Books like 'Fiddlers'
Readers who enjoyed Fiddlers by Ed McBain & Otto Penzler also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
mystery serial killer thriller crime law-enforcement suspense noir police-procedural hard-boiled
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Six Graves by Angela Marsons
Rated: 4.75 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIt’s a typical teenage bedroom with posters covering the walls and clothes littering the floor. But the girl lying on her bed, wearing a delicate chain around her neck, is lifeless. A circle of red stains her white vest top and Kim feels a sharp stab of sadness... -
One by One by Chris Carter
Rated: 4.48 of 5 stars · 25 ratings'I need your help, Detective. Fire or water?' Detective Robert Hunter of the LAPD's Homicide Special Section receives an anonymous call asking him to go to a specific web address - a private broadcast. Hunter logs on and a show devised for his eyes only immediately begins. But the caller doesn't want Detective Hunter to just watch, he wants him to participate, and refusal is simply not an option... -
The Innocent Wife by Lisa Regan
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsCandles are lit and their rich vanilla scent twists its way through the cabin. The table is set for a romantic anniversary dinner with fresh roses dropping crimson petals on crisp white linen... -
Deadly Fate by Angela Marsons
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe woman’s bright blonde hair floats in the breeze. She almost looks like she could be resting on the soft green grass. But her brown eyes stare unblinking up at the sky, and the final cut across her mouth is dark with blood... -
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Stolen Angels by Rita Herron
Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsTwisting her hands together, she bites back a sob. She only turned her back for a second, and then her daughter was gone. Every mother in town would be hugging their children tighter tonight.Lara is baking cupcakes when her daughter Ava runs to catch the school bus just one block away. Chasing after her, Lara sees the bus tumbling past, and waves. But Ava never turns up at school... -
The Executioner by Chris Carter
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsFROM THE AUTHOR OF THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER THE CALLER. Inside a Los Angeles church, on the altar steps, lies the blood-soaked body of a priest. Later, the forensic team discover that, on the victim's chest, the figure 3 has been scrawled in blood. At first, Detective Robert Hunter believes that this is a ritualistic killing. But as more bodies surface, he is forced to reassess... -
Losing Leah Holloway by Lisa Regan
Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsFive years ago, Claire Fletcher escaped her abductor. But some scars never fade, and surviving was just the beginning…When Claire sees a car full of children careen into a river, she rushes to the rescue. But the driver, a mother named Leah Holloway, prefers to drown. For Claire and her ex, Detective Connor Parks, it doesn’t add up... -
The Killing Code by J.D. Kirk
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsWhat would you do if there weren't any consequences?After twenty years on the force, Detective Chief Inspector Jack Logan thinks he has seen it all.He is wrong.When a nurse is murdered on her way home from nightshift, Jack and his team go on the hunt for her killer... -
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 Blossom Twins by Carol Wyer
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsTheir parents thought they were hiding… One beautiful summer’s evening, thirteen-year-old twins Ivy and Erin Westmore snuggle down in a tent in their back garden, giggling and sharing secrets. When their mother goes to wake the girls the next morning, their tent is empty. The alarm is raised and Detective Natalie Ward is put onto the case... -
Stone Cold Dead by Alex Smith
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsGetting blood from these stones will be all too easy.In the middle of one of Norfolk’s most brutal winters a frozen body is discovered on the legendary Stone of Ling. With Robert Kett out of action the case falls to DC Kate Savage and DI Pete Porter, and it quickly becomes clear to them that the young man wasn’t just killed, he was sacrificed.And he isn’t alone... -
Dead Memories by Angela Marsons
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsShe ruined their lives. Now they’re going to destroy hers. ‘Someone is recreating every traumatic point in your life. They are doing this to make you suffer, to make you hurt and the only possible end game can be death. Your death.’ On the fourth floor of Chaucer House, two teenagers are found chained to a radiator. The boy is dead but the girl is alive... -
Child's Play by Angela Marsons
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFinally we’re playing a game. A game that I have chosen. I give one last push of the roundabout and stand back. 'You really should have played with me,’ I tell her again although I know she can no longer hear... -
Three Little Pigs by Alex Smith
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsHe will find the truth. Even if it kills him. Five months ago, DCI Robert Kett’s wife Billie was snatched from a London street. Five months of no leads, no evidence, and no suspects. Until now... -
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Corpse Road by David J. Gatward, Aubrey Parsons
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratings* Duration: 7 hours and 9 minutes *To catch the hunter, become the prey.When the body of a female backpacker is found on the Yorkshire moors, the killer seems obvious, the motive clear.If only.Because Grimm and his team are up against not just a murderer, but a predator, and when the key suspect disappears, it's only a matter of time before another body is found... -
Whip Crack by Alex Smith
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsEvery time you hear his voice, another child will die.DCI Robert Kett’s family may be whole again, but he is a broken man.Suspended from duty, he takes his girls out of the city for a much-needed holiday on the Norfolk Coast.Instead of the peace he desperately needs, however, Kett finds a community in chaos. Four teenagers are missing, and time is running out before they meet a horrific fate... -
Fatal Witness by Robert Bryndza
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsDetective Erika Foster is back in FATAL WITNESS – with a chilling new serial killer case in Robert Bryndza's multi-million bestselling crime thriller series!How do you find a killer who has destroyed all the evidence?Detective Erika Foster is on a late-night walk near her new house in Blackheath when she stumbles upon the brutal murder of Vicky Clarke, a true-crime podcaster... -
Frozen Souls by Rita Herron
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsShe looked like an angel. She lay perfectly still, silky blonde hair falling to her pale shoulders. Icicles clung to her eyelashes as snowflakes fluttered to the frozen ground, burying her body.As a snowstorm wreaks havoc in the mountain town of Crooked Creek, a woman is found buried in ice. Detective Ellie Reeves is first on the scene... -
Lost Angels by Stacy Green
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhen Special Agent Nikki Hunt is called to the Boundary Waters near Stillwater, Minnesota, it’s not just the cold that shocks her to her core: the body of a young woman has been found frozen beside a remote lake... -
Dead Ground by M.W. Craven
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsDetective Sergeant Washington Poe is in court, fighting eviction from his beloved and isolated croft, when he is summoned to a backstreet brothel in Carlisle where a man has been beaten to death with a baseball bat...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller adult audiobook -
Won't You Save Me by Wendy Dranfield
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsDetective Dean Matheson has returned to his hometown to begin his new job and put the traumatic events of his past behind him – but his fresh start won’t last long when the local area is hit by a series of strange disappearances and twisted killings …A nameless girl badly beaten and dumped in front of the mysterious new church. A shocking murder scene discovered in the apartment over the diner...Categorized as:
suspense crime law-enforcement police-procedural thriller mystery small-town audiobook -
Left For Dead by Caroline Mitchell
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA victim on display. A detective on the rails.Shopping with her sister, DI Amy Winter is admiring a Valentine’s Day window display of a perfect bride encrusted in diamonds and resplendent in lace—until she notices blood oozing from the mannequin’s mouth.This is no stunt. A post-mortem reveals the victim was left to die on her macabre throne for all to see... -
Cold Heart Creek by Lisa Regan
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAs the sun rises, the last glow of the campfire is just visible through the mist and the trees... -
Shallow Ground by Andy Maslen, Steve West
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratings10 hours, 20 minutes Detective Ford has a cold-blooded killer to catch. But can he escape his own dark secrets?Barely a month since his promotion to Inspector, DI Ford is called in to investigate the murder of a young nurse and her son in a small flat in Salisbury. There are few clues, and no apparent motive, but Ford can sense that there’s a serial killer at work... -
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Her Dying Secret by Lisa Regan
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsShe gently opens the woman’s tightly clenched fist, uncurling each finger to reveal a square of folded paper hidden in her palm... -
Her Broken Wings by D.K. Hood
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe sound that wakes her from sleep is unmistakable—someone is in their house...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement noir police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
Five Days Post Mortem by L.T. Vargus, Tim McBain
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsHer body floats. A bloated thing half atop the river. Naked. Pale. Mouth and eyes open wide. When two fishermen discover a corpse floating in the Clackamas river, profiler Violet Darger heads to rural Oregon to hunt another serial killer. What she discovers in the woods might change the course of her life... -
Bad Dog by Alex Smith
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSome legends can kill you. When a young woman is brutally murdered in the Norfolk countryside, the locals blame Black Shuck—a legendary wild dog. There’s only one problem: the wounds weren’t made by an animal. DCI Robert Kett is battling a black dog of his own... -
Shadow Falls by Wendy Dranfield
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsYou thought your little girl was safe at summer camp. You were wrong…The little girl drags her eyes open, realizing she’s starting to fade. She tries calling out—“Daddy?”—using all her remaining strength... -
The Talisker Dead by J.M. Dalgliesh
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsPulling on the threads of your past... is enough to kill you...When a teenage islander goes missing on Burns Night, D.I. Duncan McAdam takes a strong interest despite the apparent lack of concern shown by the boy's father. When a woman's body is soon discovered in Talisker Bay, with a single stab wound to the chest, Duncan and his team realise they have a killer on the island... -
Unquiet Souls by Liz Mistry
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWhat is the link between the abduction of a little girl and a dead prostitute? When the body of a prostitute is found, followed by the discovery of children locked in an attic, DI Gus McGuire, newly returned to work, is given the case. But what at first appears to be a simple murder soon turns into an international manhunt for the members of a twisted child trafficking ring... -
The Recipient by Audrey J. Cole
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSergeant Wade McKinnon knows who killed Samantha the moment he arrives at her crime scene. Problem is, he watched her killer die a year ago.A year after serial killer Michael Rhodes is executed and allowed to donate part of his brain as an organ transplant, Wade gets called to a murder scene that shares uncanny similarities to those of the late Michael Rhodes... -
Dark Water by Caro Ramsay
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA bitterly cold February in Glasgow. In the attic of a deserted tenement, the body of a man is found hanging, his face disfigured beyond recognition.Around his neck is a sign that reads: I Am Stephen Whyte.Investigating officers DI Anderson and DS Costello believe the dead man was the prime suspect in a decade-old unsolved case.Ten years ago, a young woman was brutally attacked and left for dead... -
Kill Me Again by Rachel Abbott
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWhen your life is a lie, who can you trust? When Maggie Taylor accepts a new job in Manchester, she is sure it is the right move for her family. The children have settled well although her husband, Duncan, doesn’t appear to be so convinced. But nothing prepares her for the shock of coming home from work one night to find that Duncan has disappeared, leaving their young children alone... -
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Mad Jack by Stacy M. Jones
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSomething sinister lurks behind the perfect homes and well-manicured lawns of Mulberry Grove. Wealthy tech investor Jack Harlow, known to the FBI as Mad Jack, has been running a personal development program for the past ten years. Locals call it a cult. Few leave, and those who try, end up dead under mysterious circumstances. Six couples in all over the last five years... -
The Sleepover by Carol Wyer
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsRoxy had a secret. Now she’s gone. When fourteen-year-old Roxy says she’s going for a sleepover at her best friend Ellie’s house, Cathy sees no reason to check her daughter’s story. The two families are neighbours, and the girls are in and out of each other’s homes every day. It is a decision she will regret... -
Winter Prey by John Sandford
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 31 ratings"Winter Prey" is a John Sandford suspense masterpiece! Following the international success of "Shadow Prey" and "Silent Prey," he creates another heart-pounding chapter in the career of Lucas Davenport, the brilliant, hard-bitten detective from the Twin Cities.The Iceman is Lucas Davenport's most determined foe - a serial killer driven to cover his brutal tracks with blood...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement noir police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
No Way Back by Rick Mofina, Christian Rummel
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSan Francisco crime reporter Tom Reed is burned out. On the day he decides to finally quit the news business, a sensational story breaks. A heart-stopping robbery-homicide at a jewelry store. The suspects have shot and killed a police officer before fleeing with a female hostage. Reed rushes to the scene, his passion resurrected for one last big story...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
The Hunter of the Dark by Donato Carrisi
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA brutal killer is on the streets of Rome. He leaves no trace. And shows no mercy.A series of gruesome murders leaves the police force in Rome reeling, with no real clues or hard evidence to follow. Assigned to the case is Sandra Vega, a brilliant forensic analyst, struggling to come to terms with the crimes and her own past... -
In the Cold Dark Ground by Stuart MacBride
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSergeant Logan McRae is in trouble…His missing-persons investigation has just turned up a body in the woods – naked, hands tied behind its back, and a bin bag duct-taped over its head. The Major Investigation Team charges up from Aberdeen, under the beady eye of Logan’s ex-boss Detective Chief Inspector Steel. And, as usual, she wants him to do her job for her... -
Love You Dead by Peter James
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsAn ugly duckling as a child, Jodie Bentley had two dreams in life—to be beautiful and rich. She's achieved the first, with a little help from a plastic surgeon, and now she's working hard on the second. Her philosophy about money is simple. You can either earn it or marry it. Marrying is easy, it's getting rid of the husband afterwards that's harder, that takes real skill... -
You Are Dead by Peter James, Daniel Weyman
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsYou are Dead is the eleventh thrilling crime novel in Peter James' Roy Grace series, read aloud by Daniel Weyman.They were marked for deathThe last words Jamie Ball hears from his fiancée, Logan Somerville, are in a terrified mobile phone call. She has just driven into the underground car park beneath the block of flats where they live in Brighton. Then she screams and the phone goes dead... -
Hell to Pay by Rachel Amphlett
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWhen a road traffic accident on a dark autumn night uncovers a disturbing conspiracy, Detective Sergeant Kay Hunter’s investigation exposes a ruthless serial killer exploiting vulnerable young women.With her enemies unmasked and her career spiralling out of control, Kay’s determination to seek vengeance for the victims brings her dangerously close to those who want to silence her... -
Broken Prey by John Sandford
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe first body is of a young woman, found on a Minneapolis riverbank, her throat cut, her body scourged and put on display. Whoever did this, Lucas Davenport knows, is pushed by brain chemistry. There is something wrong with him. This isn’t a bad love affair.The second body is found three weeks later, in a farmhouse six miles south. Same condition, same display—except this time it is a man...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller adult audiobook -
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Dark Houses by Helen H. Durrant
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsTHE STUNNING NEW CRIME MYSTERY FEATURING D.I. GRECO BY BEST-SELLING AUTHOR HELEN H. DURRANT A young woman is found brutally murdered in an empty house Detective Stephen Greco and his team must piece together her life as quickly as possible. Within twenty-four hours there is another horrific murder using the same method... -
The Silent Children by Carol Wyer
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe boy studied the bruise turning yellow at the base of his neck. With quick fingers his mother tightened his tie, and pulled his collar high above it. Her eyes alone said, We will not speak of this... Years later, a man is found shot dead in a local park. On his phone is a draft text: I can’t keep this secret any longer. The recipient is unnamed... -
Rush to Judgement by John Carson
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA woman is found hanging in the woods in a small Highland town.A hearse crashes into an old church and is abandoned. The police find a coffin inside but the body isn't a recent death. It's the badly decomposed body of a girl who went missing thirty years ago.DCI Harry McNeil is sent north to co-ordinate the hunt for a killer, along with colleagues from Glasgow... -
Her Deadly Touch by Lisa Regan
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe woman is kneeling at a gravestone, her hair blowing in the breeze, a bunch of wilting yellow daffodils on the grass beside her. Her eyes are fixed on the ground and her mouth is parted in a silent prayer... -
Last Lullaby by Carol Wyer
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsCharlotte’s baby is safe. But is she? When the body of young mother Charlotte Brannon is discovered by her husband in their immaculate, silver bedroom, Detective Natalie Ward is first on the scene. The killer has left a chilling calling card: the word ‘Why?’ written on the wall in blood... -
The Dare by Carol Wyer
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsJane’s daughter is a good girl. What is she hiding? When thirteen-year-old Savannah Hopkins doesn’t come straight home from school, as she always does, her mother Jane immediately raises the alarm. Leading the investigation is Detective Natalie Ward whose daughter Leigh is the same age as Savannah...
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