68 books like A Dance at the Slaughterhouse

Hollywood is a fascinating, exciting place in many people’s imaginations, and I was immediately pulled in by following along with Detective Bosch in the neighborhood’s Homicide division, seeing the crime under the veneer of glamour. This book has a lot of ties back to Bosch’s past (and demons) from his time in the military, and I enjoyed watching him work on a murder investigation. Observing a sharp mind at work is one of the joys of this novel style, and Connelly does a great job crafting that here.

Amazon Prime viewers will also recognize the story as having been adapted for their show. 

Okay, Evanovich has written seven million Stephanie Plum mysteries, but they are truly funny. Best start with the first one, when we were all young and had golden hair (highlights?).

The humor is smart and not sophomoric. I’m an improv comic and there is a difference between being juvenile and crude, and being clever. Check her clever Plum series out if you want to laugh. There are so many of them you could also use them to build that upstairs addition you’ve been planning.

Robert B. Parker’s Cold Service is one of my favorite Spenser novels because it provides more insight into the character Hawk. Hawk is in the hospital, three bullets in his back from trying to protect a bookie from the Ukrainian mob. The Ukrainians are spreading their turf from NYC to the Boston area (a town called Marshport). Spenser comes to the rescue, and the two men take on the impossible task of defeating the Ukrainian mob and their Afghani heroine-dealing overlords while avenging Hawks shooting. Alone, Hawk can’t deal with the thought of showing weakness and Spencer ponders his mortality. Together Spenser and Hawk appear to be invincible. Their code allows them to engage in brutality and come out as likable characters. The way in which Parker spins a tale using simple dialogue is ingenious. His main characters Spenser, Hawk, and Susan Silverman are a joy to get to know… show more.

Patricia Cornwell’s book series with medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta never disappoints, with clever plots, lots of action. In Flesh and Blood, Scarpetta receives a bizarre Mother’s Day poem and finds seven shiny 1981 pennies on the old brick wall behind her house. A sniper kills several seemingly unrelated people with a new rifle capable of incredible accuracy up to one thousand yards. One of the victims, a man involved in a lawsuit against the city, was being followed by the same sketchy insurance investigator as Scarpetta. All clues point to Scarpetta’s techno-genius millionaire daughter, Lucy. Scarpetta, her FBI husband Benton, and her ex-head of security Morino work to find out what’s really going on. The answer turns out to be Scarpetta’s worst nightmare. This book in the Scarpetta series includes a clever plot and the twists and turns that bring out the best in Cornwell’s characters.  

This book is one of a series of Mathew Scudder stories by Block. I enjoy his books because his main character is as flawed as we are. Matt is a hard-drinking former cop who goes about helping friends out of their troubles. And his friends are in a lot of trouble. Action and close calls, as well as humor, abound in this well-crafted story.

An immersive, impressionistic snapshot of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, as it was in the 1920s and early 1930s, when it was known not for hipsters, craft beer, and creative facial hair but as a Jewish slum rife with yentas and gangsters. Fuchs published this book in 1934 and swiftly followed it up with two more novels, Homage to Blenholt and Low Company. The books didn’t sell, but Fuchs catapulted himself out of the ghetto and into a respectable West Coast life as a Hollywood screenwriter. Only after Fuchs had all but stopped writing fiction did these early books receive a warm reassessment from the likes of John Updike and Jonathan Lethem. Full disclosure: Fuchs was my great uncle! He was the older brother of my maternal grandfather.

It’s impossible not to root for Lucy Clark. Shipped by negligent parents to a boarding school where every semblance of comfort is taken from her, and then brutally banished to NYC after a terrible accident, Lucy finds herself trying to solve a murder mystery.

The target is an elderly woman who has been grossly underestimated, much like Lucy herself. With a keen best friend, ageism-defying twists, and the rich refuge of plants and desserts, this book is a must-read for anyone who’s ever found themselves at the bottom, looking for a way back up.

Davis takes you on an engrossing adventure into New York’s past—and present—that encompasses mystery, history, suspense, unexpected romances, real family drama, art, heroines generations apart, feminism, and so much more, evoking one’s every emotion.

Her skillful combination of fact and fiction is brilliant, and I thoroughly enjoyed the thrilling exposés of buried secrets of the Gilded Age. I fell in love with Davis's descriptions of the artwork and the strong women involved in making the Frick Mansion/Museum a New York icon. I wanted to get on the next plane to New York and feel their spirits that she so believably described, and as an artist, myself, revel again in the esteemed artwork there!

One of the many wistful and beautiful photos in this book caught my eye in an exhibit at the New York Historical Society in 2021.

Her photography, and the attendant essays, evoke not only the isolation of quarantine, but the ways we rediscovered the desire for human connection. What could be easier than meeting a friend, careful to stay 6’ apart? Or sadder?

John O’Hara’s name should be spoken in the same breath as Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, and Hemingway. Maybe it isn’t, because he never had that one homerun book that stood out in the canon, like a Gatsby or a Grapes of Wrath. Though I think Butterfield 8 and Appointment in Samara stand up to either of the above, I have chosen this collection of short stories. He wrote more short stories for the New Yorker than anyone ever did and is credited with inventing that particular style that the periodical became known for. Each of these stories – all short and fast as an uppercut – shows the flawed humanity striving in the city from the 30s to the 60s – from ad men to secretaries, to bums and soda jerks. With his trademark crackling dialogue, this collection of gritty Americana will leave you feeling like you are standing in an… show more.