I have been meaning to read those books (Francesca Cahill series), just haven't had time to get started on them yet.  I have a few and my library has most of them.  Do you like them?  I have read some of Joyce's historical romances, have liked most of them.  Do these compare?

Thanks for all the interesting suggestions to those who have joined in here.  I've seen some new authors I want to try.

I love the Pink Carnation books.

The Franscesca Cahill books are different from her romance novels. I'm only up to book 4.  It's the main character through out and she has love interests.  I think I remember there being a sex scene between secondary characters but it wasn't super graphic.  I like that they're in 3rd person and not 1st like so many mysteries of this type.  But they aren't straight romance books.

I just won a free copy of "The Temptation of the Night Jasmine"  by Lauren Willig at Tracy Grant's (aka Theresa Grant) website.

Check it out, she has excerpts from upcoming books, extra background material, and interesting posts almost every week.

The blog posts are in the "Dear Reader" section  

http://tracygrant.wordpress.com/ 

What are these?  Are they all by the same author?  I've never heard of Pink Carnation Novels.

Sue

Yes, it is a series written by Lauren Willig. I guess you would call them espionage/mystery, combined with some romance and humor. 

Thank you.  I'll look them up.

Sue

This is a Nov Western published by Harlequin Books that qualifies as an Historical Mystery in my estimation.

I really enjoyed this book.  Its ISBN is 9780373297122.  I would highly recommend it.

Sue

Quite a number of wishers on most of these already, but some of them might be interesting:

I've read Anne Perry.  The others are new to me.  Just what I need...

Sue

The Wicked Wager ( A Regency Murder Mystery & Romance ) by

Anya Wylde.  Just came across this so have not read it (sorry if this book was already posted).  char

I haven't read these yet, but both of these series are on my TBR list, because they look pretty interesting.  The first, a medieval period series. is by Jeri Westerson :

Veil of Lies (Medieval Noir, Bk 1) 

This book by Jo Goodman (ISBN 9780425250969) is a wonderful historical/ mystery/ western.

I think you would enjoy it.

Sue

I just read a review of this book at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, it sounds really good.

http://www.paperbackswap.com/Treacherous-Court-Michelle-Diener/book/1439197083/ 

That does sound interesting.  I checked out Michelle Diener and saw she has a second book in that series, as well as a short story on kindle (.99) that comes between the two books.

Thanks, jayelsee.

The books you mentioned are all set in the Tudor era(King Henry VIII) but I see she's also got a historical mystery set in the 19th century,

"The Emperor's Conspiracy" .  http://www.paperbackswap.com/Emperors-Conspiracy-Michelle-Diener/book/1451684436/ 

I was just looking at some old Roberta Gellis historical romances the other day, and remembered that she had written a fairly recent historical mystery/romance series that I really enjoyed.  She has writtten four books in the series, and I believe she had planned to continue it, but I'm afraid she's not writing any more new books (she's 85 or 86 now, her most recent new book was published in 2008).  Anyhow, this series is about Magdalene la Batarde, who is the madam of a "guesthouse" in medieval London, with a mysterious past.  She gets embroiled in murders, which she solves with some help from her new lover, the honorable knight Sir Bellamy of Itchen.  I don't think any of the books are available here now, but I got a couple of them from my library.  If she doesn't write any more, I may just have to re-read these four: 

This looks interesting, looks like the author's first book, the beginning of a series, maybe?

that does sound good!  And different. thanks Jayelsee

Has anyone read The Agency series by Y.S. Lee? The first book is called "A Spy in the House" 

http://www.paperbackswap.com/Agency-1-Spy-Y-S-Lee/book/0763640670/ 

It's marketed as a YA book, but I was intrigued by the reviews. It's Victorian, with mystery and a touch of romance.

The Pink Carnation is my favorite series. Other than travel essays, I don't keep books on the whole, I do have the entire series of Pink Carnation books!  

It also has two ongoing stories woven in the books. One in the past, one in the present. I'm not sure I'd label it time travel though. That's not exactly what happens but the two stories are linked. 

Hi,

Has anyone here ever read the Lady Arianna Regency Mystery books by Andrea Penrose?  I just started the first book 'Sweet Revenge' on Saturday.  Granted, I was on vacation in Michigan and then was traveling back home on Sunday & Monday with not a lot of time to read, but I am having a hard time getting interested in this book.  I'll keep at it because I have heard her books are good so I'll give it a chance.  But I am a bit unsure if I'll continue on with her stuff.  Anyone have an opinion they'd like to share?

Thanks.

I've read the first two, I like them and will continue the series.

Karen, I found "Sweet Revenge" to be a fun lightweight read, nothing earthshattering. But I will probably continue to read the series, I enjoyed the chocolate recipes that came with every chapter. Coincidentally, I am on vacation too, and I just finished reading an ebook version of "Dark Angel" which is a re-release of an old book by Tracy Grant(aka Teresa Grant). It's romance but with a strong espionage/mystery element, and like the rest of her books, the historical background is very well researched and realistic.

I love Tracy/Teresa Grant.  She wrote Dark Angel (the first publication) as Anna Grant.  I have a old copy of it that I haven't read yet, but I have read the next three books in the series (written as Tracy Grant):  Shadows of the Heart, Shores of Desire, and  Rightfully His.  I plan to re-read them after I read Dark Angel.