I'm interested in reading more historical mysteries. I've only read a few so far: Nefertiti A Novel, The Interpretation of Murder and The Dante Club A Novel. None of them were my favorite books ever, but they were enjoyable and I know there are better ones out there. I have in my house The Alienist and The Poe Shadow A Novel and will read them soon.

I'm especially interested in Tasha Alexander, The Pink Carnation series and Deanna Raybourn's Silent series. Anyone read these? Are they any good?

I'm interested in all periods, don't care about romance (though a good romance is a bonus) and mostly just want a roaring good mystery and engaging writing. I prefer a single, self-contained mystery over a series. Or at least a short series that doesn't go on indefinitely.

I'd recommend The House at Riverton - incredibly well written, I thought, and very difficult to put down once you start reading.

I've read the first three of the Pink Carnation Series and I found them enjoyable. It does include a double romance...one happening in the past and another in the current time. I thought it was well done and I liked Willig's writing style.

I also enjoyed the Amelia Peabody Series. Takes place in Victorian times and it shifts between England and Egypt. Amelia is a hoot, very intelligent and witty. One of the critics calls her a female version of Indian Jones, which I think is right on. First one starts with Crocodile on the Sandbank.

I don't know of any stand alone ones that are good, but any of Agatha Christie's mysteries takes me back in time too. Those can be read as stand alone.

Any book by Sharon Kay Penman or Ian Pears(esp. recommend An Instance on the Fingerpost by Ian Pears. Matthew Pearl another excellent historical fiction mysteries

I've read the Pink Carnation series and liked them. I love the Gaslight series by Victoria Thompson set in the late 19th century in NYC. Maisie Dobbs series set in 1920s London. There is a wonderful series set in post Revolutionary War Maine...Sarah Lawrence maybe?

I think most of the historical mysteries by Arturo Pérez-Reverte are stand alones. I read The Fencing Master an number of years ago and really enjoyed it.

The Moonstone is regarded as the first mystery ever written. That in itself makes it a historical mystery. I read it a few years ago and it was not bad. I am not sure that it was brilliant but worth the read for the broader context.

Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin. It's the medieval story of a female coroner from Italy who travels to England to help solve the murder of children and causes quite a stir because it's a relatively new science, there are really no women coroners, and she has brought along a Moor.

I gotta put a word in for Will Thomas' books set in Victorian England. They are narrated by Thomas Llewellyn who is an assistant of sorts to a "Private Inquiry Agent" named Cyrus Barker. They are well written and highly researched and are actually also quite funny in an understated way.

Definitely C. J. Sansom's series about Matthew Shardlake, a Tudor lawyer. The first one is Dissolution.