Historical Mystery Stories Online
The Pigeon by Meg Taggart
Bold-Faced Death by Meg Taggart
The Witch of Mechelen by R.H. Shimer
One of a Kind by Walter Satterthwait

I have linked books to reviews whenever I could find them. Many of the reviews are on Amazon.com. If you happen to purchase a book at Amazon.com when you follow one of my links there, a portion of the proceeds will go to the Real Change Homeless Empowerment Project.

Reference sites:
Mystery and History, an excellent guide to non-English settings in fiction
A Medieval Quadrant
Historical Mystery Fiction from Gaslight Checklists
Historical Mystery Bibliography compiled by Dean James
Truth -- Based on Fact; from the Mining Co.
Historical Mystery Homepage
Historical Mystery Appreciation Society
Historical Mysteries I; from the Mystery Readers Journal
The Softer Side of Murder
Fiction Readers Advisory: Historical Mysteries
Unicorn Used Bookstore: Bibliographies
Medieval Terms

This list is sorted roughly by era, but I have chosen to group all books by one author together, even when an author has several series in different eras.
And because of sheer
size, I've broken the list into sub-pages.

2000 BC - 1689 AD
1700 AD - 1877 AD
1880 AD - 1950 AD
Author
Series / Character
Titles
Comments
Agatha Christie

Death Comes As the End, 1945
Egypt, c.2000 B.C.

Lauren Haney
Lt. Bak
Right Hand of Amon, 1997
A Face Turned Backward, 1999
Police procedurals in ancient Egypt, 1463 BC

Lynda Robinson
Lord Meren
Murder in the Place of Anubis
Murder at the God's Gate
Murder at the Feast of Rejoicing
Eater of Souls
Drinker of Blood, 1998
Egypt, 1356 BC: The investigations of the confidential inquiry agent of Tutankhamun.

Lee Levin
Eye, Grand Vizier of Thebes
King Tut's Private Eye, 1996
Egypt, 1356 B.C.

Anton Gill
Huy, ex-scribe
City of the Horizon, 1991
City of Dreams
City of the Dead
Egypt, 1355 B.C.

Margaret Doody
Aristotle
Aristotle, Detective, 1978
Greece, 332 B.C.

Steven Saylor
Gordianus the Finder
Roman Blood, 1994
Catalina's Riddle, 1994
Arms of Nemesis, 1995
The Venus Throw, 1996
A Murder on the Appian Way, 1997
The House of the Vestals
"Roma Sub Rosa"
Mysteries set in the final years of ancient Rome, c.80 BC

John Maddox Roberts
Decius Caecilius Metellus
SPQR, 1990
The Catiline Conspiracy
The Sacrilege
The Temple of the Muses
Rome, 70 B.C.

Marilyn Todd
Claudia Seferius
I, Claudia, 1995
Virgin Territory, 1996
Man Eater, 1997
Rome, 19 AD

David Wishart
Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus
Ovid, 1995
Germanicus, 1997
Sejanus, 1998
Rome, 19 AD

Lindsey Davis
Marcus Didius Falco
Silver Pigs, 1989
Shadows in Bronze, 1993
Venus in Copper, 1993
The Iron Hand of Mars, 1994
Last Act in Palmyra, 1997
Time to Depart, 1997
A Dying Light in Corduba, 1998
Three Coins in the Fountain
Historical Fiction: The Course of Honor, 1998
Caenis, mistress of Emperor Vespasian, AD 31 to AD 69
Rome, 70 AD

Barbara Hambly

The Quirinal Hill Affair, 1983
Rome, 116 A.D.



Benjamin January
A Free Man of Color, 1997
Fever Season, 1998
1830s New Orleans, USA

Ron Burns
Livinius Severus
Roman Nights, 1991
Roman Shadows, 1992
Rome, 180 A.D.



Captain Harrison Hull
The Mysterious Death of Meriwether Lewis, 1993
Enslaved, 1994
United States, beginning in 1809.

Charles Connell

Meet Me at Philippi
Most Delicious Poison
Rome

Joan O'Hagan

A Roman Death
Rome

Patricia Finney

Shadow of Gulls, 1977
Crown Goddess, 1979
Rome, 2nd Century AD

Kel Richards
Ben Bartholomew
The Case of the Vanishing Corpse, 1990
The Case of the Secret Assassin, 1992
The Case of the Damascus Dagger, 1994
The Case of the Dead Certainty, 1995
Roman-occupied Palestine

They are not mystery stories, but I really have to mention Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series as the finest historical novels I have ever read.
The First Man in Rome
The Grass Crown
Fortune's Favorites
Caesar's Women
Caesar

Additional sites of interest:
Ancient Fiction Book Corner
Fictional Rome Home Page
The Detective & The Toga
Ancient World Mysteries

Robert van Gulik
Judge Dee
The Chinese Nail Murders
The Chinese Bell Murders, 1958
The Chinese Gold Murders
The Chinese Maze Murders
Dee Goong An (aka Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee)
The Emperor's Pearl
The Haunted Monastery
Judge Dee at Work
The Lacquer Screen
The Monkey and the Tiger
Murder in Canton
Necklace and Calabash
The Phantom of the Temple

Poets and Murder (aka The Fox-Magic Murders)
The Red Pavilion
The Willow Pattern

China, 663 A.D.
Line art from the original printings

Peter Tremayne
Sister Fidelma
Absolution by Murder, 1994
A Shroud for the Archbishop
Suffer Little Children
The Subtle Serpent
Ireland/England, 664 A.D



Raffles
The Return of Raffles A tribute to the famous gentleman burglar of the early 1900's.

Ann Woodward
Lady Aoi
The Exile Way, 1996
Of Death and Black Rivers, 1998
Heian Period (early 11th century), Japan

Edward Marston
(Keith Miles)
Roger Delchard:
The Domesday Books
The Ravens of Blackwater
The Wolves of Savernake, 1993
The Dragons of Archenfield
The Lions of the North
The Serpents of Harbledown
The Stallions of Woodstock, 1999
11th-century England ruled by William the Conqueror, during the 1086 "Domesday Census"



Nicholas Bracewell
The Merry Devils, 1989
The Queen's Head, 1989
The Trip to Jerusalem, 1990
The Nine Giants, 1991
The Mad Courtesan, 1992
Silent Woman, 1994
The Roaring Boy, 1995
The Laughing Hangman, 1996
The Fair Maid of Bohemia, 1997
Elizabethan theater mysteries.

Ken Follett

The Pillars of the Earth, 1989
England, 1135-1170

Ellis Peters
Brother Cadfael A Morbid Taste for Bones, 1977
One Corpse Too Many, 1979
Monks-Hood, 1980
Saint Peter's Fair, 1981
The Leper of Saint Giles, 1981
The Virgin in the Ice, 1982
The Sanctuary Sparrow, 1983
The Devil's Novice, 1983
Dead Man's Ransom,1984
The Pilgrim of Hate, 1984
An Excellent Mystery, 1985
The Raven in the Foregate, 1986
The Rose Rent, 1986
The Hermit of Eyton Forest, 1987
The Confession of Brother Haluin, 1988
A Rare Benedictine, 1988
The Heretic's Apprentice, 1989
The Potter's Field, 1989
The Summer of the Danes, 1991
The Holy Thief, 1992
Brother Cadfael's Penance, 1994
Detail on all
A monk in 12th Century England investigates suspicious deaths.

Bernard Knight
Crowner John
The Sanctuary Seeker, 1998
The Poisoned Chalice, 1998
Madoc, Prince of America, 1998
12th Century Britain

Sharan Newman
Catherine Levendeur
Death Comes as Epiphany, 1993
The Devil's Door, 1995
The Wandering Arm, 1996
Strong as Death, 1996
Cursed in the Blood, 1998
The series begins in 1139, when Catherine is a novice at the convent of the Paraclete, where Heloise is the Abbess. The history of Heloise and Abelard is woven into the novels, along with observations of the life of Jews in 12th Century France.

Domini Highsmith

Keeper at the Shrine, 1994
Guardian at the Gate
Master of the Keys
England, 1180

Philip Boast

Deus, 1998
London England, 1190

Sharon Kay Penman
Justin de Quincy
The Queen's Man, 1996
Cruel as the Grave, 1998
1193, in the reign of Richard Lionheart



Richard III
The Sunne in Splendour
Not a mystery; listed because here is one more literary attempt to redeem the reputation of Richard III.




When Christ and His Saints Slept
Not a mystery, but another novel set during the civil war between King Stephen and Queen Maud; the time period of both Brother Cadfael and Catherine Levendeur

Also wrote: Here Be Dragons, Falls the Shadow, The Reckoning; 13th Century Wales, the decline of the Welsh kings.


Ian Morson
Regent Master
William Falconer
Falconer's Crusade
Falconer's Judgement
Falconer and the Face of God
A Psalm for Falconer
Oxford University, England, 1264

Umberto Eco

The Name of the Rose, 1983
Italy, early 1300s

Michael Jecks

The Last Templar, 1995
The Merchant's Partner
The Abbot's Gibbet
A Moorland Hanging
The Crediton Killings
The Leper's Return
begins in 1316

P.C. Doherty
Hugh Corbett
Satan in St. Mary's, 1987
The Crown in Darkness, 1988
Spy in Chancery, 1988
Angel of Death, 1990
The Prince of Darkness
Murder Wears A Cowl
The Assassin In The Greenwood
The Song of A Dark Angel
Satan's Fire
The Devil's Hunt
13th Century England, investigations by Edward I's senior clerk in chancery.



The Canterbury Pilgrims
An Ancient Evil, being the Knight's Tale, 1995
A Tapestry of Murders, being the Man of Law's Tale, 1996
A Tournament of Murders, being the Franklin's Tale, 1997
Ghostly Murders, being the Priest's Tale, 1998
14th Century England: filling in tales Chaucer missed.



Edmund Beche
The Death of a King, 1986
1345-1347: Edward III sends Edmund Beche, a very junior royal clerk, to investigate whether Edward II was murdered.



Matthew Jankyn
The Whyte Harte, 1988
The Serpent Among the Lilies, 1990
Dove Amongst The Hawks, 1990
15th Century




The Fate of the Princes, 1991
1480's: Doherty addresses the same mystery that Josephine Tey does in The Daughter of Time: did Richard III murder his nephews, the "Princes in the Tower"?



The Masked Man, 1992
18th Century Paris: Scaramouche investigates The Man in the Iron Mask


as Paul Doherty

The Rose Demon, 1997
The Soul Slayer, 1998
The Haunting, 1997
The Prince Drakulya, 1986
The Lord Count Drakulya, 1986
The Mask of Ra, 1998
Supernatural mystery histories: Medieval, Victorian, and ancient Egyptian.


P.C. Doherty as Anna Apostolou

A Murder in Macedonia
A Murder In Thebes
in the time of Alexander the Great


P.C. Doherty as Paul Harding
Brother Athelstan
The Nightingale Gallery,1993
The House of the Red Slayer, 1992
Murder Most Holy
The Anger Of God
By Murder's Bright Light
The House Of Crows
The Assassin's Riddle
The Devil's Domain
14th-century London


P.C. Doherty as
C. L. Grace
Kathryn Swinbrooke
A Shrine of Murders,1993
The Eye of God
The Merchant of Death
The Book of Shadows
A woman physician in 15th century Canterbury


P.C. Doherty as Michael Clynes
Sir Roger Shallot
The White Rose Murders, 1993
The Poisoned Chalice, 1994
The Grail Murders, 1994
A Brood of Vipers, 1996
The Gallows Murders, 1996
The Relic Murders
a rogue operating during the time of Henry VIII


P.C. Doherty as Ann Dukthas
Nicholas Segalla,
Time Traveller
A Time For The Death Of A King - Scotland, 16th c.
The Prince Lost To Time - Paris, 1815
The Time Of Murder At Mayerling - Austria, 1899
In The Time Of The Poisoned Queen - England, 1558


Susanna Gregory
Dr. Matthew Bartholomew
& Brother Michael
An Unholy Alliance, 1996
A Bone of Contention, 1997
Cambridge England, beginning in 1348

Candace Robb
Owen & Lucie Archer
The Apothecary Rose, 1993
The Lady Chapel, 1994
The Nun's Tale, 1995
The King's Bishop, 1996
The Riddle of St. Leonard's, 1997
A Gift of Sanctuary, 1998
York, England, beginning in 1363

Daphne du Maurier

Jamaica Inn, 1939 14th Century Cornwall


The House on the Strand 14th Century Cornwall


My Cousin Rachel, 1951

Somewhere in Cornwall sometime in the last century -- time and location are never pinned down any more than Philip's suspicions are.


Rebecca, 1938, has survived long enough to be a historical mystery, whether intended as one or not. Daphne du Maurier also wrote several historical romances, including Castle Dor, the story of Tristan and Iseult.


G. & J. Clancy

Death is a Pilgrim, 1993
England, 1387

Margaret Frazer
Sister Frevisse
The Novice's Tale, 1992
The Servant's Tale, 1993
The Outlaw's Tale, 1994
The Bishop's Tale, 1994
The Boy's Tale, 1995
The Murderer's Tale, 1996
The Prioress's Tale, 1997
The Maiden's Tale, 1998
British convent, beginning in 1431

Other links of interest in reference to the Middle Ages:
Sharan Newman's Six things that "everyone knows" about the Middle Ages that aren't true.
Medieval Feminist index
ORB - Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies
Byzantine & Medieval Studies Links
Labyrinth, resources for Medieval studies, K-12th grade
Sharan Newman's Bibliography: reference books on the Middle Ages
Books of interest to members of the SCA
 

Robert Farrington
Henry Morane
The Killing of Richard III, 1971
Tudor Agent, 1974
The Traitors of Bosworth, 1978
Richard III & Tudor England

Jeremy Potter

A Trail of Blood
1480's England: Another defense of Richard III.

Josephine Tey
Inspector Alan Grant
The Daughter of Time, 1951
Laid up in a hospital bed, the Inspector investigates the truth of Richard III and the death of the Princes in the Tower. Josephine Tey imparts the thrill of the chase to historical research. The investigation is in modern times but the mystery is in 1483-1485.
For further study on Richard III, see the essay Oh Tey Can You See? at the Richard III Society Online Library.

Elizabeth Eyre
Sigismondo
Death of the Duchess, 1991
Curtains for the Cardinal, 1992
Poison for the Prince, 1993
Bravo for the Bride, 1994
Axe for an Abbot, 1995
Dirge for a Doge, 1996
Renaissance Italy

George Herman
Leonardo da Vinci
A Comedy of Murders, 1994
The Tears of the Madonna, 1996
Renaissance, Milan Italy, beginning in 1498


C.J. Stevermer

The Death of a Borgia
Renaissance Italy

George Herman
Leonardo da Vinci
A Comedy of Errors, 1994
The Tears of the Madonna, 1996
Renaissance Italy

Links of interest on the Renaissance:
Art of the Renaissance
Renaissance: Art History
Medieval/Renaissance Food Homepage
Medieval & Renaissance Games
Renaissance Era Historical Reenactment
Niccolo Machiavelli - Italian Statesman and Political Philosopher
Plague and Public Health in Renaissance Europe
Luminarium: Sixteenth Century Renaissance English Literature (1485-1603)
Renaissance Love Poems
Renaissance Electronic Texts
Renascence Editions Electronic Editions of Works Printed in English, 1477-1799
Medieval & Renaissance History
Topics in Renaissance Studies
Renaissance: Italian Culture
Women in Medieval and Renaissance Periods
Renaissance Women Writers
Magnificent Medieval Women Quiz

David Thompson

The Mirrormaker


Fiona Buckley
Ursula Blanchard
To Shield the Queen, 1997
The Doublet Affair, 1998
England, beginning in 1560

P. E. Chisholm
(Patricia Finney)
Sir Robert Carey
A Famine of Horses, 1994
A Season of Knives, 1995
A Surfeit of Guns, 1996
A Plague of Angels, 1998
Elizabethan England, 1592

Judith Cook
Dr. Simon Forman
Death of a Lady's Maid, 1997
Murder at the Rose, 1998
Elizabethan England

Kathy Lynn Emerson
Susanne, Lady Appleton
Face Down in the Marrow-Bone Pie, 1997
Face Down Upon a Herbal, 1998
Elizabethan England

George Garrett

Entered from the Sun, 1990
(There is no review at the Amazon site for this book, but there are a number of other historical fiction titles by the same author, so I include the link anyway.)
The murder of Christopher Marlowe: England, around 1593

Anthony Burgess

A Dead Man in Deptford , 1995
Another investigation of the murder of Christopher Marlowe

Charles Nicholl

The Reckoning , 1995
Non-fiction: in case you get interested in the history of Christopher Marlowe

Faye Kellerman
Rebecca Lopez
& Will Shakespeare
The Quality of Mercy, 1989
England, 1593

Patricia Finney
(P.F. Chisholm)
Simon Ames
Firedrake's Eye, 1992
Unicorn's Blood, 1998
Elizabethan England

Leonard Tourney
Matthew Stock
The Player's Boy is Dead, 1980
Low Treason, 1983
Familiar Spirits, 1985
The Bartholomew Fair Murders, 1986
Old Saxon Blood, 1988
Knaves Templar, 1991
Witness of Bones, 1992
Frobisher's Savage, 1994
England begining 1601, in the reign of Elizabeth I

Links of interest on the Elizabethan era:
William Shakespeare
Francis Bacon
Complete Works of Christopher Marlowe
Edmund Spenser
Renascence Editions Electronic Editions of Works Printed in English, 1477-1799
The Elizabethan Review
Royal Fashion, Elizabethan High Tudor
The Liz Quiz



1640 AD - 1877 AD
1880 AD - 1950 AD

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