I’m sorry if this is breaking one of the rules, but I am not trying to promote my book at all, nor am I sending a link to it. I’m just curious if anyone knows of any books that have a similar concept or vibe (in any regard). Basically, I’m writing a book that I want to read, and as part of my process I’m trying to read more within my genre (especially so I have comp titles when it comes time to query agents) and in general, but I have no idea where to start because I’m such a picky reader.
The book (technically series but I’m still on the first one) that I’m working on is a super character forward “upmarket” mystery that has a sneaky dark magic twist which isn’t hugely important to the plot, it’s more of a reason than a tool if that makes sense. It’s set in the late 50s, and it follows four main protaganists. Two of them are kind of spoiled rich kids, another one was disowned by his (very wealthy) father, and the last one is the journalist who accidentally brings them all together to try and investigate the murder of a woman who was one of the fiancé of one of them.
There’s a lot of history between the three that the journalist has to sort through as they continue to try and figure out why this woman was killed. So again, very character focused but I still like to keep tight pacing and add in increasing tension as they realize the old-money families the three belong to, are doing some very nasty stuff. There’s a lot of character deaths—not the main protags, though the disowned guy basically discovers he’s immortal after he gets shot three times and dies but then comes back. It is quite dark, but I like to add funny moments of dialogue and some silly scenarios to balance it out.
It’s also quite feminist and queer, and most of my characters are neurodivergent-coded.
Some shows and books that I like and/or took inspiration from: Ninth House, Six of Crows, Ares, Zone Blanche/Black Spot, The Queen’s Gambit, The Secret History, The Lies of Locke Lamora.
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by Even_Locksmith_960