Mystery subgenres
26 ways into mystery. Each guide explains what defines the subgenre, what sets it apart from its neighbours and which books to start with.
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- Caper Mystery The caper is one of the oddest types of mystery. There's really no murder involved. The main character is someone who is planning a big…
- Child in Peril Mystery A parent's greatest fear is a child in mortal danger, which is the premise of the child in peril subgenre. In this type of fiction, the…
- Cozy Mystery Welcome to the gentlest of the mystery subgenres. The cozy is named after the often-knitted cover for a teapot, which is called a tea cozy.…
- Crime Mystery This is by far the broadest of the subcategories in the mystery world. The crime novel is a fictional tale in which a crime takes place.…
- Culinary Mystery This subgenre is as hot as bread straight from the oven. Now that we have cooking shows and celebrity chefs, of course, some of this love…
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- Handicapped Mystery Handicapped mysteries refer to the subgenre where the detective is differently abled. Max Carrados was one of the early examples with this,…
- Historical Mystery A historical mystery is defined as any mystery that is set more than 50 years prior to the publication of the book. That means a book…
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- Legal Mystery The legal subgenre is a thriving category after all these years. Even though it started nearly a century ago, people still want to read…
- Locked Room Mystery The locked room mystery, also known as the impossible crime mystery, is a murder case where the murder could not have taken place given the…
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- Medical Mystery Set in hospital and doctor's offices, the medical mystery is one that features doctors and nurses as the sleuths and heroes. Typically,…
- Murder Mystery The murder mystery is perhaps the most common of the types of mysteries. Death is a crime that cannot be undone. So there's no going back…
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- Paranormal Mystery Sometimes the mysterious things in a mystery just can't be explained. That's where the paranormal mystery comes into play. These books have…
- Police Procedural The police procedural, as its name implies, is a novel where the main focus is on the ensemble of policemen who are assigned to a…
- Private Detective In its most basic form, a private detective is someone who is paid to investigate a crime of some sort. While normally people think of…
- Puzzle Mystery The puzzle mystery is what most people think of when they hear of the mystery genre. The puzzle mystery is predicated on a game of pitting…
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- Third World Mystery It's a big, big world out there, yet most of the readers in America tend to just read books set in America and England. This leaves a great…
- Thriller The thriller is thus named because it provides the reader with thrills. Typically, however, the reader uses the thriller title to discuss a…
- True Crime True Crime is a different subgenre than most of the others. It has the pleasure of being non-fiction, which means that the crimes really…