Two Suspenseful, Historical Novel Recommendations

Historical mysteries and novels filled with suspense have been my genre of choice lately. I can't get enough of them. As with any genre, some are pulpy and not-so-accurate, and some are more thoughtful and meticulously researched, but either can make for a good novel.

Below are my recommendations for two of the best suspenseful, historical novels I've read recently. Both are page-turners, and well written.

The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre
Dominic Smith, Washington Square Press, 2007
ISBN 0743271246

I could have sworn the title to this used to be The Mercurial Visions of Louis Daguerre, but if my memory fails with the title, I can assure you it does not with its content. Here we find the father of photography on a downward spiral into madness, brought on by the very thing-producing photographs, mercury poisoning from process-with which he seeks to redeem himself, and the world-a world he is certain is doomed, after experiencing a vision of its apocalyptic end.

Daugerre is determined to document ten different scenes before the end of the world, and enlists the help of the enfant terrible, Charles Baudelaire. Woven throughout is a story of long lost love, which has been described as sentimental in some reviews, although I found it perfectly fitting, as a device such a man would construct, to hang onto anything meaningful, as his world is ending.

While this novel may not technically be classified as a mystery, the plot twists, delusions, and general sense of searching with passionate intent, along with its pacing and high suspense, certainly give it a mystery-genre feel.

Critique of Criminal Reason: A Mystery
Michael Gregorio, Minotaur Press, 2008
ISBN 0312378033

This novel brialliantly uses the growing, pulpy trend of placing a historical or literary figure into a lay detective role (others include Issac Newton & Jane Austen) but, in a way that is more subtle and less contrived. Gregorio uses Immanual Kant as mentor to his protagonist detective, Hanno Stiffeniis.

There is something about this book that is deeper, more brooding, and dark than the others. In a good way. Perhaps it is the slightly earlier timeframe-the other fin de siècle. The story is set in 1804, opposed to the turn of the twentieth century, the Victorian era, which is perhaps the most common setting for contemporary historical mysteries.

In those more common novels, there are threads and conflict based on man vs. machine, communication and invention of of all kind: image, sound, emotion. In this, we go back to a time of more intangible revolution-that of reason itself.

Of course, reason is the very thing sleuthing-style deduction is based upon, so mixed with Gregorio's more intellectual and serious fiction tone, in of all things, a serial-killer whodunit, it all makes for great reading.

Good news too, two more volumes featuring the same character of detective Hanno Stiffeniis have been published, Days of Atonement, and A Visible Darkness. Even better news--both of these novels can be found used at Amazon, starting at a penny plus shipping!