August SFFKit : paranormal investigators and space detectives

August months challenge is detectives and investigators, be they in fantasy or science fiction. There is a wide range to choose from - from investigators in an official capacity, like the Detective Inspector Chen series over PI agencies solving cases for money, like the Changeling Detective, to the amateur sleuth, like Lord Darcy, to the solver of mysteries driven by circumstances, like The Spare Man. Something for every taste!

To keep this post short and sweet, I have created a list of the novels, novellas, graphic novels I know of that fits this challenge. Please feel free to add to the list - this genre lends itself to lengthy series, so if anyone has any stand alone books to recommend, it would be a great help!
Link to list

Non-fiction is a bit difficult with this topic, but I imagine that a biography of Arthur Conan Doyle or Carl Sagan will cover investigations into the occult and space respectively.

Contemporary setting/Urban fantasy:
Rivers of london
Hidden Legacy

Historical fantasy:
Even though I knew the end
New Amsterdam

Fantasy
witness for the dead
Chronicles of Elantra

Science fiction:
Ukiah Oregon
Fugitive Telemetry

Humour:
Dirk gently
Garrett P.I.

ETA. Remember to update the wiki with your readings.

Planning to read Malka Older's The Mimicking of Known Successes.

I've just finished Aliette de Bodard's Obsidian and Blood trilogy, a historical fantasy series set in the 15th century Aztec empire for the MysteryKIT cross genre July challenge. It would also fit here if somebody is looking for ideas.

oh, too bad. I read Chaos Terminal this month!

I just finished The Tainted Cup by Robert Bennett Jackson, which definitely fits this category. I would also recommend two older books, Wrapt in Crystal by Sharon Shin and Deadly Silents by Lee Killough, that are truly excellent.

I’m planning to re-read Fugitive Telemetry, because I love Murderbot and it will also count for the “re-read a favorite book” Bingo Dog square. But I also just got my hold on Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway in Libby, so if I manage to finish it before it’s snatched away again, maybe I’ll count that instead (or in addition).

I am planning on reading a dystopian mystery novel entitled The Post by Kevin Munoz.

This seems like a good opportunity to continue my read of Lockwood and Co with book four The Creeping Shadow.

>8 JayneCM: my plan exactly! I need to pick it up at the library today, and save it for August.

>9 amberwitch: Fantastic! Such great books. I have yet to watch the series - waiting until I have finished reading them all.

I plan on reading Matcha Do About Murder by Eryn Scott, in which a teahouse owner investigates murders with the help of a ghost who lives in the building. I read the first book in this series earlier this month and enjoyed it a lot, so I am eager to get to the second book.

I finished Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway, which lived up to its noir promise. I’m still planning to re-read Fugitive Telemetry, though.

Finished Malka Older's The Mimicking of Known Successes.

>5 ronincats: So glad you recommended Wrapt in Crystal. I fell in love with her Samaria series when I was in high school and never got to her other books. Looking forward to this one!

>14 beccac220: This is a singleton, but I think it's an excellent mystery and an excellent sf world-building with good characters.

I have read The Doppelgänger Gambit, which is a police procedural set in the 21st century that was written back in 1979, the first of three books featuring LEOs (law enforcement officers) Brill and Mama Maxwell. Not a mystery as such as we know who did it right away, but we follow the investigation as they gather evidence. This is a reread. First read when written but have you ever seen such a 1970s cover?



I do believe I am going to have to reread Too Many Magicians, the first Lord Darcy book, this month just for old-time sakes. And I may not be able to stop with just one...

Finished the Lockwood & Co series with The Creeping shadow and The Empty Grave.

If anyone more familiar with the UK has read the series, I'd love to hear your take on the era/decade that this series take place. I feel like I was all over the place, but ended up with the 80's.

Book #88 Murder and Magic by Randall Garrett 266 pp.
Book #89 Too Many Magicians by Randall Garrett 342 pp.
Book #90 Lord Darcy Investigates by Randall Garrett 229 pp.

Imagine a world where Richard the Lion-Hearted did not die in 1199 but went on to found the mightiest and most stable empire in history, where the laws of extra-sensory perception have been codified but those of physics remain unsuspected. Now imagine you are Lord Darcy, the greatest detective of all time, in a world where crime and the occult walk hand-in-hand.

These stories from the 1960s and 70s are still fun to read. The first and third books are collections of Lord Darcy stories published in various magazines, while Too Many Magicians is Garrett's only full-length novel in this world. Michael Kurland wrote two more Lord Darcy books when Garrett became too ill to continue.

Currently reading Duplicate Effort by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. The Armstrong Dome police force and Retrieval Artist Miles Flint have to solve the murder of a journalist.

The September thread is up.

COMPLETED Duplicate Effort by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.

My review:
A woman and her bodyguard are found dead in the grounds of an exclusive clubhouse in the Moon's Armstrong Dome. Retrieval Artist Miles Flint gets involved in the investigation because he has reason to fear that he or his daughter may be the next target.

Fun ride with an ending that is satisfactory in an untidy, not everything is resolved sort of way.

I read Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger. The protagonist is a teen ghost trainer who works to bring her cousin's murderer to justice.

I have completed The Post a post-apocalyptic story that has a small community's sheriff tracking killers.

I'v read two novellas and two novels in the Retrieval Artist series by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. These take place mostly on the Moon. It's been a while since I've vistied this world and I had forgotten how enjoyable these books are. Will probably throw in one more from the series this month.

The Recovery Man's Bargain
The Possession of Paavo Deshin
Blowback
A Murder of Clones

Unfortunately I did not manage to read my choice in August but I did so last week and want to add it here.
I read Matcha Do About Murder by Eryn Scott, the second in the Pebble Cove Teahouse series. Rosemary, the owner of a seaside teashop, investigates a case with the help of a ghost who lives in her building, and she also enlists other local ghosts to help.
I enjoyed this book even more than the first one in the series!