Here are 72 books that A Clubbable Woman fans have personally recommended if you like
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I’ve been writing novels for more than three decades, and when I started out, I sucked. Truly! I had never even heard of structure. Really, it’s about getting to the heart of your story and reaching the heart of your reader. My first novels went nowhere. But once I dug into these very books (among many others), I learned how to write commercial best sellers. I’ve sold more than 250,000 copies of my self-published books. As a writing coach and copyeditor, I work with thousands of writers, and I have published about twelve writing craft books. I also teach online courses, which have been taken by more than 6,000 writers.
You may be wondering why I’ve listed this 20-year-old book as my top recommendation if you want to write a terrific commercial novel. This was my go-to “bible” when I penned my first few novels. I religiously followed all her advice, as I was and still am an avid fan of her Inspector Lynley detective novels.
Listen: you don’t have to be a crime or thriller writer to learn the best skills for writing a best seller from this book. She shares personal routines and techniques, an overview of the craft, and covers the plot, characters, and scene structure. It’s not extensive but will give any fiction writer new eyes and skills in the art of writing.
Elizabeth George is one of the most successful writers of crime fiction in the world. Her twelve novels have appeared on bestseller lists in the UK, USA and Australia, and several of them have been dramatised by BBC Television as the Inspector Lynley Mysteries. She has also written a collection of short stories and edited a crime anthology.
Now she shares this wealth of experience with would-be novelists, and with crime fiction fans. Drawing extensively on her own work, and that of other bestselling writers including Stephen King, Harper Lee, Dennis Lehane and many others, she illustrates her points about…
Nominated for the Shamus Award for Best Original Paperback, and winner of the Beverly Hills Book Award.
Francis Hoyt, arrogant, athletic, brilliant, manipulative and ruthless is a master burglar who specializes in stealing high-end silver and jewelry. He's never been caught in the act. Recently retired Connecticut state investigator Charlie…
I write the NYPD Detective Chiara Corelli Mystery series featuring Corelli and her partner Detective P.J. Parker. Most mysteries have a single main character so I’m passionate about finding other authors who write mysteries with two professional investigators as main characters. It’s fascinating to see how authors writing the same type of characters handle them and what they do about character growth over the course of the series. To me, watching two characters react to each other, seeing their relationship change over the course of a book or a series is much more interesting than reading about a single detective.
This is the first book in George’s twenty-one book series featuring Scotland Yard Inspector Thomas Lynley, the eighth earl of Asherton, and Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, a commoner.
When I read A Great Deliverance, I fell in love with George’s beautiful writing, found her two characters fascinating, and adored the cast of characters supporting the detectives. Plus, the book is unusual because the reader knows from the start who the killer is and the investigation focuses on why she killed him.
When I sat down to write my first ever fiction, Linley and Havers were the inspiration for my two detectives, NYPD Detectives Chiara Corelli and P.J. Parker. And I learned from George that the characters are as important, if not more important, than the plot. She inspired my writing.
Fat, unlovely Roberta Teys is found beside her father's headless corpse, wearing her best dress and with an axe in her lap. Her first words are: 'I did it. And I am not sorry' and she refuses to say more. Inspector Thomas Lynley and DS Barbara Havers are sent by Scotland Yard to solve this particularly gruesome murder. And as they navigate their way around a dark labyrinth of secret scandals and appalling crimes, they uncover a series of shocking revelations that shatter the facade of the peaceful Yorkshire village.
I write the NYPD Detective Chiara Corelli Mystery series featuring Corelli and her partner Detective P.J. Parker. Most mysteries have a single main character so I’m passionate about finding other authors who write mysteries with two professional investigators as main characters. It’s fascinating to see how authors writing the same type of characters handle them and what they do about character growth over the course of the series. To me, watching two characters react to each other, seeing their relationship change over the course of a book or a series is much more interesting than reading about a single detective.
As a writer I look to Crombie’s Constable Duncan Kincaid/Sergeant Gemma James series for guidance on how to have your characters grow professionally and personally, to age and experience the kind of changes people go through in real life. I recommend book one of the nineteen in the series, A Share in Death, because it sets up the relationship between the two detectives.
In this “thoroughly entertaining mystery with a cleverly conceived and well-executed plot” (Booklist), Edgar Award-nominated author Deborah Crombie introduces us to Duncan Kincaid of Scotland Yard and his partner, Gemma James.
A week's holiday in a luxurious Yorkshire time-share is just what Scotland Yard's Superintendent Duncan Kincaid needs. But the discovery of a body floating in the whirlpool bath ends Kincaid's vacation before it's begun. One of his new acquaintances at Followdale House is dead; another is a killer. Despite a distinct lack of cooperation from the local constabulary, Kincaid's keen sense of duty won't allow him to ignore the…
Buried Secrets. A web of deceit, betrayal, and danger. Can she survive her fight for justice and truth? Laura thought she knew everything about her late husband before he died. Now, her life and the lives of those she loves are in danger. As Laura delves into his previous role…
I have a confession to make. I’m a collector of book boyfriends (BBFs). Alpha males, to be precise. The more confident, successful, and assertive they are, the harder they fall for their heroine. It’s the “fall” that gets me every time. There is nothing more satisfying than falling in love right alongside the heroine. As not only a writer of romance but also an avid reader, I can go on and on about all the books I love, so it was hard to choose only five. This list is a small taste of some of my favorites. If you’re looking for a swoon-worthy BBF, reading these books is a must.
Though last on this list, Roarke is by no means “last” in anything. Powerful, confident, insanely wealthy, and oh-so-sexy, Roarke is the epitome of the swoon-worthy alpha male.
Seeing his love for his lieutenant, Eve, I fell in love—and fell hard. I was hooked after book one, and 60 books later, I still can’t get enough.
Crime and punishment is Lieutenant Eve Dallas's business. Murder her speciality. Named by the social worker who found her when she was a mere child roaming that city's streets, Eve Dallas is a New York police detective who lives for her job. In over ten years on the force, she's seen it all - and knows her survival depends on her instincts. But she's going against every warning telling her not to get involved with Roarke, a charismatic Irish billionaire - and a suspect in Eve's latest murder investigation. But passion and seduction have rules of their own, and it's…
There’s a saying in England: It’s grim up north! Largely used pejoratively (by the south), it’s true to say it is generally colder and wetter, the landscape more unforgiving, the people – friendlier in my opinion – are more outspoken and candid. The cities of Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, with their declining industries and rising unemployment, provide fertile ground for crime writers. So when I started my own series following the investigations of DS Adam Tyler and his cold case team it didn’t take long to settle on my adopted home of Sheffield as the setting. Be warned: we’re a long way from the sleepy villages of Agatha Christie here.
When a local drug dealer goes missing in the small town of Wortley, West Leeds, no one cares. No one except Detective Sergeant Joe Romano, back on home turf in ‘God’s Own County’ of Yorkshire. And even when the drug dealer turns up dead some believe it poetic justice. Romano believes every life counts though, and with the killer about to strike again he puts everything on the line, including his career, to prove that no one has the right to kill. This is a very modern take on the classic police procedural novel, a world-weary cop fighting against the world-weary system in order to do the right thing.
The first in a gripping new crime thriller series set in Yorkshire, for fans of Ian Rankin and Joseph Knox.
'A striking debut' Peter Robinson
On a Thursday night in February, DS Joe Romano finds himself back on home turf in Wortley, West Leeds. He's following up on the disappearance of drug dealer Craig Shaw.
It's the start of a case that could make or break Romano's career. Because Shaw is about to go from missing to murdered.
While some don't think Shaw's killer should be brought to justice, Romano believes every life counts. But he's running out of time.…
I've read mysteries of all types since I was young. Unfortunately for my publishers, I like to write in several different genres too. Everyone loves a mystery, a puzzle, sussing out the hidden. If you think you don’t like mysteries, then I think you just haven’t found your genre yet. Reading a mystery is like treasure hunting, we all want to find the gold. I love clever dialogue, characters you want to meet in real life, and accompany them while solving a mystery. All the books I have recommended have an overarching mystery element. I write like that too, also, one element links all my books regardless of genre. Happy treasure hunting!
Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope, while driving home during a blizzard, becomes disorientated and loses her way on the backcountry roads of Northumberland in England. Off the beaten track she finds a car abandoned, one door open, and a baby in the back seat. I can’t imagine anything more alarming. Where are the mother and father? When she takes the child with her, Vera realizes she is mere feet from her father’s ancestral home. Hector was the black sheep of the Stanhope Clan. The place is lit up and welcoming but Vera’s cousin was not expecting her, but invited guests for a dinner party and certainly not a baby. Then to discover the child’s mother murdered on their grounds. I fell in love with Vera in the first book and want to be just like her when I grow up. I like the police procedural rhythm of these books and…
DCI Vera Stanhope returns in The Darkest Evening, the ninth novel in No. 1 Sunday Times bestseller Ann Cleeves's phenomenally popular crime series.
The darkest nights can hide the deadliest secrets . . .
Driving home during a swirling blizzard, Vera Stanhope's only thought is to get there quickly.
But with the snow driving down heavily, she becomes disorientated and loses her way, eventually stumbling on another car abandoned on the road. With the driver's door open, Vera assumes the driver has sought shelter but is shocked to find a young toddler strapped in the back seat.
When the Marquis de Marquette chooses to spend the summer of 1908 in Marquette, Michigan, a city named for his illustrious Jesuit relative, the residents are all astir with excitement. People begin vying to rub shoulders with the marquis, but he remains very private until he hosts a masquerade ball…
For almost thirty years, I worked as a cop in the back alleys, poorly lit laneways, and forgotten neighbourhoods in Toronto, the city where I grew up. Murder, mayhem, and sexual violations intended to demean, shame, and haunt the victims were all in a day’s work. Whether as a beat cop or a plainclothes detective, I dealt with good people who did bad things and bad people who followed their instincts. And now that I’m retired, I can take some of those experiences and turn them into crime fiction novels.
I really enjoyed the entire 87th Precinct series, wherein Ed McBain creates the American police procedural genre.
Cop Hater, the first in the series, is hard-hitting, fast-paced, filled with complex characters, and captures the essence of a cop’s soul while giving the reader a wonderful glimpse into the world of criminal investigations.
The murder of three detectives in quick succession in the 87th Precinct leads Detective Steve Carella on a search through the city's underside and ultimately into the murderer's sights
I am a science fiction and fantasy novelist and also a screenwriter and prolific writer of audio dramas for BBC Radio. I began my career many eons ago writing for the crime drama series The Bill and during that period I spent a lot of time mixing with coppers & villains and attending crime scenes. I have a great passion for detective and crime writing as well as all forms of speculative fiction, and I’m a sucker for crime/fantasy mash-ups.
I bought this book in Hatchard’s bookshop because I liked the cover, and because I like stories about Hell. A great choice on my part—this wonderful crime/fantasy novel features a detective called Thomas Fool in the most lawless land there can be. Thomas has to investigate a series of grisly murders which threaten the Devil’s domain; and to make his police procedural story work Unsworth has to invent a whole new mythology of Hell in which murder is even possible. The writing is stunningly evocative and the logic of the world building is remarkable even if it is, ultimately, bonkers. This book and its sequel, The Devil’s Evidence, are the noirest of noirs and are completely unputdownable.
Solving crimes was the purpose of Hell's Information Men, yet they almost never achieved it, and even when they did, the facts they scraped free were lost, buried again in the labyrinthine mess of the infernal Bureaucracy.
When an unidentified, brutalised body is discovered in Hell, the case is assigned to Thomas Fool. But how do you investigate a murder where death is commonplace and everyone is guilty of something?
Do you see the pattern in the five books I’ve recommended? In each of them, a woman writer explores the darker side of human nature and lures the law-abiding reader to explore it, too. I do not expect to ever commit a murder or to have to cover one up for the sake of a loved one. But could I? Could the person next to me in the grocery store line? Hmmm, I wonder. Traditional mystery stories and police procedurals reassure the reader that in the end, justice will be served and order restored. The women writers of noir/psychological suspense make us contemplate the world very differently.
The Vault is the sequel to A Sight for Sore Eyes. It is a police procedural with the detective trying to identify several dead bodies found in an abandoned coal cellar. The dead seem to have no connection to each other, so the detective must also puzzle out how each of them came to be there. I recommend it because the reader has some fun: She knows the answers to all those questions from having read the first book. It’s a great twist on mystery-as-riddle whodunits.
INCLUDES AN EXCERPT OF RENDELL’S FINAL NOVEL, DARK CORNERS
In the stunning climax to Rendell’s classic 1998 novel A Sight for Sore Eyes, three bodies—two dead, one living—are entombed in an underground chamber beneath a picturesque London house. Twelve years later, the house’s new owner pulls back a manhole cover, and discovers the vault—and its grisly contents. Only now, the number of bodies is four. How did somebody else end up in the chamber? And who knew of its existence?
With their own detectives at an impasse, London police call on former Kingsmarkham Chief Inspector Wexford, now retired and living…
When a high security prison fails, a down-on-his luck cop and the governor’s daughter must team up if they’re going to escape in this "jaw-dropping, authentic, and absolutely gripping" (Harlan Coben, #1 New York Times bestselling author) USA Today bestselling thriller from Adam Plantinga.
I’ve been a writer of nonfiction and fiction and full-time editor since my college years, and a publisher (Smart Rhino Publications). I’ve read horror and suspense fiction all my life, but it’s only been in the past decade or so that my reading has turned more and more toward police procedurals, noir, and crime fiction. It was only natural that I’d turn to writing a police procedural series, starting with Harvester of Sorrow. I hope you’ll read all the wonderful books I’ve recommended!
As a male writer, I find writing from a female point of view can often be difficult. Lisa Regan’s Finding Claire Fletcher, the first in her Connor Parks series, focused largely on a girl that has been kidnapped and held in captivity for years. As I read the book, I learned much from Regan’s use of the girl’s perspective, especially juxtaposed with that of Parks’ POV.
In the first book in bestselling author Lisa Regan's new series, a one-night stand sets a detective on the trail of a terrifying unsolved crime.
With his career on thin ice and fresh ink on his divorce papers, Sacramento PD Detective Connor Parks goes searching for solace at the bottom of a bottle-and winds up in the arms of a beautiful woman. By morning she's gone, and the one clue she left behind sends Connor on a desperate mission to unravel a decade-old mystery-her abduction.
Presumed dead for the last ten years, Claire Fletcher has been living her life as…
