Historical mystery authors bring a very special dimension to the mystery genre by adding an extreme sense of time and place to their books. Since the first historical mystery, authors have continued to grow and develop the genre and have upped the game by doing more research and really bringing their time period to life. This has inspired even non-historical mystery authors to add dimension to their novels by including elements of architectural history and points about history more and more in regular mysteries. A good example is award winning mystery author Ausma Zehanat Khan’s Rachel Getty and Esa Khattak series which opened with “The Unquiet Dead.” This excellent mystery novel isn’t an historical novel, but it revolves around what happened in the recent past which caused the murder in the present and includes a lot of history.

Reading right now:

American author Jeanne M. Dams has been writing her Dorothy Martin series long enough that “Death Comes to Durham” is now the 23^rd book in this remarkable series about an American widow who moves to England only to eventually marry a Chief Constable. In this new addition to the series, Dorothy and her now retired husband are on vacation in Durham with old friend David Tregarth. Their holiday becomes a murder investigation when David’s elderly great-aunt is accused of murder. His Great Aunt Amanda lives in a nursing home where many of the residents have memory problems and are very unreliable witnesses. While Dams’ series is not historical mysteries, the history of England and its architecture play an important role in the whole series.

On hold right now:

After spending many years writing two very popular series of mysteries, Anne Perry finally started a new series called the Elena Standish series. The second book in the series just came out and is called “A Question of Betrayal.” Perry is known for her historical mysteries and this series features Elena Standish who is a British photographer and secret agent in the 1930s. Standish’s latest assignment is to recover a double agent whose handler has vanished. Unfortunately for her, the agent is the man she once loved who she thought had betrayed her and her country.

James Benn continues his Billy Boyle World War II historical series this month with “The Red Horse.” The 15^th book in the series starts just days after the Liberation of Paris with US Army Detective Billy Boyle hospitalized with exhaustion and methamphetamine abuse issues. Since he is already in hospital, British Major Cosgrove asks Billy to help solve the murder of a British agent that died in the hospital. Billy’s recovery becomes very complicated as he tries to hid his investigation and discovers a second body.

If you love trains, the Railway Detective series is definitely for you. Edward Marston’s 18^th book in the series featuring Detective Inspector Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming is “Slaughter in the Sapperton Tunnel.” This historical series takes place in 1850s London, but always involves trains. In the latest, when going through a tunnel the train collides with seven sheep who have been penned in place to cause the accident.

Other Mysterious Things:

The British Crime Writers’ Association has presented awards in the CWA Historical Dagger category since 1999. Since 2015, SG MacLean has won the award twice for books in her Damian Seeker series. This is a really good series with amazing cover art. The books take place in London in the 1650s. SG MacLean is the niece of Alistair MacLean who wrote 29 bestsellers many of which were made into films including “The Guns of Navarone,” “Force Ten from Navarone,” and “Where Eagles Dare” and died in 1987. Other winners of the CWA Historical Dagger award in the past few years include David Young, Abir Mukherjee, Roy Clements, and Antonia Hodgson.