Books like 'The Hidden Staircase'
Readers who enjoyed The Hidden Staircase by Carolyn Keene also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary mystery action / adventure 20th century classics children crime law-enforcement realistic historical-fiction
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Coffey's Hands by Stephen King
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWelcome back to E Block, the deadliest place this side of the electric chair, where assaults are a daily grind and miracles are about to happen. Paul Edgecombe has become increasingly curious about John Coffey, the brutal killer of two girls. But Coffey is about to reveal something extraordinary, and life on the Green Mile may never be the same again...Categorized as:
classics crime historical-fiction suspense 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
Different Seasons by Stephen King
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 67 ratingsFrom the Magical Pen of Stephen King, Four Mesmerizing Novellas…“Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption”An unjustly imprisoned convict seeks a strange and startling revenge…the basis for the Best Picture Academy Award nominee The Shawshank Redemption... -
The Mouse on the Mile by Stephen King
Rated: 4.48 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsCold Mountain Penitentiary has been home to many troubled souls. E Block, where the electric chair waits for those who must pay the ultimate price, has been home to the most troubled of all. And here, not all the evil is behind bars. Sometimes it carries a gun and wears a badge.Cold Mountain is a place of the damned, but it can also be a place where salvation comes from the most unlikely source...Categorized as:
classics crime ghosts historical-fiction suspense 20th-century action-adventure adult -
Heirs of Falcon Point by Traci Hunter Abramson, Sian Ann Bessey
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn the early days of World War II, the Lang family lost everything. Eighty years later, it’s time to take it back.The Nazis have taken control of Austria, and wealthy widower Leopold Lang faces a difficult decision: join the ranks of the foreign power that has taken over his homeland or flee with his children to safety. Leopold makes his choice—but too late...Categorized as:
family friendship historical-fiction suspense 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
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Nancy Drew: #1-64 by Carolyn Keene
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsNancy Drew has been solving mysteries, and delighting fans, for over 75 years...Categorized as:
children classics crime law-enforcement realistic suspense 20th-century action-adventure -
Echo Moon by Laura Spinella
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA past life, a past war, and a past love. Peter St John can’t foresee a future until he confronts his past sins.When photojournalist Peter St John returns home after a two-year absence, the life he’s been running from catches up. For years his mother’s presence, coupled with Pete’s own psychic gift, has triggered visits to 1917...Categorized as:
crime ghosts historical-fiction suspense 20th-century action-adventure adult alpha-mc -
Four to Score by Janet Evanovich
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsNabbing Maxine Nowicki, thief and extortionist, would be the answer to Stephanie’s prayers and monetary woes. The only trouble is that Maxine is no where to be found, and her friends have been mysteriously turning up dead. To make matters worse, Stephanie’s arch nemesis since grade school is also looking for Nowicki, hoping to cash in first.Stephanie’s mentor and tormentor, Ranger, needs her...Categorized as:
cozy crime female-mc law-enforcement realistic suspense 20th-century action-adventure -
The Body by Robin Waterfield, Stephen King
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsFrom Different Seasons The Body, as a media tie-in for the movie starring River Phoenix, Kiefer Sutherland, Wil Wheaton, Corey Feldman and Jerry O'Connell...Categorized as:
classics crime friendship historical-fiction realistic suspense 20th-century action-adventure -
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 73 ratingsWhen Claudia decided to run away, she planned very carefully. She would be gone just long enough to teach her parents a lesson in Claudia appreciation. And she would go in comfort-she would live at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She saved her money, and she invited her brother Jamie to go, mostly because be was a miser and would have money...Categorized as:
children classics family female-mc friendship historical-fiction realistic 20th-century -
Without Remorse by Tom Clancy
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 53 ratingsJohn Kelly, former Navy SEAL and Vietnam veteran, is still getting over the accidental death of his wife six months before, when he befriends a young woman with a decidedly checkered past. When that past reaches out for her in a particularly horrifying fashion, he vows revenge and, assembling all of his old skills, sets out to track down the men responsible, before it can happen again...Categorized as:
classics crime historical-fiction law-enforcement suspense 20th-century action-adventure adult -
Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsAlso see: Alternate Cover Editions for this ISBN [ACE] ACE #1 - ACE #2 - ACE #3 Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum debuted in Janet Evanovich's award-winning "One for the Money". Now she's back, packing a whole lot of attitude -- not to mention stun guns, defense sprays, killer flashlights and a...Categorized as:
cozy crime female-mc law-enforcement realistic suspense 20th-century action-adventure -
Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsStephanie Plum, the brassy babe in the powder blue Buick is back and she's having a bad hair day -- for the whole month of January. She's been given the unpopular task of finding Mo Bedemier, Trenton's most beloved citizen, arrested for carrying concealed, gone no-show for his court appearance...Categorized as:
cozy crime female-mc law-enforcement realistic suspense 20th-century action-adventure -
The Valley of Adventure by Enid Blyton
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsNothing could be more exciting than a night flight on Bill’s plane! But Philip, Dinah, Lucy-Ann, and Jack soon find themselves flying straight into a truly amazing adventure...Categorized as:
children classics crime family law-enforcement 20th-century action-adventure audiobook -
The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsNote: This is an alternate cover edition of ISBN 0449235637.While waiting for a view of her night-blooming cereus, the mild-seeming Mrs. Pollifax received urgent orders for a daring mission to aid an escape. Soon, the unlikely-looking international spy was sporting a beautiful new hat that hid eight forged passports...Categorized as:
classics cozy crime female-mc historical-fiction law-enforcement suspense 20th-century -
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Crimson Rivers by Jean-Christophe Grangé
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsA horrifically mutilated corpse is discovered wedged in an isolated crevice. The highly-regarded but unpredictable ex-commando Pierre NiTmans is sent from Paris to the French Alps to investigate. Meanwhile, Karim Abdouf, a young Arab policeman, is trying to find out why the tomb of a young child has been desecrated...Categorized as:
classics crime law-enforcement suspense 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
Listening Woman by Tony Hillerman
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe blind shaman called Listening Woman speaks of witches and restless spirits, of supernatural evil unleashed. But Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn of the Navajo Tribal Police is sure the monster who savagely slaughtered an old man and a teenage girl was human. The solution to a horrific crime is buried somewhere in a dead man's secrets and in the shocking events of a hundred years past...Categorized as:
cozy crime family historical-fiction law-enforcement suspense 20th-century action-adventure -
Five on a Treasure Island by Enid Blyton
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe very first Famous Five adventure, featuring Julian, Dick, Anne, not forgetting tomboy George and her beloved dog, Timmy! There's a shipwreck off Kirrin Island! But where is the treasure? The Famous Five are on the trail - looking for clues - but they're not alone! Someone else has got the same idea...Categorized as:
children classics crime family friendship historical-fiction law-enforcement realistic -
Gone, Baby, Gone by Dennis Lehane
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 28 ratings“Chilling, completely credible….[An] absolutely gripping story.” —Chicago TribuneNew York Times bestselling author Dennis Lehane (Mystic River, Shutter Island) vividly captures the complex beauty and darkness of working-class Boston in this gripping, deeply evocative thriller... -
Along Came a Spider by James Patterson
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 79 ratingsWhat have we got? A missing little girl named Maggie Rose . . . a family of three brutally murdered in the projects of Washington, D.C. . . . the thrill-killing of a beautiful elementary school teacher . . . a psychopathic serial kidnapper/murderer who is so terrifying that the FBI, the Secret Service, and the police cannot outsmart him - even after he's been captured...Categorized as:
classics crime family law-enforcement realistic suspense 20th-century action-adventure -
The Castle of Adventure by Enid Blyton
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWhat is the secret of the old castle on the hill, and why are the locals so afraid of it? When flashing lights are seen in a distant tower, Philip, Dinah, Lucy-Ann, and Jack decide to investigate—and discover a very sinister plot concealed within its hidden rooms and gloomy underground passages...Categorized as:
children classics historical-fiction suspense 20th-century action-adventure audiobook book -
People of Darkness by Tony Hillerman
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWho would murder a dying man? Why would someone steal a box of rocks? And why would a rich man's wife pay $3,000 to get them back? These questions haunt Sgt. Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police as he journeys into the scorching Southwest...Categorized as:
cozy crime historical-fiction law-enforcement suspense 20th-century action-adventure adult -
Chance by Robert B. Parker, Burt Reynolds
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsSearching for a big-time hoodlum's missing son-in-law, Spencer and Hawk probe organized crime... -
A Time to Kill by John Grisham
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 55 ratingsAn alternate cover edition for the ISBN 9780385338608 can be found here.Before "The Firm" and "The Pelican Brief" made him a superstar, John Grisham wrote this riveting story of retribution and justice...Categorized as:
classics crime family historical-fiction law-enforcement realistic suspense 20th-century -
A Thief of Time by Tony Hillerman
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratings“All of Tony Hillerman’s Navajo tribal police novels have been brilliant, but A Thief of Time is flat-out marvelous.”—USA TodayFrom New York Times bestselling author Tony Hillerman, A Thief of Time is the eighth novel featuring Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn and Officer Jim Chee as they find themselves in hot pursuit of a depraved killer...Categorized as:
cozy crime historical-fiction law-enforcement suspense 20th-century action-adventure adult -
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Second Form At Malory Towers by Enid Blyton
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsDarrell, Sally, Gwendoline, Mary-Lou and all the other girls from the First Term at Malory Towers are now in the second form and they are as lively as ever. Mam'zelle Dupont is still trying to be strict, Alicia plays a terrible trick with invisible chalk and Gwendoline and Daphne inevitably get into trouble...Categorized as:
children classics female-mc friendship historical-fiction realistic 20th-century action-adventure -
Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsBeware of Helen... Heather is such a whiny little brat. Always getting Michael and me into trouble. But since our mother married her father, we're stuck with her ... our "poor stepsister" who lost her real mother in a mysterious fire. But now something terrible has happened... -
If Tomorrow Comes by Sidney Sheldon
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsThis is a story of intrigue and revenge. Tracy Whitney is young, beautiful and intelligent - and about to marry into wealth and glamour. Until, suddenly, she is betrayed, framed by a ruthless Mafia gang, abandoned by the man she loves. Only her ingenuity saves her and helps her fight back...Categorized as:
classics crime female-mc historical-fiction law-enforcement suspense 20th-century action-adventure -
First Term at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsDarrell's off to her new school.But what has she packed?1. Tennis racket? Yes2. Pocket-money? Yes3. A lid for her temper? NoOh dear! Malory Towers has a whole trunkload of trouble to come!Darrell and her friends grow together as they share their school days. There are new students to induct, sporting matches to be won, tempers to control and tricks to play on teachers...Categorized as:
children classics friendship historical-fiction realistic 20th-century action-adventure audiobook -
The Secret of Villa Alba by Louise Douglas
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 20 ratings1968, Sicily. Just months after a terrible earthquake has destroyed the mountain town of Gibellina, Enzo and his wife Irene Borgata are making their way back to the family home, Villa Alba del Ciliegio, on roads overlooked by the eerie backdrop of the flattened ghost town. When their car breaks down, Enzo leaves his young wife to go and get help, but when he returns there is no trace of Irene...Categorized as:
historical-fiction crime suspense female-mc family law-enforcement europe south-europe -
The Client by John Grisham
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 47 ratingsIn a weedy clearing on the outskirts of Memphis, two boys watch a shiny Lincoln pull up to the curb...Eleven-year-old Mark Sway and his younger brother were sharing a forbidden cigarette when a chance encounter with a suicidal lawyer left Mark knowing a bloody and explosive secret: the whereabouts of the most sought-after dead body in America... -
The Dead of Night by John Marsden
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsA few months after the first fighter jets landed in their own backyard, Ellie and her five terrified but defiant friends struggle to survive amid a baffling conflict. Their families are unreachable; the mountains are now their home. When two of them fall behind enemy lines, Ellie knows what must happen next: a rescue mission...Categorized as:
classics female-mc friendship historical-fiction realistic suspense 20th-century action-adventure -
The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 52 ratingsDear Reader,I'm sorry to say that the book you are holding in your hands is extremely unpleasant. It tells an unhappy tale about three very unlucky children. Even though they are charming and clever, the Baudelaire siblings lead lives filled with misery and woe... -
Les aventures de Johnny Dixon: Le crâne du sorcier by John Bellairs
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWhen Johnny Dixon and his friend Professor Childermass discover an old heirloom clock, the terror begins. The professor suddenly vanishes, and Johnny is left to solve the mystery--alone.Inside the clock Johnny discovers a miniature room, a room exactly like the one in which a murder took place long ago. And from the inside the little room Johnny pockets a tiny skull with magical powers...Categorized as:
children classics ghosts historical-fiction law-enforcement 20th-century action-adventure book -
The Secret of Terror Castle by Robert Arthur
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFinding a genuine haunted house for a movie set sounds like fun -- and a great way to generate publicity for the Three Investigators' new detective agency...Categorized as:
children classics crime law-enforcement 20th-century action-adventure audiobook book -
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Nerve by Dick Francis
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsRob Finn was a bit of a misfit: a struggling young jockey in a family of accomplished musicians, a man in love with a beautiful woman who wouldn't have him -- he suddenly looked like a rider who had lost his nerve. Could it be, though, that the horses were unusually sluggish, and that there was something more sinister attempting to sabotage him...?"The best thriller writer going...Categorized as:
cozy crime law-enforcement suspense 20th-century action-adventure adult amateur-sleuth -
The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins, Mark Hammer
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsEddie Coyle works for Jimmy Scalisi, supplying him with guns for a couple of bank jobs. But a cop named Foley is on to Eddie and he's leaning on him to finger Scalisi, a gang leader with a lot to hide. And then there's Dillon-a full-time bartender and part-time contract killer--pretending to be Eddie's friend. Wheeling, dealing, chasing, and stealing--that's Eddie, and he's got lots of friends...Categorized as:
classics crime law-enforcement suspense 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
For Kicks by Dick Francis
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsDaniel Roke, Australian who established a stud farm to raise orphaned siblings, accepts undercover stable lad job from the Earl of October, investigating steeplechase doping in England. At least ten horses win adrenalin-high stimulated, but regular lab tests show nothing. Gorgeous October daughters distract, detract, and fatally endanger. Tension builds into an explosive fight to the death...Categorized as:
cozy crime law-enforcement suspense 20th-century action-adventure adult amateur-sleuth -
Son of the Black Stallion by Walter Farley
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsWhen Alec receives the Black Stallion’s first son as a gift, he believes his dreams have come true, but Satan’s savage arrogance makes him dangerous and unpredictable. Still, Alec is resolved to gain the fiery colt’s trust, even if he must risk his life to do it... -
Talking God by Tony Hillerman
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsA grave robber and a corpse reunite Navajo Tribal Police Lt. Joe Leaphorn and Officer Jim Chee. As Leaphorn seeks the identify of a murder victim, Chee is arresting Smithsonian conservator Henry Highhawk for ransacking the sacred bones of his anscestors...Categorized as:
cozy crime historical-fiction law-enforcement suspense 20th-century action-adventure adult -
The Dark Wind by Tony Hillerman
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsA corpse whose palms and soles have been "scalped" is only the first in a series of disturbing clues: an airplane's mysterious crash in the nighttime desert, a bizarre attack on a windmill, a vanishing shipment of cocaine. Sgt. Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police is trapped in the deadly web of a cunningly spun plot driven by Navajo sorcery and white man's greed...Categorized as:
cozy crime historical-fiction law-enforcement suspense 20th-century action-adventure adult -
The Snack Thief by Andrea Camilleri
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsIn the third book in Andrea Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano series, the urbane and perceptive Sicilian detective exposes a viper's nest of government corruption and international intrigue in a compelling new case... -
Five Go to Smuggler's Top by Enid Blyton
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe Five find adventure, when they spend Easter vacation at Mr. Lenoir's sinister house Smuggler's Top. Set high above an eerie marsh, the house is honeycombed with hidden staircases and tunnels that once served as a hideaway for smugglers. When strange lights begin to appear, the Five suspect that the tunnels are once more in use...Categorized as:
children classics crime friendship law-enforcement realistic 20th-century action-adventure -
Five Run Away Together by Enid Blyton
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsJulian, Dick and Anne arrive in Kirrin Cottage to stay with George (real name Georgina) for the holidays. They plan to spend time exploring Kirrin Island but their happiness is spoilt when Aunt Fanny falls ill and has to leave with Uncle Quentin to be treated in a far-off hospital... -
Deception on His Mind by Elizabeth George
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsBalford-le-Nez is a dying seatown on the coast of Essex. But when a member of the town's small but growing Asian community, a Pakistani named Haytham Querashi, is found dead near its beach, his neck broken, sleepy Balford-le-Nez ignites...Categorized as:
crime female-mc historical-fiction law-enforcement suspense 20th-century action-adventure adult -
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Hotel by Arthur Hailey
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsDuring five days in the midst of a hot, steamy Louisiana summer, the lives of a colorful cast of characters intertwine in a series of public, private, and personal dramas at the famed St. Gregory luxury hotel...Categorized as:
classics crime historical-fiction law-enforcement realistic suspense 20th-century action-adventure -
The High Window by Raymond Chandler
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsA wealthy Pasadena widow with a mean streak, a missing daughter-in-law with a past, and a gold coin worth a small fortune—the elements don't quite add up until Marlowe discovers evidence of murder, rape, blackmail, and the worst kind of human exploitation...Categorized as:
classics crime historical-fiction law-enforcement suspense 20th-century action-adventure adult -
The Runaway Jury by John Grisham
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsEvery jury has a leader, and the verdict belongs to him. In Biloxi, Mississippi, a landmark tobacco trial with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake begins routinely, then swerves mysteriously off course. The jury is behaving strangely, and at least one juror is convinced he's being watched. Soon they have to be sequestered...Categorized as:
classics crime law-enforcement realistic suspense 20th-century action-adventure adult -
Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less by Jeffrey Archer
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsThe conned: an Oxford don, a revered society physician, a chic French art dealer, and a charming English lord. They have one thing in common. Overnight, each novice investor lost his life's fortune to one man. The con: Harvey Metcalfe!!A brilliant, self-made guru of deceit. A very dangerous individual. And now, a hunted man...Categorized as:
classics crime historical-fiction suspense 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
Third Year at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsThe girls return for another term to find several new girls in their form. There is Zerelda, the American girl with her 'wunnerful' ways; Bill, short for Wilhelmina, who is mad on horses; and Mavis, who has a remarkable voice and is sure she is going to be an opera singer. There are some hair-raising incidents as the new girls settle down for an enjoyable and evenful term at Malory Towers...Categorized as:
children classics friendship historical-fiction realistic 20th-century action-adventure animals -
Chasing Redbird by Sharon Creech
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 26 ratings“Intriguing, delightful, and touching.” —School Library Journal (starred review)“Creech’s best yet.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)It started out as an ordinary summer. But the minute thirteen-year-old Zinny discovered the old, overgrown trail that ran through the woods behind her family’s house, she realized that things were about to change...Categorized as:
children classics family female-mc historical-fiction realistic 20th-century action-adventure
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