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Very Superstitious: Great Supernatural Mysteries
When genres cross and stories wander, interesting things can happen. Consider the curious case of the Supernatural Investigator, a surprisingly busy sub-genre somewhere near the three-way intersection of horror, mystery, and crime fiction.
Sometimes called occult detective fiction; these books feature stories of private eyes and rogue investigators whose work leads them down into a different kind of darkness. Instead of gangsters and goons, our heroes square off against ghosts and demons, ancient curses and mad sorcerers, forbidden tomes and parallel dimensions. Good times.
The supernatural detective story is a kind of shady neighborhood all its own, with avenues that reach out into broader areas—horror, mystery and crime fiction, sure, but also suspense, folklore, history, science fiction and mythology. You might find the occult investigator wandering these broad byways, beckoning you down a dim cobblestone alley. C'mon, it's just around this corner...
In the spirit of eldritch inquiry, we've collected ten books and collections featuring supernatural investigators, with an eye toward the early foundations of the concept.
Sometimes called occult detective fiction; these books feature stories of private eyes and rogue investigators whose work leads them down into a different kind of darkness. Instead of gangsters and goons, our heroes square off against ghosts and demons, ancient curses and mad sorcerers, forbidden tomes and parallel dimensions. Good times.
The supernatural detective story is a kind of shady neighborhood all its own, with avenues that reach out into broader areas—horror, mystery and crime fiction, sure, but also suspense, folklore, history, science fiction and mythology. You might find the occult investigator wandering these broad byways, beckoning you down a dim cobblestone alley. C'mon, it's just around this corner...
In the spirit of eldritch inquiry, we've collected ten books and collections featuring supernatural investigators, with an eye toward the early foundations of the concept.
The vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing, from Bram Stoker's 1897 horror classic Dracula, is one of the earliest iterations of the supernatural investigator. Van Helsing is the detective as Victorian scholar, and you can find plenty of modern riffs on the character. Van Helsing is probably the most famous of the very early 19th century spooky sleuths.
Literature's most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, was strictly a man of science, and his cases always end with rational reasons and human motives. But the famous 1902 mystery The Hound of the Baskervilles looks and acts like a supernatural detective story—until the classic Scooby Doo style ending.
For a more playful inquiry into the Sherlock Holmes canon, consider Shadows Over Baker Street, in which the worlds of Arthur Conan Doyle and H.P. Lovecraft collide. It's Sherlock versus Cthulhu as the rational science of Victorian forensics meets the howling insanity of Lovecraftian cosmic horror. This collection is generally regarded as one of the most successful crossover anthologies ever assembled, with stories from Neil Gaiman, Poppy Z. Brite, Brian Stableford, and Caitlin R. Kiernan.
This short fiction collection is just one of many H.P. Lovecraft anthologies you can find with a little clicking around. New England's most infamous gentleman maniac, Lovecraft wrote dozens of stories featuring investigators who stumble across forbidden tomes and cursed artifacts. Lovecraft more or less invented the abiding trope of occult knowledge that drives the investigator insane. If you're looking for a good place to start, try The Call of Cthulhu The Shadow Over Innsmouth, or The Dunwich Horror. Or all three! Live a little!
Another fine anthology for those interested in the history of the occult investigator, this collection features stories from weird fiction masters like Arthur Machen along with a dozen more famous detectives and explorers from the pulp canon. You'll also get a nice sampling of contemporary writers and female authors. Don't miss The Sheelagh-na-gig by Mary Ann Allen.
Among the bigger and more popular contemporary series, Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files series is a great place to go for a single-character deep dive into the occult detective pool. A Chicago private eye who also happens to be a formidable wizard, Harry Dresden has appeared in more than a dozen novels, plus plenty of short stories, comic book adaptations, and a single-season television series.
The book that brought us the controversial and highly underrated film Angel Heart, William Hjortsberg's classic supernatural noir is a delightful gumbo of voodoo, sex, violence, and a highly unreliable narrator. Set in the 1950s, the book has the menace and snap of contemporary fiction, but rests on a solid foundation of classic gumshoe traditions dating back to Chandler and Hammett.
With the story of private investigator Ivy Gamble, author Sarah Gailey stages a three-way collision between the detective story, the murder mystery, and the gritty urban fantasy adventure. A non-magical P.I. must solve a very real murder in a rather unreal place—a private academy for sorcerers. Magic for Liars introduces a number of interesting twists to the standard tropes and is a lovely example of what contemporary authors can do with this venerable genre.
Featuring eight brand-new tales from an all-star lineup of authors, this anthology is the place to go for bleeding-edge spooky detective action straight from the pulpy source. (You can also click around for back issues of the quarterly publication.) The collection also features a scholarly introduction regarding the history and traditions of the genre.
If you're looking for a graphic novel variation on the occult detective theme, the Hellblazer series is more-or-less required reading. Starring the wise-cracking, chain-smoking, world-weary John Constantine, Hellblazer has expanded from a single comic book title to a multimedia empire—books, comics, TV, movies and multiple crossovers. The Original Sins graphic novel is a good place to start. It collects the first nine issues from the title's original run and showcases the series' compelling mix of horror, dark humor and bleak social commentary.
Be sure to add the books that pique your interest to your Want to Read shelf.
Check out more recent articles, including:
32 Short (and New) Books to Help You Crush Your 2019 Reading Challenge
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24 Books to Give to Your Most Bookish Family & Friends
Check out more recent articles, including:
32 Short (and New) Books to Help You Crush Your 2019 Reading Challenge
Bill Gates' Top Five Holiday Book Picks
24 Books to Give to Your Most Bookish Family & Friends
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TMR
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Dec 13, 2019 05:20AM
All those novels look so good! Eager to try them.
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