Lyndsie Manusos’s fiction has appeared in PANK, SmokeLong Quarterly, and other publications. She holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and has worked in web production and content management. When she’s not nesting among her books and rough drafts, she’s chasing the baby while the dog watches in confused amusement. She lives with her family in a suburb of Indianapolis.
Lisa Jewell’s Breaking the Dark kicks off the Marvel Crime series with a thriller featuring Jessica Jones, a retired superhero turned private investigator. Jessica, living a solitary life in Hell’s Kitchen, is drawn into a case involving a mother, Amber Randall, whose teenage twins have mysteriously changed after a visit to the UK. As Jessica investigates, she uncovers a dark mystery surrounding the twins, a strange girl named Belle, and the eerie village of Barton Wallop.
I love everything under the speculative umbrella, and I am absolutely a sucker for books that combine and subvert genres. For this next round of diving into genre-blending work, I’m highlighting the ever tense, ever clever, and spectacularly inventive genre of sci-fi/fantasy mystery and thrillers.
What Makes a Sci-Fi/Fantasy Mystery and/or Thriller?
While this genre is relatively self-explanatory, there are caveats and blurred lines as well. After all, there are exceptions to every “rule” that makes up a genre In this case, the story usually falls under science fiction and/or fantasy (some mysteries are science fantasy, etc.) and it has some sort of mystery that is central to the plot of the story. Another way to phrase it, from the 2022 article, “What Is The Difference Between Mystery, Suspense, and Thriller Novels?” might be that “the mystery genre is full of different ways to seek the truth–or at least the facts–pertaining to a crime.”
I love the part about mystery being a genre that plays with different ways to seek truth. For sci-fi/fantasy, the mystery can be micro–surrounding a character–or macro–something mysterious happening to the world at large. Some examples might include a murder that takes place in space, a heist in a secondary fantasy world, how to solve/prevent an incoming apocalypse, a serial killer on the loose across multiple timelines, and so forth.
These stories can take many forms, subverting and reinventing the genre(s) they fall under, and it’s such a delight to read one that takes each genre to the next level. There is also a variance in length, tone, and expectations.
Now, let’s explore different SFF mystery and thrillers that seek truth.
8 SFF Mystery and Thrillers to Keep You Guessing
Psychopomp by Maria Dong
Psychopomp follows Young on the penal colony of Hibiscus Station, where there is no job more vital than being a Pomp, one who directs excavation of a volatile crystal. Young was in training to be a Pomp until a mental break, and now she’s having hallucinations about a tunnel explosion that will kill off her entire crew.
As Young wades through trauma and a surprising second chance at training, she must get to the bottom of whether there’s a more deadly conspiracy at large. Dong will keep you turning the pages in haste!
Zero Sum Game (Cas Russell #1) by S.L. Huang
S.L. Huang is such a brilliant writer, and this genius thriller from 2014 still lives rent free in my head.
Cas Russell is good at math. Like super good. The vector calculus in her head allows her to quantify at extraordinary speed, giving her the ability to dodge bullets and take on foes twice her size. But then Cas realizes there’s someone else out there with an even more dangerous power–someone able to bend minds. Cas has to keep this person from becoming a world mastermind and puppet master, and risk losing her own mind in the process.
The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan #1) by Robert Jackson Bennet
I love this cover, and this mystery is absolutely wild! It follows Ana Dolabra, an eccentric and brilliant investigator sent to solve an occurrence both terrifying and impossible: a high Imperial officer lies dead and his death is from a tree spontaneously erupting from his body.
I mean, how can you not want to keep reading?
Along with her new assistant Dinios Kol, who has secrets of his own, the pair must solve the murder and save the Empire from even greater threat. This is the fantasy Holmes-Watson story you’ve been looking for.
Half-Resurrection Blues (Bone Street Rumba #1) by Daniel José Older
The Bone Street Rumba series is an absolutely must-read for SFF mystery and thriller fans.
Half Resurrection Blues begins the series and follows Carlos Delacruz, an agent for New York Council of the Dead. Delacruz is an inbetweener, having been partially resurrected from a death he barely recalls. Now he must stop an inbetweener sorcerer from setting loose a dangerous horde through New York City, and opening up the entrada to the Underworld. Delacruz must discover who the sorcerer is while also uncovering the mysteries of his past.
Rose/House by Arkady Martine
Martine’s A Memory Called Empire was a triumph, and Rose/House continues Martine’s mastery of genre-blending mystery. And oh my goodness, this novella has it all, too.
Rose House has artificial intelligence infused into every part of it, a product of its architect Basit Deniau. But Deniau has been a dead a year, and his will commands Rose House be locked up with only one person permitted to enter and interact with its intelligence: Dr. Selene Gisil.
Then the seemingly impossible happens: Rose House reports a dead body within its wall. It is not Basit Deniau nor Dr. Selene Gisil. After Rose House reports the body to Detective Maritza Smith of the China Lake police–as is its protocol–there is no further information.
So who died in Rose House? Is there someone else in the house they don’t know about?
Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk
If you adored Polk’s heart-wrenchingly perfect Kingston Cycle series, you’re going to love this novella of magical detectives, bargaining souls, and sapphic romance.
A magical detective who sold her soul to save her brother’s life is given a second chance to avoid an eternity in hell and spend the rest of her life with the woman she loves. The catch? Find Chicago’s most notorious serial killer, The White City Vampire.
The stakes can be no higher.
The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal
This book is such a fun romp of a mystery. It follows inventor and heiress Tesla Crane, as she’s living her best life: cruising between the moon and Mars, incognito to avoid any attention, and on honeymoon with her beloved. The romance and fun, however, is interrupted when someone on the cruise is murdered and people have the utter audacity to blame her spouse.
Tesla and her trusty service dog must find the real murderer before they strike again and so that she and her spouse can get back to being cuddling newlyweds.
Murder by Memory (Dorothy Gentleman #1) by Olivia Waite
Like The Spare Man, if you’re looking for a cozier or less intense mystery than some of the above titles, but still want to check all the right SFF mystery boxes, look no further than the recently-released Murder by Memory.
On the HMS Fairweather, Her Majesty’s most luxurious interstellar passenger liner, you can rest for a lifetime. Literally. Your mind can be preserved in glass between lifetimes (and bodies).
Dorothy Gentleman, one of the ship’s detectives, wakes up in a body that isn’t hers just as someone is found murdered. Not only that, someone is deleting the preserved minds from the library. The game is afoot, and Gentleman must get to the bottom of the mystery before more chaos ensues.
Keep Reading and Searching For Truth
In a time where seeking the truth–especially when AI and misinformation is rampant–mysteries and thrillers of all genres are a balm and form of resistance. Embrace the stories that seek truth in any genre. The characters’ journeys, however morally grey, are still pursuits of what truly happened. Whether it be to bring individuals to justice, revenge, or to open the curtain to populations whose governments and overlords have kept them in the dark, seeking truth is one of the many battles of our time.
English (US) · 