Books like 'The Cove'
Readers who enjoyed The Cove by L.J. Ross also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary mystery serial killer action / adventure thriller europe british-isles united-kingdom england crime
-
Penshaw: A DCI Ryan Mystery by LJ Ross
Rated: 4.58 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFROM THE #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF HOLY ISLAND When you sell your soul, the devil gives no refunds... When an old man is burned alive in a sleepy ex-mining village, Detective Chief Inspector Ryan is called in to investigate. He soon discovers that, beneath the facade of a close-knit community, the burn from decades-old betrayal still smoulders... -
Longstone by L.J. Ross
Rated: 4.54 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsBetween the devil and the deep blue sea… Viking treasure is discovered beneath the icy waters of the North Sea and local historian Doctor Anna Taylor is called in to help catalogue the most exciting hoard in living memory. But when a shipwreck diver washes up dead, she’s soon out of her depth... -
Desert Star by Michael Connelly
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsLAPD detective Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch team up to hunt the brutal killer who is Bosch’s “white whale”—a man responsible for the murder of an entire family. Discover more thrilling Bosch mysteries in the original Freevee series Bosch: Legacy. A year has passed since LAPD detective Renée Ballard quit the force in the face of misogyny, demoralization, and endless red tape...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller 21st-century action-adventure -
High Force by LJ Ross
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsHell has unleashed a demon – and he’s coming for you… Detective Chief Inspector Ryan’s worst nightmare has just become a reality. Notorious serial killer The Hacker has escaped prison and kidnapped one of his best detectives from her own home. His brutality is the stuff of legend – Ryan lost his sister and nearly his own life bringing the man to justice first time around...Categorized as:
cozy crime female-mc law-enforcement literary-fiction police-procedural suspense thriller -
-
Cuthbert's Way: A DCI Ryan Mystery by L.J. Ross
Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA SECRET KEPT FOR A THOUSAND YEARS...After the dramatic theft of a priceless artefact from Durham Cathedral, the rest of the world believes that DCI Ryan and his team were able to recover and return St. Cuthbert’s cross to its rightful home... -
The Moor: A DCI Ryan Mystery by LJ Ross
Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFROM THE #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF HOLY ISLAND and LONGSTONE The circus is in town… When a ten-year-old girl turns up on DCI Ryan’s doorstep to tell him she’s witnessed a murder, he has no idea he’s about to step into his most spellbinding case yet...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement literary-fiction police-procedural suspense action-adventure adult -
A Merciful Fate by Kendra Elliot
Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIn the next book in the Wall Street Journal bestselling Mercy Kilpatrick series, there are no such things as little secrets…Raised by preppers, survivalist and FBI agent Mercy Kilpatrick has a deep-rooted need for a safe place. Her getaway in the Cascade Foothills is her secret...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller abuse action-adventure -
Bamburgh by L.J. Ross
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhen a cantankerous old woman dies at her home in the sleepy, picturesque village of Bamburgh, DCI Ryan doesn’t think much of it—except, that is, for the small matter of it having been his wife who happened to find her body...Categorized as:
cozy crime female-mc law-enforcement literary-fiction police-procedural suspense action-adventure -
Hidden on the Fens by Joy Ellis
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA derelict cottage hidden in a copse of trees.A missing girl whose body was never found.Has her killer returned?Detective Joseph Easter’s daughter discovers a cottage hidden in some trees on a large fenland farm. Someone has been living there.The farm-owner’s wife has been receiving sinister pagan artefacts, including a witch’s knife...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Infirmary by L.J. Ross, Jonathan Keeble
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIntroducing the new, unabridged version of The Infirmary by LJ Ross, the author of the international number one best-selling series, the DCI Ryan Mysteries.There's a serial killer targeting the streets of Newcastle, seemingly picking his victims at random but subjecting them all to the same torturous end... -
Black Coral by Andrew Mayne
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFor a police diver in Florida, solving a cold-case mystery brings a serial killer out of hiding...Sloan McPherson and the Underwater Investigation Unit have discovered a van at the bottom of a murky Florida pond. Sealed inside the watery tomb are the bodies of four teenagers who disappeared thirty years ago after leaving a rock concert. To authorities, it looks like a tragic accident...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
Deadly Desires by Rachel McLean
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhen two men are found mutilated in Birmingham's gay village just before Christmas, DI Zoe Finch and her team are perplexed.Did their attacker mean to kill one of the men, or simply injure them both? And who would have the surgical skills for such a precise mutilation?When more bodies are found with the same injuries, the city's gay population is rightfully scared...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement female-mc thriller police-procedural literary-fiction mystery audiobook -
Targeted by Kendra Elliot
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA Wall Street Journal bestseller All Detective Mason Callahan wanted was a quiet fishing trip with the guys—a chance to get away and unwind before Halloween.Until he finds the body of his boss, Denny Schefte, near their remote Oregon cabin. Now all he wants is to catch the sadist who slit Denny’s throat and covered his face with a mask...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural suspense action-adventure adult audiobook -
Seconds to Live by Melinda Leigh
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA Wall Street Journal bestseller Wildlife biologist Mac Barrett avoided his hometown of Scarlet Falls for years—too many bad memories. But when he receives the news that his father is dying, he rushes home only to discover he’s too late. Shaken, Mac retreats to his remote cabin seeking peace and solace...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural suspense action-adventure adult audiobook -
-
In the Darkness by Mike Omer
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA forensic psychologist fights a mental war against two serial killers in this disturbing thriller from Mike Omer, Washington Post and Amazon Charts bestselling author of A Killer’s Mind.An online video of a girl clawing at the ceiling of her own grave could be the worst thing FBI forensic psychologist Zoe Bentley has ever seen...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
Angel by LJ Ross
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsHe’ll make you his angel, but first you have to die... After a turbulent time, DCI Ryan’s life is finally beginning to return to normal and he’s looking forward to spending an uneventful Easter bank holiday weekend with his fiancée. Then, on Good Friday morning he is called out to a crime scene at one of the largest cemeteries in Newcastle...Categorized as:
cozy crime female-mc law-enforcement literary-fiction police-procedural suspense thriller -
The Hangman by Mary Burton
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsJulia Vargas is a cop with a mission. When she’s not chasing down bad guys, Julia dedicates her time to investigating the Hangman serial killer…the same unsolved case that her father, Jim Vargas, was working on when he supposedly shot and killed himself three decades before. While rumors continue to swirl around her father’s death, Julia attempts to hunt down the truth...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural suspense action-adventure adult audiobook -
Her Final Breath by Robert Dugoni
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsHomicide detective Tracy Crosswhite has returned to the police force after the sensational retrial of her sister’s killer. Still scarred from that ordeal, Tracy is pulled into an investigation that threatens to end her career, if not her life.A serial killer known as the Cowboy is killing young women in cheap motels in North Seattle...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
Cragside by L.J. Ross
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAfter his climactic battle with notorious serial killer The Hacker , DCI Ryan is spending the summer with his fiancée within the grounds of Cragside, a spectacular Bavarian-style mansion surrounded by acres of woodland. When they are invited to attend the staff summer party – a Victorian murder mystery evening – it’s all a joke until the lights go out and an elderly man is found dead...Categorized as:
cozy crime female-mc law-enforcement literary-fiction police-procedural suspense thriller -
Captive on the Fens by Joy Ellis
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA YOUNG WOMAN’S BODY IS FOUND IN A REMOTE BARN ON THE FENS. BEFORE SHE WAS KILLED, ONE OF HER FINGERS HAD BEEN CUT OFF. WHO IS INFLICTING THIS VIOLENCE AND WHY? Can DI Nikki Galena stop them before anyone else suffers? The young woman in the barn had been kept captive for some time. And the case shows strong similarities to an unsolved murder in Derbyshire...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Roubaud Connection by Estelle Ryan
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsBrutal murders. An ancient treasure. A rogue state.A young acquaintance of nonverbal communications expert Doctor Genevieve Lenard begs her to look into the disappearance of his friend...Categorized as:
crime thriller law-enforcement police-procedural mystery fiction social-commentary action-adventure -
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 female-mc law-enforcement literary-fiction police-procedural season-summer suspense thriller -
Hunted on the Fens by Joy Ellis
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsA VICIOUS CRIMINAL IS TARGETING DI NIKKI GALENA AND HER TEAM. ONE BY ONE HE WILL HUNT THEM DOWN AND DESTROY THEIR LIVES, UNLESS SHE CAN STOP HIM FIRST DI Nikki Galena faces her toughest challenge yet...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
Mania: An Alexander Gregory Thriller by LJ Ross
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFROM THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE DCI RYAN MYSTERIESYou can’t run from the past…Back in London after a dramatic trip to North America, Doctor Alexander Gregory finds himself without an occupation while he awaits the all-important decision of the disciplinary panel at Southmoor Hospital...Categorized as:
cozy crime female-mc law-enforcement literary-fiction police-procedural suspense action-adventure -
-
The Ladykiller by Martina Cole
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsGeorge Markham has a nasty little hobby, one that erupts into an orgy of vicious sexual depravity.Patrick Kelly is a hard man. His one soft spot is his daughter, and when she falls victim to the Grantley Ripper, Kelly wants revenge.The DI in charge of the case is Kate Burrows. She feels for Kelly but her growing involvement with a known villain is putting her career at risk . .Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
Cold Justice Series Box Set: Volume I: Books 1-3 by Toni Anderson
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsNow you can get the first three books of the Cold Justice Series in one bundle! Justice isn’t always black or white. Sometimes it’s cold and dark. A Cold Dark Place: Former CIA assassin Alex Parker works for The Gateway Project, a clandestine government organization hell-bent on taking out serial killers and pedophiles before they enter the justice system...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural suspense action-adventure adult anthologies -
Gallery of the Dead by Chris Carter
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 19 ratings‘Thirty-seven years in the force, and if I was allowed to choose just one thing to erase from my mind, what’s inside that room would be it.'That’s what a LAPD Lieutenant tells Detectives Hunter and Garcia of the Ultra Violent Crimes Unit as they arrive at one of the most shocking crime scenes they have ever attended...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
Shadow Over the Fens by Joy Ellis
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsTWO BRUTAL KILLERS ARE LOOSE ON THE FENS BUT WHO CAN DI NIKKI GALENA TRUST? Detective Nikki Galena’s friend and neighbour meets a tragic end but there’s more to his death than meets the eye . . . And someone terrible from DS Joseph Easter’s past is back . .Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
Spiraled by Kendra Elliot, Nick Podehl
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFBI Special Agent Ava McLane solves crimes; she doesn’t witness them. When she’s trapped in a mall without her weapon as a shooter picks off victims, she hides with a wounded teen and prays for her survival.But that’s only the beginning…An epidemic of mass shootings has has swept across Oregon. The young shooters terrify the public, committing random murders before taking their own lives...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural suspense action-adventure adult audiobook -
She Can Scream by Melinda Leigh
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIn one moment, high school teacher and single mother Brooke Davenport interrupts a vicious assault, saves a young woman’s life, and attracts the attention of a serial killer. Sixteen years ago, Brooke lost her roommate to a brutal murder. Now she teaches women’s self-defense, still trying to heal from the guilt and grief that plague her...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural suspense action-adventure adult alpha-mc -
Sycamore Gap by LJ Ross
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe past never stays buried for long... Detective Chief Inspector Ryan believes he has put his turbulent history behind him. Then, in the early hours of the summer solstice, the skeleton of a young woman is found inside the Roman Wall at Sycamore Gap. She has lain undiscovered for ten years and it is Ryan's job to piece together her past...Categorized as:
cozy crime female-mc law-enforcement literary-fiction police-procedural suspense thriller -
Impostor by L.J. Ross
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFROM THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE DCI RYAN MYSTERIES There’s a killer inside all of us… After an elite criminal profiling unit is shut down amidst a storm of scandal and mismanagement, only one person emerges unscathed... -
Cold Blood by Robert Bryndza
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsShe fell in love with a killer, now she’s one too.The suitcase was badly rusted, and took Erika several attempts, but it yielded and sagged open as she unzipped it. Nothing could prepare her for what she would find inside…When a battered suitcase containing the dismembered body of a young man washes up on the shore of the river Thames, Detective Erika Foster is shocked...Categorized as:
british-isles crime england europe female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural suspense -
The Night Thief by Joy Ellis
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWhen everyone is sleeping, he comes into their houses.He takes one thing. A photo of their child.A thief on a power trip or something even darker and more sinister?Detectives Jackman and Evans find themselves on the hunt for a highly unusual burglar who seemingly only steals photographs. But then, late one night, an elderly woman falls to her death after seeing someone in her home...Categorized as:
crime suspense law-enforcement police-procedural thriller literary-fiction female-mc cozy -
-
Fatal Intrusion by Jeffery Deaver, Isabella Maldonado
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAs a wave of murders grips Southern California, an unlikely pair must untangle the mysterious patterns of an elusive killer. A propulsive new series by New York Times bestselling author Jeffery Deaver and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Isabella Maldonado.Carmen Sanchez is a tough Homeland Security agent who plays by the rules... -
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 police-procedural thriller mystery domestic-drama killer -
Cross Justice by James Patterson
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsFor Alex Cross, the toughest cases hit close to home-and in this deadly thrill ride, he's trying to solve the most personal mystery of his life.When his cousin is accused of a heinous crime, Alex Cross returns to his North Carolina hometown for the first time in over three decades...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
Field of Prey by John Sandford
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe night after the fourth of July, Layton Carlson Jr., of Red Wing, Minnesota, finally got lucky. And unlucky. He’d picked the perfect spot to lose his virginity to his girlfriend, an abandoned farmyard in the middle of cornfields: nice, private, and quiet. The only problem was . . . something smelled bad—like, really bad...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Silence of the White City by Eva García Sáenz de Urturi, Eva García Sáenz
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsA madman is holding Vitoria hostage, killing its citizens in brutal ways and staging the bodies. The city's only hope is a brilliant detective struggling to battle his own demons.Inspector Unai López de Ayala, known as "Kraken", is charged with investigating a series of ritualistic murders. The killings are eerily similar to ones that terrorized the citizens of Vitoria twenty years earlier...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller 21st-century action-adventure adult -
Shattered by Allison Brennan
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsOver a span of twenty years, four boys have been kidnapped from their bedrooms, suffocated, and buried nearby in a shallow grave. Serial killer or coincidence?That’s the question investigative reporter Maxine Revere sets out to answer when an old friend begs her to help exonerate his wife, who has been charged with their son’s recent murder. But Max can do little to help because the police and D... -
Gathering Prey by John Sandford
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsThe extraordinary new Lucas Davenport thriller from #1 New York Times–bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize–winner John Sandford. They call them Travelers. They move from city to city, panhandling, committing no crimes—they just like to stay on the move. And now somebody is killing them...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
Dark is the Grave by T.G. Reid
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA dead cop. A damaged detective. A copycat killer on the loose.When the chief suspect in the notorious Peek-a-boo cop killer case blew himself up, almost taking lead investigator DCI Duncan Bone with him, the psychologically damaged detective thought his days on the force were over...Categorized as:
crime suspense law-enforcement police-procedural thriller mystery fiction contemporary -
Buried Prey by John Sandford
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsA house demolition provides an unpleasant surprise for Minneapolis-the bodies of two girls, wrapped in plastic. It looks like they've been there a long time. Lucas Davenport knows exactly how long. In 1985, Davenport was a young cop with a reputation for recklessness, and the girls' disappearance was a big deal. His bosses ultimately declared the case closed, but he never agreed with that...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
Shadow Sands by Robert Bryndza, Kristin Atherton
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThe internationally bestselling author of Nine Elms and The Girl in the Ice is back with a nail-biting new Kate Marshall case, a woman with a dark secret and a powerful sense of justice.When Kate Marshall finds the bloated body of a young man floating in the Shadow Sands reservoir, the authorities label it a tragic accident...Categorized as:
british-isles crime england europe female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural suspense -
-
Final Breath by Robert F. Barker
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA monstrous killer, safely behind bars – But just how safe is, ‘safe’? An archive of debauchery and murder, poised to ruin reputations, careers, lives A detective running out of time to find what he seeks Eighteen months on from the case that nearly cost him his life, only DCI Jamie Carver knows the incredible extent of the Worshipper Killer’s network of depravity – and the storm that will...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement literary-fiction police-procedural suspense action-adventure adult -
Perfect Prey by Helen Sarah Fields
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsIn the midst of a rock festival, a charity worker is sliced across the stomach. He dies minutes later. In a crowd of thousands, no one saw his attacker. The following week, the body of a primary school teacher is found in a dumpster in an Edinburgh alley, strangled with her own woollen scarf...Categorized as:
cozy crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure -
Neon Prey by John Sandford, Richard Ferrone
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsListening length: 11 hours and 17 minutesClayton Deese looks like a small-time criminal, muscle for hire when his loan shark boss needs to teach someone a lesson. Now, seven months after a job that went south and landed him in jail, Deese has skipped out on bail, and the U.S. Marshals come looking for him...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Killing Hour by Lisa Gardner
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsEach time he struck, he took two victims. Day after day, he waited for the first body to be discovered--a body containing all the clues the investigators needed to find the second victim, who waited...prey to a slow but certain death. The clock ticked--salvation was possible.The police were never in time.Years have passed; but for this killer, time has stood still...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
Flight by Laura Griffin
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhen former forensic photographer Miranda Rhoads moves to the seaside town of Lost Beach, she's decided to make her living as a wildlife photographer and put crime scenes behind her. But her plans are quickly upended when one morning, she comes across a couple sleeping in a canoe, entwined in an embrace. Looking closer, she realizes the man and woman aren't asleep—they’ve been murdered...Categorized as:
cozy crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense action-adventure adult audiobook -
A Darkness More Than Night by Michael Connelly
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsTerry McCaleb, the retired FBI agent who starred in the bestseller "Blood Work," is asked by the LAPD to help them investigate aseries of murders that have them baffled. They are the kind of ritualized killings McCaleb specialized in solving with the FBI, and he is reluctantly drawn from his peaceful new life back into the horror and excitement of tracking down a terrifying homicidal maniac...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement literary-fiction police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult
Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.