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Recommendations based on The Moving Toyshopby Edmund Crispin
* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans
Gaudy Night
by Dorothy L. Sayers
Harriet Vane returns to her alma mater to solve a mystery, while grappling with her feelings for Lord Peter Wimsey.
Harriet Vane returns with trepidation to her, alma mater, , Shrewsbury College, Oxford to attend the Gaudy dinner. Expecting hostility because of her notoriety (she had stood trial for murder in an ... (Wikipedia)
Death in a White Tie
by Ngaio Marsh
A murder mystery set in high society London, where a young man's death leads to a web of secrets and lies.
A body in the back of a taxi begins an elegantly constructed mystery, perhaps the finest of Marsh's 1930s novels.The season had begun. Debutantes and chaperones were planning their luncheons, teas, ... (Goodreads)
Magpie Murders
by Anthony Horowitz
A detective story set in the English countryside, featuring a mysterious murder, a missing manuscript and a secret that goes back generations.
When editor Susan Ryeland is given the manuscript of Alan Conway’s latest novel, she has no reason to think it will be much different from any of his others. After working with the bestselling crime ... (Goodreads)
The Winter Queen
by Boris Akunin
An investigation of corruption and deception that leads to a thrilling court drama.
The novel opens on 13 May 1876 with a university student, Pyotr Kokorin, committing suicide in the public park in front of a beautiful young noblewoman, Elizaveta von Evert-Kolokoltseva. His will ... (Wikipedia)
The Crow Trap
by Ann Cleeves
Three women come together to investigate a murder in a remote English village, uncovering secrets and lies along the way.
Vera Stanhope's first appearance was in The Crow Trap , published in 1999 and now available in a new edition; it forms the third episode of the TV series Vera, adapted by Stephen Brady. At the ... (Goodreads)
Barchester Towers
by Anthony Trollope
Social satire of Victorian England, exploring hypocrisy and ambition in a small cathedral town.
Barchester Towers concerns the leading clergy of the cathedral city of Barchester. The much loved bishop having died, all expectations are that his son, Archdeacon Grantly, will succeed him. Owing to ... (Wikipedia)
The Daughter of Time
by Josephine Tey
Detective investigates the mystery of King Richard III, uncovering the truth behind his reputation.
Alan Grant, Scotland Yard Inspector (a character who also appears in five other novels by the same author) is feeling bored while confined to bed in hospital with a broken leg. Marta Hallard, an ... (Wikipedia)
A Handful of Dust
by Evelyn Waugh
A satirical novel about the decline of British aristocracy and the emptiness of modern life.
Tony Last is a country gentleman, living with his wife Brenda and his eight-year-old son John Andrew in his ancestral home, Hetton Abbey. The house is a Victorian pseudo-Gothic pastiche described as ... (Wikipedia)
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
by Susanna Clarke
A whimsical tale of two magicians mastering the mysteries of English magic.
The novel opens in 1806 in northern England with The Learned Society of York Magicians, whose members are "theoretical magicians" who believe that magic died out several hundred years earlier. The ... (Wikipedia)
Northanger Abbey
by Jane Austen
A young woman's journey of self-discovery, navigating the complexities of high society.
Seventeen-year-old Catherine Morland is one of ten children of a country clergyman. Although a tomboy in her childhood, by the age of 17 she is "in training for a heroine" and is excessively fond of ... (Wikipedia)
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
by Muriel Spark
A teacher's unconventional methods, inspiring young lives while challenging the status quo.
In 1930s Edinburgh , six ten-year-old girls, Sandy, Rose, Mary, Jenny, Monica, and Eunice are assigned Miss Jean Brodie, who describes herself as being "in my prime," as their teacher. Miss Brodie, ... (Wikipedia)
Behind the Scenes at the Museum
by Kate Atkinson
A young girl's exploration of her family's history, unravelling their secrets and lies.
Ruby Lennox begins narrating her life at the moment of conception, and from there takes us on a whirlwind tour of the twentieth century as seen through the eyes of an English girl determined to learn ... (Goodreads)
Finn Family Moomintroll
by Tove Jansson
A magical adventure in Moominvalley, full of whimsical characters and fantastical creatures.
Moomintroll , Sniff and Snufkin discover the Hobgoblin's top hat on a mountain-top, unaware of its strange powers. An egg shell discarded into the hat becomes five clouds the children ride and play ... (Wikipedia)
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
by Helen Simonson
A widower finds love and acceptance in an unlikely place, challenging social conventions.
You are about to travel to Edgecombe St. Mary, a small village in the English countryside filled with rolling hills, thatched cottages, and a cast of characters both hilariously original and as ... (Goodreads)
Ramona and Her Mother
by Beverly Cleary
A young girl's journey of understanding her family dynamics and learning to grow up.
"People should not think being seven and a half years old was easy, because it wasn't." , At last, Ramona's father, Robert, has a job again, so the Quimbys host a brunch to celebrate. Ramona is ... (Wikipedia)
Villette
by Charlotte Brontë
A young woman's journey of self-discovery in a foreign land, overcoming societal constraints.
Villette begins with its famously passive protagonist, Lucy Snowe, age 14, staying at the home of her godmother Mrs. Bretton in "the clean and ancient town of Bretton", in England. Also in residence ... (Wikipedia)
How the Light Gets In
by Louise Penny
Detective Armand Gamache investigates a murder in a small Canadian town, uncovering secrets and lies.
Christmas is approaching, and in Québec it's a time of dazzling snowfalls, bright lights, and gatherings with friends in front of blazing hearths. But shadows are falling on the usually festive ... (Goodreads)
Bleak House
by Charles Dickens
A social commentary on the English legal system, exploring themes of inequality, injustice and corruption.
Bleak House opens in the twilight of foggy London, where fog grips the city most densely in the Court of Chancery. The obscure case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce, in which an inheritance is gradually ... (Goodreads)
The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare
by G.K. Chesterton
A man is recruited to a secret society, only to discover the sinister truth behind it.
In Edwardian-era London, Gabriel Syme is recruited at Scotland Yard to a secret anti- anarchist police corps. Lucian Gregory, an anarchistic poet, lives in the suburb of Saffron Park. Syme meets him ... (Wikipedia)
Brideshead Revisited
by Evelyn Waugh
A nostalgic reflection on a wealthy family and the enduring power of love.
The novel is divided into three parts, framed by a prologue and epilogue. The prologue takes place during the final years of the Second World War . Charles Ryder and his battalion are sent to a ... (Wikipedia)
The Cookbook Collector
by Allegra Goodman
Two sisters navigate love, work, and life in the early days of the dot-com boom, one running a bookstore and the other a startup.
Heralded as “a modern day Jane Austen” by USA Today , National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author Allegra Goodman has compelled and delighted hundreds of thousands of readers. ... (Goodreads)
Death on the Nile
by Agatha Christie
A detective investigates a murder aboard a luxury cruise ship, uncovering hidden secrets.
Agatha Christie's most daring travel mystery. The tranquility of a lovely cruise along the Nile is shattered by the discovery that Linnet Ridgeway has been shot through the head. She was young, ... (Goodreads)
The House of Thunder
by Leigh Nichols
After a car accident, a woman wakes up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there. Strange occurrences and a sinister conspiracy follow.
Susan Thorton awakens in a hospital, after a near-fatal car crash, to see four men lurking outside her door–men who exactly resemble those who killed her boyfriend years before. Can these be the same ... (Goodreads)
The Lonely Hearts Club
by Elizabeth Eulberg
Fed up with boys, Penny starts a club for girls to focus on themselves. But love finds a way in.
Love is all you need... or is it? Penny's about to find out in this wonderful debut. Penny is sick of boys and sick of dating. So she vows: no more. It's a personal choice. . .and, of course, soon ... (Goodreads)
The Curious Case of the Copper Corpse
by Alan Bradley
A short story featuring Flavia de Luce, a young chemist and amateur detective, solving a murder mystery in a morgue.
Murder! the letter says, Come at once. Anson House, Greyminster, Staircase No. 3. How can Flavia de Luce resist such an urgent plea? After all, examining a dead body sounds like a perfectly splendid ... (Goodreads)
Afterwards
by Rosamund Lupton
A mother investigates her daughter's death from beyond the grave, uncovering secrets and protecting her family.
There is a fire and they are in there. They are in there... Black smoke stains a summer blue sky. A school is on fire. And one mother, Grace, sees the smoke and rush. She knows her teenage daughter ... (Goodreads)
The Mysterious Affair at Styles
by Agatha Christie
A classic murder mystery, uncovering the truth behind a suspicious death.
On the morning of 18 July, the household at Styles Court wakes to the discovery that Emily Inglethorp, the elderly owner, has died. She had been poisoned with strychnine . Arthur Hastings, a soldier ... (Wikipedia)
Unholy Magic
by Stacia Kane
Chess Putnam, a witch and ghost hunter, is hired to investigate a haunting in a high-security mental institution. But the ghosts are not the only things she has to worry about.
ENEMIES DON’T NEED TO BE ALIVE TO BE DEADLY. For Chess Putnam, finding herself near-fatally poisoned by a con psychic and then stopping a murderous ghost is just another day on the job. As an agent ... (Goodreads)
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters
by Ben H. Winters
A parody of Jane Austen's classic novel, with added sea monsters and adventure on the high seas.
The story follows the plot of Sense and Sensibility , but places the novel in an alternate universe version of Regency era United Kingdom where an event known as “The Alteration” has turned the ... (Wikipedia)
City of Masks
by Mary Hoffman
A young actor travels to a mysterious city where he discovers a world of secrets and intrigue.
Lucien is seriously ill but his life is transformed when an old Italian notebook gives him the power to become a stravagante, a time traveller with access to 16th century Italy. He wakes up in ... (Goodreads)
