Historical fiction book · Curated
A Dangerous Business
Jane Smiley · historical fiction
Two women in Gold Rush Monterey investigate murders (SAH Prize 2023).
About this historical novel
A Dangerous Business by Jane Smiley is historical fiction set around 1850s in the Victorian / Gilded Age period with key settings including Monterey, California. Two women in Gold Rush Monterey investigate murders (SAH Prize 2023).
On HisFic we tag it under 3. Historical mystery & crime and 1. Literary historical fiction so you can pair it with similar story types. Recurring themes include crime, women, and frontier. It also appears on our prize-winner shelf—useful if you like critically recognized historical novels.
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Plot summary
Two women in Gold Rush Monterey investigate murders (SAH Prize 2023).
Awards
- ★ Society of American Historians Prize for Historical Fiction · 2023 (winner)
Biennial US prize (formerly James Fenimore Cooper Prize) for historical fiction on an American subject.
Subgenres
Eras
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A doctor probes the mind of Grace Marks, convicted in a notorious Canadian murder case.
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- The Alienist · Caleb Carr
A psychologist and a reporter hunt a serial killer in Gilded Age New York.
- 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).
- Days Without End · Sebastian Barry
An Irish immigrant and his partner fight in the Indian Wars and Civil War (Walter Scott Prize 2017).
Regions & places
North America
Monterey · California
Themes
- crime
- women
- frontier
Tags
award-winner