I was reading through my email when I clicked on one from Kanopy. I use this app to watch a variety of movies and series including mysteries. “May Is Mystery Month” proclaimed the email. I love good mysteries. But I still wasn't sure where my own project fits into the most popular subgenres. I did some digging and found 12 popular mystery subgenres.
Caper
A caper is a humorous story about a heist. Much of the humor comes from someone being profoundly inept. My favorites are golden oldies, the Pink Panther and Scooby Doo.
Cozy
A cozy detective is an amateur. The murder occurs off-scene and things aren't too gory or graphic. Some definitions have cozy mysteries taking place in small towns. Agatha Christie is known as the Queen of the Cozy. More recent cozy series include Posie Parker by L. B. Hathaway and my favorites the Highland Bookshop Mystery by Molly MacRae.
Hard-boiled
The hard-boiled detective story involves . . . a hard-boiled, professional private eye ala Sam Spade. The crime is gruesome and the detective is often fighting an emotional battle of their own such as addiction. Think the Robert Galbraith mysteries written by J.K. Rowling.
Soft-boiled
These mysteries are a lot like the hard-boiled detective stories but less gory and much more humorous. The soft-boiled detective is often a woman solving crimes in gritty, urban settings. Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum books are soft-boiled mysteries.
Historic
This category can overlap with any of the others, but the stories are set in the past. The Lady Sherlock books by Sherry Thomas fall into this category. So does the Flavia DeLuce series by Alan Bradley. I simply cannot resist this young scientist turned sleuth.
Paranormal
A ghost or some type of magic is involved in a paranormal mystery. I've read books with characters casting spells via the cakes they bake as well as friendly ghosts. My favorites are the Haunted Yarn Shop mysteries by Molly MacRae. Clearly, I really enjoy her books.
Police Procedural
Forensics and other police procedures are critical in solving the crime. I really enjoy Kathy Reich's Temperance Brennan series, perhaps the only mystery series my husband also reads. Shhh. He doesn’t realize they are mysteries.
Suspense
Suspense stories are atmospheric and build slowly. There is often a time element because the protagonist is the villain’s next target. Think When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole or The Safe Place by Anna Downes.
Thriller
A thriller is another type of tense, fast paced story that is often international in scope. Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider series is one example of a thriller.
Romantic Suspense
Add a dash of romance and you have romantic suspense. The grand-dame of this category is Mary Higgins Clark.
True Crime
This category is nonfiction, but these books read like fictional mysteries. There is a crime, and real investigators struggle to solve it. Think Ann Rule's The Stranger Beside Me.
My story did not fit neatly into any of these categories, so I did one more search and came up with . . .
Science Fiction Mystery
Science fiction mysteries combine all of the science and speculation of science fiction with a sleuth who is working to solve a crime but gets to use technologies beyond what any detective is using today. This genre isn’t new. One of the earliest books of this kind was Isaac Asimov’s The Caves of Steel published in 1954. My story takes place 100 years in the future and my detective is a tween who can code.
Reading through these subgenres, do any of them inspire you to work on your own mystery this month?
--SueBE
To get a free copy of Sue’s book, What to Do When Your Book Is Banned, subscribe to her newsletter, One Writer’s Journey, here.
Sue Bradford Edwards' is the author of over 80 books for young readers.
- To find out more about her writing, visit her site and blog.
She is also the instructor for 3 WOW classes which begin on the first Monday of every month. She teaches:
