Books like 'Hell to Pay'
Readers who enjoyed Hell to Pay by George P. Pelecanos also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
mystery thriller crime law-enforcement noir investigator suspense hard-boiled police-procedural social-commentary
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The Last Bloody Straw by J.D. Kirk
Rated: 4.47 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsHow do you solve a murder when everyone's a suspect? Tormented by the recent loss of a colleague, DCI Jack Logan is on the warpath, determined to bring down all those he holds responsible for the officer's death. His quest for revenge is cut short when a woman's body turns up on the remote island of Canna, and Jack is summoned to investigate... -
![Cold-Blooded by Lisa Regan]()
Cold-Blooded by Lisa Regan
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFourteen years ago, high school track star Sydney Adams was gunned down in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park. The investigation yielded useless clues, and the case went cold. But homicide detective Augustus Knox never gave up on finding Sydney's killer... -
![Proving Grounds by B.J. Bourg]()
Proving Grounds by B.J. Bourg
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWhen the sniper-style murder of an alligator poacher puts two rival families on edge, Police Sniper London Carter and Detective Sergeant Dawn Luke join forces to solve the case. But they'll have their work cut out for them as the two families recruit small armies to fight each other... -
![The Girl in the Manor by A.J. Rivers]()
The Girl in the Manor by A.J. Rivers
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe sound of a blood curdling scream echoed through the manor. Her pleas ignored, her screams unheard... -
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![So We Lie by Willow Rose]()
So We Lie by Willow Rose
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsEva Rae Thomas is in over her head on her first assignment as an FBI profiler in multi-million-copy bestselling author Willow Rose’s nail-biting mystery.When the mother of two, Arlene Wood, crashes her car against a tree at four in the morning, the case seems pretty straightforward.But evidence found in the remains of the car soon raises the question of whether this was really an accident... -
![Bury Them Deep: Inspector McLean Book 10 by James Oswald]()
Bury Them Deep: Inspector McLean Book 10 by James Oswald
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe tenth book in the Sunday Times-bestselling Inspector McLean series, from one of Scotland's most celebrated crime writers When a member of the Police Scotland team fails to clock-in for work, concern for her whereabouts is immediate... and the discovery of her burnt-out car in remote woodland to the south of Edinburgh sets off a desperate search for the missing woman... -
![The Spike by Matthew Iden]()
The Spike by Matthew Iden
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsRetired DC homicide cop Marty Singer witnesses a horrific murder and the family of the victim hires him to find the killer. But when he peels back the cover on the case, Marty discovers a rotten core of corruption, graft, and violence that runs from the lowest city street to the top of the political food chain...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled investigator law-enforcement police-procedural suspense adult book -
![Three Small Bones by Jennifer Chase]()
Three Small Bones by Jennifer Chase
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSmoke curls from what’s left of the beautiful family home on the edge of the woods. The heat is unbearable as she descends the stairs to the basement, past a set of bicycles––two big, one small... -
![Dead and Buried: A Scottish Detective Mystery by John Carson]()
Dead and Buried: A Scottish Detective Mystery by John Carson
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSometimes, the past is better left behind...Detective Chief Inspector Harry McNeil had found himself back in CID after a leave of absence saw his team disbanded. Now he's been temporarily assigned to an existing Major Investigation team, working alongside his old friend, Detective Inspector Frank Miller, after Miller's DCI dies suddenly.A body is found in the city centre, torn to pieces... -
![The Harry Bosch Novels, Volume 1: The Black Echo / The Black Ice / The Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly]()
The Harry Bosch Novels, Volume 1: The Black Echo / The Black Ice / The Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe Black Echo:For Harry Bosch - hero, loner, nighthawk - the body stuffed in a drainpipe off Mulholland Drive isn't just another statistic. This one is personal. Billy Meadows was a fellow Vietnam "tunnel rat," fighting the VC and the fear they used to call the Black Echo. Harry let Meadows down once. He won't do it again...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller adult anthologies audiobook -
![The Girl Next Door by A.J. Rivers]()
The Girl Next Door by A.J. Rivers
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSherwood is a sleepy little town. A town full of friendly faces, and even friendlier neighbors.Which is why FBI agent Emma Griffin isn't surprised when her new neighbor starts stopping by to chat.Turns out her neighbor has a dark past and secrets that made her run... -
![The Blood Road by Stuart MacBride]()
The Blood Road by Stuart MacBride
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSome things just won’t stay buried…Logan McRae’s personal history is hardly squeaky clean, but now that he works for Professional Standards it’s his job to police his fellow officers.When Detective Inspector Bell turns up dead in the driver’s seat of a crashed car it’s a shock to everyone. Because Bell died two years ago, they buried him. Or they thought they did...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller adult audiobook -
![Never Too Late by Sally Rigby]()
Never Too Late by Sally Rigby
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA vicious attack. A dirty secret. And a chance for justiceEx-police officer Sebastian Clifford is quickly finding that life as a private investigator is never quiet. His doors have only been open a few weeks when DCI Whitney Walker approaches him to investigate the brutal attack that left her older brother, Rob, with irreversible brain damage... -
![Grimm Up North by David J. Gatward]()
Grimm Up North by David J. Gatward
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsWelcome to Wensleydale, where the cheese is famous, the scenery beautiful, and the locals have murder on their minds …Detective Chief Inspector Harry Grimm is forced to take leave from Bristol’s Major Investigations Team when his boss, tired of Harry chasing the ghost of his murderous father, sends him north on secondment... -
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![James 516: A London Carter Novel by B.J. Bourg]()
James 516: A London Carter Novel by B.J. Bourg
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe 2016 EPIC eBook Awards Winner for Best Mystery! The Magnolia Parish Sheriff’s Office is on high alert after a deadly sniper begins executing high-ranking cops. Sheriff Burke puts his best sniper, London Carter, and his internal affairs officer, Bethany Riggs, on the case. Pressure mounts and panic sets in as the body count rises and the killer becomes more embolden... -
![Hey You, Pretty Face by Linda Coles]()
Hey You, Pretty Face by Linda Coles
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAn abandoned baby. Three girls stolen in the night. Two connected cases?London, Winter, 1999. When an abandoned newborn baby is discovered, DC Jack Rutherford becomes involved.Covering the holiday period almost singlehandedly, resources are at breaking point and he’s pushed to his limit...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense hard-boiled thriller mystery fiction -
![The Love Killings by Robert Ellis]()
The Love Killings by Robert Ellis
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFor the past six weeks, LAPD detective Matt Jones has been recovering from the wrong end of a hit man’s bullet. Before he can look for payback, Jones finds himself enlisted in the manhunt for an old foe. Dr. George Baylor, the serial killer who escaped after murdering three coeds in LA, resurfaces on the East Coast... -
![Body Breaker by M.W. Craven]()
Body Breaker by M.W. Craven
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratings'This is high quality crime writing' A A DhandThe second dark and twisted thriller in the Avison Fluke series by M. W. Craven, the acclaimed author of The Puppet Show.Investigating how a severed hand ends up on the third green of a Cumbrian golf course is not how Detective Inspector Avison Fluke has planned to spend his Saturday...Categorized as:
crime suspense thriller law-enforcement police-procedural hard-boiled mystery fiction -
![Born in a Burial Gown by M.W. Craven]()
Born in a Burial Gown by M.W. Craven
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsDetective Inspector Avison Fluke is a man on the edge. He has committed a crime to get back to work, concealed a debilitating illness and is about to be made homeless. Just as he thinks things can’t get any worse, the body of a young woman is found buried on a wet, Cumbrian building site. Shot once in the back of the head, execution style, it is a cold, calculated murder...Categorized as:
crime suspense law-enforcement police-procedural thriller hard-boiled mystery fiction -
![Past Crimes by G.K. Parks]()
Past Crimes by G.K. Parks
Rated: 4.70 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsEight years ago, he covered up a murder. Now Alexis Parker has to prove he didn't do it. Except, she's not convinced he isn't guilty.Ever since Alex went to work for Lucien Cross, nothing's been the same. She's always been wary of him. Now, she finally knows why.The police discovered a body and enough evidence to put Cross in a cell for the rest of his life. He won't offer an explanation... -
![Catherine Coulter the FBI Thrillers Collection Books 11-15 by Catherine Coulter]()
Catherine Coulter the FBI Thrillers Collection Books 11-15 by Catherine Coulter
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFive FBI Thrillers featuring FBI Agents Savage and Sherlock #11-15: Double Take, Tailspin, Knockout, Whiplash, and Split Second... -
![The Last Coyote / Trunk Music (Harry Bosch, #4, #5) by Michael Connelly]()
The Last Coyote / Trunk Music (Harry Bosch, #4, #5) by Michael Connelly
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA two-in-one, this volume includes The Last Coyote in which suspended LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch investigates the unsolved murder of his mother, and Trunk Music which finds Harry returning to the force to investigate the murder of a movie producer with Mafia ties...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller adult anthologies audiobook -
![The Mermaid by Anki Edvinsson]()
The Mermaid by Anki Edvinsson
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsCould the prime suspect in a murder be a victim too?The body of a homeless woman is found in the river, viciously beaten and with all her teeth removed. A young immigrant, the prime suspect in a recent spate of robberies in Umeå, was seen running in the vicinity around the time the body was dumped. Trouble is, he hasn’t been seen since... -
![Ten Little Girls by Willow Rose]()
Ten Little Girls by Willow Rose
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsEvery Mother's Worst Fear! Imagine waiting for the school bus, waiting for your daughter to come home, looking forward to spending the afternoon with her, but as the bus stops and the children start to come out, your daughter isn't there. Ten little girls go missing on the same day in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Ten little girls all from the same school... -
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![Bad to the Bone by Tony J. Forder]()
Bad to the Bone by Tony J. Forder
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsLooking for an unmissable crime thriller? A skeletal body is unearthed in a wooded area of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire. DI James Bliss, together with DC Penny Chandler, investigate the case and discover that the young, female victim had been relocated from its original burial site...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller adult audiobook -
![Inmate 1577 by Alan Jacobson, Christina Traister]()
Inmate 1577 by Alan Jacobson, Christina Traister
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsNational Bestselling Author Alan Jacobson brings back renowned FBI Profiler Karen Vail in an intelligent thriller that bridges time and space. When an elderly woman is found raped and brutally murdered in San Francisco, Vail heads west to team up with SFPD Inspector Lance Burden and her former task force colleague, Detective Roxxann Dixon... -
![Crisis of Conscience by G.K. Parks]()
Crisis of Conscience by G.K. Parks
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIt’s open season on federal agents, and Alexis Parker is the primary target.What happens when allies can't be trusted? Federal agent Alexis Parker is about to find out. After taking some personal time, Alex is back at work and embroiled in an investigation to uncover a traitor inside the Office of International Operations...Categorized as:
suspense law-enforcement police-procedural hard-boiled mystery female-mc alpha-mc fiction -
![Misplaced Trust by G.K. Parks]()
Misplaced Trust by G.K. Parks
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWith the shake-up at the OIO, Alexis Parker is assigned to assist the DEA on a long-term undercover operation across the country. Being away from home might be just what Alex needs to regain some perspective, especially when Martin's been so distant lately. But this assignment might be more than either of them bargained for since the death toll continues to rise while hard evidence remains zilch...Categorized as:
suspense law-enforcement police-procedural hard-boiled female-mc alpha-mc fiction mystery -
![Free Fall in Crimson by John D. MacDonald, Carl Hiaasen]()
Free Fall in Crimson by John D. MacDonald, Carl Hiaasen
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsMcGee tracks killers who brutally murder an ailing millionaire. He renews unfinished adventure with Hollywood actress who leads him into a nasty nest of murderers involving a motorcycle gang, porn movies, and mad balloonists. And Mcgee relearns old lesson. Only close to the edge of death does he feel completely alive... -
![Flamingo by James Lee Burke]()
Flamingo by James Lee Burke
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA routine assignment transporting two death-row prisoners to their executions goes fatally wrong, leaving Dave Robicheaux brutally wounded and his partner dead. Obsessed with revenge, Dave is persuaded by the DEA to go undercover into the torrid sleepy depths of New Orleans, a volatile world of Mafia drug-running and Cajun voodoo magic...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled investigator law-enforcement noir police-procedural suspense thriller -
![The Simple Art of Murder by Raymond Chandler]()
The Simple Art of Murder by Raymond Chandler
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsContains Chandler's essay on the art of detective stories and a collection of 8 classic Chandler mysteries... -
![When the Sacred Ginmill Closes by Lawrence Block]()
When the Sacred Ginmill Closes by Lawrence Block
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsDowning a bourbon or two with a couple of cronies, Scudder witnesses a heist. The Morrisey brothers who run the joint are strangely submissive during the raid, but eager to see Scudder track down the thieves without involving the regular forces of law and order... -
![Murder Board by Brian Christopher Shea]()
Murder Board by Brian Christopher Shea
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA Boston homicide detective sets out to find a young girl’s killer—and confronts the dark world of city politics and organized crime. THE FIRST NOVEL OF THE NEW BOSTON CRIME THRILLER SERIES BY FORMER DETECTIVE BRIAN SHEA. The young girl was from a good family in an affluent suburb...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled investigator law-enforcement police-procedural politics suspense thriller -
![Pressure Point by Ted Tayler]()
Pressure Point by Ted Tayler
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsGus Freeman’s Crime Review Team has two successful cold case investigations behind them. Will it be third time lucky? The victim’s profession might make it hard to find someone to talk. ‘Pressure Point’ has a wide array of characters, and offers action, romance, humour and drama. In their most recent case, DS Neil Davis’s father, Terry, came under the microscope... -
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![The Silent Conversation by Caro Ramsay]()
The Silent Conversation by Caro Ramsay
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhen DNA evidence links a present-day murder to the disappearance of a young boy four years earlier, detectives Anderson & Costello are plunged into a baffling mystery. It's been four years since four-year-old Johnny Clearwater disappeared without trace one hot summer afternoon. Now, a new TV documentary series is revisiting the case, dredging up memories perhaps best left forgotten... -
![Blood Moon by Michael Lister]()
Blood Moon by Michael Lister
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA daring escape. A race against time. Locked in with a vicious, relentless killer. Can John save the life of the woman he loves? The stakes have never been higher. Success seems impossible. Failure unimaginable. Behold what happens beneath the Blood Moon! A Suspenseful Mystery Adventures with one of crime fiction's most fascinating and unique detectives... -
![Blake Pierce Mystery Bundle: Once Gone / Before he Kills by Blake Pierce]()
Blake Pierce Mystery Bundle: Once Gone / Before he Kills by Blake Pierce
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA free two-book mystery bundle by #1 bestselling author Blake Pierce, author of ONCE GONE, a #1 bestseller on Amazon with over 350 five star reviews! Here is a bundle of the first books in two Blake Pierce series—the Riley Paige and Mackenzie White series—all here in one convenient place. This bundle offers a great introduction to Blake Pierce’s series with over 140,000 words of reading...Categorized as:
suspense crime thriller law-enforcement police-procedural fiction young-adult psychological -
![The Silence at Mystery Bay by D.D. Black]()
The Silence at Mystery Bay by D.D. Black
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA thousand people watched. No one saw a thing.Private investigator Thomas Austin is enjoying a relaxing holiday vacation in picturesque Port Townsend, Washington, accompanied by an intriguing new friend. But his tranquility is shattered when the nearby community of Mystery Bay is rocked by the death of a revered musician at an infamous counterculture The Rabbit Hole... -
![Trouble Brewing by G.K. Parks]()
Trouble Brewing by G.K. Parks
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWhile Alex and Martin prepare to return home, a storm is brewing that threatens to derail everything they’ve built.Private investigator Alexis Parker is ready to say goodbye to the sun, surf, and sand. The West Coast branch of Cross Security is finally getting off the ground, and Martin’s business in Los Angeles is coming to an end... -
![Intended Target by G.K. Parks]()
Intended Target by G.K. Parks
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsInside the federal courthouse, a single gunshot punches a hole through the window, leaving two bodies in its wake. One of the victims is an Assistant United States Attorney. The other is juror number five. Due to the nature of the crime, the OIO is assigned to evaluate the security measures implemented by the U.S. Marshal Service... -
![Dying for a Fix by G.K. Parks]()
Dying for a Fix by G.K. Parks
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWelcome back, former federal agent Alexis Parker.Alex always said it'd be a cold day in hell before she'd step foot inside the OIO again, and the blizzard conditions outside prove her declaration true. But clipping on the badge doesn't mean taking a seat behind a desk or investigating a crime scene. It means infiltrating a local drug ring led by the city's most ruthless gang, the KXDs... -
![The Sleepwalker by Joseph Knox]()
The Sleepwalker by Joseph Knox
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratings‘He said he didn’t remember killing them…’As a series of rolling blackouts plunge the city into darkness, Detective Aidan Waits sits on an abandoned hospital ward, watching a mass murderer slowly die. Transferred from his usual night shift duties and onto protective custody, he has just one job…To extract the location of Martin Wick’s final victim before the notorious mass murderer passes away... -
![Sharko by Franck Thilliez]()
Sharko by Franck Thilliez
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratings" Sharko comparait toujours les premiers jours d'une enquête à une partie de chasse. Ils étaient la meute de chiens stimulés par les cors, qui s'élancent à la poursuite du gibier. À la différence près que, cette fois, le gibier, c'était eux. " Eux, c'est Lucie Henebelle et Franck Sharko, flics aux 36 quai des Orfèvres, unis à la ville comme à la scène, parents de deux petits garçons... -
![Girl On Fire: by Tony Parsons]()
Girl On Fire: by Tony Parsons
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsALMOST HOME. BUT NOWHERE TO HIDE. From the number one bestselling crime-writer comes a brilliant, page-turning new DC Max Wolfe thriller.'Remarkably moving' The TimesWhen terrorists use a drone to bring down a plane on one of London's busiest shopping centres, it ignites a chain of events that will draw in the innocent and guilty alike... -
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![On Beulah Height by Reginald Hill]()
On Beulah Height by Reginald Hill
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsInto thin air...Three little girls, one by one, had vanished from the farming village of Dendale. And Superintendent Andy Dalziel, a young detective in those days, never found their bodies--or the person who snatched them. Then the valley where Dendale stood was flooded to create a reservoir, and the town itself ceased to be . . . except in Dalziel's memory... -
![The Green Ripper by John D. MacDonald]()
The Green Ripper by John D. MacDonald
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsBeautiful girls always grace the Florida beaches, strolling, sailing, relaxing at the many parties on Travis McGee's houseboat, The Busted Flush. McGee was too smart--and had been around too long--for many of them to touch his heart. Now, however, there was Gretel. She had discovered the key to McGee--to all of him--and now he had something to hope for. Then, terribly, unexpectedly, she was dead...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled investigator law-enforcement noir suspense thriller action-adventure -
![The Worm in the Bud by Chris Collett]()
The Worm in the Bud by Chris Collett
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA puncture wound in the arm of a local journalist found dead in his home gives testimony to his death by lethal injection, and the cryptic note by his side—“no more”—suggests suicide. To DI Tom Mariner, however, there is something a little too staged about events, especially given that just that evening Mariner had witnessed the journalist—Edward Barham—pick up a prostitute in a bar... -
![Pale Gray for Guilt by John D. MacDonald]()
Pale Gray for Guilt by John D. MacDonald
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsTush Bannon was in the wrong spot at the wrong time. His measly plot of land just so happened to sit right in the middle of a rich parcel of five hundred riverfront acres that big-money real estate interests decided they simply must have.It didn’t matter that Tush was a nice guy with a family, or that he never knew he was dealing with a criminal element...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled investigator law-enforcement noir politics suspense action-adventure -
![Purple Cane Road by James Lee Burke]()
Purple Cane Road by James Lee Burke
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsDave Robicheaux has spent his life confronting the age-old adage that the sins of the father pass onto the son. But what has his mother's legacy left him? Dead to him since youth, Mae Guillory has been shuttered away in the deep recesses of Dave's mind. He's lived with the fact that he would never really know what happened to the woman who left him to the devices of his whiskey-driven father...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled investigator law-enforcement noir police-procedural suspense thriller -
![The Empty Copper Sea by John D. MacDonald]()
The Empty Copper Sea by John D. MacDonald
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratings"The professional's professional of suspense writers."THE NEW YORK TIMESVan Harder, once a hard drinker, has found religion. But that doesn't keep folks from saying he murdered his employer, Hub Lawless, whose body hasn't been found. To clear his name, and cear up the mystery, Van asks friend-in-need Travis McGee to find out what really happened...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled investigator law-enforcement noir suspense thriller action-adventure
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