Historical Mysteries - mixed feelings

[debbiebee]

I wonder how anyone else feels about this 'crossover' genre. I love Brother Cadfael and Sister Fidelma, and have enjoyed Paul Doherty's books (with his other aliases, too) but sometimes feel as if I don't want to read about yet ANOTHER canonical medieval sleuth, and there's the sense of a bandwagon being jumped on.

[CataclysmicKnight]

I haven't read any, so my two cents might not be as valuable... That said, the combination sounds fascinating, but I can see how too much of it would be bad, and some authors tend to leave the setting a bit unfamiliar in any setting, let alone a time I'm not familiar with, and when you mix a mystery into a setting that isn't fleshed out enough, that just sounds painful and confusing!

Tl;dr: done well it sounds good, otherwise maybe not...

[Duende Knocking]

Hmm.... I'm not really sure how this is different from "another" mystery taking place in the 21st century.

Maybe it can be boring if everyone is writing about monk sleuths during the 1300s in England, but I feel like this isn't very different from the dozens of authors who write about cops in New York in the 2000s. I guess it depends on the research though, as some are very poorly researched, and it's easier for a lazy writer to get away with not doing the work if it takes place in current times!