Famous Authors as Detectives

I've noticed a recent trend in mysteries--the use of a famous historical author as the sleuth. One of the best new series in this subgenre features British crime writer and playwright Josephine Tey. In the first book, "An Expert in Murder" by Nicola Upson, Tey becomes a fictional detective when one of her fans and fellow passenger is murdered on a train to London in 1934. Her most recent outing, published this summer and entitled "Angel with Two Faces," takes place in Cornwall at the former estate of her Scotland Yard boyfriend Archie Penrose and involves the murder of the young local curate.

Another excellent new series features hard-living and drinking author Ernest Hemingway as the amateur detective. The first book, "Hemingway Deadlights" by Michael Atkiinson begins in 1956 at the author's home in Key West and winds up in pre-Castro Cuba after Hemingway's friend dies under suspicious circumstances. The sequel, "Hemingway Cutthroat," journeys back in time to 1937 during the Spanish Civil War and finds Hemingway looking for the murderer of Jose Robles, a leading official of the Spanish Republic.

And finally, a long-awaited new installment in the Jane Austen mystery series by Stephanie Barron. "Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron" will be published at the end of September.