Recommended Reads: Downton Abbey Edition

Published: 14-Oct-2019

If you enjoy Downton Abbey - try these...

If you're like us, you might've been thrilled to hear that Downton Abbey was getting a film this year, and you might've also gone to see the glorious Dame Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess on the big screen. You may also now be wishing you had something else to read or watch to fill the gap left by the finale of the series...

And that's where we come in!

Below are books to pick up if you like Downton Abbey:

Death sits down to dinner cover


Death Sits Down to Dinner
- Tessa Arlen

"Filled with deceptions both real and imagined, Death Sits Down to Dinner is a delightful Edwardian mystery set in London. Lady Montfort is thrilled to receive an invitation to a dinner party hosted by her close friend Hermione Kingsley, the patroness of England's largest charity. Hermione has pulled together a select gathering to celebrate Winston Churchill's 39th birthday. Some of the oldest families in the country have gathered to toast the dangerously ambitious and utterly charming First Lord of the Admiralty. But when the dinner ends, one of the gentlemen remains seated at the table, head down among the walnut shells littering the cloth and a knife between his ribs. Summoned from Iyntwood, Mrs. Jackson helps her mistress trace the steps of suspects both upstairs and downstairs as Hermione's household prepares to host a highly anticipated charity event. Determined to get to the bottom of things, Lady Montfort and Mrs. Jackson unravel the web of secrecy surrounding the bright whirlwind of London society, investigating the rich, well-connected and seeming do-gooders in a race against time to stop the murderer from striking again."  (Summary from Catalogue)

The mitford murders cover


The Mitford Murders
- Jessica Fellowes

"Lose yourself in the gripping first novel in a new series of Golden Age murder mysteries set amid the lives of the glamorous Mitford sisters. It's 1919, and Louisa Cannon dreams of escaping her life of poverty in London, and most of all her oppressive and dangerous uncle. Louisa's salvation is a position within the Mitford household at Asthall Manor, in the Oxfordshire countryside. There she will become nurserymaid, chaperone and confidante to the Mitford sisters, especially sixteen-year-old Nancy - an acerbic, bright young woman in love with stories. But then a nurse - Florence Nightingale Shore, goddaughter of her famous namesake - is killed on a train in broad daylight, and Louisa and Nancy find themselves entangled in the crimes of a murderer who will do anything to hide their secret."  (Summary from Catalogue)

a devious death cover


A Devious Death
- Alyssa Maxwell

"Phoebe and her sister Julia are eager for a summer getaway at High Head Lodge, the newly purchased estate of their cousin Regina. But Regina's odd friend, Olive, is far from friendly, and Regina's mother and brother-- bitter over the unequal distribution of her father's inheritance-- have descended on the house to confront Regina. Eva questions the loyalty and integrity of Miss Stanley, Lady Julia's new maid. When their hostess meets an untimely end-- murdered in her bed with no signs of struggle-- Lady Phoebe and Eva must uncover secrets hidden behind closed doors, before a killer ensures they never leave High Head Lodge alive." (Summary from Catalogue)



a duty to the dead cover

A Duty to the Dead - Charles Todd

"Independent-minded Bess Crawford's upbringing is far different from that of the usual upper-middle-class British gentlewoman. At the outbreak of WWI, she volunteers for the nursing corps, serving from the battlefields of France to the doomed hospital ship Britannic. On one voyage, she promises to a deliver a message from a dying officer to his brother. Once she's able to do so, she's disturbed at the brother's indifferent reception of the message, and when an unexpected turn of events provides her with an opportunity to stay with the family for a short time, she takes it." (Summary from Catalogue)




Belgravia cover
Anything written by Julian Fellowes

You know, given that Fellowes is the creator of the show!

But specifically, the fiction novel Belgravia.

"Two families living in 1840s London must guard a secret that originated at the Duchess of Richmond's legendary ball on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo." (Summary from Catalogue)





the fortune hunter cover

Daisy Goodwin

Author of the fictionalised novel based on the TV show 'Victoria'.

The Fortune Hunter - "In 1875, Sisi, the Empress of Austria is the woman that every man desires and every woman envies. Beautiful, athletic and intelligent, Sisi has everything - except happiness. Bored with the stultifying etiquette of the Hapsburg Court and her dutiful but unexciting husband, Franz Joseph, Sisi comes to England to hunt. She comes looking for excitement and she finds it in the dashing form of Captain Bay Middleton, the only man in Europe who can outride her. Ten years younger than her and engaged to the rich and devoted Charlotte, Bay has everything to lose by falling for a woman who can never be his. But Bay and the Empress are as reckless as each other, and their mutual attraction is a force that cannot be denied. Full of passion and drama, THE FORTUNE HUNTER tells the true story of a nineteenth century Queen of Hearts and a cavalry captain, and the struggle between love and duty." (Summary from Catalogue)



And if you just really want to watch some Downton Abbey again - we have the seasons on DVD!

We also recommend:

  • The Crown
  • Victoria
  • Poldark
  • The Crimson Field
  • Outlander

DVD hires are $2.00 for 7 days.