Category Archives: Historical Mystery

by Kirsty Manning I love a mystery set in the 1930s, and what fun to visit Paris instead of London or New York!  Charlie James, looking to escape a failed marriage in her hometown of Sydney, has pulled up stakes and moved to France.  The chief of The Times’ Paris bureau, having hired her believingContinue reading “The Paris Mystery”

by Allison Montclair Overall: The fifth book in the Sparks and Bainbridge mystery series, The Lady from Burma finds our heroines – the resourceful Iris Sparks and the sympathetic Gwendolyn Bainbridge – pulled into another pair of mysteries.  When a new client comes to The Right Sort Marriage Bureau to consult with the ladies aboutContinue reading “The Lady from Burma”

by Kate Khavari Having thoroughly enjoyed A Botanist’s Guide to Parties and Poisons, I eagerly picked up A Botanist’s Guide to Flowers and Fatality, the second book of the Saffron Everleigh mystery series.  Book two finds Saffron still working to establish a secure place for herself in the botany department at the University College ofContinue reading “A Botanist’s Guide to Flowers and Fatality”

by Claudia Gray Overall: Calling all Jane Austen fans! What a fun concept for a book: collect many of the principal characters from Austen’s novels, put them all in a house party at Donwell Abbey, and then kill off the villainous Mr. Wickham. Whether you love Elizabeth and Darcy, Emma and George Knightley, Marianne andContinue reading “The Murder of Mr. Wickham”

by Anthony Berkeley Overall: Originally published in the 1920s as an English newspaper serial, The Wintringham Mystery contest invited readers to submit their solutions to win cash prizes. This book’s claim to fame is that it stumped everyone, even Agatha Christie. I came across it at my local independent bookstore, which has been featuring allContinue reading “The Wintringham Mystery”

by Jacqueline Winspear A Sunlit Weapon is the seventeenth entry in the Maisie Dobbs detective series. If you like historical fiction and traditional detective stories, and you haven’t heard of this series, you are in for a treat! At this point in the series, time has progressed from the late 1920s into World War II.Continue reading “A Sunlit Weapon”

by Katy Watson Overall: what a fun mystery! The Three Dahlias definitely fell into the “can’t put it down” category for me.  A weekend celebrating the work of Britain’s literary “Princess of Poison,” Lettice Davenport (a fictional creation in the vein of Agatha Christie), at Lettice’s family home, Aldermere, goes awry when one of theContinue reading “The Three Dahlias”

by Kate Khavari Overall: Full disclosure: 1920s mysteries combine my all-time favorite genre with my all-time favorite era. I’m a huge fan of Gold Age Detective Fiction like Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers. So I was predisposed to like A Botanist’s Guide to Parties and Poisons, and it did not disappoint! Saffron Everleigh works atContinue reading “A Botanist’s Guide to Parties and Poisons”

by Nina de Gramont Overall: The only thing I love more than historical fiction is “Golden Age” detective fiction, so The Christie Affair had a huge head start with me.  Based on the true story of Agatha Christie’s mysterious 11-day disappearance early in her writing career in 1926, this book is told from the perspectiveContinue reading “The Christie Affair”