In the past few years, books written by and about queer characters have become more visible to the general reading public. Gradually, straight, cisgender readers are discovering the pleasure of reading books by authors whose identities are different from their own. This is true in the mystery and thriller reading world as well.
In my new novel, Hall of Mirrors, a mystery set in 1954 Washington, D.C., about two gay writers who co-author hard-boiled detective fiction under the macho moniker Ray Kane, I explore writing from the closet, the complexity of inventing a false persona to sell books, which in the 1950s was often necessary to find broad appeal to consumers, not to mention to avoid being discriminated against and persecuted. Thankfully, today, things have changed (for the most part), and readers of all types are reaching for queer books precisely because they want to read LGBTQIA+ characters (assuming a book ban doesn’t block their ability to access these books).
Of course, prejudice still exists, and the grooves of unconscious bias take time to change; the specious idea that queer books are inferior is lodged deep in some. Book lists, however, should be made from a place of hope, so with that in mind, I’ve culled a list of the most influential queer crime novels published in the past four years. As with all lists, this one is incomplete, and I’ve had to leave out great writers. For more recommendations, check out Queer Crime Writers, an organization I co-founded to promote community among queer crime fiction authors and celebrate LGBTQIA+ crime books.
Each of the novels below is by a queer writer about queer characters. I selected them because, in some way, they speak to the history of queer mysteries and thrillers, tell us something about crime fiction today, and of course, because they are great books. Dig in, start anywhere. You won’t be sorry.
The Lost Americans by Chris Bollen
Bollen’s most recent stand-alone thriller follows Cate Castle as she travels to Cairo to investigate her brother Eric’s suspicious death, a fall from a hotel balcony that the local authorities have deemed a suicide. Eric works for a shady corporation, Polestar, that supplies missiles to authoritarian governments. When Cate orders an autopsy on Eric’s body, the result points to foul play, and despite Polestar’s intimidation tactics, she heads to the Middle East. In Egypt, she teams up with a gay, Western-educated Egyptian, Omar. They work together to unwind the mystery, which has the ambiance of a Graham Greene novel, the twists and turns of an Agatha Christie tale, and an ending with lasting emotional resonance. It’s a compelling exploration of how it feels to be queer in a country where widespread legal and cultural discrimination is the norm.
Whereabouts Unknown by Meredith Doench
In this police procedural about missing teenage girls in Ohio, Doench creates memorable characters in Detective Theodora (Theo) Madsen and her pregnant partner, Bree. When Theo gets injured during a routine interview, she must navigate convalescing, her new role as a parent, and, of course, finding the missing girls. One of the missing girls, Annabelle, a point-of-view character, is trapped in a terrifying situation, keeping the tension high and storytelling brisk. Doench carefully constructs her characters to reveal their humanity, give the reader compelling insight into lesbian parenthood, and deepen our understanding of Theo’s ability to do her job despite the physical challenges brought on by her injury. We’re invited to think about ablism and chronic illness and how those limitations play out in professional crimefighting.
Real Bad Things by Kelly J. Ford
Ford’s Real Bad Things is a queer homecoming novel and gritty rural noir. Jane Mooney fled her hometown of Maud Bottoms, Arkansas, to Boston after she, as a teenager, confessed to killing her abusive stepfather. His body was never found, so she was never convicted; she wasn’t even believed. Now, a body has surfaced after a flood in the Arkansas River and is suspected to be the stepfather’s. Jane returns to surrender to the police and do her time, a penance she feels she must pay. Of course, it’s never that simple: she must confront her vengeful mother, who rejected her, reconnect with other estranged friends and family, and reunite with the woman she once loved—getting to the truth of what happened means, as it does for many queer people, confronting the past. Indeed, you can go home again, but if you do, watch out.
Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy
In Douaihy’s first in a series, Sister Holiday, a tatted, chain-smoking nun, steps forward as a genuinely original queer protagonist. Set in New Orleans, Holiday teaches music at Saint Sebastian’s, a school adjacent to her convent, retreating from the chaos of her life as a punk rocker. When an arsonist strikes and someone is killed, she discovers she has a knack for solving crime, a nose for corruption, and a strong desire for justice. It’s easy to see what makes Holiday singular on the surface, but the juxtaposition of the narrative’s noir sensibility—a fatalism the subgenre is well known for—and Holiday’s earnest spirituality blends Philip Marlowe’s tough-minded, world-wear outlook with something akin to Christian existentialism. The result is a queer character full of contradictions, emotional complexity, and—you guessed it—surprises.
Survivor’s Guilt by Robyn Gigl
Gigl’s second in the series, Survivor’s Guilt—named one of Time Magazine’s best mysteries and thrillers of all time—continues her legal thrillers anchored by the transgender defense attorney, Erin McCabe. When millionaire businessman Charles Parsons commits suicide, it seems like an open-and-shut case until a voice recording implicates his adoptive daughter Ann, who confesses and pleads guilty. Even after McCabe and her law partner Duane Swisher discover that Ann is a trans woman, they’re reluctant to take the case. Lucky for us, they do. After convincing Ann to withdraw her plea, they set out to clear her name, even as she keeps secrets from them. Eventually, the case takes them into the dark territory of sex trafficking. Erin McCabe allows Gigl, also a trans attorney, to discuss issues, both major and minor, that impact transgender people; through her inventive storytelling, we understand how poorly the legal system functions to protect them.
Warn Me When It’s Time by Cheryl Head
While Head’s stand-alone Time’s Undoing has received much-deserved positive press, her Charlie Mack Motown series offers us her most memorable queer character: P.I. Charlie Mack, a cis Black lesbian, is one of the few intersectional queer characters in crime fiction. She’s tough-minded, intelligent, flawed, and sensitive; she must navigate everything from complex criminal schemes to her mother’s early-onset Alzheimer’s. In Warn Me When It’s Time, her sixth in the series, she takes on a hate group claiming responsibility for arsons and robberies at mosques, temples, and Black churches in Detroit. Head brilliantly traces the origins of systemic bigotry from the ground-level violence and into the shining halls of the government.
Bury Me In Shadows by Greg Herren
One of queer crime fiction’s most prolific and decorated writers, Herren takes a turn to the Southern Gothic in this YA novel. After a drug and alcohol binge, gay college student Jake Chapman is sent to his grandmother’s decaying home in rural Alabama adjacent to the ruins of an old plantation. During an archaeological team’s excavation on the plantation grounds to uncover the truth of a family legend, they find a skeleton. Soon, his family’s dark past begins to surface, bringing very present danger to his doorstep. Herren imbues the novel with rich details about the town and its multilayered history. Like any good gothic novel, the setting here, with its lush details and shadow-drenched landscape, conveys a palpable mood.
Once You Go This Far by Kristen Lepionka
In Lepionka’s fourth P.I. Roxane Weary novel, school nurse Rebecca Newsome dies in a fall while hiking, but her daughter Maggie doesn’t believe it’s an accident; she suspects Rebecca’s ex-husband, a well-connected cop. She hires Weary, and the case takes the investigator down many paths, including to a fundamentalist church, a Canadian casino, and a women’s health organization run by a charismatic politician. Throughout the series, Lepionka juggles complex plotting with layered character development, anchored by Weary, who is bi, navigates a complex romantic life, and wears a tough exterior over a flawed and vulnerable interior. Her desire to solve crimes and find lasting love are threaded together believably, making for a genuinely memorable queer crime fighter.
Red Market by Dharma Kelleher
In this fifth novel in the Jinx Ballou series, Kelleher takes her Phoenix-based trans bounty hunter, Jinx, into grim terrain: the illegal selling of cadavers. When she’s hired to track down the body broker, and he ends up dead, she’s the prime suspect. As with the other books in this vivid and gritty series, Jinx is an unforgettable queer crime fiction protagonist. She’s a tough, powerful trans woman who takes action and propels the story forward at a breathless pace. Woven between carnage and plot twists, Kelleher, a trans woman, exposes the injustices visited on trans people with great sensitivity and without being didactic. There’s tenderness and authenticity under the leather-studded surface of all her novels.
Lies With Man by Michael Nava
Set in Los Angeles during the mid ’80s, the ninth Henry Rios novel concerns an initiative that right-wing Christians have placed on the November 1986 ballot, which would grant the health department the right to force people with HIV into quarantine camps. Latino defense attorney Rios agrees to serve as counsel for a group of peaceful young queer activists opposing the initiative. When a bomb at an evangelical church kills its pastor, one of Rios’s activist clients faces the death penalty. Like many of the novels in Nava’s award-winning series, Lies With Man explores complex morality and social justice through a legal thriller. It accomplishes what the best historical fiction should achieve: telling a compelling story that shows how the present reflects the past. As always, Rios is our compassionate and flawed guide through these troubled times, which still haunt us today.
Devil’s Chew Toy by Rob Osler
Of course, not all crime fiction needs to be dark and brooding. After all, humor and wit describe queer life as much, if not more, than adversity. In Osler’s debut, we meet Seattle teacher and part-time blogger Hayden McCall, whose crush, go-go boy Camilo Rodriguez, has mysteriously vanished. Camilo is a “Dreamer” whose family was deported and whose sister has returned to Venezuela with them. Concerned that the police won’t take his disappearance seriously, McCall teams up with his friends—Hollister and Burley—to track down Camilo. With brisk pacing and hilarious situations—they discover the first clue at a pet store called Barkingham Palace—Osler designs a caper that’s both diverting and equally substantive, proving that a story can embrace levity without being fluff.
Lavender House by Lev A.C. Rosen
In the first of Rosen’s historical series set in 1954 and inspired by the hard-boiled crime fiction of the ‘30s and ‘40s, Irene Lamontaine’s widow hires Evander “Andy” Mills to investigate her wife’s death. Mills has been recently fired from the San Francisco police department for being caught at a gay bar during a raid. The titular Lavender House refers to the Lamontaine estate, built with money from the Lamontaine soap empire, that serves as a queer paradise where all its inhabitants are free to be themselves. Of course, even within the walls of Lavender House, greed, jealousy, and murder exist, and Andy must discover the truth. Rosen blends hard-boiled aesthetics with a queer viewpoint, celebrating the cornerstone of American detective fiction while challenging it.
Bath Haus by P. J. Vernon
One of the most commercially successful queer thrillers in recent years, Vernon’s Bath Haus, explores the dark side of contemporary gay relationships. Oliver Park has everything that should make him happy: his partner, Nathan, a handsome, attentive, and wealthy trauma surgeon; a sprawling townhouse in Washington, D.C.; and, after years of struggling with addiction, his sobriety. So, when he seeks out anonymous sex at a local bathhouse and nearly dies at the hands of his hook-up partner, his life begins to unravel in dangerous and unsettling ways. This novel struck a nerve in part because of its titillating subject matter, in part because of its clever twists, and in part because of its complicated and sympathetic central character, a flawed queer man fighting for agency in his life.
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