# Mystery novels about science fiction fandom **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 27, 2016, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-novels-about-science-fiction-fandom/769852 "2016-10-27T15:48:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-novels-about-science-fiction-fandom/769852/1 "2016-10-27T15:48:00Z")
Back in the 1940s even the best and most experienced science fiction writers couldn’t get a mainstream publisher to buy their novels. But even a first novelist could sell a straight mystery. So a lot of people better known as f&sf writers started out writing mysteries. And sneaking science fiction into them. The first example I know of is _Rocket to the Morgue_ (1942), by Anthony Boucher, under his alternate pseudonym of H. H. Holmes. (Not his first novel but early in his career.) All the characters are based on real-life f&sf writers belonging to L.A.'s Mañana Literary Society. Then there’s Wilson Tucker’s first novel _The Chinese Doll_ (1946), with a fanzine writer suspiciously similar to Wilson Tucker being one of the suspects. And the most famous one nobody’s ever seen, _The Case of the Little Green Men_ (1951), Mack Reynold’s first novel, in which all the suspects are part of a local fan group. These went away in the 1950s when it became possible to get f&sf novels into print. Sharon McCrumb got notoriety four decades later with _Bimbos of the Death Sun_ (1988) and _Zombies of the Gene Pool_ (1992), two not-very-flattering looks at fan conventions. All of these are genre mystery whodunits, not in any way part of the f&sf genre. I know there are f&sf novels set in fandom and of course zillions of genre f&sf books that include mysteries. That’s not what I’m looking for. Anyone know any more pure examples of genre mysteries being about f&sf in any way? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-novels-about-science-fiction-fandom/769852/2 "2016-10-27T16:13:03Z")
Asimov. _Tales of the Black Widowers_ has some SF connections. But his best is _Murder at the ABA._ ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-novels-about-science-fiction-fandom/769852/3 "2016-10-27T16:34:49Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Asimov. _Tales of the Black Widowers_ has some SF connections. But his best is _Murder at the ABA._ The ABA is a non-genre convention. What is in it about fandom? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-novels-about-science-fiction-fandom/769852/4 "2016-10-27T16:49:18Z")
Sci Fi: A Yellowthread Street Mystery (Yellowthread Street #6) by William Marshall Actually read it - not very good, but set in a con in Hong Kong which is interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-novels-about-science-fiction-fandom/769852/5 "2016-10-27T16:51:10Z")
The book that got me hooked on William Marshall’s _Yellowthread Street_ Hong Kong police procedurals-[“Sci Fi”](http://billcrider.blogspot.com/2008/12/forgotten-books-sci-fi-william-marshall.html). It takes place during a Hong Kong science fiction convention, and it is freakin’ hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-novels-about-science-fiction-fandom/769852/6 "2016-10-27T17:20:32Z")
_Murder at the ABA_ also isn’t really an example of what the OP is talking about, since by that time, Asimov was a well-established author who had no trouble finding a publisher in any genre he chose to write in. And it might be well-written, but as a mystery, it totally flops. When there’s a key clue at the crime scene that narrows down the list of possible suspects to only two, and the detective-character notices and points out that clue immediately on first seeing it, and then just declares that it’s probably not important and proceeds to ignore it, it rather removes most of the interest. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-novels-about-science-fiction-fandom/769852/7 "2016-10-27T17:23:38Z")
I’ve only read the SF work of Brendan DuBois, Jake Page, and William Sanders but I know all three of them have written mystery works as well (and are probably better known for their mysteries). Can anyone who’s read their mysteries tell us if they contain SF references? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-novels-about-science-fiction-fandom/769852/8 "2016-10-27T17:31:57Z")
Oh, man. I should have remembered William Marshall. I’ve read all of his Yellowthread Street books. \*Sci-Fi \*isn’t one of his best, but the ending - the police pursue an arsonist wearing an asbestos costume through a burning hotel - rocks. He’s of the Mickey Spillane school: the first chapter makes the reader want to read this book; the last chapter makes them want to read the next book. They don’t need to be first novels, though. That’s only a point about the different publishing culture I find interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-novels-about-science-fiction-fandom/769852/9 "2016-10-27T17:41:47Z")
_Antiques Con_ by Barbara Allan (pseudonym of Max Allan Collins and Barbara Collins), a recent installment in their _Trash ‘n’ Treasure_ series, is about mother-and-daughter antique dealers who attend a comic book convention in NYC to auction off an original Joe Shuster Superman drawing, and get involved in a murder mystery. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-novels-about-science-fiction-fandom/769852/10 "2016-10-27T17:57:38Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > The ABA is a non-genre convention. What is in it about fandom? The question asked was _Anyone know any more pure examples of genre mysteries being about f&sf **in any way**?_ Darius Dust was modeled on Harlan Ellison. 😛 A stretch, I’ll grant. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-novels-about-science-fiction-fandom/769852/11 "2016-10-27T18:00:16Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > These went away in the 1950s when it became possible to get f&sf novels into print. Sharon McCrumb got notoriety four decades later with _Bimbos of the Death Sun_ (1988) and _Zombies of the Gene Pool_ (1992), two not-very-flattering looks at fan conventions. The second one (Zombies) isn’t set at a con (it takes place at a reunion of a fan group from the 50s, I don’t think it’s fair to call that a convention). This may be why Zombies is a better novel (in my opinion of course) since it doesn’t have the crutch of mockery of convention fandom to fall back on. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-novels-about-science-fiction-fandom/769852/12 "2016-10-27T18:16:37Z")
The start of Niven and Pournelle’s \*Inferno \*takes place at a con. The narrator, an author, takes a stupid bet and winds up falling out the window, waking up in Hell. The joke is, he thought the crowd was cheering for him, but actually, Asimov had just walked into the room. ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-novels-about-science-fiction-fandom/769852/13 "2016-10-27T23:09:06Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > The question asked was _Anyone know any more pure examples of genre mysteries being about f&sf **in any way**?_ > > Darius Dust was modeled on Harlan Ellison. 😛 > > A stretch, I’ll grant. And, of course, Asimov himself was a significant supporting character. But technically, the novel was set in a convention of publishers and authors, _not_ a fan convention. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-novels-about-science-fiction-fandom/769852/14 "2016-10-28T01:01:14Z")
But again, **that isn’t the question that was asked!!!** The thread title has nothing to do with the question at the end of the post. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-novels-about-science-fiction-fandom/769852/15 "2016-10-28T02:07:04Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > But again, **that isn’t the question that was asked!!!** The thread title has nothing to do with the question at the end of the post. You know, all I did was ask you politely what your answer had to do with fandom. Because you didn’t say anything at all about the book’s contents. How in the world are you taking it as a personal slam? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-novels-about-science-fiction-fandom/769852/16 "2016-10-28T02:16:45Z")
Isn’t “Bimbos of the Death Sun” set in fandom and/or a con? (I know my copy was set in Friz Quad and thus unreadable…) ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-novels-about-science-fiction-fandom/769852/17 "2016-10-28T02:24:00Z")
Not meeting the OP criteria but Sawyer’s “Illegal Alien” is a great SF/legal thriller mash-up.