Historical Mystery

The historical mystery, or historical whodunit, is a subgenre of two literary genres, historical fiction and mystery fiction. These works are set in a period considered historical from the author's own perspective, with a central plot built around the solving of a mystery or a crime. Though works combining the two genres have existed since at least the early twentieth century, many credit Ellis Peters's Cadfael Chronicles, published between 1977 and 1994, with popularizing what became known as the historical mystery. The genre's growing popularity in the decades since has made it a distinct category recognized by the publishing industry and by libraries, with reviewers noting an explosion in both the quantity and the quality of historical mysteries published, and the genre earning a foothold on best-seller lists after starting from a small, specialized readership.