Historical mysteries let the reader be picked up and be transported to different times and places. A good story is a painless way to get into the period, and, if it features a unsolved crime or two, give a look at history’s darker underside.

The empty mirror: a Viennese mystery by J. Sydney Jones

Hangman blind by Cassandra Clark

Some danger involved: a novel by Will Thomas

Murder on Astor Place by Victoria Thompson

The janissary tree by Jason Goodwin