Books like 'Being Dead'
Readers who enjoyed Being Dead by Jim Crace also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary mystery 20th century literary-fiction crime family suspense
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Absolute Power by David Baldacci
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsA grizzled professional cat burglar gets trapped inside the bedroom closet of one of the world's richest men, only to witness, through a one-way mirror, two Secret Service agents kill the billionaire's trampy young wife as she tries to fight off the drunken sexual advances of the nation's chief executive... -
![The Flaw by Antonis Samarakis]()
The Flaw by Antonis Samarakis
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA man is seized from his afternoon drink at the Café Sport by two agents of the Regime - though what exactly he is suspected of we do not know, and neither, apparently, does he.What follows is a journey by car toward Special Branch headquarters, and the interrogation that undoubtedly awaits him there... -
![Seven by Anthony Bruno]()
Seven by Anthony Bruno
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsMismatched partner cops Somerset and Mills are on the trail of a psychotic murderer who intends to avenge the seven deadly sins, starting with gluttony... -
![The Black Ice by Michael Connelly]()
The Black Ice by Michael Connelly
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsNarcotics office Cal Moore's orders were to look into the city's latest drug killing. Instead, he ends up in a motel room with a fatal bullet wound to the head and a suicide note stuffed in his back pocket.Working the case, LAPD detective Harry Bosch is reminded of the primal police rule he learned long ago: don't look for the facts, but the glue that holds them together... -
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![The Lime Works: A Novel (Vintage International) by Thomas Bernhard]()
The Lime Works: A Novel (Vintage International) by Thomas Bernhard
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFor five years, Konrad has imprisoned himself and his crippled wife in an abandoned lime works where he’s conducted odd auditory experiments and prepared to write his masterwork, The Sense of Hearing. As the story begins, he’s just blown the head off his wife with the Mannlicher carbine she kept strapped to her wheelchair... -
![A Borrowed Path by Imogen Clark]()
A Borrowed Path by Imogen Clark
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsHome is where the heartache is.Eve has always had a tricky relationship with her mother, Agatha, and returning to Fox House, the family home, hasn’t made it any easier. When Eve’s daughter, Lyra, and granddaughter, Skye, unexpectedly turn up, it becomes clear that four generations of women under one roof is a recipe for trouble. Not least because Lyra clearly needs help but refuses to say why...Categorized as:
family suspense literary-fiction audiobook fiction season-summer mystery contemporary -
![The Dead Girls by Jorge Ibargüengoitia]()
The Dead Girls by Jorge Ibargüengoitia
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThis is the first appearance in English of a Mexican novelist of enormous talent. His brilliant novel is based on fact: the discovery in the yard of a small-town brothel of the corpses of six prostitutes... -
![Joe by Larry Brown, Tom Stechschulte]()
Joe by Larry Brown, Tom Stechschulte
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsNearing fifty, Joe Ransom won't slow down, not in his pickup, not with a gun-and certainly not with women. But all the fast living in Mississippi won't fill the hunger Joe can't name. At fifteen, Gary Jones is already slipping through the cracks. Part of a hopeless, homeless wandering family, he's desperate for a way out. He finds it in Joe... -
![Three Witnesses by Rex Stout]()
Three Witnesses by Rex Stout
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn three cases--a millionaire who writes his own death warrant, a dog who becomes a killer's worst enemy, and an answering service which refuses to talk about a murder--three witnesses hold the solution for detective Rex Stout... -
![Sweet Liar by Jude Deveraux]()
Sweet Liar by Jude Deveraux
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIt was her father's dying wish that Samantha Elliot search for her grandmother, who'd disappeared from Louisville when she was a baby. So here she was, in big, dirty New York City...her parents were dead, her divorce was final, and she was all alone.... Michael Taggert was Samantha's landlord, and he was easily the most beautiful man she'd ever seen... -
![Monsieur Malaussène by Daniel Pennac]()
Monsieur Malaussène by Daniel Pennac
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsParisian scapegoat Benjamin Malaussène, along with his family of half sisters and brothers, are once again the target for a series of increasingly catastrophic mishaps that culminate in Malaussène’s imprisonment on 21 counts of murder. Meanwhile, the real serial killer remains at large... -
![Flight Patterns by Karen White]()
Flight Patterns by Karen White
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThe New York Times bestselling author of the Tradd Street novels tells the story of a woman coming home to the family she left behind—and to the woman she always wanted to be.... Georgia Chambers has spent her life sifting through other people’s pasts while trying to forget her own... -
![What a Carve Up! by Jonathan Coe]()
What a Carve Up! by Jonathan Coe
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIf Charles Dickens and Agatha Christie had ever managed to collaborate, they might have produced this shamelessly entertaining novel, which introduces readers to what may be the most powerful family in England--and is certainly the vilest. A tour de force of menace, malicious comedy, and torrential social bile, this book marks the American debut of an extraordinary writer... -
![The Secret of Villa Alba by Louise Douglas]()
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... -
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![Long Upon the Land by Margaret Maron]()
Long Upon the Land by Margaret Maron
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsMargaret Maron, New York Times bestselling author and Mystery Writers of America Grand Master, returns to Colleton County with an exciting new Deborah Knott mystery . . . LONG UPON THE LANDOn a quiet August morning, Judge Deborah Knott's father Kezzie makes a shocking discovery on a remote corner of his farm: the body of a man bludgeoned to death... -
![Murder on a Girls' Night Out by Anne George]()
Murder on a Girls' Night Out by Anne George
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA different kind of sister actPatricia Anne—“Mouse”—is respectful, respectable, and demure, a perfect example of genteel Southern womanhood. Mary Alice—“Sister”—is big, brassy, flamboyant, and bold. Together they have a knack for finding themselves in the center of some of Birmingham’s most unfortunate unpleasantness... -
![Clockers by Richard Price]()
Clockers by Richard Price
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsAward-winning author Richard Price here offers a viscerally affecting and accomplished portrait of inner-city America.Veteran homicide detective Rocco Klein's passion for the job gave way long ago... -
![Boundary Waters by William Kent Krueger]()
Boundary Waters by William Kent Krueger
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe Quetico-Superior Wilderness: more than two million acres of forest, white-water rapids, and uncharted islands on the Canadian/American border. Somewhere in the heart of this unforgiving territory, a young woman named Shiloh -- a country-western singer at the height of her fame -- has disappeared... -
![In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner by Elizabeth George]()
In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner by Elizabeth George
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA theatrical producer shoots himself on the night of his greatest triumph. A young woman camping on the Derbyshire moors is bludgeoned to death. A motorcyclist is found stabbed to death in the center of an ancient henge. Is there a connection? Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley is on the case, but recently demoted Constable Barbara Havers isn't about to let him go it alone... -
![Deception on His Mind by Elizabeth George]()
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... -
![Hotel by Arthur Hailey]()
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... -
![The Burden of Proof by Scott Turow]()
The Burden of Proof by Scott Turow
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsTurow's acclaimed second novel, which topped international bestseller lists, is now available in trade paperback. Sandy Stern, the brilliant defense attorney from Presumed Innocent, faces an event so emotionally shattering that no part of his life is left untouched. It reveals a family caught in a maelstrom of hidden crimes, shocking secrets, and warring passions... -
![Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less by Jeffrey Archer]()
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... -
![The Pact by Jodi Picoult]()
The Pact by Jodi Picoult
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsFor eighteen years the Hartes and the Golds have lived next door to each other, sharing everything from Chinese food to chicken pox to carpool duty—they've grown so close it seems they have always been a part of each other's lives. Parents and children alike have been best friends, so it's no surprise that in high school Chris and Emily's friendship blossoms into something more... -
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![The Fairy Gunmother by Daniel Pennac]()
The Fairy Gunmother by Daniel Pennac
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsMaybe the worst indignity for a Paris cop is to be shot dead by an old granny he is trying to help cross the street in Paris on a frosty morning. An old lady needs protection with so many druggies around these days. Dressed as an elderly Vietnamese woman, Inspector Van Thian goes to investigate... -
![When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson]()
When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsThree lives come together in unexpected and thrilling ways in Kate Atkinson's When Will There Be Good News?On a hot summer day, Joanna Mason's family slowly wanders home along a country lane. A moment later, Joanna's life is changed forever...On a dark night thirty years later, ex-detective Jackson Brodie finds himself on a train that is both crowded and late... -
![Marathon Man by William Goldman]()
Marathon Man by William Goldman
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsTom "Babe" Levy is a runner in every sense: racing tirelessly toward his goals of athletic and academic excellence--and endlessly away from the specter of his famous father's scandal-driven suicide. But an unexpected visit from his beloved older brother will set in motion a chain of events that plunge Babe into a vortex of terror, treachery, and murder--and force him into a race for his life . .Categorized as:
crime literary-fiction suspense 20th-century action-adventure adult assassinations book -
![For the Sake of Elena by Elizabeth George]()
For the Sake of Elena by Elizabeth George
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsElena Weaver was a surprise to anyone meeting her for the first time. In her clingy dresses and dangling earrings she exuded a sexuality at odds with the innocence projected by the unicorn posters on her walls. While her embittered mother fretted about her welfare from her home in London, in Cambridge—where Elena was a student at St... -
![A Taste for Death by P.D. James]()
A Taste for Death by P.D. James
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWhen the quiet Little Vestry of St... -
![A Suitable Vengeance by Elizabeth George]()
A Suitable Vengeance by Elizabeth George
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratings'Award-winning author Elizabeth George gives us an early glimpse into the lives of Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley, forensic scientist Simon Allcourt-St. James, and Lady Helen Clyde in a superlative mystery that is also a fascinating inquiry into the crimes of the heart. Lynley, the eighth earl of Asherton, has brought to Howenstow, his family home, the young woman he has asked to be his bride... -
![The Scapegoat by Daniel Pennac]()
The Scapegoat by Daniel Pennac
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsPathetic, contrite and hapless, Benjamin is nonetheless the scapegoat at The Store: there is nothing for which he cannot be blamed. While his blunders remain minor, most of his unwitting victims can find it in their hearts to forgive him, but when violent explosions begin to follow him around, he inevitably becomes the prime suspect... -
![A Heart So White by Javier Marías]()
A Heart So White by Javier Marías
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAn alternate cover of this ISBN can be found here.Javier Marías's A Heart So White chronicles with unnerving insistence the relentless power of the past. Juan knows little of the interior life of his father Ranz; but when Juan marries, he begins to consider the past anew, and begins to ponder what he doesn't really want to know... -
![Midwives by Chris Bohjalian]()
Midwives by Chris Bohjalian
Rated: 3.99 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsMidwives, Chris Bohjalian's fifth novel, is the story of Sibyl Danforth, a lay midwife in rural Vermont, and her daughter, Connie. The nexus of this cautionary tale is an emergency Caesarean section Sibyl performs during a home birth that goes disastrously wrong. Believing the mother is already dead from a stroke, Sibyl operates and later finds herself on trial for killing the woman... -
![The Crow Road by Iain Banks]()
The Crow Road by Iain Banks
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsFrom its bravura opening onwards, THE CROW ROAD is justly regarded as an outstanding contemporary novel. 'It was the day my grandmother exploded. I sat in the crematorium, listening to my Uncle Hamish quietly snoring in harmony to Bach's Mass in B Minor, and I reflected that it always seemed to be death that drew me back to Gallanach... -
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![Degree of Guilt by Richard North Patterson]()
Degree of Guilt by Richard North Patterson
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsTV journalist Mary Carelli admits that she shot and killed Mark Ransom, one of the world’s most famous authors. She claims it was self-defense. She swears he tried to rape her. Now she has to prove it in a court of law—with her former lover acting as her attorney…Christopher Paget is one of the top lawyers in the country... -
![Day of Atonement by Faye Kellerman]()
Day of Atonement by Faye Kellerman
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsPeter Decker of the L.A.P.D. never dreamed he'd be spending his honeymoon with his new wife, Rina Lazarus, in an Orthodox Jewish enclave in Brooklyn, New York -- or that a terrible event would end it so abruptly. But a boy has vanished from the midst of this close-knit religious community, a troubled youth fleeing the tight bonds and strictures he felt were strangling him... -
![My Name Is Venus Black by Heather Lloyd]()
My Name Is Venus Black by Heather Lloyd
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsVenus Black is a straitlaced A student fascinated by the study of astronomy—until the night she commits a shocking crime that tears her family apart and ignites a media firestorm. Venus refuses to talk about what happened or why, except to blame her mother. Adding to the mystery, Venus’s developmentally challenged younger brother, Leo, goes missing... -
![Duel by Richard Matheson, Ray Bradbury]()
Duel by Richard Matheson, Ray Bradbury
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe late Richard Matheson's classic tale of highway terror.He was heading west, en route to San Francisco. It was Thursday and unseasonably hot for April. He had his suitcoat off, his tie removed and shirt collar opened, his sleeve cuffs folded back. There was sunlight on his left arm and on part of his lap... -
![Gantenbein by Max Frisch]()
Gantenbein by Max Frisch
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA stranger walks out of a bar and is later found dead at the wheel of his car. The narrator creates the story of this man -- or, rather, two stories, based on the two personae that he has imagined. One of these is named Enderlin; the other, Gantenbein.Originally published as A Wilderness of Mirrors... -
![The Last Chance Cafe by Linda Lael Miller]()
The Last Chance Cafe by Linda Lael Miller
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratings"New York Times" bestselling author Linda Lael Miller captures the passionate heart of America in this page-turning romantic novel. Seeking shelter from the storms of life, a woman who is down on her luck Wnds an unexpected refuge at.. -
![Nightwork by Irwin Shaw]()
Nightwork by Irwin Shaw
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA dead man’s briefcase presents a down-on-his-luck pilot with the chance of a lifetime.Pilot Douglas Grimes’s best days are long behind him. Grounded due to a medical condition, Douglas has resigned himself to menial work as a desk clerk at a seedy hotel. But his fortune flips when he discovers a hotel guest dead from a heart attack and, next to him, a tube jammed with hundred-dollar bills... -
![The Arsonist by Stephanie Oakes]()
The Arsonist by Stephanie Oakes
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsMolly Mavity is not a normal teenage girl. For one thing, her father is a convicted murderer, and his execution date is fast approaching. For another, Molly refuses to believe that her mother is dead, and she waits for the day when they’ll be reunited . . . despite all evidence that this will never happen.Pepper Yusef is not your average teenage boy... -
![THE PARTING GLASS by Emilie Richards]()
THE PARTING GLASS by Emilie Richards
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsUSA Today bestselling author Emilie Richards continues the journey begun in her beloved novel Whiskey Island with this unforgettable tale of star-crossed lovers, murder and three sisters who discover a hidden legacy that will lead them home at last to Ireland. Megan, who is feeling hopelessly unprepared in her new marriage, has no idea how to fix the problems already facing her relationship... -
![In a Heartbeat by Rita Herron]()
In a Heartbeat by Rita Herron
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe lone survivor of a serial killer is once again a target in this classic tale from USA TODAY bestselling author Rita Herron… With one brief, terrifying phone call, Lisa Langley's nightmare began again. Four years ago she was the sole survivor of the Grave Digger, a madman who buried his victims alive... -
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![All Around the Town by Mary Higgins Clark]()
All Around the Town by Mary Higgins Clark
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsWhen Laurie Kenyon, a twenty-one-year-old student, is accused of murdering her English professor, she has no memory of the crime. Her fingerprints, however, are everywhere. When she asks her sister, attorney Sarah, to mount her defense, Sarah in turn brings in psychiatrist Justin Donnelly. Kidnapped at the age of four and victimized for two years, Laurie has developed astounding coping skills... -
![The Little Sister by Raymond Chandler]()
The Little Sister by Raymond Chandler
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsRaymond Chandler's fifth novel has Philip Marlowe going to Hollywood as he explores the underworld of the glitter capital, trying to find a sweet young thing's missing brother. Along the way he uncovers a little blackmail, a lot of drugs, and more than enough murder...Categorized as:
crime literary-fiction suspense 20th-century action-adventure adult amateur-sleuth audiobook -
![A Keeper by Graham Norton]()
A Keeper by Graham Norton
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWhen Elizabeth Keane returns to Ireland after her mother’s death, she’s focused only on saying goodbye to that dark and dismal part of her life. Her childhood home is packed solid with useless junk, her mother’s presence already fading. But within this mess, she discovers a small stash of letters—and ultimately, the truth... -
![The Last of the Stanfields by Marc Levy]()
The Last of the Stanfields by Marc Levy
Rated: 3.95 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsA mystery, a love story, and a search through a shadowy past. Two strangers unite in this novel of family secrets by international bestselling author Marc Levy, the most read contemporary French author in the world. When London journalist Eleanor-Rigby Donovan receives an anonymous letter alluding to a crime committed by her deceased mother, her life is turned upside down... -
![The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch, Martha C. Nussbaum]()
The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch, Martha C. Nussbaum
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsBradley Pearson, an unsuccessful novelist in his late fifties, has finally left his dull office job as an Inspector of Taxes. Bradley hopes to retire to the country, but predatory friends and relations dash his hopes of a peaceful retirement... -
![Tomorrow in the Battle Think on Me by Javier Marías]()
Tomorrow in the Battle Think on Me by Javier Marías
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratings"No one ever suspects," begins Tomorrow in the Battle Think On Me, "that they might one day find themselves with a dead woman in their arms...." Marta has just met Victor when she invites him to dinner at her Madrid apartment while her husband is away on business. When her two-year-old son finally falls asleep, Marta and Victor retreat to the bedroom...
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