Black Diamond City: The Victorian Era is the first book in Jan Peterson's trilogy on the history of Nanaimo. Peterson traces the evolution of the city from its First Nations history to its coal industry to its becoming a diversified Victorian-era community.

Using original diaries, journals, letters, ships' logs, government records, maps, archival photographs and her own drawings, Peterson vividly brings to life both the historical events that shaped Nanaimo and its people.