History Main / HistoricalDetectiveFiction

* Creator/AnnPerry's ''Literature/PittSeries'' is set in VictorianLondon in the 1880s through the 1890s. Thomas Pitt starts out as an ordinary UsefulNotes/ScotlandYard Inspector at the famous [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bow_Street_Magistrates%27_Court Bow Street police station]] and eventually works his way up to the head of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_branch Special Branch]]. His wife, Charlotte Pitt, is a well born lady who sometimes uses her social status to assist her husband by investigating parts of upper-class female society that are not easily accessible by police officers.

* ''Manga/MoriartyThePatriot'' is a PerspectiveFlip of the original ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' stories...and as it's written in the 21st century, solidly historical fiction. While Sherlock is not always the focus of the story, murders, plotting, and mysteries usually are.

* The ''Literature/HopeStapletonMysteries'', set before and during World War 1.

* ''Film/LAConfidential'' is a mystery that takes place in 1950s Los Angeles.

[[folder: Visual Novels]]

* The ''Literature/MonkSeries'' by Creator/AnnPerry is set in VictorianLondon in the 1850s through the 1860s. The title character, William Monk, is at various times in the series a police detective or a PrivateDetective.

* ''[[Literature/EnolaHolmes The Enola Holmes Mysteries]]'' stars Enola Holmes as the 14 year old kid sister of Literature/SherlockHolmes. While the original Sherlock Holmes stories would not be considered historical fiction because they are contemporary to the time they were written, these stories were written in the 21st century.

* Alan Bradley's ''Literature/FlaviaDeLuce'' is a British girl in the early 1950's, solving murder mysteries in a fictional town near London.

* ''Series/MissFishersMurderMysteries'' started a TV adaptation of the ''Literature/PhryneFisher'' novels by Kerry Greenwood, set in the late 1920's, although some later episodes have plots not based on the novels.

* The ''Series/FrankieDrakeMysteries'' were set in the Canada of the 1920s.

* ''Literature/TheTournament'', being based around a murder plot in the 16th century. The two short stories involving Roger Ascham also count, with him investigating the disappearance of a prostitute in one and a threat towards Queen Elizabeth in the other.

At the same time, this makes good historical mysteries into a very hard genre to master--both historical and mystery fiction are noted as very demanding in the research needed. One of the challenges is that is often forces the detective to use the skill and assumptions of his time period, rather than modern investigative techniques. In settings where professional detectives would be anachronistic, the investigator is often a AmateurSleuth.

* ''Film/EnolaHolmes'' takes places at the time of the voting of the Representation of the People Act 1884 (or "Reform Bill") which extended suffrage in UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain. It's actually a pretty important plot point.

* The Film Of The Book of ''Film/TheNameOfTheRose'' (1986) has Sean Connery as William of Baskerville, a monk investigating mysterious deaths in a fourteenth-century abbey.

* ''Literature/TheCharlotteAndThomasPittSeries'' is set in VictorianBritain, and was first begun by Anne Perry in the 1970s.

* ''Series/{{Mob City}}'' is set after the end of World War II.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/TheBletchleyCircle'': four former World War II codebreakers solve crimes in 1952 London.
* ''Series/{{Cadfael}}'' is a TV adaptation of the ''Literature/BrotherCadfael'' book series.
* In BBC America's 2012 ''Series/{{Copper}}'' Kevin Corcoran is an Irish immigrant living in the Five Points neighborhood of New York City during the 1860s. He returns from fighting in the American Civil War to find that his daughter is dead and his wife has disappeared. Robert Morehouse, Corcoran's former commanding officer, uses his family's connections to arrange for Corcoran to be appointed a detective in the New York Police Department.
* ''Series/FoylesWar'' is BritishSeries about a Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle. It is set during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.
* The ''Series/FrankieDrakeMysteries'' were set in the Canada of the 1920s.
* ''Series/MissFishersMurderMysteries'' started a TV adaptation of the ''Literature/PhryneFisher'' novels by Kerry Greenwood, set in the late 1920's, although some later episodes have plots not based on the novels.
* ''Series/{{Mob City}}'' is set after the end of World War II.
* ''Series/MurdochMysteries'' is set in Canada in the late nineteenth/start of the twentieth century.
* ''Series/{{Grantchester}}'' is set in the 1950s and often deals with how World War Two continues to affect an entire generation.
[[/folder]]

* ''Literature/TheLadyGraceMysteries'' revolve around Grace Cavendish, a young lady-in-waiting to UsefulNotes/Elizabeth I, solving crimes and mysteries involving the royal court. Elizabeth secretly appoints Grace as her Lady Pursuivant, making her an Elizabethan equivalent of a detective. The books are set in 1569 and 1570.

* The ''theatre/MrsHawking'' series is about a Victorian society widow who solves mysteries in order to help women in Victorian England.

[[folder:web Original]]
* The ''theatre/MrsHawking'' series is about a Victorian society widow who solves mysteries in order to help women in Victorian England.