More than 150 books. 125 authors. And a wonderfully unconventional journey through the history of mystery fiction.
Mystery fiction has never been particularly good at following the rules.
For more than 150 years, writers have been reinventing the detective, turning familiar formulas upside down, devising impossible crimes, crossing genres, experimenting with form, and finding new ways to surprise readers who thought they knew exactly what a mystery was supposed to be.
That spirit of invention is at the heart of Michael Cohen’s new book, Uncommon Mysteries: A Chronicle of Unconventional Storytelling.
And, fittingly, the book itself didn’t begin in quite the usual way.
An Accidental History of Mystery Fiction
After retiring from college teaching, Cohen approached WKMS, the Public Broadcasting radio station at Murray State University, with an idea: he would record short commentaries about the mysteries he was reading.
But he wasn’t necessarily interested in choosing the classics—or even his personal favorites.
He wanted to talk about the books that caught his attention because there was something different about them.
Something exceptional.
Something odd.
Something worth talking about.
Those brief radio pieces eventually grew into dozens of commentaries. Cohen continued writing about unusual mysteries even after the radio project ended, occasionally publishing them on his blog.
Years later, when he looked back at what he had accumulated, he discovered something unexpected.
He had written about more than 150 books by 125 different authors, spanning works published from 1868 to 2022.
Without intending to, he had created something of an alternative history of mystery fiction—told through the books that stood apart from the crowd.
That became Uncommon Mysteries.
From Wilkie Collins to Louise Penny
Arranged chronologically, Uncommon Mysteries begins in the nineteenth century and travels through more than a century and a half of crime and detective fiction.
Along the way, Cohen explores works by writers including Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens, Anton Chekhov, Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Patricia Highsmith, Jorge Luis Borges, Ian Rankin, Margaret Atwood, Louise Penny, and many more.
But this isn’t simply a tour of the genre’s biggest names.
That would miss the point.
Cohen is interested in the books that did something unusual—whether through their detective, their setting, their structure, their approach to the crime, or even the form of the story itself.
There are whodunits and locked-room puzzles. Hard-boiled detectives and police procedurals. Cozies and historical mysteries. Thrillers, capers, literary experiments, and stories that stubbornly refuse to fit into any category at all.
Some are classics.
Others have been largely forgotten.
Some are ingenious, some eccentric, and some imperfect but fascinating.
What connects them is that each, in its own way, challenged an expectation about what mystery fiction could be.
Continuing a Fascination with Detective Fiction
Uncommon Mysteries is Cohen’s second book with Genius Book Publishing.
His first, The Golden Era of Sherlock Holmes and His Contemporaries: A Mystery Guide and Finder’s List, explored the extraordinary explosion of detective fiction that followed the success of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories in The Strand Magazine.
Rather than focusing only on Holmes, Cohen introduced readers to the remarkable collection of detectives who followed in his wake—including lady detectives, scientific detectives, occult investigators, rogues, rivals, imitators, and writers who deliberately tried to create detectives who were nothing like Sherlock Holmes.
With Uncommon Mysteries, Cohen widens the lens.
The result is a journey from the earliest mystery novels through the Golden Age, hard-boiled fiction, police procedurals, literary mysteries, modern crime fiction, and beyond.
It’s history—but history told through the exceptions.
The strange ones.
The experiments.
The stories that made a reader stop and think, Well, I haven’t seen that before.
For Readers Who Like Wandering Beyond the Usual Suspects
If you love mystery fiction, Uncommon Mysteries may introduce you to books and writers you’ve never encountered.
If you’ve been reading mysteries for decades, it may make you reconsider some old favorites.
And if your favorite books tend to be the ones that bend the rules a little?
You may feel particularly at home here.
Uncommon Mysteries: A Chronicle of Unconventional Storytelling by Michael Cohen is this week’s release from Genius Book Publishing.
Discover the mysteries that dared to do something different.
A quick note for mystery lovers: Cohen does his best not to reveal too much, but some mysteries simply can’t be discussed without giving away part of the solution. Those entries are clearly marked with a SPOILER ALERT—so consider yourself warned!
Uncommon Mysteries: A Curious Tour Through Noteworthy Mystery Fiction by Michael Cohen arrives tomorrow, August 14.
We can’t wait to share this wonderfully unconventional journey through more than 150 years of mystery fiction with you.
In the meantime, why not start with Michael Cohen’s first Genius Books title?
The Golden Era of Sherlock Holmes and His Contemporaries: A Mystery Guide and Finder’s List explores the remarkable detectives, rivals, rogues, and innovators who emerged in the wake of Sherlock Holmes.
GET YOUR COPY OF THE GOLDEN ERA OF SHERLOCK HOLMES AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES