This is a collection of short mysteries which have a historical setting, ranging from Ancient Egypt to Reno, Nevada, 1910. Various authors were sought for contributions. I picked it up hoping to find another author to compare with Ellis Peters, who is one of my favorites. Margaret Frazier would be one I will seek out after reading this. I must say that, although no story was sucky, most did not stand out for me. I think the missing element to engage me was humor. I don't read mysteries so much for the puzzle, as for the fun in following an entertaining detective. Humor was sadly lacking in almost all of these tales.
Another thing which extremely disappointed me and made me decide not to keep it or loan it to my friends, is that in the middle of what were decent tales, not overly explicit in any way, is a novella which in my book would qualify for soft porn. Yuck. Ptooie. ( )

This is a great compilation of stories for the history & mystery buff. It ranges in time periods from ancient Egypt to the 20th century. Ellis Peters included stories that were not only historical in time, but characters too. Some stories feature historical people such as Socrates and Leonardo Da Vinci, others are set in epic time periods like Byzantine during the reign of the Emperor Justinian in the middle of the iconoclastic wars. If I have one complaint of the book it is that there are several locked room with dead body scenarios, a few too many, but the variety is refreshing and the characters unforgettable. ( )