10 books like Hotel Paradise

Does it seem to you that life lately has become somewhat insane? The politics, breaking news flashes, social media notifications, all expounding doom and gloom. Do you ever ask yourself what happened to political correctness? If you’re exasperated by political controversy, you should read the satirical mystery, Squeeze Me. I’ve always been a big fan of journalist and novelist Carl Hiaasen. In his latest book, Hiaasen’s taken the current-day craziness to an entirely new level, turning a U.S. president loose in Florida allowing him to wreak havoc with our political system. I highly recommend this book because sometimes all you can do is laugh.

Much lighter in tone than the preceding, this book is narrated by Chet the dog.

Utterly charming, Chet is the quintessential unreliable narrator. Not because he wants to be, but life is just so full of distractions.

Though there are many books in the series, Dog On It is book one and does a great job introducing both Chet and his human, Bernie Little, a small-time private investigator with money problems.

The mystery is fun and the rapport between these two characters delightful. This is a perfect read when you want to escape a difficult day or time.

Is there a better book title than The Last Camel Died at Noon? When I saw this book in the bookstore, I bought it instantly. What curious mind wouldn’t? I had to know the who, what, where, when, and why of this story. And to my delight, it was set in the early twentieth century in one of my favorite, exotic countries, Egypt. Archeologist couple Amelia Peabody and husband Radcliffe Emerson, are Nick and Nora Charles, Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes, and Tommy and Tuppence Beresford all rolled into one. The Last Camel is the sixth book in Elizabeth Peter’s humorous, mystery series. I’ve read them all many times over. I recommended starting with the first book, Crocodile on the Sandbank. 

You may have noticed there’s a bit of a theme here, well, other than that I love all these books, but this introduction to Stephanie Plum and her entourage is a great book that keeps me coming back when I’m in the mood for a laugh and a look at a family that’s even crazier than mine.

Stephanie is down and out, and out of desperation, blackmails her cousin into giving her a shot at bounty hunter. Experience? Who needs experience? Her first skip? An ex-cop she’s had more than a few run-ins with…usually without all her clothing.

Stephanie, her friends, and family make the whole adventure fun and make me come back over and over because I just can’t get enough of Stephanie.

You cannot make a list of realistic World War II novels without including The Thin Red Line. While it’s not popular to admit that Americans commit atrocities in war, James Jones goes there. Imagine that you are a Japanese soldier who has just been eviscerated by flying shrapnel. You see flies buzzing around your entrails now looped obscenely in the dirt but are too weak to shoo them away. A shadow falls across your face, and you look up to see a U.S. Marine holding a combat knife.  He uses it to pry open your mouth, then clinches pliers around one of your teeth and yanks. Mercifully darkness closes in, and you see no more.

Yes, American’s collected gold teeth from dead and dying Japanese. Why? Well, seeing what the Japanese did to captured Americans – they left the mutilated bodies to be found by advancing GIs – created a… show more.

Walter Mosley’s Devil in a Blue Dress, the first of his novels to feature Black WWII-veteran-turned-detective Ezekiel ’Easy’ Rawlins, reads like a hard-boiled blues song.

The prose is both terse and descriptive, flowing easily on the page with Mosley’s fantastic ear for dialogue and the workings of Easy’s inner voice.

Again, we’re in postwar Los Angeles, in 1948, following Easy on a trail of misadventures as he runs afoul of both cops and crooks in his quest to track down a mysterious blonde.

And while Devil in a Blue Dress is most certainly a detective novel, Mosley’s wit and insight into the human condition elevate it into something more.

It’s tough, it’s sexy, and it’s not to be missed.

I teach at a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) and it’s important for my students to identify with the historical actors we study. Escobedo resonates with them because she artfully discusses how the “Good War” was perceived within Mexican American families living in Southern California. She argues that Mexican American women, especially those working in the defense industry, were “racially malleable” and members of an “in-between” community during the war.

There’s so much going on in this story—insights into race and gender, sexuality and family dynamics, fears about “race mixing,” and wartime demographic shifts. Yet in all this, Escobedo never loses sight of the women themselves and their powerful voices.

Although this one is not a movie, Ted Dekker’s works have been adapted into feature films and have hit multiple bestseller lists, including The New York Times. I inhaled this book in a few days (they call him the “master of suspense”). An impactful read, though not for the faint of heart.

This book is laugh-out-loud funny. The rich socialite heroine is quite intelligent in some things and ridiculously stupid in others. The whole book is absolutely unbelievable, but utterly delightful – and way beyond society's terms of approval for women in 1907 Los Angeles. Sometimes a book doesn’t have to be anything but a joy to read. This one delivers.

This is the third book in the Trip Callaway Gig mystery series written by Phil Swann. While I’ve enjoyed all the Trip Callaway books, I especially like this one because it takes place in 1966 Hollywood. In this story, musician and undercover agent Trip Callaway takes us into the world of Los Angeles studio musicians, who played on all those memorable recordings and variety shows of the time. On top of spending some quality time in great, but sadly long gone, Hollywood hotspots like Shelly’s Manne Hole, The Palomino, and Martoni’s – places I went growing up in Los Angeles – Tinseltown Tango is also a ripping good yarn. If you enjoy a good murder mystery with a dash of music and no shortage of laughs, check out this book. You won’t be disappointed.