1. Rachel Savernake series by Martin Edwards—Set in 1930s London, this series stars the intrepid daughter of a well-known hanging judge who has an uncanny knack for solving the murders that stump Scotland Yard. Convinced Rachel is more than she seems, journalist Jacob Flint follows the amateur sleuth hoping to discover the secrets behind her sleuthing success.

2. Lady Julia Grey series by Deanna Raybourn—When the titular heroine and private inquiry agent Nicholas Brisbane are brought together by the murder of Julia's husband, it becomes apparent that they make a good investigating team. Mysteries ensue. I believe this series is set in Victorian England.

3. Maggie Hope series by Susan Ella MacNeal—When Winston Churchill becomes prime minister in 1940, Maggie Hope is hired to be his secretary. Brilliant but overlooked because of her gender, Maggie's new position opens her up to an exciting array of unimaginable opportunities, including tantalizing mysteries begging to be solved.

4. Baskerville Hall series by Ali Standish—The first installment of this brand-new middle-grade series won't be available for a few more weeks, but I've got an ARC I'm excited to read. It imagines what might have happened if a young Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was recognized for his deductive brilliance and invited to attend a special school for gifted children. Spoiler alert: he and his schoolmates (including a boy named Jimmie Moriarty) find all kinds of mysteries to explore. 

5. Louise Falk series by Liz Freeland—It's 1913 and 20-year-old Louise Falk has traded her Pennsylvania upbringing for the bright lights of New York City. Solving a murder that happened in her Greenwich Village apartment proves she has an aptitude for investigation. Soon, she's moving all over the city to sniff out criminals. 

6. Verity Kent series by Anna Lee Huber—In post-World War I England, grieving widow Verity Kent is pulled into a mystery surrounding the death of her husband. Solving that one leads her to reluctantly take on more cases to help family and friends.

7. The Brontë Sisters series by Bella Ellis—Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë are smart, creative, and plucky women who are eager to use their talents for endeavors beyond keeping house. When a neighbor's disappearance leads them to launch their own amateur investigation, they realize that they make a fine team of detectors—even society frowns on them doing something so unladlylike.

8. Murder Most Unladylike series by Robin Stevens—This middle-grade series is set in an English boarding school in the 1930s. It stars Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong, who set up a secret detective agency to investigate crimes among their friends and classmates.

9. Mrs. Jefferies series by Emily Brightwell—Another series set in Victorian England (I just can't resist!), this one just sounds delightful. Mrs. Jefferies is the eagle-eyed housekeeper of a prominent Scotland Yard inspector. Her insights are the real key to his success as an investigator. 

10. Victorian Book Club series by Callie Hutton—Set in Bath, England, in the 1890s, this series stars a female mystery author who solves real-life mysteries along with the members of her book club.

Phew! There you go, ten historical mystery series I already adore and ten I want to read (and adore). Which others would you recommend? What did you do for your genre freebie list today? I'd love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog. I also reply to the comments you leave here.

Happy TTT! 

As the book explains, Bell continued to experience acts of blatant racism as he grew up, including being shadowed while shopping, getting shut down by teachers, name-calling from his peers, accusations of plagiarism, profiling by police, and more. He sought solace and escape in his art, where he found his voice as a political cartoonist/satirist. His pointed, provocative, and often controversial ruminations on politics, injustice, prejudice, racism, and more have earned him both accolades and death threats over the years. In 2019, he won a Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning, the first Black person to do so. 

It's easy to see why Bell's work has earned so much attention. The illustrations in The Talk are top-notch, loose but also vivid and compelling. No less so are his words, which pair with his pictures to create an immensely powerful story. For me—the white mother of an adopted, bi-racial child—the most poignant, heart-wrenching chapter in the book is the final one, in which Bell's 6-year-old son asks his dad about George Floyd. Not having planned to deliver "the talk" until the boy is a bit older, Bell is forced to shatter his child's innocence by talking about the hard truths of living while Black. It's excruciating to read, especially since, in the cartoon face of Bell's child, I see mine. 

The Talk is many things: raw, angry, gut-wrenching, timely, impactful, and, yes, hopeful. Surprisingly, it's also funny in parts. I laughed out loud when Bell recalled his mom marching to his school in her bathrobe and curlers to confront the principal. Embarrassed, he pled, "Mom? Couldn't you at least get dressed before ruining my whole life?" While most of the book is very serious, there are moments like these that occasionally lighten the mood. Mostly, though, The Talk is a hard-hitting denunciation of racism and injustice. Like Bell, I also hope that the issues he addresses in the book can be overcome so that our Black children can live in a world that is safer, kinder, and more empathetic toward them. One step in that direction is to read this excellent book, take its message to heart, and use it to confront our own prejudices in order to create a better world for all of its people.

(Readalikes: Surprisingly, I haven't read a lot of other books like this. I should. Which do you recommend?)

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