Regency Mystery

I love reading about England, especially the England of yore. I just love reading about the gorgeous dresses (what exactly is muslin, anyway?), balls, and men on horses.  It is all seems very exciting although I imagine it was actually quite smelly.  I try not think too much about that though.  Anyway, what better way to soup up a regency story than with a good mystery?!  It's like Jane Austen meets James Patterson but BETTER.
My two favorite contemporary authors are Deanna Raybourn and C.S. Harris.
Deanna Raybourn writes the Lady Julia Grey series.  The characters are wonderful and dialogue is so witty.  Lady Julia is from a very large and eccentric family who provide tons of entertainment throughout the series.  Not to mention the dark and brooding half gypsy detective investigating her husbands murder.  I feel like I should quote Anne Shirley when I say this book will deliver definite thrills.

Lady Julia is so elegant and sassy.  I just love this cover.



C.S. Harris writes the Sebastian St. Cyr series.  I was a little wary of this series at first because it is told from the male perspective and I was worried I wouldn't be able to relate to it.  I couldn't put it down though.  I started with the first book and had all six of them read in two weeks.  St. Cyr is a great character and the mysteries are very intriguing if a bit gruesome at times (I'm talking paragraphs, not pages).

This cover actually kept me from getting this book for a while.  It just doesn't appeal to me at all, but you definitely shouldn't judge this book by it's cover.  It's MUCH better.

I haven't read any authentic regency mysteries yet simply because they take me so much longer to read.  Somehow the language makes it much slower going and I typically like to finish a book in two or three days.  I have bought and plan to read The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins.  I've heard he's fantastic but I'll have to let you know what I discover about him.