Mystery novels are both timeless and popular because the reader is a participant in the action more so than in other genres—just as the detective or investigator is trying to figure out whodunnit, the story always implicitly challenges the reader to solve the crime first. But what if in addition to discovering things about the crime, you were also discovering things about a new and speculative world at the same time?
My debut novel, The Peacekeeper, is a murder mystery set in the present day in an alternative history in which North America was never colonized. Specifically, it is set in an independent Ojibwe nation surrounding the Great Lakes. As we follow our detective, Chibenashi, while he investigates a murder that hits too close to home, we follow him from the small village of Baawitigong (known in our timeline as the cities of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario) to the major city of Shikaakwa (known in our timeline as Chicago). Each piece of the puzzle takes him to a new part of the world, which will seem both familiar and unfamiliar to the reader. The reader is learning information not only about the characters and the motive, means, and opportunity of the killer, but also about the world itself.
I’m far from the first author to do this, and many great books set a mystery novel in a speculative setting. Below are five of my favorite novels that do this.
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
Agatha Christie meets Groundhog Day in this adventure that gives an investigator multiple shots at solving a crime. Aidan Bishop awakens in the body of a man who isn’t him in a place he doesn’t recognize. He fumbles his way throughout the day, until about midway through he is met by a mysterious figure in a plague mask. The figure tells him that at midnight, Evelyn Hardcastle will be murdered. It’s Aidan’s job to solve it. Over eight days, Aidan will wake up on the morning of the crime in the body of a different witness to the crime, each one revealing new information to him. Also, there is a rival who has been set the same challenge, and whoever solves the crime first will be released. As Aidan spends more and more time in the bodies of others, he forgets his true self more and more, meaning that while each day brings new discoveries, it also makes it harder to forget his mission. The book is pure fun, and while it isn’t short, I read the whole thing in one sitting.
The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon
Of all the books on this list, this one was the one that gave me the greatest inspiration for my own book. I had already come up with the alternate history concept and knew I wanted to use a murder mystery plot to guide readers through the world, so I looked for other books that had done the same. Enter this great novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon, best known for writing The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Chabon’s book, is set in 2004 in Sitka, Alaska, in an alternate history where Sitka was set aside as a temporary settlement for Jewish refugees at the start of World War II (which was a real proposal). In the book, Sitka is a major city with a Yiddish-speaking population. The action takes place in the weeks leading up to Sitka being reverted to the State of Alaska, and the rising tension of the pending transfer parallels the rising tension of the plot, making this a perfect blend of the setting amplifying the plot and vice-versa.
When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole
Two of the greatest suspense movies ever made are Rear Window and Get Out, and this novel is the perfect blend of both. Sydney Green’s historically Black neighborhood in Brooklyn is rapidly gentrifying, with neighbors she’s known her whole life moving out without warning, replaced by affluent white buyers. As the neighborhood changes at a rapid place, she begins to suspect that her neighbors aren’t leaving willingly, and they haven’t decamped for the suburbs. When a sinister plot unfolds, Sydney and her friend, new arrival Theo, try to solve the mystery of where the people from the neighborhood went—and who is responsible for their disappearance. It’s chilling, it’s deep, and it’s suspenseful.
The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd
I love maps, I love books, and I love books about maps, so this one was just calling my name. Years after her famous cartographer father blacklisted her from the industry, Nell Young learns he has been murdered. She and her father had fallen out over a cheap gas-station map, and the same map was hidden in her father’s papers the night that he was killed. When Nell logs the map into a library database, her father’s colleague is similarly murdered, and it becomes readily apparent that the killer was after the map. Nell learns that there is more to the map than meets the eye, and someone is out there who will not stop until they have retrieved every last copy, no matter the cost. There is magic in mapmaking, and in the case of this book, that magic is literal. Anyone who loves maps and books should definitely check this one out.
Instinct by Jason Hough
Police officer Mary Whittaker is new to the small village of Silvertown, Washington, the conspiracy theory capital of the United States. When the town’s police chief takes a leave of absence, Mary is left to run things alone. A series of grisly and mysterious deaths follow, each one the result of questionable circumstances. The body of a hiker with a known fear of animals is found smiling after being mauled by a bear. A motorcyclist is found sitting in the middle of a highway, as if waiting to be hit by a car. Everyone apparently is abandoning their instincts, and soon Mary is one of them. The investigation leads Mary to uncover a sinister plot reminiscent of Twin Peaks or a Vancouver-era episode of The X Files.
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