Barbara Hambly’s A Free Man of Color begins a series set in pre-Louisiana Purchase New Orleans and centering on black Paris-trained musician and physician Benjamin January.

Set in colonial New England, Margaret Lawrence’s series features midwife Hannah Trevor. The first, Hearts and Bones, was nominated for both an Edgar and an Anthony.

With A Wicked Way to Burn, set in Massachussetts in l763, Margaret Miles introduces Charlotte Willett, a young widow, and Richard Longfellow, a gentleman farmer and scientist. The books are exemplary in their presentation of pre-Revolutionary lifestyles.

Grace Monfredo’s wonderful series is set in upstate New York, beginning in 1848 with Seneca Falls Inheritance. Each of the books is set against the backdrop of a major event of the period leading up to and including the Civil War.

Owen Parry’s Faded Coat of Blue begins a fine series featuring Welsh immigrant Abel Jones, undercover Union agent. Rich in language and historical detail, these books will appeal to Civil War buffs as well as mystery lovers.

Daniel Woodrell, in Woe to Live On, presents the border states of Kansas and Missouri in the l860s through the eyes of a sixteen-year-old boy who joins Quantrill’s raiders.

Kate Bryan’s appealing series set in l875 begins with Murder at Bent Elbow and features smart, adventurous Maggie Maguire, who’s left the Pinkerton Agency and set up her own detective agency in San Francisco.

Caleb Carr, in The Alienist and The Angel of Darkness, presents rich detail about the Teddy Roosevelt era in New York City. As J. D. Christillian, he has also written Scarlet Women, set in post-Civil War New York City

Stella Dallas, in The Diary of Mattie Spencer, frames a fascinating account of life on the prairie with a modern woman’s discovery of, and reaction to, the diary.

Dianne Day’s widely praised series, beginning with The Strange Files of Fremont Jones, creates a resourceful heroine, Fremont Jones, who’s traded in a conventional life in Boston for a career as a "type-writer" in turn-of-the-century San Francisco.

With The Killing Breed, Mark Graham began a series set in l870s Philadelphia and featuring police detective Wilton McCleary, embittered Civil War veteran and Andersonville survivor. Gritty and atmospheric, effectively creating a sense of Old Philadephia.

Charles Hackenberry’s I Rode with Jesse James presents ex-con Willie Goodwin, who’s taken the Pinkerton’s money before he realizes whom he’s supposed to track down. And Susan Dodd's Mamaw is a fact-based novel about the amazing Zerelda Samuel, the mother of Frank and Jesse.

Peter Heck’s series narrated by Mark Twin’s secretary, Wentworth Cabot, begins with Death on the Mississippi. As one might expect, they offer plenty of period lore and intriguing glimpses of Twain’s personality.

In Marie Kiraly’s MadelineEdgar Allen Poe becomes the detective to help a woman whose infant son has been stolen away by a member of the Usher family.

Mary Kruger’s series starring Detectives Matt and Brooke Devlin begins with Masterpiece of Murder and draws a vivid picture of Gilded Age Newport society.

Mardi Oakley Medawar mysteries are set in the l860’s and feature a Kiowa medicine man.

Ron Hansen’s literary debut, Desperadoes, tells the story of the Dalton boys from the point of view of Emmett Dalton.

Richard Parry’s fact-based series about Wyatt Earp and his son Nathan Blaylock is set in Alaska. Skillful evocation of time and place.

Sarah Smith’s trilogy, beginning with The Vanished Child, explores the ambiance of turn-of the-century Eastern establishment and avant-garde Paris.

Daniel Stashower features Harry Houdini as sleuth in his enjoyable series that begins with The Dime Museum Murders. Part of the pleasure is seeing Harry through the eyes of his less-than-awestruck younger brother.

Murder on Astor Place is the marvelous debut of a fine series by Victoria Thompson about Sarah Brandt, midwife in the tenements of turn-of-the century New York..

Karen Rose Cercone’s series begins with Steel Ashes, set in 1904 Pittsburgh. It features Helen Sorby, journalist and social worker, and Armenian detective Milo Kachigan. Fascinating glimpses of the early days of the labor movement.

Max Allan Collins reopens actual cases from of the 20s and 30s, with a fictional detective who works for historical figures such as Huey Long, Clarence Darrow, and Amelia Earhardt.

Jeanne Dams' Hilda Johansson series is set in South, Bend, Indiana in the early l900s and stars a young Swedish immigrant, now a housemaid for the Studebaker family. Mystery Review praised this series for its "enchanting setting and compelling protagonist . . . its quiet humor and its compassion : . . meant to be savored, not devoured."

With Coyote Revenge, Fred Harris began a delightful series set in Depression-era Oklahoma. Rich in colorful historical detail, credible characters, and a remarkable ear for dialogue.

Stuart Kaminsky has an amusing series in which the main characters are movie stars of the 30s and 40s: A Fatal Glass of Beer, for instance, stars W. C. Fields.

Elliot Roosevelt’s popular series presents Eleanor as the detective and provides glimpses of the movers and shakers of the 30s and 40s.

Walter Mosley’s Easy Rawlings books are set in L. A. and follow post-World War II social changes, beginning in 1948 with Devil in a Blue Dress and ending with the assassination of President Kennedy in A Little Yellow Dog.

Troy Soos presents the Golden Age of Baseball in his Mickey Rawlings mysteries set just after World War I. These offer a blend of baseball lore and the political and social currents of the time.

Deborah Woodworth depicts the Shaker way of life in l930s Kentucky, with Sister Rose Callahan as the engaging sleuth. Death of a Winter Shaker is the first in this fascinating series.