I read a list of hot blog topics and one of them was Best Monster Romance Books– which is a good topic. But I decided to take on:
Best Monster Mystery Books
Nocturne Falls (16 book series) by Kristen Painter. Welcome to Nocturne Falls, the town that celebrates Halloween 365 days a year. The tourists think it’s all a show: the vampires, the werewolves, the witches, the occasional gargoyle flying through the sky. But the supernaturals populating the town know better. Living in Nocturne Falls means being yourself. Fangs, fur, and all. This series was charming and while often light-hearted in tone, it has some emotionally deep moments.
By the same author– Shadowvale (7 book series). Shadowvale isn’t typical, small-town America. The sun never shines, the gates decide who enters, magic abounds, and every resident bears some kind of curse. This series is slightly darker than Nocturne Falls, the over-arching story being about an impossible love, but certain stories had moments that made me tear up even though I was certain it would all work out in the end. Each story follows a different character but the whole ensemble cast appears in every story.
Best Monster Mystery Books continued…
A Novel of the Others (5 book series) and World of the Others (3 book series) by Anne Bishop. Human laws do not apply in the territory controlled by the Others–vampires, shape-shifters, and even deadlier paranormal beings. And this is a fact that humans should never, ever forget. After her divorce, Vicki DeVine took over a rustic resort near Lake Silence, in a human town that is not human-controlled. Towns such as Vicki’s don’t have any distance from the Others, the dominant predators who rule most of the land and all of the water throughout the world. And when a place has no boundaries, you never really know what is out there watching you. Oddly enough, these stories had the feel of a Wild West town where there wasn’t a lot of law and the sheriff has to make it up on the fly.
Monster Hunter Mysteries (3 book series) by Annelise Ryan. A Wisconsin bookstore owner and cryptozoologist is asked to investigate a series of deaths that just might be proof of a fabled lake monster.
The next series belongs here because it has so many monsters presented in unexpected ways. Vegan Vamp Mysteries (9 book series) by Cate Lawley. Waking up thin is one thing. But waking up gaunt, hungry, and undead makes for a very bad day. Mallory’s killer better hide, because she’s just discovered blood, meat, and dairy don’t agree with her, and a future with no cheese is grim indeed. Though parts of the ongoing theme of the vegan vampire are amusing, the stories carry quite a bit of darkness and the mysteries are good.
Best Monster Mystery Books– the rest…
Now for a bit of noir– Nightside Series (12 book series) by Simon R. Green. The Nightside. That square mile of Hell in the middle of the city, where it’s always three A.M. Where you can walk beside myths and drink with monsters. Where nothing is what it seems and everything is possible.
In a similar vein, Dresden Files (17 book series) by Jim Butcher. Harry Dresden’s investigation of grisly murders pulls him into the darkest depths of magical Chicago…
Blood Series (5 book series) by Tanya Huff. When demons descend on Toronto, Vicki must team up with two unlikely partners: her ex-flame and the vampiric, romance-writing descendant of King Henry VIII.
Charley Davidson (13 book series) by Darynda Jones. Charley sees dead people. That’s right, she sees dead people. And it’s her job to convince them to “go into the light.” But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances (i.e., murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. If you want an excellent series with plenty of crazy but minus the paranormal, try Sunshine Vicram.
Agent Pendergast (22 book series) by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Just days before a massive exhibition opens at the popular New York Museum of Natural History, visitors are being savagely murdered in the museum’s dark hallways and secret rooms. Autopsies indicate that the killer cannot be human…
You made it!
That is my list for now. Please leave suggestions for other monster mysteries in the comments below. And if you would like to know when new blogs or sales happen, please sign up for my newsletter.
Can’t get enough supernatural mysteries? Check out Favorite Vampire Novels.
–Happy Reading!
