This peer reviewed edited collection will be part of McFarland & Company, Inc.’s Studies in Gaming series.

From Edgar Allan Poe’s Murders on the Rue Morgue to dimestore pulp fiction novels to cozy British crime shows, detective fiction has enraptured audiences for centuries. But how do these whodunits and howcatchems translate to the game board or the gaming  platform? What happens when we, the player, are the one in control of rounding up the suspects and shaking down leads? What investigatory affordances do games allow us to roleplay and logic our way through a case? What happens when we step into Poirot’s shoes and use our own little grey cells to solve the murder? How do the game mechanics simulate the brilliance of the great detective or level up the player to that standard? The essays in this collection will explore the many ways detective fiction is transmediated into game mechanisms and how these interactive media transform the genre. 

This collection is open to articles from a variety of disciplines including, but not limited to, game studies, digital humanities, gender studies, cultural studies, communication, transmediation, criminal justice, pop culture, performance studies, fans and fandom, sociology, psychology, etc.  The final versions of these chapters should be approximately 6,000 to 8,000 words, human-written (no AI use at all), and not to exceed 10,000 words, in American English and using APA style.

 Possible Chapter Topics include, but are not limited to:

• Deep dives examining the investigatory and interactive mechanics of specific games 

• Subgenres and detective games (e.g. procedural, noir, horror) 

• Games that put players in the shoes of a murderer and the psychological impact of that roleplay 

• Murder mystery parties and roleplaying games 

• Transmedial storytelling/adaptations across media of specific stories/detectives (e.g. reading Poirot vs playing Poirot)

• Police investigation tactics represented in games 

• Cozy mechanics  

• Representations of diversity (of the detective, victim, and suspects) in detective games 

• Representations of violence (e.g. witnessed vs performed) in detective games 

• Safety/calibration tools in detective games 

• Interplay of narratology and ludology in detective games 

• True Crime investigations as subjects for games 

• Detective games as pedagogical tools (e.g. games in the classroom; games in police/investigator trainings) 

• Puzzle mechanics in detective games 

• Unreliable narrators/mechanics and detective games  

• Critical thinking and detective games  

Possible games to be explored includes but is not limited to:

Digital:
Ace Attorney
Chicken Police - Paint it RED!
Disco Elysium
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
Gone Home
Killer Frequency
L.A. Noire
Outer Wilds
Overboard
The Painscreek Killings
Poirot games
Shadows of Doubt
Sherlock Holmes series
The Wolf Among Us

Analog:
Alice is Missing
The Animals of Baker Street
Brindlewood Bay RPG
Bubblegumshoe
Candlekeep Mysteries (DnD module)
Chronicles of Crime
Clue
Detective: A Modern Board Game
Hunt a Killer: Murder Mystery Games
Lovecraftesque
Micro Macro
Murdle: A Board Game
Psychic Trash Detectives
The Sherlock Files
Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective
Waffles for Esther

This list is far from exhaustive. We welcome any academic discussion of detective-focused games (analog or digital) for possible consideration.   

Please submit a 300 word abstract including working title, keywords, and a short bio to: shelly.jones.phd@gmail.com  and put “Essays on Playing Detective” in the subject line. 

Book Project Estimated Timeline: 

Submit Proposals By: December 1, 2026
Acceptance Notifications By: December 15, 2026
Full Chapters Due: July 1, 2027
Revision Feedback By: August 15, 2027
Revised Chapters Due: December 1, 2027