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Author

Jeri Westerson

24 fiction

Jeri Westerson is an American historical mystery novelist, born and raised in Los Angeles, whose fiction reflects a longstanding fascination with medieval English history. Before becoming a full-time novelist she worked in a variety of occupations and later became active in organisations including Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime and the Historical Novel Society. Her work is particularly associated with what she calls “Medieval Noir”: crime fiction that applies the atmosphere and moral ambiguity of noir to carefully researched medieval settings. Her novels have received numerous nominations for major mystery awards, including the Agatha, Macavity, Lefty and Shamus awards.

Westerson is best known for the fifteen-book Crispin Guest Medieval Noir series, beginning with Veil of Lies. Set in the reign of Richard II, it follows Crispin Guest, a disgraced former knight who earns a living as a private investigator on the streets of fourteenth-century London. She later created the King’s Fool Mysteries, featuring the real Tudor court jester Will Somers as an investigator during the reign of Henry VIII, beginning with Courting Dragons. Her historical fiction also includes standalone novels such as Roses in the Tempest and Oswald the Thief, while the Irregular Detective Mysteries move forward to Victorian London and follow former Baker Street Irregular Tim Badger. Across these books Westerson combines murder investigation with social history, politics and real historical figures, making the detective story a way of exploring how people navigated the rigid hierarchies and dangers of earlier societies.

Periods and events

Dissolution of the Monasteries1536–1541 CE England after the Peasants’ Revolt1381–1385 Reign of Edward II1307–1327 CE Reign of Henry VIII1509–1547 CE Reign of Richard II1377–1399 CE Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn1527–1536 Victorian London1837–1901 CE Victorian Spiritualism and Psychical Culturec. 1850–1901

Historical fiction

Historical fiction series by Jeri Westerson (3 series)

Crispin Guest Medieval Noir in Order

by Jeri Westerson 15 books 4.2(13,395)

The Crispin Guest Medieval Noir mysteries follow a disgraced former knight who survives in late-fourteenth-century London as the Tracker, an investigator hired to recover lost objects, expose secrets and untangle crimes that official justice cannot or will not solve. Crispin’s fall for treason gives him unusual access to…

Irregular Detective Mysteries in Order

by Jeri Westerson 3 books 4.0(497)

The Irregular Detective Mysteries follow Timothy Badger, a former Baker Street Irregular, and Benjamin Watson, his scientifically minded partner, as they try to establish a private enquiry agency in London in 1895. Sherlock Holmes is their fictional mentor rather than their protagonist: the cases belong to two younger…

King’s Fool Mysteries in Order

by Jeri Westerson 4 books 3.9(581)

The King’s Fool Mysteries make the historical court jester Will Somers the detective at Henry VIII’s court. Will’s licence to joke, gossip and move between social ranks gives him access that formal officers do not possess, but it also leaves him dependent on the favour of a volatile…

Historical fiction

Standalone historical fiction by Jeri Westerson (2 books)

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