71 books like Date with Evil

This is the first in the Nell Ward Mystery Series where, unusually, the main character and amateur sleuth is an ecologist.

What I enjoy about this book is how the author cleverly uses the skills of an ecologist to solve the mystery and thereby draws a parallel with CSI techniques. We also learn a great deal of fascinating ecological detail (particularly about bats and badgers) and environmentalism tangentially to the storyline, which certainly adds another layer to the reading experience and this is what has stayed with me.

This is the first of the Edge Of the World Detective Agency series and is a quirky, unusual, and curiously addictive read which breaks new ground in the mystery genre. 

What I enjoyed about this book is that while the vivid descriptions of familiar Cornish settings keep it within the realms of reality, the slightly eccentric, but believable characters, with their knowledge of herbalism and ancient Cornish customs give it a definite hint of magic and folklore that runs throughout.

This is what stayed with me and made me think that there is very likely another side to Cornwall that tourists are simply unaware of.

This is the first of the Castleby series which are thrilling reads filled with action, mystery, suspense, alongside a touch of humour and romance.

What I love about this book is that the author chose the unusual setting of a RNLI station on the Welsh coast for this series, which brings a unique slant to the story. The well-drawn characters and vivid descriptions quickly draw you into a thrilling and fast-paced read.

I will never walk past a RNLI station again without thinking about the lives of the people who volunteer there.

In this excellently researched DI Ben Kitto series the author does not shy away from the fact that bad things happen in beautiful places.

I particularly love this first book because it sympathetically captures the essence of living in a small, remote island community, where drugs, violence, and alcohol are not far beneath the surface and the economic hardships these places endure are a daily concern.

The islands in this book are a far cry from the summer Isles of Scilly that many of us know and love and it is a realistic reminder that life anywhere is not always as idyllic and simple as it appears from the outside.

Having recently lost his wife to cancer, Chris Lowndes purchases a county home in the picturesque Yorkshire Dales and returns to his native England. Although the home is charming, it comes with a disturbing history. The previous owner died in the home during a winter blizzard more than fifty years earlier, and his beautiful and much younger wife was hanged after being found guilty of poisoning her husband.

Lowndes becomes obsessed with their story and his determination to uncover the truth–Was the poisoning accidental or done on purpose?–kept me wondering why he felt such a strong connection with this condemned woman.

This story is a beautifully told, enthralling page-turner. Be prepared for a revelation that will bring tears to your eyes.

When Peter Robinson passed away in 2022, he had written 28 novels in the Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks series.

Robinson needs no introduction here, but I have included him on this list because he sets these novels in a fictional town in the Yorkshire Dales, close to where I grew up, and also because he was very encouraging to me personally when I wrote my first Joe Romano novel.

Whereas the books are very much mainstream crime novels, they also have a literary quality to them. He manages to achieve a fine balance between genre fiction and a more literary style. You often forget that you’re reading crime at all.

The series was also made into TV series (DCI Banks) starring Stephen Tompkinson, which ran for five series, and really captures the essence of the books.

As entertaining as the PBS series about Yorkshire veterinarian James Herriott (pseudonym for author James Alfred Wight) is, the book is even better.

A blend of memoir, travelogue, and journal, Herriott’s tales of life among the farmers of England’s Yorkshire Dales are heartwarming, hilarious, and riveting. From his familial relationships with the Farnon brothers, with whom he lives, to the sometimes endearing, sometimes mercurial encounters with his patients—both the 2-legged and 4-legged variety—reading the adventures of this country vet is both informative and engaging.

You’ll go places you never imagined, want to watch the series—original and remake—all over again, and will, if you’re like me, make a solemn pledge to visit the Dales before you die! 

My copy of this book is battered, dog-eared, and creased from the sheer number of times I’ve read and re-read it. It’s an absolutely glorious family saga, recounted by Ruby who narrates her own conception in the first chapter and takes us back through generations weaving together all the different stories that lead up to the events of her own life. It’s brilliantly funny and heartbreaking and it skewers the oddities and dysfunction of family relationships so perfectly. Characters wrestle with their grief, they deny it and suppress it and it rears up to overwhelm them but ultimately they find their way through. I’m with them every step of the way, unable to put the book down whenever I pick it up again…and again! 

First of all, the title. Intriguing, original, enigmatic. That is what first drew me to this book. I had to find out more about it.

This book is much more in the style of traditional ghost stories, which I love. A spooky, desolate setting in an old house with a long history. I love the build-up of suspense, the remote location adding to the sense of isolation and helplessness, everything cold, chilly. 

The ghostly happenings, whilst perhaps not original, are very well done, which is just fine with me. Traditional ghost stories are meant to have certain elements that are standard, just as fantasy stories must have certain magical aspects. As far as ghost stories are concerned, as long as they make the hair on the back of my neck stand on end, I’m happy. This book does that extremely well, I thought. Absolutely dripping with spooky atmosphere.

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.