Run to Earth

Two different riddles, three villains, one of which was really the darkest paint, three murders, one suicide, the abduction of a child, three strong Victorian women - one of them is unusually tragic, the other is quite a deceiver, like Becky Sharp, and divine retribution. Suffice it to say that one of the main characters is a young woman who lives with a man who claims to be a father, but exploits and intimidates her, and when this villain, Black Milsom, actually kills the young navigator captain for money.