The Genre-Blending Appeal of Historical Mysteries, by Tessa Floreano

If you appreciate a story set in the past, at least fifty years from current time, and page-turning thrills led by clues and suspects that beg to be uncovered, then historical mysteries might just be up your reading alley. Historical and mystery are two genres that standalone, but blended together, could prove irresistible to any fan that is familiar with each separate genre. The mix of the two appeals to readers who want to delve into a particular historical period, and at the same time, are looking for some complications related to that period that they would not necessarily encounter in solving a modern mystery.

The mashup of historical mysteries run the gamut from cozy mysteries where the big event happens off-stage and is not too graphic like Agatha Christie and Nancy Drew plots to mid-century noir (think: Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett) to time-slip novels where the protagonist is in two different time periods and secrets abound like in Susanna Kearsley or Barbara Erskine’s novels.

If you like police procedurals set in modern times like Elizabeth George’s Inspector Linley series, Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch, Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache, Rachel Howzell Hall’s Lou Norton, and Deborah Crombie’s Duncan Kincaid & Emma James, their cops will have all the latest gadgets and techniques at their disposal to catch a killer. But if you want to see how cops or private investigators solve a crime in a time when technology was not so prevalent, series such as Ellis Peters’ Brother Cadfael Chronicles (Medieval times), Victoria Thompson’s Gaslight Mysteries (1900s), Nekesa Afia’s Harlem Renaissance (Flapper era), or Walter Mosley’s Easy Rawlins (1960s) might fit the bill.

International historical mystery series such as Aibr Mukherjee’s Sam Wyndham and Sujata Massey’s Perveen Mistry are set in India before World War I so the reader is treated to rich period detail, unfamiliar social conventions, and exotic locales. Historical whodunits that take place in a time and place far from our own current environment offer depth that we would not normally be subjected to, but nevertheless, calls to our sense of adventure. Intrigue that happens far from home can still be tangible and accessible, especially when it involves real historical figures or crimes. Take Gyles Brandreth’s Oscar Wilde series which casts British literature’s most fascinating and controversial figure as the lead sleuth. Or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Mycroft Holmes series where Sherlock’s brother Mycroft becomes embroiled in a mystery in Trinidad based on actual history.

Historical mysteries engage the senses, too, which is one of the reasons readers flock to them. They learn about period clothing, language, popular music, and food. Politics (sexual and otherwise), business dealings, class structure, transportation, professions, economic hardship, and education can be so vastly different from what we experienced, but we can gain an understanding of how people dealt with them in an earlier era. The historical details, in some cases, can help slow down (in an effective way) the reading pace in order to absorb the minutia of a time long ago whereas the mystery can take longer to solve because there are fewer tools to speed up the process. An author can choose to weave in characters with offbeat quirks, beautiful yet somewhat strange-to-our-eyes-and-ears prose with multiple points of view or a single one, humor (sharp or dry), dark and light moments—all pertinent to the period—in an effort to baffle and enthrall us simultaneously.

Some of the more popular mysteries set in the past that are on current bestseller lists have women sleuths and what makes them popular are most of the reasons already mentioned. They are certainly why I write historical mysteries like my Slain Over Spumoni story set in 1920s Venice, and though it was just going to be a one-off story, the time, the setting, and showcasing real people had me crafting a prequel of sorts just a few months after the book’s launch. The one character that was carried over was the police officer, though twenty years before he became the honcho of his region, so Slain readers get to see him in a different light when he was a junior detective with a lot less power. We also get to see the mother of Slain’s protagonist in a sleuth capacity when on the eve of her wedding, she witnesses a murder. It was fun to explore the same region of Italy, albeit now fin de siècle Italy rather than post-WWI war torn Italy, with totally different clothes and social mores.

If you are on the hunt for unlikely investigators, hard-boiled detectives, or gentle amateur sleuths, who operate in a bygone era to solve a crime, perhaps even in a foreign land you know nothing about or are curious to visit, try delving into a historical mystery! You just might find there is a whole series featuring your new favorite gumshoe waiting impatiently for you to come along for the ride.

RESOURCES

The Best Historical Novels with Jazz Age Mysteries by the Sea (shepherd.com)

30 Historical Mystery Series to Get You Through Any Crisis | The New York Public Library (nypl.org)

30 of the Best Historical Mystery and Thriller Books – The Niche Reader (thenichereader.com)

AUTHOR: Tessa Floreano

TITLE: SLAIN OVER SPUMONI

GENRE: Historical Mystery

BLURB:

Violetta Pelicani, massage therapist in Grado, Italy shortly after WWI, meets a young man at almost the same instant she learns her favorite uncle is dead. Suspicion of murder arises, and the two work together to prevent Vi from being accused. Though she has helped her uncle run his gelateria, she expects to gain nothing from his death, but she has already gained an admirer in John.

John Baxter is in Grado to assist his brother’s travel home from a military hospital. John, or Gianni, as Vi calls him, is immediately smitten with Vi and wants to help her, while enjoying her company and her gelateria’s gelato, but will sleuthing get in the way of sampling the famous spumoni?

AUTHOR BIO:

Writer of history about Italians set in Europe and the Pacific Northwest.

As a content architect by day, I like to think I shine as a storyteller by night, when writing my historical mystery tales by moonlight or candlelight. Recently, as a community historian, I’ve written the first book in Arcadia Publishing’s IMAGES OF AMERICA series about early Italian settlers in the Pacific Northwest.

I am a dual Italian-Canadian citizen residing in Puget Sound with a husband and freeloading purrball as companions.

Fan of pens + notebooks, strong tea, the Salish and Adriatic Seas, and all things Italian, PNW, & Canadian.