Book notes: Period mysteries

I am not the world's biggest fan of historical fiction.

Maybe that's a huge generalization. But none of the ones I've read have had any pull for me. I've enjoyed novels written in the 19th century, so why don't I enjoy current novels set in the same periods?

One of the worst was when I tried to read Diana Gabaldon - not only an historical piece, but  also involved time travel of all things. What is it with romance-y type writers and their fascination with the old Scots or Irish? I'm sure they weren't actually that appealing. So this nurse, happily married, is holidaying in Scotland and goes for a walk that takes her too near some magical place and she gets sucked into Scotland of old and ends up forced into a marriage there and she affects history and a bunch of nonsense like that. And her medical knowledge is far beyond anyone else at the time, so she's kind of a miracle worker. And the sex she has with her new husband is way better than what she had with her actual husband in the actual world. So that means that it must be true love and she should stay in the past forever with her new lusty, smelly Scottish husband. That's the sum total of my memory of the first book. 

It was nonsense. I didn't like it. I didn't read the sequels (I say sequels for I believe there were several).

But now I'm sidetracked. Back to my recent mysteries.

2 historically set mystery novels - okay for historical fiction but will not be pursuing any more by these authors:

Bloodstone by Paul Doherty - A medieval friar with a penchant for puzzles is brought in to solve a series of murders involving a monastery and a cursed gem. Some of the details of daily life at the time were interesting, and it seemed well researched. Slow moving and I realized I didn't even care when the (not-so) big reveal came. Not a good sign.

The Constant Lovers by Chris Nickson - Better than Bloodstone - set later, I believe (history is not so much my strong suit - perhaps why I'm no fan of these books), a Sheriff (of Nottingham, no less) and his men solve a murder. The sheriff was likeable and I liked his relationships with his men and his family. And their relationship with the criminal element of the city - an interesting, shifting uneasy peace between the known criminals and the law enforcement. The solving dragged out a bit and seemed to involve a lot of walking around the countryside fruitlessly. There was a 'twist', but since we only had 2 suspects, it could be seen a long way out, so a little anti-climactic.