Historical Fiction Stars - Mystery, Suspense, Thrillers and Crime Fiction: 2006

Lists of historical crime fiction titles receiving starred reviews.

Annotations are from Advance, the Ingram Book Magazine, unless otherwise noted.

Historical fiction is loosely defined on this page - a book set 25 years ago may qualify for inclusion.

  • The Mark of the Lion: Jade del Cameron
    Author: Arruda, Suzanne
    Publisher: NAL $ 23.95 ISBN: 0451217489 Date: 2006
    star LJ
    Still suffering lingering trauma from the Great War, Jade del Cameron sets off for Africa, determined to fulfill a man's dying a wish . . . and never expecting to become involved in murder.
    Updated 12.27.05
  • Crippen
    Author: Boyne, John
    Publisher: Minotaur $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312343582 Date: 2006
    star PW
    This beautifully drawn novel re-creates the amazing escape attempt of one of history's most notorious killers. "Genuinely thrilling . . . "--"Sunday Tribune" (UK).
    Updated 12.27.05
  • Penumbra
    Author: Haines, Carolyn
    Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312351607 Date: 2006
    star LJ
    In this literary thriller, a young woman with a white mother and a black father finds herself uniquely placed to solve a kidnapping in 1950s Mississippi.
    Updated 1.31.06
  • The Summer Snow
    Author: Pawel, Rebecca
    Publisher: Soho Crime $ 23 ISBN: 1569474087 Date: 2006
    star PW
    When an aristocratic lady of Granada, Spain, is found dead in 1945, the local police can't believe that she really may have been murdered. Lieutenant Carlos Tejada Alonso y Leon is assigned because the rich woman is his grand aunt Rosalia, and one of the chief suspects is his father. The family expects Tejada to exonerate its members, but Tejada is a man who puts duty first.
    Suggested Reading: European Crime Fiction
    Updated 12.27.05
  • Tomb of the Golden Bird
    Author: Peters, Elizabeth
    Publisher: Morrow $ 25.95 ISBN: 0060591803 Date: 2006
    star PW
    Amelia Peabody and her family of archaeologists are back in this new mystery in which Emerson and Ramses are close to unearthing the legendary site they've been searching for--the tomb of King Tutankhamon.
    Suggested Reading: Egypt
    Updated 2.13.06
  • Brandenburg Gate
    Author: Porter, Henry
    Publisher: Atlantic $ 24 ISBN: 0871139405 Date: 2006
    star PW
    In this "accomplished retro thriller" ("The Sunday Telegraph"), Porter captures the tense final moments of the Berlin Wall in the multilayered story of a former foreign agent faced with unbearable choices.
    Suggested Reading: Espionage
    Updated 1.30.06
  • Sorrow Without End
    Author: Royal, Priscilla
    Publisher: Poisoned Pen $ 24.95 ISBN: 1590582144 Date: 2006
    star PW
    As the autumn storms of 1271 ravage the East Anglian coast, Crowner Ralf finds the corpse of a brutally murdered soldier in the woods near Tyndal Priory. The dagger in the man's chest is engraved with a strange, cursive design, and the body is wrapped in a crusader's cloak. Was this the act of a member of the Assassin sect or was the weapon meant to mislead him in finding the killer? Ralf's decision to take the corpse to the priory for advice may be reasonable, but he is soon caught up in a maelstrom of conflict, both personal and political. The priory is deeply divided over whether to purchase a relic, a decision that endangers both Prioress Eleanor's leadership and the future of the hospital. Brother Thomas becomes a suspect in the murder itself, and Ralf must choose between the demands of his brother, the sheriff, and loyalty to a friend.
    Meanwhile, the murderer watches and waits. - Publisher Marketing.
    Updated 11.21.05
  • A Long Shadow: Ian Rutledge
    Author: Todd, Charles
    Publisher: Morrow $ 23.95 ISBN: 006078671x Date: 2006
    star PW
    Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge begins to find engraved brass cartridges that seem to point to unfinished business involving the war. A man with a dark secret, Rutledge already walks on the edge of sanity. Now, someone is hunting him, but who?
    Updated 10.31.05
  • The Sultan's Seal
    Author: White, Jenny
    Publisher: Norton $ 24.96 ISBN: 0393060993 Date: 2006
    star Booklist
    Rich in sensuous detail, this first novel brilliantly captures the political and social upheavals of the waning Ottoman Empire, as the murder of a young Englishwoman in 19th-century Istanbul becomes the crux of an absorbing tale.
    Suggested Reading: Debuts
    Updated 12.29.05