The Lady Julia books are, I think, my favorite of the Victorian widows fighting crime! genre. I predict that you will loooooove Brisbane (also Aquinas, the butler, who might be secondary, but having him back at the helm of the household in this last book was a not insignificant part of my enjoyment. (nothing happened to him in intervening books, there was just some traveling going on.)) Julia gets on my nerves sometimes, but in a way that fits with her character, so I can deal with that.

The books T has been waving at me are Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan books. I started with Shards of Honor and went right into Barryar. Enjoyed both tremendously. You'll love Aral.