Busy, busy, busy. That’s what September is for a school teacher and, well, I’m a school teacher. So much to do, but it means that when it comes to reading, it’s going to take something a little special to keep me focussed.
Well, I noticed that the new releases that I’ve got lined up for next month are both historical mysteries, but before we see my buddies Michael Jecks and Paul Doherty go head to head, I thought it might be nice to take a look at a whole month of historical mysteries.
This is inspired as well by the recent Fingerprint award at Capital Crime for Best Historical Novel and it went to A Fatal Crossing by Tom Hindle. A perfectly fine book, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t count Golden Age pastiches (or homages) as historical mysteries. Historical mysteries take you to a different place, an unfamiliar place – and that’s where I’m planning to go this month. And I could do with your help.
I want to try some new authors – I’ve a few lined up. A trip to Roman Britain with Rosemary Rowe, a trip to the Elizabethan theatre with Edward Marston and one to Ancient Rome with Lindsey Davis, plus the latest escapades of Jack Blackjack and Brother Athelstan.
So who else should I be trying? Which historical mystery writers am I overlooking? I could do with a few recommendations. Preferably pre-1900, but more recent if it’s set in a non-British culture.You can even recommend your favourite Cadfael book if you like – one of them must be okay…
In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel 
In cauda venenum … very nicely done (regardless of whether one agrees or not).
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Have you tried any of the Roman Empire mysteries by David Wishart?
I find them fun (if you don’t mind the protagonist, Marcus Corvinus, being a little “hard-boiled” before the time) and are inexpensive on kindle
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Thanks for the tip – I’ll see how I get on with the two Roman ones that I’ve already got lined up first, but will bear that in mind
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Caveat emptor… Have you tried Ruth Downie’s series set in ancient Rome? Or the Robert Van Gulick series set in 18th century China?
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Yes, the Van Gulick are wonderful, definitely try them.
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I enjoyed the first books in Lynda Robinson’s series of Egyptian mysteries.
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Not heard of them. I’ll take a look, thanks
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I’ve ordered a couple of these. Thanks
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I Claudius has a locked room murder.
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You might also want to look at Euripides’ Elektra for its discussion of circumstantial evidence.
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Thanks for the tips, but I think I’ll skip these…
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How about another honkaku challenge? “The Samurai and the Prisoner” by Yonezawa Honobu is published in English recently. It is a mystery manga inspired by real-life historical event. When the novel is published in Japan, it was extremely well received, ranking first place at both mystery novels and historical novels award of the year. Also won Naoki prize, one of the biggest literary prize in Japan. Though I wonder whether it can be enjoyed as well in someone not familiar with Japanese history, but I think it is a nice honkaku novel to try.
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My gut feeling on honkaku is that I’m always wary of it… The blurb sounds very enticing though, but unfortunately the price isn’t. I’ll keep an eye out for a paperback release – thanks for the tip
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I’ll put it on the wish list – it’s a bit pricey for a gamble
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Edit: sorry typo. Not a mystery manga, but a mystery novel.
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Wallace Irwin’s The Julius Caesar Murder Case. A parody of the historical mystery, published in 1935, before historical mysteries were really a thing. It takes place in ancient Rome, but written in the style of the pulps and it works. I enjoyed it tremendously. I second the recommendation for Robert van Gulik. Van Gulik’s Judge Dee series is an ancestor of Paul Doherty’s historical mysteries, especially his locked room novels (The Chinese Maze Murders, The Chinese Gold Murders and The Red Pavilion).
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Not sure if you’ve hit this yet, as I am a relatively new reader, here, but this is rather clever, silly, and just a bit meta…
The Affair of the Blood-Stained Egg Cosy https://a.co/d/6r43sQr
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Yes, I reviewed that an age ago. It’s not what I’d call historical though – it’s a Golden Age pastiche. Others disagree though…
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I love the Sebastian St. Cyr series by C. S. Harris (set in the early 1800s/Regency era. There’s an over-arching story for Sebastian–the mysteries are fairly stand-alone, but there are spoilers for Sebastian story if read out of order. This is one of the few series that I get impatient for the next one to come out (next one not due till next spring….).
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Take a look on Pat Mcintosh’s Gilbert and Alys Cunningham mysteries. Very good sense of time and place, realistic but not drastic and I enjoyed the plots and the writing.
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