We publish books for mystery lovers.

Crum Creek Press / The Mystery Company is an independent publishing company owned and operated by Jim Huang, along with a crew of enthusiastic volunteers including Austin Lugar, Nikki Phipps, Jennie Jacobson and others.  Jim launched the company in 1989 to publish reference books based on material originally reported in The Drood Review of Mystery, a newsletter for mystery lovers that Jim edited. Crum Creek published four of these Drood-based reference annuals before re-focusing its efforts on original reference titles, and reprint and original mystery fiction.

We publish actual books on paper.  Yes, we’re doing digital stuff too, but we believe – strongly – in books, which means that you can count on us for well-packaged books that you’ll enjoy reading, owning and displaying on your shelves.

We publish mysteries – well-plotted mysteries that are genuine fair play whodunits, featuring characters you’ll recognize, believe in and fall in love with.

We publish for people who love the genre, folks who are as obsessed with mysteries as we are.  Our reference books for mystery lovers deepen appreciation for the genre, help readers find new writers who’ll become favorites, and help readers get sorted.  The fiction we publish is packaged to be recognized, and every volume includes clear and complete information on series titles (one of those basic things that most publishers still get wrong).

Finally, we believe in independent booksellers.  Of course you can find our books online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other sites. But we urge you to support independent bookstores, and urge you to visit indiebound.org, a great way to connect with stores in your area.

We make it easy for stores to sell our books with simple, straightforward and competitive terms of sale. Booksellers and libraries can order books directly from us, or from wholesalers such as Ingram and Brodart.

Since 2000, our titles have won two Agatha Awards, three Anthony Awards, one Benjamin Franklin Award and two Macavity Awards. Our books have also been nominated for the Dilys and the Shamus Awards

We are not looking at manuscripts at this time. Please do not query or submit.