Is this list for non-fiction as well? Because Devil in the White City is non-fiction. (Great book.)

A lot of books on here that don't fit the criteria. Conan Doyle's books were modern when written, eg.

Ditto for Gaudy Night.

I have to echo Susanna. All books here appear to be fiction except for Devil in the White City. That is the only true crime I see. I'll admit it is historical.

And, much as I love Gaudy Night, it was a contemporary mystery at the time it was written.

Julie, you created the list -- do you want it to be pruned back to books actually matching the description given above ("set in an era previous to the author's era")?

The Flanders Panel was set in the present too. I don't think there was actually any time travel back to the 15th century, although there is discussion of it.

Also the Red Tent, while I liked the book, is not a mystery

I've deleted a few more of the mysteries that I definitely know were set in then-current time periods for the author, even though that period is NOW historical (mysteries written Between the Wars i.e., ~1920-1940, are my particular interest). The generally accepted definition of an historical mystery is one set in a period that is not part of the author's own experience, or any mystery set at least twenty years past (some folks prefer thirty, or fifty years, though). My personal guideline is that if an author was not an adult during the timeperiod OR it is now at least thirty years later, then it's an historical. So a sixty-year-old writing about the 1970s they're remembering today would make the current book an historical, but not one written by that author IN the 1970s. And a late 1990s story written by anybody is not historical - yet.
***Also, stories like HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, although it has a very small amount of even then-history within the story (1600s curses and nasty squires) it's only a page or two, not the novel itself, which was set in the then-current time of circa 1900. I noticed a few that I wondered about but wasn't certain enough to change, like Flanders Panel, which I haven't personally read yet, which may have had bits of historical info IN them.

whoops, sorry. This comment was meant to go onto another list, that I *did* delete mysteries from for the above reasons, as their criteria was only listed as "historical mysteries", not the nice definition given under the title (which I just now saw, alas...). I had browser tabs opened next to each other and got distracted (sigggh). mea culpa, friends. please ignore, thanks. Haven't touched THIS list.

Julie, do you want the A. non-fiction, or B. fiction that isn't historical fiction removed?

Hmm. Doesn't look like Julie is monitoring this list anymore ...

Devil in the White City is historical fiction. It's based on fact and has many factual elements, but the story is a creation of the author.

Sorry, I wasn't receiving notifications that there were comments. I think pruning would be excellent, since it's frustrating to read a list for ideas and discover upon reading that some books don't fit the category you were looking for.

Mark wrote: "Devil in the White City is historical fiction. It's based on fact and has many factual elements, but the story is a creation of the author."

The book's description and the way that GR's readers have categorized it, both by genre and shelf, would tend to disagree.

Julie, do you want the non-fiction removed, or the fiction that isn't historical removed, or both?

Know where you're coming from with the dropped notifications!

I think both non-fiction and misplaced fiction should be booted, just to make the list make sense. But I don't think I really "own" this list, so I can be overruled.

Removed: The Hound of the Baskervilles, Gaudy Night, The Flanders Panel, The Raphael Affair, The Modigliani Scandal, Gorky Park and the entries by Rex Stout and Maj Sjöwall/Per Wahlöö (all set in the respective author's OWN era, and therefore not historical fiction/mysteries).

Also removed The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America and Jack the Ripper and Black Magic: Victorian Conspiracy Theories, Secret Societies and the Supernatural Mystique of the Whitechapel Murders (primarily nonfiction), as well as The Late Mr. Shakespeare, Mrs. Shakespeare: The Complete Works and I, Claudius (not mysteries).

On the grounds that they are not primarily mysteries, I also question The Pillars of the Earth, World Without End, the entries by Philippa Gregory and Norah Lofts, and the Umberto Eco novels OTHER than The Name of the Rose ...

Hi, I was wondering why 'the red tent' was on this list? It isn't a mystery-its a re-telling of a story from the bible, definitely not what most would consider historical mystery. Just curious.

I see The Sign of Four is still on, at #518.

Susanna wrote: "I see The Sign of Four is still on, at #518."

Not anymore. (Sigh.)

Robin (& all), I'm wondering about The Red Tent as well. Should it be removed ... or do we leave it, on the grounds that 30 voters can't be wrong?