How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries: The Art & Adventure of Sleuthing Through the Past [Paperback]

Cathy Lynn Emerson's "How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries: The Art and Adventure of Sleuthing Through the Past" is THE BOOK for anyone wanting to write historical mysteries. If you have some experience at writing fiction, Emerson lays out most of the information needed to start in this field.

She covers research, online groups such as Sisters in Crime and Crime Thru Time, some characterization (especially as affected by history), anachronisms, and much more.

I admit that I read the library's copy, but, as soon as the check shows up, I'm ordering my own copy.

Maybe it was just that nearly every topic I was hoping to gain more insight, and yes, somewhat in-depth information on was merely skimmed over, but overall I did not find this to be so helpful as I thought it would be. Not that I expect any book on writing to hold the reader's hand and describe outlines or set rules in step by step detail - and anyway, there is no one size fits all way to write - but some ideas for dealing with writing obstacles unique to historical fiction would have been nice. Instead, the author mostly cites published novels that dealt with a particular topic, but nothing by way of how those books or authors made use of the subject matter. For instance, I am highly interested in how to incorporate a gay detective (implied or otherwise) into the plot, and the one example given of a published book of that genre made no mention of anything but the title. And that homosexuality was illegal and specialized research into the specific time period was needed. It's appreciated information, and not faulty, per se, but only scratches the surface and did not prove at all helpful for my aims. There were several other examples of similar not-very-helpful paragraphs that barely give credence to a topic save for mentioning it.

There was some good advice on research, and the entirety of Chapter 7 on Plots, Subplots & Building Suspense was exceptionally well done, with actual writing advice that avoided a preachy, set in stone way of doing things attitude. Very helpful and one chapter I've referred to several times - although it is not really specific to the sub genre of historicals and is more of a run of the mill mystery plotting guide. It also did cover a few topics I haven't come across anywhere else, such as an entire chapter devoted to anachronisms. For the historical mystery writer, this book it worth reading for that alone. Just make sure you have other available writing resources if you're new to historical mysteries because you may still have some unanswered ponderings if you use this one on its own.

I bought this book primarily because I'm writing an historical fantasy; whether or not there will be a murder in it...well, that remains to be seen.

My thought was that this might be able to provide me with more resources for research (the U.S. homefront during World War II), and I was right, even suggesting certain series that might be worth a look-see as to how that author dealt with how people felt during that period in time, the slang used, all the little nuances that are important to historical fiction. (Unless it's been written as pure comedy, would you really want to read something that has anachronistic dialogue? Not me. :-))

What this book won't do is give you a how-to on writing fiction. IMHO, the author wisely leaves that to others, focusing on what she said she would do (no tangents, here); things like primary and secondary sources of research, book titles, character names, etc.

A nice resource if writing historical fiction is your thing.