Earlier in the week, I did a post on historical mysteries set in Africa. As I said in that post, I love the potential of historical fiction to teach you something about a time and place you don’t know, and when you wed that history to a good puzzle plot, all the better! Another part of the world that I think is a great setting for historical mysteries in Asia, and I wish there were more examples out there. if I forgot anything major, let me know. If you click on the map, you can look at it much larger, and there is a list of included titles below.
China
- Judge Dee at Work: Eight Chinese Detective Stories (Judge Dee Mysteries)
by Robert Van Gulick – 7th c.
- City of the Dead (Nick Zuliani, Book 1)
by Ian Morson – 13th c.
- Master of Rain
by Tom Bradby – 1920s
India
- The Last Kashmiri Rose (Joe Sandilands, Book 1)
by Barbara Cleverly – 1920s
- The Game (Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes, Book 7)
by Laurie R. King – 1920s
Japan
- The Dragon Scroll (Sugawara Akitada, Book 1)
by I.J. Parker – 11th c.
- Shinju (Sano Ichiro, Book 1)
by Laura Joh Rowland – 18th c.
- Tokyo Year Zero
by David Pearce – WWII
Turkey
- The Mosaic Of Shadows
by Tom Harper – 11th c.
- A Death in the Venetian Quarter(Fools’ Guild, Book 3)
by Alan Gordon – 13th c.
- My Name Is Red
by Orhan Pamuk – 16th c.
- The Sultan’s Seal (Kamil Pasha, Book 1)
by Jenny White – 19th c.
- The Janissary Tree (Investigator Yashim, Book 1)
by Jason Goodwin – 19th c.
- Tears of Pearl (Lady Emily, Book 4)
by Tasha Alexander – 19th c.
Palestine/Israel
- Murder in the Holy City (Sir Geoffrey Mappestone, Book 1)
by Simon Beaufort – 12th c.
- Widow of Jerusalem (Medieval Mystery, Book 4)
by Alan Gordon – 13th c.
- A River in the Sky (Amelia Peabody, Book 19)
by Elizabeth Peters – 1910
- O Jerusalem (Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes, Book 5)
by Laurie R. King – 1920s
Laos
- The Coroner’s Lunch (Dr. Siri Mysteries, Book 1)
by Collin Cotterill – 1970s
South Korea
- Jade Lady Burning (Sergeants Sueño & Bascom, Book 1)
by Martin Limon – 1970s
Australia
- Cocaine Blues (Phryne Fisher, Book 1)
by Kerry Greenwood – 1920s