Mystery Literary Agents Open to Submissions

Literary agents are gatekeepers of the publishing industry. Find mystery literary agents open to submissions in this post. List will be updated regularly.

Literary agents are important decision makers in the publishing process for authors who wish to be published by many of the big publishers. However, all literary agents do not represent all genres. In fact, an agent who claims to do this should be approached with caution. Just as authors tend to specialize in one or two genres, agents find niches and specialize in a handful of genres.

(Learn the correct word count for novels and children's books here.)

In this post, I've collected recently shared agent spotlights with literary agents who are accepting mystery submissions. This list will be updated regularly with new agents added to the top.

Gail Fortune is a literary agent with The Talbot Fortune Agency and former book editor with over 25 years of publishing experience. Prior to becoming an agent she spent 16 years at Putnam Berkley (now part of Penguin Random House), where she rose from Assistant to the Editor-in-Chief to Executive Editor.

Her authors won RITAs and Agatha’s and were nominated for Edgar and Anthony Awards. She has edited and agented New York Times bestsellers and Publishers Weekly Books of the Year. She is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

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Bibi Lewis joined the Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency in 2014 as an associate agent and subsidiary rights manager. In addition to her duties as an agent she sells foreign and audio rights for agency clients. As a native New Yorker, she is a fierce patron of the NYPL.

On the adult end, Bibi is most interested in commercial and upmarket women’s fiction, contemporary romance, mysteries, and thrillers. In all ages, she is excited to read more projects from marginalized voices.

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Marlo Berliner is an award-winning young adult author, freelance editor, and bookseller. She joined The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency in March 2018 as an editorial intern after having completed a previous internship with The Bent Agency. Now, she is actively building her list as an associate agent. She is a member of SCBWI, RWA, NJ-RWA, and YA-RWA.

Prior to her career in the publishing world, Marlo was an accounting manager for a Fortune 500 company. She holds B.S. degrees in Economics and Industrial Management from Carnegie Mellon University.

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Claire received her B.A. in English from The University of Texas at Austin and attended the NYU Summer Publishing Institute before joining Foundry Literary + Media. She enjoys the creative process of working with writers and collaborating closely with them throughout all stages of their careers.

Claire is a thriller fanatic, candy addict, and a lover of all things creepy. Her favorite place to curl up with a good book is on a screened porch during a thunderstorm. She’s been on more ghost tours than she can count.

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Anne Tibbets began her career as a screenwriter, author, and literary agency intern at D4EO, becoming a full-time agent in 2018 at Red Sofa Literary. Anne joined D4EO Literary in 2019.

Anne represents adult and young adult science fiction and fantasy, thrillers, horror, historical, and mystery. No middle grade, chapter, or picture books. No nonfiction, scripts, or self-published works.

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