10 Mystery Books That Feature Real People as Detectives 

Former British MP and friend of the Royals, author Gyles Brandreth serves up a predictably witty mystery featuring Irish-born writer Oscar Wilde as a kind of proto-Sherlock Holmes (The consulting detective was rather theatrical, after all) in a tale narrated by real-life Victorian poet Robert Sherard.

The first in six-book series, Brandreth’s gripping yarn is based on the real life murder of Billy Wood, said to be the inspiration for the central character in Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. Filled with great one-liners and putdowns, the mystery also features Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as a kind of bumbling Watson to Wilde’s mercurial Holmes. 

Georgian novelist Jane Austen is the unlikely detective hero in this 1996 mystery, the opener of a long running series. Apparently written by Austen in her characteristically waspishly droll style, with Barron playing the role of editor, this cleverly plotted mystery sees Jane visiting a recently married friend, Isabel, the Countess of Scargrave.

When Isabel’s new husband dies under mysterious circumstances and his bride is the chief suspect, Austen must use all her celebrated sharp-eyed powers of observation to find the truth and save her friend from the gallows.  

Charles Dickens hero-worshipped real life Scotland Yard detectives (and created one of the first sleuths in Victorian fiction in the dogged Inspector Bucket).

In this, the first of a series by British author Briggs, the great novelist is forced to do some detective work of his own when a body is found covered in blood in a sanctuary for fallen women he funds. Based on solid research and filled with clever references to Dickens' books, this is an atmospheric page-turner set in a Dickensian London of smoke, sin and fog. 

This cunningly plotted mystery is set in the Massachusetts Colony in 1773 and features the shrewd, astute, and handsome Abigail Adams, wife of future President John Adams, in the central role.

New England is torn between patriots and loyalists. When one of the former, a young woman named Rebecca Malvern, is found murdered, John Adams becomes the chief suspect. Abby sets to work to clear his name and uncover a dark conspiracy with its roots in faraway London. 

In this the third in Putnam’s excellent Lincoln and Speed series, the young Abraham Lincoln and his friend Joshua Speed (real life store owner and Lincoln’s roommate during the future president’s early days in Illinois) team up once again to investigate dark goings on around Springfield. 

It’s 1839, and when a prominent local politician is murdered during the Fourth of July fireworks and one of his main rivals is accused of the crime, Lincoln and Speed find themselves caught up in a trial that becomes increasingly dangerous for the pair of them—especially when members of Lincoln’s unsavory family also get involved. 

Edgar Allen Poe invented modern detective fiction, so it’s unsurprising that he often turns up as a sleuth in historical mystery fiction. Bayard’s celebrated novel (which was made into a good movie starring Christian Bale) draws on the writer’s brief spell at West Point Academy in 1830 (he was expelled after a court-martial in 1831). 

When a cadet is found murdered under macabre circumstances, the authorities call in retired detective Augustus Landor who quickly finds himself drawing on the expertise of the frequently drunk but insightful young Poe. Filled with a chilly Poe-like atmosphere, it’s a minor masterpiece of crime fiction. 

Louisa and the Crystal Gazer is the third in a series of books by the pseudonymous Maclean (whose real identity is a bit of a mystery in itself) in which Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women, turns gumshoe.

In this beautifully rendered mystery that’s packed with charming details from Alcott’s eccentric family home, the young Louisa travels to Boston with her pal, Sylvia, to visit the famous medium Mrs. Agatha Percy. The medium has promised to put Sylvia in touch with her deceased father.

Louisa is unconvinced, but her skepticism becomes immaterial when Mrs Percy is found murdered. Intrigued, Louisa begins to investigate the medium’s shady background, and is soon uncovering secrets that may explain her untimely death.  

Scottish writer Josephine Tey was one of the great figures of the Golden Age of Detective fiction. The author of masterpieces such as The Daughter of Time turns sleuth in this, the first of a long running series of mysteries by Upson. 

Tey is traveling down from her home in Aberdeen to London to attend the premier of her soon to be hit play Richard of Bordeaux. An apparently motiveless killing throws her plans into disarray and puts both her reputation and life at risk.

Upson does a terrific job capturing the atmosphere of 1930s England, a place in which dark passions are concealed beneath a frosty veneer of politeness. 

Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond, turns undercover agent in Mathews fast and fun espionage caper set during World War Two. As Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin make plans to meet to finalize the plans for D-Day at the famous Tehran summit, desk-bound Royal Naval Intelligence officer Fleming receives word that Nazi assassins plan to kill the three allied leaders. 

Going undercover and working against the clock, the author must uncover the details of the plot, thwart the killers, and save the day. Unsurprisingly, there are plenty of dry martinis, seductive women, and fights along the way.