10 books like The Old Man

Leonard taught me that writing spare prose, and depicting a likable protagonist who isn’t clearly moral or immoral could be made to work.

Before I read this fun, somewhat satirical novel, I felt that I needed to make my characters likable by infusing them with salutary traits or making them funny. Leonard opened my eyes to what was possible, which made this novel quite entertaining for me.

As with Westlake, the author gets in the head of the protagonist, explaining his internal process in a way that doesn’t alienate the reader, even as his enforcer is slugging someone. This isn’t an easy trick.

This may seem like an odd choice considering the other more hard-boiled adult crime fiction books named above, but I love Bradley’s Flavia de Luce character, the twelve-year-old detective who detests her sisters and loves chemistry and poison. The books are laugh-out-loud humorous, and the writing is always outstanding.

Chandler’s novel, first published in 1939, is a touchstone for anyone writing detective fiction.

Never mind that private detective Philip Marlowe never actually solves anything.

In addition to the famously unsolved murder that Chandler brushed off when told about it, there are plot holes you could drive a Buick Roadmaster through, and prose occasionally edged in purple. Never mind its shortcomings, The Big Sleep overall remains intoxicatingly hard-boiled, a much-imitated classic of the genre.

I have gone back to it many times since I first read it, seeing its flaws but loving its tough-as-nails sensibility. It played an important part in setting me on the road to writing not only the Priscilla Tempest novels but also the Sanibel Sunset Detective mysteries.

Like everyone else who writes this stuff, I owe Chandler a lot.

It’s easy to see why Mick Herron’s Slow Horses series was adapted for television. He’s a wonderful writer—his way of describing things is unique—his characters are memorable and quirky—his Jackson Lamb character is one-of-a-kind—I love his sense of humor, and the plots are tricky. It’s also nice to get the British take on the intelligence community as opposed to the usual books about the CIA. 

Ace Atkins is a master of the crime genre. It’s no wonder Robert B. Parker’s estate tapped him to carry on the Spenser series. He’s great at capturing places and the internal monologues of weary men. He’s also able to tell stories just seedy enough to keep readers curious, without making them cringe. The first book in Atkins’ Quinn Colson series is on par with Elmore Leonard’s Raylan Givens books. Quinn seems entirely real, the small town he returns to after a years-long absence feels lived in and believable. And the pacing is masterful. Whereas Perry drags readers along for the action, Atkins makes you feel as though you’re sitting in the backseat, riding down the winding roads of Tibbehah County in northeast Mississippi as Quinn uneasily approaches another backcountry crime scene.    

A first in a series, and each one enjoyable.

An idyllic senior living community brings four distinct souls together to ponder an old crime, resulting in mayhem and danger. The story twists and turns, with wise, witty dialogue and poignant musings, plus lessons in life and living.

My entire family read it, including a teen and early twenties son, and we all quoted lines to each other. Then we passed it to friends. A joy to read.

John Sandford’s books aren’t as “literary” as those written by Mick Herron or Richard Price, but I love his books for their pacing—they always start out with a bang—and for Sandford’s sense of humor. I also admire the way he’s aged the recurring characters in the Prey books, taking Lucas Davenport from a young man in his thirties to the age of almost sixty in the last book. You can’t go wrong with any of the thirty-plus books in the Prey series, and I’m holding my breath for the next one. 

Richard Price, in my opinion, is one of today’s best writers in any genre. The Whites, a book about five detectives finally getting the criminal that always eluded them, was just the most recent book of his I’ve read. His classics—Clockers, Freedomland, The Night of, Sea of Love—were all adapted for the big screen. His prose is cliché free, no one captures New York City and its denizens the way Price does, and the dialogue in his books is pitch perfect and realistic.

This Picoult novel, written close to the time I began to shape my book, asks whether we can love across time. While the theme is much more grounded in practical and natural circumstances, the fact that the question is teased out in this novel helps shape the same question my character, Adelyn, finds herself embroiled in. Is Innis capable of breaking the barrier using the strength of a first love?

This is a feel-good book with just enough punch to keep it from being cute.

It comes with a building project, some hurricane-induced drama, a bit of romance, and two dogs.

Cooper and Bubba are the canines who wind themselves around the main characters, as most dogs do in real life. Cooper is everyone’s friend, and he orchestrates introductions.

But he’s also a bolter who gets lost just as flooding begins and evacuation becomes unavoidable.

Catherine Drake’s books are always a respite between heavier reading, and this one is one of the best.