Books like 'Hardball'
Readers who enjoyed Hardball by Sara Paretsky also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
mystery thriller crime law-enforcement suspense politics noir investigator female-mc
-
The Girl and the Field of Bones by A.J. Rivers
Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThere are secrets only the dead can tell.And some of these secrets refuse to remain buried.Since the death of her mother, FBI agent Emma Griffin has devoted her life to uncover the truth behind even the most shocking mysteries.Now Emma must confront the dangerous, but unavoidable truth behind what she witnessed in the temple. The people behind this secret society call themselves the Order... -
Night on Fire by L.T. Vargus, Tim McBain
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFire crawls up the sides of the church. The orange glow thrashes. Blackens the siding. Climbs up onto the steeple. The flames close in on the wedding party trapped inside. When a serial arsonist terrorizes Los Angeles County, FBI profiler Violet Darger heads to California to investigate. The fires keep coming faster. The body count rises, and the threat hangs over the city as thick as the smog... -
The Girl and the Twisted End by A.J. Rivers
Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA horrific beginning.Ends with the most unexpected twist...Marie was young, beautiful, and vibrant.Her life was cruelly taken from her.Her murderer still roams this world, potentially looking for a new prey... -
The Girl and the Secret Society by A.J. Rivers
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsEvil has many faces. This one you will never see coming.This is the bizarre and shocking case of Lakyn Monroe.In the midst of filming her show, Lakyn vanished without a trace.Four months have passed, and the unusual disappearance of the internet celebrity has garnered nationwide attention... -
-
The Girl and the 7 Deadly Sins by A.J. Rivers
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsPride. Greed. Lust. Envy. Gluttony. Wrath. Sloth.The sins that make us our own worst enemy.And at any given time, we all could fall victim to them.Fighting those demons at times seems impossible.Especially when they come to life…FBI agent Emma Griffin has seen her share of dark and twisted murders.When she's called onto a new case, Emma finds herself baffled and horrified by the crime scene... -
The Girl and the Deadly Secrets by A.J. Rivers
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAfter a home invasion landed Emma in a comatose state. Sam faces another shocking event as he finds himself fighting off an assassin in Emma’s hospital room. Someone obviously wanted to keep Emma quiet forever. But the question is, why?Now, after weeks of being in a coma, FBI agent Emma Griffin is finally awake.Xavier gets Emma, and the gang to join a charity organization that he’s a part of... -
Damned by Jana Deleon
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhen young priest Nicolas Chatry took his vows, he thought the hardest thing he’d have to deal with was accomplishing his duties from a wheelchair. Until a murderer steps into the confessional. Unable to recognize the voice or maneuver quickly enough to get a look at the killer, Nicolas has no way of identifying who admitted to such a horrific deed... -
The Girl and the Midnight Murder by A.J. Rivers
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIt was just another ordinary night.And an ordinary meal to accompany it.A glass of wine, a plate of chicken.And the sound of the ticking clock. But then, the unexpected feeling of disorientation seeps in.Cheryl suddenly felt dizzy and nauseous...Then something far more unexpected happened.And in an instant an ordinary night turned into a night full of incomprehensible mysteries... -
The Girl in the Woods by A.J. Rivers
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsI’m all alone now… But I just have to make it there.I need to keep going… Keep…A beautiful woman's body is found frozen on the ground.And many questions that no one can answer arises.When Emma Griffin joined the FBI, she had hopes that she could find out the truth about her own past. But over time she realized that it was more than just herself. She wanted to be a voice for the victims... -
The Lullaby Man by Anni Taylor
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA decade ago, The Lullaby Man preyed upon young girls in Tallman's Valley. He stole into their lives, whispered in their ears, spoke of love...But only the girls themselves ever knew about him. Abby Wakeland was fourteen then. Now twenty-four, she's found the courage to tell her mother--Senior Detective Kate Wakeland--about what happened... -
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... -
Dark Highway by Lisa Gray, Amy Landon
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAn isolated highway in the middle of the desert - the perfect place to hide a secret.LA-based artist Laurie Simmonds disappeared two months ago, her camper-van abandoned on the isolated Twentynine Palms Highway, miles from anything - or anyone. With the police investigation stalled, her parents put all their faith in private investigator Jessica Shaw to find out the truth of what happened...Categorized as:
crime female-mc investigator law-enforcement suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
If She Ran by H.K. Christie
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThree months. Three missing women. One PI determined to discover the truth.Back from break, PI Martina Monroe clears the air with her boss at Drakos Security & Investigations and is ready to jump right into solving cold cases for the CoCo County Sheriff’s Department... -
Trapper Road by Rachel Caine, Carrie Ryan
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsSometimes danger comes from the most unexpected places.Gwen Proctor has always been willing to do anything it takes to protect her kids. But there are some things even she can’t protect them from. When a violent incident at Connor’s school brings the press to Gwen’s doorstep, she agrees to take a case out of town hoping to keep her family out of the crushing media spotlight... -
-
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... -
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... -
Missing Persons by James Patterson, Adam Hamdy
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsIn Afghanistan, a US Special Forces pilot is shot down during a covert mission.In New York, a mother is forced to flee with her two young children.A wealthy businessman approaches Jack Morgan, head of Private - the world's largest investigation agency - with a desperate plea to track down his daughter and grandchildren, who have disappeared without a trace... -
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... -
Dangerous Waters by A.J. Rivers
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsShe was terrorized, afraid, and desperate for help.But her hopeless pleas would never be answered. No one would come to her rescue.Now her body lays lifeless, floating in the water.The girl could not escape the deadly and sinister secrets that Windsor Island holds…It’s been a year since the body of FBI agent Emma Griffin's ex-boyfriend was found on the beach... -
Lonely Hearts by Lisa Gray
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsShe found love on Death Row with her prison pen pal. She’s been missing ever since. Can Jessica Shaw track her down?A missing persons case should be pretty straightforward for private investigator Jessica Shaw. After all, it’s what she does best. But this latest case proves to be anything but straightforward.Christine Ryan is desperate to find her childhood friend Veronica Lowe... -
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 Girl and the Hunt by A.J. Rivers
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsCatch me.The words that taunted FBI Agent Emma Griffin on the blood-soaked train ride from Sherwood continue to follow her.Drawn to Feathered Nest, she discovers that the horror is far from over and whoever is behind the dare has no intention of his brutal game slowing down any time soon... -
Purppuraverkko by Carmen Mola
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsSatoja tuhansia myynyt Espanjan Varistyttö.Kesän viimeisinä päivinä rikostutkija Elena Blanco ryhmineen tekee rynnäkön Madridin laitamilla sijaitsevaan taloon. He syöksyvät suoraan perheen teinipojan huoneeseen, jossa tietokoneen näytöllä kaksi huppupäistä miestä kiduttaa nuorta tyttöä suorassa lähetyksessä. Poliisit joutuvat todistamaan ruudun välityksellä tytön kuolemaa... -
Bună seara, Melania! by Rodica Ojog-Braşoveanu
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsRodica Ojog-Braşoveanu a publicat romane poliţiste, istorice şi alte povestiri. Maestră in arta suspansului, Rodica Ojog-Brasoveanu se arată o fină cunoscătoare a maștilor dincolo de care se ascund întotdeauna oamenii și în literatura, și în viata. Această carte o dovedește din plin.Despre "Ciclul Melaniei": Melania este cheia întregii serii, prin unicitatea ei... -
-
Over The Edge by Lisa Regan
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhen retired Philadelphia detective turned private investigator Joselyn Rush is rear-ended, her knee-jerk response is anger, especially when the well-dressed woman driving tries to flee the scene. But as Jocelyn watches in disbelief, the woman jumps off the bridge, plunging to her death in the Schuylkill River one hundred fifty feet below... -
Law of Five by Robin Mahle
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe nationwide manhunt for a killer begins and the media quickly dubs him the “Highway Hunter.” Bodies left roadside on display with horrific markings; a calling card. But this case is miles away from Katie Reid and her life with Detective Marshall Avery.That is, until she gets the call from her old friend and reporter, Marc Aguilar, who believes that the killer could be coming their way... -
Tell No One / Gone For Good by Harlan Coben
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFrom New York Times bestselling author Harlan Coben comes an unforgettable duet of classic novels—two top-notch thrillers filled with the author’s signature storytelling genius.TELL NO ONEFor Dr. David Beck, the loss was shattering. And every day for the past eight years, he has relived the horror of what happened. The gleaming lake. The pale moonlight. The piercing screams... -
Truth or Dare by M.J. Arlidge
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsDo you want to play the game?A crimewave sweeps through the city and no-one is safe. An arson at the docks. A carjacking gone wrong. A murder in a country park. What connects all these crimes without causes, which leave no clues?Detective Inspector Helen Grace faces the rising tide of cases which threatens to drown the city. But each crime is just a piece of a puzzle which is falling into place... -
The Clockmaker's Secret by Jack Benton
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA buried clock holds the key to a decades-old mystery. On holiday to escape the nightmares of his last case, disgraced soldier turned private detective John “Slim” Hardy comes upon something buried in the peat on Bodmin Moor. Unfinished and water-damaged but still ticking, the old clock provides a vital clue to an unsolved missing-persons case... -
What She Left by H.K. Christie
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsShe’s on her last chance. When the bodies start piling up, she’ll need to save more than her job.Martina Monroe is a single bad day away from losing it all. Stuck catching insurance fraudsters and cheating spouses due to a DUI, the despondent PI yearns to return to more fulfilling gigs... -
Second Helping by Stephanie Bond
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsSisters are like chubby thighs--they stick together!The Guy sisters are ready to take their place as top-tier private investigators. The problem is, the only thing top-tier about their strip-mall agency is Octavia’s wardrobe…and the cases that come their way are less on the exciting side, and more on the eccentric side... -
No Way Out by Allison Brennan
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFrom Allison Brennan, the New York Times bestselling author of Cut and Run, comes a new e-novella, No Way Out: FBI Agent Lucy Kincaid faces her worst fear when her husband goes missing Nine years ago, mercenary Kane Rogan and photojournalist Siobhan Walsh risked their lives to rescue Hestia Juarez, a thirteen-year-old girl being forced to marry a much older man to expand her father’s crime family... -
Jo Nesbø Collection 3 Books Set: The Redbreast, Nemesis, The Devil's Star by Jo Nesbø
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsTitle In This SetThe SnowmanThe RedbreastThe Devil's StarThe SnowmanThe night the first snow falls a young boy wakes to find his mother gone. He walks through the silent house, but finds only wet footprints on the stairs. In the garden looms a solitary figure: a snowman bathed in cold moonlight, its black eyes glaring up at the bedroom windows. Round its neck is his mother's pink scarf... -
L'ultimo traghetto by Domingo Villar, Federico Zanandrea
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsMónica Andrade è sparita da qualche giorno, e il caso non meriterebbe particolari attenzioni se non si trattasse della figlia di un celebre cardiochirurgo con cui mezza città (incluso il commissario Soto, diretto superiore dell'ispettore Leo Caldas) pare sentirsi in debito... -
-
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... -
The Dead Tracks by Tim Weaver
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratings"The Dead Tracks" is the second in the David Raker series from Tim Weaver. A serial killer more terrifying than you could ever imagine...Seventeen-year-old Megan Carver was an unlikely runaway. A straight - a student from a happy home, she studied hard and rarely got into trouble. Six months on, she's never been found. Missing persons investigator David Raker knows what it's like to grieve...Categorized as:
crime investigator law-enforcement suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
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... -
The Girl and the Deadly Express by A.J. Rivers
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsOn board an unstoppable train the truth of the past finally unfolds, but will it be at the expense of everyone’s life on board the deadly express?FBI agent Emma Griffin is starting to get her life back on track.But as she gets used to the changes in her career and settling into her personal life, questions about her past continue to haunt her... -
Treasure State by C.J. Box, Christina Delaine
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratings* Running time: 10 hours, 30 minutes *The return of Cassie Dewell 'TREASURE STATE', the latest in the series that inspired ABC hit series 'Big Sky', finds Cassie in Montana on the trail of a con man.C.J. Box's newest Cassie Dewell novel, the highly anticipated follow-up to 'The Bitterroots', is full of more twists and turns than the switchbacks through the Anaconda Range.©2022 C.J... -
La nena by Carmen Mola
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsSIN LÍMITES Vuelve Carmen Mola, el último fenómeno de la novela negra española (150.000 lectores) y su autora más audaz y enigmática, con una entrega aún más revulsiva, violenta y sorprendente. «Nadie regresa del infierno indemne.» Es la noche del fin de año chino, empieza el año del cerdo... -
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... -
The Perfect Getaway by Elle Gray, K.S. Gray
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsOne by one the guests at the Misty Pines Ski Lodge are dropping dead…After an action-packed year of fighting crime, FBI Agent Olivia Knight is ready for a relaxing getaway with her partner Brock.But trouble has a way of finding her everywhere...Her arrival at the ski lodge is welcomed by chaos with the death of a female guest... -
Hollywood Jury by M.Z. Kelly
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsHollywood Jury, the tenth book in the Hollywood Alphabet Series Thrillers, finds Detective Kate Sexton and her canine partner Bernie continuing their assignment in Section One, an elite homicide unit that works out of Hollywood Station. Kate’s job quickly becomes more stressful than she could ever imagine when a deranged serial killer begins a murderous spree on college campuses... -
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... -
-
Schatten by Ursula Poznanski, Andrea Sawatzki
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsDer vierte Fall für das Salzburger Ermittlerduo Beatrice Kaspary und Florin Wenninger: Anspruchsvolle Thrillerkost auf höchstem NiveauEine Entführung. Drei Morde. Und ein Täter aus der Vergangenheit...Ein Mann, grausam zugerichtet in seiner Wohnung. Eine Hebamme, ertränkt in einem Bach - zwei Fälle, die Beatrice Kaspary als Ermittlerin im Dezernat Leib und Leben der Polizei Salzburg lösen muss... -
Deeper Than the Dead by Debra Webb
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsSomeone’s found the skeleton in the closet, and it’s not the only one. Wall Street Journal bestselling author Debra Webb presents an emotional new mystery. Crime analyst and newly disgraced deputy police chief Vera Boyett doesn’t visit home often, and she certainly doesn’t venture back into the cave on her family land... -
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... -
The Make by Jessie Keane
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsMurder, loyalty and vengeance collide in Jessie Keane’s gritty fourth novel. Life is good for Gracie Doyle - running her Manchester casino keeps her busy. Until the police turn up at her door one day and her world is turned upside down. She is given news that her two estranged brothers have been viciously attacked. George is in hospital on a ventilator and worringly, Harry is missing... -
Where All the Dead Lie by J.T. Ellison
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsRead book seven in New York Times bestselling author J.T. Ellison’s heart-racing, fan-favorite Taylor Jackson series! The headshot didn’t kill Nashville homicide lieutenant Taylor Jackson.But it will crack her psyche and take her to the very edge. In her showdown with the murderous Pretender, a bullet taken at close range severed the connection between Taylor’s thoughts and speech... -
Singularity by Kathryn Casey
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsProfiler Sarah Armstrong knows what it's like to be in a sticky situation. As a single mother and one of the few female Rangers in Texas history, she has had to work twice as hard to rank among the best cops in the Lone Star State...
Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.