Books like 'Straight'
Readers who enjoyed Straight by Dick Francis also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary mystery action / adventure psychological thriller crime suspense animals horses law-enforcement
-
The Trapped Girl by Robert Dugoni
Rated: 4.37 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsWhen a woman’s body is discovered submerged in a crab pot in the chilly waters of Puget Sound, Detective Tracy Crosswhite finds herself with a tough case to untangle. Before they can identify the killer, Tracy and her colleagues on the Seattle PD’s Violent Crimes Section must figure out who the victim is. Her autopsy, however, reveals she may have gone to great lengths to conceal her identity... -
A Steep Price by Robert Dugoni
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsNew York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni’s thrilling series continues as Seattle homicide detective Tracy Crosswhite is plunged into a case of family secrets and murder… “Another outstanding novel from one of the best crime writers in the business... -
Mercy by David Baldacci
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsFBI Agent Atlee Pine’s harrowing search for her long-lost sister Mercy reaches a boiling point in this breakneck thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci. For her entire life, FBI agent Atlee Pine has been searching for her twin sister, Mercy, who was abducted at the age of six and never seen again... -
Hidden Creed by Alex Kava
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsSecrets are exposed and Ryder Creed's life hangs in the balance in the riveting sixth installment of the award-winning Alex Kava Ryder Creed K-9 mysteries.NOTHING STAYS HIDDEN FOREVER...During a training exercise, Creed’s scent dog, Grace, is drawn off course and discovers a shallow grave... -
-
Our Stolen Pieces by James Hunt
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWhen the morning after a slumber party reveals two missing girls, a newly minted Detective and a young veteran are assigned the case. Recently partnered, the pair of detectives must set aside their troubled pasts to recover the pair of girls who may have been coerced by a stranger who had kidnapped before... -
Murder Never Misses by Faith Martin
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThree missing young women. One evil stalker. But Hillary doesn’t think it all adds up. Hillary is recovering from the vicious attack by her stalker. It appears that he is also behind the disappearance and murder of three women. Her bosses want these unsolved cases closed, but Hillary has a theory that will shock everyone... -
Martin Swans Diary: Black Water Crossing by Kyle Keyes
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsMartin Swan was not a terrorist, nor a truck driver. He only replied to the want-ad because the wording linked Florida with Washington DC and wanted someone who could speak Arabic. The year was 2008. Jobs were scarce, gas prices high. The back page ad called for a big rig driver with a clean record, who could be at Black Water Crossing the day before Halloween... -
Fear No Evil by James Patterson
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAlex Cross enters the final showdown with the relentless killer who has stalked him and his family for years.Dr. Alex Cross and Detective John Sampson venture into the rugged Montana wilderness—where they will be the prey. They’re not on the job, but on a personal mission... -
Hide Away by Jason Pinter
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFrom the bestselling author of the Henry Parker series comes a page-turning thriller about a vigilante who’s desperate to protect her secrets—and bring a killer to justice.On the surface, Rachel Marin is an ordinary single mother; on the inside, she’s a fierce, brilliant vigilante...Categorized as:
amateur-sleuth crime drama family law-enforcement suspense thriller action-adventure -
Murder Never Retires by Faith Martin
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsHillary Greene returns to Thames Valley Police HQ, acting as a consultant for the Crime Review Team, looking into murders which the police have never been able to solve. She wasn’t sure she wanted to go back. But solving crimes is irresistible for Hillary Greene. And it doesn’t hurt that her new boss is devastatingly handsome... -
The Maid's Diary by Loreth Anne White
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsKit Darling is a maid with a snooping problem. She’s the “invisible girl,” compelled to poke into her wealthy clients’ closely guarded lives. It’s a harmless hobby until Kit sees something she can’t unsee in the home of her brand-new clients: a secret so dark it could destroy the privileged couple expecting their first child. This makes Kit dangerous to the couple... -
Cross Her Heart by Melinda Leigh
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsA homicide detective’s violent family history repeats itself in #1 Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh’s novel of murder, secrets, and retribution... -
Looking Glass by Andrew Mayne
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsProfessor Theo Cray caught one of the most prolific serial killers in history using revolutionary scientific methods. Cut off from university research because of the shroud of suspicion around him after the death of his former student and the aftermath of catching his quarry, Cray tries to rebuild his life but finds himself drawn into another unsolved case...Categorized as:
amateur-sleuth crime law-enforcement suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
Unbound Ties: When the past unravels, all that’s left is death ... by Liz Mistry
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhen the past unravels, all that’s left is death.Lavender’s blue, dilly dilly,When DI Gus McGuire is called out to the murder of a pregnant woman, the crime scene tells him that this killer is not only taunting them … he’s also just getting started.Lavender’s green,With ritualistic precision, the killer has placed a series of clues beneath the victim’s feet...Categorized as:
suspense crime law-enforcement family thriller mystery police-procedural domestic-drama -
-
The Viaduct Killings by Wes Markin
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsStill grieving from the tragic death of her colleague, DCI Emma Gardner continues to blames herself and is struggling to focus. So, when she is seconded to the wilds of Yorkshire, Emma hopes she’ll be able to get her mind back on the job, doing what she does best - putting killers behind bars.But when she is immediately thrown into another violent murder, Emma has no time to rest... -
Their Lost Daughters by Joy Ellis
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsTWO GIRLS GO TO A PARTY, ONLY ONE RETURNS ALIVEToni, the surviving teenager, is found delirious, wandering the muddy fields. She has been drugged and it’s uncertain whether she’ll survive. She says she saw her friend Emily being dragged away from the party. But no one knows who Emily is or even if she’s still alive. . .Meanwhile the drowned body of another girl has been found on an isolated beach... -
Seven Days by Alex Lake
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe twisty new psychological thriller from the USA Today bestselling author Maggie Taylor’s son is a week away from his third birthday, and she is terrified. Because in her world, third birthdays are the day on which the worst possible thing happens…She loses her child.For the last decade, Maggie has been imprisoned in a basement. Kidnapped aged sixteen, she has not seen a sunrise for ten years... -
The Shadow Box by Luanne Rice
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsAn Amazon Charts bestseller.The Amazon Charts bestselling author of Last Day delivers a haunting thriller about how far one wife is willing to go to expose the truth—and the lengths someone will go to stop her.After artist Claire Beaudry Chase is attacked and left for dead in her home on the Connecticut coast, she doesn’t know who she can trust... -
The Whispering Room by Dean Koontz, Elisabeth Rodgers
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratings16 hrs 52 minsJane Hawk—fiction's most relentless, resourceful, stunning new heroine—continues her battle against a murderous conspiracy in the riveting sequel to The Silent Corner. "No time to delay. Do what you were born to do. Fame will be yours when you do this... -
The Guilty Ones by Joy Ellis
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsTHE MOST DIFFICULT CASE OF DETECTIVE JACKMAN’S LIFE. WHO ARE THE GUILTY ONES AND IS ANYONE REALLY INNOCENT? THIS TIME IT’S VERY PERSONAL FOR JACKMAN. Jackman’s sister-in-law Sarah disappears to London and throws herself into the river. What drove her to this? She was a woman with a seemingly happy home life and two beloved sons. DI Jackman and DI Evans dig into Sarah’s life... -
A Very Bad Thing by J.T. Ellison
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFrom New York Times bestselling author J.T. Ellison comes a taut thriller about one author at the pinnacle of her career, whose past threatens to destroy everything she has—and everyone she knows.A great writer knows when to deliver a juicy plot twist. But for one author, the biggest twist of all is her own murder... -
YOU DID THIS by Jamie Millen
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsA sister’s worst nightmare. A homicide detective’s destiny.Everybody loves Claire’s little sister, Tina. But only Claire sees the twisted psychopath hiding behind her sister’s angelic face. When Tina is brutally murdered on her fourteenth birthday, the day Claire failed to walk her home from school, Claire never forgives herself. And neither does their mother... -
Hide by Lisa Gardner
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsYou have good reason to be afraid. . . . It was a case that haunts Bobby Dodge to this day—the case that nearly killed him and changed his life forever. Now, in an underground chamber on the grounds of an abandoned Massachusetts mental hospital, the gruesome discovery of six mummified corpses resurrects his worst nightmare: the return of a killer he thought dead and buried... -
Hanging Falls by Margaret Mizushima
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsMurder stalks the rugged Colorado high country--and sends Mattie Cobb on a quest to uncover the darkest secrets from her past in the sixth gripping installment of Margaret Mizushima's Timber Creek K-9 mysteriesA deluge has flooded the high ground near Hanging Falls--but heavy rains aren't the only menace descending on Timber Creek... -
-
Mastermind by Andrew Mayne
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsA mysterious electrical storm plunges Manhattan into darkness. As a strange, smothering fog rolls in, all communication crashes. In the blink of an eye, the island seems to vanish into a void.FBI special agent Jessica Blackwood and brilliant scientist Dr. Theo Cray know this isn’t a freak accident. It’s a sinister sleight of hand...Categorized as:
amateur-sleuth crime law-enforcement suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Girl in the Snow by Alexandria Clarke
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA retired FBI agent. A heartstopping tragedy. Carolina Caccia, a divorced mother of two, confronts her worst fears when her son goes missing during a family ski trip. As she discovers her son has been taken, she must revisit her dark past to rescue her child... -
Keep Her Quiet by Emma Curtis
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratings'This is grip-lit at its best' Fanny BlakeJenny has just given birth to the baby she’s always wanted. She’s never been this happy.Her husband, Leo, knows this baby girl can’t be his. He’s never felt so betrayed.The same night, a vulnerable young woman, Hannah, wakes to find her newborn lifeless beside her. She’s crazed with grief...Categorized as:
amateur-sleuth crime drama family law-enforcement suspense thriller action-adventure -
What Hurts the Most by Willow Rose
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsASIN B018A097LO moved to the most recent edition hereYou will never guess the ending!Am I pretty? Imagine being asked that question standing face to face with a killer. What would you answer? While her life is going from bad to worse, journalist Mary Mills receives a phone call from her father telling her that her brother has been arrested for murder... -
Reckless Creed by Alex Kava
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn the new edge-of-your-seat thriller from New York Times–bestselling author Alex Kava, Ryder Creed, his K-9 search-and-rescue dogs, and FBI agent Maggie O’Dell find themselves at the center of a dire and mysterious case... -
Gone for Good by Harlan Coben
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsAs a boy, Will Klein had a hero: his older brother, Ken. Then, on a warm suburban night in the Kleins' affluent New Jersey neighborhood, a young woman--a girl Will had once loved--was found brutally murdered in her family's basement. The prime suspect: Ken Klein. With the evidence against him overwhelming, Ken simply vanished... -
The Swimmer by Loreth Anne White
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsA deviously twisty novel of psychological suspense about secrets, neighbors, a need to belong, and murder by the award-winning author of The Maid’s Diary. Socially awkward Chloe Cooper divides her time between dog walking, bartending, caring for her ailing mother, and at a safe distance, watching people and inventing the stories of their lives... -
Malevolent by Jana Deleon
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFrom New York Times bestselling author Jana DeLeon, the first in a new thriller series. Everyone wondered about Shaye Archer’s past. Including Shaye. Shaye Archer’s life effectively began the night police found her in an alley, beaten and abused and with no memory of the previous fifteen years, not even her name... -
The Murderer's Son by Joy Ellis
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWhat if your mother was a serial killer? A BLOODY KILLER SEEMS TO HAVE RETURNED TO THE LINCOLNSHIRE FENS A gripping new crime series by the best-selling author of the Nikki Galena series. Twenty years ago: a farmer and his wife are cut to pieces by a ruthless serial killer. Now: a woman is viciously stabbed to death in the upmarket kitchen of her beautiful house on the edge of the marshes... -
The Dark Bones by Loreth Anne White
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsShe’s come back to solve the mystery of her father’s death and confront her own dark past. When Detective Rebecca North left her rural hometown, she vowed never to return. Her father’s apparent suicide has changed that. The official report is that retired cop Noah North shot himself, knocked over a lantern, and set his isolated cabin ablaze. But Rebecca cannot believe he killed himself... -
-
Never Tell by Lisa Gardner
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 26 ratings#1 New York Times bestseller Lisa Gardner returns with an unpredictable thriller that puts fan favorites D. D. Warren and Flora Dane on a shocking new case that begins with a vicious murder and gets darker from there.A man is dead, shot three times in his home office. But his computer has been shot twelve times, and when the cops arrive, his pregnant wife is holding the gun.D. D... -
The Neighbor by Lisa Gardner
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsFrom a master of suspense comes a chilling new novel that explores the dangers lurking closer than you think. Because even in the perfect family, you never know what is going on behind closed doors...This is what happened.. -
West End Justice by K.J. Kalis
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsEverything in Detective Morgan Foster’s life is a secret…Living in West End, West Virginia wasn’t part of the plan, but the murders of her husband, Peter, and her partner, AJ Roth, have sent her into hiding.For a while, everything seemed to be fine, but two dead bodies at her waitressing job tell another story.. -
Fixed in Fear by T.E. Woods
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe Fixer returns in the pulse-pounding Justice series—perfect for fans of Lisa Gardner, Karin Slaughter, and Jeff Lindsay’s Dexter thrillers—as worlds collide in an inferno of bloodshed, revenge, and holy terror. I’ll probably never see my daughter again. And if I do, she’ll either be dead or in a jail cell... -
The End of Lies by Andrew Barrett
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsMy name is Becky. I arrived home to find my husband, Chris, stabbed to death and a gang of men ransacking our house. Turns out that Chris has something that belongs to them. And if I want to stay alive, I have to find it and return it. They have given me seven days. And a beating. There is nowhere to hide and no time left to look. So I will stand my ground as the deadline approaches... -
The Poet by Lisa Renee Jones
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsNew York Times bestselling author Lisa Renee Jones brings a fresh, modern take to the thriller genre that will keep you guessing until the very end.“The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth.” -Jean Cocteau Some call him friend or boss. Some call him husband or dad. Some call him son, even a favorite son. But the only title that matters to him is the one the media has given him: The Poet... -
The Silence Between Breaths by Cath Staincliffe
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsEight people, one deadly secret.Passengers boarding the 10.35 train from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston are bound for work, assignations, reunions, holidays or new starts, with no idea that their journey is about to be brutally curtailed... -
The Night You Left by Emma Curtis
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIT ONLY TAKES A MOMENT TO UNRAVEL A PERFECT LIFE . . . When Grace’s fiancé vanishes without a trace the night after proposing, her life is turned upside down. But has Nick walked out on her, or is he in danger?As Grace desperately searches for answers, it soon becomes clear that Nick wasn’t the uncomplicated man she thought she knew...Categorized as:
amateur-sleuth crime family law-enforcement suspense thriller 21st-century action-adventure -
Payback by Kimberley Chambers
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe Butlers are not a family to be messed with. Top dogs in the East End, they trample on anybody who gets in their way.Vinny Butler has upset many people on his rise up the criminal ladder. His best pal, mum, brother, dad, aunt, son and his girlfriend's father all hold grudges against him... -
The Woodcutter by Reginald Hill
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratings"Thefertility of Hill's imagination, the range of his power, the sheer quality ofhis literary style never ceases to delight." —Val McDermid,author of Fever of the BoneIn a stand-alone psychological thrillerfrom acclaimed mystery master Reginald Hill, a mysterious ex-con returns to hisremote childhood home on a deadly hunt for revenge... -
-
The Vacation by John Marrs
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe Vacation is a compulsive, holiday-set thriller from John Marrs, the author of The One, now a Netflix Original Series.How far would you run to escape your past?Venice Beach, Los Angeles. A paradise on earth.Tourists flock to the golden coast and the promise of Hollywood.But for eight strangers at a beach front hostel, there is far more on their mind than an extended vacation... -
Dark Blood by Stuart MacBride
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe new Logan McRae novel set in gritty Aberdeen from the author of Cold Granite and Blind Eye Richard Knox has served his time, so why shouldn't he be allowed to live wherever he wants? Yes, in the past he was a violent rapist, but he has seen the error of his ways, found God, and wants to leave his dark past in Newcastle behind him and make a new startor so he says... -
Split Second: by Alex Kava
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThey dubbed him the Collector, so named for his ritual of collecting victims before disposing of them in the most heinous ways possible. FBI Special Agent Maggie O'Dell tracked him for two years, finally ending their game of cat and mouse. Now Albert Stucky has escaped from prison . . . and he is setting up a new game for Maggie O'Dell... -
Boetedoening (O'Loughlin by Michael Robotham
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsRay Hegarty, a highly respected former detective, lies dead in his daughter Sienna's bedroom. She is found covered in his blood. Everything points to her guilt, but psychologist Joe O'Loughlin isn't convinced.Fourteen-year-old Sienna is Joe's daughter's best friend ? Joe has watched her grow up and seen the troubled look in her eyes... -
Out of Bounds by Val McDermid
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsInternationally bestselling author Val McDermid is one of our finest crime writers, whose gripping, impeccably plotted novels have garnered millions of readers worldwide. In her latest, Out of Bounds, she delivers a riveting cold case novel featuring detective Karen Pirie... -
Eve by Iris Johansen
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe #1 bestselling author delivers the first in a trilogy that will begin to answer questions that have haunted her legion of fans for over a decade, in her newest novel of breathtaking suspense Eve Duncan's mission in life is to bring closure to the families who have experienced the agony of a missing child...
Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.