British Author Challenge December 2025: Historical Mysteries

^{Derek Jacobi as Brother Cadfael}

There's no consensus on how far in the past a work has to be set for it to be considered historical, so I'm declaring anything set fifty years before it was written will be considered historical for this theme.

Brother Cadfael Mysteries by Ellis Peters
Marcus Didius Falco series by Lindsey Davis
Brighton Mysteries by Elly Griffiths
Wyndham and Banerjee series by Abir Mukherjee
Telamon Trilogy by Paul Doherty
Mistress of the Art of Death series by Ariana Franklin
The Liebermann Papers series by Frank Tallis
Matthew Shardlake series by C. J. Sansom
Her Royal Spyness series by Rhys Bowen
Malabar House series by Vaseem Khan
The Sally Lockhart Quartet by Philip Pullman
James Marwood & Cat Lovett series by Andrew Taylor
Anthony Horowitz's Sherlock Holmes series
Crowther and Westerman series by Imogen Robertson
Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem by Peter Ackroyd
The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes
Morality Play by Barry Unsworth
An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears
The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney

I've read all 22 of the Rhys Bowen books in the series Her Royal Spyness, having just today finished "From Cradle to Grave."

I have read the first 3 of Elly Griffiths' Brighton Mystery series, so I will continue along with book 4, The Vanishing Box.

>2 Ann_noe: Excellent timing! I take it you're a fan of the series since you've read all of them?

>3 alcottacre: I really enjoy that series, and have read through book five.

>5 amanda4242: Good to hear, Amanda!

I'll read His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet. I've read most of his books but not this one.

There are a lot of great options here. I am a bit spoiled for choice! I will go and have a study of my library and narrow down my picks. I am thinking David Downing, Robert Harris, Robert Goddard, Rory Clements.

I have several books from earlier in the year that I’d like to finish before the end of the year, so I’ll have to sit this month out.
I am, however, prepared to take copious notes for my TBR?

>9 PawsforThought: last year around this time I realized I never finished all of the Cadwell books but did finish all the films. so I gathered up the books I had and found the rest and by mid january finish Probably one of my favortite reading runs in years. I may just have to repeat it.

also read Morality play and Instance of the fingerpost and will tru to reread them

>10 cindydavid4: That sounds like a fun reading marathon! I would like to try the Cadfael books - it’s been on my mind since I read Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose this summer.

>11 PawsforThought: I really enjoyed the Cadfael novels. The first one, A Morbid Taste for Bones, had a different feel than the others. The Internet tells me it was meant to be a standalone, which would explain that.

>8 PaulCranswick: I really enjoyed Goddard's In Pale Battalions. Can't remember if I've read more by him, but I may own more by him because of liking that book. Downing and Harris are on my read-someday list.

I've started reading Murder in Constantinople, a debut novel by A.E. Goldin and realise that it fits this challenge as it's set in the 1850s.

Well, I finished A murder in Constantinople yesterday. It was a quick enjoyable read, full of action and adventure taking the reader from 1850s East End London to Constantinople & touching on the Crimean War. A tad over the top plot wise but a fun read for all that.

I wasn't sure if I was going to get much read for this month's theme, but I somehow managed to read a dozen for it!

The Return of Moriarty by Jack Anderson

Calling this book The Return of Moriarty isn't particularly accurate as he is largely a supporting character. The inclusion of a famous character, the needlessly convoluted structure, and the contrived plot twists all read as attempts to distract from the fact this is actually a middling novel.

Received via NetGalley.

Copper Script by KJ Charles

This is the first KJ Charles book I haven't liked. It has a good premise, but it reads like a first draft.

And I also read The Delamere Files by Jackson March, a series set in 19th century London about a group of Queer detectives. They're pretty light reading, but I enjoy the characters.

I'll have the January 2026 and Wildcard threads up later today.

The Wildcard, January, and general threads for next year's challenge are up.

General: https://www.librarything.com/topic/376834#
Wildcard: https://www.librarything.com/topic/376835#
January: https://www.librarything.com/topic/376836#

>17 amanda4242: Thanks for posting the links, Amanda!

>18 alcottacre: No problem!

I should not be looking ahead to January when I still have December's book yet to read though, lol

I just finished The Vanishing Box and to my mind, this is the best book in Griffiths' Brighton series - at least that I have read to this point :)

>21 alcottacre: I really need to re-read those books. Perhaps for next year's wildcard!

>22 amanda4242: I am definitely continuing on with the series. I really like it!

>4 amanda4242: yes.