100 books like Almost Midnight

This is another historical mystery but it's set in a different time period than Huber's mysteries.

The main character of this book has been hired as an assistant to a detective in Victorian England and through the course of the book, I learned a great deal about the history of law enforcement. I think we take so much for granted in our high-tech, always-connected world.

It's surprising and sometimes amazing to realize how the world functioned before telephones, automobiles, and a unified law enforcement department. 

I admit it: I underestimated Flavia de Luce.

She is 11 years old, self-schooled, and lives outside a small English town in the 1950s. She is overlooked and underestimated by everyone. Deep inside, I’m still 11 years old, underestimated, and overlooked. I had an insatiable desire to learn about my environment, and I often saw things others didn’t. Flavia also reminds me of my childhood living in the country in the 1980s. I ran unchecked, safe, and constantly delighted in discovering new things about my corner of the world. I wince at the de Luce family politics. I cheer Flavia’s investigations and her fearlessness. I want nothing more than to stay in Flavia’s 11-year-old world forever. She is the kick-ass kid I wanted to be. 

I love reading books that look underneath what is shown to most people—how things work behind the scenes, or a glimpse into a different world.

This book takes what we think is a modern-day world and gives it a bit of a twist, with a special division of the London police charged with handling supernatural crimes that take place, well, in plain sight.

The thing that was most intriguing about this narrator was that I had the feeling I was learning with him about all the ghosts and goblins and beasties as he discovered them. I was as surprised as he was about the solving of the mystery.

I enjoy reading historical fiction, especially when I'm in the middle of writing my next mystery story. I like to read outside my genre so historical mysteries satisfy that desire for me to learn about the past while still studying how other mystery authors craft their stories.

This book features a heroine who is an artist and who was also initially ostracized by society because of her first husband. Her current husband is an 'investigative agent' in the 19th century and she's frequently drawn into his cases.

I like her because she's not afraid to speak her mind but she also knows when to keep quiet – a talent she had to acquire when dealing with some of the high-and-mighty people she meets.

This is another book that kept me guessing all the way through–not only about the whodunnit but also about what kind of book it even is.

I loved Vesta Gul, an older widow who just moved into a rural community, as the unlikely sleuth. You’d think she had enough problems living in the middle of nowhere with no support network other than her dog, but after she finds a mysterious note in the woods, she’s determined to solve the murder mystery on her own, even before she finds a body.

I enjoyed watching her find a destructive new sense of purpose as she stopped at nothing to complete the case.

I chose this for authenticity. Newsday's review said it was "chillingly real" and "the reader himself seems to be traveling with 'the Jackal.'"

That’s because Forsyth, as a foreign correspondent working in Europe and Africa, knew assassins, mercenaries, and arms dealers, which allowed him to craft fantastic but believable characters, settings, and situations. Forsyth opens the novel with the depiction of a real assassination attempt, employs historical figures, locations, and details, then seamlessly weaves his fictional plot into this authentic world.

Forsyth reveals lives most of us can only imagine, and he shows that wall-to-wall suspense does not require wall-to-wall action, but is built on plausible intrigue, sustained tension, and excellent writing.

The action and adventure in this story were perfect for the thrill-seeker in me. I already knew that being an undercover agent as a teen would make for an interesting storyline, but then the author makes Christy join a group of adrenaline junkies, and the stakes keep getting higher, and the thrills keep getting scarier.

The thing that I loved most about this book was how each chapter end left me hanging and I had to keep reading to find out what happened next. I especially felt a kinship for Christy because, even though she is a teenager who is learning who she is, she is also a protector who has been enlisted by the FBI to save people. There is also a storyline of true love and friendship that grounded me and made me feel for the characters. 

I am a huge fan of Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train, and this book is an homage to that film—but in the form of a domestic thriller.

A mysterious stranger on the train, a wife troubled by her husband’s infidelity, a missing nanny: each has her own story to tell that eventually intersects with the others and kept me guessing until the end.

I saw the 1987 film adaptation of this novel starring Scott Glenn before I read the book, which is set decades earlier.

I loved the progression of this hard-bitten, psychologically damaged mercenary coming to love this little girl that he is charged with protecting. It’s such a pure emotion for him and the fact that she returns it so completely, as only a child can, is heart-wrenching.

Both the 1987 and the 2004 film adaptations do a good job capturing the magic of this drama, but as is usually the case, the novel does it best. If someone loves The Mandalorian, it is worth trying Man on Fire, which the former has many parallels with.

If you haven’t discovered Joshilyn Jackson, you’re in for a treat. Her Domestic Suspense novels are so sharp, cleverly plotted, and darkly funny.

It’s not old friends but new ones that wreak havoc in Never Have I Ever, as a glamorous “bad girl” newcomer joins the local book club—with ulterior motives.

This is a tale of the secrets people hope will stay hidden, manipulation, and below-the-surface danger, told with wry insights about human nature and crackling humor.