by Matt Lubbers-Moore
I am a terrible person. I was finalizing my newest bibliography titled Postscripts from the Authors: An Annotated Bibliography of Gay and Queer Males in Mystery with Postscripts from over 20 Gay and MM Mystery Authors when I realized that the youngest writers were in their late 30s. It surprised me that there were no authors of gay mysteries in their late teens, twenties, or early thirties, until I realized that when I had been compiling my bibliography I had inadvertently excluded gay mystery authors who wrote for the young adult audience. Which is terrible because I often include those authors in my monthly columns!!
Here is a list highlighting just a few of the amazing LGBTQ+ authors who write YA queer mysteries!!! Caleb Roehrig is amazing. I loved Last Seen Leaving, White Rabbit, and Death Prefers Blondes and my husband loved Teach the Torches to Burn, a Romeo and Juliet remix.
A Line in the Dark by Melinda Lo is fantastic, as is Julia Lynn Rubin’s Trouble Girls. Derek Milman writes a realistic and terrifying novel Swipe Right for Murder under the all-powerful Patterson Presents label. Ace of Spades by Faridah Abike-Lyimide is incredible. I love this YA title about two queer students who need to fight back against a blackmailer!
Adam Sass’ Surrender Your Sons about an island conversion camp for LGBTQ+ youth is sadly realistic when the young main character gets grabbed in the middle of the night out of his bedroom and transported hundreds of miles away with the blessing of his mother. Your Lonely Nights Are Over, also by Adam Sass, has sat on my nightstand for months as I have been too frightened to read it.
Those Pink Mountain Nights by Jen Ferguson deals with the reality of life among Native American youths just fighting for survival while trying to enjoy their youth and The King is Dead by Benjamin King examines life if the heir to the English throne happens to be a young black man and his father dies unexpectedly.
There’s also a couple graphic novels that are spooky and also an incredible read. The first is Specs by David Booher about a couple of teens that buy glasses from the back of a comic book that grant your wishes with terrible results. The second is Gatsby by Jeremy Holt, a queered and mixed up race version of The Great Gatsby.
There are so many more but space in this column is limited.
On with the books!
Small Gods of Calamity by Sam Kyung Yoo
Out March 4, 2024, Interstellar Flight Press
Ghosts that speak in smoke. Spirits with teeth like glass. A parasitic, soul-eating spirit worm has gone into a feeding frenzy, but all the Jong-ro Police Department’s violent crimes unit sees is a string of suicides. Except for Kim Han-gil, Seoul’s only spirit detective. He’s seen this before. He’ll do anything to stop another tragedy from happening, even if that means teaming up with Shin Yoonhae, the man Han-gil believes is responsible for the horrifying aftermath of his mother’s last exorcism.
Knife Skills by Wendy Church
Out March 5, 2024, Severn House
Sagarine Pfister is a great cook but has been blacklisted by almost every restaurant in Chicago. She gets her chance at Louie’s, a below-average restaurant, the only place that will give her a job. Things change when she finds head chef Louie Ferrar dead in the walk-in freezer of his restaurant. But instead of closing the place down, the owner, Russian gang boss Anatoly Morzov, not only offers her Louie’s job, but also the position as his personal chef. Sagarine agrees, and while she knows she’s playing with fire, the chance to turn out extraordinary food at both the restaurant and for Morzov’s extravagant private parties is just too tempting. While the Chicago P.D. searches for Louie’s killer, the FBI pressures Sagarine to inform on the gang. She has no choice, but things take another dangerous turn when she falls for one of Morzov’s lieutenants. As Sagarine becomes more deeply involved with the gang and with her lover, the FBI’s demands put her at increased risk of discovery. She has to make a decision about where her loyalties lie as she finds herself running for her life.
Cirque du Slay by Rob Osler
Out March 5, 2024, Crooked Lane
Pint-sized Seattle middle school teacher and gay dating blogger Hayden McCall and his best friend Hollister are invited to a fundraiser for Bakers Without Borders. The celebrity performer, Kennedy Osaka, is the artistic director of Mysterium, an upscale circus arts show combining magic, acrobatics, and a Michelin-star dinner. But Kennedy is a no-show—until she’s found dead in her hotel suite. When frenemy Sarah Lee is discovered in the room with the body, Hayden and Hollister are on the case to find the real culprit before Sarah Lee is charged with the crime. The suspects for the murder are as unique as Mysterium itself: a Russian trapeze artist, a cowgirl comedian sharp-shooter, an over-cologned operations director, a feisty, green-haired costume manager and Adrenalin!, a sexy troop of Romanian male acrobats. If Hayden and Hollister are to clear Sarah Lee of suspicion, they’ll have to outsmart a killer for whom trickery is art.
All Tea, No Shade, and a Bit of Murder: Knitting, Tea, Gossip… Vengeance by Elliott Hay
Out March 5, 2024, White Hart Fiction
In vibrant south-east London, an unlikely watch stands guard. Baz, Peggy, Carole, and Madge bring new meaning to the phrase “femme fatale”. The foursome get together to knit, drink tea, and dole out death to keep their community safe. The Rainbow Ripper haunts the local streets in search of his next victim. He preys on some of society’s most vulnerable: asylum seekers and drag queens. As the body count rises, the women know they must act. So they’re brushing off retirement and prepping to take action. They’ll do whatever it takes. Including murder … but only after the tea is finished.
Only the Trees Know by Heather Hansen
Out March 6, 2024
It was meant to be their last hurrah. Four friends spend their senior Spring Break of high school hiking the Yosemite forest. Alone for one week where they can prove that, despite their cracked relationships, they’re still a team. And maybe recapture some of the magic that brought them together in the first place. But something went wrong. One by one they’re murdered, until only one survivor emerges from the forest. He says he’s innocent. The evidence says he’s not. Now he’s on trial for the deaths of his friends, fighting for his life and freedom. It doesn’t matter that he loved them fiercely, one as a friend, one as an ex, and one that still tangles his soul. The only thing that matters is his final words weren’t “I love you,” they were “I’m sorry.”
These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart by Izzy Wasserstein
Out March 12, 2024, Tachyon Publications
In mid-21st-century Kansas City, Dora hasn’t been back to her old commune in years. But when Dora’s ex-girlfriend Kay is killed, and everyone at the commune is a potential suspect, Dora knows she’s the only person who can solve the murder. As Dora is dragged back into her old community and begins her investigations, she discovers that Kay’s death is only one of several terrible incidents. A strange new drug is circulating. People are disappearing. And Dora is being attacked by assailants from her pre-transition past.
Blessed Water by Margot Douaihy
Out March 12, 2024, Gillian Flynn Books
Tattooed from her neck to her toes and sporting a gold tooth as sharp as her wisecracks, Sister Holiday struggles to stay on the righteous path. Never one to make things easy for herself, she’s committed to taking her permanent vows with the Sisters of the Sublime Blood and joining former fire inspector Magnolia Riveaux’s latest venture, Redemption Detective Agency?both in service of satisfying her eternal quest for answers. When Sister Holiday and Riveaux set out to bust a philandering husband, they instead find the body of a priest floating in the swollen Mississippi River, and with it, Redemption’s next case. It’s significantly more gruesome than their original mission, but Sister Holiday feels called on by God to hunt down the murderer and keep her community safe. As a torrential rainstorm drowns New Orleans for three harrowing days over Easter weekend, Sister Holiday and Riveaux follow the clues. With the stakes rising alongside the relentless floodwaters, our favorite punk nun-sleuth throws herself into the deep end yet again.
Rainbow Black by Maggie Thrash
Out March 19, 2024, Harper Perennial
Lacey Bond is a 13-year-old girl in New Hampshire growing up in the tranquility of her hippie parents’ rural daycare center. Then the Satanic Panic hits. It’s the summer of 1990 when Lacey ’s parents are handcuffed, flung into the county jail, and faced with a torrent of jaw-dropping accusations as part of a mass hysteria sweeping the nation. When a horrific murder brings Lacey to the breaking point, she makes a ruthless choice that will haunt her for decades. As an adult, Lacey mimes a normal life as the law clerk of an illustrious judge. She has a beautiful girlfriend, a measure of security, and the world has mostly forgotten about her. But after a tiny misstep spirals into an uncontrolled legal disaster, the hysteria threatens to begin all over again.
A Deadly Walk in Devon by Nicholas George
Out March 26, 2024, Kensington Cozies (KRL is reviewing this one next month, and interviewing Nicholas)
Still grieving the death of his long-time partner, Chase reunites with his dear friend and fellow Anglophile Billie Mondreau for a seacoast holiday of historic sightseeing. Assigned a pair of guides from the tour company Wanderers, Chase and Billie join seven other like-minded Americans looking forward to an English getaway. All except for Ronald Gretz. The wealthy entrepreneur behind the international Golden Sunset nursing home chain doesn’t like anything about walking, touring, or England. Coarse and opinionated, Gretz’s complaints get on the nerves of his fellow Wanderers—and his long-suffering trophy wife. But Gretz’s gripes are tied to his own nerves being frayed. He has been receiving threatening texts and emails signed “An Avenger.” Convinced someone means him harm, Gretz asks Chase to watch his back. Soon, Gretz falls afoul of several “accidents,” leading to more friction with the other walkers. Until one final “accident” results in Gretz dead at the bottom of a cliff.
The Abduction of Mary-Jo Dover: Private Investigator by Julia C. Olivier
Out March 31, 2024
In small-town Texas, it doesn’t pay to be different, something Detective Diana Page knows all too well. After twenty years on the police force, the chauvinistic attitude of the new Police Chief and his minions has become exhausting. And keeping a secret from them? More than exhausting. The fact she’s a lesbian? That’s not a secret. No, Diana has a deep secret. She sees the forthcoming death of people. For most of her life, she has tried to ignore her psychic ability, but then she gets a new type of vision––she becomes psychically connected to a senator’s daughter who is being kidnapped. Diana feels every emotion and every pain the child does. But how do you explain to the FBI you have some intricate information about their case even though you’re not involved in the crime?
Other Releases:
Demon Mate by Sheri Lyn, out March 1, 2024
The Road to Hell by MJ May, out March 1, 2024
The Next Generation by Annette Mori, out March 1, 2024
The Fifth Dimension by Martin Vopenka, out March 5, 2024
Acid Town Vol. 4 by Kyugo, paperback out March 5, 2024
Shattered Deceit by Autumn Winchester, out March 7, 2024
The Family Man by AJ Rose, out March 8, 2024
RYKER by N. Slater, out March 14, 2024
Catch and Kill by Eden Francis Compton, out March 19, 2024
Out of Sight by K. C. Wells, out March 19, 2024
Beyond the Veil by S. C. Wynne, out March 26, 2024
Under Her Roof by Allison Temple, out March 26, 2024
RPF by M. Grano, out March 29, 2024
Relocation by B. H. Lynn, out March 29, 2024
His Guilty Pleasure by Leighton Greene, out March 29, 2024
Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & mystery short stories in our mystery section. And join our mystery Facebook group to keep up with everything mystery we post, and have a chance at some extra giveaways. Also listen to our new mystery podcast where mystery short stories and first chapters are read by actors! They are also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Spotify. A new episode went up this week.
Click on this link to take you to Mysterious Galaxy’s website where you can purchase many of these books & a portion will go to help support KRL:
Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which we receive a few cents if you make purchases. KRL also receives free copies of most of the books that it reviews, that are provided in exchange for an honest review of the book.
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