Historical Whodunits

John the Eunuch #0.1

by Decius Metellus (Editor), Elizabeth Peters (contributor), Herodotus (contributor)

In the spirit of Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose and Ellis Peters’ acclaimed Brother Cadfael mysteries, here is a collection of historical detective stories, written by contemporary authors and featuring a gallery of offbeat sleuths from the past. In a wry send-up of the classic “locked room” puzzle, an Egyptian sage ponders the mystery of a locked tomb. In another tale, a Roman slave’s investigation of a theft leads him to people in very high places. Edgar Allan Poe’s Auguste Dupin has been resurrected for a new adventure, as have historical figures, from William Shakespeare—hot on the trail of Christopher Marlowe's murderer—to Samuel Johnson, with Boswell playing his Dr. Watson! (And speaking of Watson… the wizard of Baker Street, Sherlock Holmes himself, appears in an original story written by the son of Arthur Conan Doyle!) These 23 tales comprise a mixed bag of delicious crime capers designed to tickle the fancy of any dedicated mystery buff.

Contents: The locked tomb mystery / Elizabeth Peters — The thief versus King Rhampsinitus / Herodotus — Socrates solves a murder / Brèni James — Mightier than the sword / John Maddox Roberts — The treasury thefts / Wallace Nichols — A Byzantine mystery / Mary Reed and Eric Mayer — He came with the rain / Robert van Gulik — The High King’s sword / Peter Tremayne — The price of light / Ellis Peters — The confession of Brother Athelstan / Paul Harding — The witch’s tale / Margaret Frazer — Father Hugh and the deadly scythe / Mary Monica Pulver — Leonardo da Vinci, detective / Theodore Mathieson — A sad and bloody hour / Joe Gores — The Christmas Masque / S. S. Rafferty — Murder lock’d in / Lillian de la Torre — Captain Nash and the Wroth inheritance / Raymond Butler — The Doomdorf mystery / Melville Davisson Post — Murder in the Rue Royale / Michael Harrison — The gentleman from Paris / John Dickson Carr — The Golden Nugget poker game / Edward D. Hoch — The case of the Deptford horror / Adrian Conan Doyle — Five rings in Reno / R. L. Stevens — Afterword : Old-time detection / Arthur Griffiths

Genres: Mystery, Short Stories, Historical Fiction, Historical, Anthologies, Fiction, Historical Mystery

522 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Nandakishore Mridula]

It took me some time to get into the groove with this one, but once I was in, it was a ride worth the fare.

Writing a fictional narrative set in an actual historical period is very challenging. The author has to do plenty of research and also make some educated guesswork - and still he or she can be pretty sure to get at least some detail wrong. The prospect is doubly difficult when the story in question is a mystery: for though crime is centuries old, detection is a relatively modern concept. And the fictional sleuth is a very late entrant into the realm of literature.

But believe me, most of the authors in this collection carry it off smoothly.

----------------------------

The book is divided into four parts: "The Ancient Age" covering a wide swath of time from the era of the Pharaohs to the seventh century; "The Middle Ages" traversing medieval Europe up to the Renaissance; "Regency and Gaslight", set in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries and "Holmes and Beyond", where we finally reach the beginning of the past century and the "true"detective story is born. Structuring it in this way helps the reader to have a sense of the flow of history, and is one of the major plus points of the book.

As mysteries go, there are very few classics in this one (the ones I really liked were "The Doomdorf Mystery" by Melville Davisson Post and the "Price of Light" by Ellis Peters, the former because it really has an "aha!" moment and the latter because of the beautiful way the narrative is structured around the cultural milieu) but there are quite a few well-written stories. But the cleverness of the puzzle is not the only point of these stories - according to me, the main attraction was how the mystery has been fitted into its historical framework. For that alone, it is worth reading.

We have a number of historical personalities solving crimes - Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself, to mention a few - and we also have Holmes and Dupin making appearances in stories by authors other than who created them. Quite a few of the sleuths are either priests or nuns, mostly in the section devoted to the medieval world: I was pleasantly reminded of Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose".

If you are a true aficionado of whodunnits, this is one volume you can't afford to miss.

[Terri]

Perfect summer read!

[Princessjay]

PART I: The Ancient World
The Locked Tomb Mystery - Elizabeth Peters
An Egyptian Sherlock Holmes pastiche, Amenhotep the eagle-nosed detective and his helper, the scribe Wadjsen.

The thief vs King Rhampsinitus - Herodotus
A familiar folktale.

Socrates Solves a Murder - Breni James
A pastiche of Socratic dialogue-style, a la Plato. Clever.

Mightier Than the Sword - John Maddox Roberts
An urbane, witty, man of Rome, solving crime while going about his business.

The Treasury Thefts - Wallace Nichols
Lovely story of Sollius the slave, solving the mystery theft from Marcus Aurellius' Treasury. It's the arrogant, corrupt Emperor-in-waiting, Commodus. Apparently there are more than 60 of these stories.. a pity they have fallen out of favor.

A Byzantine Mystery - Mary Reed & Eric Mayer
Emperor Justinian required his Chamberlain to find his sacred relic. Nice twist to the story.

He Came with the Rain - Robert van Gulik
Judge Dee solves the murder of a pawnbroker by understanding the victim's true nature.

The High King's Sword - Peter Tremayne
Sister Fidelma, a nun and "lawyer", is summoned to find a missing sword required for the next High King to be anointed, in Ireland before the Norman invasion.

Part II: The Middle Ages
The Price of Light - Ellis Peters
A Brother Cadfael story, involving a bad-tempered Scrooge of a rich man and a pair of beautiful silver candlesticks.

The Confession of Brother Athelstan - Paul Harding
Brother Athelstan is a Benedictine friar, and amanuensis to the Coroner Sir John. This story involves knights jousting and an inadvertent death that turns out to be murder.

The Witch's Tale - Margaret Frazer
A much-abused wife seems to kill her husband with witchcraft. Sister Frivesse investigates.

Father Hugh & the Deadly Scythe - Mary Monica Pulver
From the haughty perspective of an abbess, Father Hugh the village monk solves the death of the village gossip /blackmailer.

Leonardo Da Vinci, Detective - Theodore Mathieson
During the last years of his life, the French Queen challenges Leondardo to solve the seemingly-impossible death of her not-so-secret lover.

A Sad & Bloody Hour - Joe Gores
Written using 300+ lines of dialogue from Shakespeare plays. High creativity, but alas, makes for overly melodramatic story.

PART III: Regency & Gaslight
The Christmas Masque - S. S. Rafferty
Captain Cork called to deal with murder of a wealthy heiress at a Christmas Ball in New York City, in the 1700s. Puzzle and clues laid out step by step, but the murderer came seemingly from nowhere. How I tire of stories where, oops, insanity runs in the family, so of course the insane murderer wants to kill without a real reason yet with amazing insane-people cunning. Ugh.

Murder Lock'd In - Lillian de la Torre
Dr. Johnson meets up with his faithful diarist Boswell for the first, and gets involved in a locked-room triple murder.

Captain Nash & the Wroth Inheritance - Raymond Butler
A long and convoluted novel, featuring Captain Nash almost as a hardboiled detective in 1700s, following people, impetuously kicking snakes' nests without much forethought, and more complex than the mystery itself warrants. More of a thriller..

The Doomdorf Mystery - Melville Davisson Post
An Uncle Abner mystery, full of dread & doom & high falutin' language & strange characters.

Murder in the Rue Royale - Michael Harrison
A pastiche a la Poe, where August Dupin solves a locked-room mystery, with a most dreadful murder method.

The Gentleman from Paris - John Dickson Carr
This time, the detective IS Poe. A young man from Paris come to New York City, trying to find an old woman's will. Overly melodramatic.

The Golden Nugget Poker Game - Edward D. Hoch
In the wildness of Canada, a sharpshooter stumbles into a plot to steal prospector's gold.

Part IV: Holmes & Beyond
The Case of the Deptford Horror - Adrian Conan Doyle
Sherlock Holmes pastiche. Very similar to THE SPECKLED BAND. A family that seem to die off one by one, until only the niece is left, and an overly-solicitous uncle. I suppose it is rather amusing that even Sherlock Holmes is terrified of spiders, albeit, a giant one the size of a dinner plate!

Five Rings in Reno - R. L. Stevens
Arthur Conan Doyle went to Reno, NV to solve the death of a journalist.

[Cynthia]

Interesting. The stories are hit or miss; when they hit they're superb; when they miss, I don't know, they just fall flat. Still, it's mostly worth it for the stories that are good.

[Nancy]

Recommended for folks who enjoy murder mysteries, historical fiction, and both together. And while I am certainly one of those folks, I confess didn't find much that I really enjoyed here (other than the Cadfael story, but I'd read that one already.) A few were good, most were meh. This anthology was a whole lot more captivating when I first read it 15 years ago, for some reason.

One of the stories is a murder mystery constructed almost entirely out of Shakespeare dialogue. It's a neat trick but awful to read. Unless you're a Shakespeare buff, I guess?

The editor apparently went to great lengths to assemble a collection that contained some of the earliest examples of fictional historical detectives. His comments by themselves are an interesting lesson in actual history. Unfortunately that also means many of the stories are old, and it would be difficult to track down other works by these authors.

[Janette Townend]

A carefully collated collection of classic historical whodunnits which was and is very enjoyable. With some of my favourite authors: Ellis Peters and Peter Tremayne and some new to me such as: Raymond Butler all worth researching. Looking forward to reading, 'The Mammoth Book of Historical Detectives'.

[Claire W]

All the mysteries were intriguing and I enjoyed all the different settings. One however had more mature content compared to the rest and I wish they didn't include it.

[Stef Rozitis]

It's a bit of a sausage fest. Most of the authors are men (women are near the beginning to give the illusion of balance but then drop off). Most of the detectives are men. Most of the female characters are seen through the lens of men- various Jezabels (unfaithful wives, unwanted lovers and sex workers) and servants as well as old ugly women in the background. The perspectives are perhaps indicative of the time things were written with which is a curiosity but doesn't add to enjoyment (I am sure there are some good historical crime stories somewhere).

The historical details toward the front of the anthology are mildly interesting but the last 2 sections less so. 100 pages get wasted on a horrible novel that is sexist, racist and ammoral in a way biased toward the rich but kind of goes nowhere (brutally). I was not sure why that was included apart from maybe for bulk. I find Ellis Peters OK rather than amazing as a writer but I think she was the best one in this.

An interesting concept and probably deceptively hard to do...but the masculinity of the voices was not what I was looking for.

[Alayne]

This is not actually by Ellis Peters, but is an anthology of Historical Whodunits with a foreword by Ellis Peters and one of the stories is hers. The book was edited by Mike Ashley. As is usually the case with anthologies, this one is uneven in the quality of the stories, but for the most part I enjoyed them. They are written from the period of the Egyptian pharaohs to the beginning of the twentieth century, and are (mostly) quite fascinating. Highly recommended.

[Kate]

"Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose introduced millions of readers to the special mixture of enchantment and thrills offered by historical detective fiction (historical meaning taking place before the author's birth.) Historical Whodunnits--the first anthology of historical detective stories to appear in print--brillitantly represents this relatively rare type of literature.

"Here are twenty-three stories, with an astounding variety of setting ranging from Egypt in the fourteenth century B.C. to the Yukon circa 1900. The detectives include an ancient Egyptian sage, whose case involves not a locked room but a locked tomb; a Roman slave, whose investigation of a treasure theft leads him to a very high personage; the perspicacious twelfth-century monk Brother Cadfael, author Ellis Peters' greatest creation; William Shakespeare, hot on the trail of the murder of Christopher Marlowe; Samuel Johnson, with Boswell as his Doctor Watson; C. Auguste Dupin, in a new adventure and still at his favorite recreation of showing up the prefect of the Paris police just as he unfailingly did in the original stories by Poe; and Sherlock Holmes, in a story by the son of Arthur Conan Doyle."
~~front and back flaps

As in any potpourri, some of the stories were more engaging, or more well written, than others. Some just didn't hold my attention -- others I read "cover to cover." As a whole, I heartily recommend this book, if you're a love of historical mystery.

[Kimberly Ann]

There was quite a bit I didn't care for... too much to even explain. Quite too much of this was males writing for males., there was an undercurrent of machismo.

There were four major sections:

Part I: The Ancient World
Peters, Herodotus, James, Roberts, Nichols, Mayer/Reed, van Gulik, & Tremayne

Part II: The Middle Ages
Peters, Harding, Frazer, Pulver, Mathieson, & Gores

Part III: Regency & Gaslight
Rafferty, de la Torre, Butler, Post, Harrison, Carr, & Hock

Part IV: Holmes & Beyond
Adrian Conan Doyle & Stevens

For me, the first two parts were more interesting & I had already read other books by several of those authors.

The third part was boring & tended to focus on "locked door" scenarios

The fourth part was a joke.... No one, Not One-Single-Person can ever hope to replicate Sit Arthur Conan Doyle, and those who delude themselves into thinking that they can are sorely mistaken.

There are many others who have written historical mysteries who should have been included....

This book is mostly unforgettable, almost like a volute of Readers' Digest that one would peruse while waiting their turn in a doctor's front office

[Harron68]

Short stories are an interesting breed. Often they're ideas that writers were unable or unwilling to "flesh out" into complete novels. Not a lot of writers are masters of this specific craft.
That over, how much a reader may like of short fiction is likewise. The reader needs to have an openness to it. This lovely looking book, with thick "real book feel paper" is like the olden days settings for the mysteries. I like that.
As other reviewed, it's mixed in interest and quality. The delight is in the variety of writing and the settings grouped by historical era. I confess to struggling with some of the formality and quirks used in writing to simulate past speaking and writing. In a few instances it was hard going, and bored me a little. Most tales were readable, and the solutions to the puzzles seemed fair to me. Tho I give the book only 3 stars, I feel readers should at least try the stories. They can lead you into new directions of detection and appreciation.

[Summer]

I use anthologies as sample platters to try new authors, and not only did this five hundred page monster deliver great variety, it also has a list of more historical mysteries in the back. Now, of course not every story was a winner, but I did find a bunch of cool new authors to check out, and I had a good time reading many of the stories. The best of the bunch were Elizabeth Peters, Robert van Gulik, Ellis Peters, and Wallace Nichols, and I'm absolutely going to chase down the other things they have written.

[Laura]

Nice collection of short story "whodunits" placed in various historic settings. Writers include Elizabeth peters, Herodotus, Ellis Peters, Edward D. Hoch -- and many others. My only complaint is that in the 21 stories in the anthology, there were a few too many "locked room mysteries" all clustered together. Most of the stories were well-written, and I enjoyed the many historical figures that played the role of detective -- including Socrates, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Arthur Conan Doyle. A great book for mystery lovers!

[Sandra Strange]

This collection of mystery short stories (truly mammoth in length) offers stories about detecting through history from Egypt and Rome through the 19th Century by skilled, famous and prolific writers, including some also historical (Herodotus and Doyle). Most of the stories are well narrated and entertaining. The collection with its varying puzzles, is fun to read, if nothing else for the differing historical settings, all well drawn and accurate.

[Steve Wegman]

A collection of 23 Whodunit mysteries staged in time starting in ancient Egypt and continuing to the time of Sherlock Holmes/Arthur Conan Doyle. Plenty of puzzlers, interesting characters, diverse settings. What's not to like?

[E Wilson]

Very underwhelmed by this book.
Although some of the historical details, language and settings were well researched and authentic, the detective work itself was sometimes very flimsy or too far fetched.

[Boweavil]

Delightful collection with many surprises.

[Kylie]

some of these were good and interesting some of them were boring

[Terry]

Interesting stories from an historical point of view but for me, not as engaging as stories by authors such as Agatha Christie, Edgar Allen Poe or Sherlock Holmes.

[Chuck Whiteneck]

Enjoyed most of the short stories. Very good historical context. Liked comparing the different authors with their different styles. Have recommended to my wife and others.

[Laura Young]

with so many authors, it was inevitable that not all of the short stories would be my cup of tea but I enjoyed enough of them to definitely make it worth while.

[Paul SWITZER]

9/10…
Very good anthology, with only one or two weaker entries.

[Gowri N.]

Excellent historical mysteries where the setting and reimagination of historical characters is the biggest attraction. The book is beautifully organized, starting with stories set in the ancient world (including one that was actually written then!), moving to the middle ages, and so on.

It is mostly Eurocentric though. I wish we could have had stories from Africa, South America and the Indian subcontinent.

[Alison C]

The Mammoth Book of Historical Whodunnits is one of a series of anthologies edited by Mike Ashley, this one (from 1993) focussing on the sub-genre of historical detective stories. It consists largely of reprints, with a handful of original stories commissioned for this anthology, and it covers a vast amount of time, from Egypt in about 1400 BC to 1910s America; there’s a forward written by Ellis Peters, an afterword by Arthur Griffiths (a reprint from 1902), and a timeline of “The Chroniclers of Crime.” As ever with anthologies, my favourite picks will differ from other readers’ choices, but these are the stories that grabbed me: Elizabeth Peters’ “The Locked Tomb Mystery,” set in Ancient Egypt; John Maddox Roberts’ “Mightier Than the Sword,” which features a Roman city official; “The High King’s Sword,” by Peter Tremayne and apparently the first Sister Fidelma, original to this volume; a very early Brother Cadfael tale from Ellis Peters, “The Price of Light”; Margaret Frazer’s “The Witch’s Tale,” wherein justice is served; a complete (short) novel, “Captain Nash and the Wroth Inheritance,” which is set in 1771 England; and “The Case of the Deptford Horror,” a Sherlock Holmes story written by Arthur Conan Doyle’s son Adrian. With some 23 stories in all, however, there are certain to be at least a few stories to every taste, and for escapism from the present day, it’s hard to beat historical detective fiction; recommended!

[Paul]

While one or two of these short story, murder mysteries may have been so-so, they largely were interesting and enjoyable reads. I noted someone complained that English mysteries, except for Christie, are not that good. Well, firstly, the compilation (anthology) of short stories was published in England (1993) but most of the authors are American and not just British. Also, the authors are from the late 19th century to early - mid 20th century. Some are really good authors not often known to late 20th, early 21st century readers. The style of the older authors may be unfamiliar to more 'modern' readers but that does not mean that they are not well written and 'good reads.' As time permits, I may hunt down other works by some of the authors from the anthology.

[Spiderorchid]

A mediocre collection. Some stories were nice but none very good or so interesting that I would want to read the author's other works. And many stories felt forced as if the author had tried too hard to write something that fit into the concept of historical mysteries and ended up with a muddle of clichés or historical names-dropping.

Edit: Goodreads keeps mixing up the different volumes of this series. There are at least 3 books by Mike Ashley that are all called "The Mammoth Book of Historical Whodunnits". This review is for Vol. II which seems to be a much weaker collection and featuring different authors than Vol. I.

[P.D.R. Lindsay]

A really great collection of stories ranging from BC to AD, the whole historical spectrum. Anyone who enjoys historical mysteries will be delighted to read this. It makes a great book at bedtime, one story per night.

The collection doesn't suffer from a few famous good stories with the rest being so-so. Every story is a gem and the famous writers do not outshine the less well known. Indeed I shall be looking up some of those writers to find more of their stories or their novels.

I am already looking for the follow on collection and heartily recommend this to everyone who enjoys a good read.

[Sofia]

A minha fraqueza. Desde que li o meus primeiros policiais medievais, O Nome da Rosa de Umberto Eco e Um Corpo a Mais de Ellis Peters, fiquei completamente viciada neste género. Então quando apanhei esta pérola no Bookmooch nem pensei duas vezes. Uma vez que é uma antologia, há contos que vão do muito bom ao simplesmente aborrecido. Estão organizados por épocas (The Ancient World, The Middle Ages, Regency and Gaslight, Holmes and Beyond), e creio que há de tudo para todos os gostos. Para mim, os bons contos superam os medíocres, e portanto é um livro que eventualmente relerei com prazer.

[Leigh-ann]

I didn't care for this book because I'm not a fan of mystery short-stories (the kind you'd find in something like Ellery Queen magazine). I picked up this book because I thought it was actually going to be about history, but it's a collection of short stories that are set in times earlier than the present day. I wish I could give it a rating of "ambivalent".