Thrilling Historical Mysteries to Transport You to Another Time
History and thrillers. What’s not to love? You get a historical novel with a mystery book and action and adventure. Pack my bags and sign me up! Or, you know, I’ll just buy the book and do it via my armchair—air conditioning is nice.
It’s 1546, and the government is up for grabs as Protestant and Catholic councilors fight for control while King Henry VIII lays on his deathbed. Enter a secret, confessional book, Lamentation of a Sinner (what a name!), written by Queen Catherine Parr which is now missing with only one page found, and it was in a murdered victim’s hand. Dun dun dun. It’s up to Matthew Shardlake, summoned by the Queen, to retrieve the book among all the politics and chaos. Godspeed!
For fans of Victorian London ,here’s another book inside a book! Memoir author of Confessions of an English Opium-Eater(again, what a name!), Thomas De Quincey, is now a murder suspect thanks to an essay in his book. But clearing his name is not a job he can do on his own—thanks to the aforementioned opium addiction—so he’ll be needing his daughter Emily and Scotland Yard detectives to help him out of this very serious pickle. Bonus: If you’re looking for a nice little thrills marathon, line up the next two books, Inspector of the Dead and Ruler of the Night—where you get a murder on the brand new railways!
For Patterson fans looking for page-turning thrills here's one set in 1096 France. Upon his return from the Crusades, Hugh de Luc finds that his son has been murdered and his wife kidnapped. What’s a man to do? Avenge his son’s death and search for his wife by posing as a Jester, of course. If you’re looking for a medieval revenge tale, here you go!
Going only slightly back in time, O’Malley’s novel is set in 1950’s Boston, where the War has ended and the largest robbery in the history of the United States, the Great Brink's Robbery, has recently taken place. Now Cal O'Brien and Dante Cooper, struggling to find their place in the world, decide to solve who murdered the latest victim in a string of serial killer killings targeting women. For Dante it’s personal since it was his sister-in-law. But what happens when the case leads to the highest ranks of city government and suddenly people don’t want this case solved?
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Jamie Canavés is a Book Riot contributing editor and Tailored Book Recommendations coordinator. She writes the Unusual Suspects mystery newsletter, never says no to chocolate or ‘80s nostalgia, and can hold a conversation using only gifs. Tweets: @Oh_Dinky.