When Mysteries Invade Science Fiction and Fantasy . . .

by Jo Ann "The Head Rat" Vicarel on July 1, 2009

Publishers like to break out fiction titles into genre types. They categorize the books of writers as Mysteries, Thrillers, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and so on. Currently there is a growing trend for writers to combine genres into one book or a series.

They may set a mystery within a fsntasy novel or a fantasy story in a modern or future time. These books are usually referred to as cross-genres or slip-stream novels. If you are still confused, think historical Mysteries. Two different genres combined into one to create a new type of fiction.

Jo Ann Vicarel and Greg Fisher have put together a list of books to introduce novice readers to this kind of fiction and introduce the avid reader to a possible new source of engrossing books. These are not so easily found as Historical Mysteries are. They hide on shelves in Science Fiction, Fantasy and sometimes Horror.

Please try one or two and let us know what you thing in the comments section below this list.

Below are cross-genre books and all of them are available through the libraries of the CLEVNET Consortium — many are owned by the Cleveland Hts-University Hts. Public Library System. You can click on the title if you’d like to order the book through the CLEVNET webcatalog.

Fiction:

Acevedo, Mario
The Felix Gomez Series

The Nymphos of Rocky Flats

X-Rated Bloodsuckers

The Undead Kama Sutra

Jailbait Zombie
Andrews, Ilona
The Kate Daniels Series

Magic Bites

Magic Burns

Magic Strikes
Archer, Alex
The Rogue Angel Series

Destiny

Solomon’s Jar

The Spider Stone

The Chosen

Forbidden City

The Lost Scrolls

God of Thunder

Secret of the Slaves

Warrior Spirit

Serpent’s Kiss

Provenance

Soul Stealer

Gabriel’s Horn

The Golden Elephant

Swordsman’s Legacy

Polar Quest

Eternal Journey

Sacrifice

Seeker’s Curse

Footprints
Armstrong, Kelley
Women of the Other world Series

Bitten

Stolen

Dime Store Magic

Industrial Magic

Haunted

Broken

No Humans Involved

Personal Demon

Living with the Dead

Men of the Otherworld

Frostbitten
Baker, Kage
The Tales of the Company

In the Garden of Iden

Sky Coyote

Mendoza in Hollywood

The Graveyard Game

Black Projects, White Knights: The Company Dossiers

The Life of the World to Come

The Machine’s Child

The Children of the Company

Gods and Pawns: Stories of the Company

Rude Mechanicals

The Sons of Heaven
Briggs, Patricia
The Mercy Thompson Series

Moon Called

Blood Bound

Iron Kissed

Bone Crossed

Mercy Thompson: Homecoming
Butcher, Jim
The Dresden Files

Storm Front

Fool Moon

Grave Peril

Summer Knight

Death Masks

Blood Rites

Dead Beat

Proven Guilty

White Night

Small Favor

Backup

Turn Coat
Connolly, John
The Charlie Parker Series

Every Dead Thing

Dark Hollow

The Killing Kind

The White Road

The Black Angel

The Unquiet

The Reapers

The Lovers
Elrod, P. N.
The Vampire Files

The Vampire Files, Volume I (reprints bloodlist, Lifeblood, and Bloodcircle)

The Vampire Files, Volume II (reprints Art in the Blood, Fire in the Blood, and Blood on the Water)

A Chill in the Blood

The Dark Sleep

Lady Crymsyn

Cold Streets

Song in the Dark

Dark Road Rising
Garcia, Eric
The Anonymous Rex Series

Anonymous Rex: A Detective Story

Casual Rex: A Novel (Prequel to Anonymous Rex)

Hot and Sweaty Rex: A Dinosaur Mafia Mystery
Gilman, Laura Anne
The Retrievers Series

Staying Dead

Curse the Dark

Bring It On

Burning Bridges

Free Fall

Blood from Stone
Green, Simon R.
The Nightside Series

Something from the Nightside

Agents of Light and Darkness

Nightingale’s Lament

Hex and the City

Paths not Taken

Sharper than a Serpent’s Tooth

Hell to Pay

The Unnatural Inquirer

Just Another Judgement Day
Green, Simon R.
The Secret History Series

The Man with the Golden Torc

Daemons are Forever

The Spy who Haunted Me
Gustainis, Justin
The Morris and Chastain Investigations Series

Black Magic Woman

Evil Ways
Hamilton, Laurell K.
The Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter Series

Guilty Pleasures

The Laughing Corpse

Circus of the Damned

The Lunatic Cafe

Bloody Bones

The Killing Dance

Burnt Offerings

Blue Moon

Obsidian Butterfly

Narcissus in Chains

Cerulean Sins

Incubus Dreams

Micah

Danse Macabre

The Harlequin

Blood Noir

Skin Trade
Hamilton, Laurell K.
The Meredith Gentry Series

A Kiss of Shadows

A Caress of Twilight

Seduced by Moonlight

A Stroke of Midnight

Mistral’s Kiss

A Lick of Frost

Swallowing Darkness

Divine Misdemeanors
Harrison, Kim
The Hollows Series (sometimes called The Rachael Morgan Series)

Dead Witch Walking

The Good, the Bad, and the Undead

Every Which Way But Dead

A Fistful of Charms

For a Few Demons More

The Outlaw Demon Wails

White Witch, Black Curse
Hendee, Barb and J.C.
The Noble Dead Saga Series 1

Dhampir

Thief of Lives

Sister of the Dead

Traitor to the Blood

Rebel Fay

Child of a Dead God
Hendee, Barb and J.C.
The Noble Dead Saga Series 2

In Shade and Shadow
Hightower, Lynn S.
The David Silver Series

Alien Blues

Alien Heat

Alien Eyes

Alien Rites
Huff, Tanya
The Blood Books Series (aka The Vicki Nelson Series)

The Blood Books, Volume I (reprints Blood Price and Blood Trail)

The Blood Books, Volume II (reprints Blood Lines and Blood Pact)

The Blood Books, Volume III (reprints Blood Debt and Blood Bank)
Huff, Tanya
The Smoke and Shadows Series

Smoke and Shadows

Smoke and Mirrors

Smoke and Ashes
Hunt, Stephen

The Court of the Air

The Kingdom Beyond the Waves
Hunter, Faith
The Rogue Mage series

Bloodring

Seraphs

Host
Huston, Charlie
The Joe Pitt Casebook Series

Already Dead

No Dominion

Half the Blood of Brooklyn

Every Last Drop

My Dead Body
Irvine, Alexander C.

Buyout
Jones, Tamara Siler
The Dubric Byerly Mysteries

Ghosts in the Snow

Threads of Malice

Valley of the Soul
MacAvoy, R. A.
The Black Dragon Series

Tea with the Black Dragon

Twisting the Rope
Morgan, Richard K.
The Takeshi Kovacs Trilogy

Altered Carbon

Broken Angels

Woken Furies
Murphy, C. E.
The Negotiator Trilogy

Heart of Stone

House of Cards

Hands of Flame
Murphy, C. E.
The Inheritors’ Cycle

The Queen’s Bastard

The Pretender’s Crown
Murphy, C. E.
The Walker Papers

Urban Shaman

Thunderbird Falls

Coyote Dreams

Walking Dead
Rardin, Jennifer
The Jaz Parks Series

Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Another One Bites the Dust

Biting the Bullet

Bitten to Death

One More Bite

Bite Marks
Richardson, Kat
The Greywalker Series

Greywalker

Poltergeist

Underground

Vanished
Rusch, Kristine Kathryn
The Retrieval Artist Series

The Disappeared

Extremes

Consequences

Buried Deep

Paloma

Recovery Man

Duplicate Effort
Shepherd, Joel
The Cassandra Kresnov Series

Crossover

Breakaway

Killswitch
Stross, Charles

The Jennifer Morgue
Vaughn, Carrie
The Kitty Norville Series

Kitty and the Midnight Hour

Kitty Goes to Washington

Kitty Takes a Holiday

Kitty and the Silver Bullet

Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand

Kitty Raises Hell
Waggoner, Tim

Necropolis
Weldon, Phaedra
The Zoe Martinique Series

Wraith

Spectre

Phantasm
Williams, Liz
Detective Inspector Chen Series

Snake Agent

The Demon and the City

Precious Dragon

The Shadow Pavilion
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My Favorites: Wild Inferno

by Jo Ann "The Head Rat" Vicarel on May 14, 2009

A resident of the Rocky Mountains, Sandi lives in the area where her character Jamaica Wild works. When she isn’t working on her next mystery, she works as a Fire Information Officer.

Wild Inferno (A Wild Mystery #2)

Wild Inferno by Sandi AultAuthor: Ault, Sandi
Format: Hardcover
Type: Novel
Page Count: 287pp.
Pub. Date: February 2008
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Website: Sandiault.com

Wild Indigo introduced rough and ready Bureau of Land Management agent Jamaica Wild and her wolf, Mountain. Now they return, deployed to a wildfire on the Southern Ute reservation, where a puzzling plea whispered by a burning man points to a mystery more menacing than murder.

Wildfire erupts on a patchwork of land including the Southern Ute Reservation, and BLM agent Jamaica Wild is called away from her normal duties to serve on the Incident Command Team. A cantankerous old man from the Ute tribe named Grampa Ned has reportedly snuck around barricades and entered an area to one side of the fire. Jamaica risks danger to go after him, but before she can find him, the fire crowns and torches through the area, forcing her to run for her life. As she escapes, Jamaica discovers a firefighter smoldering and wavering on the side of the road. The man, part of a hotshot crew that is trapped in the burn area, sputters a cryptic message to Jamaica before losing consciousness.

While the burned man lies comatose in a burn unit, the rest of his crew is found deep inside the black — where the fire has burned through — singed and suffering from smoke inhalation, but alive thanks to their fire shelters. The charred body of Grampa Ned is discovered nearby in the seared forest — but he has not died from the fire, but rather from a blow to the head. The FBI investigates the murder, and the agent in charge asks for Jamaica’s help. The Chimney Rock Fire intensifies, threatening homes, highways, and a major power line feeding much of Southern Colorado.

Meanwhile, even as the fire threatens the high mesa on which they are encamped, a determined gathering of Puebloans, descendants of the ancient civilization that built the ruins at Chimney Rock, are doing ceremony atop the high cuesta. They refuse to evacuate because the sacred Lunar Standstill — an event that takes place every 18.6 years, when the moon rises exactly between the two spires of Chimney Rock — is about to occur. One of them is Momma Anna, Jamaica’s medicine teacher from Tanoah Pueblo, who has brought Jamaica’s wolf Mountain with her to Chimney Rock and into the path of danger.

Wild Inferno by Sandi Ault

Jamaica must work to ensure that the Native Americans and her beloved wolf are safe while she tries to discover what happened to both Grampa Ned and the burning man. What was Grampa Ned doing on the mountain before he was murdered — and why didn’t the burning man stay with his crew? What would make them risk incineration in a Wild Inferno?

You can order this and other novels by Sandi Ault through the Heights Library web catalog (click on the book covers) or order by phone by calling the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library.

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Books for readers of Robert Ludlum

April 10, 2009

Someone asked me for a list of authors who write like Robert Ludlum and I thought I would post one.  Just remember all of the authors listed here are different and approach fiction in unique ways.
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Len Deighton
Ken Follett
Frederick Forsyth
William Buckley
John LeCarre
Ralph Peters
Ted Allbeury
Allan Folsom
Brian Freemantle
Clive Egleton
Vince Flynn
Brian Haig
These authors write intrigue, adventure, spy novels which [...]

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Celebrating Edgar Allan Poe part 1

March 24, 2009

This book features the short stories of Edgar Allan Poe in living color.  Each murdered woman (notice they are all women and if I am remembering correctly Poe did not murder only women when he was devising devious ways to do away with someone) is found dead by using a method of murder that Poe [...]

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Veronica Heley’s The Abbot Agency books are great reads

February 8, 2009

You may know Veronica Heley as the author of the Ellie Quicke mysteries and the Eden Hall series.  If so you know that she writes very well.  Her female characters are always clearly drawn showing strength of character and the ability to overcome obstacles (even when they do not have a high opinion of themselves).Â
Heley’s [...]

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My Favorites: Demolition Angel

January 10, 2009

Robert Crais was a successful screenwriter in Hollywood when he decided to turn his attention to writing mysteries. His Elvis Cole and Joe Pike series has won several awards and much praise but the book I want to present to you today is a stand-alone novel about Carol Starkey, a scarred bomb squad survivor turned police detective.

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Mystery Evening Book Discussion

December 31, 2008

The last book discussion was fun but we missed you. . .

Join us for the next Mystery Evening Book Discussion at the Noble Neighborhood Library on Thursday, January 8, 2009 from 7:00 to 8:00pm.

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Good books for a winter’s evening

December 13, 2008

I was just looking at the new Mystery bin here at Noble Library and found that we had so many good books for people to read.  At Holiday time many folks stop reading because they are so busy doing other things.  That means that this is a great time to come to the library and [...]

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Robert Jordan and The Eye of the World

November 22, 2008

Everyone who knows me knows that I love Mysteries.  Not too many people know that I also love long epic Fantasy sagas.  One of my favorites is Robert Jordan’s THE EYE OF THE WORLD.  I know lots of folks who would argue that THE EYE OF THE WORLD is the best Fantasy ever witten.  I [...]

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More on Reading Journals and books you may have missed

November 6, 2008

As you must know by now, I am a great advocate of Reading Journals.  Mine are a joy because I can go back to see what I was reading years ago and find out what I thought of the book.  I also can revisit books that I read to see if I liked them, what [...]

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