White City Press is focused on publishing mysteries across a range of sub-genres. They are currently open to cross-genre mysteries (for example scifi/mystery) as long as mystery is the key element. They are also open to mysteries aimed at young adult and new adult readers, as well as mysteries with protagonists over the age of 55. They also accept and publish Historical mysteries based in any time period between 1950-2000. The 1980’s are a time period of particular interest. They also are seeking intentional mysteries ideally taking place outside of the US and England. They state “Africa or South America is a plus”. They are open to novel length work, novellas, and series, and they will consider short story collections.
They say this about their name, “Arequipa, Peru is also known as “The White City,” due to its buildings made from gleaming white stone. It’s a city that’s a celebration of ancient Peru and contemporary life combined into one city. During the day, Arequipa shines bright in the sunlight. After dark, the narrow (and, often, cobblestone) streets of the city are mysterious and intriguing. Tiny shops are tucked away in narrow alleys. Theaters exist through massive wooden doors but buried in the depths of hillsides. It’s a city of intrigue and history.
White City Press endeavors to capture that same feeling of history/nostalgia while also bringing forth titles of contemporary design. Our special sub-imprint, Sandra Murphy Presents, exists to help shine the light on unpublished or underpublished authors of extraordinary talent that deserve to be seen and read.”
Just to be clear even though the world white is in their name, they emphasize this in their submission guidelines, “We are actively seeking materials featuring and/or written by marginalized and underrepresented voices. White City Press takes diversity, equity and inclusion very seriously and has this as a core tenet of our publishing house.”
They were founded by Jay A. Hartman, and you can learn more about him here. If you scroll further down on that page information about their other editor, Sandra Murphy, is also shared. She is the only editor debut authors can submit to at the press.
They have published a fair number of books over the years, and some have been successful, with a fair number of Amazon and Goodreads Reviews, and others seem to have garnered very little attention. They do not appear to have a distributor and their covers are hit and miss for me but mostly genre-appropriate. You can get a good feel for their catalog here.
I’m only focusing on their longer calls for submission here, but they do have a series they are seeking submissions for which you can learn more about here as well as an anthology erotic mystery call here.
They have a long list of what they are NOT looking for in terms of submissions:
“Rehashes of classic mysteries/characters. No, we really don’t need another Sherlock Holmes or Edgar Allen Poe mystery. Honest.
Tired cozy tropes (i.e.: women working in bakeries or coffee shops, women falling for the local cop or vice-versa, the person who moves to town to fix up the old house they inherited, etc.)
Women needing to be rescued by a man
Romantic mysteries that are more romance than well-plotted mysteries (please save those for our Miraflores Nights imprint)
Historical mysteries taking place prior to 1920
Small towns filled with “quirky” characters or residents who are depicted as not being smart
Gruff sheriffs with a heart of gold that just need to find the right person
Rehashes of NYT bestselling books. No, we really don’t need another The Girl on the Train. Honest.”
They state “We typically read submissions during four specific times: March, June, September and December unless otherwise indicated.” They are open to submissions outside of those time periods often, but not generally reading the submissions.
Debut authors who have not traditionally published before must submit their work to Sandra Murphy.
Please carefully read their full submission guidelines before submitting. To learn more, please go here.
Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2025 Guide to Manuscript Publishers. She regularly teaches three acclaimed courses on writing and publishing at The Writer’s Workshop at Authors Publish. You can follow her on Facebook here.
