Love Mary Finch and the Thief? Readers share 80 books like Mary Finch and the Thief...

This is a book that feels like stepping into an epic adventure while still staying grounded in real-life struggles. I love Percy’s wit and his ability to keep pushing forward, even when the odds are stacked against him.

His dynamics with those around him are relatable, and reading this reminded me of being a kid, when every discovery felt monumental and every mistake felt earth-shattering. It’s funny and heartfelt—a reminder of the resilience we all have.

It is hard to think of your childhood without remembering The Magic School Bus. Both the books and the show were simply captivating and taught scientific concepts in a fun, engaging way that stuck with all of us. It is always my go-to when I am teaching science, and my kids absolutely adore watching or reading this series.

I grew up in a house where reading was encouraged, and I wanted to carry that tradition onto my kid. He was drawn to the Magic Tree House series, and I loved these books, too. We read all of the books in the series, but I believe this book is the first.

As we read about Jack and Annie's adventures in this book (They are the main characters.), we learned a good deal about dinosaurs and the prehistoric past. It's a great way to understand history. I enjoyed how Jack and Annie wound up in a world of dinosaurs and figured out how to return home.

This series really brings dinosaurs to life for young readers. One of my children was obsessed with dinos for a while, and this series was so much fun to read together. They are full of interesting facts and tons of action. I highly recommend them as read-alouds for the entire family.

A Sherlock Holmes–themed bookshop located at 222 Baker Street in West London, Massachusetts, with an adjoining tea shop. That’s really all I need to say, isn’t it? But in this particular book in the series, our heroine, Gemma Doyle, heads across the pond to attend a Sherlock Holmes conference, and there were so many cups of tea being brewed that I couldn’t help grinning at how it seems to be the cure for every British ailment. 

You like your small, introspective, architecture-of-a-marriage stories? Well, here’s the Romance version. Nothing really happens, plot-wise. It is simply a masterclass of two characters matched in every way that matters, ready to destroy everything they could potentially have because they’re scared of getting hurt. Humorous. Hot. Nerdy. Incisive. Affecting. This will introduce you to the basic foundation of Historical Romance—essentially, “the marriage plot”—in the quiet way you’re looking for.

Before the Metropolitan Police (popularly known as Scotland Yard) existed, the Bow Street Runners were in charge of criminal investigation in Britain. Henry Goddard, the brilliant and incisive Runner, employed Sherlockian techniques years before the first Sherlock Holmes story was published. In later years, as a private detective, he continued to investigate and solve famous and complex crimes-He traveled widely, pursuing suspects through the Middle East, Europe, and Australia all of which he vividly describes.

In his old age, he dictated these memoirs, which give us a detailed account of his methods, and how he found "The Man With the Hidden Limp" and how he proved "The Butler Really Did It." It also makes clear how many errors of fact crept into later accounts of these famous crimes. Anyone with an interest in early criminal history will find this fascinating.

I don’t just love this book; I adore it. I have read it so many times that I have worn out two paperback copies and need to acquire a new copy. I found this such a fun book. It inverts the Sherlock Holmes world, with the “hero” being Professor Moriarty, and the narrator being his henchman Colonel Sebastian Moran.

I laugh every time I read it, especially because of its Sherlockian humor and the appearances of characters from other books of the period.  

The story unfolds with sections both from Watson and Count Dracula and is just a great deal of fun.

Saberhagen wrote an entire series starring Dracula, but this one, with Holmes in it, is the best of the lot and Saberhagen does some really fun, fun things with the conflict between the two.

Like so many, I’m addicted to this series. Often imitated, never surpassed, Simenon is perhaps the only mystery writer to be nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature, and was considered by some contemporaries to be the greatest French novelist of his time. Don’t let that put you off. These are great mysteries with an indelible sense of time and place. If the Sherlock Holmes stories can transport me to Victorian London, I can as easily take an absorbing mid-20th century trip to the underside of Paris with Inspector Jules Maigret.

These police procedurals offer unforgettable characters and deep psychological insight. Maigret and the Bum is perhaps my favorite. The bum of the title is a vagrant who has been beaten nearly to death on the banks of the Seine. As Maigret investigates the crime, he finds that the victim was once a highly respected doctor, dedicated to helping the… show more.