I know I need to try Dorothy Dunnett again--I tried the first Lymond book once and didn't get very far

This apparently happens to everyone. Put your head down and bull through to the end; if you haven't been grabbed by then you can probably walk away.

Historical... I don't read a lot, really. I'm very fond of Mary Renault, but I know some people bounce off of her prose.

paperback action adventure/thrillers

I ended up reading a bunch of these on my trip (because romance goes by too quickly, and sci-fi not often found on the free trade bookshelves in hostels). One I ended up enjoying was Lee Child--he's got a whole series with one character, some of which are rather better than others. I recommend the "hired to assassinate the VP" one as one of the better ones, but the others aren't terrible, as the genre goes.

I don't normally tear up or almost cry at books (the only time I can remember almost crying at a book is the last third or so of Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?, and I was in a sad mood at the time anyway), so I had to make note of this, re: The Time Traveler's Wife.

I just read the scene where we find out that Henry has been time traveling to the scene of his mother's death his entire fucking life. That's...dear God.

Susan, if you're still looking for recs, go back in time:

Samuel Shellabarger wrote fabulous swashbuckling historicals, mostly set during the Renaissance. Rafael Sabotini is legendary. Dumas' stuff was mostly historical.

More modern: Edith Pargeter/Ellis Peters wrote a ton of very good stuff set in medieval England. The Heaven Tree Trilogy is one of my favorites. ::must get a copy and reread::

Sharon Kay Penman is very popular, although I'm not as sold on her. Jean Plaidy was a standby for me as a child, and she's one of the primary reasons I know anything about English history. (Sigh)

Dunnett, of course. If you find Game of Kings too dense, try Queen's Play or Disorderly Knights: the first two are pretty much one-offs. Or you could try Niccolo Rising, which is written in a much more accessible style, and set in Flanders among bankers and merchants and mercenaries of the mid-15th C. Many people prefer the Niccolo books to the Lymond ones.

Oh! PF Chisholm, who is Patricia Finney. As Finney, she wrote 2 killer novels set in Roman Britain and Ireland, based on the Ulster Cycle. She also wrote a pair of complex and baroque Elizabethan thrillers. As Chisholm, she's got a series of mysteries set on the Scots border, based on the real journals of Sir Robert Carey, one of Elizabeth I's cousins. It's all very good stuff.

If mysteries are ok, I can give you a whole bunch of names. Start with Bruce Alexander, who wrote a series featuring Sir John Fielding. There's also Anne Perry who writes two series set in Victorian England(different time frames) and Victoria Thompson whose series is set in Victorian New York.(There are many more, in various times and places, if you're interested)

Did I mention that I read a lot of historical mysteries? :)

Thanks for the ideas, everyone!

I'm interested in good historical mysteries as good reads, though they're not as useful for the market research side of my historical fiction project. (I do hate how compartmentalized the publishing industry is, but it's not like I have any power to change it.)

Ok, Sharan Newman writes a series set in 12th century France(mostly) which is good.(I'm currently reading the most recent one, The Witch in the Well)Caroline Roe has a series set in 14th century Spain. Alan Gordon's books are good.(The series focuses on Feste from 12th Night, and is quite interesting)

Edward Marston has a bunch of series out. I've read most of the series that's set around the time of Shakespeare, featuring an acting troupe. I'm a bit behind on the Domesday Book series.(Set, as you might guess, in 11th century England) I've read his series set in Restoration England, but I'm not sure if those are published here.

Another set of historical mysteries is the Cadfael series by Ellis Peters, set in 12th century England.

I thought that Caleb Carr did an excellent job of bringing turn-of-the-century New York City to life with The Alienist.

wrod... sorry, I missed the "historical" portion, I think of the poster's question, but "The Alienist" was quite brilliant.