Occult detective novels blend the traditional detective and mystery tropes with urban fantasy, dark fantasy and horror. Here is a list of occult detective novels and/or series to try.
1. The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher.
This is a series of supernatural mystery novels featuring occult detective Harry Dresden. Dresden is a wizard working as a private investigator in modern day Chicago. He carries a staff and wears a long duster jacket, and most of his calls are people who genuinely want to know if he is actually a wizard. Harry investigates supernatural and paranormal occurrences and tells us about it in a first person POV.
2. Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch.
Police Constable Peter Grant discovers he can talk to ghosts. He joins the supernatural branch of the police force, investigating strange and supernatural cases along the river Thames. Through the series, Grant investigates everything from murder to possession, and becomes a wizard in the process. Another occult detective style series set in the modern world.
3. Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter by Laurell K Hamilton.
Leaning further into occult detectives in dark fantasy, Guilty Pleasures by Hamilton is first in a series of vampire hunter novels. These books blend supernatural horror with hard-boiled detective fiction. Anita Blake is a licensed vampire hunter and necromancer working in an alternate universe where werewolves, vampires and other supernatural elements are just as real as we are.
4. The Muldoon Mysteries: Supernatural thrillers set in Victorian Liverpool.
Starting with The Spider, these horror mystery novels follow reluctant occult detective Daniel Muldoon as he is called in to assist the Liverpool City Police with their strangest cases. Blending supernatural horror with Victorian-era detective fiction, the novels explore the landscape of 19th century Liverpool and its strange inhabitants. Muldoon investigates a range of crimes, each investigation leading us to wonder whether the crimes have been committed by something human or something else…
5. The Hollows by Mark Edwards.
Although not strictly occult detective fiction or a series, this book definitely requires the reader to put their mystery hat on (as well as all the lights). It tells the story of Tom, a journalist who travels to America to reconnect with his 14 year-old daughter. He books a cabin on a resort called Hollow Falls in Maine. When Tom and his daughter get there, they discover that this place is actually a hotspot for snuff tourism. Something terrible happened there 20 years before., and something terrible is happening again. Tom and his daughter face a choice: find the truth or get out while they still can.
6. Dracula by Bram Stoker
I saved the best until last. Though the actual story of Dracula polarises readers, it is agreed that occult detective Abraham Van Helsing has gone down in history as one of the greatest fictional detectives. Van Helsing is the vampire hunter who has had several franchises and films made in his name, but in the original novel he is a strange old man with unconventional methods for catching vampires. Van Helsing helps Jonathan Harker and his friends find the monster who has brought darkness and death to England in the 1890s.
Have you read any of these occult detective/mystery thrillers?
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