I have been in love with the ocean, since I first visited Galveston at the age of five. The cadence of the waves and tide called to me in a way that is hard to explain, and every creature within simply mesmerized me. I read everything about the ocean that I could find, and I haven’t stopped to this day. My book is fact-checked by two marine biologists as well, just to ensure that all of the information is accurate.
This is an enthralling new mystery series for middle grades and older readers. The main character is reminiscent of a young, female Sherlock Holmes, and she has lots of fun, if dangerous, adventures. My kids love the action, and I love that they teach a lot about history. These books have sparked a lot of conversation about the class system, in particular, which I believe is a very important topic.
Meet thirteen-year-old Mary Finch – a bold, determined heroine, and the star of a stylish new detective series. Perfect for fans of classic crime fiction.
Mary Finch and the Thief is the first in the Mary Finch Mystery series. It is 1893 and Mary Finch finds herself on the gritty and violent streets of Victorian London trying to clear her name.
When wrongfully accused of theft, Mary Finch is determined to track down the thief and prove her innocence. Her journey takes her from Baker Street, where her friends, the famous detective Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson, live, to the…
Nothing has transported me
to another time and place so well as Khan’s book this year. I saw him at
Bristol CrimeFest, a lovely and humorous man who held the attention of an
entire busy room with just a few words. Khan’s charisma led me to his book, and
I am so thrilled I found it.
It is about the first female police
officer in Bombay, Persis, who is called into a mystery at the turning of New Year’s
Eve, 1949.
The power of Khan’s book comes in his ability to use time to create
tension, the feeling it’s running out too quickly, the voice of a great heroine
and most of all, his descriptions that paint this world in vivid colours. Need
an escape? Pick up this book!
*** WINNER OF THE CWA SAPERE BOOKS HISTORICAL DAGGER 2021, and an INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER ***
'The leading character is the deftly drawn Persis Wadia, the country's first female detective. She's a wonderful creation and this is a hugely enjoyable book' ANN CLEEVES
'This is historical crime fiction at its best - a compelling mix of social insight and complex plotting with a thoroughly engaging heroine. A highly promising new series' MAIL ON SUNDAY
Bombay, New Year's Eve, 1949
As India celebrates the arrival of a momentous new decade, Inspector Persis Wadia stands vigil in the basement of Malabar House, home…
As readers may have gathered from the five books I’ve chosen, my childhood obsessions and passions have had an immense influence on my later writing life. Somewhat to my surprise, I must say. I’ve been a newspaper reporter, magazine writer, movie critic, and have written screenplays. But returning to novels, first with the Sanibel Sunset Detective series and lately with Death at the Savoyand Scandal at the Savoy, I am, in effect, reliving my childhood, using it to write these books. What a joy to be looking back as I move forward—and you always keep the plot moving forward!
When Prudence Emery and I set out to collaborate on our first mystery novel, we searched around for inspiration.
I found it rereadingSomeone Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe. Published in 1976, it cleverly dealt with food and the murder of—you guessed it—Europe’s great chefs. But what most appealed to me was its entertaining mix of humor, sex, and suspense.
The perfect recipe, Prudence and I decided, for our mysteries—with a little Charadeand To Catch a Thief thrown in for good measure.
After arriving in London to create a special dessert for the queen, New York's leading food expert is suspected by Scotland Yard of killing off Europe's master chefs
Ever since I was a child, I loved stories where an element of danger is introduced into a peaceful setting. Armchair sleuths can solve crimes alongside the detectives and in the comfort and relative security of their own homes. I cut my teeth on Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, and The Hardy Boys before moving on to Agatha Christie. It’s such an interactive experience when we get the same clues as the detectives and try to come to similar conclusions. These books all replicate the experience well and put the reader in the driver’s seat.
One of the biggest joys in this fine series is the pub settings. Each title is the name of a pub and each pub is the sort of spot you'd like to settle comfortably down with a drink and a chat with friends. Add onto this backdrop a puzzling murder, the wonderful Scotland Yard inspector Richard Jury, and his aristocratic sidekick Melrose Plant, and you've got a winning formula from Martha Grimes.
At the Man with a Load of Mischief, they found the dead body stuck in a keg of beer. At the Jack and Hammer, another body was stuck out on the beam of the pub’s sign, replacing the mechanical man who kept the time. Two pubs. Two murders. One Scotland Yard inspector called in to help. Detective Chief Inspector Richard Jury arrives in Long Piddleton and finds everyone in the postcard village looking outside of town for the killer. Except for one Melrose Plant. A keen observer of human nature, he points Jury in the right direction: into the darkest…
I’m an historian who writes novels, and an avid reader of historical murder mysteries—especially ones whose characters are affected by social, religious, and political change. Lately, I’ve been fascinated by the breakup of rural British estates between 1880 and 1925, when, in a single generation, the amount of British land owned by the aristocracy fell from 66% to perhaps 15%. I thought it might be interesting to set a “country house” mystery on one of the failing estates, with a narrator influenced by the other great change of the period: from horses to automobiles. “Interesting” was an understatement; writing it was eye-opening.
The Last Kashmiri Rose: Murder and Mystery in the Final Days of the Raj is the first of Barbara Cleverly’s 13 Joe Sandilands mysteries. In March of 1922, Sandilands’ return to Scotland Yard from Calcutta is delayed by Bengal’s governor, who sends him to a military post where his niece Nancy’s husband is Controller. Nancy’s best friend has committed suicide, according to the local police. But Nancy has learned that since 1911, four other officers’ wives have died in peculiarly violent circumstances. After Sandilands’ investigation uncovers a series of murders, he looks for the murderer amidst tea parties, dances, picnics, and dinners. The portrait of Anglo-Indian society, in which every need is supplied by socially invisible native servants, is excellent.
India 1922. In Panikhat, 50 miles from Calcutta, the wives of officers in the Bengal Greys have been dying violently, one every year and each in March. All the deaths are bizarre and appear to be accidental. The only link between them is the bunch of small red roses that appear on the women's graves on the anniversary of their deaths. In order to help solve these mysterious deaths, the Governor of Bengal calls on the reluctant help of Joe Sandilands, Scotland Yard detective and war hero who happens to be on secondment to the Bengal police. Joe learns that…
I’m a crime historian and storyteller. I study old crimes, particularly those of scientific interest, and present my findings in public presentations. Sometimes I write about them-
in the NY Times, Smithsonian, Lancet, Ellery Queen. I’ve researched in autopsy suites, crumbling archives, and crime labs. I was the founder and moderator of the annual Forensic Forum at Stony Brook University. I’ve consulted on criminal matters for PBS, BBC, and commercial stations.
I am fascinated by ancient crime because so much great literature derives from it - the sadly dysfunctional Oedipus family, the fraternal dispute between Cain and Abel- the unhappy Borden family of Fall River. All grist for my mill.
Before the Metropolitan Police (popularly known as Scotland Yard) existed, the Bow Street Runners were in charge of criminal investigation in Britain. Henry Goddard, the brilliant and incisive Runner, employed Sherlockian techniques years before the first Sherlock Holmes story was published. In later years, as a private detective, he continued to investigate and solve famous and complex crimes-He traveled widely, pursuing suspects through the Middle East, Europe, and Australia all of which he vividly describes.
In his old age, he dictated these memoirs, which give us a detailed account of his methods, and how he found "The Man With the Hidden Limp" and how he proved "The Butler Really Did It."
It also makes clear how many errors of fact crept into later accounts of these famous crimes.
Anyone with an interest in early criminal history will find this fascinating.
During the Regency and early Victorian eras, Henry Goddard, one of the last of the Bow Street Runners, chased criminals in London and through out the Kingdom, and around the globe; to France, Australia, New York, the Wild West; and made private enquiries for the King of England. Born in 1800 in London, he was employed at Bow Street in London as a Patrol Constable from 1824 until he was promoted to be a Runner in 1827 and he remained a Runner until the Bow Street Runners were disbanded in 1839, and he became a private detective. He wrote his…
The list reflects my interest in history and my own recollections of the days before the current era of mass tourism and online globalisation. I confess to a feeling of painful nostalgia for a time when we all had a very different worldview, and these books are all of that period. They feature temporal grief for an age that has passed. They are all highly readable books by writers at the top of their game.
This real-life detective story intrigued and perplexed me in equal measure and still does every time I read it.
Was Richard III really the evil monster of Shakespeare’s play who killed the little Princes in the tower or the monarch who, in the three short years of his reign, introduced the bail system, attacked corruption, and set up hospitals?
This clever novel, featuring Tey’s detective hero investigating Richard’s history and character, led me to investigate another mystery, that of the Shakespeare Authorship Question.
_________________________ Josephine Tey's classic novel about Richard III, the hunchback king whose skeleton was famously discovered in a council car park, investigates his role in the death of his nephews, the princes in the Tower, and his own death at the Battle of Bosworth.
Richard III reigned for only two years, and for centuries he was villified as the hunch-backed wicked uncle, murderer of the princes in the Tower. Josephine Tey's novel The Daughter of Time is an investigation into the real facts behind the last Plantagenet king's reign, and an attempt to right what many believe to be the…
I used to hate history, until I made the startling discovery that history wasn’t about dates and wars—the stuff we had to memorize in high school—but about people. And what can be more absorbing than people? When I started my first historical series, set in the very early 20th century in my hometown of South Bend, Indiana, I delved into the local newspaper and learned that the people of the time and their problems were very much like today’s. That pulled me in, and never let go. Now, researching the 1920s, I’m meeting people who might live next door. It’s so much fun!
Again, I love this series featuring Daisy Dalrymple, and this is my favorite book of the series.
Set in the 1920s and essentially in England, this one takes Daisy to New York and then to Oregon—by plane! (No easy matter in 1923.)
The action is non-stop, the characters get themselves into the funniest predicaments, and the introduction of real people like Bessie Coleman helps to make the story real as today’s newspaper.
In late 1923, the newly married Daisy Dalrymple and her husband Detective Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher of Scotland Yard, come to America for a honeymoon visit. In the midst of a pleasure trip, however, both work in a bit of business - Alec travels to Washington, D. C. to consult with the U.S. government, Daisy to New York to meet with her American magazine editor.
While in New York, Daisy stays at the famed Chelsea Hotel, which is not only close to the Flatiron Building offices of Abroad magazine, where she'll be meeting with her editor, but home to many…
Golden Age detective mysteries are my comfort reads,
and locked-room mysteries even more so. Tom Mead’s revival of the classic form
is note-perfect, but it’s more than a mere pastiche.
Stage-magician-turned-detective Joseph Spector is a terrific addition to the
ranks of inspired detectives.
I raced through this novel in a couple of
sittings, followed by the sequel – and I’m assured
there are more Spector mysteries to come.
A Publishers Weekly Top 10 Best Mysteries of 2022 Selection
In this "sharply-drawn period piece" (New York Times), a magician-turned-sleuth in pre-war London solves three impossible crimes
In 1930s London, celebrity psychiatrist Anselm Rees is discovered dead in his locked study, and there seems to be no way that a killer could have escaped unseen. There are no clues, no witnesses, and no evidence of the murder weapon. Stumped by the confounding scene, the Scotland Yard detective on the case calls on retired stage magician-turned-part-time sleuth Joseph Spector. For who better to make sense of the impossible than one who…
As soon as I found out about Zephyrettes, I knew I had to write about these real-life train hostesses who rode the rails on the old California Zephyr, which existed from 1949 to 1970. The only woman on a train crew, someone who keeps an eye on passengers and situations, anticipating and solving problems—who would be better placed to solve a mystery on a train? Jill is my traveling Miss Marple. I’m a former newspaper reporter, Navy journalist, and have been writing for decades, first the Jeri Howard series, then the Jill McLeod series, and lately a book featuring geriatric care manager Kay Dexter, The Sacrificial Daughter.
Another British mystery by a British author, this one with Carola Dunn’s resourceful and determined sleuth, the Honorable Daisy Dalrymple, who sleuths in the 1920s, when England is just recovering from the Great War. Daisy makes a living writing magazine articles but she keeps stumbling over dead bodies, much to the chagrin of Scotland Yard’s Detective Inspector Alec Fletcher. In this book, early in the series, Daisy boards the Flying Scotsman, heading from London to Edinburgh. Then Belinda Fletcher shows up. The detective’s daughter is on the lam from her difficult grandmother. Then someone gets murdered on the train and Daisy once again finds herself a suspect and reluctant sleuth.
Daisy's embarking on a journey to Edinburgh and her biggest worry is that she has forgotten her book, so how will she pass the time? Her concern proves to be pointless, however, as once the journey begins Daisy finds a pint-sized stowaway on board - Belinda, the daughter of dreamy Detective Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher, Daisy's beau.
No sooner has this problem revealed itself than Daisy and Belinda run into a bickering Scottish clan en route to the deathbed of the head of the family. But before the express reaches its first…
