33 books like Tall, Dark and Dangerous

In a list about zombie apocalypse references, this is definitely a quirky entry. But it is important for all writers to read outside of their genre, or they run the risk of becoming generic. 

Far more important than the story’s backdrop is the story’s focus. People predominantly care and read about people.

Whether that means writing about people resisting zombies, as is the case with most zombie stories, or writing about zombies doing their best to become human—as seen in Elantris and The Girl With All The Gifts—writers need to know how to tell stories about people.

I don’t write books about zombies, I write books about families. And there is probably no more famous family right now than the Bridgertons (though if I had one more recommendation, it would definitely be Swiss Family Robinson).

By reading books about strong families, I’m better able to translate my own… show more.

I got soooo hooked on Julie’s contemporary suspense books. In Heartbreaker, as the story opens, we learn our hero agent Nick Buchanan has just saved a young boy’s life by taking out a serial killer who held him captive. Nick then gets to take some time off for a vacation, and as he’s on the plane waiting to depart, he stops an armed man from trying to free a prisoner another lawman has on the plane. He is definitely the white knight showing up at just the right time. When he meets up with his best friend, he learns a serial killer is after his friend’s sister. I couldn’t wait to see how he was going to protect the heroine, Laurant, from the psychopath and bring him in. This is my kind of hero—courageous, up for anything, never afraid to put his life in danger to right a wrong.

As the story begins, Jackson Rule is being released from prison after serving fifteen years for a crime he confessed to. Since he’s our hero, I knew right then he had to be innocent, and I was hooked. Who was he protecting?  He gets hired by a preacher’s daughter, Rebecca, who has misgivings about hiring him. He proves himself to be a hard worker, and Rebecca also discovers that there’s something exciting about him that she can’t resist.

I love stories where the heroes are facing great challenges. In One Perfect Rose, as the story begins, Stephen Kenyon, Duke of Ashburton, has just learned from his doctor that he has only a short time left to live. Shocked, he runs from his wealthy world and wanders the country as an ordinary man. When he rescues a young boy who had been swept away by a flood, he is embraced by the boy’s family and finds all that he had been missing in his life—the warmth of a family and our heroine, Rosalind. His hidden past and his knowledge of his impending death made this a page-turner for me.

Another old favorite, I loved this book because it has a military hero who shows deep compassion and love for the heroine who is racing to save her young daughter’s life.

I really enjoy how the author weaves in a touch of history as she tells the story of not only the main characters, but also two other couples, all fighting to escape their own pasts. I love it when a book is set in a backdrop of true events, and Ms. Brockmann obviously does a lot of research to make sure her characters are authentic representatives of their roles and times.

Romantic suspense finds its way to Scotland in this page-turner that makes me feel like I am right there, witnessing the friction between the characters, in the beautiful hills and culture of times gone by.

Strong characters struggle with loving too much as they fight to discover the roots of a conspiracy that threatens their lives. I re-read this book at least once a year, sometimes more, just to experience the tension between the lovable and virtuous characters that I think of as old friends.

This is one of my “go to” books when I want to recapture the suspenseful feeling I want to make sure I include in my own writing.

Anne Gracie wrote this book in 2002, and has written several successful books since, but this is still my all-time favorite. It is written in the Victorian Age, which I enjoy, and she has incredible tension between the two main characters as they both grow and overcome past hurts.

I return to this book time and time again to reconnect with the characters, and I enjoy their playful banter and strong convictions.

As the parent and sister of a person with disabilities, I look for authors who can handle this topic in a sensitive and loving way.

Ms. Brown does an amazing job as she weaves suspense into this depression era story. I fell in love with the characters, and this book encouraged me to keep looking for ways to include these special people into my own stories.

I am a Christian, and I prefer a good suspenseful book without the sexual heat that I usually flip past when I read secular books.

This author handles the attraction between the characters in a positive way, yet still gives me page-turning suspense and a glance at Baltimore, the city where the actions occurs. I love the characters and enjoy getting to know them as the suspense unfolds.

This one is a contemporary story and is another of my favorites because it’s got more than a little bit of action keeping you going even if you’re not interested in the romance part of the story.

There are actually two stories/romances going on in this one, one now and one during WWII. The characters are real people with strengths, flaws, hopes, and dreams, and bonus, they are just as insecure about themselves and their interactions with each other as the rest of us are.

And they make me laugh. Like really laugh. Bonus points to the audiobook because the performances were amazing.