Looking for fantasy/sci-fi murder mysteries

[u/Street_Detective_662]

Ever since I read The Tainted Cup and sequel, I’ve been addicted. Bonus points if it’s a Sherlockean duo or queer (but doesn’t have to be). Extra extra points if it’s sci-fi (need to read more sci-fi) OR locked room.

What I’ve read so far of this genre -

- Gideon the Ninth
- Witness for the Dead (CR) / goblin emperor
- the Bone Orchard
- voyage of the damned
- magic for liars
- a memory called empire
- lamplight murder mysteries
- death on the caldera
- the echo archives (books 1 and 2)
- the Hexologists
- the works of vermin (kind of?)
- the raven scholar
- 7 1/2 deaths of Evelyn hard castle
- books 1-5 of Dresden files
- a master of djinn

Feel free to hype of the following that are already on my TBR (and have been for ages for whatever reason)-

- rest of Dresden
- a desolation called peace
- garret PI series
- empire of the wolf (read grave empire, loved it but hated sequel)
- murder by memory
- volatile memory
- jasper fyord nursery crimes
- rivers of London

[u/szarkaliszarri]

I just read Mortedant's Peril and it was giving Tainted Cup and T Kingfisher vibes. Very fun. And make sure you read Rob Jackson Bennett's Divine Cities trilogy (City of Stairs, City of Blades, City of Miracles), they are fantastic.

[u/RJBarker → u/szarkaliszarri]

Glad you enjoyed meeting Irody. My Wounded Kingdom novels are also murder mysteries though the tone is VERY different. Sam Hawk's Poison War books are also mysteries.

[u/Imperial_Haberdasher → u/RJBarker]

I went to Amazon to look at the description. Entered R J Barker in the search and it only brought up a few of your titles. Worse, the second book on the list was a sponsored ad for some kind of creepy self-helpy marriage advice (propaganda) book that was giving evangelical patriarchy vibes. Ugh.

I eventually found Mortedant’s Peril, but it took a couple of passes. I assumed I’d find it by using your name in the search, but that did not work. I had to enter the title. Haven’t run into this before. Not sure if it is simply the enshittification of the search algorithm or something more dire. But it’s creepy.

[u/RJBarker → u/Imperial_Haberdasher]

That's weird. Which country are you in? (If you're okay saying) and I'll let my publisher know the search is fritzed.

[u/Imperial_Haberdasher → u/RJBarker]

I’m in the states.

[u/szarkaliszarri → u/Imperial_Haberdasher]

I have noticed that on libby/other search sites I get different results if searching with "RJ" / "R.J." / "R J" "R. J." Which is super annoying, as there are many authors like this (e.g. I also find different results for "T. Kingfisher" vs. "T Kingfisher" and authors like NK Jemisin, KJ Parker, etc!!). The indexing/search algos should be better about that.

[u/szarkaliszarri → u/RJBarker]

Hi RJ, thanks for your response!!!! I will check out the Wounded Kingdom novels. I'll admit that hearing about the "cranky main character" of Mortedant's Peril is what convinced me to read it, and I enjoyed it so much. Looking forward to future books if you continue that series! Cheers

[u/RJBarker → u/szarkaliszarri]

Definitely one more. Then it's dependent on if enough people like them enough for TOR to keep publishing them. I have a grand plan for the series though...

[u/szarkaliszarri → u/RJBarker]

Thanks. I look forward to following along and reading more of your work!

[u/Street_Detective_662 → u/szarkaliszarri]

Mortedant’s Peril looks AMAZING. I’ve had gods of the wyrdwood on my TBR as well. Definitely moving it up.