This Rec League is from Rebecca from our podcast Patreon Discord:
So I’m really enjoying the Below Stairs mysteries and wondered if anyone has any recs for other historical cosy mystery series. What I like about them is they generally resolve well and have that cosy mystery feel, but they also acknowledge some of the social justice issues of the time. I don’t really like high society stuff, so I like that they’re about working class.
Susan: Hither Page by Cat Sebastian has a very tired spy poking around a small village trying to solve a murder with a former army doctor, and it’s full of people trying their best
Fewer cozy vibes, but Murder on the Last Frontier by Cathy Pegau has a suffragette journalist in a frontier town in Alaska trying to solve the murder of a sex worker.
…I’m coming to realise that I read a lot of historical mysteries, and a lot of cozy mysteries, but not a lot in the intersection, hang on.
Sarah: I LOVED the Hither, Page books.
The Crown Colony series by Ovidia Yu, starting with The Frangipani Tree Mystery. They’re set in the late 30s in Singapore, when it’s still a British colony.
Murder at Mallowan Hall by Colleen Cambridge ( A | BN | K ) is about Agatha Christie and her housekeeper, Phyllida Bright.
Miss Aldridge Regrets by Louise Hare might work – it’s more noir and takes place on the Queen Mary in the 30s.
What mysteries would you recommend? Let us know in the comments!
The Her Royal Spyness series, by Rhys Bowen maybe? High society but living in genteel poverty, set in the 30s in the UK and Europe.
I’m enjoying the Gus & Julia books, but not sure one can call them cozy ; they’re a bit too on the nose. Still very good reads. I also like Sherry Thomas’ Charlotte Holmes series. The Dandy Gilver books were interesting, too.
The Lady Violet Mysteries and The Lord Julian Mysteries by Grace Burrowes are pretty cozy and have a Regency setting.
I have a new historical mystery series, Kidnapped, Blackmailed, and Murdered. The first two are out and the last one comes out in November. They’re set in Baltimore and feature a man who works at an oyster cannery and the cannery owner’s daughter. They are not quite cozy, some violence, but close.
Love the Lord Julian mysteries!
Historical mysteries are absolutely my jam. On the cozier side, I’ve recently enjoyed the Electra McDonnell series set in 1940s England. They are fairly light on social commentary and veer almost more into romance w/mystery elements towards the end of this (completed) series. But def. cozy with not a lot of peril, gore, etc.
A series I absolutely adore that is a little less cozy (but not super gritty) and tackles social issues in a very thoughtful way is the Pentecost and Parker mysteries by Stephen Spotswood. Picture Nero Wolfe and Archie Godwin in 1940s NYC but everyone is queer. So, so good, although I’ve gotten a little exasperated with the addition of more and more overarching plot lines as the stories go on. I like my mysteries to be more “mystery of the week” ala classic mystery such as Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple and keeping away from super villains that I have to keep track of from story to story.
I’m partial to the Brother Cadfael mysteries.
The Daisy Dalrymple mysteries by Carola Dunn. They’re set in early 1920s England. Daisy is the daughter of a viscount, but decides to earn her own living as a writer.
I see several of my favorites already recommended. I’ve enjoyed the Harriet Gordon mysteries (1st one: Agony in Amethyst) are set in 1920s Singapore; the Veronica Speedwell series (1st one: A Curious Beginning) set in Victorian England; the Gaslight mysteries by Victoria Thompson are set in early 20th century NYC (1st one: Murder on Astor Place).
The Daisy Majesty series by Alice Duncan is pretty cosy. California, 1920s. The first is Strong Spirits. Daisy and her family are working class. I like the extended family vibe of these – Daisy and her disabled husband live with her parents, and I think an aunt as well. They do talk about some social justice issues.
Victoria Thompson’s gaslamp mystery series, set in New York in the 1890s, is probably cosy-adjacent, as there are some grimmer incidents (abuse etc). Worth trying though. The first is Murder on Astor Place. Working class again, and poverty is a theme.
Seconding the Daisy Dalrymple series, though these books do have more high society doings.
KJ Charles’ “Will Darling Adventures” series might work. Will, who is a veteran of WWI and runs a bookstore, gets involved with an aristocrat, so there is definitely some class-based back and forth between him and Kim. Will does get pulled into Kim’s world along the way but he remains pretty unimpressed.
Andrea Penrose’s Lady Ariana mysteries, maybe? Historical mysteries with chocolate. It’s been a while simce I read them, so the chocolate may be the only cozy element.
Death Comes to the Village (Kurland St. Mary series) by Catherine Lloyd is a Regency-set mystery series. The amateur sleuths are the rector’s daughter and a former soldier. The first book is pretty solid
The M. Louisa Locke mysteries set in 1880 San Francisco fit the bill. She does a ton of research into the various occupations women held in the time period as well as other social issues. The first book is Maids of Misfortune – the protagonist goes undercover as a maid to solve the mysterious death of one of her clients (her main occupation is as a pretend medium who uses fake psychic abilities to give financial advice to clients who wouldn’t take advice from a woman). Other books cover women in the printing industry, teaching, woolen mills, medicine and women students at the University of California.
I love all the books and short stories in this series.
Loooove the Page series by Sebastian!
I am never sure what qualifies as cozy, so definitely vibe check the synopses.
I agree KJ Charles might fit (of course I do). The Sins of the City series is like the sensation novels of its era, the Will Darling series is like the pulp novels of its era, Death in the Spires is classic Gothic (but it’s a standalone, and the others are trilogies, which, personally, when I want a series barely qualifies).
AJ Demas is alt-classical history queer mystery romance, highly recommend.
Most historical mysteries I have tried, and I have tried oodles – off the top of my head these include: Brother Cadfael, Nick Holt, Sebastian St Cyr, Charles Lennox, Sarah Gilchrist, Lady Sherlock, Verity Kent, Maggie Kent – all I think deal with upper classes and mostly I find them …fine, but not all that thrilling. Which maybe just means they’re cozier than my taste? I’m not exactly recommending any of those but possibly worth investigating (ahem) after one has run out of other options. I have found anything by Deanna Raybourn or Anne Perry do nothing for me but are enormously popular otherwise.
Perveen Mistry maybe?
There are so many great mystery series that are now so old that they have become historicals even though they were contemporary when written, but idk if that would satisfy the same itch, especially if one is not looking for the privileged pov.
Oh, The Master and Commander books are not mysteries, although occasionally there are mystery elements. They’re historical fiction that is largely about like, naval battles and shipping and I don’t know or care really what all is happening with the plot. When I am looking for the kind of cozy read that’ll send me off to sleep, there is nothing so good, and I absolutely adore the main characters, who are not part of high society.
Historical cozies have become my jam. I adore Dianne Freeman’s Lady Harleigh series. A widowed American noble in turn of the century London. My other favorite is Celeste Connolly’s Lady Petra series. Each of the books has absolutely delighted me.
Claudia Grey’s Jonathan and Juliet series. Jonathan is the son of Darcy and Elizabeth and Juliet is the daughter of Catherine and Henry Tilney. They solve mysteries! The first book (The Murder of Mr. Wickham) was my favorite book of the year that it came out, and this year’s The Rushworth Family Plot is almost certainly my favorite of this year.
Continuing the Austen theme, we have:
Vanessa Kelly’s Murder in Highbury has Emma Knightley solving a mystery
And
Miss Caroline Bingley, Private Investigator by Kelly Gardiner and Sharmini Kumar, which does what it says in the title.
The last 2 are also fun, although I fear we’re getting to the saturation point of ‘Austen characters fight crime’.
Somewhat more violent, we have A Daughter of Fair Verona by Christina Dodd, which is completely ridiculous but I snort-laughed all the way through, so I don’t care. This time it’s the actual daughter of Romeo and Juliet that fights crime. Just go with that.
They’re set in ancient Rome with a working class detective (at least at the start!), but Lindsey Davis’ Marcus Didius Falco series or the follow-up Flavia Alba series (featuring his adopted daughter) might fit what you’re looking for? Lots of historical information about everyday life in the first century Roman empire, as narrated by an everyday detective just trying to get by. They’re kind of cozy (there’s a bit of gore as there’s almost always a murder) in a different way than the already-mentioned series.
I love the Perveen Mistry series by Sujata Massey. These are set in 1920s British India and center around Bombay’s only female lawyer. I believe that book 5 is coming out next year.
There are TONS set in the 20s. Melanie mentioned one series, there’s also Katherine Schellman’s speakeasy series, Ashley Weaver, Kerry Greenwood, Erica Ruth Neubauer, Kate Khavari,and Susanna Calkins. Dolores Gordon-Smith’s Jack Haldean stories are a favorite.
Andrea Penrose also has a series set in the Regency. So does Katherine Schellman, and Ashley Gardner. Charles Finch does Victorian.
Diane Freeman uses the Edwardian period, and Allison Montclair and Iona Whishaw set theirs just post-WWII. Sulari Gentil is just before the war.
Anna Lee Huber is either 1830s or post-WWI spies.
If you want truly cozy, go with Burrowes. I don’t think there’s a dead body in them. I appreciate that. I quite like Weaver and Calkins as well. There’s something to be said for choosing a period or place you’re interested in and going with that — I know there’s a lot of Gilded Age books out there, but I’m not interested in those.
One other you might want to try — Patricia Wentworth. She actually wrote in the 40s and 50s, but they’re definitely cozy and enjoyable. I like Nothing Venture. More and more, there’s something to be said for books where there are no dead bodies.
I like the Phryne Fisher Mysteries by Kerry Greenwood. They are about the coziest I’ve read. They are set in and around Melbourne Australia in the 1920s, and feature a strong minded woman sleuth who also knows how to glam it up. First title is Cocaine Blues.
If you like a 1920s setting, both Amanda Quick and Barbara Hambly have series set in the early days of motion pictures. Quick’s Burning Cove series is very cozy, but I’d give the edge to Hambly’s Silver Screen series. Unlike Burning Cove, the three Silver Screen books focus on the same core characters in each book and have a grit and authentic feel you might really enjoy. The first of three Silver Screen books is Scandal in Babylon. The first Burning Cove mystery is The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1/7).
Also, though I wouldn’t call it cozy, Hambly’s Benjamin January series is an excellent historical mystery series set in the New Orleans Free Black community shortly after Louisiana became part of the U.S. First book is A Free Man of Color.
If you haven’t read them, you might also enjoy the Amelia Peabody series by Barbara Mertz writing as Elizabeth Peters. Set mostly in Egypt in the late 19th century, these feature a smart, independent, somewhat abrasive FMC and an equally brilliant and combative MMC. (Think grumpy/grumpy) I think that both Peabody and Emerson have sound values, but these books are set in the archeological community, so the ills of colonization and the plundering of Egypt are a major element. Mertz deals with these elements as well as other social issues, but this is an older series, so it may not work for every reader. The first book is A Crocodile on a Sandbank.
I’ve also enjoyed Ruth Downie’s Medicus series about a doctor with the Roman Legion stationed in Britannia. This one has an interesting relationship arc and Gaius Petreius Ruso spends a lot of time wrestling with ethical issues. First book is–surprise!–Medicus.
Also, FWIW, seconding Lord Julian and Brother Cadfael series.
Seconding the recs for Claudia Grey’s series. I’m not always a fan of Jane Austen reworkings, but these are brilliant, and one of my favorite series, hands down.
Also agree to the Perveen Mistry recs. I would also recommend Harini Nagendra’s Bangalore Detectives Club books set during a similar time frame in Bangalore. All of these are autoholds for me at my local library.
I’m a big fan of historical mysteries from many time periods. Susanna Gregory’s Bartholomew series is one of my favorites; it’s set at Oxford University in the 1300s and Matthew Bartholomew is a physician and professor. More similar to the Below Stairs series is the Wrexford & Sloane series by Andrea Penrose. Wrexford is an earl, but Sloane is a satirical artist who has unofficially adopted to orphans. The Sebastian St. Cyr series by C.S. Harris has been out a while, but it’s a good one.
Another series I discovered last year is the Crispin Guest series by Jeri Westerson. The MC is a disgraced knight who has no useful skills and scrapes a living as a “private inquiry agent” in 1300s London. I found him rather unlikeable in the beginning but he has great character development as the series progresses and the atmosphere and secondary characters were enough to keep me reading.
The Rowland Sinclair series by Sulari Gentill is in 1920s/30s era Australia and has some fabulous secondary characters. The Dr. Siri Paiboun series by Colin Cotterill is set in near-present-day Laos and it’s terrific.
Nell Sweeney mysteries by P.B. (which is Patrica Ryan’s pseudonym) – Takes place in Boston during the Gilded Age. Main character(s) are an Irish maid and an ex-Union soldier who has a fascination with what we now call forensic evidence. Slow burn romance
Edwardian Mystery series – by Marion Chesney – set during the Edwardian period naturally. Light comedy as well as romance. I liked the first two books the best. The main characters are a young British lady who is trying dabble in independence (not too well) and a former military Captain who becomes something of a fixer for aristocrats in trouble. Listened on audio and they were excellently narrated by Davina Porter.
I read so many of these, I had to make a spreadsheet to keep track of where I was in all the series!
In addition to many great ones already mentioned, the Justin de Quincey mysteries by Sharon Kay Penman, set in medieval England. The first one is THE QUEEN’S MAN. The MC is not upper class, but he has contact with a lot of nobility.
Andrea Penrose’s Wrexford & Sloane mystery series, which has a slow developing romance, is a mix of upper and lower classes, Victorian era.
Victoria Thompson’s Counterfeit Lady mysteries, the first book is CITY OF LIES. FMC is a conwoman in NY, who accidently finds herself involved with the suffragette movement while running a sting.
The Lizzie Martin/Inspector Ross mysteries by Ann Granger. Victorian England, first book is A RARE INTEREST IN CORPSES.
Allison Montclair’s Bainbridge & Sparks series, post WW2 London, book 1 is THE RIGHT SORT OF MAN.
This is an offbeat one: Kris Tualla’s Discreet Gentleman series is set in early 18th C. Sweden, and the MMC is a private investigator with hearing loss. The first book is A DISCREET GENTLEMAN OF DISCOVERY.
The Agency series by Y.S. Lee, marketed as YA, but I really enjoyed them. FMC is an orphan and former thief, Victorian London, first book is A SPY IN THE HOUSE.
Very similar premise but different vibes, is Mimi Matthews new Crinoline Academy series, only 1 released so far but I loved it.
I haven’t had a chance to read all of the comments yet so I am sure I am duplicating recommendations, but I would recommend the following for cozy non-high society historical mystery series (if you are open to high or even mid-society I would have a ton more):
The Dame Frevisse series by Margaret Frazer (they get better and better later in the series)
Gaslight Mystery series by Victoria Thompson
Perveen Mistry series by Sujata Massey (these aren’t working class – the family is well off, but both the FMC and her father are working lawyers)
@Anna Held, hi from another Patricia Wentworth fan! Nothing Venture is a favorite of mine, although it’s one of her few books without Miss Silver, her old lady detective character(I believe she may predate Miss Marple).
A Disappearance in Fiji by Nilima Rao is excellent. I’d call it cosy-adjacent as it deals with racism and slavery in pre-WWI Fiji, but it’s worth checking out. I am still waiting for my library to buy the sequel!
I also recommend just about anything by Alys Clare, particularly her Gabriel Taverner series (set in 1600s England) or the World’s End Bureau.
Harini Nagendra’s Bangalore Detective Club mysteries, set in 1920s Bangalore. Author is a professor of environmental science who lives in Bangalore. Kaveri Murthy is a recently married young woman. Her husband is a doctor and her family is wealthy, but she forms relationships with women across the social spectrum who help her investigate. The series deals with class issues and colonialism. First book is THE BANGALORE DETECTIVES CLUB and they should be read in order.
Also seconding the recommendation for Ovidia Yu’s Crown Colony mysteries.
Not technically historical (merely contemporaries that are old enough to now qualify as such), but I’ll mention, at the risk of self-promotion, that I’ve collected a number of forgotten mysteries from the 19-teens and ’20s by a then-popular American author, Beulah Poynter, most of them mild enough by today’s standards to probably count as cozy:
As a Sealed Book (five unconnected stories, all with amateur sleuths or P.I.s)
It Looked Like Murder (five loosely-connected proto-police procedurals)
The Murillo Mystery (murder mystery of an art collector, with a proto-Scooby gang)
Deep Water (mystery of stolen jewels? and maybe more?)
It Looked Like Murder is probably the most gruesome of the bunch, as all of the stories there deal with legit murders, but it’s still nowhere near the level of explicitness that you can find in the genre today. I’ll also note that Poynter was surprisingly progressive for the era, so there’s some neat social commentary folded into her work (female P.I.s, reproductive rights, bucking then-racist trends, etc.). They also all have romantic subplots, but how well the romances are developed varies from story to story.
I forgot Manda Collins’ Ladies Most Scandalous series!!! It is downright addictive and is in my comfort reads rotation.
I like the Ginger Gold series by Lee Strauss. They are set in 1920’s England, focused on a young war widow who was born in England, raised in America by her father and stepmother, and married and widowed during the war. She did marry a lord (they met during the war), so now that the war is over she is heading back to england to reopen the house and take her place in society, but she stumbles across a dead body during her atlantic crossing and just has to solve the mystery, much to the ire of the scotland yard detective tasked with solving the mystery. The first book is not the best, it’s setting everything up, but the second book and beyond are all great. I always say it’s like “Lady Mary Grantham gets bored and solves murders”.
I really like the CS Harris Sebastian St Cyr mysteries, they’re not very cozy but do tackle the serious social issues/injustices of the Regency period. I think it’s at #20 books and each one focuses on a different issue especially in the later books! The earlier ones had more of a focus on his personal life/romance.
I would check out one of Kelley Armstrong’s time traveling (she has two) series. But that one you’d want is the Rip in Time series. It’s about a modern cop who gets sent back in time. The cast of characters is great and the murders aren’t super close to home so it feels cozy even if the crimes aren’t.
My historical cozy crime with queer/Sapphic characters A MURDEROUS BUSINESS drops on 9/16 🙂
Set in 1912 New York, Margot has taken over her family’s food canning business and discovers something nefarious has been happening. She hires private investigator Rett to look into it. Business shenanigans and murder with queer women pushing back against the heteropatriarchy.
Hi Everyone, As the person who submitted the rec request I thank you for all your suggestions. When I read the post I was surprised to learn there was a a relevant Cat Sebastian series I’ve never read.
I haven’t got through all the comments yet, but I have seen some mention of how there are lots more great cosy historical mysteries that aren’t about working class people / where lines are in terms of what fits that aspect of the request. For me personally, The Duke Who Didn’t by Courtney Milan is a more well known to the community book that does something similar to what I like about the Below Stairs series in terms of representation and perspective in a historical setting. I’m happy to read books that centre characters that aren’t working class but what I truly don’t like is characters ̀ lives are significantly limited by class or the prejudices that come from class or spend a lot of time doing things just to tick etiquette / societal expectation boxes. For example, I tried the first Her Royal Spyness book and whilst I loved the character, I found how her class circumstances limited her life and many of the other characters early on in the book especially the queen very irritating to the extent that I stopped reading it. I didn’t get very far with that one though.