I’ve faced similar challenges in my own writing. While my first two novels star female sleuths investigating the murders of male characters and generally remain pretty light in tone, women aren’t completely safe in those stories. And that’s because women aren’t safe in the real world, full of misogyny as it is. It can be a delicate balance writing about the very real violence women face, and crossing over to gratuitous territory. When writing for teenagers, I think it’s especially important to think about the ways we frame violence towards women, especially teenage girls, and not take for granted that all victims ought to be female or that their deaths are overly sensationalized or sexualized. With the explosion of mystery and thriller novels in YA in recent years, it’s fair to wonder if YA faces the same issues of female victimhood that has been so prevalent in adult mystery and thrillers for decades. While it’s impossible to do a direct comparison to adult mysteries and thrillers (because I have not read every mystery novel out there, and it would take more time than I have to conduct a comprehensive survey), I was surprised at how many YA mysteries I was able to identify with male victims at the center. Now, just because there’s a male victim at the center of a novel doesn’t necessarily mean that the book is good or without misogyny of other issues. For example, most of Karen McManus’s books start off with a male murder victim, but I do think that the ending of One of Us is Lying is a problematic depiction of mental health struggles. And this doesn’t even dive into the nuances of gender and how trans women, nonbinary people, and gender nonconforming people experience violence at much higher rates than cis people. (For a good YA true crime book that touches on this, check out The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater.) All of this to say: it’s a messy, complicated issue, but I do hope that we continue to see more thoughtful mystery novels that don’t have female victims as the default. I also hope we get to see more YA mystery novels with people from marginalized backgrounds as sleuths and protagonists, solving mysteries and uncovering crimes in their communities while pursuing justice. One of the reasons why I love reading mysteries is because they are oftentimes a reflection of our communities and an exploration of our complexities and humanity, and I want those stories to be as diverse and varied as the world around me. So while we do have a long ways to go in terms of inclusion and diversity, I am heartened by these 12 great YA books that don’t have female victims as the central victim — just be advised that female characters may come to harm in other ways. Want more YA mysteries and thrillers for your TBR? Check out this list of queer YA mysteries and thrillers!
