100 Books Like The Conductors

This is the first book in a series that seems—hooray!—never ending.

Novels, novellas, short stories, graphic novels…they’re all built around a wonderful idea: police procedural in a version of the modern world where rivers have goddesses, trees have dryads, and vampires, werewolves, elves, and all the other creatures of folklore and fantasy matter-of-factly exist alongside council estates and the internet. And so have to be policed.

The "Isaacs" (named after Isaac Newton) are that branch of the Old Bill which deals with magic, so its inspectors and constables tend to be witches and wizards. All the books are incredibly inventive and funny. I love them.

I loved the imaginative world-building, but even more, the fantastic sleuth is like no other I’ve encountered. The setting is a world where birds (avians) are the dominant evolved species instead of simians. Investigator Prentice Tasifa is a hawk who can “see the unseen” with her extraordinary sense of sight.

That’s why, in this world, hawks are police detectives. Tasifa travels far and wide throughout the Kingdom of Aves to solve serious crimes, including murder. Even more fascinating is how other birds (vultures, chickens, doves) have developed roles that align with their characteristics. I enjoyed the mystery plot twists.

The unique protagonist is the main reason I loved this novel. Cash Blackbear is a young Objibwe woman in North Dakota with a strong sixth sense that leads her to clues. Cash gets visions that she can’t ignore. She teams with local Sheriff Wheaton, who trusts her insights even though he doesn’t understand them. Wheaton has been a father figure/mentor since she was a child left adrift in one abusive foster home after another.

I loved their sometimes awkward yet tender interactions. The author, who is Native American, expertly weaves in the rich tapestry of American indigenous culture and life. Additionally, this is a great whodunnit with plot twists that I thoroughly enjoyed. 

This is one of my favorite alternate reality mystery stories (Cairo, Egypt is the setting). I was instantly engaged with Senior Agent Hamed al-Nasr and Agent Onsi. They work for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities. The name of their agency alone had me hooked!

I loved the combination of steampunk, historical fiction, and murder mystery. I enjoy fantastic settings and resourceful sleuths, and this story is one of the best. This is the most unique and page-turning fantasy police procedural I’ve encountered.

Agatha Christie's perfectly plotted stories, including the twenty short ones in this collection, remain crisply relevant even now, a century after their origination, which is the reason for her selling over two billion books.

I always believe I’ve caught her carefully dropped clues, only to realize I missed one…or three…that pointed toward the culprit. While Hercule Poirot remains my favorite Christie detective, I enjoyed meeting a slew of new characters in these fascinating tales of the “super-psychological” as noted in The Fourth Man. Plus, this collection is perfect for a quick evening read, though a few made falling asleep challenging!

A Japanese ghost story, set in an imaginary, contemporary, Japanese town by a Singaporean first novelist.

I picked this out at Brighton Library because I liked the cover, but Clarissa Goenawan's Rainbirds has survived the goodreads treatment, so hopefully she's a writer to watch (I mean, there will be more of these).

Readers have recalled Haruki Murakami, because it's allegedly Japanese, and a bit off-kilter, but to me this dreamlike narrative seemed fresh and floating: ungrounded, not alienated. I thought of another Japanese writer, Kazuo Ishiguro, & The Buried Giant: a misty, off-kilter take on Arthurian Britain, in which everyone seems either asleep, or else making the journey the dead make to wherever they go, while dreaming the novel's action...

No, I give up, I can't explain the charm, you'd have to try it and see, & yes, those are goldfish, not any kind of birds on the cover, and… show more.

No matter how much you may love a certain genre, you can inevitably fall into a reading slump. Too much of a good thing, right?

I will begrudgingly admit, the “missing” or “murdered girl” trope can sometimes get a bit dull without a new touch. Which is why when I came across Megan Miranda’s adult debut told entirely in reverse (from Day 15 to Day 1) was I ever floored with delight!

How absolute genius is it to take a twisty, shocking story about the disappearance of two girls, decades apart but give it to reader backwards? I found myself deeply engrossed not only in the propulsive story but intrigued by the unique way I had to process the timeline.

I read this book as a contest judge. I’d never heard of the author before. Little did I know that I’d fall in love with Morgan and Lance. Hooked from the first book. Morgan is caught between a rock and a hard place. Tessa, who couldn’t be more ‘girl next door’–also Morgan’s kids’ babysitter–was murdered. Her neighbor needs Morgan to defend her son, who is accused of the murder. Morgan has known him for years and is determined to prove his innocence.  

Morgan asks her friend Lance, an ex-cop turned private investigator, to help solve the murder. I loved how they formed a relationship that developed with each new book of the series. I love series, especially when I love the author. I highly recommend this book. 

The complicated and wonderful characters in Mia’s family really drew me in. They all have enough to deal with: the pandemic; Mia’s first breakup; her complicated relationship with her twin, who seems to do everything right; their brother Eugene’s disabilities, which mean he’s often discriminated against or underestimated; and their parents’ struggles to keep it all together and move on from heartbreaking false hopes.

When her father disappears, Mia doesn’t let her other problems or even the fear and heartbreak get in the way of her determination to find out the truth–no matter how painful–and protect Eugene from unjust suspicion.

I loved the role the complex bonds between the various family members came to play in unraveling this case and coping with its ramifications.

I adore the character of Sam Holland. She is a badass cop, not willing to take crap from anyone, even her fellow officers, with a smart mouth that gets her into as much trouble as it gets her out of. Her character is written with such nuance and honesty that she’s someone I’ve willingly followed through 22 books (and counting).

Sam works twice as hard to make sure she’s living up to her own expectations as much as anyone else’s, always afraid of falling short, something I think we all tend to be too hard on ourselves about at times. The love interest throughout the series sometimes struggles with her strong personality, even as he admires her for it, which I think lends a depth of realism to their relationship as it grows and sometimes flounders.