Alex Grecian, THE YARD

A good first mystery novel, set in my fave time period ... late 1800s London. Plenty of sordidness ... dead bodies hacked to pieces and put in chests, corruption, a medical man on the verge of figuring out fingerprints, a twisted tailor, abused children ... but at times the plot felt unwieldy, too many Inspectors running around, duplicating their roles. But a fun read, lots of historical detail.

Andrew Pepper, THE DETECTIVE BRANCH

Victorian England murder and mayhem! Set in Drury Lane, with great period detail and a detective named Pyke. Rat-catchers, cat's-meat men, thieves and hole-men (who clean out cess-pools). All kinds of jobs you wouldn't want, and a mystery with a mounting body count. Good fun.

Sarah Waters, FINGERSMITH

Good writing and a wicked, twisted plot, set in Victorian England (my favorite). Two girls, set against each other by a vicious swindler only ever called "Gentleman" and a woman whose maternal instincts are ... shall we say, awry. Great historical details and plenty of evil and murk. My one gripe is the repetition: part 1 is told by Sue; part 2 is mostly the same events, told by Maud; part 3 is back to Sue. And I'm not sure that part 2 couldn't have been cut down to represent just Maud's childhood, until the Sue and Maud plots cross ... especially since I found the two girls' voices very similar. But a great, thrilling read.

Stef Penney, THE TENDERNESS OF WOLVES

Read this debut novel last year and recently re-read; it stands up to a second read. This is one of my favorite historical murder mysteries. Set in 1867 in the Northern Territory, a trapper named Laurent Jammett is murdered. 17-year-old Francis Ross disappears and becomes a suspect; his mother goes on a trek through the cruel snowy landscape to find him and discover the truth. Told in chapters that shift in point-of-view among Mrs. Ross, Francis, Andrew Knox, Elizabeth Bird, the story of the Jammett murder is only the first layer; behind it are other murders and kidnappings that put people where they are when the book begins. First line: "The last time I saw Laurent Jammett, he was in Scott's store with a dead wolf over his shoulder." A-.