Closed Circle, Genre Mashups, Famous Authors: Mystery and Crime Book Trends in 2024

Last year, we talked about how genre mashups, like cozy mysteries and romance, were very popular. It felt like genre mashups or genre blending seemed to grow even bigger in 2024. 

Earlier this year, Library Journal noted that horror is really amping up, including paranormal mysteries according to Kristin Sevick, executive editor at Tor.

We’ve got books like Home Is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose or graphic novel masterpiece The One Hand and The Six Fingers by Ram V and Dan Watters, Illustrated by Laurence Campbell and Sumit Kumar, which bring crime and horror together into a delicious package. 

Romance and mystery still work well, evidenced by the third book in Jesse Q. Sutanto’s Aunties series with The Good, the Bad, and the Aunties and Ally Carter’s The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year.

Olivia Blacke, author of the recently released New Lease on Death, explained part of the appeal:

“I’m a huge fan of the genre-blending books, the hard-to-shelve books. I think they’re a great way for readers to cross over and explore new genres and dip their toes into genres they might not have otherwise picked up. Also, they tend to be humorous and who couldn’t use a little more joy in their lives?”

Blacke also noted that cozies are not just murder mysteries anymore; she points to the rise of cozy fantasy and cozy horror.

She said, “I love how mysteries continue to push the limits, especially in what can be considered a 'cozy.'”

Historical mysteries continue to be popular, especially those set in the 1920s through the 1940s.

However, with the popularity of Bridgerton and other regency shows, we seem to be getting a little bit more mystery books in those time periods.

Blacke recounted some of her favorite historical crime authors, such as Darcie Wilde’s Rosalind Thorne Mysteries, taking a page from Jane Austen’s worlds or Celeste Connally’s Lady Petra Inquiries.

Blacke explained, “It’s the best of Bridgerton and Sherlock Holmes, wrapped in these fantastic atmospheric murder mysteries and I’m totally there for it.”

We’re starting to see even more series that either use famous detectives, notably Sherlock Holmes, or one of the classic mystery writers, Agatha Christie, and make them solve the crime.

Sherry Thomas just published book eight of her Lady Sherlock series with Ruse of Shadows. Mariah Fredericks even brings non-mystery writer Edith Wharton into the amateur sleuth world in The Wharton Plot.

Thanks to the wonderful Knives Out films, we’re also seeing the return of more closed-circle mysteries, where a murder is committed in an isolated location with a limited number of suspects. 

Examples include Ally Condie’s The Unwedding, described as The White Lotus meets Agatha Christie, where a recent divorcee goes to a luxury resort only to find a wedding booked there…and then the groom in the pool. 

From the master of closed circle mysteries, Stuart Turton came out with his sci-fi closed circle book The Last Murder at the End of the World, where a toxic cloud has subsumed the earth except for a small island protected by technology.

But when the lead scientist on the island is found murdered, her death causes the security system to start to shut down. The inhabitants have 107 hours to find her killer or they all die.

Author of When No One is Watching, Alyssa Cole released One of Us Knows. Kenetria Nash gets a position as a caretaker of a historic home on a Hudson River island; she’s still pulling her life together after she learned that she had dissociative identity disorder.

But things take a turn when a huge storm leaves Kenetria and her alters, her different personalities, with a group of people. One of them ends up dead and fingers point at Kenetria.

Genre trends aside, one thing that Olivia Blacke pointed out was that more mystery authors were publishing standalone shorts, especially as eBook novellas.

Notably, Amazon Original Stories published six novellas by popular mystery writers like Elle Cosimano and Kellye Garrett earlier this year. 

Not only are authors putting out standalone short mysteries, but more authors are also publishing short stories between their books. Vivien Chien published the short story Gone to Hot Pot as the 9.5 book in her Noodle Shop Mystery series.

Benjamin Stevenson published the novella Everybody This Christmas Has a Secret, book three in his Ernest Cunningham series.

Blacke explained, “I hear people say that social media and short format videos have reduced our attention span, and I wonder if that’s making space for short form fiction.”

While we turn the page from 2024 to 2025, it’ll be interesting to see what will happen in the crime and mystery world. Blacke thinks the tradwife is going to be big.

She said, “There’s been a steady rise in tradwife social media influencers and I’m starting to see that reflected in books that are coming out right now. Jo Piazza's Everyone Is Lying to You is a tradwife murder mystery/thriller that I cannot WAIT to get my hands on.”

Until next year!