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Odd and Quirky Detectives

These books offer a delightful mix of quirky characters, unconventional investigative methods, and memorable mysteries, making them perfect for readers seeking detective stories with a unique twist.

Allegheny County Libraries

12 items

  • Featuring the precocious and unconventional detective Flavia de Luce, this mystery series takes readers to a small English village in the 1950s. Flavia, an eleven-year-old chemistry prodigy with a fascination for poisons, uses her unique skills and…
    Book, 2010New York : Bantam Books Trade Paperbacks, 2010. — FICTION Bradley
  • This comedic mystery series revolves around the Spellman family, a clan of private investigators with a penchant for spying on each other. Izzy Spellman, the protagonist, is a witty and eccentric detective who navigates both family and professional…
    Book, 2007New York : Simon & Schuster, [2007] — FICTION Lutz
  • Meet Leda devoted friend, struggling travel agent, and inconsistent psychic. When Leda, teams up with a Seattle PD detective Grady Merritt, her life changes in ways she couldn’t have predicted.
    Book, 2021New York : Atria, 2021. — PRIEST CHERIE
  • The story is set in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans and follows the unconventional private detective Claire DeWitt. Claire is a self-proclaimed detective and disciple of a legendary French detective named Jacques Silette. She has a unique and…
    Book, 2012New York : Mariner Books, 2012. — GRAN
  • Set in an alternate reality where literature is taken to extreme levels of importance, this novel follows Thursday Next, a literary detective working for a government agency called SpecOps. Thursday embarks on a quest to solve the mysterious…
    Book, 2003New York : Penguin Books, 2003. — FICTION Fforde
  • Detective Inspector Jack Spratt, a no-nonsense investigator in the Nursery Crime Division. Spratt and his quirky team must solve the murder of Humpty Dumpty, navigating a world where nursery rhyme characters come to life, and nothing is quite as it…
    Book, 2006New York, New York : Penguin Books, 2006. — FICTION Fforde
  • Sixty-year-old self-proclaimed tea expert Vera Wong enjoys nothing more than sipping a good cup of Wulong when Vera wakes up one morning to find a dead man in the middle of her tea shop, she knows she’ll do a better job than the police possibly…
    Book, 2023New York : Berkley, 2023. — FICTION Sutanto
  • Amos Decker, a former professional football player turned detective possesses a unique ability after suffering a traumatic brain injury during his football career, which has left him with hyperthymesia (perfect recall) and synesthesia (cross-sensory…
    Book, 2015New York : Grand Central Publishing, 2015. — FICTION Baldacci
  • Wolfe's deductive methods are meticulous, and he often employs unconventional tactics to solve cases. He is known for his love of gourmet food, particularly orchids and beer. He is assisted by his loyal and capable assistant, Archie Goodwin,
    Book, 1992New York : Bantam Books, [1992] — MYS Stout
  • A witty philosophical murder mystery with a charming twist: the crack detectives are sheep determined to discover who killed their beloved shepherd.
    Book, 2006New York : Doubleday/Flying Dolphin Press, 2006. — FICTION Swann
  • Dirk Gently, is a self-proclaimed holistic detective. Dirk believes in the interconnectedness of all things and approaches his cases with an unconventional methodology that often involves strange coincidences, time travel, and a healthy dose of…
    Book, 2014New York : Gallery Books, 2014. — FICTION Adams