What Constitutes an Historical Mystery

• Rule #1: Book or series must be listed as a Mystery or Mystery/Suspense
  

• Rule #2: The book must be about a period prior to when it was written.

• Rule #3: Yeah, but how much prior to when it was written? There is no rule 3, because there's no single consensus answer. However, there are a few popular categories of opinions about this:

  X years rule (CTT yahoogroups discussion list owner falls on this side) Mystery must be set 100... 50... 25... or 20 years or more before its original publishing date (e.g. under the 50 year version, a mystery first published in 2002 must be set in or before 1952). A variant on this is that it must be set at least a generation (more or less 20-25 years) prior to when it is published. Before the life... Setting must be before the life of the author. A variant is that it must be before the life of the reader. While another variant is that the author must be writing about a time they they can't remember, although they may have been alive then. Period as character... (Crimethrutime webmistress falls in this corner, with the site content reflecting as much. The combination of a few variants of this was by far the winner of a poll of the CTT yahoogroups discussion listmembers.) This is the loosest definition. The most general version says set in any era prior to its own, but the more popular versions moved the definition emphasis from when to how. Basically the era must not only be prior to the one when the book is written, but must also be distinct enough to have a character of its own, and the writer must make a specific effort to bring that era to life. The era must be as vivid as any other character and so integral to the story that it could not have been the same story in a different setting. This emphasis on how distinct and integral the setting is opens things up to the second biggest subject for debate among HM fans, and the one that probably has even hotter differences of opinion: the importance of historical accuracy in what is, after all, intended to be a work of fiction and not a textbook. Open Pandora's box at your peril....

  

   

  What Isn't a True Historical Mystery?

  Classic mysteries (Sherlock Holmes, Christie, etc..) that were contemporary when written, even if their setting would now be considered historical.
  

  Present day sleuth solving old, old crime; plots based upon historical flashbacks; or actual Time Travels with the sleuth traveling in time . . .
  

  Historical romances with mystery elements, but with the primary focus on the romance/romantic suspense story. Likewise, mainstream historical fiction with mystery elements but whose primary story is about something other than solving the mystery. . .

  
  
  

  

   

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