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Do you class historical crime as a separate genre to crime? Examples are C.J.Sansom's Shardlake series set during the reign of Henry VIII,Rory Clements' Elizabethan series,and more recently D.E.Meredith's Victorian crime novels,Devoured and The Devil's Ribbon. I do tend to split historical crime from modern crime/thrillers though they're often equal or superior to the modern crime novels.

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I would view it a bit like fiction, within the broad genre of fiction there is fiction, historical fiction, science fiction, etc.

 

BTW another good historical crime series is the Falco series by Lindsey Davis. :)

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Do you class historical crime as a separate genre to crime? Examples are C.J.Sansom's Shardlake series set during the reign of Henry VIII,Rory Clements' Elizabethan series,and more recently D.E.Meredith's Victorian crime novels,Devoured and The Devil's Ribbon. I do tend to split historical crime from modern crime/thrillers though they're often equal or superior to the modern crime novels.

These sound good!  Checking out samples on Kindle now... thanks a lot lol  This site gets me into so much trouble!

Edited: Only finding CJ Sansom on Kindle :mellow:

Edited by Anna Begins
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Thanks for the tip-off Vimes. :smile:  I agree,Andrea,that historical crime is probably a sub-genre,though it's soared in popularity in the last 10 years I would say. There's also a fast growing 'historical action' genre now too.

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These sound good!  Checking out samples on Kindle now... thanks a lot lol  This site gets me into so much trouble!

Edited: Only finding CJ Sansom on Kindle :mellow:

I've checked and both Rory Clements and D.E.Meredith are available on Kindle,in the U.K,any way!

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Andrew Taylor is a UK writer who's produced some excellent historical crime fiction, The Scent of Death is set in New York during the American War of Independence and won a Dagger here from the Crime Writers Association.  I'd also recommend Laura Wilson's Stratton series set in the 40s and 50s and Sarah Waters' Victorian novels.  And the late Ariana Franklin whose books are set in the twelfth century and feature a great female protagonist are really excellent and unusual reads.

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As Andrea said, I'd class it as a sub-genre.  I'll add Steven Saylor to the list - his novels about Gordianus the Finder, set in Ancient Rome, are very, very good.  I'm also a fan of Rory Clements and C J Sansom, and I'm interested in - but have yet to read - Susanna Gregory and James Forrester.  Must give them a try soon!

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Andrew Taylor is a UK writer who's produced some excellent historical crime fiction, The Scent of Death is set in New York during the American War of Independence and won a Dagger here from the Crime Writers Association.

 

Just had a look at this one - sounds right up my street.  Thanks for the recommendation :smile:

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All this sounds great- I love historical fiction and crime/ thrillers.  Raiders of the Nile by Saylor looks great- comes out Feb. 25th.

Edited by Anna Begins
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Andrew Taylor is a UK writer who's produced some excellent historical crime fiction, The Scent of Death is set in New York during the American War of Independence and won a Dagger here from the Crime Writers Association.  I'd also recommend Laura Wilson's Stratton series set in the 40s and 50s and Sarah Waters' Victorian novels.  And the late Ariana Franklin whose books are set in the twelfth century and feature a great female protagonist are really excellent and unusual reads.

Thanks for the recommendations,Cath,I'll look them up.  :smile:

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There are many sub genres within the crime "envelope" and historical crime is just one. In fact, because crime is the single most popular genre, more and more writers/publishers are classifying their novels as crime when they wouldn't have been considered as such ten years ago. There's a growing body of "crime" that deals with relationships breaking up (The Silent Wife, Gone Girl) and a huge body of work that once would have come under the heading "family drama" which is now included under the "Psychological Drama" label.

 

I don't read enough historical crime fiction but have just discovered Imogen Robertson's wonderful series. The Paris Winter, set in 1900s Paris is a revelation.

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All this sounds great- I love historical fiction and crime/ thrillers.  Raiders of the Nile by Saylor looks great- comes out Feb. 25th.

 

Yeah, it does look good!  I haven't read either of the prequels with young Gordianus, yet - shall get there . . . eventually!  :smile:   I started with Roman Blood - well worth a look, and cheap on Kindle in the US at the moment, if you're interested :smile:

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