2023 Recommended Mystery & Romance
Title: The Ring That Caesar Wore
By: Ashley Gardner
Published: 2023
Leonidas is coerced into a dice game at his local popina, with a stranger who turns out to not be such a stranger after all. His presence puts all around him in danger, and Leonidas struggles to keep the man’s identity secret.
Leonidas has no wish to be caught up in this trouble–he’s about to begin working as a builder, his ticket out of life as a gladiator and bodyguard.
The next morning at the building site, Leonidas almost immediately stumbles across a valuable ring buried in the mud, a ring that has the potential to change the destiny of Rome. Nero commands Leonidas and Cassia to uncover everything about this ring, including who owned it and how it had come to be where it was found. They will not be allowed to fail.
The ring proves to be only the tip of the troubles Leonidas uncovers, with danger from the Emporium to the Esquiline and some that visits Leonidas and Cassia very close to home.
Title: A Fatal Illusion
By: Anna Lee Huber
Published: 2023
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. But when Lord Gage is nearly fatally attacked on a journey to Scotland, Sebastian and Kiera race to his side. Given the tumult over the recent passage of the Reform Bill and the Anatomy Act, in which Lord Gage played a part, Sebastian wonders if the attack could be politically motivated.
But something suspicious is afoot in the sleepy village where Lord Gage is being cared for. The townspeople treat Sebastian and Kiera with hostility when it becomes clear they intend to investigate, and rumors of mysterious disappearances and highway robberies plague the area. Lord Gage’s survival is far from assured, and Sebastian and Kiera must scramble to make the pieces fit before a second attempt at murder is more successful than the first.
Title: A Sinister Revenge
By: Deanna Raybourn
Published: 2023
Veronica’s natural-historian beau, Stoker, has been away in Bavaria for months and their relationship is at an impasse. But when Veronica shows up before him with his brother, Tiberius, Lord Templeton-Vane, he is lured back home by an intriguing job offer: preparing an iguanodon for a very special dinner party.
Tiberius has received a cryptic message—along with the obituaries of two recently deceased members of his old group of friends, the Seven Sinners—that he too should get his affairs in order. Realizing he is in grave danger but not knowing why, he plans a reunion party for the remaining Sinners at his family estate to lure the killer out while Veronica and Stoker investigate.
As the guests arrive and settle in, the evening’s events turn deadly. More clues come to light, leading Veronica, Stoker, and Tiberius to uncover a shared past among the Sinners that has led to the fatal present. But the truth might be far more sinister than what they were prepared for.
Title: The Shadows of London
By: Andrew Taylor
Published: 2023
London 1671
The damage caused by the Great Fire still overshadows the capital.
The disfigured body of a man is unearthed in the ruins of the old almshouse, forcing architect Cat Hakesby to stop restoration work. It is clear he has been murdered, and Whitehall secretary James Marwood is ordered to investigate.
When the man’s identity is revealed, it’s clear that there are larger forces at play, and Marwood comes under serious pressure to solve the case. But an old adversary is attempting to stop him.
As Cat and Marwood follow the threads of corruption into the heart of government, the king himself is being distracted from affairs of state. A young, impoverished Frenchwoman has caught his eye – a quiet affair that will have monumental consequences.
Title: A Tempest At Sea
By: Sherry Thomas
Published: 2023
Charlotte Holmes's life is in peril when her brilliant deductive skills are put to the test in her most dangerous investigation yet, locked aboard a ship at sea.
After feigning her own death in Cornwall to escape from Moriarty’s perilous attention, Charlotte Holmes goes into hiding. But then she receives a tempting offer: Find a dossier the crown is desperately seeking, and she might be able to go back to a normal life.
Her search leads her aboard the RMS Provence. But on the night Charlotte makes her move to retrieve the dossier, in the midst of a terrifying storm in the Bay of Biscay, a brutal murder takes place on the ship.
Instead of solving the crime, as she is accustomed to doing, Charlotte must take care not to be embroiled in this investigation, lest it become known to those who harbor ill intentions that Sherlock Holmes is abroad and still very much alive.
Title: The White Lady
By: Jacqueline Winspear
Published: 2023
A reluctant ex-spy with demons of her own, Elinor finds herself facing down one of the most dangerous organized crime gangs in London, ultimately exposing corruption from Scotland Yard to the highest levels of government.
The private, quiet “Miss White" as Elinor is known, lives in a village in rural Kent, England, and to her fellow villagers seems something of an enigma. Well she might, as Elinor occupies a "grace and favor" property, a rare privilege offered to faithful servants of the Crown for services to the nation. But the residents of Shacklehurst have no way of knowing how dangerous Elinor's war work had been, or that their mysterious neighbor is haunted by her past.
It will take Susie, the child of a young farmworker, Jim Mackie and his wife, Rose, to break through Miss White's icy demeanor—but Jim has something in common with Elinor. He, too, is desperate to escape his past. When the powerful Mackie crime family demands a return of their prodigal son for an important job, Elinor assumes the task of protecting her neighbors, especially the bright-eyed Susie. Yet in her quest to uncover the truth behind the family’s pursuit of Jim, Elinor unwittingly sets out on a treacherous path—yet it is one that leads to her freedom.
Title: King of Pride
By: Ana Huang
Published: 2023
Reserved, controlled, and proper to a fault, Kai Young has neither the time nor inclination for chaos and Isabella, with her purple hair and inappropriate jokes, is chaos personified. With a crucial CEO vote looming and a media empire at stake, the billionaire heir can not afford the distraction she brings. Isabella is everything he should not want, but with every look and every touch, he is tempted to break all his rules and claim her as his own.
Bold, impulsive, and full of life, Isabella Valencia has never met a party she doesn’t like or a man she couldn’t charm...except for Kai Young. It shouldn’t matter. He’s not her type—the man translates classics into Latin for fun, and his membership at the exclusive club where she bartends means he’s strictly off limits. But she can’t deny that, beneath his cool exterior, is a man who could make her melt with just a touch.
No matter how hard they try, they can’t resist giving into their forbidden desires.
Even if it costs them everything.