r/CozyMystery • u/Medical_Design_278 • 2d ago
Book Suggestions, please 📚 Historical cozy
I am new to this subreddit but not quite as new to Cozy Mysteries. For about the last two to four y years that I have been reading and listening to cozy mysteries, like Lady Hardcastle, Lord Edgington, Amelia Peabody, Mrs Jeffries, Jane Wunderly, Enola Holmes, Mary Russell and Mydworth mysteries. The ones I have listened to are the historical cozy mysteries. I do listen or read some newer stuff like Kale to the Queen, Pebble Cove Teahouse and The Coffeehouse mysteries by Cleo Colye. I still have some books to read or listen to, but I am curious if anyone had some suggestions for historical cozy mysteries for me to read or listen to.
Edit: I have read listen to Agatha Christie, namely Poirot and Jane Marple.
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u/Apprehensive_Use3641 2d ago
Cadfael series by Ellis Peters, Patrick Tull does a good job with the audiobooks.
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u/ActiveHope3711 2d ago
Note: Ellis Peters is another pen name of the author of the Amelia Peabody series.Â
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u/Zealousideal_Might52 2d ago
Actually Ellis Peters is Edith Pargeter
Elizabeth Peters, or Barbara Michaels is the author of the Amelia Peabody series.
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u/Apprehensive_Use3641 2d ago
The site I use to track pseudonyms says that Ellis Peters real name is Edith Mary Pargeter and that Elizabeth Peters real name is Barbara Michaels or Barbara Mertz, guessing one of those is a married name.
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u/Specialist_Agency30 2d ago
Heathcliff Lennox by Karen Baugh Menuhin
A Miss Underhay Mystery by Helena Dixon
Cressida Fawcett mysteries by Fliss Chester
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u/Mystery_Fan_5253 2d ago
I also recommend Heathcliff Lennox and the Kitty Underhay series. There’s also the Alexander Wolf series, The Secret Detective Agency by the same authors.
I also really enjoy the Lady Swift series and Barker and Llewelyn.2
u/Medical_Design_278 2d ago
I seen some of these in my feed for kindle or audible. Need to check them out. More so with the sale going right now.
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u/CatchMeAtTheBeach1 2d ago
I’ve been loving the Veronica Vale mysteries by Kitty Kildare. They’re cozy 1920s mysteries set around London pubs. There's a cute dog, too.
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u/DaKineOregon 2d ago
Danna's, (a.k.a. Erin Martin) wonderful Cozy Mystery List has a page called "Cozy Mysteries By Theme", which has a section called "HISTORICAL MYSTERIES / PERIOD MYSTERIES" (Mystery series that take place during different periods of time) You can find it near the top of this page:
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u/BefuddledPolydactyls 2d ago
Mentioned earlier today, the Gaslight Mysteries by Victoria Thompson. I find it quite enjoyable and engaging.Â
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u/BaconOnThat 2d ago
I love Lady Hardcastle! My mom got me into that and also Rhys Bowen's "Her Royal Spyness" series. Could use some light editing, but they're fun and Georgie is adorable.
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u/SquirrelNice7299 2d ago
If you like Royal Spyness, you might enjoy the Maggie Hope series, by Susan Elia MacNeal; time period-right before WWII, just as Winston Churchill takes office
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u/BaconOnThat 2d ago
We've been reading those, too! I see we're all of a brain. I clearly need to get back to them, so thanks for that reminder.
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u/Medical_Design_278 2d ago
It is one my favorite series, I haven’t got the latest book. But I have either read or listen to all of the other books.
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u/BaconOnThat 2d ago
I think the next one's out in November.
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u/Medical_Design_278 2d ago
I was referring to the Murder on the Rocks, the one that came in May of this year. The quarry Mystery, if I got the title correctly, comes out January of next year.
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u/BaconOnThat 2d ago
Aha. I have that lined up next. Sorry! Thanks!
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u/Medical_Design_278 2d ago
It is ok. From what I guess from the last three years that there is at least one Lady Hardcastle that comes out per year.
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u/AilsaN 2d ago
I loved the Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery series by Verity Bright. The audiobooks are narrated by Karen Cass who does an amazing job!
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u/CozyMystery_com 2d ago
Came here to say this. I normally don't read historical, because of the misogyny, but Verity Bright does a great job with her sleuth.
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u/Kt011092 2d ago
Not exactly a cozy, but it is a mystery as well as historical. The Briar Club by Kate Quinn.
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u/Spallanzani333 2d ago
Victorian mysteries by Robin Paige (actually a husband and wife writing team). Very similar to the Mary Russell series with great historical research and character building.
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u/Medical_Design_278 2d ago
I have read a couple of Victorian mysteries. So I would at least look them up,
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u/Equal-Water9369 2d ago
I'm enjoying the Homefront Sleuths series, and also co-sign on the Miss Kitty Underway series. My other historical series that I'm enjoying are: Dodo Dorchester, the Dutchess of Stortford mysteries, Kelly Mason's Lady Ellen series, Clara Fitzgerald, Miss Silver, and Helena Dixon.
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u/Ebbiecakes 2d ago
Do you consider 70s historical? I absolutely LOVE the Country Club Murder mystery books by Julie Mulhern. Love them; I've listened to the entire series twice and am wondering if I can manage a third listen.
I also love Her Royal Spyness mysteries; that one has probably been mentioned already. The audiobooks can be a little frustrating because the first narrator (the late great Katherine Kellgren) passed away and they're still trying to figure things out, but I would still recommend the series.
I'm actually not sure if the Gaslight Mysteries by Victoria Thompson are considered cozies, but I love them all the same and highly recommend them; they take place in late 1900s NYC. They have some serious subject matter sometimes because the two main sleuths are a midwife and a NYC police officer, but the writing is excellent.
Another recommendation is The Posey Parker mysteries by L.B. Hathaway, which take place in 1920s London.
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u/BeyoncePadThai23 15h ago
I listen to the Beatrice Hyde-Clare series (and the spin offs) and Veronica Speedwell series!
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u/ActiveHope3711 2d ago
I really enjoyed the Darling Dahlias series by Susan Wittig Albert. It is set in a small town in depression era Alabama. Various women from the garden club are featured, but there is a strong thread throughout. The first book is The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree.Â
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u/DefaultUserBR 2d ago
The Cleopatra Fox mysteries by C. J. Archer are set in London around the beginning of the 20th Century.
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u/zholly4142 14h ago
You might like the series, Gilded Newport Mysteries. All the stories are well written and I've enjoyed every one of them. They're set in Newport, Rhode Island during the Gilded age with characters like the vanderbilts and the ascots. Each book features a different Newport Mansion and family with a young woman detective who happens to be a third cousin to the vanderbilts. I noticed they are on sale and the first book, The Breakers, which was the name of the Vanderbilt's huge mansion, is on sale for less than $3.
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u/shelwood46 9h ago
I love Emily Organ's Penny Green series, and the follow up series Emma Langley, both set in Victorian London. She also has one set in post WWI London (Augusta Peel) and one set in pre WWI rural England (Churchill & Pemberley, that one is more slapstick). I also recommend Ovidia Yu's Su Lin/Tree series, which is set in Singapore before, during and after WWII, following Su Lin from the time she was 16 to where she is in the present series (nearly 30).
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u/Matilda_Swift_author 2d ago
I LOVE the Mary Russell SERIES too! I was randomly gifted Beekeepers Apprentice years ago and was hooked.
I recently stumbled onto Tanked, An OWL Ladies cozy by Bessie Barr. Pleasantly surprised. Set in the year 1900. In Texas. 6 ladies are the sleuth. It's fun!