Some historical mysteries are cosy and some a definitely not. I’ll try here to give you very brief descriptions that may help you decide if a series is right for you or not.

Set in the 1970s

15 books in this series

Dr. Siri Paiboun Mysteries by Colin Cotterill. Dr. Siri is the national coroner of Laos. The murders can be a bit graphic. There is violence, more in some books than in others. It has a great cast of characters and the banter between them is often very humorous. The books do often include mystical elements.

For those sensitive to violence against animals, skip book 13.

Set in the late 40s and early 50s

9 books in this series

The Malabar House Mysteries by Vaseem Khan have a wonderful female main character. Inspector Persis Wadia is India’s first female police detective. She is strong and intelligent and patient in the face of sexism. The books include slightly more graphic violence than your average cosy. The series is set in Calcutta and begins on New Year’s Eve 1949.

11 books in this series

The Flavia de Luce Mysteries by Alan Bradley are set in the UK at the end of the 40s. Flavia is a young chemical prodigy, and if she wasn’t an 11-year old girl would probably be considered a genius. I love Flavia’s intelligence and curiosity, though it seems that readers either love or hate her. The family dynamic can be abusive and the murders aren’t always for those who are squeamish. ⁣

Set in the 1930s

8 books in this series

The Crown Colony Series by Ovidia Yu has a MFC who is a young Chinese woman, SuLin, who wants to become a journalist, but finds herself working at the police department. The series begins in the 30s and runs through WW2. The Japanese occupation of Singapore was brutal, and the books set during the war contain more graphic violence than those set before the invasion. However, the books set prior to the war, contain a lot of racism because at the time Singapore was still a British colony.

18 books in this series

The Her Royal Spyness mysteries by Rhys Bowen are cosy historical mysteries. They are more character than plot-driven, but Lady Georgie is charming. Innocent, but charming. ⁣ She’s a cousin of King George V. As the series approaches the war, the content is becoming a bit heavier. I’m curious to see if they remain cosy through the course of the war.

3 books in this series

The Phyllida Bright series by Colleen Cambridge is a cosy historical mystery series. Phyllida served as a nurse during World War 1, and she has some secrets. However, she’s also a friend of Agatha Christie, and Agatha has hired her as a housekeeper. Her experiences in the war allow her to keep a level head when faced with violent scenes, and her love of Agatha’s writings seems to have prepared her to solve mysteries of her own. I’ve only read the first in the series, but believe it will be a series I will continue to enjoy.

Set in the 1920’s

4 books in the series

The Perveen Mistry series by Sujata Massey is one of my favorite historical mysteries. There are probably too many potential triggers (domestic violence, racism, colonialism) for these to be considered truly cosy. Also, the mysteries tend to be buried in a lot of other story points. In some books, that makes me angry, but not in this series. These books make me feel immersed in Perveen’s world. Set in the early 1920’s Perveen is the first female lawyer in India. She has graduated from Oxford and works for her father’s law firm. Unfortunately, because women are not permitted to sit the bar she is not permitted to argue cases in court and is limited to paper work. These books are so well-researched, and very well-written. Perveen’s family is Parsi, and being unfamiliar with the Parsi community, I have been fascinated by the details of their history, culture, religion, and food. The descriptions of the foods made me so hungry I had to seek out a Parsi cookbook.

23 Books in the series

The Daisy Dalrymple series by Carola Dunn are cosy mysteries. Daisy comes from a well-to-do family, but her brother and fiance died during the war, and her father died soon after of the Spanish flu which meant the family’s estate passed to the next male relative. Daisy strikes out on her own with plans of becoming a writer.

5 books in the series

The Captain Sam Wyndham series by Abir Mukherjee is set in Calcutta. Wyndham had served in World War 1 and returned to Scotland Yard, but he’s hiding the fact that he has become an opium addict. When he is transferred to India, he remains dependent on opium, but also comes to rely on his Sargeant, “Surrender-not” Banerjee. Expect all the typical colonial racism and classism in these powerfully written and well-researched mysteries. I don’t generally love a mystery where the main detective is struggling with addiction and whose life is falling apart (Nordic noir is definitely not my favorite genre), but in this series, I find myself so wrapped up in the time and place, that it isn’t as frustrating.

23 books in the series

The Phryne Fisher novels by Kerry Greenwood have mostly off-screen violence, but can get pretty spicy. Phryne likes beautiful men. She is an independently wealthy, liberated woman who becomes a private detective. I love that she is strong, intelligent, independent, and compassionate. Some of the books may be triggering because they contain some tough topics – domestic violence, sexual assault, racism, addiction, human trafficking, WW1, child abuse, abortion, misogyny.

The late 1800s to the early 1900s

20 books in the series

The Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters is primarily set in Egypt as Amelia is an Egyptologist who eventually marries an archaeologist. These are pretty close to a cosy, but possibly more about adventure than the actual mysteries much of the time. Clues aren’t dropped in traditional ways, and the stories can call for some suspension of disbelief because there are Masters of Disguise and Master criminals. Peters did a masterful job of writing as if the narrator was a Victorian woman, so the speech can feel old-fashioned and the attitudes can definitely feel antiquated. Amelia and her family would be considered radically liberal for the time, but radically liberal in the late 1800s can still feel offensive by today’s standards.