Help! Recommend a historical mystery

I like mysteries.

The detectives can be police or amateurs, the crimes ranging in importance from mysterious happenings to piles of mangled corpses. I don’t care for thrillers, per se, nor necessarily cozies, but I will read them classic, I will read them hardboiled, I will read them intellectual, I will read them comic–and above all I will read them historical.

What I like about mysteries is the character of the detective or detectives (they have to be an interesting person to read about) and the milieu of the crime (it has to be endemic to its location–a crime that could only have happened here, and under these circumstances).

For instance, on a whim I picked up River of Darkness by Rennie Airth, a first book about Inspector John Madden that I am already regretting there are only three of. It’s set in post-WWI England, and Madden is still recovering from his time in the trenches. So, it appears, is the murderer he is hunting. And there are all kinds of brilliant details about the war, and the crime, and the state of law enforcement of the time. Madden is a great protagonist, and the crime is well situated in its historical niche.

My tolerance for mediocre mysteries is high: I read, for instance, more than half of the at-times delightfully campy Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters. I’ve also tried Elizabeth George, Charles Finch, and Wilkie Collins, but none was really for me.

On the other hand, I quite enjoyed Alan Bradley’s Flavia de Luce mysteries, Christopher Fowler’s Bryant and May mysteries (which are always solved via arcane local knowledge), Jasper Fforde’s nursery crime books, Jo Walton’s alternate history “small change” series, and Christie, Sayers, Doyle, Poe and the rest of the classic troupe.

The problem is, such gems are hard to find, and I want more. More!

So recommend me your engaging historical mysteries, please, with attention to good characterization, tight plotting, and detailed, engaging settings.

The Dark Is Rising Sequence

I read the five books of The Dark Is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper when I was about ten years old (and a paperback sold new for $3.95). It’s about an epic struggle between the Dark and the Light: the Dark is trying to win the earth and the Light is trying to keep the earth for mankind. The protagonists are children and each book stands alone (except the last one).

I loved these books when I was little and enjoyed them again these past couple of weeks. I was surprised by how exactly I remembered them, a sign that they were written well enough to have quite an impression on me at the time.

1. Over Sea, Under Stone is about the Drew siblings–Simon, Jane, and Barney–and their holiday at the Grey House with their mysterious Great Uncle Merry, who turns out to be an Old One for the light. They find a treasure map that leads them to a Thing of Power that they must keep away from the Dark.
2. The Dark Is Rising is about Will Stanton, the seventh son of a seventh son and the last Old One to be born. On his eleventh birthday he comes into his powers and with the help of Merriman will find the six Signs and unite them before Midwinter.
3. The Greenwitch sees the Drews and Will together, back at the vacation home, tying up loose ends from the first adventure. Jane is the main character of this one, which might be why I remember liking it best.
4. The Grey King sees Will traveling in Wales, alone on a quest to wake the Sleepers with the help of Bran Davies, a boy with an unusual heritage. Winner of the Newbery Award and the one I like best as an adult.
5. And in Silver on the Tree, the Drews, Will, Bran Davies, and Merriman (or Merriman Lyon, or Merry Lyon, or Merlion, or Merlin) unite to fight the last battle, in Wales and throughout history, to keep the Dark from rising at last.

These books were a delight, and I’m glad some subconscious spontaneity spurred me to pick up the first one again.  They made an excellent interlude while I waited for my third Jo Walton alternate history-mystery to arrive in the mail. And now I’m off to read Half a Crown.

Good thing I didn’t make a resolution

I’m glad, in hindsight, that I did not formalize the resolution I contemplated about diligently reviewing every single book I read this year. If I had done so, I would find myself already six reviews behind. Since I had the wisdom, or perhaps the foresight, not to set myself up for failure, I can in good conscience leave you with only a list of brief descriptions.

• Making Money by Terry Pratchett. In this sequel to Going Postal, the con man turned postmaster general Moist von Lipwig tackles the Royal Bank. We read this book aloud in the car during our Thankstmas Oklarkansas road trips in November and December.
• Farthing by Jo Walton. Thanks to the excellent taste of the Nickersons, I thoroughly enjoyed this alternate history mystery featuring Peter Carmichael. After making peace with Nazi Germany, the corrupt politicians of Great Britain try to consolidate power.
• Ha’penny by Jo Walton. Sequel to Farthing. The last book, Half a Crown, is in the mail and cannot arrive soon enough.
• The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card (20%). Despite an action-filled opening, I couldn’t get hooked on this story of Danny, a gatemage whose forbidden magic makes him hunted by his own family.
• How to Live Safely in a Science-Fictional Universe by Charles Yu. Charles Yu fixes time machines. When he unexpectedly comes across himself, he unfortunately shoots himself, leading him into a time loop that forces him to come to terms with his unhappy relationship with his father, the inventor of time travel, who has been missing since Charles was seventeen. Snappy writing and delightful meta-commentary about science fiction make this a perfect afternoon read for science fiction fans.
• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle from The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes edited by Leslie S. Klinger. What is there left to say about the best of the best Sherlock Holmes stories, complete with snarky footnotes? I love Sherlock Holmes.

Look! Publication!

I am very pleased to announce that my short story, “Others,” has been published at Residential Aliens. Here’s the first paragraph:

Edward spotted them as soon as he stepped onto the train platform. They, the Others, had a strange shimmer about them, a distortion of the air as if heat from the desert sands were pouring out of their skin. As far as Edward could tell, he was the only one able to see them: the other people on the platform, the regular ones, pushed past the two men and the woman, whose traveling dress was slightly shabby, without even a first glance.

Go here to read the rest of it. Enjoy!

2011 Books (156)

This was the Year of Fantasy.

After I finished my graduate degree in May, I looked around me and realized I could read whatever I wanted. So instead of all the required reading I previously had to do (about thirty books a semester, give or take), I read Fantasy and Science Fiction.

And oh, how wonderful it was. I unabashedly read more genre this year than in any previous year. I reread the Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner. I read the second two Hundred Thousand Kingdoms books by N. K. Jemisin. I read as many Terry Pratchett books as I could reach. I read six novels by K. J. Parker (and Parker interprets “novel” as no fewer than five hundred pages, on point of honor). Six by Patricia A. McKillip, three by Caroline Stevermer. And I read a thousand-page anthology of science fiction stories.

I didn’t stop reading in Literary Fiction or Mystery or even Nonfiction, but I did go a little crazy on the reading-for-pleasure streak. I may not have read as many books this year as in years past, but it’s entirely possible that I enjoyed the reading more. Which is what matters, after all.

Goal for 2012: More Nonfiction!

What are your reading goals?

December 2011

And to wrap up 2011, here’ s the Stuff I’ve Been Reading post for this month.

1. Edgewood by Moi. Lest you think it mere padding to put my own novel on the list, I assure you that I sat down and read it front to end like a proper book. Which, of course, it is.
2. The Magician King by Lev Grossman.
3. The Hammer by K. J. Parker.
4. Solstice Wood by Patricia A. McKillip (25%).
5. The Darkness that Comes Before by R. Scott Bakker (20%).
6. The Writer’s Notebook: Craft Essays from Tin House by Dorothy Allison, et. al.
7. The Kingdom of Gods by N. K. Jemisin. The godling Sieh is the narrator of this exciting conclusion to Jemisin’s first–but I hope not her last–trilogy.
8. Miracle and Other Christmas Stories by Connie Willis. As it was a book I received for Christmas last year, I thought this read would be apt in December: gently Christmas-themed stories, all.
9. Hogfather by Terry Pratchett. Christmas in the Discworld is called Hogswatch–but what will happen to belief if the Hogfather is…inhumed…by the Assassins Guild? As it turns out, the sun may not rise. This book was also my first Christmas present (thanks, Sherri!).
10. The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin. Once you get past the turtle aliens, you realize this book is all about good stewardship of Earth’s natural resources.
11. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell. It was beautiful historical fiction, about a Dutch clerk in Japan during the 1800s; but Cloud Atlas remains my favorite David Mitchell novel.
12. Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton. The back-cover blurb by Jane Yolen advertises this novel as Pride and Prejudice with dragons, and it’s really spot-on: a positive delight to read.
13. Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper. A reread, this first book in the Dark Is Rising Sequence is something I picked up on a lark as I was arranging my new acquisitions on the shelf.
14. The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper.

Best Christmas Book: Hogfather

Best Sequel: The Kingdom of Gods

Best Fantasy: Tooth and Claw and The Magician King

Goodbye, 2011, and hello, 2012. I hope and trust that the new year will be filled with many excellent books.

2010 Books (176)

I see several substantial differences between my reading habits in 2009 and my reading in 2010: no Drama at all this year, and more than twice as much Mystery as last year (because I read nearly the entire Amelia Peabody mystery series over the summer). Both Literary Fiction and Short Stories remain high, largely because of graduate school. The slight increase in Unfinished is due to graduate school as well, I suspect, since often only part of a book would be assigned. And the single Periodical I read was the Fantasy and Science Fiction magazine, which I can’t imagine now how I ever got by without.

A book that made no appearance at all on this list, despite my having read it quite carefully, is the loathed textbook I taught in the fall, Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students. I do not deign to include it in my reading total. It doesn’t deserve the privilege.

This is also the most reading I’ve ever done in a year, an achievement that makes me proud. Someday I’ll reach 200 in a year, but for now, I’m quite pleased with 2010.

Tune in tomorrow for December 2011 books, and again on January 1 for the 2011 Books pie chart.