If you have any questions about any of the historical background of the book, feel free to comment or e-mail me! I love talking about this stuff. This is only a partial bibliography with some of my favorite sources.
1. The Regency Underworld, by Donald A. Low. Invaluable for understanding how the world of London crime functioned. (I also used this book heavily when writing True Pretenses.)
2. Strangers: Homosexual Love in the Nineteenth Century, by Graham Robb. I absolutely love this book and recommend it highly, especially if you want to read about nineteenth century queer people whose lives are NOT all doom and gloom.
3. Philosophy of Experimental Chemistry Vol. 2, by James Cutbush, 1813. My college library had this early nineteenth century chemistry textbook, and I pulled most of Solomon’s chemistry references from it.
4. Black London: Life Before Emancipation, by Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina. I love this book! It inspired me to try to create a more inclusive picture of Regency London.
5. Immigration, Ethnicity and Racism in Britain, 1815–1945, by Panikos Panayi. Includes a valuable, if short, section on pre-1815 immigration as well, and helped me people my London realistically.
6. One Hundred Days: Napoleon’s Road to Waterloo, by Alan Schom. I really enjoyed this book and it helped me established my timeline. It also has one of the clearest accounts of the military strategy at Waterloo I’ve read.
7. Greenwood’s 1827 Map of London. While obviously there were changes to London between 1815 and 1827 (Regent Street wasn’t there, for example!), this detailed map really helped me understand the geography of Regency London.