Historical Mystery

The historical mystery or historical whodunit is a subgenre of two literary genres, historical fiction and mystery fiction. These works are set in a time period considered historical from the author's perspective, and the central plot involves the solving of a mystery or crime (usually murder). Though works combining these genres have existed since at least the early 1900s, many credit Ellis Peters's Cadfael Chronicles (1977-1994) for popularizing what would become known as the historical mystery. ...more

The Secret Lives of Murderers' Wives
Daughter of Egypt
The Dreadfuls
A Ghastly Catastrophe (Veronica Speedwell, #10)
Ruby Falls
The Star from Calcutta (Perveen Mistry, #5)
A Love Most Daring (Bow Street #3)
Heiress of Nowhere
A Day of Judgment (Inspector Ian Rutledge #25)
The Harvey Girl
Who Killed The Earl of Moran? (Casebook of Barnaby Adair #13)
Never Spar with a Viscount (Secret Society of Governess Spies, #3)
The Fourth Princess
The Heir of Whitestone
Enola Holmes and the Clanging Coffin (Enola Holmes #10)
The Last Secret of Lily Adams
The Murder at World's End (Stockingham & Pike, #1)
When the Wolves Are Silent (Sebastian St. Cyr, #21)
The Sicilian Inheritance
Last Twilight in Paris
A Ghastly Catastrophe (Veronica Speedwell, #10)
Land of Dreams
Homecoming
The Heir of Whitestone
Precipice
The Predicament
Grimm Curiosities
A Novel Disguise (A Lady Librarian Mystery #1)
The Missing Pages
The Star from Calcutta (Perveen Mistry, #5)
What the Wind Knows by Amy HarmonFrom Sand and Ash by Amy HarmonIn Farleigh Field by Rhys BowenBury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee BrownWater for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Kindle Unlimited Historical Fiction
208 books — 227 voters
The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha ChristieThe Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan DoyleAnd Then There Were None by Agatha ChristieIn the Lonely Hours by Shannon  MorganThe Body in the Library by Agatha Christie
Stately Home mysteries
216 books — 108 voters

The Name of the Rose by Umberto EcoThe Alienist by Caleb CarrThe Historian by Elizabeth KostovaThe Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz ZafónMistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin
Best Historical Mystery
2,244 books — 4,734 voters

The Grand Sophy by Georgette HeyerFrederica by Georgette HeyerDevil's Cub by Georgette HeyerVenetia by Georgette HeyerCotillion by Georgette Heyer
Favorite Georgette Heyer Book!
76 books — 811 voters
The Séance by John HarwoodAffinity by Sarah WatersThings Half in Shadow by Alan FinnThe House of Velvet and Glass by Katherine HoweThe Diviners by Libba Bray
Victorian Spiritualism Fiction
114 books — 77 voters

What Angels Fear (Sebastian St. Cyr, #1)
A Curious Beginning (Veronica Speedwell, #1)
Silent in the Grave (Lady Julia Grey, #1)
Crocodile on the Sandbank (Amelia Peabody, #1)
Maisie Dobbs (Maisie Dobbs, #1)
The Anatomist's Wife (Lady Darby Mystery, #1)
And Only to Deceive (Lady Emily, #1)
A Study in Scarlet Women (Lady Sherlock, #1)
Silent in the Sanctuary (Lady Julia Grey, #2)
Mistress of the Art of Death (Mistress of the Art of Death, #1)
Murder on Astor Place (Gaslight Mystery, #1)
Her Royal Spyness (Her Royal Spyness Mysteries, #1)
The Beekeeper's Apprentice (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes, #1)
Murder on Black Swan Lane (Wrexford & Sloane, #1)
When Gods Die (Sebastian St. Cyr, #2)

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Time travelers, gather ’round!   If you’re in the market for a temporary reprieve from our current era of history—perfectly...
Ned Hayes
Under the sanctuary are the catacombs where the dead wait for resurrection. The living do not venture there. The caverns here underneath the Sanctuary are illuminated only by dim shafts of light from the sanctuary. The walls are etched with flowers of frost, but at least I am out of the wind. Dark bays line the hall in front of me, a vast rabbit warren, each hold filled to the brim with the scent of the past.
Ned Hayes, Sinful Folk

Felicity Snowden
Sometimes inexplicably the past becomes intermingled with the present
Felicity Snowden, When Dead Men won't Lie

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Tags contributing to this page include: historical-mystery and mystery-historical