Here are 68 books that Black Dahlia fans have personally recommended if you like
Black Dahlia.
Book DNA is a community of 13,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.
I love old records: there’s a romance to thinking about who originally owned them, where they were listened to, what life soundtrack they defined. My connection to the music industry is tenuous at best. I’ve been in recording studios, helped load equipment in and out of gigs—roadie duty?—designed liner notes, and even performed as a backup singer in a pick-up band of coworkers from the retailer where I worked. (We had two gigs.) I also like when humor is used in mysteries to offset the darkness of murder and define a character—how he or she will get through the challenge. I hope you enjoy the books on this list as much as I have!
I enjoyed the character of Junior Bender in the first book in this series, and I loved this one even more.
Junior is one of those wrong-side-turned-right-side-of-the-law characters, and sometimes it’s fun to ride shotgun with a character who gets his hands dirty. Rounding out the music industry connection is an old record producer who had some sketchy business dealings back in the sixties.
I confess, just the mention of the sixties for the backstory was enough for me (I love experiencing that era through different stories), and with an already-loved protagonist, I was all in.
JUNIOR BENDER UNTANGLES ONE OF THE WEIRDEST MYSTERIES IN TINSELTOWN
LA burglar Junior Bender has (unfortunately) developed a reputation as a competent private investigator for crooks. The unfortunate part about this is that regardless of whether he solves the crime or not, someone dangerous is going to be unhappy with him, either his suspect or his employer.
Now Junior is being bullied into proving aging music industry mogul Vinnie DiGaudio is innocent of the murder of a nasty tabloid journalist he'd threatened to kill a couple times. It doesn’t help that the dead journalist’s widow is one pretty…
A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.
German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…
I read a lot of crime novels but get frustrated by the ones that don’t seem to be grounded in any reality. I get irritated when police procedural novels like any real ‘procedure’, and I find ‘maverick’ cops a tedious trope because it’s rarely done as well as the true originals like Morse. Of course, there’s a lot more freedom with PIs or ‘amateur sleuths’, but I still want the books to have some relation to reality. I’m not keen on too many coincidences either. Perhaps I’ve become hard to please!
There are two main characters in this 9-book series, a traditional US detective and his girlfriend, who is a graphologist – someone who studies handwriting.
I’ve learned a lot about the techniques used to determine whether a signature on a will is a forgery, and that several medical insurance fraud cases have been prosecuted in the US based on the testimony of a graphologist. In the case cited, someone had filled out a number of forms all in one go, with the $ claims put in later – but because the forms had all been signed at the same time, there was ‘drift’ as the signatures migrated in the direction of the writer.
I tried this at home, and it’s true. Try writing your name over and over again in a list: if you’re right-handed, you’ll drift to the right side of the margin, and if you’re left-handed, towards the…
Before her body was found floating in her Jacuzzi, publicist-to- the-stars Lindsey Alexander had few friends, but plenty of lovers. To her ex- friend-forensic handwriting expert Claudia Rose-she was a ruthless, back- stabbing manipulator. But even Claudia is shocked by Lindsey's startling final note: "It was fun while it lasted!"
It would be easier on the police-and Claudia-to write it off as suicide. But Claudia's instincts push her to investigate further, and she quickly finds herself entangled in a far darker scenario than she bargained for. Racing to identify a killer, Claudia soon has a price on her head-and unless…
I was a broadcast journalist for many years and I’m fascinated by the experiences of others doing that work. I love everything about it in my rearview mirror! From gossip about how famous newspeople behave behind closed doors to the nitty gritty of gathering facts to shaping a story–once it’s in your blood, it’s there for life. I’ve also spent a fair bit of energy defending journalism from people who are only guessing how it happens. Each of these books reveals a different but genuine reality about it. I hope you find them as compelling as I did.
I loved the way Ronan Farrow not only broke the Harvey Weinstein story but fought off repeated attempts to kill it. Much of a journalist’s work is a little mundane–checking facts, interviewing people by asking the same questions over and over–but it can end up in something that literally moves pop culture, like this story.
Farrow takes us step by step. He also had resources and support that many other journalists simply don’t have and this book profoundly illustrates why real journalism matters.
'Dripping with jaw-dropping revelations' Telegraph
'Absorbing' New York Times
In a dramatic account of violence and espionage, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Ronan Farrow exposes serial abusers and a cabal of powerful interests hell-bent on covering up the truth, at any cost.
In 2017, a routine network television investigation led Ronan Farrow to a story only whispered about: one of Hollywood's most powerful producers was a predator, protected by fear, wealth and a conspiracy of silence. As Farrow drew closer to the truth, shadowy operatives, from high-priced lawyers to elite…
The Everlasting Life of Charlie Wall
by
Paul Wilborn,
It’s 1985, and Ronald Armstrong, known in the magic mushroom trade as “Trip,” takes a “sober” job as a driver for a retired Tampa mobster. His boss, Charlie Wall, has survived four attempts on his life, the last one in 1955. When Charlie falls into depression, Trip rebuilds his boss’…
Half a century ago (hard to believe!), as a young newspaper reporter, I began every day at a police station, reading the log and talking to the watch commander. Occasionally, I was able to contact the detectives as well. For me, the way crimes and criminal investigations unfolded, and the personalities of the officers involved, were multi-dimensional and touched with surprising, and often unexpected, moments of humor. In my reading as well as my writing, I seek a balance between authenticity and a sense of the absurd, without which the experience of solving murders—real or fictional—could become emotionally crushing.
A mystery narrated by a dog? It sounded like a gimmick to me, until I started reading. Honestly, this dog thinks and reacts like a dog, and he’s hilarious! The tightly woven storyline—Chet “belongs” to a detective who’s investigating a girl’s disappearance—pulled me along nonstop, but mostly I fell in love with the writing. As a rule, I enjoy experiencing the world from a fresh perspective, along with a storyline that turns and twists and makes perfect sense in an unexpected way, as this one does. Trigger warning: Chet the pooch has some scary and even near-death moments en route to his happy ending.
The first book of the New York Times bestselling Chet and Bernie mystery series, an “enchanting one-of-a-kind novel” (Stephen King) that is “nothing short of masterful” (Los Angeles Times).
Chet, the wise and lovable canine narrator of Dog on It, and Bernie, a down-on-his-luck private investigator, are quick to take a new case involving a frantic mother searching for her teenage daughter. This well-behaved and gifted student may or may not have been kidnapped, but she has definitely gotten mixed up with some very unsavory characters. With Chet’s highly trained nose leading the way, their hunt for clues takes them…
As a longtime Angeleno, I’ve read a lot about the dark underbelly of our dysfunctional metropolis, both in the news and in fiction. I try to incorporate the City of Angels as a strong presence in my writing, and when I read other writers who have put Los Angeles at the center, it gives me a sense of things the way they really are, a glimpse at a deeper reality. I see the detectives in LA noir and crime fiction as inextricably intertwined with the city, their weaknesses, and their emotional quandaries emerging from this place.
I don’t think Connelly’s intention was to write horror, but his visceral description of the corpses and the minutia of murder in this novel made my stomach churn. An unpleasant experience, yes, but it’s vivid and effective writing. Harry Bosch is a detective with weakness for a specific type of woman, and of course he gets mixed up with Julia, a hot tomato who’s new to the force, and of course she messes up his investigation into the bones. You might want to kick Bosch in the caboose for not thinking more lucidly, but eventually he manages to outsmart his villains.
The outstanding eighth Harry Bosch thriller from the award-winning No. 1 bestselling author of The Lincoln Lawyer. City of Bones is featured in Amazon Prime's BOSCH TV series.
When the bones of a boy are found scattered in the Hollywood Hills, Harry Bosch is drawn into a case that brings up dark memories from his past.
Unearthing hidden stories, he finds the child's identity and reconstructs his fractured life, determined that he won't be forgotten. At the same time, a new love affair with a female cop begins to blossom - until a stunningly blown mission leaves him in more…
As a child, finding reality both overwhelming and boring, I was drawn to movies. My father, a New York City disc jockey also at odds with reality, had contacts at a sixteen-millimeter movie rental company. He often brought films home, shown in a makeshift screening room he set up in our basement. Singin’ in the Rain, the classic musical, made a great impression there. Its funny first scene at a movie premiere featured a pompous star’s ennobling account of his early days, comically contradicted by the tacky, scrounging, painfully undignified truth. What lay behind Hollywood's glamor, smiles, and success soon became as interesting to me as what was on the screen.
An excellent nonfiction account of an actual Hollywood killing, this is a well-written and researched investigation of the (as yet) unsolved 1922 shooting of director William Desmond Taylor. The murder was committed right when scandals, including Fatty Arbuckle’s, besieged an ascendant Hollywood.
Also of interest: A Murder in Hollywood by Casey Sherman, which recaps the killing of Johnny Stompanato, Lana Turner’s gangster boyfriend, supposedly by her teenage daughter, Cheryl. This crime inspired entertainment from Harold Robbin’s potboiler, Where Love Has Gone, to Woody Allen’s self-serious movie, September.
New York Times Bestseller Edgar Award winner for Best Fact Crime The Day of the Locust meets The Devil in the White City and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil in this juicy, untold Hollywood story: an addictive true tale of ambition, scandal, intrigue, murder, and the creation of the modern film industry. By 1920, the movies had suddenly become America's new favorite pastime, and one of the nation's largest industries. Never before had a medium possessed such power to influence. Yet Hollywood's glittering ascendency was threatened by a string of headline-grabbing tragedies-including the murder of William Desmond…
Delve into this internationally best-selling series, now complete! A fast paced laugh-out-loud mix of Urban Fantasy and Mystery.
I can tell when you’re lying. Every. Single. Time. I’m Jinx, a PI hired to find a missing university student, I hope to find her propped up at a bar–yet my gut…
I am an old movie fan and a novelist who has been writing historical fiction about show business since 2010. As a stickler for detail, I use oodles of old Hollywood biographies and other research sources to learn everything I can about my subjects and weave as accurate a tale as I can. My Forgotten Actresses series is up to four books, with plenty more under construction.
Los Angeles, 1937. Lillian Frost has traded dreams of stardom for security as a department store salesgirl . . . until she discovers she's a suspect in the murder of her former roommate, Ruby Carroll. Party girl Ruby died wearing a gown she stole from the wardrobe department at Paramount Pictures, domain of Edith Head.
Edith has yet to win the first of her eight Academy Awards; right now she's barely hanging on to her job, and a scandal is the last thing she needs. To clear Lillian's name and save Edith's career, the two women join forces.
I love a story filled with interesting characters and a plot that reels me in. I know how challenging it is to construct a plotline and create breadcrumbs (not too many, so the solution isn’t obvious)–all driven by intriguing characters. I am also a sucker for the “good guys” winning but with no guarantees. The characters must have depth, and I want to learn something new about a situation I am unfamiliar with or how a great story is told.
I love realistic heroes who are fallible yet, to their core, have a sense of morals. Throw in the verisimilitude of police procedurals (or military), plus a good mystery, and you’ve got me. Author Michael Connelly has juxtaposed an aging main character, retired LA Detective Harry Bosch, with a younger LA detective, Renée Ballard. In the old-school, patriarchal LAPD, Ballard had quite a challenge conducting the detective work she was passionate about.
I’m impressed with the three-dimensional characters of the two generations, each equally dedicated to getting justice in the cases they’re working on. Connelly's Bosch is far from perfect, and Ballard, the rising next-gen, are two characters I am compelled to follow.
LAPD detective Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch team up to hunt the brutal killer who is Bosch’s “white whale”—a man responsible for the murder of an entire family.
A year has passed since LAPD detective Renée Ballard quit the force in the face of misogyny, demoralization, and endless red tape. But after the chief of police himself tells her she can write her own ticket within the department, Ballard takes back her badge, leaving “the Late Show” to rebuild and lead the cold case unit at the elite Robbery-Homicide Division.
For years, Harry Bosch has been working a case that…
I could easily expand this list beyond the five books listed below, but these novels are top-of-mind from authors I genuinely admire. My novel also gives a wink and a nod to each one. Whether the protagonist is a sworn officer, amateur sleuth, or private detective…each one herein is honorable, competent, and memorable. I hope you like these stories as much as I do.
In the world of crime, the “two-minute rule” is sacrosanct: linger longer than two minutes during a heist, and you’re destined for a lifetime behind bars. But not everyone plays by the rules. When ex-con Max Holman is released from prison, his thoughts are consumed by the hope of reconciling with his estranged son, a police officer.
Tragically, he learns that his son and three fellow LAPD officers were brutally murdered the night before his release. Crais’s storytelling prowess shines through in this tightly plotted psychological thriller, where every page is essential. The plot is both inventive and realistic, with richly drawn characters that resonate. New writers can learn from his presentation of setting, characterization, as well as crisp plotting. I admit that I unabashedly love Robert Crais’ serial work, but this stand-alone resonated with me from the moment I read it.
'Crais's thrilling narrative oozes suspense. There are twists to keep you guessing' OBSERVER
Two minutes can be a lifetime. But break the two minute rule and it's a lifetime in jail. Ask anyone on the wrong side of the law about the two minute rule and they'll tell you that's as long as you can hope for at a robbery before the cops show up.
But not everyone plays by the rules. When an aging ex-con finally gets out of jail, freedom doesn't taste too sweet. His son is gunned down in a drive-by shooting. It seems…
The authoritative but accessible history of the birth of modern American intelligence in World War II that treats not just one but all of the various disciplines: spies, codebreakers, saboteurs.
Told in a relatable style that focuses on actual people, it was a New Yorker "Best of 2022" selection and…
I am the Agatha-winning author of the Rare Books Cozy Mystery series. My first in the series, below, won the Agatha Award for Best First Mystery Novel. I’ve worked for more than twenty years in museums and symphonies and have the great fortune of being married to a librarian. When not writing, I’m drawing and painting. I live in Maryland with her family. Although I’m not much of a baker, I won’t ever turn down a sweet lokshen kugel.
One of the reasons I started working for museums was that I trained as a painter and in art history, so Hailey Lind’s Annie Kincaid Mystery series was a particular delight. Her main character, Annie, is a former art forger turned faux finisher.
However, she can’t seem to put her past behind her after realizing her curator ex-boyfriend’s new big painting acquisition is a fake. I enjoy a good redemption story, especially when mixed with history and artifacts.
When Annie Kincaid informs her ex-boyfriend, curator Ernst Pettigrew, that the Brock Museum's fifteen-million-dollar Caravaggio painting is a fake, a bizarre chain of events is set in motion, forcing Annie to enter into an underworld of art forgers--a place she swore she left behind. Original.
