Books like 'A Rule Against Murder'
Readers who enjoyed A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary mystery thriller crime law-enforcement cozy suspense police-procedural family whodunit
-
Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly
Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsDefense attorney Mickey Haller is back, taking the long shot cases, where the chances of winning are one in a million. After getting a wrongfully convicted man out of prison, he is inundated with pleas from incarcerated people claiming innocence. He enlists his half brother, retired LAPD Detective Harry Bosch, to weed through the letters, knowing most claims will be false...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement suspense thriller police-procedural literary-fiction mystery fiction -
Graves on the Fens by Joy Ellis
Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIt arrives in the morning. An old-fashioned airmail envelope addressed to Detective Nikki Galena. Inside, on a single sheet of blue airmail paper, are three words:You failed me.The second airmail envelope arrives at Nikki’s home address. The same message. Only this time, it’s followed by four names: Alexandra Cornfield, Ruth Baker, Bethany Lyons, Leanne Delaney.Four missing women... -
-
Dark Skies: A DCI Ryan Mystery by LJ Ross
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFROM THE #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF HOLY ISLAND Beware what lies beneath… One fateful, starry night, three friends embark on a secret camping trip but only two return home. Thirty years later, the body of a teenage boy rises from the depths of England’s biggest reservoir and threatens to expose a killer who has lain dormant…until now... -
-
Cover Shot by LynDee Walker
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIt’s been a slow news month in Richmond, and crime reporter Nichelle Clarke is enjoying the downtime when ominous messages and a dead body kick things into high gear. And that’s before the guy with the rifle takes a hospital full of people hostage... -
Borderlands: A DCI Ryan Mystery by LJ Ross
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsFROM THE #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF HOLY ISLAND AND PENSHAW When the gods made man, they made a weapon... After uncovering a fresh wave of corruption within the ranks of Northumbria CID, Detective Chief Inspector Ryan was looking forward to an uneventful summer...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement literary-fiction police-procedural season-summer suspense whodunit thriller -
Under Pressure by Sara Driscoll, Susan Bennett
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFBI handler Meg Jennings and her K-9 partner, Hawk, are drawn into a case that involves a fortune in uncut gems, and an enemy whose power and ruthlessness know no bounds... Diamonds are no one’s best friend when the jewels in question are smuggled conflict gems. Meg Jennings and her Labrador, Hawk, have undertaken many search-and-rescue missions, but this case has an unusual twist... -
The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsChaos is coming, old son. With those words the peace of Three Pines is shattered. As families prepare to head back to the city and children say goodbye to summer, a stranger is found murdered in the village bistro and antiques store. Once again, Chief Inspector Gamache and his team are called in to strip back layers of lies, exposing both treasures and rancid secrets buried in the wilderness...Categorized as:
cozy crime family law-enforcement literary-fiction police-procedural suspense whodunit -
The Wherryman by David Blake, Jonathan Keeble
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsTHE DEBUT CRIME THRILLER SERIES OF THE YEAR!Four missing children, three murdered men, and the helm of a boat with a blood-red sail, hiding a secret only he can tell.Returning to the Broads after nearly two years at sea, John Tanner moors up next to a boat to find the body of a man whose five-year-old daughter is nowhere to be seen... -
Hope to Die by Cara Hunter
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSelf-defense or murder? In the continuation of one of Britain’s most popular crime series from Cara Hunter — the author of the instant New York Times bestseller Murder in the Family — DI Fawley returns to determine if someone has staged a crime scene in connection with another homicide from years past. Midnight. A grisly murder scene at isolated farm on the outskirts of Oxford... -
The Gathering Dark: Inspector McLean Book 8 by James Oswald
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe gripping new crime thriller in the highly acclaimed Inspector McLean series A truck driver loses control in central Edinburgh, ploughing into a crowded bus stop and spilling his vehicle's toxic load. The consequences are devastating. DI Tony McLean witnesses the carnage... -
The Night of the Party by Anna-Lou Weatherley
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsTwo Couples. Three Secrets. One Murder.In a beautiful house surrounded by woodland, the Drayton family and their dearest friends are enjoying dinner together. The wine is flowing, the meal has been lovingly prepared, and it’s going to be an evening none of them will ever forget…A doting motherwith a manipulative daughter.A loving husbandlying to his family.A close friendkeeping a shocking secret...Categorized as:
crime suspense thriller law-enforcement police-procedural whodunit mystery audiobook -
Hidden Valley by Annie Seaton
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsHappily working on her family’s macadamia farm in the rolling hills of northern New South Wales, Dee Peters receives an enigmatic letter hinting of family secrets, and the prospect of her inheriting a cattle station in the Northern Territory outback... -
A Deeper Fear by Allison Brennan
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFBI Agent Lucy Kincaid’s husband, Sean Rogan, is in a dark place after being held captive. He won’t talk about it with anyone, not even Lucy. She’s hoping a conference in Sacramento, which includes family and the unveiling of a highly sought after drone Sean’s been working on, will help him heal... -
-
The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe nineteenth mystery in the #1 New York Times bestselling Armand Gamache seriesRelentless phone calls interrupt the peace of a warm August morning in Three Pines. Though the tiny Québec village is impossible to find on any map, someone has managed to track down Armand Gamache, head of homicide at the Sûreté, as he sits with his wife in their back garden... -
Luck and Judgement by Peter Grainger
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsWhen a worker goes missing from a North Sea gas platform, there seem to be just two possible explanations – it was a tragic accident or a suicide. It does not take Smith and his detectives long, however, to discover that James Bell led a double life back onshore in Kings Lake, a life complicated enough to make him at least one dangerous enemy... -
The Railway Murders by J.R. Ellis
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA puzzling locked-room mystery that puts someone Oldroyd loves in terrible danger…When a film shoot on Wharfedale’s vintage railway turns into a grisly crime scene, DCI Oldroyd’s idyllic visit to the countryside with his partner Deborah is well and truly stopped in its tracks. One of the film’s stars has been shot dead in a train carriage while the cameras rolled outside... -
No Way Out by Cara Hunter
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsIt's one of the most disturbing cases DI Fawley has ever worked. The Christmas holidays, and two children have just been pulled from the wreckage of their burning home in North Oxford. The toddler is dead, and his brother is soon fighting for his life... -
The Detective’s Daughter by Erica Spindler
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsNew Orleans Detective Quinn Conners is haunted by her father's whiskey-soaked, last words - that he solved the Hudson murder and kidnapping. It wasn't the first time he'd made that drunken claim, and she didn't believe him. Twenty-four hours later she found him dead by his own hand... -
Wild Fire by Ann Cleeves
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWild Fire is the much-anticipated final book in Ann Cleeves's beloved Shetland Island series, now a major television triumph starring Douglas Henshall.When the Flemings—designer Helena and architect Daniel—move into a remote community in the north of Shetland, they think it's a fresh start for themselves and their children... -
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... -
The Beginning by Catherine Coulter
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe Cove and The Maze , the first two thrillers in the FBI series, for the first time together in one volume. In these exciting novels of intrigue and suspense, readers are introduced to Special Agents Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock-and they'll watch the sparks fly as the agents' relationship heats up amid cases that could destroy everything they hold dear...Categorized as:
crime family law-enforcement police-procedural suspense whodunit action-adventure adult -
Dead Ringer by Mary Burton
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsSOME NIGHTMARES . . . Beside each body, he leaves a simple charm bearing a woman’s name. Ruth . Judith . Rachel. The victims were strangers to each other, but they have been chosen with the utmost care. Each bears a striking resemblance to Kendall Shaw, a local anchorwoman…each brutally strangled by a madman whose obsession will never end... DON’T FADE . . -
Close Your Eyes by Michael Robotham
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhen a former student bungles a murder investigation, clinical psychologist Joseph O'Loughlin steps in to face a ruthless killer.A mother and her teenage daughter are found murdered in a remote farmhouse, one defiled by multiple stab wounds and the other posed like Sleeping Beauty waiting for her Prince... -
-
The Baltimore Boys by Joël Dicker
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsSwiss Sensation Joel Dicker's compulsive follow-up to the phenomenally bestselling The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair... -
The Black Wolf by Louise Penny
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsSomewhere out there, in the darkness, a black wolf is feeding.Several weeks ago, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec and his team uncovered and stopped a domestic terrorist attack in Montréal, arresting the person behind it. A man they called the Black Wolf.But their relief is short-lived... -
Dare You by Jennifer Brown
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn the second book of the suspenseful Shade Me trilogy, Nikki Kill becomes embroiled in another mystery where only her synesthesia can help her unravel the dark truth.Nikki Kill didn’t realize that trying to find out who killed Peyton Hollis would tangle her in a web of dangerous family secrets that would rock her identity to the core... -
Dream Town by Lee Goldberg
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA gated dream town for the megarich becomes a murderous nightmare in a riveting Eve Ronin thriller by #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Goldberg. Hidden Hills is a private celebrity enclave of white picket fences and horse trails that seems to exist in a dreamworld... -
His Other Lie by Ava Strong
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsStella Fall, still reeling from the trauma of her deceitful fiancé and her failed engagement, has decided to pursue her dreams, follow in her father’s footsteps, and throw herself into law enforcement. Upon graduating from the FBI’s academy, she isf placed in the FBI’s Connecticut field office... -
Shattered Truth by Barbara Freethy
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsHe’s sworn to uphold the law. She’s willing to break every rule to expose the truth. But what they uncover could destroy everything—including each other.When a whistleblower is murdered just moments before a secret meeting, Haley Kenton is caught on surveillance near the scene—making her the FBI’s top suspect in a case that’s far more dangerous than it appears... -
The Center Cannot Hold: A Ray Elkins Thriller by Aaron Stander
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsIn the depths of winter, Cedar County is on occasion literally frozen in place. Roads are impassable; the area schools are closed for days at a time. And the bad guys and gals, they’re hunkered down like everyone else until the weather breaks. But this winter isn’t the usual. There’s arson and murder...Categorized as:
suspense literary-fiction law-enforcement police-procedural crime thriller mystery fiction -
The Girl Who Ran Away: The McClintock-Carter Crime Thriller Series by Susan Lund
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA new missing persons case, a prime suspect and questions about an old friend challenge amateur sleuth and crime reporter Tess McClintock and FBI Special Agent Michael Carter in THE GIRL WHO RAN AWAY, a new book in the McClintock-Carter Crime Thriller Series... -
The Killing Habit by Mark Billingham
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFrom “one of the most consistently entertaining, insightful crime writers working today” (Gillian Flynn), The Killing Habit again brings together favorite wild-card detective Tom Thorne and straight-laced DI Nicola Tanner on a pair of lethally high-stakes cases... -
The Restless Dead: by Simon Beckett
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratings‘Composed of over sixty per cent water itself, a human body isn’t naturally buoyant. It will float only for as long as there is air in its lungs, before gradually sinking to the bottom as the air seeps out. If the water is very cold or deep, it will remain there, undergoing a slow, dark dissolution that can take years... -
-
Dead at First Sight by Peter James
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA man waits at London Airport for Ingrid Ostermann, the love of his life, to arrive. Across the Atlantic, a retired NYPD cop waits in a bar in Florida’s Key West for his first date with the lady who is, without question, his soulmate. The two men are about to discover they’ve been scammed out of almost every penny they have—and that neither woman exists... -
A Bitter Feast by Deborah Crombie
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsScotland Yard Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and his wife, Detective Inspector Gemma James, have been invited for a relaxing weekend in the tranquil Cotswolds, one of Britain’s most beautiful and historic regions, famous for its rolling hills, sheep-strewn green meadows, golden cottages, and timeless villages that retain the spirit of old England... -
The Silent Girl by Michael Hjorth, Hans Rosenfeldt
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAn idyllic white, two-storey, beautiful house in Sweden. Inside, a family has been brutally murdered – mother, father and two young children all shot in broad daylight. And the killer has got away.Sebastian Bergman has been brought in to solve the crime, but with no credible suspects, he is at a dead end.Until he discovers that there was a witness to the crime...Categorized as:
crime family law-enforcement literary-fiction police-procedural suspense thriller adult -
Fatal Pursuit by Martin Walker
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA pair of murders, a romance and rivals in pursuit of a long-lost vintage car of unfathomable value Bruno, chief of police, is busy in another mystery set in the beautiful Dordogne At the annual "fete" in St. Denis, Bruno s biggest worry is surviving as a last-minute replacement navigator in a car rally race...Categorized as:
crime family law-enforcement literary-fiction police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure -
Failure to Appear by J.A. Jance, Gene Engene
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA desperate father's search for his runaway daughter has led him to the last place he ever expected to find her: backstage at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. But the murders in this dazzling world of make-believe are no longer mere stagecraft, and the blood is all too real. The hunt for his child has plunged former Seattle Homicide Detective J.P...Categorized as:
cozy crime law-enforcement literary-fiction police-procedural suspense whodunit thriller -
Payment in Kind by J.A. Jance
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIt looks like a classic crime of passion to Detective J.P Beaumont: two corpses found lovingly entwined in a broom closet of the Seattle School District building. The prime suspect, Pete Kelsey, admits his slain spouse was no novice at adultery, yet he swears he had nothing to do with the brutal deaths of the errant school official and her clergyman-turned-security guard companion...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement literary-fiction police-procedural suspense whodunit thriller adult -
The Lies You Wrote by Brianna Labuskes
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFor a brilliant forensic linguist, crimes of the past hold clues to new series of murders in a twisting novel of suspense by the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of A Familiar Sight.The double murder of a married couple in a small Washington town draws FBI forensic linguist Raisa Susanto into an investigation that mirrors a decades-old crime... -
The Sound of Broken Glass by Deborah Crombie
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsIn the past . . .On a blisteringly hot August afternoon in Crystal Palace, once home to the tragically destroyed Great Exhibition, a solitary thirteen-year-old boy meets his next door neighbor, a recently widowed young teacher hoping to make a new start in the tight-knit South London community... -
Found by Erin Kinsley
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWhen 11 year old Evan vanishes without trace, his parents are plunged into their worst nightmare.Especially as the police, under massive pressure, have no answers. But months later Evan is unexpectedly found, frightened and refusing to speak. His loving family realise life will never be the same again.DI Naylor knows that unless those who took Evan are caught, other children are in danger... -
Blue Lightning by Ann Cleeves
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsShetland Detective Jimmy Perez knows it will be a difficult homecoming when he returns to the Fair Isles to introduce his fiancee, Fran, to his parents. When a woman's body is discovered at the renowned Fair Isles bird observatory, Jimmy must investigate the old-fashioned way... -
-
The Twist of a Knife by Anthony Horowitz
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratings'Our deal is over.' That's what reluctant author Anthony Horowitz tells ex-detective Daniel Hawthorne in an awkward meeting. The truth is that Anthony has other things on his mind.His new play, Mindgame, is about to open in London's Vaudeville theatre. Not surprisingly Hawthorne declines a ticket... -
Redemption Lake by Susan Clayton-Goldner
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsTucson, Arizona – Eighteen-year-old Matt Garrison is harboring two terrible secrets: his involvement in the drowning death of his 12-year-old cousin, and a night of drunken sex with his best friend’s mother, Crystal, whom he finds dead in a bathtub of blood. Guilt forces Matt to act on impulse and hide his involvement with Crystal.Detective Winston Radhauser knows Matt is hiding something... -
Cover Your Tracks by Claire Askew
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsRobertson Bennet returns to Edinburgh after a 25-year absence in search of his parents and his inheritance. But both have disappeared. A quick, routine police check should be enough - and Detective Inspector Helen Birch has enough on her plate trying to help her brother, Charlie, after an assault in prison. But all her instincts tell her not to let this case go. And so she digs... -
The Hunter by Tana French
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIt’s a blazing summer when two men arrive in a small village in the West of Ireland. One of them is coming home. Both of them are coming to get rich. One of them is coming to die.Cal Hooper took early retirement from Chicago PD and moved to rural Ireland looking for peace...Categorized as:
crime thriller literary-fiction law-enforcement police-procedural suspense mystery fiction -
A Lovely Lie by Jaime Lynn Hendricks
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIs it better to believe a lovely lie or know the horrible truth?1999: The night of their senior picnic, Scarlett Russo and her best friend Pepper were involved in a car accident that left two of their classmates dead. Afterward, they lied to the police, protecting each other from the consequences... -
Murder in Paris by Susan Kiernan-Lewis
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe City of Light is anything but when a killer stalks the cobblestone streets… For a woman who loves fashion, there is no place on earth more exciting than Paris where the clothes are to die for and everyone you meet is dressed to kill. Maggie’s visit to the City of Light in the midst of Paris Fashion Week turns into a nightmare when she witnesses a murder within her own family...
Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.