100 books like The Last Party

Jane Casey’s books started my lifelong love affair with the crime fiction genre. This one, in particular, the first in the Detective Maeve Kerrigan series, will always hold a special place in my heart. I fell in love with Maeve immediately: she’s brave, strong, true to herself, wonderfully flawed, and totally relatable.

This book is a fantastic introduction to the series and the first time I’ve become invested in the life of a fictional character since Harry Potter. The cast of believable, leap-off-the-page characters brings the story to life and stayed with me for months after I put the book down. The writing is delightfully sharp, deliciously entertaining, and utterly devourable. I challenge you to read this without getting hooked on the entire series!

I was thrilled to stumble upon another brilliant female detective series, and I zipped through this twisty little number in two days! When a woman is found hanging in her Dublin home, all signs point to suicide. Enter DCS Frankie Sheehan, a detective with a sharp eye, a potty mouth, and an innate ability to climb inside the heads of the victims. She’s brilliant!

Suffering from PTSD driven by a vicious attack during a previous investigation, Frankie soon learns that the lines between killer and victim are becoming increasingly blurred. This atmospheric and immersive police procedural just blew me away. Olivia's writing style is compelling and absorbing, with a strong sense of setting and characters I will never forget.

This was the first book I’ve read from the point of view of an investigative journalist, and I really enjoyed this angle. And I really loved the character of Ingrid, a very strong female lead who will stop at nothing to get to the truth. Ingrid delves deeper into the story of 8-year-old Kelly Doherty’s murder, believing that there's a chance the man convicted is innocent. But she's soon warned off by someone who’ll do anything to keep the past buried.   

Claire's writing style is entertaining and engaging. This atmospheric story is told from multiple viewpoints, which keeps the pages turning quickly. It's dark and chilling with a plot that builds and builds and kept me guessing until the climactic ending that I totally didn’t see coming. 

I was really excited to read this book when I heard about it, and it was so incredibly gripping. I found myself, during more than one particularly tense scene, holding my breath. When Alice discovers that her estranged father is on death row, due to be executed in one week, she ends up on a fast-paced, terrifying journey to clear his name (albeit somewhat reluctantly).

I absolutely love the character of Alice. She’s smart, fearless and feels as real as you and me. The plot itself is unpredictable, twisting and turning all over the place. I was completely and utterly addicted to this! Seven Days has all the ingredients required for a compelling, keep-you-up-at-night thriller. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough.

I adore the character of Sam Holland. She is a badass cop, not willing to take crap from anyone, even her fellow officers, with a smart mouth that gets her into as much trouble as it gets her out of. Her character is written with such nuance and honesty that she’s someone I’ve willingly followed through 22 books (and counting).

Sam works twice as hard to make sure she’s living up to her own expectations as much as anyone else’s, always afraid of falling short, something I think we all tend to be too hard on ourselves about at times. The love interest throughout the series sometimes struggles with her strong personality, even as he admires her for it, which I think lends a depth of realism to their relationship as it grows and sometimes flounders.

Detective Renée Ballard is a woman I hate to love. She sleeps during the day in a tent on the beach–who needs a solid roof over your head when you’re working graveyard for the L.A.P.D.–and occasionally shags the lifeguard. She is a loner, super smart, super tough, touchy, relentlessly driven, bitchy. What’s not to like?

This book got pretty scary. I like to be scared, and there are three more in the series.

I love this book! A famous female pianist in Boston who kills bad people, and she has quirks. She also changes boy toys during the story; that whole dynamic is sexy and unusual. 

One of my new favorite books. I hate heavy procedural books, and this is not one. The FBI is involved, but not how you think. The railroad killer was also very creative. She does have the FBI chasing her and has friends in the FBI, which is unique, too. The beginning is good, with lots of action and intrigue, and the middle holds up with a bang for an ending.

There are a few surprises here and there, but it is just a solid story.

I can’t even tell you how much I love Aunt Ginny in Libby Klein’s Poppy McAllister Mystery series! She is an absolute hoot. While I love the whole series, the first introduction to Aunt Ginny in this book remains my favorite. 

Poppy is newly widowed and a grief-stricken disaster when she receives an invitation to her high school reunion. She heads home to Cape May and her eccentric Great Aunt Ginny’s house. As they do in cozy mysteries, a murder happens, and Poppy and Aunt Ginny are on the case.

Poppy and her aunt’s relationship, paired with Aunt Ginny’s crazy antics, always leaves me wiping tears of mirth out of my eyes. Such a fun read!

I loved this book because Antonia Scott might just be my favorite protagonist of all time.

She’s literally the most intelligent person in the world, with an I.Q. of over 200. She’s plagued by guilt and awkward social skills, but she has more crime-solving abilities than an entire police force. She’s Sherlock Holmes on steroids, with a hyper-intelligent sense of humor!

Stephen King introduced the innocent, unfiltered but extremely observant Holly Gibney in the phenomenal Mr. Mercedes.

King himself says, “...she more or less stole the book, and she stole my heart.” I completely agree, so much so she was a massive influence on Tilly Bradshaw, the super-sheltered, super-intelligent nerdy sidekick from my own Washington Poe series. She’s the first of three sidekicks in this list who will go on to get a book of their own.

Holly is out September 2023 and it’s the book I’m most looking forward to this year.