Historical Fantasy (mostly!) Murder Mysteries
I was never one for the strict rules of genres. I understand their necessity of course. A reader picking up a book wants to know what they’re getting themselves into, preferably without having to read the whole book first. But my favorite stories, the ones that linger long after the last page has been turned, have always been those blend multiple genres, like notes in a perfume, using each genre’s strengths to create an experience that’s entirely novel.
So I suppose it’s no surprise that Strange Beasts does the same. A pinch of horror, for its gothic vibes and the way the past haunts the present. A dash of fantasy for its sense of adventure and deep folklore. A drop of murder mystery for its intricate puzzles and driving tension. And smidgen of historical for its lush worldbuilding and thematic resonance.
Most of these titles sit at a similar intersection of genres—all of them historical(-ish), all of them murder mysteries, most of them fantastical, and all of them delightful.
- A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske
An Edwardian murder mystery brimming with magic, secrets, and queer romance, A Marvellous Light is the first book in The Last Binding trilogy by Freya Marske. Her magic system is utterly unique and yet manages the trick of feeling entirely natural, and her worldbuilding is layered and wonderfully absorptive. But where this book sizzles is the romance between Robin, the man who first learns magic is real when he’s given a deadly curse, and cold and prickly Edwin, the magician trying to save him.
2. A Dark and Drowning Tide by Alison Saft
Dark academia meets tangled murder mystery. Though not strictly historical, A Dark and Drowning Tide is suffused with German folklore. If I was drawn-in by Saft’s sumptuous prose and prickly, sharp-tongued folklorist, Lorelei, and I was obsessed with the slow-burn, sapphic romance she shared with her academic rival, the irrepressibly gallant and beautiful Sylvia. Saft elegantly interweaves folklore, adventure, and murder mystery, as Sylvia and Lorelei attempt to solve their mentor’s murder while on a king-given quest to find a pool of unbridled magic. In particular, I love how Saft challenges the nationalist, racist, and classist underpinnings of fairytales, even as it uses them as a lens to examine the cutthroat politics of survival and power.
3. The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton
A historical locked-room murder mystery with a distinct Sherlockian flair where nothing and no one is what they seem, The Devil in the Dark Water’s endless twists and onion-skin layers kept me riveted. While not strictly fantastical, I loved the way Turton wove in occult horror elements—the folkloric devil that may or may not exist—and used them to examine our prejudices and the stories we tell ourselves.
4. The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo.
A haunting historical fantasy set in colonial Malaysia, this ghost story meets murder mystery is steeped in folklore. The title is drawn from the custom in which a young woman marries a recently-deceased man—a prospect which Li Lan wants no part of, no matter how many problems it might solve for her family. And so the would-be groom goes from suitor to stalker, haunting her nightmares, fixated on possessing the one thing he does not have. Choo’s deep folklore is endlessly fascinating, and her depictions of colonial Malaysia and the Plains of the Dead—filled with its paper servants and ox-headed demons and sly hungry ghosts—are strikingly vivid.
5. Even Though I Knew the End by CL. Polk
This stylish, sapphic, supernatural noir novella is set in Chicago 1941. A private detective and augur, Helen agrees to hunt a serial killer during her last days on earth for the promised prize of her soul—which she’d sold in order to save her family from a car crash. A sapphic romance is the burning, bittersweet heart of this book, and its critique of corrupt, patriarchal power structures has never been more resonant. But my favourite part, is the way hope weaves through the narrative, as being powerful and worthy even in the face of inevitability.
