“Intertestamental historical books” are not a single fixed canon. They sit in what scholars often call the Second Temple / Late Second Temple literature (roughly 300 BCE–100 CE), and only some of it made it into Catholic, Orthodox, or Ethiopian biblical canons.
The Maccabees books are just the most famous slice of a much larger historical and narrative corpus.
Below is a clean map of other major historical Jewish works from that period that are NOT in the KJV canon, but exist in other canons or are widely studied as sacred / semi-sacred tradition.
MAJOR INTERTESTAMENTAL / SECOND TEMPLE HISTORICAL JEWISH WORKS
(organized in approximate narrative historical sequence where possible)
INCLUDED IN SOME BIBLES (Catholic / Orthodox / Ethiopian)
1 Esdras
(Early alternate retelling of Ezra–Nehemiah traditions; in Orthodox/Ethiopian canons)
2 Esdras
(Apocalyptic expansion of Ezra tradition; in Ethiopian canon and Latin tradition as appendix)
1 Maccabees
(Hasmonean revolt history, 2nd century BCE)
2 Maccabees
(Theological + miracle-focused account of same period)
3 Maccabees
(Greek Jewish persecution narrative in Egypt; Orthodox canon)
4 Maccabees
(Philosophical martyrdom discourse; Orthodox appendix)
Tobit
(Family narrative set in Assyrian exile period, semi-historical wisdom tale)
Judith
(Assyrian invasion narrative; historical stylization)
IMPORTANT SECOND TEMPLE HISTORICAL WORKS NOT IN ANY MAIN BIBLE CANON
(very important for Jewish history and context of Christianity)
1 Enoch
(Composite apocalyptic work; hugely influential on New Testament thought but not canonical in most traditions except Ethiopian)
Jubilees
(Rewritten Genesis–Exodus chronology; “little Genesis” history)
Life of Adam and Eve
(Expanded Adam tradition; moral and angelological history)
Pseudo-Philo (Biblical Antiquities)
(Alternative retelling of Israel’s history from creation to Saul)
Joseph and Aseneth
(romantic + conversion narrative tied to Joseph in Egypt)
Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs
(Testament-style ethical biographies of Jacob’s sons)
Aramaic Levi Document
(early priestly genealogy + legal tradition)
Book of Giants
(part of Enochic tradition; pre-flood myth-history)
HISTORICAL / PSEUDO-HISTORICAL MATERIAL FROM DEAD SEA SCROLLS
War Scroll
(Eschatological history of final conflict)
Community Rule
(sectarian historical self-definition of Qumran community)
Damascus Document
(historical-legal narrative of sect formation)
Temple Scroll
(rewritten Mosaic law + ideal temple history)
HELLENISTIC JEWISH HISTORICAL WRITINGS (IMPORTANT BUT NON-CANONICAL)
These are often preserved in Greek tradition:
3 Maccabees
(persecution under Ptolemaic Egypt)
4 Maccabees
(philosophical martyrdom history; Stoic-influenced)
History of the Rechabites
(monastic-like Jewish tribal history legend)
BIG PICTURE (what you’re really noticing)
The “gap” between Malachi → Matthew is filled with a dense historical-literary ecosystem, not an absence:
Core historical cluster:
Maccabean history (1–2 Maccabees)
Diaspora Jewish survival stories (Tobit, Judith)
Expanded patriarchal history (Jubilees, Enochic texts)
Sectarian Jewish histories (Dead Sea Scroll literature)
Greek diaspora Jewish philosophical histories (4 Maccabees, etc.)
SIMPLE SUMMARY
There are many more “historical Jewish books” than appear in any Bible:
If you include them all, the intertestamental world is not a gap — it is a full parallel library of history, theology, myth, and political identity formation.