There’s something about reading a mystery that can make you feel like you have a handle on the world. No matter how perplexing the clues or inscrutable the suspects, everything is cleared up and explained at the end, unlike real life. Or maybe you already have a firm grasp on your life (tell me how!) and are just looking for a great page-turner with queer representation. Conversely, maybe you’re new to the mystery genre, but aren’t sure where to start. Regardless, this quiz will pair you with a great book! From queer tweens solving middle school mysteries to amateur sapphic sleuths investigating 1920s Harlem, I guarantee all these queer mystery novels are winners!
Which Queer Mystery Novel Should You Read?
Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen
This sounds really interesting and I wouldn’t have considered it because male lead, even if gay. But what a joy it will be to revisit San Francisco even if it’s through a book !
I’ll have to play a few more times, see what I get next !
Thanks Casey 💜
I hope you like it! I loved it. Although the lead is a guy, there is a big cast that includes multiple queer women that are a big part of the story, so it feels more like a queer ensemble!
Contributing my result of The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older for those trying to figure out all the recs (we deserve to see a list of them all after we finish the quiz!)
Dead Dead Girls! That sounds really interesting
1920s Harlem is such a great setting!
I got this one too! Can’t wait to read it. Here’s the description for others: “The first book in this series called Harlem Renaissance Mysteries features a fascinating Black sapphic amateur detective and reluctant heroine Louise. She has a traumatic past, having escaped and survived a kidnapping as a teenager. She also freed the other kidnapped girls, earning her the nickname of Harlem’s Hero. But these days she’s trying her best to live as normal of a life as possible in 1920s Harlem. She works days at a cafe, spends her nights at a speakeasy, and tries to ignore her girlfriend Rosa when she says Louise is hiding instead of healing. But when a body is found on the front steps of her cafe and Louise gets into a drunken altercation with a police officer about it, she is forced to “help” the cops – act as bait – find the serial killer who seems to be targeting Black women in Harlem. Luckily Louise can take care of herself, but it does mean she has to confront her violent past. Can she track down the killer before they take anyone else’s life?”
Great to see our favorite lesbrarian!!!!!
😍😍
Me and my wife both got “Magic for Liars” by Sarah Gailey which I have immediately wishlisted on my audiobook app.
Sarah Gailey doesn’t always work for me, but I thought Magic for Liars was a good time!
I read Magic for Liars as an audiobook and it’s fantastic in that format!
Would also recommend “A Study in Garnet” by Meredith Rose to any queer Sherlock Holmes fans. Gender-swapped wlw version of Sherlock Holmes.
Although I retook the quiz to read more recommendations I absolutely had to pick the dog with giant floppy ears every single time. Had to.
Death Before Dessert by A.E. Ridley for folks trying to complete the list. I’ve already read it (and liked it!) plus a few others on the list… I wonder if they were all recommendations from Casey originally!
The Verifiers by Jane Pek is definitely one of them too :)
Well, the quiz was right. I got Dirt Creek and couldn’t put it down. Looking forward to retaking the quiz and checking out some of the others.
Could you give us the full list of books you can get here? They sound interesting but sussing them out by repeatedly taking the quiz sounds exhausting haha