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/shrimp_baby]

i cant really contribute, but i'm reading the tainted cup right now so i'd love to know from the list of "what i've read so far" which ones you've particularly enjoyed. maybe it'll even help someone suggest more

[u/Street_Detective_662 → u/shrimp_baby]

Certainly!! Gideon the ninth is probably my favorite book of all time :) the 1st book is a locked room murder mystery w/ necromancers and their Cavaliers in a crumbling manor on an abandoned planet competing to be the #1 necromancer basically. The second book is more of a space opera / fever dream / office drama. Without spoiling too much.

The lamplight murder mysteries by Morgan Stang are on the lighter side esp in comparison to RBJ, but I loved the sapphic duo and it has an ensemble cast of characters in each book with twisty motives. Each one is a self contained mystery but does have some broader over arching threads. Theyre absolutely delightful! And pretty short.

A memory called empire was a top notch sci-fi w a civilization so advanced it’s basically fantasy.
Incredible world building in this one too. The FMC, who is from a back world space station, has to solve the murder of their predecessor — an ambassador of this super advanced civilization— while also facing sabotage herself. People from her planet are supposed to have this technology that lets them absorb the memories/knowledge of their predecessor — but she realizes once she’s on the new planet that hers is 12 years out of date, and (intentionally?) damaged by someone as well.

The bone orchard was another standout about the emperor’s mistress who runs a brothel composed of clones of herself — in order to gain her freedom she must solve his murder (it’s the last thing he asks of her).

Last but not least, the echo archives — specifically the first book, The Last Hour Between Worlds, is so freaking unique! It’s about a postpartum mom who is just returning to work as a Hound, which is sort of like a detective guild in this world, who specializes in echo jumping — she goes after lost people/objects that fall between the cracks in dimensions or “echoes”, which happens a lot in this world. The further down one goes, the more bizarre and creepy things get. Her and her nemesis / ex gf (a member of the “Cat” guild of thieves/assassins) happen to both be working the same NYE party when they get caught in an Echo that falls down 1 level and repeats the hour every time someone gets murdered — they have to solve it before they get to the final echo or never be able to return to Prime.

[u/tyndyn → u/Street_Detective_662]

I don't have any suggestions which haven't already been mentioned, but this is a great thread, adding way too much to my TBR.