Historical Mystery Lovers discussion

Post any recommendations for the various settings.
Please mention which setting the recommendation is for.
Enjoy!

I've read all the books in the series, so can't get "started" with this one, but if you're looking to start with a genre -- Roman historical mysteries, can't go wrong with the "Libertus the Pavement-Maker" books by Rosemary Rowe. Here's the list:

The Germanicus Mosaic 1999)
A Pattern of Blood (2000)
Murder in the Forum (2001)
The Chariots of Calyx (2002)
The Legatus Mystery (2003)
The Ghosts of Glevum (2004)
Enemies of the Empire (2005)
A Roman Ransom (2006)
A Coin for the Ferryman (2007)
Death at Pompeia's Wedding (2008)
Requiem for a Slave (2010)
The Vestal Vanishes (2011)
A Whispering of Spies (2012)
Dark Omens (2013)
The Fateful Day (2015)
The Ides of June (2016)
The Price of Freedom (2018)
Prisoner of Privilege (2020)
A Dreadful Destiny (2021)
The Rewards of Treachery (2023)

Quite a few very inexpensive in the Kindle edition.

Here's the blurb from the first one:

"A deadly puzzle from the days of the Roman Empire...

Rosemary Rowe introduces Libertus and Marcus Septimus, in The Germanicus Mosaic, the first fantastic mystery thriller of the highly acclaimed Libertus series. The perfect read for fans of Stephen Saylor and Lindsey Davis.

'Demonstrates Rowe's pithy command of the Roman sleuth genre... a considerable achievement' - The Times

It is AD 186, and Britain is the northernmost province of the hugely successful Roman Empire. In Glevum (modern Gloucester), Libertus, a freedman and pavement-maker, lives under the patronage of Marcus Septimus. When a body is found in the furnace room of a nearby villa, and identified as that of Crassus Germanicus, a retired centurion, Marcus asks for Libertus's help. A slave is missing and the solution to the mystery seems obvious. But Libertus soon discovers that Germanicus has many enemies, and he must use his mosaicist's skill to put together the pieces of a most deadly puzzle."

They are really quite good, with a goodly mix of sleuthing and historical Roman Britain background (the first does suffer just a tad from the "first book in the series" jitters, but it's a minor quibble). I thought the series was done -- the 2021 book certainly seemed like it was bringing everything to a close -- but low and behold, there's a new book coming out in April, yay! Looking forward to it.

For 16th/17 Century Europe:

Death in Delft, first in the Master Mercurius series.

Thanks Helen and John! Death in Delft has been on my Kindle for a while. :)

For American Civil War:
Murder in the Lincoln White House, first book in Lincoln's White House mystery series

For Edwardian, I like the Vita Carew series, starting with Poison at Pemberton Hall: the first Vita Carew historical mystery.

For America Antebellum, the Benjamin January series set in New Orleans 1830's.

For Roman Empire, Lindsay Davis has two excellent connected series: Marcus Dido Falco and his adopted daughter, Flavia Albia.

For Victorian England, Anne Perry has two series: the Pitts and William Monk.

Georgian England: our current monthly read, Sebastian St Cyr

Regency England: Murder on Black Swan Lane (a series I will be starting soon)

Medieval England: Cadfael

For my own use but others might find it helpful, I have started a 'master list' of recommendations by category. It is the second post under "Sandy Settles 2023".

Hope to keep it up to date.

For Ancient Egypt:

the Amerotke series by Paul Doherty, starting with The Mask of Ra

For Medieval Europe:

the Christine de Pizan series (France) by Tania Bayard: In the Presence of Evil

Takes place 664AD in Britain so I assume Medieval England?:
Fridgyth the Herb-wife series by Theresa Tomlinson: A Swarming of Bees

John wrote: "For 16th/17 Century Europe:

Death in Delft, first in the Master Mercurius series."

Second this recommendation for the Mercurius books by Graham Brack. They're terrific.

Sandy wrote: "For America Antebellum, the Benjamin January series set in New Orleans 1830's.

For Roman Empire, Lindsay Davis has two excellent connected series: Marcus Dido Falco and his adopted daughter, Flavi..."

Wrexford & Sloane (Black Swan Lane) is one of my favorite series!

For Colonial America I can recommend this series: https://www.goodreads.com/series/4480... by Eliot Pattison. The first book is a little slow but latter entries are exciting. Starts around French & Indian War and progresses to just before American Revolution.

Gilded Age United States
Alyssa Maxwell's Murder in Newport series.
Murder at the Breakers
If you're a fan of Julian Fellows's Gilded Age show, you must read this series.

In the same vein
A Gilded Grave and A Golden Cage, also set in Newport.

If you like your mysteries with a lot of history try the Victorian San Francisco series by M. Louisa Locke

Shelley Noble's Lady Dunbridge series is intriguing but feels more like 1920s than 1905 to me.

I don't like paranormal but if you enjoy that sort of thing and the seedier side of New York in the Gilded Age, try Murder on Millionaires' Row

Also set in New York in the Gilded Age is

In the strange but could be true category is Alice Roosevelt as sleuth in Alice and the Assassin

My favorite Regency mysteries are
Darcie Wilde's Rosalind Thorne series and Stephanie Barron's Jane Austen mysteries. I enjoyed Catherine Lloyd's Kurland St. Mary's series too.

There's a lot of Victorian England mysteries I like. If you want to piggyback on the Gilded Age and enjoy your mysteries on the cozier side, try
Dianne Freeman's Countess of Harleigh mysteries. Frances is an American Dollar Princess like Lady Granthan in Downton Abbey.

I like Jennifer Ashley's Kat Holloway belowstairs mysteries. It's different having the cook be the sleuth.

Deanna Raybourn's Lady Julia Grey and Veronica Speedwell are mysteries with a heaping dose of romance. She has a knack for sharing the darker side of the Victorian era.

If you like Gothic Victorian, The Butterfly Conspiracy was interesting.

A stand alone one off I liked was The Pigeon Pie Mystery

If Kindle books are more your thing, I liked
Paula Harmon and Liz Hedgecock's Caster and Fleet serR.J. Koretoies. The first one reads like a young adult novel but the others are slightly more mature.

The BEST Edwardian mysteries are
Lady Hardcastle by T.E. Kinsey
They're hysterically funny.

I also like R.J. Koreto's Lady Frances Ffolkes series

If you're sharing your mysteries with a young reader, there are lots of good ones adults and tweens will like. Newer ones include

Myrtle Hardcastle (Victorian) by Elizabeth C. Bunce
Aggie Morton (Edwardian loosely based on the childhood of Agatha Christie) Marthe Jocelyn

Susan Wittig Albert's Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter would make good family read-alouds or audio books for families with older children. (early 20th-century)

For Georgian England:
The Devil in the Marshalsea by Antonia Hodgson, first in the Thomas Hawkins series

Susanna Gregory has two good series
Medieval England : Matthew Bartholomew starting with A Plague on Both Your Houses
Stuart England: Thomas Challoner starting with A Conspiracy of Violence

Tudor England : S.J. Parris the Giordano Bruno series starting with Heresy

Early 20th century : for something lighter, the Daisy Dalrymple series by Carola Dunn starting with Death at Wentwater Court

For Georgian era, I'll mention the Lady Fan series by Elizabeth Bailey, starting with The Gilded Shroud.

For early 20th century:
Anty Boisjoly Mysteries
Lady Georgianna by Rhys Bowen
the early books in the Maise Dobbs series

For Tudor/Stuart:
Francis Bacon Mysteries by Anna Castle #1 Murder by Misrule
Sir Robert Carey Mysteries by P.F. Chisholm #1 A Famine of Horses
Both of these series are based on real life historical people with witty dialogue and realistic historical details.

For Early 20th Century:
Rowland Sinclair Mysteries by Sulari Gentill #1 A Few Right Thinking Men
Set in 1930's Australia although the main characters travel to Europe and America during the series. I keep hoping this will some day be made into a TV mini-series!

For Shogunate Japan, Laura Joh Rowland
For Early Japan , I.J. Parker

For mediaeval England: The Bradecote and Catchpoll series by Sarah Hawkswood, starting with Servant of Death. It´s set at the same time as the Cadfael mysteries, featuring no laymen/women but a Sheriff and his Sergeant.

For Early 20th Century, you may want to try The Dizzy Heights series by T.E. Kinsey. Lady Hardcastle makes a cameo appearance here and there. The Dizzies are almost all WWI veterans and their dialogue is priceless.
The first book is called The Deadly Mystery of the Missing Diamonds.

For Gilded Age USA, I like the Penelope Hamilton series, starting with Never Sleep: The Chronicle of a Lady Detective.

For Medieval

Owen Archer series by Candace Robb

For Regency

Lily Adler by Katherine Schellman

For the early 20th century, the Daniel Pitt series by Anne Perry may work. If you are not familiar with her other series already mentioned above, Daniel is Thomas Pitt's son, now a lawyer with a talent for finding and solving mysteries.

For Colonial America, the Will Rees series by Eleanor Kuhns is an interesting one. The first in the series is A Simple Murder
A Simple Murder

Will Rees left home to fight for the colonial army and now has trouble being inactive and staying at home. We would probably call it PTSD.

Does anyone have recommendations for Ancient Greece?

Barbara wrote: "Does anyone have recommendations for Ancient Greece?"

Somewhere I saw a recommendation for Aristotle Detective by Margaret Doody. Not a series I know.

Thanks! I'll have a look.

Would The Wonder by Emma Donoghue fit? It is about an investigation by the Catholic church into whether a miracle is occurring. The crime would be fraud against the church.

American Civil War

Harrison Raines series by Michael Kilian. First book is Murder at Manassas. FYI...Manassas was the first battle of the American Civil War, also known as Bull Run.

Barbara wrote: "Does anyone have recommendations for Ancient Greece?"

I wasn't wild about to the series by Gary Corby, so I purchased Death Comes by Amphora: A Mystery Novel of Ancient Athens for this one (99¢).

I don't see any recommendations for 19th Century Europe. Any suggestions? I read one set in Vienna but don't remember much about it now.

For 19th century Europe
Profesorowa Szczupaczynska series by Maryla Szymiczkowa translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
books by Boris Akunin
books by Teresa Grant Malcolm and Suzanne Rannoch British Diplomats with many set in European countries

John wrote: "Barbara wrote: "Does anyone have recommendations for Ancient Greece?"

I wasn't wild about to the series by Gary Corby, so I purchased [book:Death Comes by Amphora: A Mystery Novel..."

99c makes it very appealing! Thanks.

I loved the series by Gary Corby for Ancient Greece, but if you enjoy your books on the cozy side avoid The Ionia Sanction which is number 2 and read the rest.

Antebellum America

The Gideon Stoltz series by Charles Fergus. First book is A Stranger Here Below, and was excellent.

Colonial America

Death on the Line: The MacKay Mysteries, Book 1 First in a series by Carol Amorosi

Tudor/Stuart England

Thomas the Falconer series by John Pilkington. First in series is The Ruffler's Child. Excellent series, one of my favorites

For 19th century America, the Gaslight series by Victoria Thompson is very good and they have moved into the early 20th century after more than 20 books.

For 20th Century, I'm going to mention Gallows Court, set in 1930 London. It's a thriller, rather than police procedural or cozy, but definitely all about solving murders!

Merle wrote: "For 19th century America, the Gaslight series by Victoria Thompson is very good and they have moved into the early 20th century after more than 20 books. "

Her Counterfeit Lady Series is also early 20th Century America

For 16th-17th Century Europe, I loved the Sir Robert Carey mysteries, set in England and Scotland. Author P.F. Chisholm (Patricia Finney). First in the series is A Famine of Horses and takes place in 1592.

--Or My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk, set in 16th-century Istanbul.

For Medieval Europe, another favorite series was the Fool's Guild by Alan Gordon, starting with Thirteenth Night.

--Or One for Sorrow by Mary Reed and Eric Mayer, Constantinople 535 AD.

For Ancient Greece: Alexander the Great series by Paul C. Doherty, starts with A Murder in Macedon.

--Or Murder at the Panionic Games by Michael B. Edwards.

--Or Death Comes by Amphora: A Mystery Novel of Ancient Athens by Roger Hudson

--Or The Athenian Murders by Jose Carlos Somoza.

--Or Blind Eye by Marilyn Todd.

Victoria Thompson Counterfeit Lady series is easy to like. the plots are very clever. it probably would be best to start at the beginning as it's better to know something of the characters when the new plots start.

I love the Andrea Penrose series from Regency England. The most recent one is excellent. I do find that the characters have developed over time so it might be best to start at the beginning but you won't be sorry.

For British Empire, other than England, I can recommend the gothic A Shadow On The Lens, set in 1904 Wales, which is centered on a murder.

Kathy wrote: "Would The Wonder by Emma Donoghue fit? It is about an investigation by the Catholic church into whether a miracle is occurring. The crime would be fraud against the c..."

Yes, this works as a historical mystery.

For Pre-19th century Asia: Jade Dragon Mountain #1 Li Du by Elsa Hart. I haven't read this although it gets excellent reviews. My library has it as Kindle & Audio. I also found the Audio at Hoopla.

Peggyzbooksnmusic wrote: "For Pre-19th century Asia: Jade Dragon Mountain #1 Li Du by Elsa Hart. I haven't read this although it gets excellent reviews. My library has it as Kindle & Audio...."

I like that series and wish there were more.

Have been enjoying:

Tudor England- CJ Sansom's books with Matthew Shardlake
Tudor England- Fiona Buckley with Ursula Blanchard

1830s Scotland- Anna Lee Huber's Lady Darby's mysteries

Help needed for Early Japan mysteries. Thanks.

For Early Japan I only know of I.J. Parker's series. Book one is The Dragon Scroll.