Continuing the spirit of Pride Month, here are queer authors whose writing embodies the spirit of the mystery and thriller genres while imbuing some much needed-representation to novels and to authors.

Writing has always been for everybody, by everybody, and publishers and audiences alike are only now celebrating this notion. Many genres, such as YA and romance, celebrate queer authors and plotlines; however, some genres and audiences still need to catch up and understand that representation is here to stay. To celebrate writing and the genres of mystery and thriller, here are some authors that, throughout the years, have fought all odds and gotten their stories out there to recognize the importance of queer stories and authorship throughout history.

Lev AC Rosen

Lev AC Rosen writes archaeological adventures and mysteries and has numerous accolades, having books such as Lavender House reviewed positively by the New York Times and received the Best Book of the Year by Buzzfeed. The murder mystery follows a queer private investigator, Evander Mills, to uncover the mysterious murder of a famed soap maker. A sequel titled The Bell in the Fog will release later this year, focusing more on Evander Mills’ backstory.

Rita Mae Brown

Rita Mae Brown has been part of several social justice movements, including the Civil Rights and the anti-war movements in the 1960s, and later worked on a gay liberation newspaper for the Gay Liberation Front in the 1970s. She has been a champion leader of the LGBT movement since college, and this reflects in her writing; most of her characters are lesbians and are going through the societal consequences of identifying as such. Brown’s murder mystery series following Mrs. Murphy and her cat is a delight to read and follows several twists and turns in the small town of Crozet, Virginia.

Margot Douaihy

Margot Douaihy’s novel Scorched Grace has won numerous accolades, including being named a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, a Best Book of 2023 by Marie Claire, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, and BookPage. She is also a co-editor of Elements in Crime Narrative Series, a Cambridge University Press journal that publishes research about the ever-evolving genre of crime writing. She has a dedicated and passionate interest in crime writing and includes queer characters when possible, maximizing the representation in mysteries and thrillers while also analyzing the genres in a meaningful way.

P.J. Vernon

P.J. Vernon specializes in queer thrillers. His debut novel, When You Find Me, surrounding a woman’s missing husband and an all-too-knowing stranger, received several accolades, including an Audible Plus #1 Listen and Associated Press Top Ten U.S. Audiobook. His next novel, Bath Haus, follows a gay man who narrowly escapes a deadly situation in a gay bathhouse and has received glowing reviews from The Oprah Magazine and The New York Times. 

Truman Capote

Truman Capote is one of the oldest documented queer mystery authors on this list. He wrote the literary classic Breakfast at Tiffany’s, but his second most famous work is the true crime novel In Cold Blood. It was critically acclaimed and was an international bestseller, cementing his importance to the crime genre. He was openly gay during a time when identifying as such meant certain death and yet held an upbeat demeanor. He rubbed elbows with America’s most famous socialites and was incredibly successful for a queer person, nevermind queer author of the time, and his works continue to hold importance today.

Joseph Hansen

Joseph Hansen is the oldest documented queer mystery author on this list (by one year, sorry, Capote). As a gay man married to a lesbian, he knew the struggles involved with being queer and yet wrote several openly gay characters in his stories. He wrote poems for several queer magazines, including the first gay magazine in the country, ONE. His novel Fadeout uses the classic hardboiled detective plotline with a twist: Dave Brandstetter is an openly gay private investigator who investigates the mysterious death of a pop star. This started an entire series with Brandstetter, totaling 12 books, proving to be one of the first series with a canonically gay main character, and a detective story at that.

Michael Nava

Michael Nava has been named “America’s Finest Gay Mystery Writer” by author Anthony Slide in Gay and Lesbian Characters and Themes in Mystery Novels: A Critical Guide to over 500 Works in English, and his writing is pretty good, too. He has a series following gay criminal defense lawyer Henry Rios as he uncovers secrets surrounding mysterious deaths underneath the backdrop of the LGBT movement and AIDS. He is a dedicated mystery author, receiving the Lambda Literary Award six times in the mystery category and the Bill Whitehead Lifetime Achievement Award for gay and lesbian literature.

Robyn Gigl

Robyn Gigl is an attorney who fights for queer rights when she isn’t writing novels that highlight queer and POC stories. Her novel, By Way of Sorrow, follows a criminal defense lawyer named Erin McCabe who defends a Black transgender prostitute against the murdered son of a wealthy politician. Her legal thrillers are a very welcome addition to the genre, allowing silenced voices representation and a feeling of justice. She has been honored by several queer organizations, such as ACLU-NJ and the NJ Pride Network, for her activism, and lectures on diversity issues in her (limited) free time.

Frank Anthony Polito

Frank Anthony Polito’s novel Renovated to Death follows domestic partners PJ Penwell and JP Broadway renovating homes on their show Domestic Partners. However, when renovating a house owned by identical twin brothers, Penwell and Broadway discover one of the brothers dead and have a cast of suspicious characters to choose from as their killer. Polito is not only an author but a screenwriter and a playwright, specializing in queer fiction and has only recently delved into the world of mystery. The sequel, Rehearsed to Death, shows that Polito has gone all-in with the mystery genre, and audiences are excited to see more.

Katrina Carrasco

Winner of Buzzfeed’s Best Thriller of 2018 and Vulture’s Best Crime Book of 2018, along with being a Lambda Literary Award Finalist, Katrina Carrasco has given her fair dues to the queer mystery genre. Her debut novel The Best Bad Things got positive reviews and awards right out the gate. The novel follows a cross-dressing spy named Alma Rosales in the 1880s who goes undercover to discover an opium thief. It was a finalist for the Lambda Award in Bisexual Fiction and the Washington State Book Award, allowing Carrasco to join this list of acclaimed queer mystery/thriller/crime authors.