Books like 'The Back Passage'
Readers who enjoyed The Back Passage by James Lear also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical romance mystery action / adventure mlm steamy lgbtq historical-fiction crime humor
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Maelstrom by Jordan L. Hawk
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsBetween his father’s sudden—and rather suspicious—generosity, and his own rash promise to help Christine plan her wedding, Percival Endicott Whyborne has quite enough to worry about. But when the donation of a mysterious codex to the Ladysmith Museum draws the attention of a murderous cult, Whyborne finds himself in a race against time to unlock its secrets first... -
Subtle Blood by K.J. Charles
Rated: 4.41 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsWill Darling is all right. His business is doing well, and so is his illicit relationship with Kim Secretan--disgraced aristocrat, ex-spy, amateur book-dealer. It’s starting to feel like he’s got his life under control.And then a brutal murder in a gentleman’s club plunges them back into the shadow world of crime, deception, and the power of privilege... -
Murder Book by Marshall Thornton
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn the second of the Boystown mysteries to be a finalist for the Lambda Award, it’s fall 1982 and Chicago is gripped by panic after five people die from poisoned Tylenol capsules. Amid the chaos, the Bughouse Slasher takes his eighth victim, this time striking close to private investigator Nick Nowak. With the Chicago Police Department stretched to its limit, Nick takes matters into his own hands... -
Masquerade in London by Emily L. Finch
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSuspected of murder, Samantha Kingston leaves behind the world she knows when she flees to the streets of London to discover the truth in this, the first book in a new historical mystery series.London, 1861. Samantha Kingston has lived under the control of her overbearing uncle since the death of her parents six years ago...Categorized as:
historical-fiction cozy law-enforcement amateur-sleuth romance mystery historical fiction -
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To Steal a Heart by Jen Turano
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAfter a childhood as a street thief, Gabriella Goodhue thought she'd put her past behind her until a fellow resident at her boardinghouse is unjustly accused of theft. In the middle of breaking into a safe that holds the proof to prove her friend's innocence, Gabriella is interrupted by Nicholas Quinn, the man she once considered her best friend—until he abandoned her... -
Murder on the Golden Arrow by Magda Alexander
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhat’s a bright young woman to do when her brother becomes the main suspect in a murder? Why, solve the case, of course.England. 1923. After a year away at finishing school where she learned etiquette, deportment, and the difference between a salad fork and a fish one, Kitty Worthington is eager to return home... -
Cole Dust by Micheal Maxwell
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsEvery family has its secrets... In Cole Dust , Cole Sage inherits a house and small farm in Oklahoma. A dusty old trunk opens up the world of the grandfather Cole never knew. From pre-World War I America to the late fifties, Cole learns of a man tormented by alcohol, racism, the Dust Bowl, the Great Depression and an addiction to gambling...Categorized as:
suspense historical-fiction amateur-sleuth crime romance historical mystery christian -
The Sugared Game by K.J. Charles
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsIt's been two months since Will Darling saw Kim Secretan, and he doesn't expect to see him again. What do a rough and ready soldier-turned-bookseller and a disgraced shady aristocrat have to do with each other anyway?But when Will encounters a face from the past in a disreputable nightclub, Kim turns up, as shifty, unreliable, and irresistible as ever... -
Temptations of a Duke's Daughter by Samantha Holt
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSolving a murder is dangerous business. So is falling in love…Lady Chastity Fallon will not stand idly by while her sister is suspected of murder. Since no one wants to help, she’ll take matters into her own hands. The plan? Simple. She’ll disguise herself as a servant and investigate... -
The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by K.J. Charles
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsBridgerton meets Poldark in this sweeping LGBTQIA+ Regency romance from award-winning author KJ CharlesAbandoned by his father as a small child, Sir Gareth Inglis has grown up prickly, cold, and well-used to disappointment. Even so, he longs for a connection, falling headfirst into a passionate anonymous affair that's over almost as quickly as it began... -
A Deadly Affair by Carla Simpson
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsLondon 1889 — Murder, mystery, and two people in a most unlikely partnership.She's an unconventional lady who has traveled the world, practices the art of self defense most excellently, and has an interesting tattoo in, ahem... a very unusual place...Categorized as:
historical-fiction crime law-enforcement suspense whodunit romance mystery historical -
A Nefarious Engagement: A Regency Cozy by Lynn Messina
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsHaving long abandoned any hope of making a match, twenty-six-year-old Beatrice Hyde-Clare finds herself a little overwhelmed by her engagement to the Duke of Kesgrave. Cloying society matrons clamor for her attention while her aunt reels off an endless list of servants she will have to oversee...Categorized as:
amateur-sleuth cozy crime historical-fiction humor law-enforcement action-adventure adult -
An Unnatural Vice by K.J. Charles
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsIn the sordid streets of Victorian London, unwanted desire flares between two bitter enemies brought together by a deadly secret. Crusading journalist Nathaniel Roy is determined to expose spiritualists who exploit the grief of bereaved and vulnerable people. First on his list is the so-called Seer of London, Justin Lazarus. Nathaniel expects him to be a cheap, heartless fraud... -
Murder on Cold Street by Sherry Thomas
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsCharlotte Holmes, Lady Sherlock, is back solving new cases in the USA Today bestselling series set in Victorian England.Inspector Treadles, Charlotte Holmes’s friend and collaborator, has been found locked in a room with two dead men, both of whom worked with his wife at the great manufacturing enterprise she has recently inherited. Rumors fly...Categorized as:
cozy crime friends-to-lovers historical-fiction law-enforcement suspense action-adventure adult -
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What Remains of Heaven by C.S. Harris
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsLondon, 1812. When the controversial, reform-minded Bishop of London is found bludgeoned to death in an ancient crypt beside the corpse of an unidentified man murdered decades before, Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, is asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury to help with the investigation...Categorized as:
amateur-sleuth crime historical-fiction law-enforcement suspense whodunit action-adventure adult -
What Darkness Brings by C.S. Harris
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe death of a notorious London diamond merchant draws aristocratic investigator Sebastian St. Cyr and his new wife Hero into a sordid world of greed, desperation, and the occult, when the husband of Sebastian’s former lover Kat Boleyn is accused of the murder...Categorized as:
amateur-sleuth cozy crime historical-fiction law-enforcement suspense whodunit action-adventure -
When Falcons Fall by C.S. Harris
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAyleswick-on-Teme, England, 1813 Sebastian has come to this seemingly peaceful Shropshire village to honor a slain friend and to learn more about his own ancestry. But when the body of a lovely widow is found on the banks of the River Teme, a bottle of laudanum at her side, the village’s inexperienced new magistrate turns to St. Cyr for help...Categorized as:
amateur-sleuth crime historical-fiction law-enforcement suspense whodunit action-adventure adult -
The Hollow of Fear by Sherry Thomas
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsCharlotte Holmes, Lady Sherlock, returns in the Victorian-set mystery series from the USA Today bestselling author of A Conspiracy in Belgravia and A Study in Scarlet Women, an NPR Best Book of 2016.Under the cover of Sherlock Holmes, consulting detective, Charlotte Holmes puts her extraordinary powers of deduction to good use. Aided by the capable Mrs...Categorized as:
cozy crime friends-to-lovers historical-fiction humor law-enforcement suspense whodunit -
The Falcon at the Portal by Elizabeth Peters
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsAmelia and family have arrived in Egypt for the 1911 archeological season -- after the marriage of young Ramses' best friend David to Amelia's niece Lia. But trouble finds them immediately when David is accused of selling ancient artifacts. While Amelia and company try to clear his name and expose the real culprit, the body of an American is found at the bottom of their excavation shaft...Categorized as:
amateur-sleuth cozy crime historical-fiction humor law-enforcement suspense 20th-century -
True Nobility by Lori Bates Wright
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsLeft alone in an unfamiliar land where her noble title is of no importance. Everything she believes in crumbles, nothing is as it seems. Driven by desperation, she risks it all to return to the one man whose love remains true. When Lady Victoria Haverwood, beloved daughter of a prominent English earl, becomes the target of a murderous plot, her idyllic world is swiftly turned upside down... -
The Gangster by C.S. Poe
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratings1881—Special Agent Gillian Hamilton, magic caster for the Federal Bureau of Magic and Steam, has recovered from injuries obtained while in Shallow Grave, Arizona. Now back in New York City, Gillian makes an arrest on New Year’s Eve that leads to information on a gangster, known only as Tick Tock, who’s perfected utilizing elemental magic ammunition... -
A Time For Secrets by Marshall Thornton
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn the first full-length novel of the Boystown series, it’s late summer 1982 and private detective Nick Nowak is asked to find a retired gentleman’s long lost lover. Instead, he finds himself embroiled in a decades old murder connected to the man who wants tobe Chicago’s next mayor... -
The Unlikely Spy by Sarah Woodbury
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAugust 1146. Prince Hywel has called all the bards of Wales to him for a music festival to mark the third anniversary of his rule over Ceredigion. He has invited all the lords of Wales too, including his father, his uncle, and his neighbor to the south, King Cadell. But with the highborn also come the low: thieves, spies, and other hangers-on... -
An Extravagant Duplicity by Lynn Messina
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWhy, yes, the former Beatrice Hyde-Clare is distracted. Having settled comfortably into marriage to the Duke of Kesgrave, she is nevertheless surprised to find herself in an interesting condition. And it has to be that—the unsettling prospect of motherhood—that causes her to overlook the obvious clue that Roger Dugmore had indeed been killed in his sleep... -
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Deadly Peril by Lucinda Brant
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWinter 1763. Alec, Lord Halsey is sent on a diplomatic mission to Midanich, imperial outpost of the Holy Roman Empire, to bargain for the freedom of imprisoned friends. Midanich is a place of great danger and dark secrets; a country at civil war; ruled by a family with madness in its veins. For Alec it is a place of unspeakable memories from which he barely escaped and vowed never to return...Categorized as:
historical-fiction suspense law-enforcement romance mystery historical industrial-era georgian -
An Impossible Impostor by Deanna Raybourn
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhile investigating a man claiming to be the long-lost heir to a noble family, Veronica Speedwell gets the surprise of her life in this new adventure from the New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award-nominated author Deanna Raybourn.London, 1889. Veronica Speedwell and her natural historian beau Stoker are summoned by Sir Hugo Montgomerie, head of Special Branch...Categorized as:
amateur-sleuth cozy crime historical-fiction suspense action-adventure adult audiobook -
A Stroke of Malice by Anna Lee Huber
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsLady Kiera Darby and her husband Sebastian Gage are looking forward to relaxing with new friends at an exciting yearly soiree, but they soon learn that murder never takes a holiday in the latest riveting installment in this national bestselling series. Scotland 1832...Categorized as:
cozy crime historical-fiction law-enforcement suspense action-adventure adult audiobook -
An Artless Demise by Anna Lee Huber
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsNovember 1831. After fleeing London in infamy more than two years prior, Lady Kiera Darby’s return to the city is anything but mundane, though not for the reasons she expected. A gang of body snatchers is arrested on suspicion of imitating the notorious misdeeds of Edinburgh criminals, Burke and Hare—killing people from the streets and selling their bodies to medical schools...Categorized as:
amateur-sleuth cozy crime historical-fiction law-enforcement suspense action-adventure adult -
The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies by Alison Goodman
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA high society amateur detective at the heart of Regency London uses her wits and invisibility as an 'old maid' to protect other women in a new and fiercely feminist historical mystery series from New York Times bestselling author Alison Goodman.Lady Augusta Colebrook, "Gus," is determinedly unmarried, bored by society life, and tired of being dismissed at the age of forty-two... -
The Marriage of Mary Russell by Laurie R. King
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsLaurie R. King takes readers way back in her bestselling series with this exclusive ebook short story, as Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes embark upon the riskiest adventure of their their wedding. Includes a special preview of the highly anticipated new mystery from Laurie R... -
The Apothecary Diaries (Light Novel): Volume 3 by Natsu Hyuuga
Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsMaomao must help keep Consort Gyokuyou safe during her pregnancy. An imperial consort being with child is supposed to be a matter of the utmost secrecy, but this is the rear palace, where maneuvering and backstabbing are as commonplace as banter and tea parties. Threats seem to lurk around every corner—but it’s not just the rear palace keeping busy... -
Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding by Rhys Bowen
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsIn this delightful new Royal Spyness Mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of On Her Majesty's Frightfully Secret Service, Georgie is plotting a trip down the aisle but finds herself embroiled in a murder that hits a little too close to home...Georgie is finally able to plan for her wedding in the summer...Categorized as:
amateur-sleuth cozy crime historical-fiction humor law-enforcement suspense whodunit -
The Jackal’s House by Anna Butler
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSequel to The Gilded ScarabSomething is stalking the Aegyptian night and endangering the archaeologists excavating the mysterious temple ruins in Abydos. But is it a vengeful ancient spirit or a very modern conspiracy…... -
Fairs' Point by Melissa Scott
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsDuring Dog Moon, the chief entertainment in the great city of Astreiant, for nobles and commons alike, is the basket-terrier races at New Fair. This year, with spectacularly bad timing, the massive and suspicious bankruptcy of a young nobleman has convulsed the city, leading to suicides, widespread loss of employment, and inconvenient new laws around the universal practice of betting on the races... -
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The Viking Prince by Sarah Woodbury
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsMay 1148. All Dublin is shocked by the murder of a prominent merchant, but only Prince Godfrid knows that the dead man was also a co-conspirator in his brother's plan to take the throne of Dublin. With death stalking his every move, Godfrid must call upon new friends and old to find the killer--and with their help uncover a conspiracy stretching beyond Dublin's walls to every kingdom in Ireland...Categorized as:
historical-fiction crime cozy law-enforcement suspense mystery action-adventure historical -
Suspects & Scales by Maz Maddox
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsDeputy Cody Moore is shattered. The murder of someone dear to him has pushed him to a breaking point and awakened the monster sleeping inside him. While the young man is no stranger to tragedy and death, having someone slaughtered under his watch has left him rattled with heartache... -
The Corpse Played Dead by Georgina Clarke
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratings‘All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players…’ When an undercover assignment for the Bow Street magistrate sees prostitute Lizzie Hardwicke trade Ma Farley’s Bawdy House in Soho for life as a seamstress the theatre on Drury Lane, it becomes clear quite quickly - what goes on in the wings is much more intriguing than the theatrics being played out on stage…Soon Lizzie is... -
Any Old Diamonds by K.J. Charles
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsLord Alexander Pyne-ffoulkes, the younger son of the Duke of Ilvar, holds a bitter grudge against his wealthy father. The Duke intends to give his Duchess a priceless diamond parure on their wedding anniversary — so Alec hires a pair of jewel thieves to steal it.The Duke's remote castle is a difficult target, and Alec needs a way to get the thieves in... -
The Fourth Horseman by Sarah Woodbury
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsMay 1144. Newly wedded, Gareth and Gwen travel across the border into England on a diplomatic mission with Prince Hywel of Wales. But when the mission goes awry and a murder case drops (literally) at their feet, Gareth and Gwen race to uncover a plot that threatens not only their lives, but the life of the future King of England himself... -
The Man Who Loved Cole Flores by K.A. Merikan
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsYou want revenge? Dig two graves.Ten years ago, a vicious gang called the Gotham Boys descended on a homestead in the mountains like a pack of wolves, leaving nothing behind but death and destruction.Ned O’Leary was the only one to survive the ordeal.He lost hope for revenge long ago, but its flame erupts in his heart when the gang is spotted again...Categorized as:
crime friends-to-lovers historical-fiction lgbtq mlm steamy 19th-century action-adventure -
Two Nick Nowak Novellas by Marshall Thornton
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn the two novellas that make up the third book in the popular Boystown Mysteries private Investigator Nick Nowak works two challenging cases and grapples with an even more challenging personal life. In Little Boy Boom, Nick’s car explodes when a thief attempts to steal it... -
For Deader or Worse by Sheri Cobb South, Joel Froomkin
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAfter a modest wedding ceremony, Bow Street Runner John Pickett and his bride Julia, the former Lady Fieldhurst, set out for a wedding trip to Somersetshire, where Pickett must face his greatest challenge yet: meeting his in-laws.Sir Thaddeus and Lady Runyon are shocked at their daughter's hasty remarriage--and appalled by her choice of a second husband... -
A Child Lost: A Henrietta and Inspector Howard Novel by Michelle Cox
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA spiritualist, an insane asylum, a lost little girl . . .When Clive, anxious to distract a depressed Henrietta, begs Sergeant Frank Davis for a case, he is assigned to investigating a seemingly boring affair: a spiritualist woman operating in an abandoned schoolhouse on the edge of town who is suspected of robbing people of their valuables... -
A Veil Removed by Michelle Cox
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsMurder is never far from this sexy couple . . . even during the holidays! Their honeymoon abruptly ended by the untimely death of Alcott Howard, Clive and Henrietta return to Highbury, where Clive discovers all is not as it should be...Categorized as:
suspense historical-fiction crime cozy law-enforcement amateur-sleuth romance historical -
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Unseen by Jordan L. Hawk
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsLibrarian Sebastian Rath and his lover Vesper Rune are tasked with seeking and containing the evil Books of the Bound. But one of the Books has been freed from its prison—and is in the hands of a killer.As more bodies turn up, Sebastian finds himself tempted to use forbidden magic to locate the Book and stop the murderer... -
Honeytrap by Aster Glenn Gray
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAt the height of the Cold War, a Soviet and an American agent fall in love.Soviet agent Gennady Matskevich is thrilled when he's assigned to work with American FBI agent Daniel Hawthorne. There’s just one catch: Gennady’s abusive boss wants him to honeytrap his American partner...Categorized as:
crime friends-to-lovers historical-fiction law-enforcement lgbtq mlm 20th-century action-adventure -
Family Plot by Sheri Cobb South
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe third installment of the John Pickett series of humorous Regency mysteries finds Bow Street runner Pickett in Scotland investigating a woman found unconscious on the beach—a woman who bears a striking resemblance to the local laird’s daughter, a girl missing and presumed dead for the last fifteen years...Categorized as:
cozy crime historical-fiction humor law-enforcement action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Wind Dancer/Storm Winds by Iris Johansen
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsTwice the thrills—in one captivating volumePublished together for the first time, from #1 New York Times best-selling author Iris Johansen comes a gripping pair of historical thrillers that push the boundaries of intrigue, suspense, and danger... -
City of Schemes by Victoria Thompson
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsElizabeth Miles is preparing for her wedding to Gideon Bates, when a menacing shadow from her past threatens to destroy the life she has built for herself in this all-new Counterfeit Lady Novel from USA Today bestselling author Victoria Thompson.The Great War is over, and Elizabeth and Gideon are busily planning their wedding and welcoming home old friends now discharged from the army...Categorized as:
cozy crime historical-fiction suspense 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
To Trust Man On His Oath by K.J. Charles
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA Will Darling Adventures interlude.Set a week after the ending of The Sugared Game (so containsmild spoilers for that book)...
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