Here are 100 books that Give Unto Others fans have personally recommended if you like
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Puzzles intrigued me since I was a three-year-old. Puzzle pieces that fit into pre-sized spaces. Then, disassembling and reassembling small 3-D animal shapes. Crosswords were next. Finally, Nancy Drew entered my life. I was addicted. Sherlock and Agatha became my mentors. But I loved to paint as well, so art was my first major at Michigan State University. Changed it to advertising in my senior year. Shortly after, Leo Burnett hired me to write print and radio media for Buster Brown shoes. Television was next. I solved many advertising puzzles at Foote, Cone & Belding, but after retiring, mystery re-entered my life when I wrote my first book.
A murder in the world of law courts in London’s legal community brings in P.D. James’ iconic detective Adam Dalgleish to investigate—a protagonist with razor focus and discernment, and a man famous for his poetry in the literary world.
James has incredible skill marrying the unexpected attributes of detection with the sensitivity and intimacy of a novel. She is a queen in my mystery reading world.
Venetia Aldridge QC is a distinguished barrister. When she agrees to defend Garry Ashe, accused of the brutal murder of his aunt, it is one more opportunity to triumph in her distinguished career as a criminal lawyer. But just four weeks later, Miss Aldridge is found dead at her desk.
Commander Adam Dalgliesh, called in to investigate, finds motives for murder among the clients Venetia has defended, her professional colleagues, her family - even her lover. As Dalgliesh narrows the field of suspects, a second brutal murder…
Venice, 1612. A notorious courtesan and the scholarly daughter of the chief rabbi meet and form an unlikely friendship when their portraits are to be painted for a “Gallery of Beauties”.
Dangerous passions are stirred by the portraits, and one by one, the beautiful subjects of the paintings are poisoned.…
I’m a taxidermy-loving vegan who had a pet cemetery as a kid. So, I guess you could say I’m a bit of a Wednesday Adams. My airplane reading? Forensic pathology textbooks. When my first thrillers were published, a lot of people were surprised. “You seem so nice!” they said. “You’re so funny and happy!” Here’s a secret: thriller writers are some of the most jolly people I know. We get it all out on the page. We get to murder people for a living. So, if you cut me off in traffic or don’t RSVP to my Evite, it's no big deal. I won’t get upset. I’ll just kill you later...in a book.
I have said this before, but if there had been a fourth book in this series in 2004, I would not have written Heartsick and would not have had a career. I love Val’s Tony Hill/Carol Jordan books. They are the blueprint for all thrillers.
She doesn’t hold back on the violence but finds these incredibly intimate character moments that tremble my heart.
In this special 20th anniversary edition, Lee Child introduces the Gold Dagger award-winning serial killer thriller that began the Number One bestselling crime series featuring clinical psychologist Dr Tony Hill, hero of TV's much-loved Wire in the Blood.
You always remember the first time. Isn't that what they say about sex? How much more true it is of murder...
Up till now, the only serial killers Tony Hill had encountered were safely behind bars. This one's different - this one's on the loose.
Four men have been found mutilated and tortured. As fear grips the city, the…
I have loved the world of Sherlock Holmes and the Victorian era ever since I first read A Study in Scarlet at age nine. Despite life getting in the way, I never lost my love for the character and the period. I continue to read both to this day. The five books I mention below are five that have stayed with me over the years. I hope you enjoy the books as much as I do.
I loved the main character of this book from the very first: Sgt Cribb of Scotland Yard. I came across this book through a television adaptation. I watched, then went scouring the shelves of my local library, finding, to my delight, that the book was the first in a series.
Thiswas the first Cribb novel, and I found it charming, with a great mystery at its core. I love the fact that the background is a little-known Victorian sport: pedestrianism or endurance walking.
"A fine case of murder, projected against a compelling historical background." —The New York Times Book Review
London, 1879. Crowds have gathered at Islington’s chilly Agricultural Hall to place their bets on who will become the next world champion in a six-day, 500-mile speedwalking race, the “wobble.” When one of the highly favored contenders dies under suspicious circumstances, Sergeant Cribb also has a race on his hands—to pursue a ruthless murderer.
Wobble to Death was Peter Lovesey’s debut novel. In the 45 years since it was published, its author has gone on to write more than 30 world-renowned mysteries,…
A traditional mystery with a touch of cozy, The Alchemy Fire Murder is for those who like feisty women sleuths, Oxford Colleges, alchemy, strong characters, and real concerns like trafficking, wildfires, racism, and climate change. This book especially works for those fascinated by myth and witches in history. Read for…
Whenever in Oxford, I feel I’ve come “home.” It’s a magical city steeped in beauty, history, literature, culture, and fascinating people. I’ve been blessed to have taken graduate courses at the University, participated in numerous conferences, brought tour groups, lived “in college,” and conducted walking tours of the town. My familiarity with the city enabled me to write the original chapter on Oxford for Rick Steves’ England guidebook, and it’s where I set my fictional series, The Oxford Chronicles. When I can’t be there in person, I love to visit vicariously through good books. I hope these novels will enable you to experience some of the magic of Oxford too.
I love watching British mystery series and am a big fan of the entire Inspector Morse series, including Lewis and Endeavor.
However, before there were these brilliant films, there was Colin Dexter’s even more brilliant writing. Oxford is itself a character in all three series, and it’s particularly fun for me to recognize familiar locations in Oxford where the scenes are filmed, just as it’s fun for me to follow along in the novel with Dexter’s characters as they walk the streets of Oxford.
The Jewel That was Ours, renamed The Wolvercote Tongue in the Inspector Morse series, proves the old adage that the book is better than the film. The novel delves deeper into the psyches of its memorable characters with their complex stories and alibis, and the plot takes many more twists and turns before it reaches its satisfying denouement.
The Jewel That Was Ours is the ninth novel in the Oxford-set detective series from Colin Dexter, the winner of the CWA Silver Dagger Award.
He looked overweight around the midriff, though nowhere else, and she wondered whether perhaps he drank too much. He looked weary, as if he had been up most of the night conducting his investigations . . .
For Oxford, the arrival of twenty-seven American tourists is nothing out of the ordinary . . . until one of their number is found dead in Room 310 at the Randolph Hotel.
I love to write thriller/mystery books and the more twists I can come up with, the happier I am. I want the reader to be drawn in, and become a part of the stories. That’s why I picked these five books. I like the way they pull you into the stories, and keep you guessing, sometimes even to the end. I have always been fascinated by the workings of the criminal mind. I worked in Law Enforcement for over 25 years and received my Associate Degree in Criminal Justice Technology/Latent evidence, helping me to spin stories, keeping people guessing, and yearning to find out what’s happening next!
I was hooked by James Patterson’s first book of the Alex Cross series by James Patterson. A predator that enjoys playing mind games with Detective Cross, and a kidnapping that sends one of those thoughts through your mind, “No, they didn’t do that, did they?” One of the things I enjoyed are the short chapters. It’s filled with psychological suspense, a real thriller that I didn’t want to put down. This is something that I crave in books. For it to grab my attention, hold it, and surprise me at the end. And Patterson delivers.
The legendary thriller that launched the Alex Cross phenomenon
Adapted into a major Hollywood movie starring Morgan Freeman _________________________________
Two children have been kidnapped from an elite private school in Washington DC, and Detective Alex Cross is charged with finding them.
The kidnapper's identity is quickly determined as one of the children's teachers. But capturing him is the true challenge.
As Cross gets pulled deeper into the strange world of the kidnapper, it becomes clear he is far more dangerous than anyone could have anticipated. _________________________________
'No one gets this big without amazing natural storytelling talent - which is what…
I retired from the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, DC, as a detective assigned to the Major Crimes Unit, but I’ve always been a writer at heart and an avid reader. I graduated from California State University in Long Beach, CA, with a major in Film. I am the author of six crime fiction books, three of which involve retired detective turned PI Frank Marr. This trilogy was critically acclaimed.
Coffin is a retired detective sergeant out of Portland, Maine. I love books by authors who write what they know and, obviously, write it well.
This book is the first in a series involving Portland PD Detective Sergeant John Byron. Coffin draws on his life experience to create an exhilarating, believable suspense novel and a likable character I want to continue to read.
"A first-rate novel. Suspenseful and highly entertaining." -- New York Times bestselling author Gayle Lynds
Fall in Portland, Maine usually arrives as a welcome respite from summer’s sweltering temperatures and, with the tourists gone, a return to normal life—usually. But when a retired cop is murdered, things heat up quickly, setting the city on edge.
Detective Sergeant John Byron, a second-generation cop, is tasked with investigating the case—at the very moment his life is unraveling. On the outs with his department’s upper echelon, separated from his wife, and feeling the strong pull of the bottle, Byron remains all business as…
When I dropped out of college to live and work in a socialist commune in Israel, it was mostly to escape a broken heart back home. My memorable experiences as a volunteer on Kibbutz Shamir profoundly shaped how I think about the value of community and inspired me to become a writer. It took me another 20 years to unite these passions by returning to Israel to learn about the past, present, and future of the legendary kibbutz movement—and share my journey of discovery with readers in Chasing Utopia.
Full confession: I only picked up this novel in my attempt to read every book with “kibbutz” in the title. Lucky me!
I became a fan of Michael Ohayon, the moody outsider who stars in Batya Gur’s series of Hebrew whodunnits, all set in various closed societies and institutions. Ohayon is like an Israeli Inspector Rebus, and no amount of duplicity by the members at an indebted kibbutz can keep him from cracking the case.
The novel doesn’t paint a pretty picture of communal life, but I recognized many of the fatal flaws of the real kibbutz movement magnified to deadly dimensions in this slow burn of a murder mystery.
From award-winning and internationally acclaimed author, Batya Gur, comes another twisty mystery featuring charming Israeli investigator Michael Ohayon.
Michael Ohayon must once again solve a murder that has taken place within a complex, closed society: the kibbutz. As he investigates, he uncovers more and more of the kibbutz’s secrets, exposing all the contradictions of this idealized way of life.
Murder on a Kibbutz showcases once again Batya Gur’s storytelling talents in a thrilling mystery that readers will not soon forget.
I am a clinical social worker and writer of 13 books and more than 40 poems and essays in national magazines and journals. For 20 years, I counseled survivors of violent crimes in individual and group treatment at the Crime Victims Treatment Center in New York. My book recommendations are eclectic, maybe odd, but I read widely for diversion. I set my kitchen timer and try to read every day for at least half an hour. As I age, I read to be soothed, educated, involved, entertained. I no longer finish books that are boring. I used to… but those days are over!
I loved this book because I’m in love with the central character, the very distinguished Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surete’ du Quebec, who works and plays well with his investigative team. He lives in the fictional community/neighborhood of Three Pines, and I wondered for a while if there were any homes for sale. He is smart, kind, thoughtful, and very married—to a woman who is a retired art librarian and could be my friend. As a solo ager, I can dream, can’t I?
Book 18 in the acclaimed and number one-bestselling Three Pines series featuring the beloved Chief Inspector Armand Gamache.
It's spring and Three Pines is re-emerging after the harsh winter. But not everything buried should come alive again. Not everything lying dormant should return.
But something has.
As the villagers prepare for a special celebration, Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir find themselves increasingly worried. A young man and woman have reappeared in the Surete du Quebec investigators' lives after many years. The two were young children when their troubled mother was murdered, leaving them damaged, shattered. Now they've arrived in the…
I have traveled almost my entire life as a US Navy Sailor and civilian, and I still am. The cities, countries, and locations are composites of places I have visited. I have been a Correctional Counselor and a Criminal Investigator in addition to other positions. My extensive travel and background provide me with a unique view of the world that I try to reflect in my stories.
The cold war holds a special spot for me. The USSR's internal conflicts are very similar to what Russians I knew escaped from before and during the buildup of the USSR talked about. I re-read this last year and found it still exudes the mysterious feel of Mother Russia. Maybe even more so now.
Arkady Renko, a Moscow homicide investigator, investigates a crime that isn’t possible because there are no murders in the Soviet Union. It must be the work of an insane person or infiltrator. Arkady struggles to do justice for the people he serves, and the bureaucrats are looking to sweep it all under the rug. Great twists make for great stories.
Don't miss the latest book in the Arkady Renko series, THE SIBERIAN DILEMMA by Martin Cruz Smith, 'the master of the international thriller' (New York Times) - available to order now!
THE NOVEL THAT STARTED IT ALL - ARKADY RENKO NOVEL #1
'One of those writers that anyone who is serious about their craft views with respect bordering on awe' Val McDermid
'Makes tension rise through the page like a shark's fin' Independent
*** Three bodies found frozen in the snow. And the hunt for the killer begins...
It begins with a triple murder in a Moscow amusement center: three…
I’ve been reading mysteries since I “borrowed” my Grandpa’s Miss Marple’s as an elementary schooler. (And yes, my maiden name really IS Marple) And I’ve always been drawn to smart, competent women characters–even better if they’re funny. Women who do their own fighting and their own detecting and then hand the killer off to the cops with a smile and a great line. These women inspired me–and now I get to write a lady who at least belongs in the room with them!
I love a quirky small-town mystery with screwball comedy, and this one absolutely delivers–with a wonderful twist: the detective is Sheriff Arly Hanks, a woman forced to go home and start over after a meltdown in the big city.
I love Arly’s intelligence and spirit…and the fact that while she has a gun (and even a bullet or two), she doesn’t need more than her wits and the help of the crazy locals–including her own mother–to catch the killer. She’s my favorite funny, badass woman sleuth.
After a crossbow killing at a cheap roadside motel, Ozarks police chief Arly Hanks finds herself investigating her first murder case.
Her marriage over and career gone bust, Arly Hanks flees Manhattan for her hometown: Maggody, Arkansas. In a town this size, nothing much ever happens, so Arly figures she's safe as the town's first female chief of police-until the husband of one of the local barmaids escapes from state prison and heads for town. And that's not all. An EPA official with ties to polluting the local fishing hole has suddenly vanished off the face of the earth.
