So you want to write an ancient mystery...

Historical mysteries are a sub-genre. There's at least one historical mystery for almost every time and place you care to name, but readers very clearly have their favourite periods. Mediaeval mysteries are huge, thanks I'm sure to the early excellence of Ellis Peters. The Victorian period is big, and so too are Ancients. Mediaeval, Victorian and Ancient mysteries have such a focus from readers and authors that each could fairly be called a distinct sub-sub-genre.

This is the first in a series of blog posts in which I'll point out some of the elements unique, or at least common, to my own little piece of the world: Ancient Mysteries. This is all very much Gary's view, so your mileage will definitely vary, but I at least have the advantage of having read some of what's out there, and I dare say a bit more than most.

I'll begin with some posts about existing ancient mystery authors, because the most important advice I can give you is this: read the authors who've gone before. If you're interested in ancient mysteries then you really want to rush out and read every author I mention.

Within ancient mysteries the big two are Steven Saylor and Lindsey Davis. I'm fairly sure the sales records and general popularity would back me up on that. Saylor seems to be better known in the US (he's American). Davis appears to be better known in the UK (she's British). To these two I'll add John Maddox Roberts. These three were the first major ancient mystery authors.

I've read all three for many years, but when I began to write an ancient mystery myself, I studied all three very closely. What did they have in common? How were they different? What worked? What didn't work?

Two common things really stand out. Firstly, they all write Roman mysteries! In fact Rome became so popular with later authors that it's almost a sub-sub-sub-genre. (I'll stop with the subs now).

But the common point I'll concentrate on here is this: they all use fundamentally the same hero/heroine/patron character model.

Steven Saylor's hero is Gordianus the Finder, the only honest man in Rome. His wife is a rather strong willed slave named Bethesda. Gordianus finds himself working for an advocate by the name of Cicero.

Lindsey Davis' hero is Marcus Didius Falco, the most hard done by gumshoe in ancient Rome. He runs into a strong-willed aristocratic lady called Helena Justina. Falco finds himself working for the upstart new Emperor Vespasian.

John Robert's hero is Decius Caecilius Metellus, an aristocratic, young, insatiably curious troublemaker. He marries eventually a lady called Julia, who happens to be a relative of Julius Caesar.

Are you seeing a pattern here? The male hero. The strong female assisting. The patron.

People read historical mysteries as much for the joy of exploring the exotic time and place as for the mystery. For the ancient past in particular, so remote and exotic to us today, you can't get a complete experience without both the male and the female view of ancient life. Also it's the nature of the ancient times that men generally had greater social freedom. So a male lead with a strong female is not only the path of least resistance, but the one which fits most naturally into what readers will likely enjoy. The patron is a natural component too: someone to deliver a diverse range of missions, give entrée to high places and explain background which a highly placed man of the times would know and which the reader needs. (Patrons in ancient mysteries tend to be the princes of exposition).

I think of this as the Standard Model for ancient mysteries.

Different authors give different weight to the character types, but certainly the Standard Model prevails across many authors. Perhaps even most. For example Rosemary Rowe's excellent mysteries in Roman Britain feature a Celtic freedman called Libertus, his wife Gwellia, and a magistrate Marcus Septimus.

Which isn't to say everyone follows the model. Jane Finnis has her clever heroine Aurelia Marcella running an inn on her own in Roman Britain, plus doing the investigations. (Jane, by the way, is only partially sighted, and has to work with a high contrast screen and an automatic reader, but still manages to write in such a technically difficult field. When I learned that I swore I'd never again whine about my own writing problems.) Though he eventually marries, Margaret Doody's Stephanos is essentially an all-male affair, with Aristotle providing the brains. Caroline Lawrence has for her children's and YA Roman mysteries a girl called Flavia Gemina and her friends. The series opens with Flavia as a young girl and ends with her marriage. Caroline might actually be the most successful ancient mystery author ever, considering the number of her books in school libraries and the highly successful TV series made of them. She totally owns the entire field of YA ancient mysteries. (Which would make her a sub-sub-sub-sub-...no, I must stop this).

So my view is: the Standard Model evolved independently with many authors for a good reason. You don't have to use it, but you'd want to at least consider it.

I've been careful as I can to avoid dropping spoilers in this and subsequent posts to avoid damaging the fun for anyone who hasn't read the stories yet. Please avoid spoilers if possible in any comments you make too please!