{"id":4244,"date":"2021-11-16T07:53:27","date_gmt":"2021-11-16T15:53:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/?p=4244"},"modified":"2021-11-16T07:53:27","modified_gmt":"2021-11-16T15:53:27","slug":"best-of-history-mystery-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/best-of-history-mystery-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Best of: History Mystery 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

After we closed the store and my reading was slightly less proscribed by authors visiting or the latest new thing, I realized that one of the genres I truly love is historical mysteries. The range is so wide \u2013 in story telling style, in time period, in characters, and the armchair history lessons always, always add to my reading enjoyment.\u00a0 The fact that the books are set in the past makes the detective rely much more on old fashioned, golden age style sleuthing methods, another attraction, as far as I\u2019m concerned.\u00a0 Thanks to Mystery Scene Magazine <\/strong><\/a>as well as my own reading, I find I read pretty widely in this subgenre.\u00a0 Here are my 10 favorites this year. One of them I liked so much it\u2019s on my all around top 10 list (stay tuned!)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Dark Heart of Florence, <\/em>Tasha Alexander. Tasha Alexander writes one of the most reliably entertaining series in mystery fiction \u2013 every book has a complex plot, often a dual timeline, a bit of romance, plus the reader gets to go on some armchair travel and learn a bit of history to boot.\u00a0 In this latest Lady Emily outing, her dishy husband, Colin, takes her to Florence, along with her friend Cecile for cover, as he works on something so secret for the Crown that he can\u2019t even tell Emily. When they arrive at their borrowed Florence villa, one of the workers plunges to his death, and as Colin is off working for the crown, Emily investigates the crime which has ties back to the 15th<\/sup> century.\u00a0 The dual time period really adds to the richness of the storytelling in the novel.\u00a0 This was another well told, wildly enjoyable book from the talented Alexander.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Road of Bones, <\/em>James R. Benn. For new readers, the Billy Boyle books are set during WWII and feature an army captain, Billy, who investigates the murders that occur on the edges (or directly inside of) the war. It\u2019s now 1944, and author James Benn plunges Billy and his sidekick Big Mike directly into the action.\u00a0 Road of Bones<\/em> begins and ends with two bravura action scenes, a type of writing at which Benn excels.\u00a0 The opening scene is set inside a bomber seeing direct action.\u00a0 Billy is a passenger on the way to the USSR, but he steps in at one point, earning him the respect of the pilots on board.\u00a0 It\u2019s kind of like the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan <\/em>in its utter intensity and brutality.\u00a0 It\u2019s the kind of scene that once you\u2019re finished reading it, you need to give yourself a mental shake to be able to move on to the rest of the story. The plane Big Mike was in has disappeared into the wilds of the USSR and while Billy is crazy to find him, there\u2019s not much he can do about it at his new post, Poltova, where he\u2019s to investigate the deaths of an American and a Russian soldier.<\/p>\n

While Benn writes with all the detail of war \u2013 and this slice of the war seems especially grim and brutal \u2013 he also seems to have a love for the traditional village mystery, in his own way.\u00a0 Like Miss Marple, Billy often finds a solution by comparing the people he\u2019s investigating in the present to some of the criminal types he encountered in the past as a beat cop back in Boston.\u00a0 It\u2019s this type of parallel thinking that helps him to solve this complex crime. Benn a gives the reader a good look at the attitudes \u2013 and fear \u2013 in Stalinist Russia.\u00a0\u00a0 This is a grim story but it\u2019s not all grim \u2013 there\u2019s a very smart mystery at the center. This is another great read from a truly talented writer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Murder at Mallowan Hall, <\/em>Colleen Cambridge. Phyllida Bright, appearing in this series debut, works as the housekeeper for Agatha Christie and her husband, Max Mallowan.\u00a0 As the book opens, Mrs. Bright unfortunately discovers a body in the Mallowan\u2019s library, right in the middle of a house party.\u00a0 The dead man was a reporter who had showed up late the night before, saying he was there to interview Mrs. Christie. Mrs. Bright pulls herself together \u2013 she\u2019d been a nurse during the war \u2013 and before she even notifies the butler (gasp) she calls the police.\u00a0 This book is a delicious combination of Downton Abbey <\/em>and a meta-play on a Christie novel (obviously, The Body in the Library<\/em>).\u00a0 The Downton Abbey<\/em> bit is Cambridge\u2019s attention to household detail, and the way Mrs. Bright runs that household. In true Christie fashion there\u2019s more than one murder and more than one red herring.\u00a0 Mrs. Bright wraps things up almost despite the police, though they help detain the villain at the end.\u00a0 Agatha Christie the person plays a very peripheral part in the proceedings, but Agatha Christie the writer haunts every page of this delightful book that both pays homage to the Queen of Crime, but also embroiders on her work with a fresh character and a fresh look at a part of her life.\u00a0 This is a wonderful series debut.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A Fiancee\u2019s Guide to First Wives and Murder, <\/em>Dianne Freeman. The sparkling fourth installment to Dianne Freeman\u2019s insanely enjoyable Frances, Lady Harleigh series finds the intrepid Frances on the verge of marriage to her beloved George, only to discover, practically on the eve of her wedding, that George\u2019s wife has appeared. Of course, it\u2019s a misunderstanding, but the social damage is done.\u00a0 Irena, the woman making the claim, appears not only demented but in danger, as she\u2019s been receiving threatening letters. When Irena\u2019s marital status has been more or less cleared up (and to give it away gives away a portion of this clever plot), Lady Harleigh\u00a0 agrees to take her in while George looks into the matter.\u00a0 Frances and George get to sleuthing, but unfortunately the next day Irena is discovered dead in Frances\u2019 garden.\u00a0 The mystery part of the novel is golden age in that there is a pretty tight circle of suspects, every clue has a purpose, and the resolution is suitably surprising yet also makes sense.\u00a0 The characters are interesting and sharply defined, the societal milieu is beautifully portrayed, and Frances is every bit the intelligent, independent woman who has found her soul mate in George.\u00a0 This series has quickly become a favorite of mine.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Murder Most Fair, <\/em>Anna Lee Huber. The fifth novel in Anna Lee Huber\u2019s Verity Kent series finds Verity surprised by the appearance of her German great aunt, Ilse.\u00a0 She\u2019s surprised for one thing because it\u2019s 1919, and in England, Germans aren\u2019t especially beloved; and for another she knows her aunt is elderly and fragile and wonders why she\u2019s made the arduous journey to her niece\u2019s side. Her aunt has appeared with a new and beautiful young maid, as her long time maid has died of the Spanish flu. While this book is very much set in 1919, it\u2019s also echoed in today\u2019s universe, where we are dealing with a pandemic that\u2019s not quite over and that has caused a massive amount of loss. Because her aunt is so elderly and so fragile, and because Germans are so reviled in London, Verity decides the best place for her would be her parent\u2019s home in the Yorkshire Dales.\u00a0 Verity herself is returning home after a long time away. As anyone who returns to their childhood home after a long absence has found \u2013 things have changed.\u00a0 Verity\u2019s surviving brothers, Freddy and Tim, are also veterans dealing with the war\u2019s aftermath in different ways.\u00a0 Her mother is angry that Verity has been away for so long.\u00a0 And Sidney is acclimating himself to Verity\u2019s childhood home.\u00a0 As he\u2019s a certified war hero with a medal to prove it, things are easier for him, though there\u2019s still a bit of a gulf between him and Verity as she refuses to give in to her grief.<\/p>\n

When her aunt\u2019s maid is discovered murdered, Verity and Sidney snap into detecting mode, making an appealing and intelligent sleuthing couple.\u00a0 While I enjoyed the mystery and the threads that lead to a solution, what I thought was so strong about this book was the depiction of Verity\u2019s grief.\u00a0 The meticulous character delineation that is a hallmark of Huber\u2019s writing makes it all the more powerful.\u00a0 This is a beautifully written and told story.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A Fatal First Night, <\/em>Kathleen Marple Kalb. This is the second in Kathleen Kalb\u2019s delightful series about opera star Ella Shane, who is working in\u00a0 New York City in 1899.\u00a0 She and her cousin Tom run an opera company and live agreeably together in a large brownstone with Ella\u2019s parrot, Montezuma.\u00a0 These books have a really vivacious quality, matching Miss Ella\u2019s own.\u00a0 Not only is Ella a working woman in 1899, she sings men\u2019s parts \u2013 she\u2019s what was known as a \u201ctrouser diva\u201d.\u00a0 Her first nights tend to be problematic, however.\u00a0 In this book, though the stage portion of her new show goes perfectly, when she comes off stage she discovers one of her co-stars in his dressing room, covered in blood, a dead man at his feet.\u00a0 The gentle singer is hauled off to the Tombs and Ella tries to wrap her head around his guilt. This story has many interlocking pieces, all juggled (seemingly effortlessly) by the skillful Kalb.\u00a0 As in the last novel, it\u2019s Ella who gets both the last word and the last lick and vanquishes her foe.<\/p>\n

Kalb writes with vivid assurance.\u00a0 Her stories are well paced and well layered.\u00a0 Ella\u2019s matrix \u2013 the characters who surround her \u2013 are as interesting and flawed yet human as she is herself, as is the theatrical setting. While in this novel the mystery part was about of equal importance to all the other things happening in Ella\u2019s life \u2013 mainly her romance with her British swain Gil \u2013 I didn\u2019t care a bit.\u00a0 This book is by a woman who knows how to tell a story.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Hollywood Spy, <\/em>Susan Elia MacNeal. In this novel, Maggie Hope has gone to Hollywood. She\u2019s been summoned by her old friend, RAF Commander John Sterling, who has lost his fianc\u00e9e in an apparent accident.\u00a0 It\u2019s 1943 in Los Angeles and things are not as they appear.\u00a0 Hollywood is the perfect setting for this theme \u2013 a universe that\u2019s all shiny surface, with all kinds of undercurrents below.\u00a0 While the message of the US at war is that everyone is in it together, MacNeal brings into stark relief the rise of the KKK, who were following the rise of Hitler and hoping for a complete takeover after the war. The book is saturated in racism, from Maggie\u2019s discomfort at Schwab\u2019s when she notices a black nanny who cannot sit down next to her small white charge, to a depiction of the Zoot Suit riots.<\/p>\n

MacNeal, as always, tells an incredible story, including the actual detection part, as Maggie quickly proves that Gloria, John\u2019s fianc\u00e9e, was indeed murdered. Maggie\u2019s investigation takes her far and wide, deep into a KKK plot.\u00a0 But MacNeal also gives the reader a glimpse of 1943 Hollywood, sprinkling her narrative with people like Walt Disney, Linus Pauling, Hattie McDaniel, Igor Stravinsky and others, as well as the glamor of places like the Chateau Marmont and the Garden of Allah, the bohemian hangout where Gloria was murdered. This is a great read, as always, but it\u2019s also a thoughtful and scary look at racism in 1943 that certainly brings the reader\u2019s mind many decades forward to today.\u00a0 Long live Maggie Hope and the thoughtful skill of her creator.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Bombay Prince, <\/em>Sujata Massey. I love this series. Set in India just before independence, \u00a0series heroine Perveen Mistry works in her father\u2019s law firm. At the time, she was the only female lawyer in Bombay, allowed to settle contracts and wills but not allowed to argue in court. As the book opens, Perveen is visited by a young woman, Freny Cuttingmaster, who asks Perveen if her college can expel her for not attending the parade for the Prince of Wales, who is coming for a visit. Freny is secretly part of a group advocating for Indian independence.\u00a0 Perveen ultimately advises her to feign illness and stay home, but Freny, a devout Parsi, refuses to tell a falsehood of any kind. This book addresses two issues: one, the burgeoning fight for independence from the British, led by Gandhi, and, as always in these novels, a reflection on the place of the female in society<\/p>\n

Sadly Freny is discovered dead shortly after the parade, an apparent suicide.\u00a0 She had fallen from an upper floor in one of the college buildings. Perveen is sure Freny\u2019s death is not a suicide, and she steps in as an advocate at the inquest for Freny\u2019s parents, with the blessing of her father who accompanies her to court and lets her speak for the Cuttingmasters.\u00a0 It\u2019s the first time she\u2019s spoken in the courtroom. This is the most traditional book so far in this series, in terms of it being a straight up golden age style, almost locked room mystery.\u00a0 Massey has all the chops \u2013 plot, character, setting and just pure writing.\u00a0 A stand out in every way.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A Rogue\u2019s Company, <\/em>Allison Montclair. This has very quickly become one of my favorite and most anticipated series.\u00a0 Set in London just post war, the main characters are Iris Sparks and Gwen Bainbridge, two opposites who work like clockwork together.\u00a0 Iris is single and Gwen is a widowed mother living with her in-laws, and the two run a marriage bureau called the \u201cRight Sort\u201d.\u00a0 Each book opens with the approach of a client, and that sets off whatever delightful chain of events Montclair has in store for her reader. The approach of their first African customer throws them off a tiny bit, but the ladies rally and agree to help find proper, polite Mr. Daile a match.\u00a0 As the women prepare to match Mr. Daile, Gwen feels something is off about him \u2013 she thinks there is something he\u2019s not sharing with them, but they press ahead regardless.<\/p>\n

While Gwen and her mother in law had reached an armed truce of sorts in the last book regarding her son\u2019s education, the arrival of her father in law blows everything to smithereens as he refuses to compromise and treats his wife like an afterthought, abandoning her each night for his club.\u00a0 About half way through the book, Gwen and her father in law are kidnapped, and the distraught Lady Bainbridge reaches out to Iris for help. This is the most personal of the books to date.\u00a0\u00a0 Putting Gwen in danger and allowing her to ultimately realize the many resources she actually has at her disposal fleshes her character. These books have a dash of adventure, a dash of (often thwarted, in Gwen\u2019s case) romance, a clever mystery, and much wit and intelligence.\u00a0 May this series be a long one.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A Peculiar Combination, <\/em>Ashley Weaver. Electra McDonnell is a thief.\u00a0 She and her uncle Mick make a living on the shady side of the street, picking locks and cracking safes.\u00a0 It\u2019s 1940, London, and the pair are taking advantage of the general uproar of the war to ply their trade, with abandoned houses making their task easier.\u00a0 On the night the book opens, though, Electra has a bad feeling.\u00a0 She is sure she and her uncle are being watched.\u00a0 While their break-in goes without incident, after it\u2019s over, they are arrested.\u00a0 But as Ellie watches scenery pass by through the window of the police car, she sees they aren\u2019t headed to the police station or to jail, but to Belgravia. She and her uncle Mick are escorted inside a posh house, separately, and ultimately interrogated by one Major Ramsey, who questions them both and then offers a proposition.\u00a0 All charges will be dropped if Ellie and her uncle agree to safe-crack for the war effort.\u00a0 While Ellie\u2019s temper often gets the best of her, she ultimately agrees.<\/p>\n

The plot is suitably tricky with first one suspect, then another, seeming like the guilty party (there are some missing papers involved), which keeps Weaver\u2019s novel squarely on the Golden age side of things.\u00a0 There are a surfeit of books set during this time period, but this one has a nice twist to it.\u00a0 Having the main character be on the shady side, yet recruited by the war office for her actual skillset, makes this a unique set up. This book had a real snap to it. I loved the characters \u2013 especially Ellie \u2013 and I loved the twists that Weaver provides for the reader.\u00a0 This is a very welcome addition to the historical mystery field.<\/p>\n

Also notable: Jess Montgomery\u2019s The Stills; <\/em>Lauren Willig\u2019s gripping Band of Sisters; <\/em>Rhys Bowen\u2019s God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen; <\/em>Mariah Fredericks\u2019 Death of a Showman <\/em>and Susanna Calkins\u2019 return to the 1660\u2019s with The Sign of the Gallows.\u00a0 <\/em>All have been reviewed here, and read my interview with the fascinating Lauren Willig here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After we closed the store and my reading was slightly less proscribed by authors visiting or the latest new thing, I realized that one of the genres I truly love is historical mysteries. The range is so wide \u2013 in story telling style, in time period, in characters, and the armchair history lessons always, always … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,89,713,712,39,10,191,267,410,131,38,53,107,42,104,275],"class_list":["post-4244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-of","tag-allison-montclair","tag-anna-lee-huber","tag-ashley-weaver","tag-colleen-cambridge","tag-dianne-freeman","tag-historical","tag-james-r-benn","tag-jess-montgomery","tag-kathleen-marple-kalb","tag-lauren-willig","tag-mariah-fredericks","tag-rhys-bowen","tag-sujata-massey","tag-susan-elia-macneal","tag-susanna-calkins","tag-tasha-alexander"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4244"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4270,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4244\/revisions\/4270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}