Mystery and history

Mysteries with a historical background were written long before the 1970s, but the popularity of this branch of the genre really took off in that decade, thanks in the main to the success of Peter Lovesey’s books about Sergeant Cribb and Ellis Peters’ about Brother Cadfael. In recent years, the complexities of forensic science have led many authors who in the past would have written about contemporary amateur detectives to conjure up historical sleuths, who don’t have to worry about DNA and all that.

I’ve tried my hand at a number of short stories with a historical background, often as a result of commissions from anthologists. They are fun to write, and although I don’t have any plans to write a series of novels with a historical background, I might resurrect Benjamin Jowett, renowned Master of Balliol College, for another outing one of these days. He featured in my solitary (so far) tale set in Oxford, ‘The Mind of the Master’, which I think has been my most successful effort at the historical mystery to date.

Meanwhile, Faber, publishers of distinction, are carving themselves something of a niche with historical detective fiction. Their latest offering to show up on the radar is A Vengeful Longing, due to be published next February. It’s a sequel to A Gentle Axe, which I must admit passed me by, and it features Porfiry from Crime and Punishment – a neat idea.