Maisie Dobbs – Jacqueline Winspear
I was shocked to discover that a close friend who loves mysteries had never heard of Maisie Dobbs. I thought everyone knew about this long-running series! Winspear’s detective, born to a working-class family, becomes a parlor maid in an aristocratic Compton household. With the Compton family’s help, she educates herself, and ultimately comes to the attention of Dr. Maurice Blanche. The psychologist and investigator realizes Maisie possesses both a keen psychological insight and the gift of empathy and takes the young woman on as a pupil. Winspear includes fascinating forgotten details on life in between the wars; my favorite is the feathers given to World War I conscientious objectors that figure prominently in book 2 of the series, Birds of a Feather. Best of all, at seventeen books and counting, this series carries the reader all the way up into World War II.
Brighton Mysteries* – Elly Griffiths
Although Elly Griffiths may be best known for the Ruth Galloway series, I love her Brighton Mysteries series just as much. Set in the English seaside resort of Brighton in the 1950s, the books follow the duo of Detective Inspector Edgar Stephens and the stage magician Max Mephisto. Griffiths has the best supporting characters, including various fading vaudevillians, dancers, actors, psychics, and assorted hangers-on and grifters. Six books so far in the series!
*(Note: confusingly, this series is sometimes also called the Magic Men Series or the Stephens and Mephisto series.)
Lady Hardcastle – T.E. Kinsey
How I adore Lady Hardcastle and her tiny, deadly sidekick Florence Armstrong! This series begins in 1908 with the pair moving into a new house in the ostensible hope of finding A Quiet Life in the Country. But given Lady Hardcastle’s eccentric hobbies and allusions to her previous adventures, it’s clear this was never really in the cards. Murder finds Lady Hardcastle, or she finds it, in each of this series of seven book. I love Kinsey’s focus on new technologies of the era, including cars, motion pictures, and airplanes as well as the witty, irreverent tone of the writing.
Very English Mysteries – Elizabeth Edmondson
My dark horse pick for this list, as I would bet quite a few readers have not heard of this author. Her three-book Very English Mystery series, completed by her son Anselm Audley after her death, applies the principles of Golden Age mystery stories to the Cold War. Hugo Hawksworth, the intelligence officer, might have wandered out of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, while the Wryton family might have emerged from books by Agatha Christie or Dorothy Sayers by way of Jane Eyre or Rebecca. There’s more than a touch of the Gothic here, so if you like gloomy castles and mysterious strangers, you will enjoy these books.
Westerman and Crowther – Imogen Robertson
The four Westerman and Crowther novels take place in the earliest period, with the first book set in 1780. This series is also a little less “cozy” than the others, as Gabriel Crowther is an anatomist and much of the investigation revolves around the nascent forensic sciences. Harriet Westerman, the other half of the investigative duo, is the mistress of the major local estate and a strong, take-charge heroine. If you lean more towards thrillers, this is the series for you! Five books round out this series.
Liz Helfrich 