10/10 books

 I love reading about Victorian England and I love mysteries so the Death by Gaslight Reading Challenge is a win win for me! I'm really excited about reading a few series that I've had my eye on for a while such as The Agency by Y.S. Lee, Enola Holmes by Nancy Springer, and the Sebastian St. Cyr series.

Here are the details for the challenge:

For the Death by Gaslight Reading Challenge, the goal is to read mysteries set in or written during the Victorian and Edwardian eras (1837 - 1910). I'll probably be reading mysteries set in England (since those are the ones I'm most interested in), but any location is acceptable, as long as the time frame fits. No more than 3 titles can be from the same series (except for the first special challenge, listed below).

There are 4 levels to choose from:
1.  The Merry Widow of Windy Nook: 5 books
2.  Palmer the Poisoner: 10 books
3.  Burke and Hare, Body Snatchers: 15 books
4.  Jack the Ripper: 20+ books

Additionally, there are 4 "special challenges".  Books which are read for any of these mini-levels do not count towards the main reading levels. These are "extra credit" and are purely optional.
1.  Serial Killer: Read an entire series (re-reading if necessary) from the first book until the last (or most recently published). There is no limit on the number of books, so a series could consist of 2 books or 20.
2.  The Great Detective: Read 5 (or more) books featuring Sherlock Holmes, at least one of which must be an original story by Arthur Conan Doyle.
3.  Arsenic and Air Ships: Read 5 (or more) books which are steampunk mysteries.
4.  Penny Dreadfuls: Read 5 (or more) non-fiction books that detail Victorian or Edwardian crimes.

All the regular rules apply:
* cross-overs between challenges are more than okay
* any format counts - audio, ebook, etc.
* you don't have to have a blog to participate (since I technically don't - I post reviews at Goodreads)
* feel free to change levels at any time
* re-reads are fine, but books must be read in the 2012 calendar year to count
Reading challenges are suppose to the challenging (hence the name)...but we don't do this for a living, we do this for fun! 


Goal for this challenge: 10 books and I may do the Great Detective extra challenge if time allows.


Some sites for ideas...
19th Century British Mysteries (at HistoricalNovels.com)
19th Century European Mysteries (at HistoricalNovels.com)