I LOVE mysteries. I was practically raised on them. I started with Aunt Eater Solves a Mystery and Nate the Great then went from Encyclopedia Brown to Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew, and then straight to the loving embrace of Agatha Christie.
I do still love to have Miss Marple and Poirot as my detective companions, these days, I am often on the lookout for something a little different. So, in no particular order, here are a few unconventional mysteries I’ve enjoyed lately.
The Murderbot Diaries #1
by Martha Wells
SCIENCE FICTION // All Systems Red is the first in a series of novellas by Martha Wells starring…..Murderbot, a self-named security android with a hacked governor unit. You might think that this would be a gory, violent redemption of robots story, but you’d be wrong. Murderbot just wants to be left alone to watch his shows, but the human scientists he’s been hired to protect keep getting almost killed, Murderbot knows they’ve been set up. Each Murderbot novella features Murderbot begrudgingly solving a mystery to save his human companions.
Flavia de Luce #1
by Alan Bradley
MYSTERY // Also in e-book // Alan Bradley’s mysteries feature the aspiring young chemist with a penchant for poisons, Flavia de Luce. Flavia lives in Buckshaw, a once grand mansion, with her father, two sisters, and a few servants. When she finds a dead body in the cucumber patch, rather than been frightened, Flavia perks up and begins investigating: “I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn’t. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life.”
by Sarah Gailey
SCIENCE FICTION // Imagine the Harry Potter mashed up with Sam Spade, and you’d come close to the feel of Magic For Liars. Ivy Gamble is happy with her life. She lives alone and works, mostly successfully, as a private investigator, but trouble comes calling in the form of her estranged sister: a magically gifted professor at a school for magical children. One of the faculty members of Osthorne Academy for Young Mages has been gruesomely murdered and Ivy, who has knowledge of the magical world AND solving mysteries, is the only one fit for the case.
Honorable Mentions
- The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters
A police detective investigates a murder as the world is ending. - The Verifiers by Jane Pek
FICTION // A client of a private investigation company that investigates if your dating app match is lying to you is murdered. - The Forest of Stolen Girls by June Hur
E-audiobook only // A girl poses as a man to investigate the mysterious disappearance of young girls on the island of Jeju, set in 15th century Korea. - Powers by Brian Michael Bendis
GRAPHIC NOVEL // A graphic novel series about cops investigating the murders of superheroes.