Read a Good Mystery?: Historical Mysteries

Death and tennis meet in one of impossible crime master John Dickson Carr's most memorable cases. A dead man is found strangled in the middle of a clay tennis court just after a storm. In the damp dirt, there is one set of footsteps--his own--leading back to the grass; the court is otherwise untouched. It seems like a case of sudden death but, in order to find who's at fault, the authorities must first solve the mystery of the body's puzzling position.

A cursed statue . . . A haunted house . . . A seemingly supernatural death . . . The unexpected arrival of a friend from his past plunges musician, sleuth and free man of color Benjamin January into an old, unsolved case in this historical mystery set in New Orleans December 1840. Surgeon turned piano-player Benjamin January is looking forward to a peaceful holiday with his family. But the arrival of an old friend brings unexpected news - and unexpected danger. Persephone Jondrette has found Arithmus: a Sudanese man with extraordinary mental abilities who January last saw in France, nearly fifteen years ago, during a ghost-hunting expedition to a haunted chateau. January and his friends survived the experience . . . but Arithmus' benefactor, the British explorer Deverel Wishart, did not. He was discovered dead one morning, his face twisted in horror, and shortly afterwards Arithmus vanished, never to be seen again. January is determined to uncover the truth about the tragic incident from his past, and clear his old friend's name - but even he isn't prepared for what happens next .

As Germany strangles under the tight grip of the Nazi Party, the frozen winter of 1940 brings even more reasons to fear the dark. Germany, 1940. The world holds its breath and hopes for peace. At home, the Nazi Party's grip on power tightens. Reasons to fear the dark are growing On a night in Berlin, during the most bitter winter in memory, SS doctor Manfred Schmesler is found in his study, dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. The hurried and official version of the Reich is suicide. Schmesler's widow doesn't believe it. At the risk of running afoul of the Gestapo, neither does Criminal Inspector Horst Schenke. The warnings to drop the investigation only compel Schenke to dig deeper. Then Schenke learns of the suspicious death of a child in a remote clinic outside Potsdam. At first, the cases seem unconnected, but soon chilling links emerge that point to a terrifying secret. Schenke isn't the only one in jeopardy. So is everyone within his circle, including Schmesler's widow.

Leeds. April, 1824. Wealthy engineer Joseph Clark employs thief-taker Simon Westow to find the men who stole the buried corpse of Catherine Jordan, his employee's daughter. Simon is stunned and horrified to realize there's a gang of body snatchers in Leeds. He needs to discover who bought Catherine's body and where it is now. As he hunts for answers, he learns that a number of corpses have vanished from graveyards in the town. Can Simon and his assistant Jane bring the brutal, violent Resurrection men who are selling the dead to medical schools to justice and give some peace to the bereft families?

Medium's assistant - and reluctant sleuth - Maddie Pastore is shocked when her long-lost sister is accused of murder, in this twisty, atmospheric mystery set in 1920s Chicago. Summer, 1924. Young widow Maddie Pastore has been working for fraudulent spiritual medium Madame Carlotta for nearly a year - if 'work' you could call it. Investigating Carlotta's clients, and attending seances as her shill, keeps Maddie and her young son Tommy fed and clothed, and she's grown to love the kind, well-meaning spiritualist like family. Still, Maddie - estranged from her abusive parents for over a decade - can't help but wonder what fates befell her brothers and sisters. So when she lucks into two free tickets to a glamorous Chicago speakeasy and recognizes the star performer as her pretty little sister Sophie, she's beyond delighted. But before Maddie can meet with Sophie again, the telephone rings. It's Sophie's husband, calling in a panic to tell her that his wife is locked in the Cook County jail, charged with first-degree murder . . . Enter a dark and deadly world of seances and speakeasies, populated by fake mediums, sultry singers and dangerous mobsters! An ideal pick for readers who enjoy glitzy Jazz Age mysteries with feisty female sleuths.

Summer 1940: In German-occupied Paris, Inspector Henri Lefort has been given just five days to solve the murder of a German major that took place in the Louvre Museum. Blocked from the crime scene but given a list of suspects, Henri encounters a group of artists, including Pablo Picasso, who know more than they're willing to share. With the clock ticking, Henri must uncover a web of lies while overcoming impossible odds to save his own life and prove his loyalty to his country. Will he rise to the task or become another tragic story of a tragic time? Five days. One murder. A masterpiece of a mystery.

When a blackened body is discovered buried beneath a hot-house, Coroner Titus Cragg uncovers a tale of scandalous secrets stretching back almost twenty years. You think you can find out what happened at this house? You are mistaken. You can never find out." November, 1747. County Coroner Titus Cragg has been called to the scene of a gruesome slaughter at a rural farmhouse: a mother and her four children brutally murdered in their own home. Were they killed by the man who should have protected them: their husband and father? And what role is played by the peculiar religious cult the family belongs to? Perhaps the mute boy who lives in the dog kennel knows the truth. Meanwhile, Titus's friend Dr Luke Fidelis is a guest of wealthy landowner and local magistrate John Blackburne at nearby Orford Hall. When a blackened but well-preserved body is discovered deep beneath Blackburne's hot-house, Cragg and Fidelis are asked to investigate. But how can they make headway when, as they soon learn, this corpse might have been in the ground for centuries?Gradually, Titus pieces together a tale of secrets, scandal and thwarted passion - and uncovers a shocking connection between the body under the hothouse and the slaughter in the farmhouse.

Cambridge, 1924, in early summertime. Everyone is punting, flirting and dancing the tango but bright young Detective Inspector John Redfyre finds himself mired in multiple murders. One morning, his dog discovers a corpse laid on a tombstone. An army greatcoat suggest the dead man may have been a soldier, though the empty bottle of brandy and a card bearing the words 'An Invitation to Dine' on the victim tie him to one of several unsolved cases linked to and sinister dining club. he gradually unearths the dead man's story and fights to right an ancient wrong.

It's 1960 and Peregrine Fisher, Phyrne's long-lost niece, is about to get the news of her life. Phryne's gone missing in the jungles of Papua New Guinea. Only her pearl handled gun and a note arrive back home. She's left instruction that say, that should not turn up in six months' time, a letter must be sent to next of kin. Peregrine, summons in hand, arrives in Melbourne to Greenwood mansion where she will inherit her aunt's wealth. Phryne's seat in the Adventuresses' Club, on the other hand, must be earned. When two dead bodies turn up at the Astor bridal show, Peregrine gets her chance. In pure Fisher fashion, she'll defy social expectation with outlandish style, discover a penchant for investigating, all while running circles around the police.

Murder by Degrees is a historical mystery set in 19th-century Philadelphia, following a pioneering woman doctor as she investigates the disappearance of a young patient who is presumed dead. Philadelphia, 1875: It is the start of term at Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania. Dr. Lydia Weston, professor and anatomist, is immersed in teaching her students in the lecture hall and hospital. When the body of a patient, Anna Ward, is dredged out of the Schuylkill River, the young chambermaid's death is deemed a suicide. But Lydia is suspicious and she is soon brought into the police investigation. Aided by a diary filled with cryptic passages of poetry, Lydia discovers more about the young woman she thought she knew. Through her skill at the autopsy table and her clinical acumen, Lydia draws nearer the truth. Soon a terrible secret, long hidden, will be revealed. But Lydia must act quickly, before she becomes the next target of those who wished to silence Anna.

Amelia Amesbury - widow, mother, and countess - is bored, crushingly so. In an attempt to fill the days, Amelia becomes an 'agony aunt' for a London penny paper, doling out advice on fashion, relationships, and manners. But when a lady's maid writes Amelia to ask for advice when she believes her mistress has been murdered - and then ends up a victim herself - Amelia is determined to solve the case. With the help of her best friend and a handsome marquis, Amelia begins to piece together the puzzle, but as each new thread of inquiry ends with a different suspect, the investigation grows ever more daunting.

Of Manners and Murder is the first in the delightful new Dear Miss Hermione mystery series from Anastasia Hastings. 1885: London, England. When Violet's Aunt Adelia decides to abscond with her newest paramour, she leaves behind her role as the most popular Agony Aunt in London, "Miss Hermione," in Violet's hands. And of course, the first letter Violet receives is full, not of prissy pondering, but of portent. Ivy Armstrong is in need of help and fears for her life. But when Violet visits the village where the letters were posted, she finds that Ivy is already dead. She'll quickly discover that when you represent the best-loved Agony Aunt in Britain, both marauding husbands and murder are par for the course.

A sadistic killer is terrorizing Phoenix, and he's got Gene Hammons' number... It's 1936, and private investigator Gene Hammons has more work than he can handle. A crime syndicate, J. Edgar Hoover, a wealthy family from back East, and a wily stalker all want something from him. His capable-but-drug-addicted brother, still a homicide detective, is as much a hindrance as a help. Luckily, Hammons finds a professional ally in Pamela Bradbury, a fellow gumshoe with some new tricks to teach him. When the two pair up, there doesn't seem to be a case they can't solve, from kidnapping to blackmail to an intricate gold-smuggling operation. But then a young nurse with red hair is sadistically raped and killed, and Gene recognizes the signs of a "lust murderer," having famously solved the case of the University Park Strangler years earlier. When he's contacted by the killer, Hammons knows he and Pamela must work quickly to catch the brutal murderer before he strikes again. The two come to each other's rescue more than once, and as deep feelings develop between them, it's not lost on Gene that their relationship might well prove dangerous-especially for Pamela, with her lovely red hair.

. May, 1924. It's been seven months since young British widow Emma Blackstone arrived in Hollywood to serve as companion to Kitty Flint: her beautiful, silent-movie star sister-in-law. Kitty is generous, kind-hearted . . . and a truly terrible actress. Not that Emma minds; she's too busy making her academic parents turn in their graves with her new job writing painfully historically inaccurate scenarios for Foremost Studios, in between wrangling their leading lady out of the arms of her army of amorous suitors. So when one of Kitty's old flames, renowned film director Ernst Zapolya, calls Emma and tells her it's imperative he meet with Kitty that morning, she's not surprised. Until, that is, he adds that lives depend on it. Ernst sounds frightened. But what can have scared him so badly - and what on earth does cheerful, flighty Kitty have to do with it? Only Ernst can provide the answers, and Kitty and Emma travel to the set of his extravagant new movie to find them. But the shocking discovery they make there only raises further questions . . . including: will they stay alive long enough to solve the murderous puzzle?

One Corpse Too Many takes place in a monastery in the summer of 1138, as Brother Cadfael discovers that there is one extra corpse among those that he was supposed to bury. And while many may think that one more traitor is not an issue, to Brother Cadfael, this murder requires justice.

In 1958, a small Minnesota town is rocked by a shocking murder, pouring fresh fuel on old grievances in this dazzling novel.. On Memorial Day in Jewel, Minnesota, the body of wealthy landowner Jimmy Quinn is found floating in the Alabaster River, dead from a shotgun blast. The investigation falls to Sheriff Brody Dern, a highly decorated war hero who still carries the physical and emotional scars from his military service. Even before Dern has the results of the autopsy, vicious rumors begin to circulate that the killer must be Noah Bluestone, a Native American WWII veteran who has recently returned to Jewel with a Japanese wife. As suspicions and accusations mount and the town teeters on the edge of more violence, Dern struggles not only to find the truth of Quinn's murder but also put to rest the demons from his own past. Caught up in the torrent of anger that sweeps through Jewel are a war widow and her adolescent son, the intrepid publisher of the local newspaper, an aging deputy, and a crusading female lawyer, all of whom struggle with their own tragic histories and harbor secrets that Quinn's death threatens to expose.

December, 1930. Henry Johnstone has retired from his role as detective chief inspector at London's Scotland Yard and is staying at the home of the late Sir Eamon Barry on the south coast, cataloguing and inventorying his extensive library. Until he suddenly - and inexplicably - vanishes. Mickey Hitchens, Henry's old partner-in-crime, now an inspector himself, investigates the house with his colleague, Sergeant Tibbs. The room Henry was staying in had eight unusual, curved windows, and the pair quickly uncover disturbing signs of a struggle, along with a blotter that has the name of a man who was murdered five years ago written on it. Is there a link between that case and Henry's disappearance?

In 1865, orphaned Daisy Francois takes a position as housemaid at a midwestern Wisconsin castle and finds that the reclusive and eccentric Gothic authoress inside hides more than the harrowing tales in her novels. With women disappearing from the area and a legend that seems to parallel these eerie circumstances, Daisy is thrust into a web that may threaten to steal her sanity, if not her life. In the present day, Cleo Clemmons is hired by the grandson of American aristocratic family the Tremblays to help his matriarchal grandmother face her hoarding in the dilapidated Castle Moreau. But when Cleo uncovers more than just the woman's stashes of collectibles, a century-old mystery of disappearance, insanity, and the dust of the old castle's curse threaten to rise again, and this time, leave no one alive to tell the sordid tale.

Private investigators Lily Raynor and Felix Wilbraham have to hunt down an escapee from a French asylum, in this new, gripping World's End Bureau Victorian mystery from critically-acclaimed author Alys Clare. London, April 1882. When cool-headed Phyllida visits the World's End Investigation Bureau to offer a curious case concerning her fiancé, proprietor Lily Raynor is intrigued - and privately excited. For accepting the case means taking an unexpected trip abroad, to France.Phyllida's fiancé, Wilberforce, is currently in an asylum in Brittany, after a tragic incident which resulted in the death of his father. Did he kill him on purpose - or was it an accident?Wilberforce's innocence looks increasingly in doubt when another murder happens at the asylum - and the evidence points to Wilberforce being the culprit. Phyllida fears for Wilberforce's wellbeing, but she can't marry a murderer! With the engagement hanging in the balance, Phyllida wants to know the truth before it's too late. Lily and her assistant, Felix Wilbraham, journey to rural France to uncover the truth, but the case takes an unexpected turn when they discover that the accused man has escaped the asylum and is nowhere to be found.

Leeds. April, 1824. Wealthy engineer Joseph Clark employs thief-taker Simon Westow to find the men who stole the buried corpse of Catherine Jordan, his employee's daughter. Simon is stunned and horrified to realize there's a gang of body snatchers in Leeds. He needs to discover who bought Catherine's body and where it is now. As he hunts for answers, he learns that a number of corpses have vanished from graveyards in the town. Can Simon and his assistant Jane bring the brutal, violent Resurrection men who are selling the dead to medical schools to justice and give some peace to the bereft families?

Thief-taker Simon Westow's job seems straightforward. Captain Holcomb's maid, Sophie, has stolen important papers that could ruin the family's reputation, and he's desperate for their return. But the case very quickly takes a murderous turn, and it becomes clear the papers are hiding a host of sins. During the search, Simon's assistant, Jane, hears a horrific tale: men are snatching young girls from small towns for use by the rich. With the help of an unlikely, deadly new companion, Jane will do everything to discover who's responsible and make them pay.Can Simon and Jane recover Holcomb's letters and get justice for the stolen girls?