Historical mystery

Though the term "whodunit" was coined sometime in the early 1930s,{{cite news|last=Kaufman|first=Wolfe|title=Bits of Literary Slang|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gRoaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NCUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3821%2C4432702|access-date=27 April 2013|newspaper=The Milwaukee Journal|date=10 June 1946|archive-date=21 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200421194734/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gRoaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NCUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3821%2C4432702|url-status=dead}}{{cite news|last=Morris|first=William & Mary|title=Words... Wit... Wisdom|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=oj9PAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zAIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5656%2C3661243|access-date=27 April 2013|newspaper=Toledo Blade|date=3 June 1985|archive-date=21 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200421194735/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=oj9PAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zAIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5656%2C3661243|url-status=live}}{{cite magazine |magazine=Variety |title=U's Whodunit: Universal is shooting 'Recipe for Murder,' Arnold Ridley's play |date=28 August 1934 |url=http://www.varietyultimate.com/search?search=whodunit&searchType=&startYear=1906&endYear=2013&searchDate=8%2F28%2F1934 |page=19 |access-date=13 November 2013 |archive-date=21 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200421194736/http://www.varietyultimate.com/search?search=whodunit&searchType=&startYear=1906&endYear=2013&searchDate=8%2F28%2F1934 |url-status=live }} it has been argued that the detective story itself has its origins as early as the 429 BC Sophocles play Oedipus Rex{{cite book|last=Scaggs|first=John|title=Crime Fiction (The New Critical Idiom)|year=2005|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0415318259|pages=9–11}} and the 10th century tale "The Three Apples" from One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights).{{cite book |title=Story-Telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights|first=David|last=Pinault|publisher=Brill Publishers|year=1992|isbn=90-04-09530-6|pages=86–97}}{{cite book|title=The Arabian Nights Reader|first=Ulrich|last=Marzolph|publisher=Wayne State University Press|year=2006|isbn=0-8143-3259-5|pages=239–246}} During China's Ming dynasty (1368–1644), gong'an ("crime-case") folk novels were written in which government magistrates—primarily the historical Di Renjie of the Tang dynasty (618–907) and Bao Zheng of the Song dynasty (960–1279)—investigate cases and then as judges determine guilt and punishment. The stories were set in the past but contained many anachronisms. Robert van Gulik came across the 18th century anonymously written Chinese manuscript Di Gong An, in his view closer to the Western tradition of detective fiction than other gong'an tales and so more likely to appeal to non-Chinese readers, and in 1949 published it in English as Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee. He subsequently wrote his own Judge Dee stories (1951–1968) in the same style and time period.{{cite book |last=Herbert |first=Rosemary |year=1999 |title=The Oxford Companion to Crime and Mystery Writing |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-507239-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195072396/page/38 38–39] |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195072396/page/38 }}{{cite book|last=Hegel|first=Robert|title=Reading Illustrated Fiction in Late Imperial China|year=1998|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0-8047-3002-0|pages=[https://archive.org/details/readingillustrat00hege/page/32 32–33]|url=https://archive.org/details/readingillustrat00hege/page/32}}

Perhaps the first modern English work that can be classified as both historical fiction and a mystery however is the 1911 Melville Davisson Post story "The Angel of the Lord", which features amateur detective Uncle Abner in pre-American Civil War West Virginia.{{cite news |title=America's Greatest Mystery Writer |url=http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2007/05/americas-greatest-mystery-writ |first=Joseph |last=Bottum |author-link=Joseph Bottum (author) |date=1 May 2007 |access-date=13 November 2013 |work=First Things |archive-date=13 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113091600/http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2007/05/americas-greatest-mystery-writ |url-status=live }} Barry Zeman of the Mystery Writers of America calls the Uncle Abner short stories "the starting point for true historical mysteries." In the 22 Uncle Abner tales Post wrote between 1911 and 1928, the character puzzles out local mysteries with his keen observation and knowledge of the Bible. It was not until 1943 that American mystery writer Lillian de la Torre did something similar in the story "The Great Seal of England", casting 18th century literary figures Samuel Johnson and James Boswell into Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson roles in what would become the first of her Dr. Sam: Johnson, Detector series of stories.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/19/obituaries/lillian-de-la-torre-91-an-author-of-mysteries-from-british-history.html |title=Obituary: Lillian de la Torre, 91, an Author of Mysteries From British History |work=The New York Times |archive-date=23 January 2013 |date=19 September 1993 |first=Bruce |last=Lambert |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130123014636/http://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/19/obituaries/lillian-de-la-torre-91-an-author-of-mysteries-from-british-history.html }}{{cite web |url=http://www.enotes.com/topics/lillian-de-la-torre |title=Lillian de la Torre Biography (Critical Survey of Mystery & Detective Fiction, Revised Edition) |access-date=13 November 2013 |archive-date=9 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160409131328/http://www.enotes.com/topics/lillian-de-la-torre |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=http://www.historicalnovels.info/Bride-of-Newgate.html |title=The Bride of Newgate by John Dickson Carr |first=Margaret |last=Donsbach |website=HistoricalNovels.info |access-date=13 November 2013 |archive-date=25 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200125143557/http://www.historicalnovels.info/Bride-of-Newgate.html |url-status=live }} In 1944, Agatha Christie published Death Comes as the End, a mystery novel set in ancient Egypt and the first full-length historical whodunit.{{cite web |url=http://www.historicalnovels.info/Death-Comes-as-the-End.html |title=Death Comes as the End by Agatha Christie |first=Margaret |last=Donsbach |website=HistoricalNovels.info |access-date=13 November 2013 |archive-date=25 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200125143728/http://www.historicalnovels.info/Death-Comes-as-the-End.html |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/mystery/marple/christie.html |title=Biography: Agatha Christie |publisher=PBS |access-date=13 November 2013 |archive-date=15 January 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070115120530/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/mystery/marple/christie.html |url-status=live }} In 1950, John Dickson Carr published the second full-length historical mystery novel called The Bride of Newgate, set at the close of the Napoleonic Wars.

In 1970, Peter Lovesey began a series of novels featuring Sergeant Cribb, a Victorian-era police detective, and Elizabeth Peters's Amelia Peabody series (1975–2010) followed the adventures of the titular Victorian lady/archaeologist as she solved mysteries surrounding her excavations in early 20th century Egypt. But historical mystery stories remained an oddity until the late 1970s, with the success of Ellis Peters and her Cadfael Chronicles (1977–1994), featuring Benedictine monk Brother Cadfael and set in 12th century Shrewsbury.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/16/obituaries/edith-pargeter-82-author-of-mysteries.html |title=Obituaries: Edith Pargeter, 82; Author of Mysteries |date=16 October 1995 |archive-date=14 November 2013 |access-date=14 November 2013 |work=The New York Times |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131114185312/http://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/16/obituaries/edith-pargeter-82-author-of-mysteries.html }} Umberto Eco's one-off The Name of the Rose (1980) also helped popularize the concept, and starting in 1979, author Anne Perry wrote two series of Victorian era mysteries featuring Thomas Pitt (1979–2013) and William Monk (1990–2013). However it was not until about 1990 that the genre's popularity expanded significantly with works such as Lindsey Davis's Falco and Flavia Albia novels (1989–2022), set in the Roman Empire of Vespasian; John Maddox Roberts's SPQR series (1990–2010) and Steven Saylor's Roma Sub Rosa novels (1991–2018), both set in the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC; and Paul Doherty's various series, including the Hugh Corbett medieval mysteries (1986–2010), the Sorrowful Mysteries of Brother Athelstan (1991–2012), and the Canterbury Tales of Mystery and Murder (1994–2012). For Mike Ashley'sThe Mammoth Book of Historical Detectives (1995), F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre wrote "Death in the Dawntime", a locked room mystery (or rather, sealed cave mystery) set in Australia around 35,000 BC, which Ashley suggests is the furthest in the past a historical mystery has been set to date.{{cite book| last = Ashley| first = Mike| author-link = Mike Ashley (writer)| title = The Mammoth Book of Historical Detectives| publisher = Robinson Publishing| year = 1995| location = London| page = 3| isbn =1-85487-406-3 }} Diana Gabaldon began the Lord John series in 1998, casting a recurring secondary character from her Outlander series, Lord John Grey, as a nobleman-military officer-amateur detective in 18th century England.Lord John first appears in Gabaldon's Dragonfly in Amber (1992), but the 1998 novella Lord John and the Hellfire Club is the character's first appearance as a detective.{{cite news|url=http://www.dianagabaldon.com/books/lord-john-grey/ |title=Official site: Lord John Grey Series |website=DianaGabaldon.com |archive-date=12 October 2013 |access-date=29 October 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012004959/http://www.dianagabaldon.com/books/lord-john-grey/ }}{{cite news |last=Reese |first=Jennifer |title=Book Review: Lord John and the Hand of Devils (2007) |work=Entertainment Weekly |url=https://ew.com/article/2007/11/27/lord-john-and-hand-devils/ |date=27 November 2007 |access-date=30 October 2013 |archive-date=11 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141011020739/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20162421,00.html |url-status=live }} Using the pen name Ariana Franklin, Diana Norman wrote four Mistress of the Art of Death novels between 2007 and 2010, featuring 12th-century English medical examiner Adelia Aguilar.{{cite news |first=Laura |last=Wilson |author-link=Laura Wilson (writer) |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/feb/04/diana-norman-obituary |title=Diana Norman obituary |work=The Guardian |date=4 February 2011 |access-date=14 November 2013 |archive-date=1 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701185721/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/feb/04/diana-norman-obituary |url-status=live }}

Publishers Weekly noted in 2010 of the genre, "The past decade has seen an explosion in both quantity and quality. Never before have so many historical mysteries been published, by so many gifted writers, and covering such a wide range of times and places." Editor Keith Kahla concurs, "From a small group of writers with a very specialized audience, the historical mystery has become a critically acclaimed, award-winning genre with a toehold on the New York Times bestseller list."

In 1999, the British Crime Writers' Association awarded the first CWA Historical Dagger award to a novel in the genre. The award was called the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger through 2012. In 2014, Endeavour Press supported the award, which is called the Endeavour Historical Dagger for the 2014 and 2015 awards.{{cite web |url=http://endeavourpress.com/endeavour-press-sponsors-the-cwa-historical-dagger-award/ |title=Endeavour Press sponsors the CWA Historical Dagger Award |publisher=Endeavour Press |access-date=30 September 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001060316/http://endeavourpress.com/endeavour-press-sponsors-the-cwa-historical-dagger-award/ |archive-date=1 October 2015 }} The Left Coast Crime conference has presented its Bruce Alexander Memorial Historical Mystery award (for mysteries set prior to 1950) since 2004.

In an early twist of the genre, Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time (1951) features a modern police detective who alleviates an extended hospital stay by investigating the 15th century case of Richard III of England and the Princes in the Tower.{{cite web|url=http://www.r3.org/fiction/mysteries/tey_butler.html |title=The Mystery of Josephine Tey |first=Pamela J. |last=Butler |website=R3.org |publisher=Richard III Society |access-date=13 November 2013 |archive-date=15 April 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110415014029/http://www.r3.org/fiction/mysteries/tey_butler.html }} Georgette Heyer's The Talisman Ring (1936), set in 1793 England, is a Regency romance with elements of mystery that Jane Aiken Hodge called "very nearly a detective story in period costume".{{cite book |first=Jane Aiken |last=Hodge |author-link=Jane Aiken Hodge |title=The Private World of Georgette Heyer |publisher=Arrow Books |orig-year=1st pub. 1984 |year=2004 |edition=Reprint |page=40}} Many of Heyer's other historical romances have thriller elements but to a much lesser extent.

Other variations include mystery novels set in alternate history timelines or even fantasy worlds. These would include The Ultimate Solution (1973) by Eric Norden and Fatherland (1992) by Robert Harris, both being police procedurals set in alternate timelines where the Nazis won World War II; Randall Garrett's Lord Darcy series, taking place in a 20th-century in which magic is possible; and Phyllis Ann Karr's The Idylls of the Queen (1982), set in King Arthur's court as depicted in Arthurian myth and with no attempt at historical accuracy.

The genre would not include fiction which was contemporary at the time of writing, such as Arthur Conan Doyle's canonical Sherlock Holmes works set in Victorian England, or the Lord Peter Wimsey books by Dorothy L. Sayers set in the Interwar period. However, subsequent Holmes and Wimsey books written by other authors decades later could arguably be classified as historical mysteries.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/22/books/review/22NICHOLSON.html?_r=0 |title=The Italian Secretary: The Kaiser Is a Suspect |date=22 May 2005 |first=Geoff |last=Nicholson |access-date=13 November 2013 |work=The New York Times |archive-date=7 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131207201345/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/22/books/review/22NICHOLSON.html?_r=0 |url-status=live }}{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/jul/30/fiction.arthurconandoyle |title=Holmes's ghost |date=29 July 2005 |first=Colin |last=Greenland |access-date=13 November 2013 |work=The Guardian |archive-date=13 November 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113134827/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/jul/30/fiction.arthurconandoyle }}{{cite news |url=http://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/books/200177/Review-The-Attenbury-Emeralds-by-Jill-Paton-Walsh |title=Review: The Attenbury Emeralds by Jill Paton Walsh |date=17 September 2010 |first=Barry |last=Forshaw |access-date=13 November 2013 |work=Daily Express |archive-date=13 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113112755/http://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/books/200177/Review-The-Attenbury-Emeralds-by-Jill-Paton-Walsh |url-status=live }}{{cite news |url=http://us.macmillan.com/theattenburyemeralds/JillWalsh |title=The Attenbury Emeralds |access-date=13 November 2013 |publisher=Macmillan Publishers |archive-date=13 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113112801/http://us.macmillan.com/theattenburyemeralds/JillWalsh |url-status=live }}

The following list consists of fictional historical detectives in chronological order of their time period setting:

{{Reflist}}

• [http://histmyst.org/ The Detective and the Toga], a listing/guide for Ancient Roman mysteries
• [http://www.historicalnovelsociety.org The Historical Novel Society], an international organization for historical fiction writers and readers
• [https://www.nypl.org/blog/2020/04/24/historical-mystery-series 30 Historical Mystery Series to Get You Through Any Crisis]

{{Crime fiction}}

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Category:Historical novels subgenres

Category:Literary genres

Category:Mystery fiction