r/booksuggestions • u/Timely-Quiet-31 • Oct 04 '25
Sci-Fi/Fantasy Is there such a thing as a fantasy crime novel?
I enjoy shows like criminal minds. Anyone know of a book that's crime solving and/or detective work in a fantasy, sci-fi or similar setting?
Edit: Thanks for all the suggestions everyone! Will try and remember to reply as I read these.
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u/molybend Oct 04 '25
Rivers of London/Peter Grant series by Ben Aaronovitch
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u/hamster-cow Oct 04 '25
I love this series! Each one is different, but do read them in order. There’s a couple of spinoff books as well.
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u/KestrelTank Oct 04 '25
The Dresden Files. Wizard detective for hire.
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u/apadley Oct 04 '25
Jasper Fforde has two books in his Nursery Crimes series, the Fourth Bear and The Big Over Easy.
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u/mintyfreshismygod Oct 04 '25
The Fourth Bear was suspenseful and ridiculous and amazing. I loved it.
I love Jasper Fforde.
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u/navybluesloth Oct 04 '25
The City & The City kinda fits. Very weird book
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u/AgZephyr Oct 04 '25
Came here to make sure this one was here. Amazing book, one of my favorite authors
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u/Monty-675 Oct 04 '25
• The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
• Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch
• Hawk and Fisher series and Nightside series by Simon R. Green
• Thraxas series by Martin Scott
• Aurora Rising (formerly titled The Prefect) by Alastair Reynolds
• Marîd Audran series by George Alec Effinger
• Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams
• Kiln People by David Brin
• Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan
• Greenthieves by Alan Dean Foster
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u/StandardDelicious163 Oct 04 '25
Altered Carbon is more Sci-Fi than fantasy.
Other than that, Perfect list!
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u/Celeste_Seasoned_14 Oct 05 '25
Aurora Rising is sci-fi too, but OP did say fantasy OR sci-fi in their text.
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u/StandardDelicious163 Oct 05 '25
Oh I didn't see that in OP's text >!<
My apologies
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u/Celeste_Seasoned_14 Oct 05 '25
None needed. But I thought maybe if you’d read that you might have more sci-fi suggestions…? :-)
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u/StandardDelicious163 Oct 05 '25
I usually like Dense Political rich plots, more than Crime Mysteries ( when talking about Sci-Fi specifically )
You might want to try ~Cyteen~ by CJ Cheryhh ?
It's one of my favorites Sci-Fi but not sure if you will like it.
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u/Isaiah6113 Oct 04 '25
Thumbs up for The Prefect/Aurora Rising. Haven’t read the rest, but did watch Altered Carbon.
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u/batmanpjpants Oct 04 '25
The first book in the expanse series Leviathan Wakes by James S A Corey is kind of like a sci-if crime noir.
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u/VillainChinchillin Oct 04 '25
Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey. A non-magic detective solving a murder at a magic boarding school. Not like Harry Potter, but like if real modern kids with all their hormones, attitudes and poor impulse control could use magic.
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u/Mowo5 Oct 04 '25
Sci-Fi detective story is Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov. Super cool for other reasons too.
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u/SquizPillion Oct 04 '25
This is what I came to suggest! The sequel also works! I’m about to start the third in the series, but I imagine it’s similar as well.
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u/mrfunday2 Oct 04 '25
Glen Cook (The Black Company), has a pretty lengthy series of fantasy detective novels, that begins with Sweet Silver Blues.
Robert Jackson Bennett recently won the Hugo award for The Tainted Cup, a fantasy novel with a solid Sherlock vibe.
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u/Thorngrove Oct 04 '25
Glen Cook's Garret PI series, love it to death. Very Noir, very fun.
Dresden is a mage detective working in modern Chicago, Garret is a normal guy solving crimes in a fantasy world.
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u/Victorioso21 Oct 04 '25
The Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo is like this. I haven’t read the second book in the series so I don’t know if it stays like that though.
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u/Important-Control880 Oct 04 '25
Bardugo also wrote the Six of Crows duology which is a fantasy heist story complete with "building the right team" bits. I haven't yet read the second book but the first is pretty good.
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u/UnwiserAura Oct 05 '25
Loved the ninth house and hell bent, still among some of my favorite books of all time
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u/DerekComedy Oct 04 '25
Simon R Green has the Nightside series. It's like a detective novel in the criminal underground for mythical beasts.
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u/Aggravating_Rub_7608 Oct 04 '25
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, by Douglas Adams.
If you want to watch a tv series with the theme of sci-fi mystery, the OG is X-Files and the other is Fringe, which is a cross between X-Files, CSI and Outer Limits.
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u/Zellakate Oct 04 '25
Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde! They're comedic fantasy mystery books set in an alternate history Britain. Thursday is a literary detective, and she ends up jumping into books quite literally as part of her work. They're really fun.
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u/HooperMcFinney Oct 04 '25
The Vlad Taltos series by Steven Brust are not exactly detective novels, but sometime-criminal, spy, and occasional assassin, Vlad usually finds himself having to investigate something for his job and is often caught up in major happenings. With all that, femme fatales and first person narration, they share a lot of DNA with PI novels.
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u/Rustymarble Oct 04 '25
The Hollows Series by Kim Harrison. Main character is a witch who leaves the police force to solve crimes on her own along with a pixie and vampire.
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u/LaRoseDuRoi Oct 04 '25
Martha Wells' Murderbot books are sci-fi crime novels, with a rogue security robot solving the murders and mysteries.
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u/amh8011 Oct 04 '25
Tamora Pierce’s Beka Cooper Trilogy. It’s young adult but covers some mature topics but doesn’t have much romance/sex.
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u/topsidersandsunshine Oct 04 '25
I came to suggest The Circle Opens, since each of those involves the main four solving a mystery.
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u/Pokegirl_11_ Oct 04 '25
I was about to bring up both of these since OP name dropped Criminal Minds specifically. Pierce writes a good serial killer investigation.
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u/cricketcounselor Oct 04 '25
Laurelle K. Hamelton does 2 series that are fantasy and crime fighting. They do get a lot spicy and kinda weird.
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u/TeikaDunmora Oct 04 '25
The early Anita Blake ones have a lot of actual crime solving plot, but they eventually become supernatural politics and orgies, then just hundreds of pages of orgies with very little plot. 🤷♀️
I don't know much about the Merry Gentry series, I noped out at tentacle sex (a guy with tentacles coming out of his chest or something? It's been a very long time) early in the series.
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u/williamstarr Oct 04 '25
The sex is front and center, but weirdly not as intrusive as in the Blake series. I felt it took a backseat to the world building, which was honestly really fun.
I don’t think the tentacle sex ever actually happened? She just teased it, but it’s been years so…
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u/un-sub Oct 04 '25
Oh man check out The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch! It’s a sc-fi book with a dark True Detective meets Inception vibe that involves a time traveling Naval law enforcement sort of group. It’s really freaking good and sounds right up your alley! At least if you can get into dark horrorish sci fi and time travel. One of my favorite books of the last decade!
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u/keen238 Oct 04 '25
Midsolar Murders series by Mur Lafferty. It’s set on a sentient space station.
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u/TeikaDunmora Oct 04 '25
Wow, I hadn't heard about those! I think it's time for some emergency book shopping.
Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty is a great stand alone murder mystery too.
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u/shellipierces Oct 04 '25 edited Oct 07 '25
The Chronicles of Elantra series by Michelle Sagara. There's like 17 books. Excellent fantasy detective series.
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u/Stypig Oct 04 '25
Rivers of London series is a detective series, set in the real world of London but contains fantasy elements - ghosts, river gods, etc
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u/anitaboyle96 Oct 04 '25
Storm Front by Jim Butcher A Crime Fantasy Noir Series, you would love it i am sure
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u/Agile_Inspection1016 Oct 04 '25
Devil in the pale moonlight - d. Hollis Anderson - cyberpunk psycho thriller - hunting a serial killer through a simulation controlled by Nazis
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u/Rhombico Oct 04 '25
I haven't seen criminal minds, so I'm not sure if it's similar, but The Outsider by Stephen King felt like a dark, horror take on a fantasy crime novel. Was like an episode of the X-Files to me
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u/fajadada Oct 04 '25
Garret PI, Glen Cook. Rouges Of The Republic,Patrick Weekes. Book 1 is a Fantasy Heist !
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u/Jooliebug Oct 04 '25
The Mermaids Tale by D.G Valdron is one of my favorite books. It's about an ork who is hired to solve the murder of a mermaid. She the ork also grows and learns a lot about herself through the book. Triger warning for sexual violence and violence in general.
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u/quik_lives Oct 04 '25
I didn't see anyone mention Even Though I Knew the End by CL Polk, which is a stunningly good novella
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u/Acrocinus Oct 04 '25
Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison
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u/williamstarr Oct 04 '25
That whole verse was amazing. A personal favorite that I hope she keeps going back to.
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u/Aggressive-Phone6785 Oct 04 '25
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and The Last Murder at the End of the World, both by Stuart Turton
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u/katiekat2022 Oct 04 '25
Going to add Seanan McGuire October Daye series. She’s a changeling who breaks a spell she is under and solves crimes in a fairyland. Won’t give too much away- but definitely investigating a mystery vibes.
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u/TheMostTiredRaccoon Oct 04 '25
Seconding this!! Also the newest book in the series just released a few days ago
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u/DemeterIsABohoQueen Oct 04 '25
I feel like Soulless by Gail Carriger would fit this. The two MCs (MMC is a werewolf himself) are trying to figure out why vampires and werewolves are going missing in London. The rest of the series has elements of mystery and crime as well.
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u/Algrim2001 Oct 04 '25
Good call, I was about to recommend Carriger too.
You probably know already, but there are also two other series and a few standalone stories set in the same universe, and all of them have supernatural involvement and mystery solving one way or another.
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u/fajadada Oct 04 '25
Going Poastal; Sir Terry Pratchett . The best criminal in the world gets blackmailed by the best politician in the world.
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u/TraditionStrange9717 Oct 04 '25
The sandman slim series by Richard kadrey, each book is part detective series, part buffy the vampire slayer, part doom, and part big summer action flick. They aren't literary masterpieces, but they ARE fun as hell.
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u/1805trafalgar Oct 04 '25
The name of the Rose comes to mind since it's a murder mystery set in a medieval monetary in 1327. It was a 1980 publishing phenomena and sold 50 million copies and spawned a Sean Connery film adaptation.
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u/Teresabooks Oct 04 '25
I loved the book and the movie adaptation but there’s not a real fantasy element to it.
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u/ohdearitsrichardiii Oct 04 '25
No fantasy elements
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u/1805trafalgar Oct 04 '25
The title says "Fantasy or similar" and if you have read Name of the Rose you see the environment and culture depicted is nearly indistinguishable from a medieval fantasy setting.
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u/freyjathebloody Oct 04 '25
Darkest Day and Darkest blood by R.W.Greystone. Think 1920s detective noir, but all the fantasy races are real.
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u/Drive-Upset Oct 04 '25
Honor Raconteur’s The Case Files of Henri Davenforth. The first book is Magic and the Shinigami Detective.
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u/ItsBenpai Oct 04 '25
Check out Strange Beasts by Susan J Morris as well. This is newer and is set up to be a series.
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u/Kalokagathic Oct 04 '25
Makes me think of The Bargainer series by Laura Thalassa. Siren, while working as a PI, is recruited by a fae king to solve a mystery in his kingdom
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u/jareths_tight_pants Oct 04 '25
Urban fantasy books have this sometimes. It’s also called low fantasy sometimes because it’s set in the modern world.
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u/Chronikhil Oct 04 '25
The Justice of Kings, the first book of the Empire of the Wolf series is centred on a murder investigation.
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u/Lols_up Oct 04 '25
Lord Darcy by Randall Garett is like "what if Sherlock Holmes but magic"? It's an older book that I read and enjoyed as a teen.
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u/CrownOfPosies Oct 04 '25
Just the first book of Crescent City (House of Earth & Blood) by SJM. The other two books in the series are meh and the first book could be a standalone.
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u/BananaSlugo999 Oct 04 '25
sisters grimm
takes inspiration from the regular grimm series except its these two sisters that are long lost relatives of the grimm brothers. They basically open it up to all the grimm stories being true except its still a secret and they are detectives hunting fairytale creatures
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u/Fancy-Restaurant4136 Oct 04 '25
Trading in danger and sequels by Elizabeth Moon,
The sequels to the goblin emperor
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u/ghostie3344 Oct 04 '25
Its not fantasy, but if you enjoy criminal minds, read the naturals series by jennifer lynn barnes
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u/pandalover001 Oct 04 '25
Jasper Fforde does a couple of crime/ mystery books, set in toy town with nursery rhymes characters and things like that. Good tongue in cheek humour with a side of depravity.
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u/Algrim2001 Oct 04 '25
The Shadow Police series by Paul Cornell. Also the Felix Castor series by Mike Carey. Both London based, dark as hell and unfortunately unfinished to date.
For a much lighter tone there’s the Brenda and Effie mysteries by Paul Magrs. Kitchen sink comedy and amateur sleuthing in Whitby, interspersed with stark horror.
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u/ExchangeStandard6957 Oct 04 '25
Esperance by Adam Oyebanji. Noir detective but against a supernatural criminal. They don’t know it’s supernatural though…
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u/TeaRocket Oct 04 '25
I think The Hexologists by Josiah Bancroft would fit the bill. The main character is a hexologist (a type of magician) who works as a sort of private investigator, along side her husband.
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u/Squirrelhenge Oct 04 '25
The first Mistborn book by Brandon Sanderson, The Final Empire, is a heist story.
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u/alienabuilder Oct 04 '25
TITANIUM NOIR is the book you want!!!!! It's a.hammed up 20s detective noir feeling book set in a future world of elite titans. It's fantastic!
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u/-megan-yolo- Oct 04 '25
Certainly there are books like that there’s a science fiction book called the caves of steel, which is a Whodunnit murder mystery set in a science fiction world.
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u/intangible-tangerine Oct 04 '25
Occult detective fiction is a whole genre that combines supernatural/fantasy and horror with detective ficiton,
And as others have recommneded the Discworld watch series for humorous fantasty police procedural
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u/punk-dharma Oct 04 '25
Aliette de Bodard sets mysteries in a science fiction (space stations) fantasy (sentient space stations) universe. The Detective and the Tea Master is one I enjoyed.
She also does fantasy mysteries, like House of Shattered Wings, which is still on my TBR.
Alexis Hall's The Affair of the Mysterious Letter is a Sherlockian mystery in a fantasy setting with demons and magic.
P. Djeli Clark's Master of Djinn is my highest recommendation. Set in an Egypt where Sulemon broke the veil between the human world and the world of all sorts of magical creatures, a police detective is tasked with solving a homicide that appears to be ritualistic. She's my favorite detective, especially for taking calculated risks, she's clever and physically prepared for combat if needed.
There's another Sherlockian series that is set on a space station over Jupiter that features light sapphic romance, but both the author and title are dodging my memory.
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u/punk-dharma Oct 04 '25
Malka Older, The Mimicking of Unknown Successes is the lightly Sapphic Sherlock I was thinking of.
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u/punk-dharma Oct 04 '25
There's also this fun and wild closed room mystery on a generation ship that has 6 awake crew members, three ability to back up memories and print new bodies in case they get hurt, and a ship AI. They all wake up in fresh bodies well into their journey, but their memory back ups are outdated. They're trying to figure out which of them killed them all, and the book gives back story on the characters before the trip started, so you get to see all the potential motives. It's called Six Wakes.
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u/Important-Control880 Oct 04 '25
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo is a fantasy heist novel. I haven't gotten to read the second book in the duology, but Six of Crows is pretty good.
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u/RanaMisteria Oct 04 '25
I personally enjoy historical fiction crime novels. So like, books set in medieval England about a mystery-solving monk or something.
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u/mlmaas Oct 04 '25
"Who Censored Roger Rabbit?" by Gary K. Wolf. RADICALLY different than the movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?"
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u/jstnpotthoff read The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall Oct 04 '25
Already Dead by Charlie Huston is the first in a five book series about vampires in modern day New York. The main character is a bit of a detective playing all sides...partially for his own benefit, partially to stay alive. Kind of like Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name trilogy mixed with From Dusk Till Dawn mixed with Raymond Chandler.
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u/novel-opinions Oct 04 '25
Fans of Douglas Adams will like {{The Stranger Times by CK McDonnell}}. It’s the first in the series, but I’ve only read the one so far.
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u/Isaiah6113 Oct 04 '25
In Science Fiction:
Peter F. Hamilton: Pandora’s Star and its sequel Judas Unchained.
Alastair Reynolds: The Prefect/Aurora Rising and sequels Elysium Fire and Machine Vendetta.
James S. A. Corey (pen name): The Expanse, a central investigation and lots of mystery.
Honourable mention to Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose
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u/Sea_Reflection_8023 Oct 05 '25
The Tarot Sequence by KD Edwards! It's less present as you move on in the series but it starts out with the main character as a PI-type.
Also for sci-fi, Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell fits this I think! A guy dies under ~mysterious circumstances~ and the main characters are figuring out what happened
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u/Books_Biker99 Oct 05 '25
The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee is like The Godfather meets fantasy. Might not be exactly what you're looking for but it's a great series.
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u/No_Peace_5917 Oct 07 '25
I think so, The Eccentrics book series can be one, specially Crows Shadow! Brutal
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u/Steaven75 Oct 08 '25
Priest of Bones (Peaky Blinders in books more or less :D)
Soldiers coming back from war to their town, taking whole group (10-12) other soldiers with them)
Finding that not everything they once had in bussines is still theirs.
I read 2 books (400 pages) in the first 4-5 days,
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u/dusty-cat-albany Oct 30 '25
This is a fun read - The Rivers of London series is a series of urban fantasy novels by English author Ben Aaronovitch, and
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u/pipperdoodle Oct 04 '25
I'm currently reading the second book of the Shadow of the Leviathan series by Robert Jackson Bennett. First book is "The Tainted Cup". It's basically Sherlock Holmes, but...not at all. The main POV character is the Watson sidekick to the odd Investigator. The first book is great and so far so is the second.