On this page, I have ordered the books by the century in which most of the action takes place. Each book is only entered once even though some of the books cover events in more than one century. 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
- Brooks, Geraldine, The Secret Chord
- Harris, Robert, Dictator
- Harris, Robert, Conspirata
- Harris, Robert, Imperium
- Miller, Madeline, The Song of Achilles
- Toíbín, Colm, House of Names
1st Century
- Davis, Lindsey, Master & God
- Dumas, Alexandre, Acté
- Sienkiewicz, Henryk, Quo Vadis
- Toíbín, Colm, The Testament of Mary
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
11th Century
- Dunnett, Dorothy, King Hereafter
- Kingsnorth, Paul, The Wake
13th Century
- Porter, Jane, The Scottish Chiefs
14th Century
- Druon, Maurice, The Iron King (second review)
- Druon, Maurice, The King Without a Kingdom
- Druon, Maurice, The Lily and the Lion
- Druon, Maurice, The Poisoned Crown
- Druon, Maurice, The Royal Succession
- Druon, Maurice, The She-Wolf
- Druon, Maurice, The Strangled Queen (second review)
- Falcones, Ildefonso, Cathedral of the Sea
- Maitland, Karen, The Owl Killers
- Porter, Jane, The Scottish Chiefs
- Spurling, John, The Ten Thousand Things
- Tranter, Nigel, Lords of Misrule
- Vantrease, Brenda Rickman, The Illuminator
15th Century
- Dunant, Sarah, Blood & Beauty
- Hugo, Victor, The Hunchback of Notre Dame
- Iggulden, Conn, Stormbird
- Kalogridis, Jeanne, The Inquisitor’s Wife
- Tranter, Nigel, The Captive Crown
- Tranter, Nigel, 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
- Dunant, Sarah, Sacred Hearts
- Dunnett, Dorothy, Checkmate
- Dunnett, Dorothy, The Disorderly Knights
- Dunnett, Dorothy, The Game of Kings
- Dunnett, Dorothy, Queen’s Play
- Dunnett, Dorothy, Pawn in Frankincense
- Dunnett, Dorothy, 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
- Mantel, Hilary, Wolf Hall
- Morgan, Jude, The Secret Life of William Shakespeare
- O’Brien, Kate, That Lady
- 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
- Clark, Clare, The Nature of Monsters
- Dumas, Alexandre, The Black Tulip
- Eyre, Hermione, Viper Wine
- Fletcher, Susan, Corrag
- George, Sara, The Journal of Mrs. Pepys
- Howe, Katherine, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane
- Lovett, Charlie, The Bookman’s Tale
- Morgan, Jude, The Secret Life of William Shakespeare
- Sabatini, Rafael, The Lovers of Yvonne
- Thorpe, Adam, Ulverton
- Tremain, Rose, Merivel: A Man of His Time
- Watson, Sally, Lark
- Winterson, Jeanette, The Daylight Gate
18th Century
- Chevalier, Tracy, Burning Bright
- Crace, Jim, Harvest
- Dickens, Charles, A Tale of Two Cities
- Drabble, Margaret, The Red Queen
- Ekbäck, Cecilia, Wolf Winter
- Fraser, George MacDonald, Captain in Calico
- Graham, Winston, The Angry Tide, The Black Moon, Demelza, The Four Swans, Jeremy Poldark, Ross Poldark, Warleggan
- Hodgson, Antonia, The Devil in the Marshalsea
- Kearsley, Susanna, The Winter Sea
- Laxness, Halldór, Iceland’s Bell
- Miller, Andrew, Pure
- Mitchell, David, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
- 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
- Nordhoff, Charles, and James Norman Hall, Mutiny on the Bounty
- Nordhoff, Charles, and James Norman Hall, Pitcairn’s Island
- Scott, Walter, The Antiquary
- Scott, Walter, Guy Mannering
- Stachniak, Eva, Empress of the Night
- Stachniak, Eva, The Winter Palace
- Stevenson, Robert Louis, Treasure Island
- Thorpe, Adam, Ulverton
- 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
- Baker, Jo, The Mermaid’s Child
- Beauregard, Mark, The Whale: A Love Story
- Brennert, Alan, Moloka’i
- Brightwell, Geri, The Dark Lantern
- Busch, Frederick, The Night Inspector
- Carey, Peter, Jack Maggs
- Carey, Peter, Parrot and Olivier in America
- Catton, Eleanor, The Luminaries
- Chevalier, Tracy, Remarkable Creatures
- Clark, Janice, The Rathbones
- Conley, Robert J., Strange Company
- Coplin, Amanda, The Orchardist
- Crummey, Michael, Galore
- Crummey, Michael, River Thieves
- DeWitt, Patrick, The Sisters Brothers
- Du Maurier, Daphne, Castle Dor
- Ebershoff, David, The 19th Wife
- Eco, Umberto, The Prague Cemetery
- 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
- Fletcher, Susan, Let Me Tell You about a Man I Knew
- Foote, Shelby, Shiloh
- Foulds, Adam, The Quickening Maze
- Fraser, George MacDonald, Flashman
- 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
- Ghosh, Amitav, River of Smoke
- Ghosh, Amitav, Sea of Poppies
- Gifford, Elisabeth, The Sea House
- Gilbert, Elizabeth, The Signature of All Things
- Graham, Winston, Bella Poldark
- Graham, Winston, The Loving Cup
- Graham, Winston, The Miller’s Dance
- Graham, Winston, The Stranger from the Sea
- Graham, Winston, The Twisted Sword
- Hand, Elizabeth, Mortal Love
- Harris, Robert, An Officer and a Spy
- Heyer, Georgette, Black Sheep
- Heyer, Georgette, The Convenient Marriage
- Heyer, Georgette, Cotillion
- Heyer, Georgette, Friday’s Child
- Heyer, Georgette, 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
- Kidd, Sue Monk, The Invention of Wings
- McBride, James, The Good Lord Bird
- Martin, Valerie, The Ghost of the Mary Celeste
- Meyer, Philipp, The Son
- Mitchell, David, Cloud Atlas
- Morgan, Jude, Charlotte and Emily
- Morgan, Jude, Indiscretion
- Morgan, Jude, Passion
- Morrison, Toni, Beloved
- Naslund, Sena Jeter, Ahab’s Wife: or, The Star-Gazer
- Nicholson, William, Amherst
- O’Connor, Nuala, Miss Emily
- Owen, Lauren, The Quick
- Palliser, Charles, Rustication
- Parker, Robert B., Appaloosa
- Portis, Charles, True Grit
- Powning, Beth, The Sea Captain’s Wife
- 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
- Scott, James, The Kept
- See, Lisa, Peony in Love
- See, Lisa, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
- Setterfield, Diane, Bellman & Black
- Shepherd, Lynn, A Fatal Likeness
- Shepherd, Lynn, The Solitary House
- Smiley, Jane, The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton
- Sutcliff, Rosemary, Blood & Sand
- Thorpe, Adam, Ulverton
- Toibin, Colm, The Master
- 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
- Witliff, Bill, The Devil’s Backbone
20th Century (first half)
- Amend, Allison, Enchanted Islands
- Atkinson, Kate, A God in Ruins
- Atkinson, Kate, Life After Life
- Barrett, Shirley, Rush Oh!
- Blake, Sarah, The Postmistress
- Bloom, Amy, Lucky Us
- Boyd, William, Sweet Caress
- Boyne, John, The House of Special Purpose
- Brennert, Alan, Moloka’i
- Brooks, Geraldine, People of the Book
- Byatt, A. S., A Whistling Woman
- Chabon, Michael, Moonglow
- Chapman, Maille, Your Presence Is Requested at Suvanto
- Cleave, Chris, Everyone Brave Is Forgiven
- Cline, Emma, The Girls
- Cunningham, Michael, The Hours
- Diamant, Anita, The Boston Girl
- Doerr, Anthony, All the Light We Cannot See
- Dunmore, Helen, The Greatcoat, The Lie
- Ebershoff, David, The Danish Girl
- Edugyan, Esi, Half-Blood Blues
- Farrell, J. G., Troubles
- Flanagan, Richard, The Narrow Road to the Deep North
- Fowler, Therese Anne, Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald
- Franklin, Tom and Beth Ann Fennelly, The Tilted World
- Furst, Alan, Midnight in Europe
- Gale, Patrick, A Place Called Winter
- Galgut, Damon, Arctic Summer
- Ghosh, Amitav, The Glass Palace
- Gruen, Sara, At the Water’s Edge
- Harding, Paul, Tinkers
- Hayes, Suzanne and Nyhan, Loretta, Empire Girls
- Hodgkinson, Amanda, 22 Britannia Road
- Howe, Katherine, The House of Velvet and Glass
- Ishiguro, Kazuo, The Remains of the Day
- Jones, Edward P., All Aunt Hagar’s Children
- Jones, Sadie, The Uninvited Guests
- Kenneally, Thomas, The Daughters of Mars
- King, Lily, Euphoria
- Kingsolver, Barbara, The Lacuna
- Lawhon, Ariel, Flight of Dreams
- Malamud, Bernard, The Fixer
- Mawer, Simon, The Glass Room
- McClain, Paula, Circling the Sun
- Merrell, Susan Scarf, Shirley
- Mitchell, David, Cloud Atlas
- Morton, Kate, The Distant Hours
- Morton, Kate, The Forgotten Garden
- Morton, Kate, The Lake House
- Morton, Kate, The Secret Keeper
- Mukherjee, Neel, The Lives of Others
- Nesbit, TaraShea, The Wives of Los Alamos
- O’Connor, Joseph, Ghost Light
- O’Hara, Maryanne, Cascade
- Robinson, Marilynne, Gilead
- Robinson, Marilynne, Lila
- Roy, Anuradha, An Atlas of Impossible Longing
- See, Lisa, Shanghai Girls
- Shamsie, Kamila, A God in Every Stone
- Simonson, Helen, The Summer Before the War
- Singleton, Elyse, This Side of the Sky
- Smiley, Jane, Early Warning
- Smiley, Jane, Some Luck
- Soueif, Ahdaf, The Map of Love
- Szado, Ania, Studio Saint-Ex
- Tan, Amy, The Kitchen God’s Wife
- Thorpe, Adam, Ulverton
- Towles, Amor, Rules of Civility
- 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
- White, Karen, Beatriz Williams, and Lauren Willig, The Forgotten Room
- Willig, Lauren, The Other Daughter
- Wood, Naomi, Mrs. Hemingway
- Yan, Mo, Red Sorghum
- Zusak, Markus, The Book Thief
