I agree - also about Elizabeth George (those are my dessert books) - I assume you have read PD James mysteries? Henning Mankel (Swedish) is also great.

Blood and Thunder sounds right up my alley, I will put it on my Hanamas list.! I read a lot about the history of NYC, and The Island at the Center of the World, about Dutch NY is my all time favorite. Also Low Life by Luke Sante, is about turn of the century NY, although I wonder a bit about some of his interpretations of events. Did you read In the Heart of the Sea - the true story Moby **** is based on? Very New England.

Quality Fiction wise, The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenager is also great - sad, but very strong writing. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers is good - it's a biography but it reads like fiction (parts of it may actually be fiction!).