August MysteryCAT - Historical Mysteries

Spoilt for choice in this category. In addition to the above, of course: Margery Allingham , Ngaio Marsh , Agatha Christie... etc... etc.

Regarding what 'historical mystery' means. TO ME: if it happened before your lifetime, it's historical. If it was written before your time, even if contemporary to the author, it's historical for us. If written recently, but set in the past, it is historical.

YMMV. Interpret it as you will!

Don't forget to update the wiki: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2018_MysteryCAT#August:_-_Historical_Mys...

I'm planning to read In this Grave Hour (a Maisie Dobbs Novel) by Jacqueline Winspear and Murder on St. Mark's Place (a Gaslight Mystery) by Victoria Thompson, a new author for me.

I read my choice for this challenge earlier in the year: Bertie and the Seven Bodies, by Peter Lovesey. However, I wouldn't recommend it. The previous book in the series, Bertie and the Tinman, is better.

I have so many choices for historical mysteries. I will have to scan my shelves and see what I come up with.

My plan is to read The Good German. I read it when it was first published in 2001, and it led Kanon to become one of my favorite authors, but I've been meaning to re-read it since I don't remember a thing about it.

Several options:

Murder on Sisters Row by Victoria Thompson
One Corpse Too Many by Ellis Peters
The Mapping of Love and Death by Jacqueline Winspear
Silent on the Moor by Deanna Raybourn
Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd by Alan Bradley
Cold Comfort by Charles Todd
A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas
Rules of Murder by Juliana Deering
The Anatomist's Wife by Anna Lee Huber
The Hanover Square Affair by Ashley Gardner
Death and the Chapman by Kate Sedley
Instruments of Darkness by Imogen Robertson
Murder at Mullings by Dorothy Cannell

What I read will likely depend upon ebook/audiobook availability at my library for the month. The first five listed are my priorities.

Lots of options for me for this one:

A Royal Pain / Rhys Bowen
The Poisoned Pilgrim / Oliver Potzsch
The Lost Mine Murders / Sharon Rowse
The Alice Network / Kate Quinn
The Wonder / Emma Donoghue
Doomsday Book / Connie Willis

I have pulled a couple of books down from my shelves for this theme: The Samurai's Wife by Laura Joh Rowland set in feudal Japan, and Silesian Station by David Downing set in Berlin in the days leading up to the start of WW II.

#8
I love the “Station” series by David Downing. I have read them all except for the last one, and hope to get to it for this category.

I'm looking at either Dream Boat by Marilyn Todd or The Secret Dead by S J Parris

I have finished my book early, because it is a loan from my sister's library and I want to return it as soon as possible: Durch Nacht und Wind. German poets Goethe and Schiller solve a murder in Weimar. I listened to it on audio with a less than satisfactory narrator. I think this would work better in print, to savour the old-fashioned phrases and spelling.

I've got The Case of the Left-Handed Lady by Nancy Springer that I think I'll read for this one.

I have a couple on my TRB that will work for this: Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear and Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd by Alan Bradley.

So very many options but right now I'm at least planning on reading Mr. Churchill's Secretary by Susan Ella MacNeal.

I'm planning on The Daffodil Affair and A Fearsome Doubt

I'm definitely planning on The Deathly Portent by Elizabeth Bailey, which is set in 1790s England. But I'm hoping to read more, since historical mystery is one of my favorite genres!

I like this type of mystery and am tempted to reread some of my favorites such as Kate Ross's Julian Kestral books (set in Regency England, Kestral is a bit like a Beau Brummel who solves crimes) or Bruce Alexander's Sir John Fielding mysteries... but on the other hand, I have recently discovered Peter Lovesey's Sergeant Cribb books.

>17 leslie.98: I LOVE Kate Ross's books! Why isn't every novel about a Regency dandy who solves crimes?

>17 leslie.98: &>18 christina_reads: - Kate Ross sounds like someone I should be reading! How have I missed out on her so far? Off to rectify things immediately.

>19 LittleTaiko: Ohh I hope you enjoy her books! The first in the series is Cut to the Quick.

I've always liked historical mysteries, probably starting with the Brother Cadfael stories. I just started a new series, The Unquiet Bones, set in 1300s England, with a surgeon investigating the bones found in a cesspool. The first chronicle of Hugh de Singleton, surgeon.

>20 christina_reads: - For some reason my library only has books 3 and 4 in the series so I bought it instead - should be here today or tomorrow. Looking forward to reading it!

If you are looking for a historical mystery for August. Take a look at this Blog post from Forge books. It has five that would be good mysteries to fit this category.

https://www.torforgeblog.com/2018/07/13/5-mysteries-to-take-you-back-in-time-thi...

I have quite a few on MT TBR. I think I've settled on Death Comes to Pemberley for the first. We'll see how I get on from there.

>17 leslie.98: >18 christina_reads: Count me in as a huge fan of Kate Ross's Julian Kestral mysteries, too. I haven't reread them in years, so I may dig them out for August.

>19 LittleTaiko: Kate Ross died of breast cancer at the age of 41 in 1998. I just looked the details up, but I distinctly remember learning that she'd died of cancer and being saddened at her life being cut so short and disappointed that there no more Julian Kestral novels. The final novel, The Devil in Music, won an Agatha Award and ends, as I recall, on a positive note.

If she'd lived and been able to write more books, I believed she'd very have become a well known mystery author.

I have so many options on the shelf it will be hard to choose, but I'm in.

Just finished The Traveler's Tricks which is an American Girl mystery set during the War of 1812. I needed something easy to read. Silent in the Sanctuary will also fit the topic, and I am two-thirds done with that one. This is one of my favorite genres to read!

I might do a reread of one of the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes mysteries that I've not read in a while, like The Moor.

I'm planning to read Dying in the Wool by Frances Brody. If there is time, I'll also try The Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis.

I started listening to As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust, a Flavia de Luce mystery from Alan Bradley. Jayne Entwistle does such an excellent narration job!

I'm enjoying Medicus by Ruth Downie. A variation on the usual Roman mysteries - this one is a very reluctant investigator who keeps telling people he is NOT investigating a murder.

One of the audiobooks I have lined up for this month is Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd by Alan Bradley. It's one of the Flavia de Luce ones. I agree with >30 mathgirl40: that Jayne Entwistle is an excellent narrator.

My list of prospects for the moth is quite long and includes books by Victoria Thompson, Ellis Peters, Jacqueline Winspear, Deanna Raybourn, Charles Todd, Dorothy Cannell, Imogen Robertson, Sherry Thomas, Kate Sedley, Julianna Deering, Anna Lee Huber, and Ashley Gardner. I won't get to all of them, but I hope to get to some. The Ellis Peters e-book is on hold through the library, but I'm not sure it will become available in time to count it in August.

I have started Do Not Disturb (the second book in the Pennyfoot Hotel cozy series) for the AlphaKIT and realized that it will work for this too as it is set in 1906.

I am going to try to finish the last in the Station series by David Downing. Masaryk Station is number 6 and the final one in this series.

I am also going to try to get to a Jaqueline Winspear mystery. I am ready for book three in that series.

#24
I love Jane Enstwhistle as Flavia de Luce. Those are very good mysteries, but I don’t think they would be as good if I hadn’t started listening to them. That series has been my companion on many a long road trip.

>35 benitastrnad: I agree! I'm not sure I would still be reading them if I wasn't listening to the audios of these books.

#36
I listened to another book recently that was narrated by Jane Entwhistle and she didn’t have a Brisith accent and didn’t use the same voice that she uses as Flavia. I didn’t even recognize her as the reader because she sounded so different. She is a very talented narrator.

I think I'll start with Red Harvest, a hardboiled from Hammett. Maybe move on to a Christie too, as it's been a while.

>36 LibraryCin: I was faithful to reading the Flavia novels in print form, but the last few had a "yuck" factor that put me off. I see the next new one in the series will involve finding a human finger in a wedding cake. Not sure I can "stomach" that so to speak--pun intended.

>32 thornton37814: ooh, Ellis Peters!

Hmm, I have some Brother Cadfael mysteries still unread...

Just finished Silent in the Sanctuary which also qualifies for ColourCAT this month.

I have completed The Samurai's Wife by Laura Joh Rowland. This was the fifth book in her series set in feudal Japan. I think this will be the end of the series for me as I didn't really enjoy this entry much.

I have finished Do Not Disturb - it was OK but I am glad that it was a freebie. 2.5*

I ran across the audiobook of The Ionia Sanction, the second in a mystery series set in ancient Greece, on the library's Overdrive website so I guess that will be my next book for this CAT.

I forgot that the audiobook I was listening to was a historical mystery. I listened to The Zig Zag Girl by Elly Griffiths, finishing it just a bit past Columbia, South Carolina today. I'm in Savannah now, heading toward Daytona Beach tomorrow.

The Kate Ross mysteries sound like something I would like and my library has the first one. Onto my reading list it goes.

I love historic mysteries so I will probably indulge myself with more than one this month. The first one is the first in a new-to-me series, the Edith Head & Lillian Frost mysteries. Design for Dying introduces Lillian, the narrator and main character. It is the murder of her friend that starts the ball rolling and the characters, including some star appearances, that make the book such a fun look at Hollywood in the era before WWII. It was a good one.

I've started with a quick reread of Kerry Greenwood's Death Before Wicket. I love Phryne!

>45 Familyhistorian: I am planning on rereading Cut to the Quick - I hope that you enjoy it as much as I plan to!

Continuing in my low energy mode of rereads, I also checked out the audiobook of the first Amelia Peabody, The Crocodile on the Sandbank from the library...

Starting but not planning to finish this month, The Mammoth Book of Historical Detectives edited by Mike Ashley. This is a collection of short stories that I will be dipping into rather than read straight through.

Also starting Dream Boat by Marilyn Todd, No. 7 in the Claudia Seferius series set in Rome during the reign of Augustus.

I've finished His Majesty's Hope by Susan Elia MacNeal which takes place during WWII.

COMPLETED Dream Boat by Marilyn Todd.

Starting the same author's Dark Horse.

Once I started my reread via audio of Crocodile on the Sandbank, I couldn't stop! I had forgotten a lot of the details and rediscovered why I love this series so much :)

I've just finished The Devil's Breath by Tess Harris. This is book 3 in the Dr. Thomas Silkstone series taking place in 18th century England.

The Poisoned Pilgrim / Oliver Potzsch
3.5 stars

This is book 4 of the series. Jakob is the hangman in a small town in Bavaria; Magdalena is his adult daughter. She married “above her station” to the local doctor, Simon, and they have two young sons. Magdalena and Simon have gone to the next town over on a pilgrimage. They are at a monastery when two murdered monks are discovered and a third has disappeared along with an automaton one of the monks had been working on. Jakob comes to help find out what’s going on.

I quite enjoyed this installment of the series. I hate when I’m not sure how to rate something, though. 3.5 is good, and that’s how I felt through most of the book. I never lost interest in the almost 500-page book, but at the same time, it wasn’t really a “page-turner”, either. Boy, the number of times everyone seemed to insult others, though! I still enjoyed it enough, though, to continue with the series.

I changed my mind and went with a re-read of In A Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes. It's so very noir, set in L.A. County in the mid-40's. I enjoyed it even more than the first read.

#54
I have the first two in The Hangman’s Daughter series in my home library. I just haven’t gotten around to reading them yet. Your review makes we want to move them up higher on the stack.

>56 benitastrnad: The first one (in my memory!) was my favourite, though I did rate it and #3 the same at 4 stars. I found the first one so interesting to learn about hangmen (they were also healers!).

I hope you like them when you get to them!

I just finished reading In This Grave Hour by Jacqueline Winspear. This Maisie Dobbs mystery takes place around the time that England enters World War II, but talks a lot about trauma on the characters which occurred during World War I.

COMPLETED Dark Horse by Marilyn Todd

I made a dash for the end of Dying in the Wool by Frances Brody.

I was attracted by the setting of Yorkshire textile mills in 1922 with a war widow taking up a new career as a private detective after some success as an amateur, however, it turned out to be disappointing. There was some interesting information about the textile industry and the time frame was well done but the characters were flat and uninspired, the sleuthing was tedious, and the plot far-fetched. Skip this one.

I've finished three historical mysteries to date this month:

The Zig Zag Girl by Elly Griffiths
Murder on Sisters' Row by Victoria Thompson
Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd by Alan Bradley

The Alice Network / Kate Quinn
4.5 stars

It’s 1947. Charlie is pregnant and her mother is taking her to Europe to take care of it. While there, unbeknownst to her mother, Charlie wants to try to find her cousin, Rose, who disappeared late in the war. Charlie has a couple of names and an address to help start her off. So, she pays Eve a visit. Charlie doesn’t yet know this (she knows nothing about Eve), but Eve was a spy in WWI. Now, Eve is a bitter woman, but she, her driver, Finn, and Charlie head to France to see what they can find out about Rose. It was the other name Charlie showed up with, Rene, that convinced Eve to help. On their journey, both Finn and Charlie find out more about Eve’s life as a spy as they also try to find what happened to Rose.

The book flipped back and forth between Charlie’s viewpoint in 1947 and Eve’s during WWI, but the start of the chapter tells us who we are following and when, so it’s pretty easy to follow. I liked both storylines equally. Everyone had flaws, but I liked all the main characters, even the cantankerous Eve! “The Alice Network” really was a network of women spies during WWI, which I hadn’t heard of. It was really interesting to read about. Despite the length, I found it quick to read. I really, really liked this and I’m sure it will make my top 10 of the year.

My book takes place in Dartmoor in the 1920s:

The Moor by Laurie R. King (fourth in the Russell/Holmes series)

I first read this mystery back about 2009, so I decided a reread and review was in order. I'm so glad I did.

The mystery itself is interesting, well-written, but what always impresses me with this particular series is the characters and how they relate to one another. The people are believable, the area/background is accurate, the period is well-researched. Definitely recommended, but be sure to read the books in order!

I have read three so far this month for this challenge:

This Side of Murder by Anna Lee Huber - Really solid first book in a new series set right after WWI in England.
Murder on Astor Place by Victoria Thompson - 1896 New York with midwife investigating a murder. This looks like another historical mystery series I can really get into.
A Terrible Beauty by Tasha Alexander - I'm officially calling it quits on this series. Lady Emily is just too irritatingly perfect to want to spend much more time with.

>64 LittleTaiko: Glad to hear it about This Side of Murder, as it's on my TBR shelves!

Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd / Alan Bradley
3.5 stars

Flavia has come home from her stint at boarding school in Canada to find that her father is ill and in the hospital. Before she gets a chance to go visit, she – once again – stumbles across a dead body and must (in her opinion) set out to figure out what happened.

I still think the character of Flavia is a lot of fun, and I love Jayne Entwhistle doing her voice for the audio books. To be honest, I’ve never thought much of the mysteries themselves. I keep going for Jayne’s version of Flavia. Here’s the thing I’ve never mentioned, though. With most audio books, if my mind wanders too much, I rate it lower – usually a 3 or less. With this series, Jayne/Flavia have been propping it up for me. I think this one actually kept my attention a bit more, but not much more. Surprising to me, I’m actually debating whether or not I should try the next one NOT in audio format – just to see if I might enjoy the mystery/plot a bit more without a wandering mind.

>66 LibraryCin: I just listened to that one. I read the first few in the series, but I really love Jayne Entwistle's narration so now I always prefer the audio format for the Flavia books.

>64 LittleTaiko: I've been enjoying the Victoria Thompson series for awhile. I didn't like the first in the Huber series when I read it. However, I have a friend who just plowed through the series and loved all of them. Maybe I need to give the later books a try.

>63 fuzzi: - I just finished the 3rd one in the Holmes/Russell A Letter of Mary for another read in this Cat. I'm still enjoying the series and look forward to #4 since you give it 4*.

I've read Black Hornet, a noir murder mystery set in 1968 New Orleans.

>66 LibraryCin: I read all the Flavia books in print other than the most recent one. I have not listened to the audio version, but sounds like I should try it! I agree with you about the plots and etc. I like Flavia as a character, and I also like Dogger.

I have been put off by a few things, for example (Spoiler Alert) the death of her father just suddenly happened,without much development of that story line. I am also put off by how yucky some of the plots are turning out, such as finding a dead body in the water due to the corpse's teeth being hooked onto someone's fingers The Grave's a Fine and Private Place. I do not recall the earlier one's in the series being like that.

>70 LadyoftheLodge: I wonder if you should mark that Flavia's father's death as a spoiler? :-)

Oh, wow! I haven't read that one yet. Not sure where it falls in the series, but I haven't yet decided if I'll continue on or not.

>68 dudes22: great! I think I liked The Moor more than A Letter of Mary, but they're both good.

Read The Dark Monk by Oliver Potzsch for this category.

I have finished L'homme au ventre de plomb set in 1762 Paris, and I am so glad I bought the next volumes in the series.

I have so many historical mysteries on my shelves that it is hard to choose. The next book I read that fit this month's category was A Curious Beginning, the first in the Veronica Speedwell series. Veronica is a heroine with a very modern outlook for the 1880s but that makes it easier for her to scrape through perils that would defeat a more conventional woman. It was frothy but fun.

>75 Familyhistorian: Historical mysteries are my favorites so it's quite easy to find things that fit! I'm having to force myself to read the books for other challenges. I think I could have read nothing but historical mysteries otherwise.

>76 thornton37814: lol - you and me both!

I have started Grave Goods, the 3rd in the series by Ariana Franklin - it involves Henry II sending Adelia to Glastonbury Abbey to show that recently discovered old bones are those of King Arthur. It has been a long time since I read the first few books in this series so it is giving me a little trouble recalling the back story but despite that, I am enjoying it.

>76 thornton37814: >77 leslie.98: I know exactly what you mean. Wouldn't it be great to just devote a whole month to historical mysteries?

I seem to be behind everyone else in the Flavia de Luce series. I recently finished Speaking from Among the Bones which was good and entertaining. It was also historical so fits with this month's category.

>79 Familyhistorian: Don't worry there's always someone else. In this case it's me as I've only just finished the 3rd in the series, A Red Herring Without Mustard.

>79 Familyhistorian: I'm way behind, too. Still hoping to get ahead this month!

I've finished The Play of Death by Oliver Potzsch, book 6 in The Hangman's Daughter series taking place in 17th century Germany. This was another excellent installment to the series. I've also been working on One Corpse Too Many by Ellis Peters, book 2 in the Brother Cadfael series taking place in 12th century England.

>82 staci426: I've got the Cadfael on hold. I don't know if it will come in in time to complete it this month or not.

>79 Familyhistorian: If it's any consolation, I haven't read any of them, but I've heard so much about them here and on Litsy I've put the first one on my wishlist.

I'm about halfway through The Abbey Court Murder by Annie Haynes. I made a guess at the murderer right at the beginning and I'm interested to see if I was right. I love those old Golden Age mysteries.

Stacy >64 LittleTaiko: inspired me to read This Side of Murder for this CAT as well. I'm only one chapter in, but so far so good!

>80 AHS-Wolfy: >81 MissWatson: Well, I guess it just means that we have more of them to enjoy than those that are further ahead in the series.

>84 Robertgreaves: They are very popular and rightly so. I hope you enjoy your first visit with Flavia.

>86 christina_reads: - Hope you enjoy it!

One of the four short works in India Gray Historical Fiction is an historical mystery. It takes place at Oxford in 1919 and serves as the prequel to The Widows of Malabar Hill a recent first installment to a new mystery series by Sujata Massey It takes place in 1920's Bombay. The second in the series is due out soon I believe.

I reread the first Cadfael - A Morbid Taste for Bones. It has been so long ago that I read these that it was like reading it for the first time :)

I hope to get one more done before the end of the month - the 2nd Sergeant Cribb book, The Detective Wore Silk Drawers, set in Victorian London.

The Abbey Court Murder by Annie Haynes - 3 stars

A melodrama where the bad are very bad, and the silly are very silly. Was the murder committed to prevent a scandal? Oh the horror! There are many holes in the investigation by Furnival who just makes wild guesses and chats up a maid to get information. I can imagine this as an amateur stage production with the audience encouraged to make exaggerated oohs and aahs. And the amount of fainting and swooning makes me worry for the health of the women. When Judith tries to drown herself in the moat (where else?) she is dragged out and proclaimed ok, just fainted.

Fun, if you can take this sort of thing but Haynes is no Christie, not even close.

I have finished the third Flavia de Luce book, A red herring without mustard. She's fun.

ETA touchstone

I read - and really enjoyed! - The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton.

The Woman in White / Wilkie Collins
3 stars

When Walter comes across a mysterious “woman in white”, he must find out who she is. In the meantime, he has fallen in love with Laura, who will be married to Sir Percival, though she is in love with Walter.

The book is told from many different points of view – technically, all “secondary” characters to the story. I actually thought this was kind of a cool way to tell the story, it’s just that I didn’t enjoy all the perspectives – many of them bored me.

I was bored by the beginning and the end. It did pick up for me about ¼ of the way through (in my edition, that took about 125 pages), but then it slowed down again for the last 175 pages. It was the middle section, as told by the sister, Marian, that I really liked. This was when Laura/Lady Glyde was married. I’m not sure if it was just that part of the plot that kept my attention the best, or if I preferred the narrative as told by a woman? I quite liked Marian’s character, but thought Laura was pretty much a non-entity – she had no personality… despite being so much part of the plot, she seemed to mostly be in the background. I suppose that could be due to the fact that it was told by everyone else’s perspectives?

Averaging out that I wasn’t crazy about the beginning and end, but that I really did enjoy the middle part, I’m giving it 3 stars, “ok”.

I have finished the second part of Gaboriau's L'argent des autres, where the marquis de Trégars tries to find the people who swindled his father out of his fortune. There's also lots of social comment on the greed of ordinary citizens trying to get rich quick and the rapacity of financial investors.

ETC

Another quick read was Die Affäre Carambol where Goethe and Schiller go sleuthing in Frankfurt. Not as good as I hoped.

I have completed Silesian Station by David Downing and I continue to enjoy this series about an international journalist based in Berlin in the days leading up to WW II.

Finished The Good German, which was a rare re-read for me. I do love Joseph Kanon's writing and stories. Full review below...

I first read this years ago when it first came out, and it was enough to make me a forever-fan of Kanon. Re-reading it this week only reminded me of why I loved the book so much the first time around--and that's coming from someone who almost never re-reads books!

Kanon's work is part mystery, part love story, part historical fiction, part thriller and espionage, and centered in Berlin in 1945 following WWII. Bringing to life the desperation and the destruction of the city, and various factions fighting for control of not just the city, but also its people and the story that history will tell, this is one of those books that has the capability of transporting a reader back in time. Kanon's balance of setting and suspense against character is masterful, and thus the book is incredibly difficult to put down.

Without a doubt, I'd recommend it to nearly anyone who enjoys historical drama, suspense, or mystery, or even simply historical fiction that deals with WWII. It's well worth the read.

I just finished Cut to the Quick found from reading this thread, I had never heard of this series before. I really enjoyed it - definitely plan to read the rest.

>98 whitewavedarling: I have had The Good German included in my possible contenders for my Oughts Fiction category - I'm going to request it from the library right now-sounds excellent.

>99 HighViolet: So glad to hear that you liked Kate Ross!

I squeezed in one more, Reigen des Todes, set in 1906 Vienna, which I bought because they used a Klimt picture for the cover. Turns out it's a very good story and a pleasant discovery. Definitely a series to follow.

>99 HighViolet:, I hope you enjoy it! I rarely re-read books, but this one has made me want to re-read all of Kanon's work!

I finished The Alienist in August but am behind in my posting. It was good but it took me a really long time to read.

I just finished Death Comes to Pemberley. It wasn't bad, but it could have been so much better. A lot of telling, instead of showing. The best summation is that the pages were very gray due to the very long paragraphs - oftentimes more than a page long. I missed the light and sparkling, although it did have its funny moments and the characters felt authentic.

Apart from my planned read, As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust, I also finished my first Miss Silver mystery, Miss Silver Comes to Stay, by Patricia Wentworth. I enjoyed both!