by Mark Ellis
Strand Magazine
Classic Historical Crime Fiction
I write historical crime fiction and unsurprisingly this is a genre I particularly love. Below is my choice of ten brilliant examples of the genre. To justify the use of the word ‘classic’ above I limited myself to books written before 2000. As it happens, all the books listed come from the latter half of the 20th century, a period which saw rapid growth in the popularity of historical crime books. I have not listed books written contemporaneously but which now appear as historic. For that reason favourite books of mine like The Woman In White (Willkie Collins) and The Hound of the Baskervilles (Conan Doyle) do not feature. The listing of the books is random and is not to be taken as an indicator of preference.
1.The Name Of The Rose by Umberto Eco (published 1980)
It is 1327 and there are suspicious deaths at an Italian monastery. Franciscan friar, William of Baskerville, is asked by the abbot to investigate. A true classic of the genre. The film version of the book featured Sean Connery as William.
2. March Violets by Philip Kerr (1989)
This is the first of Kerr’s Bernie Gunther magnificent detective series. This one is set in 1936 Berlin where ex-cop Gunther is hired by a rich businessman to investigate a robbery in which his daughter is murdered. In the rest of the 14 book Gunther series, Kerr takes his hero through the war and out again. His last, Metropolis, however finds Gunther all the way back in1928.
3. An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears (1997)
Oxford in the 17th century. An intricate plot featuring murder, conspiracy, politics, science and philosophy. Utterly gripping with wonderful twists and turns. Sadly, a one off and no sequels.
4. Roman Blood by Steven Saylor (1991)
This is the first book in the author’s terrific Roma Sub Rosa series which features Roman detective Gordianus the Finder. In this opening story it is 80BC and Gordianus is retained by Cicero to help him in his defence of a man accused of patricide. As of today there are 16 books in the series, which includes 3 prequels. The most recent book, The Throne of Caesar, is set in 44BC.
5. The Alienist by Caleb Carr (1994)
A darkly atmospheric book set in 1896 New York City. It features the real Teddy Roosevelt, city police commissioner at the time, and Dr Laszlo Kreisler, the fictional ‘alienist’ of the title. Roosevelt and Kreisler use new methods like fingerprinting and psychology to solve some gruesome murders. Carr has written a sequel to The Alienist, The Angel of Darkness (1997) and the books have been turned into a television series.
6. The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin (1998)
Ernst Fandorin is a brilliant young police detective in 19th century Russia. In this, the first of the Fandorin series, it is 1876 and our hero investigates what appears to be the open-and-shut suicide case of a university student in Moscow. On delving deeper, the case proves to be much more complex. Boris Akunin is a pen name and the author’s real name is Grigori Chkhartishvili.
7. The Waterworks by E.L. Doctorow (1994)
Edgar Lawrence Doctorow is not really seen as a writer of crime fiction but this, his 8th novel, certainly fits into the category. Like The Alienist, the book is set in 19th century New York City. This time the year is 1871. The main protagonist is a newspaper editor called McIlvaine. An employee of his, Martin Pemberton, sees his father driving past him in the street in a horse-drawn omnibus. This would not be so unusual had his father not recently died. Soon after telling his boss of this sighting, Pemberton disappears, and McIlvaine sets out to find him. Doctorow told a journalist that he had written this book in honour of Edgar Allan Poe, after whom he had been named.
8. Blackout by John Lawton (1995)
Blackout is the first in John Lawton’s acclaimed Inspector Troy series. It is set in WW2 London and the other seven books in the series feature further wartime adventures as well as stories from before and after the war. There is also a related series in which Troy appears but in which the principal protagonist is an MI5 spy called Joe Wilderness. In Blackout, Frederick Troy is still a mere Sergeant. He has an atypical background for a policeman as he is the son of a newspaper tycoon. It is 1944 and a human arm is discovered by some children in a bombed-out house. Troy investigates and finds links to other deaths.
9. The Blackheath Poisonings by Julian Symons (1978)
Julian Symons was a highly regarded critic and reviewer of crime fiction as well as a prolific novelist. The Blackheath Poisonings is a murder mystery set in a London suburb in the 1890s. Two families live in mansion houses on a Blackheath estate inherited from a shared ancestor. The death of a family member is ascribed to food poisoning, but a second death draws the attention of the police. The story eventually becomes a courtroom drama in which one of the principal characters is tried on charges of poisoning. A beautifully written and gripping piece of work.
10. LA Confidential by James Ellroy (1990)
James Ellroy is a dazzlingly brilliant writer with his own unique style. LA Confidential is part of what is known as the LA Quartet, a sequence of crime novels set in 1940s and 1950s Los Angeles. LA Confidential is set between 1950 and 1958, and revolves around police officers caught up in various scandals of police corruption and violence. The book was famously turned into a movie in 1997 starring Russell Crowe and Kin Basinger. Basinger won an Oscar for her performance.
Mark Ellis is the author of the DCI Frank Merlin WW2 London detective series. The next in the series, Death Of An Officer, will be out shortly.
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