Books like 'Empire Falls'

Readers who enjoyed Empire Falls by Richard Russo also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.

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  • What I've Done by Melinda Leigh

    What I've Done by Melinda Leigh

    Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    A Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Amazon Charts bestseller.In the fourth book of the multimillion-copy bestselling series, Morgan Dane’s new client has blood on her hands—and no recollection of what happened.Haley Powell wakes up covered in blood, with no memory of the night before...
  • In the Waning Light by Loreth Anne White

    In the Waning Light by Loreth Anne White

    Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    Two decades after her sister’s brutal attack and murder, Meg Brogan has finally found happiness…or so it appears. A bestselling true-crime writer, Meg has money, fame, and a wealthy fiancé. But when a television-show host presses her to tackle the one story everyone claims she cannot write—the story of her own family’s destruction—her perfect life shatters...
  • A Cold Trail by Robert Dugoni

    A Cold Trail by Robert Dugoni

    Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    In New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni’s riveting series, Seattle homicide detective Tracy Crosswhite returns home to a brutal murder and her haunted past. The last time homicide detective Tracy Crosswhite was in Cedar Grove, it was to see her sister’s killer put behind bars...
  • A Lantern in the Dark by Stacey Reynolds

    A Lantern in the Dark by Stacey Reynolds

    Rated: 4.75 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    In a sleepy beach town in Coastal Carolina, two lost souls learn the destructive nature of secrets and the healing power of love. Captain Aidan O’Brien is a decorated officer of the Royal Irish Regiment. While on a personal mission with his brother to retrieve Michael’s would-be mate, Aidan visits an old friend on the local Marine Corps base...
  • New Arrivals at Hedgehog Hollow by Jessica Redland, Emma Swan

    New Arrivals at Hedgehog Hollow by Jessica Redland, Emma Swan

    Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    BRAND NEW FROM THE TOP 10 BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF 'NEW BEGINNINGS AT SEASIDE BLOOMS' AND 'FINDING LOVE AT HEDGEHOG HOLLOW.'With new arrivals comes new responsibilities. . . .The sun is shining, wild flowers are blooming and Hedgehog Hollow is officially open for business.For Samantha, the proud owner of this beautiful rescue centre, life has never been busier...
  • Beneath Blackwater River by Leslie Wolfe, Gwendolyn Druyor

    Beneath Blackwater River by Leslie Wolfe, Gwendolyn Druyor

    Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    Listening Length 13 hours and 4 minutesShe looked alive, her hair drifting freely in the water, her red lips gently parted, as if to let her final breath escape. A small locket floated by her face, attached to her neck with a silver chain…When Detective Kay Sharp first left Mount Chester—population 3,823—in her rear-view mirror, she promised never to look back...
  • Malone's Fate by Laylah Roberts, Golden Czermak

    Malone's Fate by Laylah Roberts, Golden Czermak

    Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    He met the love of his life, and then she disappeared without a trace . . .That was it.Tanner wasn’t going to fall in love again. The pain wasn’t worth it. So what if all his brothers had met their soulmate?There had to be one wild, crazy Malone left to live up to their reputation.Right?Wrong.Because he hadn’t counted on fate walking back into his life.Only this time, she's not alone...
  • Blue Twilight by Tess Thompson

    Blue Twilight by Tess Thompson

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    Death came between them in high school. Will solving a painful cold case bring them together at last?Carlie Webster remains haunted by the past. After a messy failed marriage sends her packing for her small hometown, she relives the memories of her sister’s thirty-year-old unsolved murder...
  • Saltwater Secrets by Amelia Addler

    Saltwater Secrets by Amelia Addler

    Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Life on San Juan Island isn't always as idyllic as it seems...Jade Clifton is more than ready for a fresh start. Finally free of her emotionally abusive ex, she's sure everything is about to get better for her. Except...it doesn't. A series of personal attacks on her property has her on edge, and Jade knows that she'll need help figuring out who is targeting her and why...
    Categorized as:
    epic  family  humor  adult  animals  audiobook  book  breakup
  • The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny

    The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny

    Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars
    · 30 ratings
    You’re a coward.Time and again, as the New Year approaches, that charge is leveled against Armand Gamache.It starts innocently enough.While the residents of the Québec village of Three Pines take advantage of the deep snow to ski and toboggan, to drink hot chocolate in the bistro and share meals together, the Chief Inspector finds his holiday with his family interrupted by a simple request...
  • Hide Away by Jason Pinter

    Hide Away by Jason Pinter

    Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    From the bestselling author of the Henry Parker series comes a page-turning thriller about a vigilante who’s desperate to protect her secrets—and bring a killer to justice.On the surface, Rachel Marin is an ordinary single mother; on the inside, she’s a fierce, brilliant vigilante...
  • Homecoming by the Sea by Kathi Daley

    Homecoming by the Sea by Kathi Daley

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Homecomings can be murder. When Amanda Parker returns to the small seaside town where she lived for two years while in witness protection she finds that she left a piece of herself behind. Literally. A ghost image of her alias, Alyson Prescott, has been living in her house for the past decade waiting rather impatiently for her return...
    Categorized as:
    humor  adult  amateur-sleuth  animals  book  cats  contemporary  cozy
  • Cross Her Heart by Melinda Leigh

    Cross Her Heart by Melinda Leigh

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 28 ratings
    A homicide detective’s violent family history repeats itself in #1 Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh’s novel of murder, secrets, and retribution...
    Categorized as:
    drama  family  abuse  action-adventure  adult  animals  audiobook  book
  • Track Her Down by Melinda Leigh

    Track Her Down by Melinda Leigh

    Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    For Sheriff Bree Taggert, a gruesome double murder exposes the secrets of the dead in a shocking novel of suspense by #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh.A teenager returns home from work and finds her parents shot to death in their bed. Responding to the call, Sheriff Bree Taggert realizes the crime wasn’t a burglary gone wrong. The couple was executed...
    Categorized as:
    family  drama  romance  mystery  suspense  audiobook  crime  fiction
  • The Obsession by Nora Roberts

    The Obsession by Nora Roberts

    Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars
    · 34 ratings
    The riveting new novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts“She stood in the deep, dark woods, breath shallow and cold prickling over her skin despite the hot, heavy air. She took a step back, then two, as the urge to run fell over her.” Naomi Bowes lost her innocence the night she followed her father into the woods...
  • Beneath Devil's Bridge by Loreth Anne White

    Beneath Devil's Bridge by Loreth Anne White

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    11 hours, 42 minutes A true crime podcast yields new revelations about a shocking murder in a riveting novel of suspense by Washington Post and Amazon Charts bestselling author Loreth Anne White. True crime podcaster Trinity Scott is chasing breakout success, and her brand-new serial may get her there. Her subject is Clayton Jay Pelley...
    Categorized as:
    drama  family  abuse  adult  audiobook  book  bullying  contemporary
  • Shelter in Place by Nora Roberts

    Shelter in Place by Nora Roberts

    Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars
    · 29 ratings
    From Nora Roberts comes the #1 New York Times bestseller Shelter in Place (June 2018) — a powerful tale of heart, heroism...and propulsive suspense.It was a typical evening at a mall outside Portland, Maine. Three teenage friends waited for the movie to start. A boy flirted with the girl selling sunglasses...
  • Saltwater Studios by Amelia Addler

    Saltwater Studios by Amelia Addler

    Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    The truth can set you free… or completely destroy you… Morgan Allen has neither the time nor the patience for shenanigans. Running her wedding photography business by day and searching for new evidence in the cold-case death of her mother by night leaves no room in her life for much else...
    Categorized as:
    epic  family  adult  audiobook  book  contemporary  female-mc  fiction
  • The Witness by Nora Roberts

    The Witness by Nora Roberts

    Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars
    · 37 ratings
    Daughter of a controlling mother, Elizabeth finally let loose one night, drinking at a nightclub and allowing a strange man's seductive Russian accent lure her to a house on Lake Shore Drive. The events that followed changed her life forever. Twelve years later, the woman known as Abigail Lowery lives on the outskirts of a small town in the Ozarks...
  • Killman Creek by Rachel Caine

    Killman Creek by Rachel Caine

    Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars
    · 34 ratings
    Every time Gwen closed her eyes, she saw him in her nightmares. Now her eyes are open, and he’s not going away.Gwen Proctor won the battle to save her kids from her ex-husband, serial killer Melvin Royal, and his league of psychotic accomplices. But the war isn’t over. Not since Melvin broke out of prison. Not since she received a chilling text…You’re not safe anywhere now...
  • A Gathering of Secrets by Linda Castillo

    A Gathering of Secrets by Linda Castillo

    Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    A deadly fire exposes the dark side of Amish life in this harrowing new thriller in the New York Times bestselling series.When a historic barn burns to the ground in the middle of the night, Chief of Police Kate Burkholder is called in to investigate. At first, it looks like an accident, but when the body of eighteen-year-old Daniel Gingerich is found inside—burned alive—Kate suspects murder...
    Categorized as:
    drama  family  adult  audiobook  book  contemporary  crime  death
  • The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny

    The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny

    Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars
    · 45 ratings
    Hardly a day goes by when nine-year-old Laurent Lepage doesn't cry wolf. From alien invasions, to walking trees, to winged beasts in the woods, to dinosaurs spotted in the village of Three Pines, his tales are so extraordinary no one can possibly believe him. But when the boy disappears, the villagers are faced with the possibility that one of his tall tales might have been true...
  • Still Life With Crows by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child

    Still Life With Crows by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child

    Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars
    · 28 ratings
    A small Kansas town has turned into a killing ground.Is it a serial killer, a man with the need to destroy?Or is it a darker force, a curse upon the land?Amid golden cornfields, FBI Special Agent Pendergast discovers evil in the blood of America's heartland.No one is safe...
  • The Next Grave by Kendra Elliot

    The Next Grave by Kendra Elliot

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 20 ratings
    A Wall Street Journal bestselling series.Following a murder and a woman’s sudden disappearance, investigations into old crimes and new collide in an alarming novel of suspense by a Wall Street Journal and Amazon Charts bestselling author.Detective Evan Bolton is gutted by his latest investigation...
    Categorized as:
    drama  north-america  usa  oregon  romance  mystery  crime  audiobook
  • Magic Hour by Kristin Hannah

    Magic Hour by Kristin Hannah

    Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars
    · 39 ratings
    Dr. Julia Cates was one of the country's preeminent child psychiatrists until a shocking tragedy ruined her career. Retreating to her small western Washington hometown, Julia meets an extraordinary six-year-old girl who has inexplicably emerged from the deep woods nearby—a child locked in a world of unimaginable fear and isolation...
  • Forgotten Secrets by Robin Perini

    Forgotten Secrets by Robin Perini

    Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars
    · 20 ratings
    At age ten, Riley Lambert watched helplessly as her sister was abducted from her bedroom. Fifteen years later, she’s channeled the pain of her past into a career as an FBI profiler. Riley devotes her life to bringing violent criminals to justice…and secretly uses government resources to search for her sister, who was never found...
  • On Her Watch by Melinda Leigh

    On Her Watch by Melinda Leigh

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    Sheriff Bree Taggert becomes a target when she follows the twisting trail of a serial killer in a bone-chilling novel of suspense by #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh.A pair of hikers find a tarp-wrapped body in a clearing in the woods. When a search in the surrounding area yields two more, Sheriff Bree Taggert knows they’ve stumbled onto a serial killer’s dumping ground...
  • Hero's Flight by Janie Crouch

    Hero's Flight by Janie Crouch

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Air Force Combat Controller Derek Bollinger knows what it is to feel that every breath might be his last. Enduring hell in an enemy prison for five weeks taught him that.The only thing that got him through it was the thought of his family, his hometown of Oak Creek, Wyoming, and especially of Becky Mackay.He survived, but with blood on his hands. His own. His friends’ who died beside him...
  • Say You're Sorry by Michael Robotham

    Say You're Sorry by Michael Robotham

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    TWO MISSING GIRLS. TWO BRUTAL MURDERS. ALL CONNECTED TO ONE FARM HOUSE. WHO IS TO BLAME?When pretty and popular teenagers Piper Hadley and Tash McBain disappear one Sunday morning, the investigation captivates a nation but the girls are never found.Three years later, during the worst blizzard in a century, a husband and wife are brutally killed in the farmhouse where Tash McBain once lived...
    Categorized as:
    family  adult  audiobook  book  contemporary  crime  dark  fiction
  • Down a Dark Road by Linda Castillo, Kathleen McInerney

    Down a Dark Road by Linda Castillo, Kathleen McInerney

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    This program is read by series narrator Kathleen McInerney. In this electrifying new thriller in the New York Times bestselling series, a convicted murderer is on the run and Chief of Police Kate Burkholder must catch him before he strikes again."Murder in Amish country has a certain added frisson, and Castillos the master of the genre. People magazine[An] incisive and affecting series . .
  • The Third Victim by Lisa Gardner

    The Third Victim by Lisa Gardner

    Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    The past isn't over....An unspeakable act has ripped apart the idyllic town of Bakersville, Oregon, and its once-peaceful residents are demanding quick justice. But though a boy has confessed to the horrific crime, evidence shows he may not be guilty. Officer Rainie Conner, leading her first homicide investigation, stands at the center of the controversy...
  • The Betrayed by Jana Deleon

    The Betrayed by Jana Deleon

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    One day on the job and contractor Zach Sargent is ready to believe the dilapidated old LeBeau mansion is haunted. Some intruder – earthly or not – is threatening the youngest LeBeau sister, back to claim her inheritance. And though Danae keeps her distance from the sexy hired hand, he falls for her in a heartbeat...
    Categorized as:
    family  adult  book  contemporary  crime  death  fiction  ghosts
  • A Merciful Death by Kendra Elliot

    A Merciful Death by Kendra Elliot

    Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars
    · 30 ratings
    FBI special agent Mercy Kilpatrick has been waiting her whole life for disaster to strike. A prepper since childhood, Mercy grew up living off the land—and off the grid—in rural Eagle’s Nest, Oregon. Until a shocking tragedy tore her family apart and forced her to leave home...
  • Stillhouse Lake by Rachel Caine

    Stillhouse Lake by Rachel Caine

    Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars
    · 43 ratings
    Gina Royal is the definition of average—a shy Midwestern housewife with a happy marriage and two adorable children. But when a car accident reveals her husband’s secret life as a serial killer, she must remake herself as Gwen Proctor—the ultimate warrior mom.With her ex now in prison, Gwen has finally found refuge in a new home on remote Stillhouse Lake...
  • Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

    Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

    Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars
    · 74 ratings
    In the latest thriller from New York Times bestseller Riley Sager, a woman returns to the house made famous by her father’s bestselling horror memoir. Is the place really haunted by evil forces, as her father claimed? Or are there more earthbound—and dangerous—secrets hidden within its walls?What was it like? Living in that house.Maggie Holt is used to such questions...
    Categorized as:
    drama  family  adult  audiobook  book  contemporary  crime  dark
  • The Lies I Told by Mary Burton

    The Lies I Told by Mary Burton

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    For a woman obsessed and a killer in her shadow, remembering the past becomes a mind game in a novel of psychological suspense by New York Times bestselling author Mary Burton.Twin sisters Marisa and Clare Stockton were sixteen when Clare’s body was found in Virginia’s James River. No arrests were made...
    Categorized as:
    drama  family  romance  mystery  fiction  suspense  audiobook  crime
  • Her Last Breath by Linda Castillo

    Her Last Breath by Linda Castillo

    Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    An extraordinarily beautiful Amish woman, a dangerous femme fatale, is the central figure in a story that reveals a dark side of Painters Mill and its seemingly perfect Amish worldA rainy night, an Amish father returning home with his three children, a speeding car hurtling toward them out of nowhere...
  • The Dark Bones by Loreth Anne White

    The Dark Bones by Loreth Anne White

    Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    She’s come back to solve the mystery of her father’s death and confront her own dark past. When Detective Rebecca North left her rural hometown, she vowed never to return. Her father’s apparent suicide has changed that. The official report is that retired cop Noah North shot himself, knocked over a lantern, and set his isolated cabin ablaze. But Rebecca cannot believe he killed himself...
  • Shamed by Linda Castillo

    Shamed by Linda Castillo

    Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    In this gripping thriller from New York Times bestselling author Linda Castillo, a devastating murder exposes an Amish family’s tortured past.The peaceful town of Painters Mill is shattered when an Amish grandmother is brutally murdered on an abandoned farm...
  • Wolfhunter River by Rachel Caine

    Wolfhunter River by Rachel Caine

    Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    A Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller.She can’t ignore a cry for help. But in this remote hunting town, it’s open season.Gwen Proctor escaped her serial-killer husband and saved her family. What she can’t seem to outrun is his notoriety. Or the sick internet vigilantes still seeking to avenge his crimes. For Gwen, hiding isn’t an option...
  • Wall of Silence by Tracy Buchanan

    Wall of Silence by Tracy Buchanan

    Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    Her children have a deadly secret. Can she uncover it before the police do?Melissa Byatt’s life in Forest Grove seems as perfect as can be: a doting husband, three loving children and a beautiful house in a close-knit community. But appearances can be deceiving...
  • The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter

    The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter

    Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars
    · 42 ratings
    Two girls are forced into the woods at gunpoint. One runs for her life. One is left behind.Twenty-eight years ago, Charlotte and Samantha Quinn's happy small-town family life was torn apart by a terrifying attack on their family home. It left their mother dead. It left their father—Pikeville's notorious defense attorney—devastated...
  • Riverstar by Tess Thompson

    Riverstar by Tess Thompson

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    After ending an affair with a married movie producer, feisty Hollywood makeup artist Bella Webber finds herself back in the quaint Oregon town of River Valley, the location of a famous director’s latest film...
    Categorized as:
    family  adult  book  contemporary  crime  female-mc  fiction  mystery
  • The Accused by Jana Deleon

    The Accused by Jana Deleon

    Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    In USA TODAY bestselling author Jana DeLeon's new trilogy, Mystere Parish: Family Inheritance, the first LeBeau sister returns to Calais with hopes of reuniting with her long-lost family...
    Categorized as:
    family  adult  book  contemporary  fiction  gothic  in-uniform  mystery
  • Heartsong Cottage by Emily March

    Heartsong Cottage by Emily March

    Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Daniel Garrett is no stranger to heartache or tragedy. Once a successful detective, his world fell apart with his son's murder and his wife's suicide. Leaving the police force, Daniel devotes his life to finding missing children, but when a case goes sour on the anniversary of his personal tragedy, he returns to Eternity Springs hoping for some of the town's fabled healing...
    Categorized as:
    drama  family  realistic  adult  audiobook  book  contemporary  fiction
  • Worth Dying For by Rita Herron

    Worth Dying For by Rita Herron

    Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    One man wants to kill her the other will die to protect her. Just when the residents of Slaughter Creek think they're safe, a sadistic serial killer strikes. Someone they're calling The Dissector. Someone who keeps his victims' body parts as gruesome trophies. Special Agent Liz Lucas has been on leave, recovering from the trauma of her last case...
    Categorized as:
    drama  adult  audiobook  book  contemporary  crime  dark  female-mc
  • Alone by E.J. Noyes

    Alone by E.J. Noyes

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 15 ratings
    Half a million dollars will be Celeste Thorne’s reward for spending four years of her life in total isolation. No faces. No voices. No way to leave. Since Celeste has never really worried about being alone, the generous paycheck she’ll receive for her participation in the solitary psychological experiment seems like easy money...
    Categorized as:
    drama  family  adult  age-gap  angst  audiobook  betrayal  book
  • The Long Way Home by Louise Penny

    The Long Way Home by Louise Penny

    Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars
    · 33 ratings
    Happily retired in the village of Three Pines, Armand Gamache, former Chief Inspector of Homicide with the Sûreté du Québec, has found a peace he’d only imagined possible. On warm summer mornings he sits on a bench holding a small book, The Balm in Gilead, in his large hands. "There is a balm in Gilead," his neighbor Clara Morrow reads from the dust jacket, "to make the wounded whole...
  • If There's No Tomorrow by Jennifer L. Armentrout

    If There's No Tomorrow by Jennifer L. Armentrout

    Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    Lena Wise is always looking forward to tomorrow, especially at the start of her senior year. She's ready to pack in as much friend time as possible, to finish college applications and to maybe let her childhood best friend Sebastian know how she really feels about him. For Lena, the upcoming year is going to be epic—one of opportunities and chances...
  • Carolina Moon by Nora Roberts

    Carolina Moon by Nora Roberts

    Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars
    · 30 ratings
    From #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts--an utterly spellbinding tale about a woman who, though battered in both body and spirit, can never lose Hope...Tory Bodeen grew up in South Carolina, in a small run-down house, where her father ruled with an iron fist and a leather belt--and where her dreams and talents had no room to flourish...
    Categorized as:
    drama  family  abuse  audiobook  book  contemporary  crime  death
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