Books like 'Black Coffee'
Readers who enjoyed Black Coffee by Charles Osborne & Charles Osborne also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical mystery 20th century thriller crime classics law-enforcement cozy suspense historical-fiction
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Lord Peter by Dorothy L. Sayers
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAll the Lord Peter Wimsey stories are here, in a single volume, including the one about Harriet, Peter and their three...Categorized as:
classics cozy crime golden-age-mystery historical-fiction law-enforcement suspense whodunit -
The Nero Wolfe Mystery Series: The Zeck Trilogy: And Be a Villain, The Second Confession, In the Best Families by Rex Stout
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe perfect introduction to crime fiction’s greatest armchair detective: three mysteries featuring Nero Wolfe and his nemesis, gangland kingpin Arnold Zeck . . .AND BE A VILLAINTHE SECOND CONFESSIONIN THE BEST FAMILIES A guest on a radio talk show drops dead on-air after drinking a glass of a sponsor’s beverage... -
Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsNot all of Miss Marple's best can be found in Agatha Christie novels. There are short stories too.Jane Marple is from the village of St Mary Mead and applies her skills of observation and deduction to a wide variety of mysteries...Categorized as:
classics cozy crime golden-age-mystery historical-fiction law-enforcement suspense whodunit -
Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsWhen ad man Victor Dean falls down the stairs in the offices of Pym's Publicity, a respectable London advertising agency, it looks like an accident. Then Lord Peter Wimsey is called in, and he soon discovers there's more to copywriting than meets the eye. A bit of cocaine, a hint of blackmail, and some wanton women can be read between the lines...Categorized as:
classics cozy crime golden-age-mystery historical-fiction law-enforcement noir suspense -
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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... -
The Continental Op by Dashiell Hammett
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsDashiell Hammett is the true inventor of modern detective fiction and the creator of the private eye, the isolated hero in a world where treachery is the norm... -
Lord Peter Views the Body by Dorothy L. Sayers
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIn this delightful collection of Wimsey exploits, Dorothy L. Sayers reveals a gruesome, grotesque but absolutely bewitching side rarely shown in Lord Peter's full-length adventures.Lord Peter views the body in 12 tantalizing and bizarre ways in this outstanding collection...Categorized as:
classics cozy crime golden-age-mystery historical-fiction law-enforcement suspense whodunit -
The Chinese Lake Murders by Robert van Gulik
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA.D. 666The Chinese Lake Murders describes how Judge Dee solves three difficult cases in A.D. 666, shortly after he has been appointed magistrate of Han-yuan."[Robert van Gulik] deftly interweaves three criminal cases involving exotic yet universally recognizable characters, then has his Judge Dee provide a surprising yet most plausible solution...Categorized as:
classics crime historical-fiction law-enforcement police-procedural whodunit 20th-century adult -
A Family Affair by Rex Stout
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhen a bomb kills his favorite waiter from his favorite restaurant, sedentary sleuth and gourmand Nero Wolfe is determined to go to any length to find the killer...Categorized as:
classics crime historical-fiction investigator law-enforcement noir suspense 20th-century -
Clutch of Constables by Ngaio Marsh
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFive Days Out of Time… that was how the ad had described the Zodiac cruise on the “weirdly misted” English river. The passengers were the usual, unusual lot: a couple of unpleasantly hygienic Americans, an aloof Ethiopian doctor, a snooping cleric with a wall-eye, an artist running away from her success…But they were not all what they seemed... -
And Be a Villain by Rex Stout
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsRadio talk show host Madeline Fraser's worst nightmare comes true when one of her on-air guests collapses at the mike after drinking a glass of the sponsor's beverage... -
In a Dry Season by Peter Robinson
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsWhen a drought drains the local Thornfield Reservoir, uncovering a long-drowned small village and the skeleton of a murder victim from the 1940s, Detective Alan Banks and Detective Sergeant Annie Cabot must investigate the decades-old crime and unmask an evil secret from the past...Categorized as:
cozy crime drama historical-fiction law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller -
Hangman's Holiday by Dorothy L. Sayers
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsAmusing and absolutely appalling things happen on the way to the gallows when murder meets Lord Peter Wimsey and the delightful working-class sleuth Montague Egg. This sumptuous feast of criminal doings and undoings includes a vintage double identity and a horrid incident of feline assassination that will tease the minds of cat-lovers everywhere...Categorized as:
classics cozy crime golden-age-mystery historical-fiction law-enforcement whodunit thriller -
The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsMiss Marple encounters a compelling murder mystery in St. Mary Mead, where under the seemingly peaceful exterior of an English country village lurks intrigue, guilt, deception, and death.Colonel Protheroe, local magistrate and overbearing landowner is the most detested man in the village. Everyone wishes he were dead and very soon he is shot in the head in the vicar’s study...Categorized as:
classics cozy crime drama golden-age-mystery historical-fiction law-enforcement noir -
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The Unexpected Guest by Charles Osborne, Agatha Christie
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWhen a stranger runs his car into a ditch in dense fog near the South Wales coast, and makes his way to an isolated house, he discovers a woman standing over the dead body of her wheel-chair bound husband, gun in her hand. She admits to murder, and the unexpected guest offers to help her concoct a cover story... -
Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe wealthy Agatha Dawson is dead--a trifle sooner than expected--but there are no apparent signs of foul play. Lord Peter Wimsey, however, senses that something is amiss and refuses to let the case rest--even without any clues or leads. Suddenly, he is faced with another murder: Agatha's maid...Categorized as:
classics cozy crime golden-age-mystery historical-fiction law-enforcement suspense whodunit -
Deadly Pleasure by Brenda Joyce
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsBrenda Joyce has enthralled millions of readers with her New York Times bestselling novels. Now, join us in the next chapter of her unforgettable storytelling: the Francesca Cahill novels. Step into the glittering world of New York City's high society at the turn of the last century, where murder and pleasure are one and the same, and love becomes the ultimate weapon..Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction investigator law-enforcement suspense 20th-century adult book -
Three at Wolfe's Door by Rex Stout, Michael Prichard
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsDeath comes a-calling not once but three times in this murderous collection of cases from the files of the world's greatest detective. First there is the exclusive dinner party where the guests are gourmets, arsenic is the appetizer, and the suspects are five of the most gorgeous gals in New York. Next, a wandering cab pulls up to Wolfe's door, containing a lady driver who doesn't belong.. -
The Rubber Band by Rex Stout
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWhat do a Wild West lynching and a respected English nobleman have in common? On the surface, absolutely nothing. But when a young woman hires his services, it becomes Nero Wolfe’s job to look deeper and find the connection... -
A Tan and Sandy Silence by John D. MacDonald
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsBeing accused at gunpoint of hiding another man's wife is a rude shock. But it's an even bigger shock when Travis McGee discovers that the woman in question is Mary Broll, a dear old friend. Now she's disappeared, vanished without a word to anyone... -
Champagne for One by Rex Stout
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFaith Usher talked about taking her own life and even kept cyanide in her purse. So when she died from a lethal champagne cocktail in the middle of a high society dinner party, everyone called it suicide—including the police. But Nero Wolfe isn’t convinced—and neither is Archie. Especially when Wolfe is warned by four men against taking the case...Categorized as:
cozy crime golden-age-mystery historical-fiction investigator law-enforcement suspense thriller -
The Red Box by Rex Stout
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA woman is dead, and the fortunes of overextended theatrical producer Llewellyn Frost depend on solving the mystery of the red box: two pounds of candied fruits, nuts and creams, covered with chocolate—and laced with potassium cyanide. When Nero Wolfe’s suspicion falls on Frost’s kissing cousin, Frost wants the detective to kill the sickly sweet case—before it kills him... -
Witness for the Prosecution and Selected Plays by Agatha Christie
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThis is the first-ever publication in book form of Witness for the Prosecution, Christie's highly successful stage thriller which was made into a film by Billy Wilder. Also included are Towards Zero, Verdict and Go Back for Murder... -
Hunting Shadows by Charles Todd
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA dangerous case with ties leading back to the battlefields of World War I dredges up dark memories for Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge in Hunting Shadows, a gripping and atmospheric historical mystery set in 1920s England, from acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Charles Todd.A society wedding at Ely Cathedral in Cambridgeshire becomes a crime scene when a man is murdered...Categorized as:
cozy crime drama historical-fiction law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller -
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Over My Dead Body by Rex Stout
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhen a Balkan beauty gets in trouble over some missing diamonds, whom else can she turn to but the world-famous Nero Wolfe? Especially since she claims to be Wolfe's long lost daughter! The stakes are suddenly raised when a student at this woman's fencing school ends up dead after a pointed lesson... -
The League of Frightened Men by Rex Stout, Robert Goldsborough
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA summary from the back cover:Paul Chapin's college cronies never forgave themselves for the prank that crippled their friend. Yet with Harvard days long behind them, they thought they were forgiven -- until a class reunion ends in a fatal fall (for one of them). Now this league of frightened men is desperate for Nero Wolfe's help...Categorized as:
classics cozy crime historical-fiction investigator law-enforcement suspense thriller -
The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsA beautiful, historically accurate edition of the modern classic first published in 1943 reproduces the original and offers an alternative for those who love great old books and want to relive Philip Marlowe's strange and puzzling search for the missing woman...Categorized as:
classics crime historical-fiction investigator law-enforcement noir suspense whodunit -
Poirot quitte la scène by Agatha Christie
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsArthritic and immobilized, Poirot calls on his old friend Captain Hastings to join him at Styles to be the eyes and ears that will feed observations to Poirot's still razor sharp mind. Though aware of the criminal's identity, Poirot will not reveal it to the frustrated Hastings, and dubs the nameless personage 'X'...Categorized as:
classics cozy crime golden-age-mystery historical-fiction investigator law-enforcement suspense -
The Face of a Stranger by Anne Perry
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratings"Richly textured with the sights and sounds of London and its countryside...Solidly absorbing and Perry's best to date."THE KIRKUS REVIEWSHis name, they tell him, is William Monk, and he is a London police detecive. But the accident that felled him has left him with only half a life; his memory and his entire past have vanished...Categorized as:
classics cozy crime historical-fiction law-enforcement police-procedural suspense whodunit -
Death in a White Tie by Ngaio Marsh
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA body in the back of a taxi begins an elegantly constructed mystery, perhaps the finest of Marsh's 1930s novels.The season had begun. Debutantes and chaperones were planning their luncheons, teas, dinners, balls. And the blackmailer was planning his strategies, stalking his next victim.But Chief Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn knew that something was up... -
Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie
Rated: 3.99 of 5 stars · 34 ratingsIt was an open and shut case. All the evidence said Caroline Crale poisoned her philandering husband, a brilliant painter. She was quickly and easily convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Now, sixteen years later, in a posthumous letter, Mrs. Crale has assured her grown daughter that she was innocent...Categorized as:
classics cozy crime drama golden-age-mystery historical-fiction law-enforcement suspense -
The Mousetrap and Other Plays by Agatha Christie
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThis special collection of Agatha Christie's greatest suspense plays includes The Mousetrap (the longest running play in history), Ten Little Indians, Witness for the Prosecution, Appointment with Death, The Hollow, Towards Zero, Go Back to Murder, and The Verdict...Categorized as:
classics cozy crime drama golden-age-mystery historical-fiction law-enforcement suspense -
To Love and Be Wise by Josephine Tey
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhen a young strikingly handsome photographer mysteriously disappears, it's up to Inspector Alan Grant to discover whether he accidentally drowned, committed suicide, or met his death at the hands of one of his many female admirers...Categorized as:
classics cozy crime golden-age-mystery historical-fiction investigator law-enforcement noir -
The Singing Sands by Josephine Tey
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsOn sick leave from Scotland Yard, Inspector Alan Grant is planning a quiet holiday with an old school chum to recover from overwork and mental fatigue... -
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The Documents in the Case by Dorothy L. Sayers, Robert Eustace
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe grotesquely grinning corpse in the Devonshire shack had died horribly—with a dish of mushrooms at his side deadly enough to kill thirty victims...Categorized as:
classics cozy crime golden-age-mystery historical-fiction law-enforcement suspense whodunit -
The Big Blowdown by George P. Pelecanos
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWashington DC, 1946. For two local young men, Pete Karras and Joey Recevo, the easiest way to find work after the war is by providing a little muscle for a local boss who runs a protection racket with the Mafia. The trouble with Pete Karras is that he is just too soft on his fellow immigrants, and the last thing the boss wants is for his mob to get soft... -
Hard Evidence by John Lescroart
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe first evidence is found in the belly of a shark: a hand sporting a jade ring. The hand belongs to a Silicon Valley billionaire. When the rest of his bullet-ridden body washes up on shore, Dismas Hardy, assistant D.A., is suddenly plunged into San Francisco's murder trial of the century. A Japanese call girl with a long list of bigshot johns is the defendant... -
Sweet Danger by Margery Allingham
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWay back during the crusades Richard I presented the Huntingforest family with the tiny Balkan principality of Averna but since then the kingdom has been forgotten, until circumstances in Europe suddenly render it extremely strategically important to the British Government...Categorized as:
classics cozy crime golden-age-mystery historical-fiction investigator law-enforcement 20th-century -
The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie
Rated: 3.98 of 5 stars · 45 ratingsWhen Alice Asher is murdered in Andover, Hercule Poirot is already looking into the clues. Alphabetically speaking, it's one letter down, twenty-five to go.There's a serial killer on the loose. His macabre calling card is to leave the ABC Railway Guide beside each victim's body...Categorized as:
classics cozy crime drama golden-age-mystery historical-fiction law-enforcement realistic -
Miss Silver Comes to Stay by Patricia Wentworth
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsOn vacation in a tiny village, Miss Silver investigates a murder with a decades-old motive.The citizens of Melling are perfectly ordinary―exactly the sort one finds in just about every cozy English village―and to a certain person they might even appear boring. But to Miss Silver, people are always interesting...Categorized as:
classics cozy crime historical-fiction law-enforcement suspense thriller 20th-century -
The Lacquer Screen by Robert van Gulik
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsEarly in his career, Judge Dee visits a senior magistrate who shows him a beautiful lacquer screen on which a scene of lovers has been mysteriously altered to show the man stabbing his lover. The magistrate fears he is losing his mind and will murder his own wife...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction law-enforcement police-procedural 20th-century adult book fiction -
The Case of William Smith by Patricia Wentworth
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWho was William Smith? And why was Mavis Jones so horrified to see him? For seven years William had worked as a woodcarver for the local toyshop, ignorant of his true identity. The war had robbed him of his memory, and no one expected him to ever find the answer...Categorized as:
classics cozy crime golden-age-mystery historical-fiction law-enforcement 20th-century adult -
Ladies' Bane by Patricia Wentworth
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsMiss Silver travels to the country to investigate a young man who may be deceiving his wifeNo one has seen Allegra Trent since she got married. Her husband swept her off her feet and out of London, to a faraway town called Bleake. She has stopped writing letters, and her family has begun to worry...Categorized as:
classics cozy crime historical-fiction investigator law-enforcement suspense thriller -
A Quiet Place to Kill by N.R. Daws
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIn this tense thriller set on a WW2 airbase, a female pilot faces danger in the sky—and a murderer on the ground.July 1940. As the Battle of Britain begins, the women of the Air Transport Auxiliary carry out the dangerous task of ferrying warplanes to RAF airbases...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction whodunit thriller law-enforcement police-procedural cozy mystery -
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Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie
Rated: 3.98 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsHere is a sparkling collection of mystery gems, polished puzzlers from the pen of Agatha Christie starring the vain, eccentric and utterly brilliant Hercule Poirot.Hercule Poirot grapples with a chain of mysteries that challenge his ingenuity and display the author's wide-ranging imagination to fine effect...Categorized as:
classics cozy crime golden-age-mystery historical-fiction investigator law-enforcement suspense -
Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie
Rated: 3.98 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsIt seems that no matter how hard he tries, Poirot never quite gets a holiday. This story sees him in Devon, Agatha Christie’s home county, and, of course, among the scantily clad sunbathers, a murdered woman is found.It was not unusual to find the beautiful bronzed body of the sun-loving Arlena Stuart stretched out on a beach, face down...Categorized as:
classics cozy crime drama golden-age-mystery historical-fiction investigator law-enforcement -
Peril at End House by Agatha Christie
Rated: 3.98 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsHercule Poirot is vacationing on the Cornish coast when he meets Nick Buckley. Nick is the young and reckless mistress of End House, an imposing structure perched on the rocky cliffs of St. Loo.Poirot quickly takes a particular interest in the young woman. She has recently narrowly escaped a series of life-threatening accidents...Categorized as:
classics cozy crime golden-age-mystery historical-fiction investigator law-enforcement suspense -
Poirot a Styles Court by Agatha Christie
Rated: 3.98 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsAgatha Christie's debut novel was the first to feature Hercule Poirot, her famously eccentric Belgian detective. A refugee of the Great War, Poirot is settling in England near Styles Court, the country estate of his wealthy benefactor, the elderly Emily Inglethorp. When Emily is poisoned and the authorities are baffled, Poirot puts his prodigious sleuthing skills to work... -
Hard Rain by Janwillem van de Wetering
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsOn a stormy night in Amsterdam, banker Martin Ijsbreker is killed by a sniper as he sits by an open window at his home along the Binnenkant Canal. Three junkies then enter Ijsbreker's house, arrange his death to look like suicide and steal valuables for which they will be paid in heroin... -
Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie
Rated: 3.97 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsOur indomitable Miss Marple turns ghost hunter and uncovers shocking evidence of a very old crime.Soon after Gwenda moved into her new home, odd things started to happen. Despite her best efforts to modernize the house, she only succeeded in dredging up its past. Worse, she felt an irrational sense of terror every time she climbed the stairs...Categorized as:
classics cozy crime drama golden-age-mystery historical-fiction law-enforcement suspense
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