Books like 'Last Car to Elysian Fields'
Readers who enjoyed Last Car to Elysian Fields by James Lee Burke also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical mystery thriller crime law-enforcement suspense police-procedural hard-boiled
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St. Benet's by David Blake
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA girl thrown from a church tower, a man sacrificed to Satan, and a priest murdered at the hands of the Devil. When the body of an old man is found lying in the ruins of St Benet’s Abbey, his throat cut, a knife resting in his open hand, DI John Tanner and DC Jenny Evans are given no choice but to accept a ruling of death by misadventure... -
Deadly Choices by Rachel McLean
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratings'You get one of your children back. Your choice.' When Alison Osman takes her children on a trip to Cadbury World, she thinks their squabbling is her worst problem. But when she turns to find them gone, she's plunged into every mother's worst nightmare. And then the message arrives, telling Alison she has three days to choose one of her children... -
Twenty Years Later by Charlie Donlea
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsAvery Mason, host of American Events, knows the subjects that grab a TV audience's attention. Her latest story--a murder mystery laced with kinky sex, tragedy, and betrayal--is guaranteed to be ratings gold. New DNA technology has allowed the New York medical examiner's office to make its first successful identification of a 9/11 victim in years... -
City on Fire by Don Winslow
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsTwo criminal empires together control all of New England.Until a beautiful woman comes between the Irish and the Italians, launching a war that will see them kill each other, destroy an alliance, and set a city on fire.Danny Ryan yearns for a more “legit” life and a place in the sun. But as the bloody conflict stacks body on body and brother turns against brother, Danny has to rise above himself... -
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Edinburgh Dusk by Carole Lawrence
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe prize-winning author of Edinburgh Twilight returns to the darkening shadows of nineteenth-century Scotland to track a killer on a profane mission of revenge...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement suspense police-procedural thriller mystery historical-fiction historical -
The Stone Chamber by Kate Ellis
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe brand new mystery in the bestselling DI Wesley Peterson crime series!'A beguiling author who interweaves past and present' The Times __________________On a summer evening, Robert and Greta Gerdner are shot dead at their home in the Devon countryside... -
The Shadows of Men by Abir Mukherjee
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAward-winning crime novelist Abir Mukherjee is back with another brilliant mystery featuring police detective Captain Sam Wyndham and Sergeant Surrender-Not Banerjee, set in 1920s Calcutta.Calcutta, 1923 When a Hindu theologian is found murdered in his home, the city is on the brink of all-out religious war... -
Whatever Happened to Betsy Blake? by David B. Lyons
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIf your daughter went missing, how many years would it take for you to admit she’s never coming home? Betsy Blake was only four years old when she vanished outside her family home in Dublin. Her father – wracked with guilt for the past seventeen years – still can’t bring himself to admit the search is over, despite the fact his wife has moved on and police have closed off the investigation... -
The Mobster's Lament by Ray Celestin
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsLike every other mobster, the longer he stayed in the life, the closer he got to a shallow grave . . . New York, 1947. Mob fixer Gabriel Leveson needs to leave this city behind. But his plans to flee are upset when he’s given a job by the boss of all bosses, Frank Costello. A job he can’t turn down . . . Meanwhile, a killing spree in a Harlem flophouse has left an innocent black man on Death Row...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement thriller hard-boiled historical-fiction mystery fiction audiobook -
The Saboteurs by Clive Cussler, Jack Du Brul
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIsaac Bell returns for another thrilling mission in a new book from the Grand Master of Adventure, Clive CusslerDetective Isaac Bell's wife has said that he is always in the wrong place at the right time. This is certainly the case when Bell thwarts the attempted assassination of a United States Senator shortly after meeting the man... -
The Dirty Dozen by Lynda La Plante
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe fifth book in the Sunday Times bestselling Jane Tennison series.April 1980 and Jane is the first female detective to be posted to the Met's renowned Flying Squad, commonly known as the 'Sweeney'. Based at Rigg Approach in East London, they investigate armed robberies on banks, cash in transit and other business premises... -
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... -
Sunset Express by Robert Crais
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsProminent restaurateur Teddy Martin is facing charges in his wife’s brutal murder. But he’s not going down without spending a bundle of cash on his defense. So his hotshot attorney hires P.I. Elvis Cole to find proof that Detective Angela Rossi tampered with the evidence. Rossi needs a way back to the fast track after falling hard during an internal investigation five years ago...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled law-enforcement suspense thriller 20th-century action-adventure adult -
Unnatural History by Jonathan Kellerman
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe most enduring detectives in American crime fiction are back in this electrifying thrillerof art and brutalityfrom the #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense.Los Angeles is a city of stark contrast, the palaces of the affluent coexisting uneasily with the hellholes of the mad and the needy. It is that shadow world and the violence it breeds that draw brilliant psychologist Dr... -
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Eyes of the Predator: The Pickham County Murders by Glenn Trust
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratings***For Mature Readers*** Eyes scanning, searching, the predator sits motionless in a parking lot. His next victim is only feet away. Within hours a backwater south Georgia county will be rocked by two seemingly unrelated murders that signal the arrival of a serial killer in the rural southland...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
Edge of the Grave: A Jimmy Dreghorn Mystery by Robbie Morrison
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsGlasgow, 1932.When the son-in-law of one of the city’s wealthiest families is found floating in the River Clyde with his throat cut, it falls to Inspector Jimmy Dreghorn to lead the murder case – despite sharing a troubled history of his own with the victim’s widow...Categorized as:
crime suspense law-enforcement police-procedural historical-fiction fiction mystery historical -
The Heretic by Liam McIlvanney
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsSet in 1976, seven years after the murders recounted in Liam McIlvanney’s breakout novel, The Quaker, this new Glasgow noir novel is a standalone mystery featuring serial character, Detective Duncan McCormack.McCormack has returned to Glasgow after a stint with the Metropolitan Police in London. The reason for his return is left a lurking mystery throughout...Categorized as:
crime suspense law-enforcement police-procedural thriller mystery historical-fiction fiction -
The Bookseller of Inverness by S.G. MacLean
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAfter Culloden, Iain MacGillivray was left for dead on Drumossie Moor. Wounded, his face brutally slashed, he survived only by pretending to be dead as the Redcoats patrolled the corpses of his Jacobite comrades.Six years later, with the clan chiefs routed and the Highlands subsumed into the British state, Iain lives a quiet life, working as a bookseller in Inverness...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement thriller historical-fiction mystery historical fiction audiobook -
A Death in Live Oak by James Grippando
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFrom the 2017 winner of the Harper Lee Prize for legal fiction comes a powerful and timely story of race, politics, injustice, and murder as shocking and incendiary as today’s headlines... -
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... -
Hidden Killers by Lynda La Plante
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe brilliant new crime thriller from the BAFTA-winning writer behind the TV series Prime Suspect and author of Widows, now a major motion picture When WPC Jane Tennison is promoted to the role of Detective Constable in London’s Bow Street CID, she is immediately conflicted... -
The Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThis is James Lee Burke's latest mystery featuring Dave Robicheaux. It is also much more than that...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller 21st-century action-adventure -
So Shall You Reap by Donna Leon
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn the thirty-second installment of Donna Leon's bestselling series, a connection to Guido Brunetti's own youthful past helps solve a mysterious murderOn a cold November evening, Guido Brunetti and Paola are up late when a call from his colleague Ispettore Vianello arrives, alerting the Commissario that a hand has been seen in one of Venice's canals... -
Murder in Canton by Robert van Gulik
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA.D. 681Murder In Canton takes place in 680 A.D. Judge Dee, recently promoted to Lord Chief Justice, is sent incognito to Canton to investigate the disappearance of a court censor... -
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Evil Unveiled by Robert McCammon
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratings"New York Times" bestselling author Robert McCammon continues his triumphant return with the conclusion of an epic tale of suspense that reinstates him as one of the great storytellers of our time....The Carolinas, 1699: After hearing damning testimony from the townspeople of Fount Royal, magistrate Isaac Woodward sentences the accused witch, Rachel Howarth, to death by burning... -
Trouble in Triplicate by Rex Stout
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThey all thought they were about to die . . . and they were right. Dazy Perrit was an underworld kingpin until a hail of bullets sent him into early retirement. Ben Jensen was a well-connected publisher until a determined gunman severed all his connections. Eugene R. Poor made novelties like exploding cigars until one of them blew him to kingdom come...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled law-enforcement police-procedural suspense 20th-century adult audiobook -
Off the Rails by Christopher Fowler
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsChristopher Fowler’s Peculiar Crimes Unit novels have been hailed for their originality, suspense, and unforgettable characters. Now Arthur Bryant, John May, and their team of proud eccentrics have been given only one week to hunt down a murderer they’ve already caught once and who is now luring them down into the darkest shadows of the London Underground.The young man they seek is an enigma... -
Entre los muertos by Mikel Santiago
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsDespués del éxito de El mentiroso y En plena noche, llega el esperado cierre de la Trilogía de Illumbe: un thriller magistral, lleno de misterios y giros sorprendentes cuya clave podría estar en la pregunta que late en el alma de esta historia: ¿Es posible enterrar un secreto para siempre?Hay muertos que nunca descansan, y tal vez no deban hacerlo hasta que se les haga justicia... -
A Place of Execution by Val McDermid
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWinter 1963: two children have disappeared in Manchester; the murderous careers of Myra Hindley and Ian Brady have begun. On a freezing day in December, another child goes missing: 13-year-old Alison Carter vanishes from the isolated Derbyshire hamlet of Scardale... -
A Trick of the Light: An Inspector McLevy Mystery 3 by David Ashton
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe third in David Ashton's series of McLevy books, A Trick of the Light sees McLevy team up with Arthur Conan Doyle to pursue a ruthless killer. It is 1860 and a Confederate officer, Jonathen Sinclair, arrives in Edinburgh with a sheaf of money to purchase a blockade-runner from Clydeside shipbuilders. He is betrayed to the Union forces and brutally shot dead by their secret agents... -
Peeler by Kevin McCarthy
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWest Cork. November 1920. The Irish War of Independence rages. The body of a young woman is found brutally murdered on a windswept hillside. A scrap board sign covering her mutilated body reads 'TRATOR'. Traitor...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural historical-fiction mystery audiobook historical fiction -
Neon Mirage by Max Allan Collins, Dan John Miller
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn 1946 Chicago, Nathan Heller—president of the flourishing A-1 Detective Agency—is hired to protect racing-wire gambling chief James Ragen, who is nonetheless shot down on the streets of Chicago. Not one to take such an affront sitting down, Nate goes after the killer, but he’s in for the biggest surprise of his career... -
An Experiment In Treason by Bruce Alexander
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSir John Fielding has trailed a packet of controversial letters from London to the colony of Massachusetts. But when the suspect in the theft is found dead, Sir John turns his eye on the possible involvement of Benjamin Franklin... -
London's Glory by Christopher Fowler
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIn every detective’s life there are cases that can’t be discussed, and throughout the Bryant & May novels there have been mentions of some of these such as the Deptford Demon or the Little Italy Whelk Smuggling Scandal... -
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The Queen's Man by Rory Clements
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsEngland is a viper's nest of conspiracy.It is 1582, and the conflict between Protestants and Catholics threatens to tear the country in two. While Queen Elizabeth I holds the reins of power, there are those whose loyalty lies with her imprisoned cousin—Mary, Queen of Scots...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense action-adventure adult audiobook book -
The Chinese Nail Murders by Robert van Gulik
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA.D. 676In the fifth installment of Robert Van Gulik's ancient Chinese mystery series based on historical court records, detective Judge Dee is appointed to the magistrate of Pei-chow - a distant frontier district in the barren north of the ancient Chinese Empire...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural adult book fiction historical historical-fiction -
The Wood Beyond by Reginald Hill
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsPolice inspector Peter Pascoe is looking for a place to bury his grandmum’s ashes, when he stumbles upon a startling family secret—an ancestor unjustly executed in wartime. So preoccupied is Pascoe that he hardly notices the uproar in his own department. Eight female animal rights protesters have unearthed human bones on the grounds of a drug company’s research headquarters... -
The Reckoning by Rennie Airth
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe Second World War has ended, leaving a bruised and fragile peace. But this tranquillity is threatened when a shocking murder takes place in the Sussex countryside. Before long, police experts discover a link to another, earlier, killing hundreds of miles away .. -
Revenger by Rory Clements
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratings1592. England and Spain are at war, yet there is peril at home, too. The death of her trusted spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham has left Queen Elizabeth vulnerable. Conspiracies multiply... -
Lightning Men by Thomas Mullen
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFrom the acclaimed author of The Last Town on Earth comes the gripping follow-up to Darktown, a “combustible procedural that will knock the wind out of you” (The New York Times).Officer Denny Rakestraw, “Negro Officers” Lucius Boggs and Tommy Smith, and Sergeant McInnis have their hands full in an overcrowded and rapidly changing Atlanta...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller 20th-century adult audiobook -
The Best American Noir Of The Century by Otto Penzler, James Ellroy
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn his introduction, James Ellroy writes, "Noir is the most scrutinized offshoot of the hard-boiled school of fiction…It's the nightmare of flawed souls with big dreams and the precise how and why of the all-time sure thing that goes bad."Ellroy & Penzler mined the past century to find this treasure trove of thirty-nine stories... -
Now You See Them by Elly Griffiths
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe fifth gripping Brighton-based mystery from the bestselling author of the Dr Ruth Galloway series – a must-read for fans of Agatha Christie, cosy crime and TV series such as Grantchester and Midsomer Murders. One after another, young women go missing in Brighton, but who’s to say they didn’t leave of their own free choice?Ten years have passed since the events described in The Vanishing Box... -
A Killing Kindness by Reginald Hill
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe Yorkshire detectives are upstaged by a Shakespeare-inspired serial killer in this “stylish, superior . . . snappy” mystery (Kirkus Reviews). Reginald Hill “raised the classical British mystery to new heights” when he introduced pugnacious Yorkshire Det. Inspector Andrew Dalziel and his partner, the callow Sgt. Peter Pascoe (The New York Times Book Review)... -
Seven Days by Deon Meyer
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratings"I'll shoot one policeman every day, until you arrest the murderer of Hanneke Sloet," says the e-mail to the South African Police Services. And then the sniper turns threat into reality.Bennie Griessel has to reopen the Sloet dossier. The case is 40 days old, the trail has gone cold... -
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Polar Bear Dawn by Lyle Nicholson
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsDetective Frank Mueller of the Anchorage Police Force flies to an oil camp in Alaska’s High Arctic to investigate what is being called a murder/suicide. A man’s body was found outside the camp being consumed by a Polar Bear. His sister found strangled to death in her room...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult animals -
Men in Blue by W.E.B. Griffin
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsW.E.B. Griffin's bestselling series, THE CORPS and BROTHERHOOD OF WAR, have captured the pride and glory of the military community. Now he reveals a city police force with the same unique blend of realism, drama, and action...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
G-Man by Stephen Hunter
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFrom bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Hunter, the latest episode in his Swagger familiy saga replete with Hunter's wicked suspense, vivid gun fights, and historical truths... -
The Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper by John D. MacDonald
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWith an introduction by CARL HIAASENJOHN D. MacDONALD."..the great entertainer of our age, and a mesmerizing storyteller." --STEPHEN KING."..a master storyteller, a masterful suspense writer."--MARY HIGGINS CLARK."..a dominant influence on writers crafting the continuing series character."--SUE GRAFTON."..my favorite novelist of all time."--DEAN KOONTZ.".Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled law-enforcement suspense thriller 20th-century action-adventure adult -
The Cutthroat by Clive Cussler, Justin Scott
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIsaac Bell may be on the hunt for the greatest monster of all time in the newest action-adventure novel from the #1 "New York Times" bestselling author. The year is 1911. Chief Investigator Isaac Bell of the Van Dorn Detective Agency has had many extraordinary cases before. But none quite like this... -
The Lost Empress by Steve Robinson
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom acclaimed author Steve Robinson comes a bold new Jefferson Tayte mystery.On a foggy night in 1914, the ocean liner Empress of Ireland sank en route between Canada and England. The disaster saw a loss of life comparable to the Titanic and the Lusitania, and yet her tragedy has been forgotten...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller 21st-century action-adventure adult
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