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What Makes a Good Historical Mystery?

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Judith Starkston
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Post by Judith Starkston » Wed July 13th, 2011, 11:23 pm

[quote=""Anna Elliott""]Agreed on both counts, Margaret! I love both the Mary Russel and the William Monk series. I also love Elizabeth Peters' mysteries set in Victorian Egypt. She's wonderful with working in the period detail and bringing the historical setting vividly to life.[/quote]
I agree with you, Anna, Mary Russell is definitely engaging, as is Peter's Cadfael. I have enjoyed C.S. Harris Sebastian St. Cyr series recently. Sebastian has that endearing mix of faults and virtues, and the historical detail is definitely rich and satisfying. Great plot twists. Seems like most of Hudson's requirements! Now if I could only nail these myself!
Judith Starkston
Website: www.judithstarkston.com

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SarahWoodbury
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Post by SarahWoodbury » Thu July 14th, 2011, 12:36 am

Oh wow! My agent is sending out my first attempt at an historical mystery as we speak. I want to go through his list and say 'check! of course I've done all that!' But it's hard to really see it in your own work. I guess I'll just have to wait and see :)

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fljustice
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Post by fljustice » Thu July 14th, 2011, 6:37 pm

Best of luck, Sarah!
Faith L. Justice, Author Website
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SarahWoodbury
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Post by SarahWoodbury » Thu July 14th, 2011, 10:01 pm

Thanks! I've been at this submission thing a while, so we'll see how this goes. At least I shouldn't get back editor responses along the lines of 'this book is between genres' :)

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