Fantasy Murder Mysteries

The Big Peat

Darth Buddha
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Anyone got some good ones? Preferably non-Urban. Seems really difficult to find books in this vein outside UF these days.
 
Mark Charan Newton has a (so far) 2 book series about an Romanesque Sun King Officer named Lucan Drakenfeld who is sent to investigate unusual deaths in the realm. The first book is Drakenfeld, and the second is called Retribution.
 
Those Who Hunt the Night by Barbara Hambly, might fit what you're looking for. It's set in the early 1900s, and someone is killing vampires, and a professor is 'hired' to solve the mystery.
 
Carol Berg's Collegia Magica series starting with The Spirit Lens. Haven't read it yet, but what I have read of hers is brilliant.

If you like satire, the Watch subseries of Pratchett's Discworld might float your boat: Feet of Clay is certainly a murder-mystery.

You might also check out Frank Tuttle's Markhat books; they're not necessarily murder-mysteries, but Markhat is a sort of private investigator. Recommended for lightish fantasy.
 
*trots off to the Kindle sample store* Thanks folks, there's some real interesting looking ones here. Keep 'em coming!
 
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde sort of fills this slot, though you could also argue it's a science fiction mystery.

I don't recall if murder is involved, but Fata Morgana by William Kotzwinkle might also fit. More recently, Victor LaValle's The Ballad of Black Tom and Jonathan L. Howard's Carter & Lovecraft, also Ben Aaronovitch's Midnight Riot (a.k.a. The Rivers of London). I expect a lot of urban fantasy would also fit; I haven't read Kat Richardson but she writes an urban fantasy series and I recall seeing her post to a mystery bulletin board years ago.


Randy M.
 
Anno Dracula by Kim Newman would fit: a group of Victorians from various stories investigate the killing of vampires. It's quite a good book, although probably better if you recognise all the references. Newman also wrote a mystery called Beasts in Velvet which is set in a fantasy world, but I've never read it and don't know if it's any good.
 
For days since reading this question I've had a book trying to get through to me from the back of my mind, and at last I've identified it -- though it's not one I've ever read. Finch by Jeff Vandermeer (referenced a lot in Wonderbook) features a detective trying to solve a double murder in a weird sci-fi setting.
 
Aberystwyth Mon Amour & sequels by Malcolm Pryce.
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (& sequels)
The City Watch books in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series.
The Hengis Hapthorne books and short stories by Matthew Hughes.
 
I have it but haven't read it yet but if you read the description for Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed that sounds like a murder mystery:Throne of the Crescent Moon

I wouldn't call Throne of the Crescent Moon a murder mystery. More a classic adventure tale with some elements of horror. It does have a few twists and turns though and is definitely worth a read.

I particularly liked the Arabian Nights style setting.
 
You could maybe argue how much they are fantasy stories, but I really liked China Mieville's The City and the City and Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policeman's Union (the latter is more alternate history rather than fantasy).
 
Carol Berg's Collegia Magica series starting with The Spirit Lens. Haven't read it yet, but what I have read of hers is brilliant.
There are mysteries, certainly, and people die, and the second book of the trilogy opens in the aftermath of a death and the POV character tries, intermittently, to discover a murderer, but none of the books are really murder mysteries as I would define them, where the murder is the driver of the plot and the main character investigates and solves the crime.

Nonetheless, while not to my mind quite on a level with her Lighthouse duology and the first of her Sanctuary novels -- which are indeed, excellent, and among the best fantasies I've read -- they're very good reads and I'd certainly recommend them generally.
 
You could maybe argue how much they are fantasy stories, but I really liked China Mieville's The City and the City and Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policeman's Union (the latter is more alternate history rather than fantasy).

Funny, I just read the Chabon but when I saw this thread I didn't think of it. Depending on how broadly Big Peat defines fantasy, both of these would fit.

Oh, and BP, if you're going to read The Man Who was Thursday you might also want to read Heinlein's The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag; the last time I read the Heinlein, I thought it might have been a response to the Chesterton.

Randy M.
 

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