Does the novel really fit the mystery genre?
Its hard to identify a pure mystery anymore, since there are so many interesting new sub-genres. I have been accused of writing science fiction, and in the sense that I have fictionalized scientific facts, I guess you could call it that. But I tend to associate science fiction with aliens and outer space, and I wouldnt be comfortable in that arena. But it has an amateur sleuth and a couple of dead bodies, so technically it qualifies as a mystery.
