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I'm surprised that there aren't any existing posts on the books in Imogen Robertson's entertaining 18th century mystery series, maybe there were once and they got lost in the great crash. Theft of Life is the fifth book featuring Harriet Westerman and Gabriel Crowther. In the first book Harriet is the lively, curious and bored wife of a navy captain who is at sea and Gabriel is an anti-social anatomist. They meet and become friends when Harriet finds a body. One of the things that I particularly enjoy about this series is that there isn't a budding romance, Harriet is devoted to her husband and children, and if Crowther admires here he keeps it very close, instead they are good friends who enjoy each other's company. Theft of Life starts off with the body of a prominent slaver found pegged out in the grounds of St Paul's and it's initially assumed that one of London's negro community has enacted a revenge killing. Crowther and Westerman get involved and things aren't what they appear. It's an excellent, fast paced and satsfying read with a superb sense of period, I think it's probably the best in the series. Highly recommended. If you haven't read any of these books do start with the first though. While all thebooks in the series can be read as stand alones, each one refers back to events in pervious novels and this one in particular will give away some of what happened in the first in the series. Incidentally, this book absolutely sums up the problem I posted about before with calling this section Historical and Romance. Theft of Life is defintely historical, it could have a place in Mystery, one thing it isn't is Romance.