Crime Writer Margot Kinberg

A recent interesting post from Bill Selnes at Mysteries and More From Saskatchewan has got me thinking about novels and series where the sleuth is an actual historical figure. Bill’s fine post, which I strongly encourage you to read, is a review of S.J. Bennett’s The Windsor Knot. In Bennett’s series (of which The Windsor Knot is the first), Queen Elizabeth II is the protagonist and sleuth. The Windsor Knot takes place in 2016, when the Queen is 90. The other books, though, take place at different times in the Queen’s life, which gives Bennett flexibility. Different places, different palace staff, and so on all add variety to the novels. And the Queen’s access to all sorts of ‘seats of power’ makes for a lot of possibility when it comes to plots.

You might say a similar thing about Eleanor Roosevelt, the protagonist in her son Elliott Roosevelt’s mystery series. Beginning with Murder and the First Lady, the series consists of twenty books, with the first nineteen written by Elliott Roosevelt, and the last written by William Harrington. As you’ll know, Eleanor Roosevelt was influential in many spheres, not just in her duties as First Lady. This allows for plenty of different settings, characters, and more. And, like Queen Elizabeth II, Eleanor Roosevelt was smart, observant, and able to move in different circles, including exalted ones. That makes her a solid protagonist for the story.

Canada’s Fireside Publishing House released the Leaders and Legacies mystery series. The novels feature Canada’s prime ministers as teens, and each story focuses on a different one. For example, Showdown at Border Town, written by Caroline Woodward, features former Prime Minister Paul Martin. In the book, twelve-year-old Paul Martin and his friend Abby befriend a new arrival, Tom Whitehawk, who’s just arrived from the reservation. Tom gets a job on a fishing boat owned by Bob Brunner, and it’s not long before the young people notice some odd things going on with Brunner. They’re soon drawn into web of real danger as they work out what’s really happening. It’s worth noting that at the time Woodward wrote this book, she was fifteen.

Louis Bayard has written several standalones, a few of which include real historical figures as sleuths. For instance, The Pale Blue Eye takes place in 1830 at West Point. One of the cadets is found hanged in apparent case of suicide. But the next morning, it’s discovered that the body’s heart is missing. Former police detective Augustus Landor is asked to investigate, so the academy doesn’t get the bad press that goes with a murder investigation. One of the other cadets, a young Edgar Allan Poe, wants to help in the investigation, and he works with Landor to find out the truth. Among other things, it’s an interesting speculation on Poe’s life before he turned his focus to writing.

There’s also Heather Redmond’s Dickens of a Crime series. These novels feature a young Charles Dickens and his fiancée, later wife, Kate Hogarth, as amateur sleuths. The novels take place in Victorian London, and that city plays an important part in the stories. For instance, in the first novel, A Tale of Two Murders, Dickens is at a dinner party when a scream alerts the guests to danger in the house next door. They rush over to that house to find Christiana Lugoson unconscious on the floor. By the next morning, she’s dead. When Dickens hears about a similar murder that took place a year earlier, he begins to suspect that the two deaths might be related. And so they turn out to be. You’ll notice the play on words in the title; the other titles also give the nod to Dickens’ books: Grave Expectations, A Christmas Carol Murder, The Pickwick Murders, A Twist of Murder. Interestingly, Redmond has also written a series featuring Mary Shelley as an amateur sleuth.

It’s a bit tricky to write a novel that features a real historical figure. The protagonist has to be believable as a sleuth, and there has to be enough historical context to provide setting, background, and so on. The mysteries have to be consistent with the protagonist, too, and that entails a solid knowledge of the real person’s life. Still, when it’s done carefully, this sort of novel can offer interesting perspective on a real person’s life at the same time as it’s offering a solid story. Do you read or write mysteries with a real-life historical figure as protagonist? What do you think of the idea? Thanks, Bill for the inspiration. Now, treat yourself to a visit to Bill’s blog, where you’ll find thoughtful reviews, commentary, and more.

*NOTE: The title of this post is the title of a song by the Who.