How to Write a Historical Mystery That Brings the Past To Life

Historical fiction is kind of my thing. I was the executive editor of a literary journal of historical fiction for more than 20 years, and most of the novels I’ve written are historical. Last week I shared some general mystery writing tips. This week, I want to share what I’ve learned specifically about writing historical mysteries.

While everything about writing a general mystery still applies to writing a historical mystery, there are a few extra elements you should consider if you’re going to work history into your story. Writing a mystery is a puzzle, but writing a historical mystery is putting that same puzzle into an antique frame. You’re not only plotting a compelling whodunnit, but you’re also recreating a word from times past. The best historical mysteries immerse readers in another era where secrets are buried beneath and the tools of investigation are limited to instinct, observation, and an occasional dusty archive.

Choose Your Historical Moment with Purpose

Start by selecting a time period that sparks your imagination. Whether it’s Victorian England, Prohibition-era America, or Ancient Greece, your chosen era should offer more than window dressing. It should shape the crime, the characters, and the investigation.

Historical fiction blends fact with fiction. Real historical events, locations, or people can inspire your mystery or serve as its backdrop. Even if your plot is fictional, accuracy matters. Readers of historical fiction are detail oriented and will notice anachronisms. Go beyond the big events. What were some smaller happenings in your time period that readers may not have seen dramatized before? Study the clothing, food, language, and laws of the time. Look into how crimes were investigated or ignored.

Create a Sleuth Who Fits the Era

Your protagonist should be believable in the historical context. A female detective in the 1800s might face social barriers. A lawman in the Old West would dispense justice very differently from a modern police officer. Consider how class, gender, race, and education affect your sleuth’s role in the world.

A sleuth with a different perspective, such as a midwife, a journalist, or a servant, can offer fresh angles on historical society and crime. If you want a five-star example of this, read The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon. The Frozen River is a 5-star book for me. It’s based on a real-life woman, Martha Ballard, an 18th-century midwife who worked to solve a crime. Martha’s unique point of view made this story for me.

Build a Mystery That Could Only Happen Then

The best historical mysteries feel true to their time. A scandal involving forged manuscripts in the 1920s or a murder during a 17th-century witch trial makes use of the period’s atmosphere, fears, and limitations. Consider how the setting influences every aspect of the mystery, from the crime to the clues to the cover-up. Don’t just transplant a modern plot into the past, but let the past drive the story. One key thing to ask yourself is what crimes would make sense in the era that you’re writing about? What social, political, or cultural tensions can you explore?

Historical Constraints To Build Suspense

Hercule Poirot couldn’t use cell phones, databases, or any of our other digital doo-dahs. Such limitations in historical fiction create narrative tension, forcing your characters to rely on observation and deduction. Even gathering information through gossip, letters, or physical surveillance becomes a dramatic act.

Suspects in a historical mystery are shaped by their time and should act accordingly. Their motives, secrets, and fears might be different than ours in some way, but just as compelling. Affairs, inheritances, religious tensions, political loyalties, or reputational ruin might all be reasons to kill or to lie to cover for someone who did. Suspects should have period-appropriate motives. Someone might be hiding something scandalous by the standards of their time, even if it seems minor today.

Reveal the Truth With Historical Weight

The solution to your mystery should not only satisfy the reader’s curiosity but it should also say something about the time period. Perhaps justice for that particular crime wasn’t possible within the bounds of the laws of the day. Perhaps the killer walks free because of privilege. Or maybe the crime reflects a moment of cultural or moral reckoning. The solution should resonate with both the characters and the historical moment. It should feel earned, haunting, and inevitable.

A well-written historical mystery should invite readers into a world that no longer exists and make them care about what happened. When I talk about history, one thing I always go back to is the fact that the more things change the more they stay the same. While a lot has changed over the centuries, what people want has basically stayed the same. We should be able to relate to your historical characters even if their circumstances seem different than ours, at least on the surface.

I had a lot to say about writing historical fiction in Painting the Past: A Guide to Writing Historical Fiction.

Categories: Creative Writing, Historical Fiction, Mysteries, Painting the Past, Writing, Writing Historical Fiction, Writing InspirationTags: creative writing inspiration, how to write a historical mystery, writing, writing historical fiction, writing inspiration, writing tips
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Published on September 09, 2025 09:00
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