Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

So this week actually ended up being a Genre Freebie – thanks for always giving us some Freebies to work off of, because those can be fun as heck – and I wanted to share the historical mystery novels that I’ve been wanting to read. I’m a little bummed that I don’t always find some historical mystery novels that aren’t taking place in Victorian England or other “usual” time periods, so please ignore me if some of my choices are pretty unusual from what I normally try to read.

[1]- The Spanish Daughter – Lorena Hughes

I’ve actually been wanting to read this for the longest time, and every time I’ve been trying to read this, I just ended up not getting the chance by the time someone else’s hold came up on it. I’m going to need to put this as a priority sometime soon so that I can finally get to it. But this is definitely one that I want to read especially because it’s not the typical English character. Nothing wrong with English characters, but I like the fact that we get to see some Spanish based historical mysteries – or at least one that I found.

[2]- The Anatomist’s Wife – Anna Lee Huber

So I really enjoy Huber’s other historical mystery novels on Verity Kent, and I guess this one may be the first series that she wrote, so I wanna see how this one is. Since I already like her writing style, I have a feeling that I will like this one as well. I think my library only has the large text copy of this though, and that one hurts my eyes, so I’ll have to either find a regular physical copy, or find an audiobook version for this. I’m okay with that though since I notice I like listening to my mysteries more than reading them physically. No shame in my audiobook game.

[3]- Murder on Black Swan Lane – Andrew Penrose

I guess there’s something about a mysterious figure facing away from the reader in a foggy background that gets me wanting to read a new mystery series. Most of these books are also series, so I’m only posting the first book in the series to get a taste. Plus, if I don’t end up liking the first one, I’ll probably not move on to the next book. But this one gives me The Alienest vibes? Which, I still need to finish the mini TV series that was created because it was hella interesting and I did enjoy it. I just have to find where I can watch it…

[4]- What Angels Fear – C.S. Harris

Something about this one intrigues me, and maybe it’s because it’s a gentleman sleuth and I want to see how he does. Do I just like lady sleuths better because they are ladies? Will I give Sebastian St. Cyr a chance? Well, I’m going to try for sure. Plus I saw that my bestie Sammie liked it so this gives me higher expectations.

[5]- Murder in the Crypt – Irina Shapiro

Yep, again, it’s the vibe of the cover that gets me. I was also on a historical mystery kick at one point and I was trying to find so many that I could read. I haven’t found this one yet, but I’m curious about this one. I also like when there are partners involved rather than just one sleuth, because you get to see that dynamic between them, whether they start off as great partners already or have some kinks to work out. I love when there are kinks to work out at first, but find out that they actually work well together despite their animosity towards each other in the beginning.

[6]- A Study in Scarlet Women – Sherry Thomas

I have a thing for retellings of Sherlock Holmes, and this is one that I want to read. Nothing against the original Sherlock Holmes – which I have yet to read – but having different versions of the famous detective is what’s fun. This is one that I’ve seen around and I want to read from the beginning, so I’ll have to get a copy of this sometime soon.

[7]- Her Royal Spyness – Rhys Bowen

I love lady sleuths like this, so I’m glad to be able to find a copy of this and end up reading it. I’m hoping that I enjoy it, but I have a feeling that I will. Plus, give me all the spies! I love stories about spies, or at least historical mysteries involving spies. They are fun.

[8]- A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder – Dianne Freeman

The cover is super cute. And yeah, I know that it’s another Victorian mystery but I don’t care. That seems to be what I’m finding. Maybe if I can write some… oh nope, I’m not going to get into that right now. But this one looks cute with the cover for sure.

[9]- A Spy in the House – Y.S. Lee

So even though this is Victorian era again, I like that this is written by a Singaporean author. I’m curious to know if there will be some sort of twist to this. I can’t really tell based on this cover, but we will see how it goes. I do like the cover though.

[10]- The Heiress of Linn Hagh – Karen Charlton

I saw the synopsis mention witchcraft and I was sold. Doesn’t mean that there will definitely be any witchcraft, but either way I want to know. There are two gentlemen sleuths and I’m excited to see how they do. Well, maybe one gentlemen sleuth who is a detective and then a constable… either way I’m excited.

Oooh, I really want to get more recommendations for this one. I think I picked some interesting ones, and I’m trying to make sure that I pick some interesting series that I can read throughout my life. I also can’t wait to see what other Top Ten Tuesday posts are coming down the pipeline from everyone. I love freebies, since there’s so many different types of posts and there’s never repeating ones. It’s honestly great to see.

So what about you? Do you like historical mysteries? What are your thoughts? Any recommendations? Let me know!