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John the Eunuch #0.1
The Mammoth Book of Historical Whodunnits
A collection of whodunnits features the work of such masters of the genre as Peter Tremayne, Paul Harding, S. S. Rafferty, Lillian de La Torre, Michael Harrison, John Dickson Carr, Edward D. Hoch, and others.
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
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
522 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
About the author
Mike Ashley
289 books140 followersMichael Raymond Donald Ashley is the author and editor of over sixty books that in total have sold over a million copies worldwide. He lives in Chatham, Kent.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
May 5, 2017
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.
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.
being-read-intermittently
September 26, 2026Sept. 25, 2026 (modified Oct. 30, 2026): Since I'm reading this book piecemeal, in between reads of other books, my review will also be written in installments. But rather than wait until I've read the entire book to edit my thoughts into a unified whole, I've decided that in this case editing after each round of reading (or, at least, after this round) will work better. Apologies to review-readers who might prefer distinctly dated updates! There are pros and cons to each approach, but this one will involve less repetition.
With her Chronicles of Brother Cadfael series, Ellis Peters (whose real name was Dame Edith Pargeter, and who contributes the Foreword here) did so much to popularize the historical mystery subgenre, and to turn it into a major book trade category, that many of us thought she invented it. But she didn't, and this collection, written mostly by American or British authors, and assembled by veteran anthology editor Mike Ashley (whose credits include at least two other books in Carroll and Graf's "Mammoth Book of...." series), helps to demonstrate that fact. There are 23 stories by 24 authors ("A Byzantine Mystery" is co-written by the husband and wife writing team of Mary Reed and Eric Mayer; another selection, "The Witch's Tale" by "Margaret Frazier," also has two authors, the writing team of Mary Pulver and Gail Bacon, but Pulver also has a story she wrote by herself included). Five selections --"A Byzantine Mystery," "The Witch's Tale," and the ones by John Maddox Roberts, Peter Tremayne, and Paul C. Doherty (writing as "Paul Harding," one of his several pen names)-- were newly written for this collection. One is actually lifted from the writings of Herodotus, and the others span a long range of the 20th century. I recognized the names of several contributors (though I'd previously read work by only three, at least whose names I remember), and a number of them are represented by series sleuths. (Several others cast real historical figures as amateur detectives.)
The stories are apparently arranged chronologically by setting, and divided into four numbered Parts: "The Ancient World," with eight stories, "The Middle Ages," with six, "Regency and Gaslight" (seven selections) and "Holmes and Beyond." (With just two stories, the latter is the shortest of the four.) Ashley uses the titles of these Parts loosely here: three tales set in the 6th or 7th centuries A.D. are classified as ancient rather than medieval, his "Middle Ages" lasts through the 16th century, and "A Christmas Masque" takes place in 1754 (in New York City), well before the Regency. I've been reading them in order, and so far have finished 15 of them.
The Herodotus selection is taken from his The Histories, and records a conflict of wits between the Pharaoh he calls Rhampsinitus and a very clever thief. (It's probably fictional --Herodotus wrote down a lot of tall tales told to him by wags who liked to pull a foreigner's leg-- but he "knew a good story when he heard one," as Ashley notes. :-) ) While "Elizabeth Peters" (whose real name is Barbara Mertz, a respected Egyptologist; she also writes romantic suspense as Barbara Michaels) is best known for her Amelia Peabody series, the protagonist of her "The Locked Tomb Mystery," the lead story here, is 13th-century B.C. scholar and seer Amenhotep Sa Hapu, who as the author notes was an actual person. (She endows him with facial features and a manner and deductive style that call to mind a fictional sleuth with the initials S. H. --and the mental association is strengthened by the fact that our narrator here is young scribe Wadjsen.)
Breni James also casts a real person as a sleuth in "Socrates Solves a Murder" (1958). Two selections, both showcasing series protagonists, are set in ancient Rome. Roberts' story "Mightier Than the Sword" (the significance of the title becomes apparent with the denouement) features his 1st-century B.C. amateur sleuth and minor Roman official Decius Metellus, and is enhanced by the author's ability to incorporate a lot of knowledge of the setting into the plot of the story. During the reign of Marcus Aurelius, Wallace Nichols' mystery-solving slave Sollius cracks the case of "The Treasury Thefts," two closely-related stories published in 1950, which editor Ashley here has joined into a single novella. Reed and Mayer send their series sleuth John the Eunuch on the hunt for a missing relic in 6th-century A.D. Byzantium. The violent rioting depicted there, in which the original Church of Holy Wisdom was burned (Justinian would rebuild it), actually happened in real-life history.
Both "He Came with the Rain" by Dutch author Robert van Gulik and Tremayne's "The High King's Sword" feature series characters and are set in the 7th century, but on different continents. Van Gulik encountered (and translated, in 1949) the traditional Chinese tales about a shrewd magistrate, Judge Dee, who solves puzzling cases; the Dutch scholar then went on to write his own newly-invented adventures of the character. The one here, published in 1967, describes a pivotal event early in the judge's career. Tremayne's Sister Fidelma is an Irish nun, and also a highly-trained advocate in the early medieval Brehon courts. (Brehons were judges who administered and arbitrated customary law handed down by oral tradition. Fidelma is an anruth, only one rank below the highest one, ollamh; since those were Druid terms, I'd guess the Brehons to be a Christianized survival of the pre-Christian Druid order.) Here, she's entrusted with investigating a politically-charged theft of a national treasure, against the background of the real-life Yellow Plague of 664.
Most of the "Middle Ages" stories feature sleuths in holy orders. Ellis Peters is represented by a Brother Cadfael story, "The Price of Light" (1979), which is my favorite of the stories here that I've read so far. Harding's Brother Athelstan, friar and London parish priest in Chaucer's time, who also serves as secretary to London's coroner Sir John Cranston, is another series sleuth; his outing here, "The Confession of Brother Athelstan" finds the pair investigating the death of a knight in a tournament, where there's more going on than meets the eye. "The Witch's Tale" and Pulver's "Father Hugh and the Deadly Scythe" also both showcase series characters, though in the first one Sister Frevisse isn't really called on to do much actual detecting. Beginning in 1958, Theodore Mathieson ultimately wrote a dozen stories depicting real historical figures thrust into a detective role; his "Leonardo Da Vinci, Detective" is an example of these. In "A Sad and Bloody Hour," set in the mean streets of London in 1593, Joe Gores' protagonist is also a real person, his identity not revealed until the last sentence, though readers may well guess it. (Gores was himself a private detective for 12 years before turning to mystery writing.)
Writing under the pen name of "S. S. Rafferty," Jack J. Hurley created the colonial American merchant and series sleuth Capt. Jeremy Cork (his rank apparently comes from captaining a merchant ship in his younger days) in 1974. The latter's business interests occasion travel to all 13 of the colonies, and the author's goal (which he achieved) was to set a mystery tale in each one of them. What brings Cork to New York in "A Christmas Masque," however, is pleasure rather than trade; New Yorkers keep Christmas is much more jolly fashion than the dour Puritans of his New England home. (But murder making a Christmas appearance tends to interfere with the jollity....)
More later!
With her Chronicles of Brother Cadfael series, Ellis Peters (whose real name was Dame Edith Pargeter, and who contributes the Foreword here) did so much to popularize the historical mystery subgenre, and to turn it into a major book trade category, that many of us thought she invented it. But she didn't, and this collection, written mostly by American or British authors, and assembled by veteran anthology editor Mike Ashley (whose credits include at least two other books in Carroll and Graf's "Mammoth Book of...." series), helps to demonstrate that fact. There are 23 stories by 24 authors ("A Byzantine Mystery" is co-written by the husband and wife writing team of Mary Reed and Eric Mayer; another selection, "The Witch's Tale" by "Margaret Frazier," also has two authors, the writing team of Mary Pulver and Gail Bacon, but Pulver also has a story she wrote by herself included). Five selections --"A Byzantine Mystery," "The Witch's Tale," and the ones by John Maddox Roberts, Peter Tremayne, and Paul C. Doherty (writing as "Paul Harding," one of his several pen names)-- were newly written for this collection. One is actually lifted from the writings of Herodotus, and the others span a long range of the 20th century. I recognized the names of several contributors (though I'd previously read work by only three, at least whose names I remember), and a number of them are represented by series sleuths. (Several others cast real historical figures as amateur detectives.)
The stories are apparently arranged chronologically by setting, and divided into four numbered Parts: "The Ancient World," with eight stories, "The Middle Ages," with six, "Regency and Gaslight" (seven selections) and "Holmes and Beyond." (With just two stories, the latter is the shortest of the four.) Ashley uses the titles of these Parts loosely here: three tales set in the 6th or 7th centuries A.D. are classified as ancient rather than medieval, his "Middle Ages" lasts through the 16th century, and "A Christmas Masque" takes place in 1754 (in New York City), well before the Regency. I've been reading them in order, and so far have finished 15 of them.
The Herodotus selection is taken from his The Histories, and records a conflict of wits between the Pharaoh he calls Rhampsinitus and a very clever thief. (It's probably fictional --Herodotus wrote down a lot of tall tales told to him by wags who liked to pull a foreigner's leg-- but he "knew a good story when he heard one," as Ashley notes. :-) ) While "Elizabeth Peters" (whose real name is Barbara Mertz, a respected Egyptologist; she also writes romantic suspense as Barbara Michaels) is best known for her Amelia Peabody series, the protagonist of her "The Locked Tomb Mystery," the lead story here, is 13th-century B.C. scholar and seer Amenhotep Sa Hapu, who as the author notes was an actual person. (She endows him with facial features and a manner and deductive style that call to mind a fictional sleuth with the initials S. H. --and the mental association is strengthened by the fact that our narrator here is young scribe Wadjsen.)
Breni James also casts a real person as a sleuth in "Socrates Solves a Murder" (1958). Two selections, both showcasing series protagonists, are set in ancient Rome. Roberts' story "Mightier Than the Sword" (the significance of the title becomes apparent with the denouement) features his 1st-century B.C. amateur sleuth and minor Roman official Decius Metellus, and is enhanced by the author's ability to incorporate a lot of knowledge of the setting into the plot of the story. During the reign of Marcus Aurelius, Wallace Nichols' mystery-solving slave Sollius cracks the case of "The Treasury Thefts," two closely-related stories published in 1950, which editor Ashley here has joined into a single novella. Reed and Mayer send their series sleuth John the Eunuch on the hunt for a missing relic in 6th-century A.D. Byzantium. The violent rioting depicted there, in which the original Church of Holy Wisdom was burned (Justinian would rebuild it), actually happened in real-life history.
Both "He Came with the Rain" by Dutch author Robert van Gulik and Tremayne's "The High King's Sword" feature series characters and are set in the 7th century, but on different continents. Van Gulik encountered (and translated, in 1949) the traditional Chinese tales about a shrewd magistrate, Judge Dee, who solves puzzling cases; the Dutch scholar then went on to write his own newly-invented adventures of the character. The one here, published in 1967, describes a pivotal event early in the judge's career. Tremayne's Sister Fidelma is an Irish nun, and also a highly-trained advocate in the early medieval Brehon courts. (Brehons were judges who administered and arbitrated customary law handed down by oral tradition. Fidelma is an anruth, only one rank below the highest one, ollamh; since those were Druid terms, I'd guess the Brehons to be a Christianized survival of the pre-Christian Druid order.) Here, she's entrusted with investigating a politically-charged theft of a national treasure, against the background of the real-life Yellow Plague of 664.
Most of the "Middle Ages" stories feature sleuths in holy orders. Ellis Peters is represented by a Brother Cadfael story, "The Price of Light" (1979), which is my favorite of the stories here that I've read so far. Harding's Brother Athelstan, friar and London parish priest in Chaucer's time, who also serves as secretary to London's coroner Sir John Cranston, is another series sleuth; his outing here, "The Confession of Brother Athelstan" finds the pair investigating the death of a knight in a tournament, where there's more going on than meets the eye. "The Witch's Tale" and Pulver's "Father Hugh and the Deadly Scythe" also both showcase series characters, though in the first one Sister Frevisse isn't really called on to do much actual detecting. Beginning in 1958, Theodore Mathieson ultimately wrote a dozen stories depicting real historical figures thrust into a detective role; his "Leonardo Da Vinci, Detective" is an example of these. In "A Sad and Bloody Hour," set in the mean streets of London in 1593, Joe Gores' protagonist is also a real person, his identity not revealed until the last sentence, though readers may well guess it. (Gores was himself a private detective for 12 years before turning to mystery writing.)
Writing under the pen name of "S. S. Rafferty," Jack J. Hurley created the colonial American merchant and series sleuth Capt. Jeremy Cork (his rank apparently comes from captaining a merchant ship in his younger days) in 1974. The latter's business interests occasion travel to all 13 of the colonies, and the author's goal (which he achieved) was to set a mystery tale in each one of them. What brings Cork to New York in "A Christmas Masque," however, is pleasure rather than trade; New Yorkers keep Christmas is much more jolly fashion than the dour Puritans of his New England home. (But murder making a Christmas appearance tends to interfere with the jollity....)
More later!
August 8, 2023
Perfect summer read!
August 16, 2015
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. 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.
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.
Five Rings in Reno - R. L. Stevens
Arthur Conan Doyle went to Reno, NV to solve the death of a journalist.
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. 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.
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.
Five Rings in Reno - R. L. Stevens
Arthur Conan Doyle went to Reno, NV to solve the death of a journalist.
February 24, 2022
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.
November 2, 2014
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.
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.
August 12, 2021
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'.
September 18, 2025
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.
April 16, 2021
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.
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.
November 6, 2021
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.
August 7, 2026
"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.
"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.
August 20, 2018
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
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
July 6, 2019
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.
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.
May 10, 2019
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.
June 12, 2022
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!
November 4, 2025
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.
July 18, 2022
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?
October 22, 2024
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.
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.
February 27, 2020
Delightful collection with many surprises.
April 11, 2020
some of these were good and interesting some of them were boring
January 19, 2021
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.
May 8, 2023
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.
October 3, 2025
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.
June 22, 2026
9/10…
Very good anthology, with only one or two weaker entries.
Very good anthology, with only one or two weaker entries.
December 10, 2025
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.
It is mostly Eurocentric though. I wish we could have had stories from Africa, South America and the Indian subcontinent.
March 2, 2015
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!
April 20, 2015
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.
July 19, 2013
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.
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.
October 8, 2013
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.
September 25, 2011
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.
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