My 10 favorite historical mysteries and thrillers (plus lots of others)
I admit it. I have a special weakness for historical mysteries and thrillers. The following list of 117 such novels will certainly prove the point. They’re divided into three sections, beginning with my selection of the top 10 standalone novels. Immediately below that section are the 59 books in 10 series of historical mysteries and thrillers reviewed on this site (including only those series in which I’ve read at least three books). The other 48 individual titles follow further below. Within each section, the books are listed in alphabetical order by the authors’ last names.
Many of the titles in the series listed below might individually qualify for the list of my favorites, but I’ve arbitrarily chosen to omit them. Although I’ve loved reading the books in nearly all these series, I confess that Olen Steinhauer’s Yalta Boulevard cycle is my favorite among them.
Please note that I’m including here only those historical mysteries and thrillers reviewed on this site that have been written long after the events described. For example, even though such novels as A Coffin for Dimitrios by Eric Ambler or many of the works of Ross Thomas concern events that are now long in the past, they were written either at or shortly after the time portrayed. I’ve also attempted to avoid those that refer to historical events through flashbacks. (If I’d included those titles as well, this list would be considerably longer.)
The top 10 standalone historical mysteries and thrillers reviewed here
Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron – A brilliant novel of love, hope, and the Rwanda genocide
The Devils of Cardona by Matthew Carr – A gripping historical thriller set in 16th-century Spain
A Single Spy by William Christie – A Soviet spy in Nazi Germany
The Trinity Six by Charles Cumming – A stellar new spy story
The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich – Tragedy, on and off the reservation
An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris – The Dreyfus Affair, reenacted in a suspenseful spy novel
The Eagle Has Landed by Jack Higgins – A classic espionage thriller that’s well worth rereading
The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver – Leon Trotsky, Diego Rivera, and the Red Scare
The Debba by Avner Mandelman – A superb novel digs for roots in Israel’s modern history
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen – The Vietnam War through Vietnamese eyes
59 books in 10 series of historical mysteries and thrillers reviewed on this site
The John Madden series by Rennie Airth, set in England between the wars:
- River of Darkness (John Madden #1) – Rennie Airth’s John Madden series spans the world wars
- The Reckoning (John Madden #4)– A terrific John Madden procedural
- The Death of Kings (John Madden #5)– Solving a cold case in post-war England
Benjamin Black’s Quirke series set in 1950s Dublin:
- Christine Falls(Quirke #1) – Corruption and mayhem in Dublin and Boston in a superior mystery novel
- The Silver Swan (Quirke #2) – A suspenseful novel that will keep you guessing until the end
- Elegy for April (Quirke #3) – 1950s Dublin: murder and the Church
- A Death in Summer (Quirke #4) – Murder in Dublin, and an unconventional sleuth who solves the case
- Vengeance (Quirke #5) – Is it “serious literature?”
- Holy Orders (Quirke #6) – A mystery to savor for its gorgeous prose
- Even the Dead (Quirke #7) – Dublin’s answer to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson?
The Night Soldiers novels of Alan Furst set in WWII-era Europe:
- Red Gold (Night Soldiers #5) – A brilliant novel of the French Resistance
- Kingdom of Shadows (Night Soldiers #6)– One of the best spy novels of recent years
- Blood of Victory (Night Soldiers #7) – Spies at work in WWII Istanbul and Rumania
- Spies of the Balkans (Night Soldiers #11) – Alan Furst’s superb novel, “Spies of the Balkans”
- Mission to Paris(Night Soldiers #12) – At the dawn of World War II, a Hollywood film star in an espionage novel
- Midnight in Europe (Night Soldiers #13) – Arms merchants and spies in a thriller set during the Spanish Civil War
- A Hero of France (Night Soldiers #16) – Vive la Resistance!
The Alex Gerlis spy stories set in Europe during World War II:
- The Best of Our Spies– An extraordinary World War II spy story grounded in historical fact
- Vienna Spies– A stirring tale of spies in wartime Vienna
- The Swiss Spy– World War II spies in Switzerland
Joseph Kanon’s post-WWII novels of espionage:
- The Prodigal Spy– An espionage novelist to rival John Le Carre
- Alibi– A Nazi-hunter in post-war Venice in a suspenseful novel of intrigue
- Stardust – German emigres in Hollywood in a captivating historical novel
- Leaving Berlin – One of the best of today’s spy novels
- Istanbul Passage– Romance intrigue and betrayal in post-World War II Istanbul
Philip Kerr’s Bernie Gunther series set in the World War II era:
- March Violets (Bernie Gunther #1) – A vivid snapshot of Nazi Berlin
- The Pale Criminal (Bernie Gunther #2) – A serial killer in Nazi Germany
- A German Requiem (Bernie Gunther #3) – Another excellent novel in the Bernie Gunther series by Philip Kerr
- The One from the Other (Bernie Gunther #4) – An anti-Nazi detective in Hitler’s Germany
- A Quiet Flame (Bernie Gunter #5) – An eye-opening detective novel about Nazis in Argentina
- If the Dead Rise Not (Bernie Gunther #6) – Bernie Gunther from Hitler’s Germany to Batista’s Cuba
- Field Gray (Bernie Gunther #7) – Bernie Gunther’s life in flashbacks
- Prague Fatale (Bernie Gunther #8) – A hard-boiled detective in Nazi Germany
- A Man Without Breath (Bernie Gunther #9) – Mass murder in the Katyn Forest
- The Lady from Zagreb (Bernie Gunther #10) – Cynicism and romanticism in Nazi Germany
- The Other Side of Silence (Bernie Gunther #11) – An exciting chapter in the Bernie Gunther saga
- Prussian Blue (Bernie Gunther #12) – Bernie Gunther confronts top Nazis and the Stasi
The Captain Alexei Korolev novels by William Ryan, set in Stalin’s Soviet Union:
- The Holy Thief (Captain Alexei Korolev #1)– A terrific murder mystery set in Stalin’s Soviet Union
- The Darkening Field (Captain Alexei Korolev #2)– A compelling murder mystery set during Stalin’s terror
- The Twelfth Department (Captain Alexei Korolev #3)– An intimate look at Stalin’s terror
The Yalta Boulevard cycle from Olen Steinhauer, portraying Central Europe under Communism:
- The Bridge of Sighs (Yalta Boulevard #1) – A fully satisfying murder mystery set in post-war Europe
- The Confession (Yalta Boulevard #2) – An historical thriller set under Communism in Eastern Europe
- 36 Yalta Boulevard (Yalta Boulevard #3) – Inside the mind’s eye of Eastern European Communism in the 1960s
- Liberation Movements (Yalta Boulevard #4) – Love, betrayal, and terrorism behind the Iron Curtain
- Victory Square (Yalta Boulevard #5) – A powerful tale of life in Eastern Europe during the fall of Communism
The William Catesby series by Edward Wilson, set in Cold War Britain:
- The Darkling Spy (William Catesby #2)– A grim tale of Cold War espionage
- The Whitehall Mandarin (William Catesby #4)– Cold War espionage in search of the H-bomb
- A Very British Ending (William Catesby #5) – A harsh look at post-war British intelligence
Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs novels set in England between the world wars:
- Maisie Dobbs (Maisie Dobbs #1) – A female detective like no other
- Birds of a Feather (Maisie Dobbs #2) – The cost of war hangs over the action like a shroud
- Pardonable Lies (Maisie Dobbs #3) – Living the legacy of World War I
- Messenger of Truth (Maisie Dobbs #4) – Class resentment in Depression-era England
- An Incomplete Revenge (Maisie Dobbs #5) – The pleasures of reading Maisie Dobbs
- Among the Mad (Maisie Dobbs #6) – Shell shock, madness, the Great Depression
- The Mapping of Love and Death (Maisie Dobbs #7) – Another great detective novel from Jacqueline Winspear
- A Lesson in Secrets (Maisie Dobbs #8) – Nazis, pacifists, and spies in 1930s Britain
- Elegy for Eddie (Maisie Dobbs #9) – An excellent Maisie Dobbs novel
- Leaving Everything Most Loved (Maisie Dobbs #10) – Maisie Dobbs confronts class dynamics in Depression-era England
- A Dangerous Place (Maisie Dobbs #11) – Maisie Dobbs in “a place seething with those dispossessed by war”
48 other historical mysteries and thrillers reviewed here
Wolf on a String by Benjamin Black – A murder mystery set in the Holy Roman Empire
A Trace of Smoke (Hannah Vogel #1) by Rebecca Cantrell – Crime in the underbelly of Nazi-era Germany
A Night of Long Knives (Hannah Vogel #2) by Rebecca Cantrell – An historical crime novel that’s good but not good enough
The Coroner’s Lunch (Dr. Siri Paiboun #1) by Colin Cotterill – A murder mystery set in Communist Laos in the 1970s
The Rat Catchers' Olympics (Dr. Siri Paiboun #12), by Colin Cotterill – Dr. Siri Paiboun and the rat catchers at the 1980 Moscow Olympics
The Spanish Game (Alec Milius #2) by Charles Cumming – Intrigue and romance in Madrid in the waning days of Basque terrorism
Frog Music by Emma Donoghue – Unforgettable characters in 19th century San Francisco
Jack of Spies (Jack McColl #1) by David Downing – The “Jack of Spies” was no James Bond
Lenin’s Roller Coaster (Jack McColl #3) by David Downing – A novelist revisits the Russian Revolution
Exposure by Helen Dunmore – Gay life in 1960s Britain in a suspenseful thriller
Fellowship of Fear (Gideon Oliver #1) by Aaron Elkins – Soviet spies on the loose, with an anthropologist to the rescue?
The Malice of Fortune by Michael Ennis – Niccolo Machiavelli, private eye
The Laws of Murder (Charles Lenox #8) by Charles Finch – An engaging detective series set in Victorian London
High Crimes by Joseph Finder – A taut thriller about Special Forces running amok in El Salvador in 1983
The List by Martin Fletcher – A suspenseful tale of Holocaust survivors in post-war London
Long Time Coming by Robert Goddard – A tale rooted in the brutal Belgian Congo
The Ways of the World (James Maxted #1) by Robert Goddard – A superb novel of espionage set in 1919 Paris
The Bellini Card (Inspector Yashim #3) by Jason Goodwin – A very odd couple solves murders in this historical novel
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah – A deeply affecting novel of the French Resistance
Conspirata (Ancient Rome Trilogy #2) by Robert Harris – Ancient Rome, before the fall
Munich by Robert Harris – Why Neville Chamberlain went to Munich
Eye of the Storm (Sean Dillon #1) by Jack Higgins – Reimagining Saddam Hussein’s role in history
Touch the Devil (Liam Devlin #2) by Jack Higgins (Harry Patterson) – The IRA, the KGB, MI5, and the Corsican mob all conflict
Shake Off by Mischa Hiller – Behind the First Intifada
A Map of Betrayal by Ha Jin – Betrayal is in the eye of the beholder
High Dive by Jonathan Lee – Irish terrorists attempted to kill Margaret Thatcher (for real)
Live by Night (Coughlin #2) by Dennis Lehane – A thoughtful, action-packed crime story
World Gone By (Coughlin #3) by Dennis Lehane – Suspenseful historical fiction that’s hard to put down
Watergate by Thomas Mallon – Watergate through a novelist’s eyes
Bodyguard of Deception by Samuel Marquis – Propulsive action in a tale of World War II espionage
Jack 1939 by Francine Mathews – Young John F. Kennedy stars in a spy thriller
Too Bad to Die by Francine Mathews – Ian Fleming stars in this delightful spy story worthy of James Bond
Tightrope by Simon Mawer – A well-written novel about World War II British espionage
The Long Drop by Denise Mina – A courtroom drama set in Glasgow in the 50s
The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee – The human toll of social change
City of Secrets by Stewart O’Nan – Inside the fight for Israeli independence
An Echo of Murder (William Monk #23) by Anne Perry – Ritual murder and Hungarian émigrés in 1870 London
The Book of Aron by Jim Shepherd – A brilliant novel of the Warsaw Ghetto
The Constable’s Tale: A Novel of Colonial America by Donald Smith – A clever detective novel set in Colonial America
The Girl from Venice by Martin Cruz Smith – Film stars, partisans, and Nazi generals in 1945 Italy
The Farm by Tom Rob Smith – A thriller that simply wasn’t very exciting
Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart – She was the country’s first female deputy sheriff
The Singapore Wink by Ross Thomas – An engaging novel of crime and espionage set in 1960s Singapore
A Test of Wills (Inspector Ian Rutledge #1) by Charles Todd – Before PTSD, there was “shell shock”
Search the Dark (Inspector Ian Rutledge #3) by Charles Todd – A British detective novel that doesn’t measure up
The Chinese Maze Murders (Judge Dee #1) by Robert van Gulik – A fascinating Chinese detective novel
An Honorable Man by Paul Vidich – The Cold War, the early CIA, and the McCarthy Era
The Good Assassin by Paul Vidich – A compelling spy novel set during the Cuban Revolution
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