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Book Riot Managing Editor Vanessa Diaz is a writer and former bookseller from San Diego, CA whose Spanish is even faster than her English. When not reading or writing, she enjoys dreaming up travel itineraries and drinking entirely too much tea. She is a regular co-host on the All the Books podcast who especially loves mysteries, gothic lit, mythology/folklore, and all things witchy. Vanessa can be found on Instagram at @BuenosDiazSD or taking pictures of pretty trees in Portland, OR, where she now resides.
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My approach to reading can be summed up with one of my favorite lines from a commercial turned meme/GIF: porque no los dos? Historical fiction or mystery? Why not both? Horror or sci-fi? Why not both? Books that combine two (or more) genres are a great way to get into genres you’re interested in trying for the first time, or to get more of what you already know and love in one convenient reading package. They are how I discovered I’m not as much of a weenie for horror as I thought I was, and how much I enjoy historical mysteries.
I’m recommending nine of my favorite genre-blending books today, books you can pick up to satisfy task #16 of the 2025 Read Harder Challenge: Read a genre-blending book. Danika recently rounded up a list of recent genre-blending releases, so I decided to go with backlist picks for my selections. They feature everything from an SF/F + mystery blend set in an alternate Cairo to a sci-fi/mystery blend with a gender-flipped Sherlock and Watson—in space!
Go forth and blend!
A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark (Dead Djinn Universe)
genre blend: sci-fi + fantasy + mystery
This steampunk fantasy is set in 1912 in an alternative Cairo where Egypt has not been colonized and magic exists alongside the mundane. That last part is thanks to a Sudanese mystic named al-Jahiz who drilled a hole in the veil that separates the two and then vanished into thin air. When an entire brotherhood dedicated to al-Jahiz is murdered and the killer claims to be al-Jahiz himself, it’s up to Fatma el-Sha-arawi, the youngest woman at the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, to track the killer down. You get a compelling mystery with feminist, anti-colonial themes, plus a queer romance and creatures like Djinn and angels mixed in among the humans. This made me immediately turn around and read the novellas in the series.
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
genre blend: horror + sci-fi + literary fiction
I like to think that when Carmen Maria Machado sits down to write, she puts Miley Cyrus’ “Can’t Be Tamed” on and cranks up the volume. This is the collection that made me a fangirl, a haunting, speculative, queer fever dream of a masterpiece that couldn’t be put into any kind of genre box if you tried. She had me from jump with the story of the woman whose husband won’t stop asking her to take off the green ribbon around her neck (real ones know), and then she had the nerve to include a novella, aptly titled “Especially Heinous,” reimagining every episode of Law & Order SVU. I feel a little bit smarter and a lot more haunted whenever I read her work.
Book Riot Managing Editor Vanessa Diaz is a writer and former bookseller from San Diego, CA whose Spanish is even faster than her English. When not reading or writing, she enjoys dreaming up travel itineraries and drinking entirely too much tea. She is a regular co-host on the All the Books podcast who especially loves mysteries, gothic lit, mythology/folklore, and all things witchy. Vanessa can be found on Instagram at @BuenosDiazSD or taking pictures of pretty trees in Portland, OR, where she now resides.
View All posts by Vanessa Diaz
The Hunger by Alma Katsu
genre blend: historical fiction + supernatural horror
I have always been a sucker for books that reimagine real events with a supernatural twist, bonus points if you can creep the hell out of me while you do it. Alma Katsu does that here in brilliant, grisly fashion, imagining a supernatural cause for the Donner Party tragedy. Yikes.
The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard
genre blend: sci-fi + mystery
I read this book years ago for the 2019 Read Harder challenge when I saw it described as “gender-flipped Sherlock in space.” Here’s another fun twist: Watson is the spaceship! The Shadow’s Child is minding her business, trying to rebuild after a wartime tragedy killed her crew and broke her spirit. When she’s approached by an arrogant scholar and detective to retrieve a dead body from space, she agrees to the well-paid gig. Then it turns out that the body met with foul play and, well, the game is afoot from there. This is a standalone novella in the Xuya universe if you want more where this came from.
Liliana’s Invincible Summer by Cristina Rivera Garza
genre blend: memoir + true crime
This book is a memoir, and it tells the story of the titular Liliana’s tragic death in 1990s Mexico, but to call it a blend of memoir and true crime almost feels reductive. The prose and the format make this a work of art, weird as it feels to say about a book on such a heavy topic. In the past, we get to know Liliana through testimony from friends and family and journal entries from Liliana herself. In the present, the author travels from her home in Texas to Mexico in search of her sister’s case file and a better understanding of the systemic failures that allowed, and continue to allow, femicide and gender-based violence to go so largely unchecked in Mexico. The grief jumps off the page, as does the love of Rivera Garza for her beautiful, enigmatic sister.
Even Though I Knew The End by C.L. Polk
genre blend: urban fantasy + noir + historical fiction
C.L. Polk first hooked me with their Kingston Cycle, a historical fantasy romance series that would also satisfy this task quite nicely. Even Though I Knew the End is every bit as engrossing, packing in a ton of plot in not very many pages: a magical detective, lesbian speakeasies, a notorious serial killer, a deal with the devil to save a lover’s life, all in a fantastical version of 1940s Chicago. It’s sapphic, it’s hardboiled, it’s fast paced, and just has so much heart—and demons!
Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty (The Midsolar Murders Series #1)
genre blend: sci-fi + mystery
This is another murder mystery series starter set in space, but with a cozier vibe in a very meta way—the main character, Mallory, is a cozy mystery writer. The thing is, real-life murder seems to follow her everywhere she goes and it’s made her life a little too complicated. To escape this weird curse and keep others safe from it, she takes refuge on a sentient space station, as surely the murder thing won’t follow her there! Guess again, Miss Mallory. Not even the alien lifeforms are safe.
Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey
genre blend: fantasy + noir
I love me some Sarah Gailey; anyone who writes speculative fiction about that time the US thought it might domesticate hippos is someone whose books I am going to read (consider that duology a bonus pick, delightfully named American Hippo). In Magic for Liars, Ivy Gamble is a private eye whose personal and professional life are just sort of fine. She is estranged from her sister, Tabitha, who is gifted with the magic while Ivy is not, and teaches at a school for magical students. So it’s a little awkward when Ivy is brought to this school, the Osthorne Academy, to investigate a violent murder. The professors should be able to suss out what happened with magic, but no one can crack the case. It quickly becomes evident that there is more going on than meets the eye in this magical noir take on the magic school.
Ana María and The Fox by Liana De la Rosa (Luna Sisters #1)
genre blend: historical fiction + romance
Historical romance might seem like a bit of a gimme here, but I chose this title because historical romance is going through it and because I’ll never pass up a chance to shout about diverse entries in the subgenre. This first book in the Luna Sisters series is about Ana María Luna Valdés, who has been sent to London with her sisters on the low to seek refuge from the French occupation of Mexico. Gideon Fox is a British politician and the grandson of a formerly enslaved woman, and he is thiiiis close to securing enough votes in Parliament to abolish the Atlantic slave trade. When Ana and Gideon meet, sparks fly. But a lot stands in the way of their union, including a pesky noblewoman with a political agenda who has it out for Ana. I’m reading the next book in the series now, and it ups the ante with espionage!
If you want more genre-blending reads, we have a lot of recommendations for you. We had an entire day dedicated to genre blends last year! Go check out all of our picks for Genre Blend Day, including genre-bending short stories, historical horror, sci-noir books, and a primer on all the punks. If that’s not enough, check out these roundups of genre-blending nonfiction and graphic novels.
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