Fitting option 1 and 2: Barbara Hambly's "Benjamin January" series are mysteries set in 1830s New Orleans with a main character of color.
In re: 2, when you say "England pre-Victoria" am I to take it you mean "19th century, pre-Victoria"? I can't think of very many in that era, but I have more that are much earlier.
I'm not sure whether the Sharpe series (military adventure stories) counts for your purposes -- he's a working class character as are most of the recurring secondary characters. (The series is mostly set outside of England, though, plus IMHO they're not very well written.)
Most other military/naval adventure series set during the Napoleonic period follow middle-class characters. Horatio Hornblower, for instance, is a country doctor's son. Admittedly the characters usually get richer and more influential over the course of the story, and even very junior officers are influential aboard ship relative to the majority of the crew.
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-07-15 02:30 pm (UTC)In re: 2, when you say "England pre-Victoria" am I to take it you mean "19th century, pre-Victoria"? I can't think of very many in that era, but I have more that are much earlier.
I'm not sure whether the Sharpe series (military adventure stories) counts for your purposes -- he's a working class character as are most of the recurring secondary characters. (The series is mostly set outside of England, though, plus IMHO they're not very well written.)
Most other military/naval adventure series set during the Napoleonic period follow middle-class characters. Horatio Hornblower, for instance, is a country doctor's son. Admittedly the characters usually get richer and more influential over the course of the story, and even very junior officers are influential aboard ship relative to the majority of the crew.