Captivating Historical Mystery Books

From Marlon James, author of the Booker Prize-winning A Brief History of Seven Killings: The electrifying story of the murder of a gay man in 1980s Jamaica and its far-reaching consequences. In this spellbinding novel, Marlon James has written a propulsive crime story that is also a deeply human account of connection and acceptance. Full of fascinating characters, biting humor, and unapologetic sex, The Disappearers is both a thrilling page-turner and a finely etched portrait of queer life.

From the New York Times bestselling author of I Was Anastasia and Code Name Hélène comes a gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-century midwife who defied the legal system and wrote herself into American history.

One unidentified skeleton. Three missing men. A village full of secrets. The bestselling author of The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna brings us a sparkling — by turns funny and moving — novel about a young American woman turned amateur detective in a small village in Southern Italy.

A tightly plotted page-turner ripped from the headlines of history, as three very different women must work together to stop a killer and save the truest home they’ve ever known.

A body falls from a townhouse window in Harlem, and it looks just like the newest singer at the Apollo … in this evocative, twisting new novel from the author of Miss Aldridge Regrets.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author and two-time Pulitzer winner Colson Whitehead, an exuberantly entertaining novel that brings to life 1980s New York in the magnificent final volume of his Harlem Trilogy.

A witty, propulsive historical murder mystery investigating a secretive spiritualist cult in Victorian London — and the third stand-alone installment in the beloved Variety Palace Mysteries series! A rip-roaring murder mystery brimming with theatrical detail, lovable characters, and exciting new reveals that will keep you guessing until the very last page.

As prosperity and great cultural changes sweep across 1920s Jazz Age America, Nola Ann Jackson learns more about developing her natural psychic talents from her aunt — talents that prove crucial when she investigates murder in her Black community — in this thrilling historical mystery written by a real-life psychic medium and jazz pianist.

Fiji, 1915: when a purported sighting of Germans on the run from the Great War turns deadly, Sergeant Akal Singh reluctantly investigates in this vibrant follow-up to A Disappearance in Fiji.

In late-1940s Los Angeles, former spies Evelyn Bishop and Nick Gallagher dig into shady real estate dealings, murder, and the appalling aftereffects of WWII-era Japanese American internment in this intrigue-filled historical mystery for readers of Allison Montclair, Jacqueline Winspear, Ashley Weaver, and Susan Elia MacNeal.

A gripping 1920s-set whodunnit, this debut features a queer sleuth who must solve a murder in a mansion on London’s Hampstead Heath without revealing his sexuality, lest he be arrested as a criminal.

As character actress Edie O’Dare finishes the final year of her contract with FWM Studios, the clock is ticking for her to find a new gig after an undistinguished stint in the pictures. She’s long supplemented her income moonlighting for Hollywood’s reigning gossip columnist, providing salacious details of parties and premieres. When a young starlet approaches her after an assault by an A-list actor at a party, Edie helps get the story into print and sets off a chain of events that will alter the trajectories of everyone involved.

From the author of The Daughter of Doctor Moreau and Mexican Gothic comes a fabulous blend of Mexican horror and Nazi occultism: a dark thriller about a curse haunting a legendary lost film—and awakening one woman’s hidden powers.

From the acclaimed author of The Weight of Water and The Pilot’s Wife: An exquisitely suspenseful novel about an extraordinary young woman tested by a catastrophic event — based on the true story of the largest fire in Maine’s history.

Amateur sleuth Flavia de Luce, along with her pestilent younger cousin, investigates the murder of a former public hangman and uncovers a secret that brings the greatest shock of her life.

As death stalks a gothic mansion in Miami, the lives of two women intertwine as the past and present collide in New York Times bestselling author Chanel Cleeton’s atmospheric new novel.

With the Cold War over, a new era of espionage has begun. In the power vacuum left by the Soviet Union, arms dealers and drug smugglers have risen to immense influence and wealth. The sinister master of them all is Richard Onslow Roper, the charming, ruthless Englishman whose operation seems untouchable. Slipping into this maze of peril is Jonathan Pine, a former British soldier who now manages the night shift at a posh hotel in Zurich. Having learned to hate and fear Roper more than any man on earth, Pine is willing to do whatever it takes to help the agents at Whitehall bring him down — and personal vengeance is only part of the reason why.

A haunting, epic novel about betrayal, revenge, and redemption that follows three generations of Russian women from the 1917 revolution to the last days of the Soviet Union, and the enduring love story at the center.

Charlotte Holmes is accustomed to solving crimes, not being accused of them, but she finds herself in a dreadfully precarious position as the bestselling Lady Sherlock series continues.

Vampires, vaqueros, and star-crossed lovers face off on the Texas-Mexico border in this supernatural western from the author of The Hacienda.

A luxurious African safari turns deadly for a Hollywood starlet and her entourage in a riveting historical thriller the New York Times calls “wildly entertaining.” From the bestselling author of The Flight Attendant.

1975 is a time of change in America. The Vietnam War is ending. Muhammad Ali is fighting Joe Frazier. And in the small town of Monta Clare, Missouri, girls are disappearing … From the New York Times bestselling author of We Begin at the End comes a soaring thriller and an epic love story that “hits like a sledgehammer … an absolutely must-read novel” (Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl).