61 books like The Cold Blue Blood

By David Handler,

Here are 61 books that The Cold Blue Blood fans have personally recommended if you like The Cold Blue Blood. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of One for the Money

Maria Schneider Author Of One Good Eclair: A Nutrition Mafia Mystery

From my list on humorous, non-paranormal, cozy mysteries.

Why am I passionate about this?

Cozy mysteries tend to exist in a simpler world, one without extreme violence and heavy swearing. They are often set in bucolic settings, but they deal with murder! I love many of the cozy tropes—tea, cats, dogs or other pets, family shenanigans, food. I think it’s family nuances that draw me the most to cozies. Whether it’s a romantic comedy or just one full of capers and laughter, cozies are my favorite genre.

Maria's book list on humorous, non-paranormal, cozy mysteries

Maria Schneider Why did Maria love this book?

One of the first modern cozy mysteries I have ever read, Stephanie Plum is zany, ridiculous, and laugh-out-loud funny. Basically, she’s a bounty hunter, and she gets her man and solves mysteries despite herself. Her Grandma Mazur is quite possibly one of the best sidekick characters ever invented. Funerals may or may not involve dead bodies, but Granny Mazur will be there anyway, even if it means stealing a corpse. Especially if it means stealing a corpse! Stephanie has a habit of losing cars and getting stuck driving a very old boat of a car (Big Buick), which deprives her of looking as cool as she’d like. Well, she isn’t exactly a put-together gal, so that’s okay. 

The initial books in the series are almost a coming of age—a chance at a career, a chance or two at romance, and family shenanigans that almost kill her with good intentions. This…

By Janet Evanovich,

Why should I read it?

15 authors picked One for the Money as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Stephanie Plum is down on her luck. She's lost her job, her car's on the brink of repossession, and her apartment is fast becoming furniture-free.

Enter Cousin Vinnie, a low-life who runs a bail-bond company. If Stephanie can bring in vice cop turned outlaw Joe Morelli, she stands to pick up $10,000. But tracking down a cop wanted for murder isn't easy . . .

And when Benito Ramirez, a prize-fighter with more menace than mentality, wants to be her friend Stephanie soon knows what it's like to be pursued. Unfortunately the best person to protect her just happens to…


Book cover of Lucky You

Jill Brock Author Of Pennywise

From my list on humorous mysteries to make you smile.

Why am I passionate about this?

Born and raised in New York City, my plans to become an artist got sidetracked by an interest in psychology. While in school, I graduated college, majoring in Fine Arts and Psychology, combining my two interests. I continued my education as a Graphic Designer at The School of Visual Arts. I worked as a freelance graphic artist for a while before starting a career in the creative arts therapies. While I enjoy a dark, brooding, suspenseful mystery, sometimes I need a little humor to round out those dark edges. Despite some bad things happening in the world, most people do silly, goofy, and often stupid things and you have to laugh.

Jill's book list on humorous mysteries to make you smile

Jill Brock Why did Jill love this book?

How can a story about white supremacists, lottery tickets, and turtles make you laugh? In Carl Hiaasen’s Lucky You, murder and mayhem are the least of its treasures. Hiaasen’s style is witty, wildly humorous and with a keen eye for the obvious. He has a way of inhabiting his stories with colorful, bombastic characters who linger long after you turn that last page. He sets most of his stories in southern Florida, which only adds to Hiaasen’s unique setting and style.

By Carl Hiaasen,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Lucky You as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From the author of STRIP TEASE and STORMY WEATHER, a lighthearted crime novel set in Florida. Two white-trash reprobates win a lottery jackpot of $28 million but are forced to share this amount with a third party. When they decide that this is not acceptable they set out to find the other winner and void her claim by violent means.


Book cover of Bury the Lead

Jill Brock Author Of Pennywise

From my list on humorous mysteries to make you smile.

Why am I passionate about this?

Born and raised in New York City, my plans to become an artist got sidetracked by an interest in psychology. While in school, I graduated college, majoring in Fine Arts and Psychology, combining my two interests. I continued my education as a Graphic Designer at The School of Visual Arts. I worked as a freelance graphic artist for a while before starting a career in the creative arts therapies. While I enjoy a dark, brooding, suspenseful mystery, sometimes I need a little humor to round out those dark edges. Despite some bad things happening in the world, most people do silly, goofy, and often stupid things and you have to laugh.

Jill's book list on humorous mysteries to make you smile

Jill Brock Why did Jill love this book?

The first time I read David Rosenfelt’s Andy Carpenter series, I immediately thought that Groucho Marx had moved to North Jersey, gone into law, and adopted a rescue dog. Rosenfelt’s reluctant lawyer hero goes at his oddball cases with a collection of even odder associates. Dry, witty, and a little self-effacing, Rosenfelt’s style brings to life a cast of characters that made me reluctant to put his books down. I started the series with the third book, Bury the Lead, first but quickly caught up. The first book in the series is Open and Shut. Mystery and animal lovers will find a place in their heart and funny bone.

By David Rosenfelt,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Bury the Lead as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Defence attorney Andy Carpenter has been successfully avoiding taking on new cases until his sometime friend and newspaper owner, Vince Sanders, calls and asks him for a favour. Daniel Cummings, Vince's star reporter, is being used as the mouthpiece for a serial killer. He has been cooperating with the police but Vince wants to make sure both the newspaper and Daniel are protected. Andy thinks the case be a piece of cake...until Daniel is found unconscious in park next to the killer's latest victim. Daniel claims he intended to stop the murder but the police arrest him. Now, with the…


Book cover of Sprinkled

Jill Brock Author Of Pennywise

From my list on humorous mysteries to make you smile.

Why am I passionate about this?

Born and raised in New York City, my plans to become an artist got sidetracked by an interest in psychology. While in school, I graduated college, majoring in Fine Arts and Psychology, combining my two interests. I continued my education as a Graphic Designer at The School of Visual Arts. I worked as a freelance graphic artist for a while before starting a career in the creative arts therapies. While I enjoy a dark, brooding, suspenseful mystery, sometimes I need a little humor to round out those dark edges. Despite some bad things happening in the world, most people do silly, goofy, and often stupid things and you have to laugh.

Jill's book list on humorous mysteries to make you smile

Jill Brock Why did Jill love this book?

My new best find is the Lacey Luzzi Mysteries by Gina LaManna. Along with smart titles and snappy dialogue, I fell in love with almost stripper Lacey Luzzi and her mafia family. The first book is a lovely introduction to unforgettable characters. Reminiscent of Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series, La Manna introduces us to gangsters, secret family history, questionable friends (Meg!), and her cousin. It’s a light and easy read for those dipping a toe into humorous cozy mysteries.

By Gina LaManna,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Sprinkled as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Lacey Luzzi's roller coaster of a life has been filled with the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. She just never expected the lows to be so...sparkly.

After falling on her face during an attempt to follow in her recently deceased mother's stripper boots, Lacey realizes she is not cut out for life onstage. She sets out on a yearlong investigation to find her true family, never expecting she'll find it with a capital F.

With a rumbling stomach, a need for money ("check engine" lights don't fix themselves!), and a conscience that operates at 78 percent on…


Book cover of The Reading List

Heather Hepler Author Of We Were Beautiful

From my list on when you’re feeling your worst.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have bad days. At times there have been a lot of bad days. I’m alone, caring for someone, working, scooping the cat box, and mopping the floors. Sometimes it can all feel a little sad and hopeless, like I am alone in the world. Stories are where I go when I’m happy. When I want adventure, mystery, or romance. But they are mostly where I go when I want to feel like I’m not the only one who feels this way sometimes. I can see that it’s not just me. I’m not alone.

Heather's book list on when you’re feeling your worst

Heather Hepler Why did Heather love this book?

I’ve always believed that reading can change the world, or at least my part of it. This book proved this to me as it wove seemingly unconnected lives together. Grief, anger, sadness, and loneliness all fall away when they begin reading and talking about the stories.

This book reminded me of sitting on the floor at the back of my town’s library. It reminded me of what it’s like to travel across time and around the world with just a book spread out on my lap. 

By Sara Nisha Adams,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Reading List as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

*A finalist in the Goodreads Choice Awards for Fiction, discover this year's most uplifting and heart-warming debut*

'Absolutely gorgeous' RUTH WARE
'The most heartfelt read of the summer' SHONDALAND
'A joyful, uplifting read!' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING
'A captivating debut' HEIDI SWAIN

_________________________________________________________________

A faded list.
Nine favourite stories.
For two strangers, friendship is only a page away . . .

When Mukesh Patel pops to the local library, forgoing his routine of grocery shopping and David Attenborough documentaries, he has no idea his life's about to change.

He meets Aleisha, a reluctant librarian and the keeper of a curious reading list…


Book cover of Grief Is the Thing with Feathers

Bobby Palmer Author Of Small Hours

From my list on talking animals for grown ups.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a British author who has always had a fascination with magical realism and novels that blend the serious with the strange. For that reason, though I write literary fiction for adults, I take so much of my inspiration from children’s literature. There’s something so simple about how kids’ books stitch the extraordinary into the every day without having to overexplain things. I now live not far from the forest that inspired A. A. Milne’s Hundred Acre Wood, and my latest novel is set in and inspired by this part of rural England–with all the mystery and magic that a trip into the woods entails.

Bobby's book list on talking animals for grown ups

Bobby Palmer Why did Bobby love this book?

In this claustrophobic modern classic, a grieving father and Ted Hughes scholar finds himself haunted by an oily, unnerving, anthropomorphic crow.

I’m a fan of anything Porter writes, but his debut is deserving of the indelible mark it’s made upon the modern literary landscape. The crow is a character like no other, and Porter’s poetry brings this strange and beautiful bird to life.

By Max Porter,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked Grief Is the Thing with Feathers as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A SUNDAY TIMES TOP 100 NOVEL OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

Winner of the 2016 International Dylan Thomas Prize and the Sunday Times/Peter, Fraser + Dunlop Young Writer of the Year award and shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the Goldsmiths Prize.

In a London flat, two young boys face the unbearable sadness of their mother's sudden death. Their father, a Ted Hughes scholar and scruffy romantic, imagines a future of well-meaning visitors and emptiness.

In this moment of despair they are visited by Crow - antagonist, trickster, healer, babysitter. This sentimental bird is drawn to the grieving family…


Book cover of The Fisherman

J. Lincoln Fenn Author Of The Nightmarchers

From my list on horror that will make you cancel your travel plans.

Why am I passionate about this?

Growing up in New England, my mother had a set of books that she kept in the living room, more for display than anything else. It was The Works of Edgar Allen Poe. I read them and instantly became hooked on horror. In the seventh grade, I entertained my friends at a sleepover by telling them the mysterious clanking noise (created by the baseboard heater) was the ghost of a woman who had once lived in the farmhouse, forced to cannibalize her ten children during a particularly bad winter. And I’ve been enjoying scaring people ever since.

J.'s book list on horror that will make you cancel your travel plans

J. Lincoln Fenn Why did J. love this book?

You don’t have to travel far for very bad things to happen to you, as the main characters in this book discover when they ignore local warnings about fishing in a nearby creek. I consider this a masterwork in any genre, and I’m actually re-reading it right now, even though it kinda broke me the first time. 

It’s a Lovecraftian, cosmic horror story that also creates a kind of allegory for grief. Having lost my parents in my late twenties, it felt like a fantastical yet unnervingly accurate reflection of the experience. 

By John Langan,

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked The Fisherman as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In upstate New York, in the woods around Woodstock, Dutchman's Creek flows out of the Ashokan Reservoir. Steep-banked, fast-moving, it offers the promise of fine fishing, and of something more, a possibility too fantastic to be true. When Abe and Dan, two widowers who have found solace in each other's company and a shared passion for fishing, hear rumors of the Creek, and what might be found there, the remedy to both their losses, they dismiss it as just another fish story. Soon, though, the men find themselves drawn into a tale as deep and old as the Reservoir. It's…


Book cover of American Gods

Terry Madden Author Of Three Wells of the Sea

From my list on mythic fantasy novels.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been studying Celtic myth and history since I was in college and took a class on Arthurian literature. Drawing heavily from Irish and Welsh lore to build my “land beyond the veil” known as the Five Quarters, I have always been intrigued by the Celtic view of the land of the dead as a distinct world to which we go and then return, like two sides of the mirrored surface of a well. I hope you enjoy these mythic fantasy books as much as I did!

Terry's book list on mythic fantasy novels

Terry Madden Why did Terry love this book?

Gaiman doesn’t just incorporate one myth into his story; he goes for them all and brings all the gods to America.

This novel defies categorizing. I have always been interested in probing the nature of religion and humanity’s invention of gods. How did we first encounter them, and are they still relevant in today’s world? How does the nature of story itself relate to the lives of the gods?

All of these points are dealt with in this unique and entirely new introduction to some very old gods. I found it not only highly entertaining but thought-provoking.

By Neil Gaiman,

Why should I read it?

11 authors picked American Gods as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Now a STARZ® Original Series – Season 3 premiere in January 2021

“Pointed, occasionally comic, often scary, consistently moving and provocative….American Gods is strewn with secrets and magical visions.”—USA Today

Newly updated and expanded with the author’s preferred text. A modern masterpiece from the multiple-award-winning master of innovative fiction, Neil Gaiman.

First published in 2001, American Gods became an instant classic, lauded for its brilliant synthesis of “mystery, satire, sex, horror, and poetic prose” (Washington Post) and as a modern phantasmagoria that “distills the essence of America” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer). It is the story of Shadow—released from prison just days after…


Book cover of Tempest

Bethany Bennett Author Of Dukes Do It Better

From my list on single parent romances that bang.

Why am I passionate about this?

I spent a decade as a single mom, so stories featuring solo parent protagonists make my book antennae perk up. A happy ever after is a must for a relaxing read, and I prefer stories that don’t slam the door in your face when things heat up between the couple. So much character work can happen between the sheets—especially when you’re dealing with people who have been hurt by love before. While there are closed-door or chaste romances out there that feature single parents, those are less likely to end up in my TBR, and thus less likely for me to push them into your hands.

Bethany's book list on single parent romances that bang

Bethany Bennett Why did Bethany love this book?

There’s a reason those in Romancelandia call Beverly Jenkins Ms. Bev. The woman is a queen. Jenkins is a trailblazer in the genre and writes unforgettable historical romances. So many historicals take place in England (mine included), but she prefers an American setting. Catnip tropes in this one include a mail-order bride and a single dad. The heroine makes you care about her personal love story while upending the usual power dynamic. Ms. Bev will always make the path to the happy ever after worth it.

By Beverly Jenkins,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Tempest as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

What kind of mail-order bride greets her intended with a bullet instead of a kiss? One like Regan Carmichael-an independent spirit equally at home in denims and dresses. Shooting Dr. Colton Lee in the shoulder is an honest error, but soon Regan wonders if her entire plan to marry a man she's never met is a mistake. Colton, who buried his heart along with his first wife, insists he only wants someone to care for his daughter. Yet Regan is drawn to the unmistakable desire in his gaze.


Regan's far from the docile bride Colton was expecting. Still, few women…


Book cover of The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry

Nancy Crochiere Author Of Graceland

From my list on runaway moms.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a young working mom, I occasionally longed to follow the example of columnist Erma Bombeck and hide from my family in the car. Instead, I channeled the mayhem of family life into a humor column called “The Mother Load,” which detailed the day-to-day challenges of running a business while caring for two daughters, one husband, two guinea pigs, and a dancing rabbit. When I decided to pursue my life-long dream to write fiction, my debut novel was a humorous story about a mother-daughter-grandmother road trip/chase from Boston to Memphis. Although my writing doesn’t shy away from serious issues, I choose to see the world through a humorous and ultimately hopeful lens.

Nancy's book list on runaway moms

Nancy Crochiere Why did Nancy love this book?

In The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, the runaway mom is a secondary character, but the “package” she leaves Fikry, a grieving bookstore owner, is what sets the plot in motion.

The novel is filled with charming, quirky characters, but what I loved most was the combination of Zevin’s witty dialogue with her handling of serious life issues. This book is both humorous and heartwarming and I adore its central theme about the vital importance of stories in our lives. 

By Gabrielle Zevin,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER BY THE AUTHOR OF TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING LUCY HALE & KUNNAL NAYAR

“A fun, page-turning delight.” —Minneapolis Star-Tribune

“Funny, tender, and moving, The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry reminds us all exactly why we read and why we love.” —Library Journal (starred review)

A. J. Fikry’s life is not at all what he expected it to be. He lives alone, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. But when…


Book cover of One for the Money
Book cover of Lucky You
Book cover of Bury the Lead

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