Five top Victorian mysteries set outside England

Will Thomas is the author of the critically acclaimed Cyrus Barker and Thomas Llewelyn series, including Some Danger Involved, Fatal Enquiry, Old Scores, and Blood Is Blood. He lives in Oklahoma.

At CrimeReads he tagged five favorite "Victorian mystery novels set around the world—yes, that's right, outside England." One title on the list:

The Fencing Master, by Arturo Perez-Reverte (Harcourt Brace and Company, 1998)

Set in Madrid in 1868 during a period of great political unrest, this book concerns Don Jaime, a fencing master and man of honor in a time when such a concept was considered outmoded. He declines a request from a young woman to teach her a forbidden fencing technique, but soon she draws him into the modern world of revolution and political intrigue, where honor is considered as quaint and old fashioned as the weapon he teaches his pupils to use. Is he a dinosaur, or does what he has to teach the young woman still have worth in this “modern” century? This is a Perez-Reverte masterpiece.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue