Fans pick 32 books like Cruel Lessons

Once I got into reading crime properly, I soon found my favourite period: the so-called "Golden Age" of the 1920s and 30s, where the writing was all about a clever plot and less about nasty descriptions of murder and death.

This book was written bang in the middle of this period. Though I personally am not the hugest fan of Sayers' rather smug and entitled detective, Lord Peter Wimsey, I love this book for its supremely clever plot, with clues concealed in the most unlikely places.

It’s also a fun setting among a bunch of artists in Galloway, Scotland. One painter, a quarrelsome drunkard, is murdered. Six others are suspected. You will be puzzling over paint colours and train timetables to work out the killer.

I loved this book by Jessica R. Patch for its perfect blend of relentless suspense and second-chance romance. The mystery kept me guessing with its clever suspects and red herrings. Asa and Fiona, seasoned FBI agents with a complex history, drew me in with their dynamic and emotional depth.

The tension and anticipation throughout this thriller made it impossible to put down. Patch's ability to weave crime-solving with romance kept me hooked and eager for more. This book was an unforgettable read for me as someone who loves mystery with heart.

I chose this book as it was the one that introduced me to Morse, not the code but the Detective Chief Inspector. Apart from being an excellent crime solver, he is also a superb Times crossword solver. I liked that this cerebral activity was a clue in itself to his method of disentangling the threads linking the criminal to the murder. In that respect, he resembles Poirot, like Morse, a man of limited physical activity.

I found the man, rather than the policeman, was an enigma. He can be charming, but mostly he’s curt, cranky, and cynical. He has a passion for Real Ale, Scotch Whisky, and pubs but loses himself in classical music and opera. He’s a bachelor, sometimes a little lecherous, but he loves and admires women.

I was amused by the fact no one knew his first name. If asked, he would say it was Inspector. In… show more.

Actually, I tell a lie. I had read crime before my honeymoon, but only Agatha Christie, whose whodunnits always feature murders that are tastefully described and over in a couple of lines.

With Christie, it’s all about the puzzle, and boy, is she good at that. Her characters are often a bit two-dimensional, but you forgive that for the sake of her plots, which always race along and convince, however unlikely in real life.

This is one of her most famous ones, and rightly so. No spoilers here, but if you read this as I did as a teenager (recommended by my father) you are in for a grand surprise. Hopefully.

A Siege of Bitterns features an unusual protagonist: a reluctant detective. DI Domenic Jejeune is a Canadian transplanted to the UK, to premier birding country. Jejeune likes bird watching as much, if not more, than solving murders. He occasionally comes across as a tortured eccentric. One wonders how he can solve crimes. But he does. His odd individualism is reminiscent of famous fictional detectives like Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot. A Siege of Bitterns features a tangled bird’s nest of false starts and red herrings. Burrows doesn’t shy away from descriptive prose and yet the novel doesn’t lose momentum. It stays focused on the prize: the whodunit.

I’m not usually a fan of mysteries with paranormal elements, but the first Lady Adelaide mystery, Nobody’s Sweetheart Now, has just a touch of it—a debonair ghost, Lady Adelaide’s dead husband, who drops into her life when she’s hosting a weekend house party. I love a mystery set at a county house party, so I was predisposed to enjoy this book because of the setting, but the repartee between Rupert, who was a philanderer and needs to do a good deed to pass over to the other side, and Lady Adelaide added a new angle to the typical manor house mystery that had me smiling throughout the book.

In this first of the Pancake House series, we meet Marley, who comes to town to help out with her cousin’s restaurant. Immediately, Fox draws us in with relatable characters, a charming town, and that wonderful blend of new and old. For Marley, this isn’t her hometown so she has an outsider’s perspective but it is a place she spent many summers so she also has those memories that make the place more meaningful. The love interest is Brett, who she knows from those long ago summer days and as fun as the sleuthing is, the connection between these two kept me coming back for more. 

This is a twisted romantic suspense that delivers a gripping read.

Romance and suspense merge when a decade-old secret turns deadly. The opening chapter thrust me into the murder of Reagan Asher’s grandmother. Not getting what they wanted, the culprits set their sights on Reagan. Passed events become the premise of this novel, and Reagan must come to terms with her grandmother’s death and her father’s betrayal to stay alive and uncover the truth.

The unpredictable nature of this story was a winner for me.

I found this book to be a fascinating science-fiction pandemic thriller that covers an epic time scale and some really crazy ideas. The writing captured my attention quickly, and I found this story to be an intense read. The plot surfaced moments in my imagination where I couldn’t help but question the likelihood of these events happening in our modern-day world.

I also relate to Christopher Dicken (the protagonist), a virus hunter who makes an unbelievable discovery. His attempts to uncover the truth about human evolution and save his family against what seems like every power on earth felt very real to me. It’s a wild story that has stuck with me over the years, and it’s definitely worth reading again.

I do love a chase thriller, especially one that has you scratching your head until the author reveals a clue or adds more calculated confusion or a red herring. This plot starts with a terrorist attack in Europe and involves a clever barrister and an agent trying to solve a mystery that introduces us to a double agent.

I think the plot is a very clever one where no one can be trusted until the mystery is solved. Kent is really good at characterization and some of his descriptive work I found very colorful. A damn good read.