A relatively new subgenre of mystery fiction is mysteries which are solved by true historical figures. It seems that well-known authors have lately become the heroic detectives of mystery novels. If you are reader of classic fiction, or know a bit about the history of important people, it can be an entertaining diversion to read one of these mysteries.

Authors seem to be the most favoured of historical detectives. Stephanie Barron has written a whole series based on Jane Austen as the sleuth, Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor: Being the First Jane Austen Mystery. Written in the first person by Jane herself, these novels capture the voice and humour of the original Austen novels, while keeping the reader caught in the tangles of crime-solving. Carrie Bebris takes this one step further and writes mysteries in which the characters, Mr. and Mrs. Darcy, of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, become the detectives, in books with titles such as Pride and Prescience: or a Truth Universally Acknowledged.

In a series of mysteries with titles such as The Slaying of the Shrew and A Mystery of Errors, by Simon Hawke, Shakespeare becomes the amateur detective. Young Will, an aspiring playwright and his band of thespians find themselves searching for answers when someone turns up dead at their performances. 

Another famous English author, Geoffrey Chaucer, becomes a central figure in A Gift of Sanctuary: an Owen Archer Mystery by Candace Robb. Sent to Wales on a spying mission, Chaucer and Owen Archer, the hero of other titles in this medieval mystery series, arrive at their destination to discover their contact has been murdered.

Some mysteries put two or three historical figures together to solve the crime. Two great ladies of mystery writing, Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, become the central characters of Dorothy and Agatha by Gaylord Larsen. When Dorothy finds a dead man in her dining room, and seems to be implicated in the crime, Agatha and her Detective Club colleagues come to her rescue. Oscar Wilde becomes the hero in Oscar Wilde and a Death of No Importance by Giles Brandreth. In this chilling tale of Victorian London, Oscar Wilde enlists the help of his friends, Arthur Conan Doyle and Richard Sherard, to investigate a complicated killing, based on the curious murder of Billy Wood, a young artist’s model who was the inspiration for Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. In The Arcanum, by Thomas Wheeler, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, with the help of Harry Houdini and other historical figures, sorts out the mysterious death of a man who possessed the world’s most powerful artifact, now missing. Another story, Not Quite Dead by John MacLachlan Gray, puts Charles Dickens and Edgar Allen Poe into the centre of a mystery surrounding the murder of an innocent woman in Baltimore.

Take some time with these immortal figures and see how they measure up to your favourite sleuths. Borrow these books from your local public library.