Historical fiction book · Curated
The Alienist
Caleb Carr · historical fiction
Series: Laszlo Kreizler
A psychologist and a reporter hunt a serial killer in Gilded Age New York.
Why read it: Atmospheric historical crime—city, science, and suspense.
About this historical novel
The Alienist by Caleb Carr is historical fiction set around 1896 in the Victorian / Gilded Age period with key settings including New York City, Gilded Age. A psychologist and a reporter hunt a serial killer in Gilded Age New York.
On HisFic we tag it under 3. Historical mystery & crime so you can pair it with similar story types. Recurring themes include mystery, crime, psychology, and city life. Atmospheric historical crime—city, science, and suspense.
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Plot summary
A psychologist and a reporter hunt a serial killer in Gilded Age New York. Atmospheric historical crime—city, science, and suspense.
Subgenres
Eras
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- Fingersmith · Sarah Waters
In 1862 London, pickpocket Sue Trinder is planted as a maid in a lonely Thames-side mansion to help a gentleman swindle an heiress—then the con turns inside out. Sarah Waters’s Booker-shortlisted Victorian novel is literary historical fiction of thieves, asylums, and desire, with crime-plot machinery that still startles.
- The Essex Serpent · Sarah Perry
In 1893, newly widowed Cora Seaborne leaves London for the Essex marshes, where rumor of a winged serpent collides with a country vicar, a dying wife, and the new sciences of fossils and medicine. Sarah Perry’s novel is Victorian historical fiction of faith, desire, and a coastal town arguing with the modern world.
- An Officer and a Spy · Robert Harris
Colonel Picquart unravels the Dreyfus Affair in this tense historical thriller (Walter Scott Prize 2014).
- Lonesome Dove · Larry McMurtry
Aging Texas Rangers drive cattle north in an epic, funny, heartbreaking Western.
Regions & places
North America
New York City · Gilded Age
Themes
- mystery
- crime
- psychology
- city life
Tags
mystery · series · page-turner