Books like 'The Last Illusion'
Readers who enjoyed The Last Illusion by Rhys Bowen also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical mystery historical-fiction cozy law-enforcement crime suspense magic friendship industrial-era
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Taken to the Grave by Cara Devlin
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe Bow Street Duchess Mystery series comes to a thrilling conclusion in the seventh and final book, Taken to the Grave.As Audrey Sinclair reaches the end of her mourning period, she and Hugh Marsden, the Viscount Neatham, are at long last looking toward their future together — and hoping for a respite from the dangerous criminal investigations they’ve found themselves entrenched in...Categorized as:
historical-fiction industrial-era crime paranormal suspense cozy law-enforcement female-mc -
Fatal by Design by Cara Devlin
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA summer house party in the English countryside.A missing rare jewel.An abducted viscountess.The secrets and complications keeping Audrey and Hugh apart begin to unravel when they team up to solve a puzzling mystery surrounding the disappearance of Audrey’s sister, the Viscountess Redding, and a long-lost ring worth a fortune...Categorized as:
historical-fiction industrial-era crime paranormal cozy law-enforcement female-mc suspense -
The Fatal Flying Affair by T.E. Kinsey
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAugust 1911. Emily Hardcastle and her inimitable lady’s maid Florence Armstrong are enjoying a fine summer until Harry, Lady H’s brother, turns up out of the blue with a mystery for them to solve.A routine parachute test at a local aeroplane factory has gone horribly wrong—with pilot Dickie Dupree plummeting to his death...Categorized as:
cozy crime female-mc friendship historical-fiction industrial-era investigator law-enforcement -
Murder at the Mill by Irina Shapiro
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhen a man’s naked corpse is found strapped to a waterwheel, newly appointed Inspector Haze is called upon to investigate the crime. With the help of American surgeon Captain Redmond, he delves into the life of Frank Darrow, a man who inspired such hatred, his mere death wasn’t enough to satisfy his killer...Categorized as:
historical-fiction crime suspense industrial-era law-enforcement cozy mystery historical -
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Murder In The Caravan by Irina Shapiro
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhen the body of gentlewoman is found in a Romani caravan, and a second woman from the village of Birch Hill goes missing, Redmond and Haze must peel back the layers of lies, prejudice, and misdirection to discover who’s truly behind the crimes.With little connection between the victims, no obvious motive, and few clues, the case is their most challenging to date...Categorized as:
historical-fiction crime suspense industrial-era law-enforcement cozy mystery historical -
The Saltwater Murder by L.B. Hathaway
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsMURDERED WITH A BOX OF TEARS… London, 1924Posie Parker has been called to her most baffling case yet.Amyas Lyle, London’s top young lawyer, has been found with his head in a box of poisoned saltwater.It’s the perfect murder... -
Pilfered Promises by M. Louisa Locke
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIt is the winter of 1880, and the future looks promising for Annie and Nate Dawson. Nate’s law practice is taking off. Annie has made the transition from pretend clairvoyant to a successful financial consultant. And they are looking forward to spending their first Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays together... -
A Lark's Release: A Regency Cozy by Lynn Messina
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIt is hardly surprising Verity Lark can’t sleep at night with all the thoughts darting through her her recent stay in Newgate, her debt to Colson Hardwicke, the horrible abuse suffered by the children at Fortescue’s that her reporting on the orphan asylum several years earlier had failed to uncover...Categorized as:
historical-fiction cozy female-mc suspense friendship industrial-era romance mystery -
The Burning Issue of the Day by T.E. Kinsey
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsJanuary 1910. A journalist has been killed in a suspicious blaze. Everything points to a group of suffragettes, but the apparent culprit insists she is innocent.When Lady Hardcastle receives a letter from a suffragette requesting her urgent help, the retired spy turned sleuth knows only she stands between an accused young woman and the gallows...Categorized as:
cozy crime female-mc friendship historical-fiction industrial-era investigator law-enforcement -
A Deadly Affair by Carla Simpson
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsLondon 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...Categorized as:
historical-fiction crime law-enforcement industrial-era suspense female-mc investigator romance -
The Midwife's Secret by Emily Gunnis
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA little girl goes missing from Yew Tree Manor - the same house from which a girl vanished decades before. Does the key to the present lie buried even deeper in the past, in the forgotten history of an innocent midwife accused by a family of shocking betrayal? A gripping, heartwrenching story of love, loyalty and family secrets... -
Murder at the Folly by Beth Byers
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSeptember 1923. When Violet and Victor run into an old friend in Belgium, they have an idea of what to expect. What they don’t expect is to be followed back to England, persuaded to spend an additional weekend away from home, or to have their group experience another murder. This time, the suspect is their long-time friend Tomas St. Marks—-a shell-shocked former soldier... -
Limelight by Dan Willis
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWhen a madman starts robbing banks the really old fashioned way, by blowing holes in them with magical explosives, the police want Alex to catch him before he kills and robs again. There are two problems with that, however, first as far as Alex knows there’s no such thing as a blasting rune, and second his friend Danny Pak is up for a promotion and that’s not Danny’s case...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction industrial-era investigator law-enforcement paranormal urban 20th-century -
A Picture of Murder by T.E. Kinsey
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsLate October 1909, and the season of ghouls and things that go bump in the night has descended on the village of Littleton Cotterell.Lady Hardcastle and her trusted lady’s maid, Florence, find themselves hosting a colourful cast of actors whose spooky moving picture, The Witch’s Downfall, is being shown to mark Halloween...Categorized as:
cozy crime female-mc historical-fiction investigator law-enforcement suspense 20th-century -
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Death Beside the Seaside by T.E. Kinsey
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsJuly 1910. Lady Hardcastle and her tireless sidekick Flo have finally embarked on a long-overdue seaside break. But just as they’re wavering between ice creams and donkey rides, their fellow guests start to go missing—and the duo find themselves with a hysterical hotel manager and a case to solve...Categorized as:
cozy crime female-mc friendship historical-fiction industrial-era investigator law-enforcement -
The Worthy Soldier by Sarah Woodbury
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsMay 1147. Gareth and Gwen have traveled to Deheubarth in the retinue of Prince Hywel. The Prince of Gwynedd has temporarily allied himself with King Cadell and his Norman relations in order to finally evict the hated Flemings from south Wales. But while the battle goes well, the celebratory feast afterwards does not, leaving Gareth and Gwen among the few left standing... -
The Nero Wolfe Mystery Series: The Zeck Trilogy: And Be a Villain, The Second Confession, In the Best Families by Rex Stout
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe perfect introduction to crime fiction’s greatest armchair detective: three mysteries featuring Nero Wolfe and his nemesis, gangland kingpin Arnold Zeck . . .AND BE A VILLAINTHE SECOND CONFESSIONIN THE BEST FAMILIES A guest on a radio talk show drops dead on-air after drinking a glass of a sponsor’s beverage... -
The Dagger Dance by Elizabeth Bailey
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsLady Fan returns in another twisty murder case! For fans of Georgette Heyer, Mary Balogh, Barbara Erskine and Jane Austen.Can Lady Fan unravel another mystery…?1793, EnglandAfter a not-so-relaxing holiday in Tunbridge Wells, Lady Ottilia and Lord Francis Fanshawe have returned to their home with a young orphaned girl, Pertesia ‘Pretty’ Brockhurst... -
Murder on the Boardwalk by Lee Strauss, Denise Jaden
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsBrand New 1950s Cozy Mystery series by USA TODAY bestselling author Lee Strauss! Murder's such a shock! When Rosa Reed, aka CPW Reed of the Metropolitan Police, and her cousin Gloria decide to spend a carefree and fun-filled afternoon in 1956 at the fair on the boardwalk in Santa Bonita, California, they're in for a shocking surprise...Categorized as:
cozy crime historical-fiction investigator law-enforcement adult amateur-sleuth animals -
Death by the Book by Beth Byers
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsInspired by classic fiction and Miss Buncle's Book. Death by the Book questions what happens when you throw a murder into idyllic small town England.July 1936When Georgette Dorothy Marsh’s dividends fall along with the banks, she decides to write a book. Her only hope is to bring her account out of overdraft and possibly buy some hens... -
From the Ashes by Sabrina Flynn
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAshes to ashes; dust to dust. Unfortunately, memories aren’t so easily buried.San Francisco, 1900. Atticus Riot returns home with death on his heels and grief in his heart. After twenty years of roaming the Barbary Coast, the gambler-turned detective is about to toss the game for good. But man plans and God laughs: the case of a missing heiress draws him in its wake...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction industrial-era investigator law-enforcement paranormal suspense adult -
Whom the Gods Love by Kate Ross
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAlexander Falkland hasn't an enemy in the world. Young, talented, charming, he shines in every field he enters: law, architecture, the investment market. But one night his luck runs out with a vengeance. In the midst of one of his famous parties, he is found in his study with his head smashed, a blood-stained poker beside him... -
Murder at Feathers & Flair by Lee Strauss
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIt's 1924 and war widow fashionista Ginger Gold's new Regent Street dress shop, Feathers & Flair, is the talk of the London fashion district attracting aristocrats from Paris to Berlin to Moscow.Ginger is offered her first job as a private detective when a well-known stage actor goes missing, and though the dress shop takes most of her time, Ginger takes the case... -
Murder at the Mortuary by Lee Strauss
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsUnregistered corpses are showing up amongst the cadavers in the mortuary of the London School of Medicine for Women. Unnatural deaths. Murders.The first known victim is recognized by Haley Higgins, a third-year pathology student. War widow fashionista, Ginger Gold, feels a responsibility for the man’s death and is determined to find his killer... -
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The Piccadilly Pickpocket by Karen Charlton
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThis is an alternate cover edition for ASIN: B00Y3KKHGA There’s no honour among thieves. When a robbery in the crowded streets of Piccadilly takes an unusual twist, Constable Woods is blamed and a royal scandal threatens to erupt. Detective Stephen Lavender must act quickly to track down the rogues, clear his friend’s name and avert the crisis... -
Murder at Keyhaven Castle by Clara McKenna
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWith her wedding to Viscount “Lyndy” Lyndhurst just days away, strong-willed American ex-pat Stella Kendrick is the talk of Edwardian society—and the focus of a deadly mystery—in Clara McKenna’s third historical mystery set in England’s New Forest region at the turn of the 20th century...Categorized as:
historical-fiction cozy law-enforcement crime industrial-era suspense female-mc investigator -
Jane and the Year without a Summer by Stephanie Barron
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIf you have a Jane Austen-would-have-been-my-best-friend complex, look no further . . . [Barron] has painstakingly sifted through the famed author's letters and writings, as well as extensive biographical information, to create a finely detailed portrait of Austen's life--with a dash of fictional murder . . . Some of the most enjoyable, well-written fanfic ever created...Categorized as:
cozy female-mc historical-fiction industrial-era law-enforcement adult audiobook book -
The Vengeance Trail by Elizabeth Bailey
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsJoin Lady Fan in her most dangerous case yet! For fans of Georgette Heyer, Mary Balogh, Barbara Erskine and Jane Austen.Is someone from her past trying to kill Lady Fan…?1796, EnglandWhen Lady Ottilia Fanshawe finds herself launched into a river and fighting for her life, she becomes convinced someone pulled her under the water...Categorized as:
historical-fiction cozy female-mc industrial-era law-enforcement mystery historical fiction -
Jane and the Final Mystery by Stephanie Barron
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe final volume of the critically acclaimed mystery series featuring Jane Austen as amateur sleuthMarch 1817: As winter turns to spring, Jane Austen’s health is in slow decline, and threatens to cease progress on her latest manuscript...Categorized as:
historical-fiction industrial-era cozy suspense law-enforcement female-mc mystery fiction -
A Disappearance in Drury Lane by Ashley Gardner
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsLate December, 1818 As Captain Gabriel Lacey prepares for his upcoming wedding, his former neighbor, Marianne Simmons, comes to him about an actress friend who’s gone missing. Lacey agrees to help look for the actress, little realizing that the search will pit him against men who think nothing of abduction, assault, or sending incendiary devices to the innocent...Categorized as:
cozy crime historical-fiction industrial-era law-enforcement suspense adult audiobook -
Shadow at the Morgue by Cara Devlin
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAn acquaintance with death Haunted by the unsolved murder of her family fifteen years ago, Leonora Spencer has always been familiar with death. And now, as an assistant to her uncle in his London morgue, she uses her photographic memory to catalogue details for his coroner’s reports...Categorized as:
historical-fiction crime industrial-era cozy suspense law-enforcement female-mc romance -
A Bucket of Ashes by P.B. Ryan
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratings“As always, the author excels at setting the scene, evoking the time and place by use of the day-to-day details as well as historical events. The resolution of the central mystery is almost secondary to the revelations about Nell’s past and the way the author ties up all the loose ends of her present situation. Longtime readers will enjoy this aspect immensely; I know I did... -
Murder In the North End by P.B. Ryan
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 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... -
Murder in the East End by Jennifer Ashley
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA new upstairs, downstairs Victorian murder mystery in the Kat Holloway series from the New York Times bestselling author of Death in Kew Gardens . When young cook Kat Holloway learns that the children of London's Foundling Hospital are mysteriously disappearing and one of their nurses has been murdered, she can't turn away...Categorized as:
cozy crime female-mc historical-fiction industrial-era law-enforcement suspense adult -
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Murder at Bray Manor: a cozy historical 1920s mystery by Lee Strauss
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA poltergeist guilty of murder?Ginger Gold receives a letter from her sister-in-law, Felicia, requesting Ginger come straightaway to her late husband's family home, Bray Manor. Dowager Lady Gold, Ginger's nervous grandmother through marriage, believes the old manor is haunted... -
Triple Jeopardy by Rex Stout
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsDon't tempt Nero Wolfe to find the culprit. When foul play's the game, he always wins--and in these three crime puzzles, the stakes are high.HOME TO ROOSTTHE COP-KILLERTHE SQUIRT AND THE MONKEYFirst, there's little nourishment for the detective when someone drops a poison pellet into a vitamin addict's pillbox...Categorized as:
cozy crime historical-fiction investigator law-enforcement suspense adult anthologies -
Special Assignments by Boris Akunin, Boris Akunin
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn Special Assignments, Erast Fandorin, nineteenth-century Russia's suavest sleuth, faces two formidable new foes: One steals outrageous sums of money, the other takes lives. The Jack of Spades is a civilized swindler who has conned thousands of rubles from Moscow's residents including Fandorin's own boss, Prince Dolgorukoi... -
Murder at Queen's Landing: A Captivating Historical Regency Mystery by Andrea Penrose
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe many strands of a dark mystery entangle Lady Charlotte Sloane and the Earl of Wrexford in a dangerous web of secrets and lies that will call into question how much they really know about the people they hold dear--and about each other..Categorized as:
cozy crime female-mc friendship historical-fiction industrial-era law-enforcement adult -
The Last Moriarty by Charles Veley
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA lovely young American actress from the D'Oyly Carte Opera Troupe comes to 221B Baker Street on a cold November morning, desperately seeking assistance from Sherlock Holmes. Inexplicably, Holmes agrees to help, even though the Prime Minister of England and his cabinet need Holmes to solve a murder case that could threaten a high-stakes meeting with John D. Rockefeller and J.P. Morgan...Categorized as:
cozy crime female-mc historical-fiction industrial-era investigator law-enforcement adult -
The Last Passenger by Charles Finch
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFrom bestselling author Charles Finch comes the third and final in a prequel trilogy to his lauded Charles Lenox series.London, 1855: A young and eager Charles Lenox faces his toughest case yet: a murder without a single clue. Slumped in a first-class car at Paddington Station is the body of a young, handsome gentleman...Categorized as:
cozy crime historical-fiction industrial-era investigator law-enforcement suspense adult -
And Four to Go by Rex Stout
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsEmbark on a year of murder and mystery. It begins at Christmas with a party and a poisoning, then blossoms into spring with sudden death at the Easter Parade. With a killer in the crowd, the Fourth of July is no picnic, and the calendar is overbooked with corpses when death is in season. Here are four cunning cases that leave everyone guessing...Categorized as:
cozy crime historical-fiction investigator law-enforcement suspense urban 20th-century -
Murder on Marble Row by Victoria Thompson
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhen an explosion kills wealthy industrialist Gregory Van Dyke, Police Commissioner Teddy Roosevelt presumes that anarchists are responsible and personally asks Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy to track them down. Malloy is up to the challenge - but he faces a different kind of challenge when he encounters Sarah Brandt paying a condolence call on the Van Dykes...Categorized as:
cozy crime female-mc historical-fiction industrial-era law-enforcement suspense urban -
The Laws of Murder by Charles Finch
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIt’s 1876, and Charles Lenox, once London’s leading private investigator, has just given up his seat in Parliament after six years, primed to return to his first love, detection. With high hopes he and three colleagues start a new detective agency, the first of its kind...Categorized as:
cozy crime historical-fiction industrial-era investigator law-enforcement suspense adult -
Christmas at The Grange by T.E. Kinsey, Elizabeth Knowelden
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsListening Length: 2 hours, 5 minutesIt’s Christmas 1909, and for once Lady Hardcastle—respectable gentlewoman, amateur spy—and her lady’s maid, Florence Armstrong, are setting sleuthing aside. They are invited to the festivities up at The Grange, as guests of Sir Hector and Lady Farley-Stroud.But barely have corks been popped and parlour games played when a mysterious crime comes to light... -
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Turning the Tide by Edith Maxwell
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratings"An intriguing look at life in 19th-century New England, a heroine whose goodness guides all her decisions, and a mystery that surprises."--Kirkus Reviews A suffragist is murdered in Rose Carroll's Massachusetts town Excitement runs high during presidential election week in 1888... -
Chains of Folly by Roberta Gellis
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThat Nelda Roundheels had been murdered would have been of little interest to anyone - except that her body turned up in the bishop of Winchester's bedchamber with a letter to the bishop, from the king's most important enemy, rolled up in her breastband... -
The Mad Monk of Gidleigh by Michael Jecks
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAlone in his isolated, windswept chapel on the edge of Dartmoor, his only companions moor men and poverty–stricken serfs, who could blame the young priest, Mark for seeking affection from Jane, the local miller’s daughter? But when Jane’s body is found brutally stabbed, Mark is the obvious suspect—and the discovery that Jane was pregnant seems to confirm his guilt... -
The Diabolical Bones by Bella Ellis
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIt’s Christmas 1845 and Haworth is in the grip of a freezing winter.Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë are rather losing interest in detecting until they hear of a shocking discovery: the bones of a child have been found interred within the walls of a local house, Top Withens Hall, home to the scandalous and brutish Bradshaw family...Categorized as:
crime female-mc historical-fiction industrial-era law-enforcement suspense adult audiobook -
The Dove of Death by Peter Tremayne
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn A.D. 670, an Irish merchant ship is attacked by a pirate vessel off the southern coast of the Breton peninsula. Merchad, the ship?s captain, and Bressal, a prince from the Irish kingdom of Muman, are killed in cold blood after they have surrendered. Among the other passengers who manage to escape the slaughter are Fidelma of Cashel and her faithful companion, Brother Eadulf... -
Smuggler's Moon by Bruce Alexander
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsBlind magistrate Sir John Fielding investigates corruption and murder in the seaside town of Deal, which has become a haven for smugglers...Categorized as:
cozy historical-fiction industrial-era investigator law-enforcement adult book fiction
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