Here are 65 books that The Gunderson Case Files fans have personally recommended if you like
The Gunderson Case Files.
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Growing up, there was nothing I hated more than reading. Struggling with dyslexia and learning disabilities made books miserable and the distractions of screens didn’t help. However, everything changed when I discovered graphic novels and comics! That led to a newfound love of stories and books (especially graphic novels) which took me on a journey of not being able to read at age ten, to publishing my first novel at age fifteen. Since then, I’ve written and illustrated children’s books and young adult novels, but Mup is my first graphic novel. This has inspired me to create more graphic novels designed specifically for those who are just like me – reluctant readers.
This list wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t add a superhero comic. But instead of Spiderman or Captain America, I want to introduce you to Runaways. A middle-grade graphic novel comic series about six Los Angeles teenagers who join together after discovering that their supervillain parents are planning on destroying the world. What could be more fun than a bunch of random teenagers banding together to try and save the world while trying to grapple with their place in it? Dinosaurs, aliens, mutant powers, grocery shopping, crushes, and turning eighteen, it’s a lot to handle and is certainly very fun to read – even for a someone who doesn’t like reading. Plus, if a reader makes it to the end, they’re rewarded with unforeseen plot twists.
They were six normal teenagers linked only by their wealthy parents’ annual business meeting…until a chance discovery revealed the shocking truth: their parents are the secret criminal society known as the Pride! For years, the Pride controlled of Los Angeles’ criminal activity, ruling the city with an iron fist…and now, with their true natures exposed, the Pride will take any measures necessary to protect their organization — even if it means taking out their own children! Now on the run from their villainous parents, Nico, Chase, Karolina, Gertrude, Molly and Alex have only each other to…
The Victorian mansion, Evenmere, is the mechanism that runs the universe.
The lamps must be lit, or the stars die. The clocks must be wound, or Time ceases. The Balance between Order and Chaos must be preserved, or Existence crumbles.
Appointed the Steward of Evenmere, Carter Anderson must learn the…
My books are non-fiction. However, the best stories are always how a character really changes. These books brought permanent change to me. One important value I see evaporating in this world is the ability to ask honest questions and the courage to willingly follow the evidence. I try to give readers a fresh and inspiring look at things like never before. Similarly, with every book recommendation, each author brought me a new perspective and added unexpected formats for learning. My advice is if you want to specialize in something, pursue diversified learning to maintain solid footing instead of specializing yourself into some specialized niche. Never lose your curiosity.
This book aimed to enhance public speaking abilities using legendary speakers of the time (in 1996), these are mostly old-timers while the new “kid” is Tony Robbins.
More than 500 pages of 15 successful motivational speakers share their key content, their own motivation, their methods and practices. You get the incredible content. You get universal tips on communication. You get personal testimonies of struggle and overcoming. Sit down with these 15 masters of motivation and feel the side effect of being challenged.
This book will still be valuable 100 years from now because it is practical and inspiring. Hey, you might aspire to public speaking.
America's greatest motivational speakers reveal their secrets of success in this one-of-a-kind collection of interviews. Author Michael Jeffreys interviewed fifteen of the top leaders in the speaking world, including Anthony Robbins, Wayne Dyer, Barbara De Angelis, and Jack Canfield. These charismatic communicators share their personal triumphs, passions, and pearls of wisdom that have molded their lives.Here is some of what you will learn from Success Secrets of the Motivational Superstars: the way to conquer fear is to face it head on giving up is not an option personal growth never stopsAbout the AuthorMichael Jeffreys is also the author of Selling…
I’m a contemporary mystery junkie. Realistic tales, set in the modern world always grab my attention. In a creative writing course in college, one professor suggested the old ‘write what you know’ approach. I don’t know everything, but I know what I like. Mysteries! I thrive on distinctive characters, those who are willing to put every effort into getting to the bottom of the situation. Sharp, tight dialogue and descriptions are essential. Give me that, and I’ll be back for more. This is my passion. Come along if you want a thrill and a surprise or two.
I love the way Parker weaves a bit of legend into this story about a modern-day version of Robin Hood running wild through Los Angeles. Allison Murietta may be following in the footsteps of her ancestors, stealing from whoever strikes her fancy, and giving the spoils to charity. The action is fast-paced.
This is the first Charlie Hood mystery and Parker does a wonderful job, bringing the rookie detective along. The interactions between Hood and Murietta are perfect. There’s plenty of action to draw the reader in, and more twists than I expected.
Investigating the latest crime scene of a celebrity thief who has been staging lucrative heists and donating the spoils to charity, rookie deputy Charlie Hood embarks on an affair with a key witness and is forced to make an ethics-testing decision when the thief is targeted by a professional killer. 100,000 first printing.
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
I’m an avid fantasy reader and enjoy stories filled with magic, danger, and a mix of humor and romance thrown in. When I’m not writing my own fantasy novels, you might catch me tucked away in a corner, reading a book, and fueling my imagination. Since my own book, The Wayward Wizard, features a secret organization trying to intercept the supernatural, I knew similar stories would make a perfect list to share with fellow fantasy readers.
As a mom of six, I must say that I’m in a constant state of balancing motherly duties with other obligations—so Lucy Heron has my sympathy as a fellow native of Los Angeles, who juggles her kids, a bakery, and apparently her job as “Agent 485,” fighting supernatural crime.
Lucy works for a secret organization that wants to keep magic in the realm of myth and humanity none the wiser to its existence. Well, that will be tough as a tribe of ancient witches gets thrown into the mix, some unscrupulous magical beings, and the fact that this mom of three has to get this all done in time for dinner. This is definitely a fun read to check out!
Lucy Heron is a mom with three kids, and a baker with a happy marriage in sunny Echo Park. She’s also Silver Griffins Agent 485.
The suburbs will never be the same.
Fighting supernatural crime from a minivan while keeping the magical world a secret is a fulltime job. Then there’s the PTA bake sale and the neighborhood barbecue.
Hard to balance even with a wand.
And now, a monstrous loan shark is spreading his shadowy empire from a hidden kemana. Mix in a tribe of ancient witches and tunnel-dwelling magical misfits.
I have been fascinated by James Ellroy’s life and writing since I first discovered it as a lonely teenager on a rainswept family holiday. He went through dark times; the unsolved murder of his mother and his subsequent struggles with addiction. But how he overcame this to become one of America’s greatest writers is an inspiring story and has inspired me to get through my own personal turmoil. Indeed, many Ellroy readers will attest to how his life story and writing helped them overcome their struggles. Now as Ellroy’s biographer, I am continually drawn back to his work. Reading just a few pages allows me to contemplate what Ellroy calls ‘the Wonder’.
This is a personal favourite as it’s the Ellroy novel that carries the biggest emotional punch. Although it didn’t match the sales of its predecessorThe Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere is a more accomplished novel. The setting is LA, 1950. A murder plot is interweaved with the politics of the Red Scare, and a Hollywood milieu at the height of the film noir age. This is the novel that proved Ellroy was a literary writer, and not just a genre one.
The D. A.'s brass, a sheriff's deputy, and a rough-and-tumble bagman are unknowingly chasing a nightmare in this thrilling novel from the author of "some of the most powerful crime novels ever written" (New York Times). Los Angeles, 1950 Red crosscurrents: the Commie Scare and a string of brutal mutilation killings. Gangland intrigue and Hollywood sleaze. Three cops caught in a hellish web of ambition, perversion, and deceit. Danny Upshaw is a Sheriff's deputy stuck with a bunch of snuffs nobody cares about; they're his chance to make his name as a cop...and to sate his darkest curiosities. Mal Considine…
Why do I have expertise in end-of-the-world scenarios? Well, I am a person living in the 2020s who reads too much. But more than that, I’ve had an interest in space exploration and history for as long as I can remember. While those two might seem like completely unrelated fields, it gives me a wider view of our world in the sense of where we are and where we are going. Civilization is not always a straight line upward. And when it dips down… well interesting things happen. Saturnius Mons specifically blends my love of Roman history with my interest in humanity’s future.
What can you say about the book that kicked off a whole new genre?
Widely regarded as the first ‘cyberpunk’ novel, reading Virtual Light today is beyond eery. It takes place in the dystopian future year of 2006 (the book was written in 1994) and is set in San Francisco during a time when the middle class has disappeared and the only people left are either disgustingly rich or living on the street. And as I look around at what San Francisco, and many other cities have become, it makes me think that Gibson might be the Cassandra of the modern world.
NEW YORK TIMES bestseller * 2005: Welcome to NoCal and SoCal, the uneasy sister-states of what used to be California.
The millennium has come and gone, leaving in its wake only stunned survivors. In Los Angeles, Berry Rydell is a former armed-response rentacop now working for a bounty hunter. Chevette Washington is a bicycle messenger turned pickpocket who impulsively snatches a pair of innocent-looking sunglasses. But these are no ordinary shades. What you can see through these high-tech specs can make you rich-or get you killed. Now Berry and Chevette are on the run, zeroing in on the digitalized heart…
A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.
Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…
From the beginning of my writing journey in 2000, all my girls have been full of spunk and sass and fighting every day to figure out life in the present while also dealing with the past, all while solving murders and mysteries and navigating relationships; oh my! The books I chose are all about that sass and spunk, those main characters in The Cozies (or RomCozies as I call mine since they have both murder and a budding romance) that not only make you snicker in the right places but also sigh when they’re over, you close the book, and hold it to your heart hoping the next is coming soon.
Last but certainly not least, I can’t have a list of sass and spunk without mentioning a cat with both! Jennifer J. Chow’s book Mimi Lee Cracks the Code is not only highly entertaining, but it also takes place on Catalina Island, where my very own Whit and Whiskers live. I wonder what they’d do if they met each other?
I laughed, and then I sighed, and then I laughed some more at this book. It’s a delightful tale with twists and turns that I absolutely loved. And that cat is quite the character.
One of BookRiot's Best Upcoming Cozy Mysteries for the Second Half of 2021!
When murder follows Mimi Lee to her romantic island getaway, she puts on her best sleuthing hat with her sassy cat in tow in this adventurous cozy mystery by Jennifer J. Chow.
Mimi Lee just found an extra perk to being a pet groomer at Hollywoof (other than cuddling animals all day long, that is). Pixie St. James, one of Mimi’s clients and the investor behind Hollywoof, has offered her and her boyfriend, Josh, a getaway at her vacation home, nestled on beautiful Catalina Island. With the…
I’m Andy Marx and I am definitely a child of Hollywood. My paternal grandfather was the comic icon, Groucho Marx, and my maternal grandfather was the legendary songwriter, Gus Kahn, who wrote such classic songs as “It Had To Be You,” “Makin’ Whoopee!” and “Dream a Little Dream of Me.” After working as a film publicist on a number of films including, Terminator and Red Dragon, I launched my journalism career writing about Hollywood for such publications as The Los Angeles Times, and Daily Variety. I also co-founded the satirical website, Hollywood & Swine, which poked fun of Hollywood, not a terribly hard thing to do.
This is the third book in the Trip Callaway Gig mystery series written by Phil Swann. While I’ve enjoyed all the Trip Callaway books, I especially like this one because it takes place in 1966 Hollywood. In this story, musician and undercover agent Trip Callaway takes us into the world of Los Angeles studio musicians, who played on all those memorable recordings and variety shows of the time. On top of spending some quality time in great, but sadly long gone, Hollywood hotspots like Shelly’s Manne Hole, The Palomino, and Martoni’s – places I went growing up in Los Angeles – Tinseltown Tango is also a ripping good yarn. If you enjoy a good murder mystery with a dash of music and no shortage of laughs, check out this book. You won’t be disappointed.
Lights, camera, Trip! Los Angeles, 1966. Hot off the heels of his last adventure in Mekong Delta Blues, Trip Callaway, the young, wise-cracking musician with dreams as big as The Golden State itself, takes a break from his steady gig on the Vegas Strip to do some easy undercover work in Hollywood for his secret agency benefactors. It’s Hollywood; how dangerous could it be? But as Trip quickly discovers, The Dream Factory can also be a nightmare. A ruthless gangster, a dubious district attorney, a cantankerous tango band, and a sexy singer from Argentina who elevates the word diva to…
I’m a cozy mystery writer and reader who loves to suss out family dynamics in the books I’m devouring. My love of genealogy and turning family stories into fiction played a large role while writing my first book, Hammers and Homicide. Wherever my husband and I travel, we search for ancestors in ancient cemeteries and try to find out more about their stories. You’ll find a few of them between the pages of my books. I hope you’ll enjoy these books, all featuring some level of family ties, as much as I did!
In this book by Jennifer J. Chow, I loved how the differences between Yale Yee, the sleuth, and her cousin, Celine, not only created tension throughout the book but ultimately played on each of their strengths to solve the mystery.
The two cousins are thrown together when quiet Yale is tapped by her dad to run the family bubble tea stand at L.A.’s night market. Loud and flamboyant Celine, a social media influencer, arrives in L.A. and gets tasked with helping Yale out.
Chow does a great job of showing the two girls' very different personalities and adding in that family tension. On top of that, the L.A. night market is fascinating! I hope this will be a long-running series!
Two cousins who start a food stall at their local night market get a serving of murder in this first novel of a delicious new cozy mystery series by Jennifer J. Chow, bestselling author of Mimi Lee Gets a Clue.
When Yale Yee discovers her cousin Celine is visiting from Hong Kong, she is obliged to play tour guide to a relative she hasn’t seen in twenty years. Not only that, but her father thinks it’s a wonderful idea for them to bond by running a food stall together at the Eastwood Village Night Market. Yale hasn’t cooked in years,…
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
My father estranged himself from his sister because she was an alcoholic. I never met my aunt. However, when looking for a strong character for my Lilian Dove Mystery Series, I decided this aunt was a good mentoring character. Fictionally, I gave my aunt sobriety, but her recovery is not so much from drinking as it is recovering from the past to take on life anew. The mysteries Lillian Dove becomes involved her help her see how to do this. And first, she needs to learn to admit life is full of mayhem. Small-town Iowa amateur sleuth who ends up owning a liquor store.
Joyce Carol Oates is
genuinely an extraordinary author, known for her prolific
output. While some writers focus on series, Oats dedicates her time to
crafting numerous standalone books, each a gem in its own right.
The
plot may appear simple at first glance—a missing sister, and a
protagonist who must piece together the clues to find
her. However, as the story unfolds, the reader becomes immersed in a
web of subtle evidence that gradually weaves together, resulting in a
rich and suspenseful novel. Put the book down.
When a woman mysteriously vanishes from her small town home, her sister must tally up the clues to uncover the truth behind the mystery.
Beautiful sculptor Marguerite has disappeared from her small town in upstate New York. But was foul play involved? Did she merely get away for some fun? Or did she finally make the decision to leave behind her claustrophobic life of limited opportunities?
Younger sister Gigi wonders if the flimsy silk Dior dress, so casually abandoned on the floor, is a clue to Marguerite's vanishing. The police puzzle over the footprints made by her Ferragamo boots, which…
