The iconic figure of Sherlock Holmes has proven the inspiration for fictional detectives that run the gamut from Hercule Poirot to Temperance "Bones" Brennan, from Lt. Columbo to Richard Castle. And yet the inspiration for fictional detectives can come from all sorts of places -- even from the history books themselves.
In this book list, we offer a selection of murder mysteries that all feature a real-life historical figure as their story's star. While fictional, these novels offer a peek into what life would've been like in a variety of times -- and with a variety of very unique people. Here are historical figures like you've never seen them before. Read on and enjoy!
-- Aristotle
Philosopher, scientist ... and now, detective. In Margaret Doody's Aristotle Detective, the young student Stephanos narrates the tale of his teacher solving crimes, using deductive reasoning on par with Sherlock Holmes. The twist, of course, is that Stephanos is a student in 332 BCE Athens, and his teacher is none other than Aristotle himself. Yet this is no dry-and-dusty take on history: Doody seamlessly weaves disguises, escapes, and midnight attacks in with well-researched details of 4th century BCE Athens -- home and politics, citizenship and the legal system, the treatment of men and women, and more. The result is a story as historically informing as it is immensely entertaining.
Click here to request Aristotle Detective
-- William Shakespeare
The era: Elizabethan England. Symington Smythe (who doesn't care for his name) has been trained by his uncle as an ostler, but his real passion lies in a far different direction: the theatre. When, much to his father's disgust, Symington makes for London to realize his dreams, he does so quite on his own. That is, until he encounters one William Shakespeare, a young man also on his way to a life in the theatre. While meeting up with Shakespeare puts Symington on the path towards conspiracy, mistaken identity, arranged marriages, and murder, there's no denying it's an exciting way to jumpstart an artistic career.
Click here to request A Mystery of Errors
-- Jane Austen
Jane Austen couldn't be happier to be visiting her newly-married friend, Isobel Payne, Countess of Scargrave. But then, tragedy strikes, as Isobel's husband (many years her senior) falls victim to a strange and swift-moving illness. Isobel is heartsick, but her problems are only beginning, as she soon receives a message accusing her of adultery with her husband's nephew -- and of murdering her husband the Earl. Terrified, Isobel turns to Jane for help, and so it is up to the young author to uncover the clues and peel back the mystery before Isobel is disgraced ... and before Jane herself makes an enemy.
Click here to request Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor
-- Eleanor Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt begins her (fictional) amateur sleuthing quite without meaning to; a young woman who works for Roosevelt is accused of murdering her boyfriend. Convinced that her employee is innocent, Roosevelt takes it upon herself to prove it -- even if that means stepping on the toes of several government officials, including the Congressman whose son was the murdered man. There's jewel thefts, gambling, and false identities to contend with, but through it all, Roosevelt -- like her real-life incarnation -- remains steadfast and determined to see justice done.
The Eleanor Roosevelt mystery series deserves special mention for being the work of a perhaps-unlikely author: Roosevelt's own real-life son, Elliott Roosevelt. (Though whether or not he had ghost writers helping him out has been a topic of debate.)
Click here to request Murder and the First Lady
-- Edgar Allan Poe
"Now, in my opinion, Dupin was a very inferior fellow." So said Sherlock Holmes, in a line in which author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle poked gentle fun at Holmes's literary predecessor: C. Auguste Dupin, the deducting detective of Edgar Allan Poe's trio of mystery tales. The truth remains that it is Poe, not Conan Doyle, who wrote the first Western modern detective story -- a debt which Conan Doyle himself acknowledged on multiple occasions, with obvious admiration for Poe. It makes Poe a natural fit as the star of a mystery novel, even if we remember the author far better for his tales of horror.
In this young adult read, we hear the tale of Edmund, whose mother is gone and whose sister has just vanished. Alone in the dark streets of nineteenth-century Providence, Rhode Island, Edmund has no one to turn to for help -- save a dark and shadowy stranger who introduces himself only as "Dupin." It seems this man needs Edmund's help as much as Edmund needs his, as the two of them work together to solve the mystery surrounding them.
Click here to request The Man Who Was Poe
-- Post by Ms. B
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