On this page, I have ordered the books by the century in which most of the action takes place unless the action is fairly equally divided across centuries, in which case the book is listed in each one. On the Links to Popular Posts, you can find books that take place in more than one century under the link for any of those centuries. See the menu Historical Mysteries for historical mysteries.
BC
- Barker, Pat, The Silence of the Girls
- Brooks, Geraldine, The Secret Chord
- Harris, Robert, Dictator, Conspirata, Imperium
- Miller, Madeline, The Song of Achilles
- Renault, Mary, Fire from Heaven, Funeral Games, The Persian Boy
- Toíbín, Colm, House of Names
1st Century
- Davis, Lindsey, Master & God
- Dumas, Alexandre, Acté
- Harris, Robert, Pompeii
- Sienkiewicz, Henryk, Quo Vadis
- Toíbín, Colm, The Testament of Mary
5th Century
- Malory, Thomas, Le Morte D’Arthur
6th Century
- Ishiguro, Kazuo, The Buried Giant
7th Century
- Albert, Edoardo, Edwin High King of Britain
10th Century
- Bengtsson, Frans G., The Long Ships
- Chabon, Michael, Gentlemen of the Road
- Leach, Tim, Smile of the Wolf
11th Century
- Dunnett, Dorothy, King Hereafter
- Gray, Juliana, A Strange Scottish Shore
- Kingsnorth, Paul, The Wake
12th Century
- Chadwick, Elizabeth, A Place Beyond Courage
- Franklin, Ariana, and Samantha Norman, The Siege Winter
- Scott, Walter, The Talisman
- Senior, Antonia, The Winter Isles
13th Century
- Porter, Jane, The Scottish Chiefs
- Thorpe, Adam, Hodd
14th Century
- Druon, Maurice, The Iron King (second review), The King Without a Kingdom, The Lily and the Lion, The Poisoned Crown, The Royal Succession, The She-Wolf, The Strangled Queen (second review)
- Falcones, Ildefonso, Cathedral of the Sea
- Maitland, Karen, The Owl Killers
- Porter, Jane, The Scottish Chiefs
- Smiley, Jane, The Greenlanders
- Spurling, John, The Ten Thousand Things
- Tranter, Nigel, Lords of Misrule
- Undset, Sigrid, The Bridal Wreath, The Cross, The Mistress of Husaby
- Vantrease, Brenda Rickman, The Illuminator
- Walters, Minette, The Last Hours
15th Century
- Dunant, Sarah, Blood & Beauty
- Harvey, Samantha, The Western Wind
- Hugo, Victor, The Hunchback of Notre Dame
- Iggulden, Conn, Bloodline, Margaret of Anjou, Stormbird
- Kalogridis, Jeanne, The Inquisitor’s Wife
- Smiley, Jane, The Greenlanders
- Tranter, Nigel, The Captive Crown, A Folly of Princes
16th Century
- Aggeler, Geoffrey, Horses of the Night
- Bilyeau, Nancy, The Chalice
- Dumas, Alexandre, La Reine Margot
- Dunant, Sarah, In the Name of the Family, Sacred Hearts
- Dunnett, Dorothy, Checkmate, The Disorderly Knights, The Game of Kings, Queen’s Play, Pawn in Frankincense, The Ringed Castle
- Erickson, Carrolly, The Last Wife of Henry VIII
- Ennis, Michael, The Malice of Fortune
- Fraser, George MacDonald, The Candlemass Road
- Gortner, C.W., The Tudor Secret
- Greig, Andrew, Fair Helen
- Lofts, Norah, Here Was a Man
- Mantel, Hilary, Bring Up the Bodies , The Mirror and the Light, Wolf Hall
- Morgan, Jude, The Secret Life of William Shakespeare
- O’Brien, Kate, That Lady
- O’Farrell, Maggie, Hamnet
- Scott, Walter, Kenilworth
- Sienkiewicz, Henryk, With Fire and Sword
- Skea, Margaret, Turn of the Tide
- Weir, Alison, The Marriage Game
17th Century
- Arnold, Michael, Highwayman: Winter Swarm
- Boyden, Joseph, The Orenda
- Brooks, Geraldine, Caleb’s Crossing
- Brooks, Geraldine, People of the Book
- Burton, Jessie, The Miniaturist
- Clark, Clare, The Nature of Monsters
- Dumas, Alexandre, The Black Tulip
- Eyre, Hermione, Viper Wine
- Fletcher, Susan, Corrag
- Freemantle, Elizabeth, The Poison Bed
- George, Sara, The Journal of Mrs. Pepys
- Gregory, Philippa, Tidelands
- Howe, Katherine, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane
- Kadish, Rachel, The Weight of Ink
- Lea, Caroline, The Glass Woman
- Lovett, Charlie, The Bookman’s Tale
- Magnusson, Sally, The Sealwoman’s Gift
- Morgan, Jude, The Secret Life of William Shakespeare
- Sabatini, Rafael, The Lovers of Yvonne
- Salgari, Emilio, The Queen of the Caribbean
- Smith, Dominic, The Last Painting of Sara de Vos
- Steadman, Helen, Widdershins
- Thorpe, Adam, Ulverton
- Tremain, Rose, Merivel: A Man of His Time
- Watson, Sally, Lark
- Winterson, Jeanette, The Daylight Gate
18th Century
- Barton, Emily, Brookland
- Carey, Edward, Little
- Chevalier, Tracy, Burning Bright
- Clement, Katherine, The Coffin Path
- Crace, Jim, Harvest
- Dickens, Charles, A Tale of Two Cities
- Drabble, Margaret, The Red Queen
- Dumas, Alexandre, Captain Paul
- Du Maurier, Daphne, Jamaica Inn
- Dunmore, Helen, Birdcage Walk
- Ekbäck, Cecilia, Wolf Winter
- Fraser, George MacDonald, Captain in Calico
- Gowar, Imogen Hermes, The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock
- Graham, Winston, The Angry Tide, The Black Moon, Demelza, The Four Swans, Jeremy Poldark, Ross Poldark, Warleggan
- Gyasi, Yaa, Homegoing
- Harris, Jane, Sugar Money
- Heyer, Georgette, Snowdrift and Other Stories, The Talisman Ring
- Hodgson, Antonia, The Devil in the Marshalsea, The Last Confession of Thomas Hawkins
- Keaney, Brian, The Alphabet of Heart’s Desire
- Kearsley, Susanna, The Winter Sea
- Laxness, Halldór, Iceland’s Bell
- Miller, Andrew, Pure
- Mitchell, David, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
- Myers, Benjamin, The Gallows Pole
- Naslund, Sena Jeter, The Fountain of St. James Court or, Portrait of the Artist as an Old Woman
- Nordhoff, Charles and James Norman Hall, Men Against the Sea, Mutiny on the Bounty, Pitcairn’s Island
- Scott, Walter, The Antiquary, Guy Mannering
- Spufford, Francis, Golden Hill
- Stachniak, Eva, Empress of the Night, The Winter Palace
- Stevenson, Robert Louis, Treasure Island
- Thorpe, Adam, Ulverton
- Unsworth, Barry, The Quality of Mercy
- Wade, Christine, Seven Locks
- Wilder, Thornton, The Bridge of San Luis Rey
19th Century
- Achebe, Chinua, Things Fall Apart
- Atwood, Margaret, Alias Grace
- Baker, Jo, Longbourn, The Mermaid’s Child
- Barry, Sebastian, Days without End
- Beauregard, Mark, The Whale: A Love Story
- Birch, Carol, Jamrach’s Menagerie
- Brennert, Alan, Moloka’i
- Brightwell, Geri, The Dark Lantern
- Brooks, Geraldine, People of the Book
- Burnet, Graeme Macrae, His Bloody Project
- Busch, Frederick, The Night Inspector
- Byatt, A. S., The Children’s Book
- Carey, Peter, Jack Maggs, Parrot and Olivier in America
- Catton, Eleanor, The Luminaries
- Chevalier, Tracy, Remarkable Creatures
- Clark, Janice, The Rathbones
- Coates, Ta-Nehisi, The Water Dancer
- Conley, Robert J., Strange Company
- Coplin, Amanda, The Orchardist
- Crummey, Michael, Galore, River Thieves
- DeWitt, Patrick, The Sisters Brothers
- Donoghue, Emma, The Wonder
- Du Maurier, Daphne, Castle Dor
- Ebershoff, David, The 19th Wife
- Eco, Umberto, The Prague Cemetery
- Edugyan, Esi, Washington Black
- Ekbäck, Cecilia, In the Month of the Midnight Sun
- Evison, Jonathan, West of Here
- Farrell, J. G., The Siege of Krishnapur
- Faye, Lyndsay, Jane Steele
- Fergus, Jim, One Thousand White Women, The Vengeance of Mothers
- Ferguson, Ruby, Lady Rose and Mrs. Memmary
- Fletcher, Susan, House of Glass, Let Me Tell You about a Man I Knew
- Foote, Shelby, Shiloh
- Foulds, Adam, The Quickening Maze
- Fowler, Karen Joy, Sister Noon
- Fraser, George MacDonald, Flashman
- Frazier, Charles, Varina
- Freeman, Judith, Red Water
- Fuller, Iola, The Loon Feather
- Gale, Patrick, A Place Called Winter
- Garfield, Leon, Smith, The Story of a Pickpocket
- Gault, Cinda, This Godforsaken Place
- Ghosh, Amitav, Flood of Fire, River of Smoke, Sea of Poppies
- Gifford, Elisabeth, The Sea House
- Gilbert, Elizabeth, The Signature of All Things
- Graham, Winston, Bella Poldark, The Loving Cup, The Miller’s Dance, The Stranger from the Sea, The Twisted Sword
- Gyasi, Yaa, Homegoing
- Hand, Elizabeth, Mortal Love
- Hardy, Thomas, The Mayor of Casterbridge
- Harris, Robert, An Officer and a Spy
- Heyer, Georgette, Black Sheep, The Convenient Marriage, Cotillion, Cousin Kate, Frederica, Friday’s Child , Snowdrift and Other Stories, Sprig Muslin, Sylvester, or The Wicked Uncle
- Horan, Nancy, Under the Wide and Starry Sky
- Hunt, Laird, Neverhome
- Jensen, Carsten, We, The Drowned
- Jones, Edward P., The Known World
- Kelly, Mary Pat, Galway Bay
- Kennedy, Margaret, Troy Chimneys
- Kent, Hannah, Burial Rites, The Good People
- Kidd, Jess, Things in Jars
- Kidd, Sue Monk, The Invention of Wings
- Kingsolver, Barbara, Unsheltered
- Levy, Andrea, The Long Song
- Lynch, Paul, Grace
- McBride, James, The Good Lord Bird
- McCrea, Gavin, Mrs. Engels
- McCrumb, Sharyn, The Unquiet Grave
- Martin, Valerie, The Ghost of the Mary Celeste
- Mazzola, Anna, The Story Keeper
- Meyer, Philipp, The Son
- Mitchell, David, Cloud Atlas
- Morgan, Jude, Charlotte and Emily
- Morgan, Jude, Indiscretion
- Morgan, Jude, Passion
- Morrison, Toni, Beloved
- Morton, Kate, The Clockmaker’s Daughter
- Naslund, Sena Jeter, Ahab’s Wife: or, The Star-Gazer
- Nicholson, William, Amherst
- O’Connor, Joseph, Shadowplay
- O’Connor, Nuala, Miss Emily
- O’Loughlin, Ed, Minds of Winter
- Owen, Lauren, The Quick
- Palliser, Charles, Rustication
- Parker, Robert B., Appaloosa
- Perry, Sarah, The Essex Serpent
- Portis, Charles, True Grit
- Powning, Beth, The Sea Captain’s Wife
- Quinn, Anthony, The Streets
- Ray, Kalyan, No Country
- Ridgway, Bee, The River of No Return
- Rivers, Susan, The Second Mrs. Hockaday
- Rölvaag, O. E., Giants in the Earth
- Russell, Mary Doria, Doc
- Scharper, Hilary, Perdita
- Schmidt, Sarah, See What I Have Done
- Scott, James, The Kept
- See, Lisa, Peony in Love, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
- Setterfield, Diane, Bellman & Black
- Shepherd, Lynn, A Fatal Likeness, The Solitary House
- Smiley, Jane, The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton
- Stone, Irving, Immortal Wife
- Sutcliff, Rosemary, Blood & Sand
- Thackeray, William Makepeace, Vanity Fair
- Thorpe, Adam, Ulverton
- Toibin, Colm, The Master
- Treloar, Lucy, Salt Creek
- Vreeland, Susan, Clara and Mr. Tiffany
- Warner, Sylvia Townsend, The True Heart
- Waters, Sarah, Affinity
- White, Karen, Beatriz Williams, and Lauren Willig, The Forgotten Room
- Wilcox, Victoria, Inheritance
- Williams, Andrew, To Kill a Tsar
- Williams, Pip, The Dictionary of Lost Words
- Witliff, Bill, The Devil’s Backbone
- Woolf, Virginia, Flush: A Biography
20th Century (first half or so)
- Amend, Allison, Enchanted Islands
- Amis, Martin, The Zone of Interest
- Atkinson, Kate, Transcription
- Baker, Jo, A Country Road, A Tree
- Barbeau-Lavalette, Anaïs, Suzanne
- Barker, Pat, Toby’s Room
- Belfoure, Charles, The Paris Architect
- Bloom, Amy, Lucky Us, White Houses
- Boyd, William, Love Is Blind, Sweet Caress
- Boyne, John, The House of Special Purpose
- Brennert, Alan, Moloka’i
- Brooks, Geraldine, People of the Book
- Brown, Eleanor, The Light of Paris
- Burton, Jessie, The Muse
- Byatt, A. S., The Children’s Book, A Whistling Woman
- Carey, Peter, A Long Way from Home
- Chabon, Michael, Moonglow
- Chapman, Maille, Your Presence Is Requested at Suvanto
- Chevalier, Tracy, A Single Thread
- Cleave, Chris, Everyone Brave Is Forgiven
- Cline, Emma, The Girls
- Connolly, Cressida, After the Party
- Cunningham, Michael, The Hours
- Darznik, Jasmin, Song of a Captive Bird
- Diamant, Anita, The Boston Girl
- Doerr, Anthony, All the Light We Cannot See
- Donoghue, Emma, The Pull of the Stars
- Dunmore, Helen, The Greatcoat, The Lie
- Ebershoff, David, The Danish Girl
- Edugyan, Esi, Half-Blood Blues
- Egan, Jennifer, Manhattan Beach
- Eng, Tan Twan, The Garden of Evening Mists
- Erdrich, Louise, The Night Watchman
- Farrell, J. G., The Singapore Grip, Troubles
- Faye, Lyndsay, The Paragon Hotel
- Fitch, Janet, The Revolution of Marina M.
- Flanagan, Richard, The Narrow Road to the Deep North
- Foulds, Adam, In the Wolf’s Mouth
- Fowler, Therese Anne, Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald
- Franklin, Tom and Beth Ann Fennelly, The Tilted World
- Fuller, Claire, Bitter Orange
- Furst, Alan, Midnight in Europe
- Gale, Patrick, A Place Called Winter
- Galgut, Damon, Arctic Summer
- Ghosh, Amitav, The Glass Palace
- Gilbert, Elizabeth, City of Girls
- Gray, Juliana, A Strange Scottish Shore
- Gruen, Sara, At the Water’s Edge
- Gyasi, Yaa, Homegoing
- Hannah, Kristin, The Nightingale
- Harding, Paul, Tinkers
- Harris, Robert, Munich
- Hayes, Suzanne and Nyhan, Loretta, Empire Girls
- Hobson, Charlotte, The Vanishing Futurist
- Hodgkinson, Amanda, 22 Britannia Road
- Hollinghurst, Alan, The Stranger’s Child
- Howe, Katherine, The House of Velvet and Glass
- Ishiguro, Kazuo, The Remains of the Day
- James, Marlon, A Brief History of Seven Killings
- Jefferies, Dinah, The Sapphire Widow
- Jones, Addison, Wait for Me, Jack
- Jones, Edward P., All Aunt Hagar’s Children
- Jones, Sadie, The Uninvited Guests
- Kelly, Martha Hall, Lilac Girls
- Kenneally, Thomas, The Daughters of Mars
- King, Lily, Euphoria
- Kingsolver, Barbara, The Lacuna
- Kushner, Rachel, The Flamethrowers
- Lawhon, Ariel, Flight of Dreams
- Lee, Min Jin, Pachinko
- MacLennan, Hugh, Barometer Rising
- Malamud, Bernard, The Fixer
- Malik, Rachel, Miss Boston and Miss Hargreaves
- Mawer, Simon, The Glass Room
- McCarthy, Tom, C
- McClain, Paula, Circling the Sun
- McEwan, Ian, Atonement
- McGrath, Patrick, The Wardrobe Mistress
- Mawer, Simon, The Glass Room, Tightrope
- Merrell, Susan Scarf, Shirley
- Mitchell, David, Cloud Atlas, Utopia Avenue
- Morgan, C. E., The Sport of Kings
- Morton, Kate, The Clockmaker’s Daughter, The Distant Hours, The Forgotten Garden, The Lake House, The Secret Keeper
- Mukherjee, Neel, The Lives of Others
- Nesbit, TaraShea, The Wives of Los Alamos
- Norman, Howard, The Haunting of L.
- O’Connor, Joseph, Ghost Light
- O’Farrell, Maggie, Instructions for a Heatwave, The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox
- O’Hara, Maryanne, Cascade
- O’Loughlin, Ed, Minds of Winter
- Quinn, Kate, The Alice Network
- Robertson, Robin, The Long Take
- Robinson, Marilynne, Gilead, Lila
- Roy, Anuradha, An Atlas of Impossible Longing
- See, Lisa, Shanghai Girls
- Shamsie, Kamila, A God in Every Stone
- Shapiro, B. A., The Collector’s Apprentice
- Shattuck, Jessica, The Women in the Castle
- Shreve, Anita, The Stars Are Fire
- Simonson, Helen, The Summer Before the War
- Singleton, Elyse, This Side of the Sky
- Smiley, Jane, Early Warning, Some Luck
- Soueif, Ahdaf, The Map of Love
- Swift, Graham, Mothering Sunday
- Szado, Ania, Studio Saint-Ex
- Tan, Amy, The Kitchen God’s Wife
- Thien, Madeleine, Do Not Say We Have Nothing
- Thorpe, Adam, Ulverton
- Towles, Amor, A Gentleman in Moscow, Rules of Civility
- Tremain, Rose, The Gustav Sonata
- Trigiani, Adriana, The Shoemaker’s Wife
- Urquhart, Jane, The Night Stages
- Vreeland, Susan, Lisette’s List
- Waters, Sarah, The Paying Guests
- Weisgarber, Ann, The Promise
- Werfel, Franz, The Forty Days of Musa Dagh
- White, Karen, Beatriz Williams, and Lauren Willig, The Forgotten Room
- Williams, Niall, This Is Happiness
- Willig, Lauren, The Other Daughter
- Wood, Naomi, Mrs. Hemingway
- Yan, Mo, Red Sorghum
- Zusak, Markus, The Book Thief
