Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson

I'll let a few quotes suffice. This is a beautifully crafted novel. Her dexterity with language reminds me of Anne Michaels (author of Fugitive Pieces). This book will stay with you.

"Every spirit passing through the world fingers the tangible and mars the mutable, and finally has come to look and not to buy."

"And the dear ordinary had healed as seamlessly as an image on water."

 more quotes>>

Instruments of Darkness / Anatomy of Murder by Imogen Robertson

Well written series, very descriptive and evocative of the 1780s in England. There are two more, Island of Bones and Circle of Shadows that I look forward to reading. 

"Instruments of Darkness combines the brooding atmosphere of the best of Daphne du Maurier with the complex, compelling detail of Tess Gerritsen, moving from drawing room to dissecting room, coffee shop to country inn, and into the shadowy heart of eighteenth-century society."

http://imogenrobertson.wordpress.com/the-books/