Book picks similar to
The Pocket Book by J.M. Currie


19th-century
georgian
historical-mysterys

The Ballad of John MacLea


A.J. MacKenzie - 2019
    Tasked with routing out enemy agents and thwarting an elaborate espionage ring, which includes beautiful American double agent Josephine Lafitte, MacLea’s mission is betrayed. Now, trapped in a dramatic showdown aboard a captured American warship headed for the breach at Niagara Falls, battle-hardened MacLea finds himself fighting not just for freedom, but for his life.

No Good Like It Is


McKendree R. Long III - 2010
     2d Lieutenant Dobey Walls meets and bonds with veteran Corporal Jimmy Melton. As the Civil War begins, they leave to join the 8th Texas Cavalry in Houston, then take part in the first and the final charges of the Army of Tennessee. Between those events, they ride with Nathan Bedford Forrest, play an honorable role in the Fort Pillow Massacre, harass Sherman with Shannon's Raiders, and visit the second best brothel in Atlanta. As surrender looms, they're released to search for Dobey's long-missing family in the Texas Panhandle. Their efforts are hampered by destitute farmers, lonely widows, dangerous militia, freed slaves, and runaways, who increase their numbers and excitement. In the process, they save a quadroon and her daughter from Yankee deserters who have stolen a Union payroll. This act of mercy brings them romance but puts Pinkerton detectives and a renegade lawman on their trail.

Willow Pond


Carol Tibaldi - 2011
    Now that the world is falling apart, bootlegging is a flourishing business, and she's queen of that castle. Then her infant nephew is kidnapped. Her niece, Laura, and Laura's philandering movie star husband, are devastated. The police have few leads, and speculation and rumors abound in the media circus that follows the celebrity abduction. Only one reporter, Erich Muller, seems to care enough about the child's welfare and the parents' feelings to report the case responsibly. Over the course of the investigation, Erich Muller and Laura fall in love, but their relationship is doomed to failure since he suspects her beloved aunt Virginia is behind the kidnapping. Laura, jaded when it comes to men, sides with Virginia.But Virginia has figured out the truth, and she can't tell anyone for fear of losing her niece's affections and having the police ransack her life. So she pursues her own investigation, shaking down, threatening, and killing one petty crook after another during her search.Little Todd's absence shapes everyone's lives. When he is finally found, the discovery will bring disaster for some and revelation for others.

Cut Nose


Ron Schwab - 2019
    Little did Will know this would make him a witness to countless horrific deaths on both sides of the conflict and, ultimately, to the largest mass execution in United States history. Amidst the chaos, Will’s life intersects with the Dakota warrior called “Cut Nose,” so named after having part of his nose bitten off in a fight, and Anja Lund, a young schoolteacher whose spirit is unyielding despite heartbreak at every turn. As the stakes grow increasingly higher, these three form powerful and mysterious connections with each other, intertwining their fates through both love and war. Featuring heart-stopping battles, intrigue, and romance, Cut Nose will keep readers electrified until the last page.

Death on the Cliff Walk


Mary Kruger - 1994
    Set at the turn of the century, in Newport, Rhode Island, Death on the Cliff Walk introduces debutante Brooke Cassidy, who teams up with local cop, Matt Devlin, to solve a murder that reaches to the heart of Newport's glittering high society.

Sanditon, Lady Susan, & The History of England


Jane Austen - 2011
    It represents what Richard Church regarded as Jane Austen’s literary work-basket and contains some of Austen’s earliest work—her hilarious brief History of England, illustrated by her favorite sister, which is a worthy forerunner of 1066 & All That to the unfinished Sanditon, the novel of her maturity on which she was writing at her death at age forty-two. Also included are the two epistolary novels, Lady Susan and Love and Friendship, and The Watsons, Catharine, Lesley Castle, Evelyn, Frederic and Elfrida, Jack and Alice, Edgar and Emma, Henry and Eliza, and The Three Sisters.

The Salisbury Manuscript


Philip Gooden - 2008
    Tom is an ambitious lawyer, and about to marry Helen Scott - a budding novelist.Felix Slater, a respectable churchman and amateur archaeologist, wants the scandalous manuscript of his late father's memoirs locked away until after his own death.But Slater’s death comes much sooner than expected, and Tom falls under suspicion for his murder. The compromising manuscript has disappeared.To exonerate himself, Tom, accompanied by Helen, must unmask an ingenious, elusive killer, one who will threaten their own lives. The pursuit takes them from the cells of the city gaol to the heights of the cathedral spire and out among the ancient earthworks of Salisbury Plain. The Salisbury Manuscript is the first in a series set in England’s cathedral cities. Full of action, suspense and gothic atmosphere, the novel brings back to life a world of Victorian mystery.

Shadow of a Star


Elmer Kelton - 1984
    In fact, he has a hard enough time keeping the peace between the drunks in the local saloon. But with tough Sheriff Mont Naylor to back him up he figures he can handle whatever comes his way.Jim-Bob's first real assignment is no piece of cake. He must escort a ruthless outlaw into the hands of justice. All seems well with the lawless killer firmly in Jim-Bob's custody. But nothing prepares him for an angry mob, determined to take the law into their own hands and provide their own brand justice: a hangman's noose.Shadow of a Star is a gripping tale by Elmer Kelton, voted one of the best Western Writers of all time by Westerns Writers of America, Inc.

The Determined Heart: The Tale of Mary Shelley and Her Frankenstein


Antoinette May - 2015
    After losing her mother at an early age, she finds herself in constant conflict with a resentful stepmother and a jealous stepsister. When she meets the Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, she falls deeply in love, and they elope with disastrous consequences. Soon she finds herself destitute and embroiled in a torturous love triangle as Percy takes Mary’s stepsister as a lover. Over the next several years, Mary struggles to write while she and Percy face ostracism, constant debt, and the heartbreaking deaths of three children. Ultimately, she achieves great acclaim for Frankenstein, but at what cost?

Marriage


Susan Ferrier - 1818
    Like her contemporaries, Maria Edgeworth and Jane Austen, Susan Ferrier adopts an ideal of rational domesticity, illustrating the virtues of a reasonable heroine who learns to act for herself. This new edition features an introduction incorporating recent critical work on national identity and gender, and firmly situating the novel within the context of both Scottish literature and women's writing.

The Veiled Bride


Elizabeth Bailey - 1999
    Then her new husband turns to face her -- and the truth is revealed. A cruel scar disfigures his otherwise handsome features. She's committed herself to an embittered man who wants a marriage based on convenience alone...

The Spymaster's Lady


Joanna Bourne - 2008
    But Annique Villiers, elusive spy Fox Cub, is thrown in prison with British spymaster Robert Grey, ordered to enter France and bring her back. Their uneasy alliance holds, but passion builds as they flee.

The Scalawags


C.J. Petit - 2017
    He heads down to Mulberry, Texas, to keep a promise to his fallen Union army brother-in-arms, Joe Farrell, to make sure that his family is safe. But what Sam finds is the Farrell family in shambles: a gang of former Confederate soldiers are harassing them because of Joe's Union service. In desperation, Joe's widow, Julia, has married the gang's sadistic leader -- a man Sam had haunting his dreams since the war. To rescue Julia, Sam will need to rely on his wits as much as his guns, and he'll need the help of the whole Farrell clan, including Joe's disarming younger sister, Mary. This is a new release of an edition originally published by C.J. Petit.

Bellfield Hall: or, the observations of Miss Dido Kent


Anna Dean - 2008
    An engagement party is taking place for Mr Richard Montague, son of wealthy landowner Sir Edgar Montague, and his fiancee Catherine. During a dance with his beloved, a strange thing happens: a man appears at Richard's shoulder and appears to communicate something to him without saying a word. Instantly breaking off the engagement, he rushes off to speak to his father, never to be seen again. Distraught with worry, Catherine sends for her spinster aunt, Miss Dido Kent, who has a penchant for solving mysteries. Catherine pleads with her to find her fiance and to discover the truth behind his disappearance. It's going to take a lot of logical thinking to untangle the complex threads of this multi-layered mystery, and Miss Dido Kent is just the woman to do it.

The Stargazer's Sister


Carrie Brown - 2016
    Lina, as Caroline is known, serves as William’s assistant and the captain of his exhilaratingly busy household. William is generous, wise, and charismatic, an obsessive genius whom Lina adores and serves with the fervency of a beloved wife. When William suddenly announces that he will be married, Lina watches as her world collapses. With her characteristically elegant prose, Brown creates from history a compelling story of familial collaboration and conflict, the sublime beauty of astronomy, and the small but essential place we have within a vast and astonishing cosmos. Through Lina’s trials and successes, we witness the dawning of an early feminist consciousness, of a woman struggling to find her own place among the stars.