John Dunning's 'Booked to Die' is a mystery for bibliophiles, set in the world of rare book dealing. The protagonist is a cop turned book scout.
The humor is more in the obsessive, sometimes cutthroat world of book collectors—the descriptions of 'bookmen' and their quirks are hilarious to anyone who's spent time in used bookstores. The central mystery is a solid whodunit, and the clues are often about editions, provenance, and the value of paper. It's a love letter to books with a murder in the middle.
Katherine Addison's 'The Witness for the Dead' is a fantasy mystery with a very subdued, dry humor. The protagonist can speak to the recently dead, which he uses to solve disputes and murders in a sprawling city.
The humor comes from his utter exhaustion with bureaucracy, his awkward interactions, and the petty grievances of the dead. The mystery is a slow-burn, intricate plot. It's not a comedy, but the protagonist's weary, kind perspective provides a lot of gentle, ironic laughs.
P.G. Wodehouse actually dabbled in mystery with 'Thank You, Jeeves'. Bertie Wooster gets entangled in a country house mystery, and Jeeves, of course, solves it.
The mystery is almost secondary to the sublime comedy of errors and the genius of Jeeves. But the clues are there, and seeing the Wodehouse style applied to a whodunit structure is pure joy. The humor is, as always, in the impeccable, absurd prose and Bertie's wonderful narration.
The 'Aristotle Detective' series by Margaret Doody is a hidden gem. It features a young Aristotle solving murders in ancient Greece.
The fun is in seeing classic detective logic applied in a historical setting—interpreting clues without modern forensics. The humor is dry and comes from Aristotle's analytical mind clashing with the more superstitious or emotional characters around him. It's a clever, educational, and quietly amusing take on the genre.
Sharon Bolton's 'The Craftsman' has a very dark premise, but the protagonist's dry, sarcastic internal monologue provides a lot of gallows humor. It's a serial killer mystery with occult elements set in a small English town.
The humor isn't constant, but it surfaces in her interactions and her bleak observations, which cuts through the tension beautifully. The puzzle is intricate and the clues are chilling. It's for people who like their mysteries intense but appreciate a sharp, witty narrative voice.
With her enemies in pre-civil war Virginia still seeking her death, Esmerelda is forced to return to the future only days after wedding Lance. Because it was necessary to fake her death in order to stop her enemies from following her to the future, her new husband, Lance, was forced to stay behind. He’d placed a magic box for them to communicate until he found a way to safely be with her beneath the floorboards of the house.
Now, she must find it.
A task that is easier said than done!
“The Magic Box” is book two of the exciting paranormal-romance-mystery-thriller Esmerelda Sleuth Series
I quit and dipped. City threw a parade.
Only Jenna Blake—my oh-so-gifted junior who claimed she could "see through killers' eyes"—lost it.
At her celebration banquet, she went full drama queen:
"I owe everything to Kate Mercer. Please, bring her back!"
I laughed. Cold. Not happening.
Last time around, I was the hotshot detective. But every clue I found? She dropped it first like she read my mind.
People started saying I was washed.
So I went all in—three months, no sleep, cracked a massive trafficking ring. Led the raid myself.
She beat me there. Again. Place was cleaned out.
Boom. She's the city's golden girl.
I'm the clown with no game.
Pressure got ugly. My head snapped. I died chasing the last scumbag.
Then—bam. I woke up. Same day. Raid morning. Round two.
Meet Esmerelda Sleuth. Sleuth is her name and investigating is her game. (Paranormal Investigating, that is.)
Esmerelda makes a good living as an investigator in a rather progressive firm. She lives a stable and sensible life until she meets Lance; an old money "hottie" who works for a real estate firm next to her building. After accepting an invitation for a weekend getaway party, she quickly discovers that Lance has a secret. He is wealthy. That part is true. And, yes, he's procured a job as a realtor in the building next door. His secret is that he belongs to an underground society of humans who didn't abandon their connection to magic centuries ago when religion declared it evil and he has traveled through time specifically to find her and bring her back to his time to marry him. If that isn't enough of a far fetched tale to absorb, he informs her that she was born in his time to a family belonging to that same secret society and was promised in marriage to him as an infant. When enemies who didn't want to see the union of families take place made attempts on her life, her parents sent her into the future and erased her memories of them as a precaution.
Possessing virtually no belief in magic, ghosts, psychics, time travel, etc., it takes some doing on Lance's part to convince her to believe his story and go back with him. When she does, the lies, deceit and attempts on her life start all over again. Will she escape emotionally and physically unscathed?
"The Other Side Of the Mirror" is a steamy-paranormal-romance- mystery-thriller and book one of the Esmerelda Sleuth series.
Forced to return to the past and then venture back into the realms of the dark lord to save her friend, Esmerelda faces loss, love, and a new awakening in this final installment of the Esmerelda Sleuth Series.
Filled with excitement, love, loss, time travel, family dynamics, dimension hopping, and a few vampires, this is the completion of a story that you won't want to miss.
The small town of Briar Reef is shaken to its core when one of its leading citizens is found dead in the woods with her face missing. Detective Celia Sparks is working her first murder case in the town where she had come to escape but this big city cop has her work cut out for her. The more she uncovers the more questions they are than answers. In a town that’s known for burying its secrets how will she ever find the truth?Briar Reef Murder Mystery is created by Jordan Silver, an EGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.
There are three things Samara Culkin loves: her father, wearing high heels, and being a detective. But in a world where being a female officer is considered weak, she struggles to find a place where she feels truly belong. Determined to prove The Detective Tag firm that she is worth it, she sets out to solve one of the biggest cases the city of Los Angeles has ever seen.
There are three things Clayton Jones likes: his car, detective skills, and the female detective who happens to catch his eye—Samara. As an expert and well-known crime officer, he is given the chance to work with her; a one-time possibility that rarely happens. The only problem is that she hates him. And he does not know why.
The Detective Tag is a crime fiction with a twist of romance. Join Samara and Clayton—all the bitterness, dislikes, and romance in between—as they dive into the world of crime cases and murder investigations.
Well, maybe a bit of finding love, too.