I grew up reading Agatha Christie novels as well as the Little House on the Prairie books, so it’s no surprise that my historical fiction novels come with a touch of mystery. There’s nothing better than a burning, unresolved question threaded through the plot to raise the tension, and it’s especially satisfying when the whodunit reveal is successful: both surprising yet inevitable. Below are five historical fiction novels that incorporate Christie’s signature moves and will keep you on the edge for the entire ride, and don’t be surprised if the grand dame herself doesn’t show up in one or two.
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
Fingersmith is a gripping historical crime novel set in Victorian England, about two young women, Sue Trinder and Maud Lilly, whose lives become entangled in a web of deceit, betrayal, and manipulation. At first glance, it appears that Sue, raised by criminals, has the upper hand in a devious plot to con Maud, a wealthy orphan. However, as the story unfolds, both women find themselves drawn into a labyrinth of twists that challenge their loyalties and question the nature of truth and deception, and the novel offers additional echoes of Agatha Christie in its use of misdirection and unreliable narrators. Ultimately, Fingersmith keeps readers on edge with its carefully constructed, suspenseful narrative and surprises that reframe everything that has come before.
The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict
Agatha Christie is a character in this excellent historical mystery, set in London in the 1930s. After a young woman is found strangled in a park, five real-life female writers—Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham and Baroness Emma Orczy—team up to solve the crime as a way of proving their worth to a snooty all-male writer’s club that refuses them membership. Like the best of Christie’s work, The Queen of Crime explores the themes around morality and justice while offering up a careful balance of clues and red herrings, and much like Miss Marple and Ariadne Oliver, the five writers are strong, resourceful characters who offer a unique female perspective of the world of violence and crime.
The Briar Club by Kate Quinn
Quinn’s latest, about the residents of a Washington, DC women’s boarding house during the McCarthy era, put me in mind of Christie’s The Orient Express. Any one of the characters—some charming, others manipulative, and one or two quite villainous—might have a possible motive for murder, but which one committed the terrible act of violence alluded to on page one? The Briar Club thrives on the tension between seemingly respectable individuals whose dark secrets gradually unravel. Quinn, much like Christie, excels in creating a web of intrigue, where every character has something to hide, and each point of view is written with a keen psychological insight.
The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont
The obsession with the eleven days that Agatha Christie went missing in 1926 is imaginatively fleshed out in de Gramont’s intriguing novel from the perspective of Christie’s husband’s mistress, Nan, a woman with a complex past and a personal connection to the family. Just as Christie’s novels reflect the class dynamics of the time—whether on a steamship on the Nile or in a country manor—de Gramont similarly explores the social nuances of the day. She also emulates Christie’s crisp, economical prose, avoiding overly ornate descriptions and maintaining a sharp focus on the narrative. It’s a thrilling story, well told.
The Author’s Guide to Murder by Karen White, Lauren Willig, and Beatriz Williams
The Three W’s, as they’re known, provide a fresh take on the infamous Christie closed-circle mystery in their latest collaboration. At first glance, it appears that a trio of nutty American female writers have shown up for a writer’s retreat at a Scottish castle just in time to find their host quite dead. But as the keen-eyed local detective (another Christie trope), dives deeper, the women’s characters—and their motives—turn out to be far more complex than they first appear, and the hunt for the killer becomes a matter of life and death. The novel is chock full of Easter eggs about the publishing world, and a masterful ode to the Queen of Mystery herself.
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