Historical Fictionistas discussion

I am not sure if this has been discussed previously, but now that the air has turned crispier and the days shorter (and Halloween just around the corner), I'd really love to tuck into some solid HF with a darker bent.

I am really open to the spectrum - from a mystery to the truly creepy. A page-turner that makes you double-check that you looked the door is ideal, but not wholly necessary. A murder - a haunting - witches... I am open to about everything (although not really into vampires and werewolves, etc).

I am currently reading THE HAUNTING OF MADDY CLARE , but it has been a bit of a disappointment for me.

I appreciate any ideas - thanks!

There are a couple of authors that I've read that have a spooky/supernatural twist in most of their books:
Jaime Lee Moyer has a trilogy starting with Delia's Shadow - post earthquake San Francisco.
Cat Winters writes primarily YA novels, but has a couple of adult titles as well. Her debut YA novel In the Shadow of Blackbirds was excellent as was The Uninvited - both are set around 1918 and the Spanish Flu pandemic.

For dark mystery thrillers, Alex Grecian's Scotland Yard Murder Squad is good. I also read some of David Pirie's stuff a few years ago and remember them to be dark and a bit macabe.

Try another of the Simone St James - I read Lost Among the Living and it had a nice gothic feel to it. Maybe she got better as she went along.

I second the recommendation of The Uninvited.

Daughters of the Witching Hill by Mary Sharratt is an excellent book about the Pendle witch trials in England. I couldn’t put it down.

Have you read The Alienist by Caleb Carr? (A hunt for a serial killer in 1890s New York. Strong on the thriller aspect.)

One with a gothic tone is The Revenant of Thraxton Hall: The Paranormal Casebooks of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Some Danger Involved is also fun.

Thank you, all, for your suggestions! I shall get sleuthing to see if I have some finds for October. I appreciate the help!

I read Blind Justice by James Scott Bell just this past July. Wonderful book (first in a series). Set in 18th century London.

You can read my review HERE

I read that this summer and it's an excellent read. But I think it's by Bruce Alexander. (Confusingly James Scott Bell also wrote a mystery called "Blind Justice," but it's a contemporary.)

Tiffany wrote: "I am not sure if this has been discussed previously, but now that the air has turned crispier and the days shorter (and Halloween just around the corner), I'd really love to tuck into some solid HF..."
This is a little late, but just finished The Compass Island Incident November 1963, by Wade Fowler, set in between the week JFK was assassinated and recent times. I'll keep you guessing.

I recommend The Servant by Maggie Davis Rischell.

I'm looking for some good HF books, preferably based on true events dealing with witches in any country. Thrillers, mysteries or just fiction would be great. I just read The Witches of St. Petersburg by Imogene Edwards-Jones and loved it. Thanks ahead of time.

My 'Burke in the Land of Silver' features voodoo in the opening chapter (closely based on a late 18th century slave uprising in what is now Haiti). It's not the main thing the book is about though.

Julie wrote: "Definitely check out Mission 3-R by J. Michael. It's about how a treasonous General Ben Jackson steals a top secret trillion dollar time machine and leads a group of rogue African-American soldiers..."

This comment, as well as every other comment where you recommended this book, are going to be deleted. You are clearly either spam or the author in disguise. If you are looking for recommended readings, I'd start with the group rules where it discusses self promotion.

I'd take a look at The Darwin Affair by Tim Mason. About a plot to murder members of the Royal Family, set in 1860 Victorian England. Wonderful characters. Good story. A little reminiscent of Dickens, Sherlock Holmes, and Caleb Carr's "The Alienist."

I thoroughly enjoyed The Haunting of H. G. Wells: A Novel a work of historical fiction starring H.G. Wells in the midst of WWI. Author Robert Masello takes readers from the English countryside to the streets of London, to Winston Churchill’s Admiralty office, to the trenches of Europe, and back again; and keeps us turning the pages by placing Wells, his devoted wife, his passionate mistress—a suffragette and journalist—and ultimately the British Empire in constant danger. Masello, who writes exceedingly well, goes to great lengths to keep us immersed in both the period and his characters; and I learned a lot about both Wells and WWI that I did not know before. Anyone interested in H.G. Wells, WWI, trench warfare, life in London and England during that period, the women's suffrage movement, and/or ghost stories, should enjoy this fast-paced tale of adventure. The release date is October 1, but if you're an Amazon Prime member, you can get it now through the First Reads program.