Books like 'Windy City Blues'
Readers who enjoyed Windy City Blues by Sara Paretsky also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
mystery thriller law-enforcement crime female-mc investigator noir hard-boiled
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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... -
![Cold-Blooded by Lisa Regan]()
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... -
![The Girl in the Manor by A.J. Rivers]()
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]()
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... -
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![Bury Them Deep: Inspector McLean Book 10 by James Oswald]()
Bury Them Deep: Inspector McLean Book 10 by James Oswald
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe tenth book in the Sunday Times-bestselling Inspector McLean series, from one of Scotland's most celebrated crime writers When a member of the Police Scotland team fails to clock-in for work, concern for her whereabouts is immediate... and the discovery of her burnt-out car in remote woodland to the south of Edinburgh sets off a desperate search for the missing woman... -
![ARCADIA: A Case For Willows And Lane by Peter Grainger]()
ARCADIA: A Case For Willows And Lane by Peter Grainger
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsSir Roger Parkes is a man of some influence in the West Country. When he loses touch with his youngest daughter, he has a word with the Assistant Chief Constable of the local force. It’s not a police matter, he is told, but if Sir Roger wants to pursue it privately, there is a lady who might be able to help – two of them, actually... -
![Three Small Bones by Jennifer Chase]()
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... -
![The Girl Next Door by A.J. Rivers]()
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]()
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... -
![Never Too Late by Sally Rigby]()
Never Too Late by Sally Rigby
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA vicious attack. A dirty secret. And a chance for justiceEx-police officer Sebastian Clifford is quickly finding that life as a private investigator is never quiet. His doors have only been open a few weeks when DCI Whitney Walker approaches him to investigate the brutal attack that left her older brother, Rob, with irreversible brain damage... -
![Bună seara, Melania! by Rodica Ojog-Braşoveanu]()
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]()
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... -
![Consummatum est by César Pérez Gellida]()
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![Truth or Dare by M.J. Arlidge]()
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... -
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![What She Left by H.K. Christie]()
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... -
![The Bone Harvest by Stacy M. Jones]()
The Bone Harvest by Stacy M. Jones
Rated: 4.58 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe trail had gone cold. Det. Luke Morgan had all but given up hope. Then a letter from his sister's killer changes everything Luke thought he knew about her death - and renews his hope for justice."Lily wasn't the first. She won't be the last. Like the fall leaves that turn orange and red, 23 pretty little girls harvested dead."The killer wants to play a game...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement investigator female-mc hard-boiled mystery fiction police-procedural -
![Second Helping by Stephanie Bond]()
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... -
![Jo Nesbø Collection 3 Books Set: The Redbreast, Nemesis, The Devil's Star by Jo Nesbø]()
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... -
![Vecchie conoscenze by Antonio Manzini]()
Vecchie conoscenze by Antonio Manzini
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsRocco Schiavone indaga sull’omicidio di una professoressa in pensione. E intanto l’ombra del passato si fa pressante: la pena per Sebastiano, l’amico fraterno che non ha mai smesso di dare la caccia a Enzo Baiocchi, che gli ha assassinato la moglie, lo rende inquieto e gli ruba il sonno... -
![L'ultimo traghetto by Domingo Villar, Federico Zanandrea]()
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... -
![Warning Signs by G.K. Parks]()
Warning Signs by G.K. Parks
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSecrets prove deadly in Alexis Parker's latest case...Alexis Parker is used to humdrum work assignments. Running background checks and tailing cheating spouses is common place for her and most of the private investigators at Cross Security. But she doesn't particularly enjoy digging up other people's dirt and shining a light on their nastier habits. However, it's a paycheck... -
![Missing Time Murders by Stacy M. Jones]()
Missing Time Murders by Stacy M. Jones
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAn elusive killer targets couples in the dead of night – murdering the women and leaving men with their memories wiped clean. Private investigator Riley Sullivan faces her toughest case yet, and this time it’s personal. Her friend and business partner, Cooper Deagnan, is a suspect when he wakes to find a dead woman next to him in his bed. The murder pits Cooper against his friend, Det... -
![Free Fall in Crimson by John D. MacDonald, Carl Hiaasen]()
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]()
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... -
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![Keeping Secrets by L.A. Dobbs]()
Keeping Secrets by L.A. Dobbs
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhen long-time White Rock resident Mike Donnelly is found dead at his hunting camp, it appears as if the tragic death was by his own hand. But a gut feeling tells Chief of Police Sam Mason otherwise... -
![The Silence at Mystery Bay by D.D. Black]()
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... -
![Trouble Brewing by G.K. Parks]()
Trouble Brewing by G.K. Parks
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWhile Alex and Martin prepare to return home, a storm is brewing that threatens to derail everything they’ve built.Private investigator Alexis Parker is ready to say goodbye to the sun, surf, and sand. The West Coast branch of Cross Security is finally getting off the ground, and Martin’s business in Los Angeles is coming to an end... -
![The Night Game by Stacy M. Jones]()
The Night Game by Stacy M. Jones
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA series of strange burglaries. The death of a provocative shop owner. The twisted plan that ties them together. PI Riley Sullivan is faced with the daunting task of clearing a young man who has been arrested for the crimes.As Riley and her investigator partner, Cooper Deagnan, work to investigate the burglaries, they come to learn nothing has been stolen... -
![Schatten by Ursula Poznanski, Andrea Sawatzki]()
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... -
![Purview of Flashbulbs by G.K. Parks]()
Purview of Flashbulbs by G.K. Parks
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsHollywood - the glitz, the glamour, and a threatening stalker. Is it all just part of the limelight? Working in the private sector has its perks, but boring cases isn't one of them. The most dangerous thing about Alexis Parker's latest P.I. gig is the selection of foods at craft services, or so she's been told... -
![Siren by Celina Grace]()
Siren by Celina Grace
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsSimon Farraday was a respectable business man; successful, wealthy and with a loving wife and family. He was also heavily into sadomasochistic sex with virtual strangers, judging by the manner of his brutal, squalid murder... -
![Deeper Than the Dead by Debra Webb]()
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...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement female-mc thriller investigator mystery fiction police-procedural -
![Where All the Dead Lie by J.T. Ellison]()
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... -
![The Green Ripper by John D. MacDonald]()
The Green Ripper by John D. MacDonald
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsBeautiful girls always grace the Florida beaches, strolling, sailing, relaxing at the many parties on Travis McGee's houseboat, The Busted Flush. McGee was too smart--and had been around too long--for many of them to touch his heart. Now, however, there was Gretel. She had discovered the key to McGee--to all of him--and now he had something to hope for. Then, terribly, unexpectedly, she was dead... -
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![The Flower Show Murder by Faith Martin, Joyce Cato]()
The Flower Show Murder by Faith Martin, Joyce Cato
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsPlease note this book was first published as Unholy Whiff of Death under Faith Martin’s pen name Joyce Cato.Smell the roses and die!Monica Noble is thrilled to be asked to judge a neighboring village’s flower show, even if she can't tell a begonia from an azalea!Her fellow judge Vicar James Davies inhales deeply from a large bloom and drops dead in the tent... -
![The Good Life by Martina Cole]()
The Good Life by Martina Cole
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe new novel from No.1 Sunday Times bestselling author Martina Cole, whose works include DANGEROUS LADY, THE TAKE, THE LIFE and REVENGE... -
![Her Last Wish by Blake Pierce]()
Her Last Wish by Blake Pierce
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFBI Agent Rachel Gift, 33, unparalleled for her ability to enter the minds of serial killers, is a rising star in the Behavioral Crimes Unit—until a routine doctor visit reveals she has but a few months left to live.Not wishing to burden others with her pain, Rachel decides, agonizing as it is, not to tell anyone—not even her boss, her partner, her husband, or her seven-year-old daughter... -
![Pale Gray for Guilt by John D. MacDonald]()
Pale Gray for Guilt by John D. MacDonald
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsTush Bannon was in the wrong spot at the wrong time. His measly plot of land just so happened to sit right in the middle of a rich parcel of five hundred riverfront acres that big-money real estate interests decided they simply must have.It didn’t matter that Tush was a nice guy with a family, or that he never knew he was dealing with a criminal element...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled investigator law-enforcement noir action-adventure adult audiobook -
![The Empty Copper Sea by John D. MacDonald]()
The Empty Copper Sea by John D. MacDonald
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratings"The professional's professional of suspense writers."THE NEW YORK TIMESVan Harder, once a hard drinker, has found religion. But that doesn't keep folks from saying he murdered his employer, Hub Lawless, whose body hasn't been found. To clear his name, and cear up the mystery, Van asks friend-in-need Travis McGee to find out what really happened... -
![Keeping Secrets by L.A. Dobbs]()
Keeping Secrets by L.A. Dobbs
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhen long-time White Rock resident Mike Donnelly is found dead at his hunting camp, it appears as if the tragic death was by his own hand. But a gut feeling tells Chief of Police Sam Mason otherwise... -
![The Drowned Boys by Stacy M. Jones]()
The Drowned Boys by Stacy M. Jones
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA series of suspicious drownings all deemed accidents. A retired detective with an outlandish theory to prove. Families in eight states left without justice. PI Riley Sullivan is brought back into the worst case of her career. She and her team have two goals – prove the cases are connected and find the person responsible before they strike again.It’s not such an easy feat... -
![Hide Me Away by Lauren Street]()
Hide Me Away by Lauren Street
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsEx-police officer Rileigh Bishop never wanted to come back to her hometown. But when a dead teenage girl is found with her tongue cut out, she must return. After all, that’s the same way Rileigh’s sister died.Reluctantly, she joins forces with the county sheriff to solve the brutal murder. The locals maintain a strict code of silence... -
![True Crime by Max Allan Collins]()
True Crime by Max Allan Collins
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsBy the author of The Road To Perdition, this title sees Private Eye Nate Heller trying discover who the gunshot victim was, found next to the Biograph Theatre, the man the FBI confidently identified as John Dillinger. His search for the answer leads him into a confrontation with J. Edgar Hoover... -
![The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps: The Best Crime Stories from the Pulps During Their Golden Age - The '20s, '30s & '40s by Otto Penzler]()
The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps: The Best Crime Stories from the Pulps During Their Golden Age - The '20s, '30s & '40s by Otto Penzler
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe biggest, the boldest, the most comprehensive collection of Pulp writing ever assembled. Weighing in at over a thousand pages, containing over forty-seven stories and two novels, this book is big baby, bigger and more powerful than a freight train—a bullet couldn’t pass through it... -
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![Need You by Blake Pierce]()
Need You by Blake Pierce
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWhen private investigator Daisy Fortune is approached by an uber-wealthy, mysterious woman to discover who murdered her fiancé on a yacht in the Mediterranean, Daisy is skeptical. Her client seems guilty, yet Daisy, a brilliant but floundering P.I., needs this case... -
![Shella by Andrew Vachss]()
Shella by Andrew Vachss
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFrom the author of the acclaimed Burke private-eye series comes an ambitious and chilling novel that shows us not only what evil is, but where it comes from. For Shella is nothing less than a tour of evil's spawning ground, conducted by one of its natural predators... -
![Bluebelle by Andrew Vachss]()
Bluebelle by Andrew Vachss
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsBurke is one of the most cold-blooded yet strangely honorable heroes in the history of crime fiction, an outlaw who makes his living by preying on the most vicious of New York City's bottom-feeders, those who thrive on the suffering of children... -
![The Magdalen Martyrs by Ken Bruen]()
The Magdalen Martyrs by Ken Bruen
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsJack Taylor is walking the delicate edge of a sobriety he doesn't trust when his phone rings. He's in debt to a Galway tough named Bill Cassell, what the locals call a "hard man." Bill did Jack a big favor a while back; the trouble is, he never lets a favor go unreturned... -
![The Life by Martina Cole]()
The Life by Martina Cole
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe most authentic novel of gangster family life ever written, from the No. 1 bestselling author.The Bailey brothers are gangsters determined to make their mark in the world. Peter and Daniel are chalk and cheese in many ways - Peter's calm exterior belies his ruthless nature, while Daniel's penchant for spectacular violence is legendary - but together they are unstoppable... -
![No Beast So Fierce by Edward Bunker]()
No Beast So Fierce by Edward Bunker
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAfter serving an eight-year term in Folsom State Prison, Max Dembo is determined not to return to his former way of life, in a realistic, suspenseful study of the pressures facing ex-convicts as they attempt to negotiate the straight world. Reissue...
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