10 books like The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

“A little old lady from New Jersey becomes more trouble than the CIA, or anyone else, bargained for.” I loved Mrs. Pollifax from the first few pages and followed her from this introductory book through several books. Who wouldn’t like a sixty-something gardening lady, who knows karate, and manages to join the CIA in the middle of the Cold War? She’s always wanted to be a spy and she does it with panache, humor, and great success. Her adventures, her unique solutions, and her absolute good cheer and survival kept me coming back for more. This first book covers her accidental hiring by the CIA and her first mission gone awry in the 1950s. Everyone I recommend the book to loves Mrs. Pollifax.

For those who prefer their mysteries to be driven by British proprieties and comforts set against compelling social issues, Will Thomas is a must-read author. 

The reader is taken downstairs and up, through gritty back alleys and up Pall Mall. You learn the city of London and its history via vivid conversation, prose, and action. I have read them all with pleasure. Listening to the audiobooks becomes necessary when you wish to immerse yourself in the varied accents, narrated by the wonderful Antony Ferguson. The mysteries are each of them excellent, but Barker and Llewellyn, enquiry agents extraordinaire, along with the supportive characters, become like dear friends with whom you wish to revisit regularly.

The year is 1837 and Liberty is a fiercely independent young woman. The story begins with her crossing the Channel to find her father, only to discover that he had recently been killed in a duel. In the course of investigating what had happened, she comes upon a plot that involves treason, with the potential to spark another civil war.

What I love about Peacock’s work is her use of imagery in echoing a character’s psyche or situation. Horse lovers will enjoy Liberty’s relationship with her horse and her growing friendship with her good-hearted stable hand. I have not yet put my finger on it, but for some reason, I feel a hint of Edgar Allen Poe when I read her books.

One of the biggest joys in this fine series is the pub settings. Each title is the name of a pub and each pub is the sort of spot you'd like to settle comfortably down with a drink and a chat with friends. Add onto this backdrop a puzzling murder, the wonderful Scotland Yard inspector Richard Jury, and his aristocratic sidekick Melrose Plant, and you've got a winning formula from Martha Grimes.

Anne Perry is too well known for me to add anything about her or her many books.

This particular one, though, the first in the William Monk series, intrigues me particularly because of the startling idea of a detective who doesn’t know who he is, knows nothing about his past. What a challenge to the writer!

Monk is understandably ill-tempered and extremely touchy, but this, oddly enough, makes him, for me, a sympathetic character.

As always, the brooding descriptions of Victorian London set the scene perfectly, and I was desperately hoping for Monk to resolve not only the crime but his personal problems. And, as with all books that I love, it’s beautifully written. 

What happens when you take a tough, ex-legionary who solves crimes for a living, and give him a large extended family of nosy sisters, eccentric uncles, and a mother who shall be obeyed? You get the wickedly funny noir send-up featuring Marcus Didius Falco. In addition to being cracking good mysteries, every book in this series brings fascinating details of ancient Rome to vivid life through Ms. Davis’s snarky and memorable descriptions. 

In this first book, Falco finds himself working undercover in a sliver mine in Britannia, a brave but ill-advised scheme that almost ends in his death. In the end, his friends must extricate him from his rash decisions, establishing an amusing precedent for many future predicaments. 

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. 

I’ve always been a Thomas Perry fan going all the way back to The Butcher’s Boy, and thoroughly enjoyed his Jane Whitefield series. His novel, The Old Man, was recently adapted for television, starring Jeff Bridges, who’s perfect as the protagonist. The thing I’ve always appreciated about Perry’s books is his careful plotting and attention to detail, which is particularly noticeable in the Jane Whitefield books.  The other thing about his books is the way he can turn a villain —like the Butcher’s Boy—into a likable protagonist.  

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.

I just did a reread of this timed for the release of the seventh in the series, and every time I read it I’m blown away by the genius way Thomas deconstructs the Holmes mythology and then puts it back together again in a new, fascinating, plausible, entirely satisfying way.

In this retelling Holmes is not only a woman, but one who has been exiled from society for—well, behaving like Sherlock Holmes. The characterization—not only of Holmes, but also of her family, associates, and enemies—is rich and believable, and the mysteries are complex and gripping.

The whole series explores the fundamental injustice of women being treated differently from men, as well as the many ingenious ways women find to escape, avoid, and subvert that norm—and the price they pay.