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Emily Organ
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Limelight: A spellbinding Victorian murder mystery (A Penny Green Victorian Mystery Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Emily Organ (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.2 out of 5 stars 5,434 ratings

“Miss Green, the actress Lizzie Dixie has been murdered.” I stared at the young inspector. “But it’s impossible. She drowned. Years ago.”

London, 1883. Fleet Street’s pioneering lady reporter Penny Green is stunned when a long-dead actress is found murdered in Highgate Cemetery. Lizzie Dixie supposedly drowned in the River Thames years ago, so how did she end up shot to death on a foggy October night? Penny’s personal connection to the victim draws her in to the case, as does the charm of Scotland Yard inspector James Blakely. But her return to work sparks the attention of someone with evil intent.

Why did Lizzie fake her own death? Who knew she was still alive? With each revelation, the killer draws nearer. Can Penny unmask the culprit before she becomes the next victim? Or will the bright lights of Victorian London be forever dimmed by a killer lurking in the shadows?

An enthralling and atmospheric historical mystery that will have you reading deep into the night. Limelight is the first instalment in the bestselling Penny Green Victorian Mystery series.

Readers love Limelight and the Penny Green series:

‘Limelight is one of the best murder mysteries I have ever read.’ Reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Loved this book. Loved the two main characters. Best book l have read in the last two years. So excited to find an author this good. Cannot praise this book enough.’ Reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘The best entertainment on a cold wintery weekend… If you like cosy murder stories this is a must read. Loved this book and already purchased book 2! Can’t wait to see what new mystery Penny gets involved with!... so hard to put down! So captivating! 🤩 I loved this book ! It took me back to Victorian London with an outstanding female lead character.’ Reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘A Victorian Delight!’ Reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘If you like Agatha Christie books you are going to like this one.’ Reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘I have read all of this series of books. They are marvellous. I can hardly wait for the next one.’ Reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Wonderfully atmospheric. You can almost taste the fog… Can’t wait for more.’ Reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘I’ve loved every book in the series, rooting for Penny and James the entire way. Just the right amount of mystery that keeps the pages turning… And, as always, a fun amount of well-researched historical info. Emily Organ does a lovely job of finding just the right balance, which makes her books so much fun to read.’ Reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘A very captivating book… you are drawn right into the story from the beginning. Each scene makes you feel part of it, and a complete surprise twist at the end.’ Reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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  1. Book 1 of 12
    A Penny Green Victorian Mystery
  2. Print length
    310 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publication date
    November 4, 2024
  5. File size
    2.4 MB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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What readers are saying about Limelight

historical mystery, murder mystery, miss scarlett and the duke, andrea penrose, deanna raybourn

historical mystery, murder mystery, miss scarlett and the duke, andrea penrose, deanna raybourn

historical mystery, murder mystery, miss scarlett and the duke, andrea penrose, deanna raybourn

historical mystery, murder mystery, miss scarlett and the duke, andrea penrose, deanna raybourn

historical mystery, murder mystery, miss scarlett and the duke, andrea penrose, deanna raybourn

historical mystery, murder mystery, miss scarlett and the duke, andrea penrose, deanna raybourn

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Customer Reviews
4.2 out of 5 stars 5,434
4.3 out of 5 stars 3,433
4.4 out of 5 stars 2,776
4.4 out of 5 stars 2,697
4.4 out of 5 stars 2,584
4.5 out of 5 stars 2,732
Price $3.99 $1.99 $4.99 $4.99 $5.99 $5.99
Penny Green Victorian Mystery series Book 1 Book 2 Book 3 Book 4 Book 5 Book 6

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

If you like amateur lady sleuths and bygone eras then give my books a try! I love writing murder mysteries in which plucky heroines solve the crime. Whether it's the 1880s or the 1920s, these ladies must rely on their wits - no detailed forensics or technology to help them out! Discover more at emilyorgan.com. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"If you are unfamiliar with the Penny Green Series, acquaint yourselves immediately!" - Amazon Reviewer

"A great piece of historical fiction. I liked the characters and the settings made me feel as if I was right there. I can't wait to read more in this series." - Goodreads Reviewer --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0DHGR5YQS
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Storm Publishing (November 4, 2024)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 4, 2024
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2.4 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 310 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1805088556
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 out of 5 stars 5,434 ratings

About the author

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Emily Organ

Emily Organ

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If you like amateur lady sleuths and bygone eras then give my books a try! I love writing murder mysteries in which plucky heroines solve the crime. Whether it’s the 1880s or the 1920s, these ladies must rely on their wits – no detailed forensics or technology to help them out!

The Penny Green series follows the ups, downs and investigations of Victorian news reporter Penny Green. As one of the first lady news reporters on Fleet Street, she has her work cut out.

The Churchill and Pemberley cozy mystery series features senior sleuthing duo Annabel Churchill and Doris Pemberley. With a combined age of 140 and a penchant for cake and slapstick mishaps, they somehow manage to outwit the local village constabulary.

The protagonist in my newest series is Augusta Peel, a bookish and reluctant sleuth with a mysterious past. What secrets could she be hiding?

All my mysteries are clean, light and fun to read. Some include fascinating historical detail too. I hope you enjoy them!

You can find out more at emilyorgan.com.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
5,434 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers enjoy this light-hearted murder mystery set in Victorian London, praising its well-written dialogue and believable characters. The book receives positive feedback for its well-researched content and historical setting, with one customer noting how it transports readers to nineteenth century London. While customers find it a delightful read, they disagree on the pacing, with some describing it as very slow.

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207 customers mention "Story quality"184 positive23 negative

Customers enjoy the story quality of the book, describing it as a well-written light-hearted murder mystery with an interesting historical setting.

"...The mystery is a puzzler, not that it is so difficult or arcane, instead it is true to human character and the final clue teases with one meaning..." Read more

"...There was no sex. The story was enjoyable enough, there just was sometimes baffling behavior." Read more

"...The mystery is relatively interesting and the historical and cultural background well researched...." Read more

"...I love a good old-fashioned mystery and this is the first book I've read by this author. I hope to see more books coming from this series...." Read more

118 customers mention "Enjoyment"111 positive7 negative

Customers find the book enjoyable, describing it as a delightful read from an era that makes them want to keep turning the pages.

"...Nevertheless, this was an entertaining read for the most part...." Read more

"...If you're like historical mysteries, this one is a good read...." Read more

"Limelight (Penny Green, #1), my first read from author Emily Organ. Enjoyable, well-written mystery with a Holmesian main character...." Read more

"...A very worthwhile series!" Read more

85 customers mention "Character development"72 positive13 negative

Customers appreciate the character development in the book, finding them delightful and believable, with one customer noting that the protagonist is not as flighty or sweetly feminine.

"...Penny is a quiet but endearingly relatable character, she's polite in the manner of a bygone society when phrasing and niceties were prized but she..." Read more

"...I thought the characters were well fleshed out, particularly for the first book in what appears to be planned as a series...." Read more

"...Enjoyable, well-written mystery with a Holmesian main character...." Read more

"...Intelligent characters mingle with a clever plot and very a well written story to make it difficult to put down...." Read more

76 customers mention "Writing quality"60 positive16 negative

Customers find the book well written and easy to read, with clean language and skillful use of dialogue.

"...This story is written in 1st-person POV, in Penny's voice...." Read more

"...The author has done a good bit of research, and explains which places and events are fictional, which are real, and which are a bit of a..." Read more

"...Penny, through whom we follow the narrative, is a bold, independent woman, but not so much she doesn’t fit into the world and time...." Read more

"...Very interesting historical background. Places you directly in the locations and time." Read more

18 customers mention "Research quality"18 positive0 negative

Customers praise the book's research, finding it well-informed and clever.

"...The author has done a good bit of research, and explains which places and events are fictional, which are real, and which are a bit of a..." Read more

"...Extremely well researched...." Read more

"...It shows that the author did a considerable amount of research. Would definitely read the next installments!" Read more

"...I love Penny, this is how you write a real strong woman! She is smart, dedicated and strong-willed, but she also has her spectacles slipping off her..." Read more

16 customers mention "Historical context"16 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the historical context of the book, particularly its accurate portrayal of Victorian London and its historical aspects.

"I really enjoy these books and their characters and the history around the time period. Good plots and writing that keeps the story moving quickly...." Read more

"I enjoyed this story. I appreciated the historical setting with references to actual places and people...." Read more

"I loved this book ! It took me back to Victorian London with an outstanding female lead character...." Read more

"...enjoyed tye characters and the description of the times and historical aspects of London...." Read more

11 customers mention "Series quality"11 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the series quality, with one mentioning it's a wonderful new series set in England, and another noting it's an excellent beginning.

"Love the new series I found, Penny Green. I love this new heroine, the author does a great job with the story line...." Read more

"Like this series." Read more

"Ready for the next Penny book, and others by this author, new to me. Very well written and researched. Love these type of English mysteries!" Read more

"Wonderful start to a new series! Kept me guessing until he very end- very easy to read. Hoping more developers between Penny and the Inspector!" Read more

40 customers mention "Pacing"22 positive18 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the pacing of the book, with some praising its masterful execution while others find it very slow.

"...Very well done. I got this book for free but I'll be paying for the second." Read more

"...Because of the range of settings and depth of detail it's a slow-paced story but I did not find it boring or tiresome but enjoyed the historical..." Read more

"This book is a solid 4 and really a 4.5 and I am not easy. PRO - There were several things I liked. One is the period social accuracy...." Read more

"...quality to the dialogue that moves the story along albeit at a very slow pace...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Jeanne L
    5.0 out of 5 stars Atmospheric Victorian Mystery
    Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    This mystery is set in a Victorian London swathed in smoggy fog with omnibuses pulled by horses, railways clattering by, steamboats on the Thames, smoke filled pubs and posh squares lined with newly built townhouses. The London of an evolving Scotland Yard when 'case files' were considered a novel policing technique and women riding bicycles was considered risque, when men routinely wore top hats and women perched small hats on their heads and wore elaborate dresses with bustles. The heroine is also a novelty a single woman journalist working on Fleet Street for a daily paper. She is struggling to survive after a career setback and is offered a lifeline by a young Scotland Yard inspector who needs her insider knowledge to assist him in solving the scandalous murder of a famous actress, Lizzie Dixie, whom she was friends with. Penny Green agrees to help only if she is re-instated at her old job and she tries to balance her own sorrow with her desire to find justice for her old friend and Annie, her daughter. Penny's connections in the theater world gain access for her and the inspector to meet with the Drury Lane theater proprietor Sebastian an early supporter of Lizzie and Lizzie's husband an overbearing successful showman in the style of a P.T. Barnum.

    The shadowy world of politicians and courtesans and ladies of the evening is an intriguing sub-plot where Lizzie had a reputation and was rumored to have been involved with a famous statesman. Penny's sister Eliza is another interesting character, a wife and mother who is a member and proponent of the causes of the North London's Womens Society, a progressive group of middle-class women who meet and discuss women's right to vote, wear more sensible clothing, and lead more independent lives; that group indirectly plays a part in solving the identity of the murderer in a timely way later in the story.

    Penny is a quiet but endearingly relatable character, she's polite in the manner of a bygone society when phrasing and niceties were prized but she is also sensible and sensitive skewing clear minded and determined then turning muddled and discouraged, a modern working woman in spite of her corsets! The mystery is just that, a mystery inside a mystery. The murder is theatrically gruesome, the actress shot to death in a graveyard, but the shocker is that she was supposed to be dead having drowned in a shipwreck over 5 years ago. Where was she for those 5 years and who knew that she was still alive. In addition to that there are no real clues but there are motives, all involving the actress's romances. Because of the range of settings and depth of detail it's a slow-paced story but I did not find it boring or tiresome but enjoyed the historical details and thought it succeeded in bringing the past into the present.

    Overall, the story is well written, subtle in its depiction of Penny and it successfully evokes a London slowly evolving from the coal fogged atmosphere towards a more modern era but still bound to the old mores and social structures. The mystery is a puzzler, not that it is so difficult or arcane, instead it is true to human character and the final clue teases with one meaning and then another. The ending is melodramatic and was a sensational resolution to a baffling mystery. I suspected the motive and murderer, but I was only partially right and was misled by many of the clues mostly due to the way the narrative unfolded which points to a first-rate mystery.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Debbie
    4.0 out of 5 stars Rather baffling behavior, but enjoyable enough
    Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    "Limelight" is a mystery set in 1883 in London. While the first in the series, Penny kept referring to past murder cases that she's covered and that coverage is how she ended up losing her job as a reporter for a newspaper. For some reason, a new Scotland Yard inspector, James, is given lead on a high-profile case. He wanted Penny's help since she knew the victim. Penny accompanied James on his interviews even when there was no excuse for her to be there and even when it made suspects refuse to talk because they didn't want to talk in front of a reporter.

    They asked questions and tracked down leads. Penny made a lot of assumptions, like about a slim person wearing men's clothing made of certain materials. She immediately thought it was one of the suspects that was slim. Then she saw a stranger dressed that way in a hotel and chased after the stranger even though she thought the man was a killer. So...what were you going to do if you caught a male killer all by yourself, huh? And at one point, Jack gave her his gun even though he had no idea if she could use it (which she didn't) leaving himself unable to help. Not the brightest idea... Anyway, I did guess whodunit before they did but there was a twist at the end which I hadn't expected.

    There was no sex. The story was enjoyable enough, there just was sometimes baffling behavior.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • OLT
    3.0 out of 5 stars First book of this Victorian mystery series shows promise and some good research.
    Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    In 1883 London bachelor-girl reporter Penny Green is struggling to make ends meet after losing her newspaper job. When the death of actress Lizzie Dixie, an erstwhile close acquaintance of Penny's, is reported, this causes a big public stir since, supposedly, Lizzie had died five years earlier in a boating accident on the Thames. What had she been doing in these five years and who had now wanted her dead?

    Since Penny knew Lizzie, she is asked to help young Scotland Yard inspector James Blakely to investigate the murder. As incentive, she is offered her job back. Their investigation leads Penny and James to various parts of London, to interviews with politicians and theatre persons and Astley's Ampitheatre personnel, all friends, relatives or acquaintances of Lizzie's in her "pre-first-death" life. They need to find out who knew Lizzie was alive, who was happy about that fact and who not.

    The mystery is relatively interesting and the historical and cultural background well researched. I enjoyed this enough to want to try the second of the series when it's released. However, I do believe there's room for improvement in character development, in plotting of the mystery, and in dialogue.

    This story is written in 1st-person POV, in Penny's voice. Usually this POV puts the reader in sync with the narrator and we should get to know her and her feelings and impressions well (as long as the style is not "unreliable narrator", which it is not here). That didn't happen for me. Penny's personality felt underdeveloped. I learned to like Penny's married sister Eliza, a Modern Woman, a bicycle-riding women's rights advocate, the "rational dress" (more comfortable, practical clothing for women) wearing wife of a solicitor, in the few pages she appeared, more than I liked Penny.

    As for the plotting of the mystery, that could have been done a bit more deftly. And I pretty much figured out whodunit much before the big "reveal" moment and I'm not usually the brightest bulb in the chandelier about solving mysteries, much as I love to read them. Nevertheless, this was an entertaining read for the most part. I'm hoping the author will make Penny into a more interesting person as the series progresses and also make the dialogue slightly less wooden.
    126 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Alexiskami
    2.0 out of 5 stars Prevedibile
    Reviewed in Italy on October 24, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    La copertina è molto accattivante, ma purtroppo è risultato essere un giallo veramente troppo prevedibile. Già a metè, se non prima, si intruisce bene chi è il colpevole e il suo movente, quindi non c'è nessuna sorpresa finale. La protagonista non rimane troppo impressa nella memoria.
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  • Terrywithay
    5.0 out of 5 stars I'm Utterly Hooked
    Reviewed in Australia on November 19, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    Its been awhile since I have really enjoyed a really good historical/mystery/romance novel and finally I have discovered Penny Green -- thank you Emily Organ for bringing this great character to life. The background the depth of research and the feeling of walking her steps is sensational. I'm hook line and sinkered into this series. I love her courage, historic ladies reticence, and her tenacity. And of course, any good ladies mystery is not complete without some type of love interest. Once again thank you Emily -- Im onto the next one and cant wait.
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  • mrs rosemary j giri
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great read
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 8, 2025
    Verified Purchase
    This is a new author for me, but I loved this book. Well-plotted with engaging characters and it kept me guessing throughout. Nice little subplot of Penny’s budding romance. All in all a great read.
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  • TRB
    5.0 out of 5 stars Good book
    Reviewed in Canada on January 12, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    Interesting story, well written. I liked the characters. It was a good mystery, and the time period was well done.
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  • Bindu P
    4.0 out of 5 stars A delightful read with a bit of an obvious climax.
    Reviewed in India on July 2, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    The story is wonderfully written and the characters endearing. However the climax was very much anticipated. The secret Life of Lizzie could've been a little bit more interesting as well.
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