigue. It starts with a New Year’s visit from Holmes’s brother Mycroft, who comes bearing a strange package containing the papers of an English spy named Kimball O’Hara—the same Kimball known to the world through Kipling’s famed Kim... -
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 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... -
Dead Beside The Thames by Stephanie Laurens
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 8 ratings#1 NYT-bestselling author Stephanie Laurens returns with a confounding case that sees her favorite sleuths acting to save a friend wrongly accused of murder.When a detested viscount is found murdered by the banks of the Thames and Charlie Hastings becomes the prime suspect, Barnaby and Penelope Adair join forces with Stokes to discover the real story behind the unexpected killing... -
Evidence of Evil: Victorian Historical Romance Mystery by Mary Lancaster
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 8 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... -
The Business of Blood by Kerrigan Byrne
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsLondon, 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... -
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... -
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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... -
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... -
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... -
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... -
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... -
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A Tangled Ruse by Laura Beers
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsAfter a failed abduction attempt, Lady Rachel is sent into hiding on her uncle’s estate near the sleepy village of Rockcliffe on the shores of Scotland. As she struggles to cope with the nightmares of her past, she unwittingly stumbles into even greater danger than she left behind. And this time, Shadow isn't around to save her... -
The Serpent on the Crown by Elizabeth Peters
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 30 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... -
A Fatal Illusion by Anna Lee Huber
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsNew parents Lady Kiera Darby and Sebastian Gage look forward to introducing Sebastian’s father to his granddaughter, but instead find themselves investigating an attempt on his life...Yorkshire, England. August 1832. Relations between Sebastian Gage and his father have never been easy, especially since the discovery that Lord Gage has been concealing the existence of an illegitimate son... -
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... -
Tomb of the Golden Bird by Elizabeth Peters
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 29 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... -
A Ruse of Shadows by Sherry Thomas
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 25 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... -
Miss Moriarty, I Presume? by Sherry Thomas
Charlotte Holmes comes face to face with her enemy when Moriarty turns to her in his hour of need, in the USA Today bestselling series set in Victorian England.A most unexpected client shows up at Charlotte Holmes's doorstep: Moriarty himself. Moriarty fears that tragedy has befallen his daughter and wants Charlotte to find out the truth.Charlotte and Mrs... -
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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A Deceptive Bargain by Laura Beers
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsHiding from the horrors of her past, Miss Martha Haskett is content living her days serving as a lady's maid to her friend Eliza, the Marchioness of Lansdowne. But then her father, the new Earl of Waterford, shows up, with the shocking news that she is now a titled lady. Further turning her life upside down, he proposes a bargain... -
When Tomorrow Came by Hannah Linder
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThey Waited Their Whole Lives for Their Papa to Return Nan and Heath Duncan, siblings abandoned by their papa and abused by their guardian, have no choice but to survive on the London streets. When a kind gentleman rescues Nan from such a life, the siblings are separated and raised in two vastly different social worlds... -
The Corpse Played Dead by Georgina Clarke
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratings‘All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players…’ When an undercover assignment for the Bow Street magistrate sees prostitute Lizzie Hardwicke trade Ma Farley’s Bawdy House in Soho for life as a seamstress the theatre on Drury Lane, it becomes clear quite quickly - what goes on in the wings is much more intriguing than the theatrics being played out on stage…Soon Lizzie is... -
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... -
A Pocketful of Diamonds by Pam Lecky
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsLucy Lawrence smoothed her silk travelling gown and watched as darkness fell over the shimmering waters of Lake Como – her honeymoon bliss shattered in an instant by a telegram carrying deadly tidings…Newlyweds Lucy Lawrence and Phineas Stone arrive at the glittering shores of Lake Como, Italy, not to enjoy a romantic honeymoon but to answer a frantic plea for help... -
Finding Lady Enderly by Joanna Davidson Politano
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsRaina Bretton is a rag woman in London's east end when a handsome stranger appears in a dank alley and offers her a glittering smile and a chance for adventure. Rothburne Abbey has a unique position for her, one that will take her away from her hardscrabble life and give her a chance to be a lady. Things she could only dream of might be coming true. But some dreams turn out to be nightmares... -
Brother, Can You Spare a Crime?: Another John Pickett Mystery by Sheri Cobb South
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhen one of his colleagues witnesses a robbery in which one of the participants, a child, bears a striking resemblance to a certain Bow Street Runner, John Pickett realizes he has a young half-brother who has been “apprenticed” to a criminal gang... -
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The Sanctuary by Sandra Lea Rice
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA woman set on Clairece Griffin is summoned to the Metropolitan Museum in New York to authenticate a relic reputedly having belonged to Mary, Queen of Scots. While there, the valuable, gem-encrusted treasure is stolen and her husband killed. When Clairece learns of the relic’s resurfacing in England, she travels to London under the pretext of visiting relatives... -
His Wallflower White by Tammy Andresen
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 5 ratingsHe’ll keep her safe no matter the cost...When The Honourable Patrick Cranston is hired by the White family to guard a duke’s sister, he’s relieved. Watching one debutante is a fair sight easier than bareknuckle boxing; at least, that’s how it seems. At first... -
Her Wanton White by Tammy Andresen
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 5 ratingsHe’s sworn never to marry...Lord Justice White isn’t the settle down type of man. He’s a fighter, a drinker, and a rake, through and through. But when he takes on the villain threatening his family, a beautiful and innocent debutante is caught in the crossfire. As sweet as Lady Violet is tempting, Justice doesn’t want her for himself. Absolutely not... -
His White Wager by Tammy Andresen
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 5 ratingsShe’s no lady...Rebecca White makes her own way. She’ll dress as a man to support her mother if she chooses, she’ll participate in illegal gaming if it pleases her, and she’ll even cheat a lord now and then if the idea catches her fancy. But what she didn’t count on was an entire family of White’s tracking her down and being just as stubborn and independent as—well—herself... -
Footprints in the Sand by Pam Lecky
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWhen Lucy Lawrence travels to Egypt with a dashing French archaeologist, she thinks she's leaving her troubled past behind. But in the shadow of the pyramids, death and deception await...Egypt, 1887. After scandals in London, young widow Lucy Lawrence seeks a fresh start in Cairo, agreeing to fund an archaeological dig led by the charismatic Frenchman Armand Moreau... -
Murder on Bank Street by Victoria Thompson
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsThe �tantalizing�(Catherine Coulter) Edgar® Award-nominated Gaslight mystery series featuring midwife Sarah Brandt continues...
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