Books like 'This Gun for Hire'
Readers who enjoyed This Gun for Hire by Jo Goodman also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical romance mystery western historical-fiction law-enforcement female-mc alpha-mc literary-fiction family
-
Heck's Journey by John Deacon
Rated: 4.61 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAn epic tale of strength, compassion, and adventure on the western frontier.Orphaned at fourteen, Hector “Heck” Martin heads west, determined to see the far country and make a man of himself.Along the way, he falls in love with bold and beautiful Hope Mullen. But Heck is too young and poor to marry, so he heads west again...Categorized as:
western historical-fiction industrial-era romance fiction coming-of-age mystery historical -
The Unknown Beloved by Amy Harmon
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsChicago, 1923: Ten-year-old Dani Flanagan returns home to find police swarming the house, her parents dead. Michael Malone, the young patrolman assigned to the case, discovers there’s more to the situation - and to Dani Flanagan herself - than the authorities care to explore. Malone is told to shut his mouth, and Dani is sent away to live with her spinster aunts in Cleveland...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction law-enforcement literary-fiction adult age-gap book crime -
The Amber Brooch by Katherine Lowry Logan, Teri Schnaubelt
Rated: 4.58 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsSparks fly and tension soars when a gutsy 21st century lawyer meets a 19th century Pinkerton agent in a Colorado mining town! Fast-paced Western adventure with a railroad war, gunslingers, dinosaur bones, and romance..Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction industrial-era literary-fiction western 19th-century adult audiobook -
The Problem Child by Tess Thompson
Rated: 4.58 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsCymbeline Barnes declared Viktor Olofsson her arch-enemy when they were children. When he saved her beloved sister, she started to see him as a hero instead. Still, she can't let go of the idea that her destiny is waiting somewhere else in the world.Viktor Olofsson has cared for Cymbeline his whole life... -
-
Fatal by Design by Cara Devlin
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA summer house party in the English countryside.A missing rare jewel.An abducted viscountess.The secrets and complications keeping Audrey and Hugh apart begin to unravel when they team up to solve a puzzling mystery surrounding the disappearance of Audrey’s sister, the Viscountess Redding, and a long-lost ring worth a fortune...Categorized as:
historical-fiction industrial-era family law-enforcement female-mc romance mystery historical -
Warrior's Resolve by Elle James
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsMolly McKinnon’s father disappeared on a manhunt for an escaped convict. From what they’ve been able to piece together, whoever kidnapped her father, wants the location of the money the convict escaped to retrieve. Getting desperate, the kidnappers will do anything to get the McKinnon patriarch to tell what the convict told him, even go after the rest of the McKinnon family... -
More Than Meets the Eye by Karen Witemeyer
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsMany consider Evangeline Hamilton cursed. Orphaned at a young age and possessing a pair of mismatched eyes--one bright blue, the other dark brown--Eva has fought to find her way in a world that constantly rejects her. Yet the support of even one person can help overcome the world's judgments, and Eva has two--Seth and Zach, two former orphans she now counts as brothers... -
Orphan Train Christmas by Rachel Wesson
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsKenny Clark knows Santa is magical and only he can find his family. Kathleen Collins fights poverty and desperation every day in her bid to find new homes for the orphans of New York...Categorized as:
family female-mc historical-fiction industrial-era western action-adventure adult book -
The School Mistress by Tess Thompson
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsHow easily can an open heart unlock the door to happily-ever-after? When Miss Quinn Cooper arrives in Emerson Pass, Colorado, her entire life is packed into one small suitcase. Her widowed mother and baby sister are depending upon her for their survival back home in Boston...Categorized as:
family female-mc historical-fiction industrial-era literary-fiction western 20th-century adult -
The Sheriff's Mail Order Rescue by Amelia Rose
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsLove is perilous – and that’s before you involve bandits and kidnapping.After five years of being the town’s sheriff, Matt Hanson is well and truly settled into his life in Iron Creek.Sure, there are still challenges, like the bandits that are occupying the nearby mountains, but Matt is content with his life in this small town...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction industrial-era western action-adventure adult book christian -
Gunslingers Don't Die by Wanda Ann Thomas
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsBOOK TWO in the BRIDES OF SWEET CREEK RANCH SERIES—A SWEET HISTORICAL WESTERN ROMANCEMAGGIE REED HAVEN, formerly known as Lady Lily, Female Bounty Hunter, once loved risk and adventure, but she has exchanged her reckless ways for a more stable life...Categorized as:
western law-enforcement historical-fiction industrial-era romance historical mystery christian -
Never Kiss Goodbye by Laura Haley-McNeil
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA cowboy haunted by his past. A woman stalked by a deadly secret.Pregnant and on the run, Lily Harkin will do anything to protect her unborn child, but no one can know her secret – a secret so horrific it could destroy her and anyone she meets.Bronc rider Josh Merrick can’t forget the mistake that cost a woman her life...Categorized as:
western literary-fiction female-mc industrial-era romance mystery fiction historical -
A Trick of the Light by Carolyn Brown
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAngels would have trouble getting along with Micah Burnet, and Tempest Lavalle's halo is twisted plumb out of shape by the time she gets to the plantation where her two married sisters are living. Micah was the handsomest of the three outlaws who escorted her and her sisters from San Antonio to Louisianabut he also has the biggest ego... -
An Agent for Darcy by Laura Beers
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWidow Darcy Spencer abhors the very idea of marriage, but to become a Pinkerton agent, she must marry her trainer. She's assured that it's in name only, so she begrudgingly takes the position. Although her new husband is infuriating, she’s determined to prove herself worthy as an agent – and as a person. Agent Porter Shaw can’t help but tease his tight-lipped, stubborn bride... -
-
The Memory Tree by Linda Gillard
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsCan the power of love overcome life’s darkest memories and deepest losses? When her favourite beech tree is felled in a storm, Ann feels as if someone has died. But when long-hidden seed packets are found inside the trunk, Ann realises there are more memories than her own lurking within the ancient tree . . -
Corsets and Cuffs: by Shanna Hatfield
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsSheriff Tully Barrett never knew trouble had such a pretty face. Brianna Dumont never knew the law could be so handsome and hardheaded. Pampered and privileged, Brianna Dumont escapes the life she’s always known in an effort to clear her father’s good name. She arrives in Baker City, Oregon, intent on selling her father’s shares in a mine... -
Survivor Pass by Shirleen Davies
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsSurvivor Pass, Book Five, Redemption Mountain Historical Western Romance Series “The Redemption Mountain series is as good as historical romance gets—vivid settings, memorable characters, love, and lots at stake. Shirleen Davies knows how to bring the old west to life. You feel as if you've traveled, with the characters, to the frontier... -
Quinn: Cowboy Risk by Kathleen Ball
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA Christian Historical Western Romance Quinn Kavanagh is never going to risk his heart again. In fact, he doesn't think he has a heart anymore. Everything he thought to be true wasn't and now he is traveling trying to find a place where he fits. Heaven Burke is about to be shot when Quinn arrives. He saves her then and again later that day in a shootout...Categorized as:
western historical-fiction family female-mc industrial-era christian children historical -
Deadly Kin by Lucinda Brant, Matthew Lloyd Davies
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAlec is back! Summer 1764. Alec and Selina anxiously await the birth of their first child at their estate in Kent. It should be a time of family celebration, but the death of a young poacher has Alec investigating murder. And when renovations to his sprawling manor unearth a secret burial chamber, a shocking family secret comes to light...Categorized as:
historical-fiction industrial-era law-enforcement family romance georgian mystery audiobook -
Wildfire Creek by Shirleen Davies
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratings“A passionate story of rebuilding lives, working to find a place in the wild frontier, and building new lives in the years following the American Civil War. A rugged, heartwarming story of choices and love in the continuing saga of Redemption Mountain...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction industrial-era western 19th-century action-adventure adult book -
Barclay by Charlene Raddon
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsNo bachelor could be prepared for what happens to the Givens brothers one stormy night in 1876. Finding a pregnant woman on their road, they take her in. Before they can learn anything about her, she gives birth to triplets and disappears. Luckily, the doctor supplies a much-needed wet-nurse— Cynara, a recent widow who lost her baby...Categorized as:
western historical-fiction industrial-era romance historical mystery fiction multi-pov -
The Secrets She Carried by Barbara Davis
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWhen a young woman returns to North Carolina after a thirty-year absence, she finds that the once grand tobacco plantation she called home holds more secrets than she ever imagined... -
Beyond the Silence by Tracie Peterson, Kimberley Woodhouse
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsLillian Porter has always wanted to fulfill her mother's dream of going west, so when she hears about a nanny position in Angels Camp, California, she defies her grandfather and takes a chance on a new future. But she quickly wonders if she made the right choice. There are rumors in town that her new employer, Woodward Colton, caused the death of his wife...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction industrial-era law-enforcement western adult animals audiobook -
The Conspiring Woman by Kate Parker
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFrom the author of The Counterfeit Lady and The Royal Assassin comes an all-new Victorian Bookshop Mystery featuring antiquarian bookseller Georgia Fenchurch, who doubles as a private investigator for the secret Archivist Society... When Georgia Fenchurch is called in to find Sir Edward Hale's missing son, she's soon embroiled in multiple mysteries...Categorized as:
historical-fiction law-enforcement industrial-era female-mc romance mystery historical cozy -
-
Seven Brides for Seven Texans by Erica Vetsch, Susan Page Davis
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsMeet the seven Hart brothers of the 7-Heart ranch in central Texas. Each man is content in his independent life, without the responsibilities of a wife and children—until their father decides 1874 will be the year his grown sons finally marry, or they will be cut from his will...Categorized as:
historical-fiction industrial-era western adult anthologies christian fiction historical -
A Clear Hope by Amelia C. Adams
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAs a daughter, an older sister, and now a hotel waitress, Abigail Peterson is used to taking care of everyone around her. When a nameless stranger collapses on the train platform and is brought to the Brody Hotel to recover, Abigail steps in to nurse her back to health. Deputy Marshal Gabriel Hanks has seen a lot of violence in his life, and now he works every day to fight it... -
Two Ways Home by Sondra Kraak
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsShe’s about to lose her home. He never wanted to see his again. And a stalker is staking a claim . . . Washington, 1892 Mary Smith was never one to back down from a challenge...Categorized as:
historical-fiction industrial-era law-enforcement western adult book bullying christian -
Deep River by Shirleen Davies
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsDeep River, Book Seven, Redemption Mountain Historical Western Romance Series “Every book of Shirleen's never fails to draw me in and make it impossible to put down until I devour it!” Beauregard Davis, ex-Confederate Captain and bounty hunter, has put his past behind him to focus on his future...Categorized as:
western historical-fiction female-mc literary-fiction industrial-era romance historical victorian -
Forsaken Falls by Shirleen Davies
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWyatt Jackson has lost everything. Successful in his role as a soldier, he can no longer find a home in the region he fought so hard to save. Sick and on the edge of starvation, he journeys west, searching for the one man who might help him. A deputy in Splendor, Montana.Nora Evans has never found a place to call home...Categorized as:
historical-fiction female-mc western literary-fiction industrial-era romance mystery historical -
An Agent for Audrey by Laura Beers
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhen heiress Audrey Hardwick is given the opportunity to become a Pinkerton Agent, she wholeheartedly leaves her life in Cincinnati behind and sets out for a new adventure. But her mission turns into mayhem when she meets Agent Warren Rockwell, a former gunslinger, who is too stubborn – and handsome – for his own good...Categorized as:
historical-fiction western industrial-era female-mc romance christian historical fiction -
An Agent for Belle by Nerys Leigh
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsMarriage is the last thing Belle wants, but she’ll have to get married to avoid it.When Isabelle Wood answers a newspaper advertisement for female Pinkerton detectives, it seems the perfect way to avoid her parents’ desire for her to wed… until she discovers she has to marry her training agent for the duration of her first case...Categorized as:
western female-mc industrial-era historical-fiction romance historical mystery christian -
Restless Wind by Shirleen Davies
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA headstrong rancher determined to make it on his own. A society belle intent on creating her own life. Is there any chance they’ll become each other’s future? Restless Wind, Book Thirteen, Redemption Mountain Historical Western Romance Series Dominic Lucero is a man driven to succeed. Leaving his family’s profitable ranch in Texas, he strikes out to build a new life. Becoming a Montana U.S...Categorized as:
female-mc western industrial-era literary-fiction historical-fiction romance mystery historical -
A Lark's Conceit by Lynn Messina
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsVerity Lark is in a new flap!Bedeviled by Colson Hardwicke’s treatment—summarily dumping her via tersely worded message!—Verity Lark is lying awake in her bed seething over his behavior when she hears a floorboard creak. Immediately alert to the presence of a late-night intruder, she deftly thwarts the attack. Taking her would-be kidnapper captive is easy...Categorized as:
industrial-era historical-fiction law-enforcement family romance mystery fiction regency -
Dixie Moon by Shirleen Davies
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsGabe Evans is a man of his word with strong convictions and steadfast loyalty. As the sheriff of Splendor, Montana, the ex-Union Colonel and oldest of four boys from an affluent family, Gabe understands the meaning of responsibility. The last thing he wants is another commitment—especially of the female variety. Until he meets Lena Campanel... Lena’s past is one she intends to keep buried... -
-
Lord of Night by Erica Ridley
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsUnlike proper debutantes, Miss Dahlia Grenville is secretly Robin Hood in a bonnet. Her home for wayward girls has too many dependents and not enough donations. But just as she's about to pull off the heist of the Season, she tumbles straight into the arms of the handsome detective who has sworn to deliver Mayfair's mysterious thief straight to the gallows...Categorized as:
alpha-mc family female-mc historical-fiction industrial-era law-enforcement adult age-gap -
The Secret of the Dashing Detective by Ellie St. Clair
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsLady Juliana knows she is in danger. But does she really need a bodyguard?One abduction and suddenly her brother, the Duke, begins treating her like a damsel in distress. Lady Juliana, however, is anything but – she is a woman who knows her own mind, and is determined to make a difference...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction industrial-era law-enforcement literary-fiction adult bodyguard book -
Ilsa by Shanna Hatfield
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsOne of the most talented seamstresses of her time, Ilsa Thorsen could sell her creations anywhere in the world, but she ends up on her sister’s ranch in the western town of Pendleton, Oregon. Disgusted with the dust, smells, and nearly every aspect of rural life, Ilsa wonders how she’ll survive, particularly with the arrogant Tony Campanelli constantly underfoot... -
Valentine's Vow by Adele Clee
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe course of true love never did run smoothly—not when it involves a duel at dawn, a fight with a monkey, and mysterious goings-on at a séance. An unexpected encounter. Lucius Valentine has vowed to marry. Being an only son, duty and obligation weigh heavily on his shoulders...Categorized as:
alpha-mc female-mc historical-fiction industrial-era literary-fiction adult audiobook book -
The Mystery of the Debonair Duke by Ellie St. Clair
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThere was one man Lady Emma vowed she would never marry.The rakish Duke of Warwick — brother to her very best friend.But one chance encounter on a balcony has Lady Emma questioning all she ever believed about the duke. When her friend — and the duke’s sister — is abducted, they must work together to find her, and determine who has been threatening the Remington family...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction industrial-era literary-fiction adult book fiction historical -
Iron Lace by Emilie Richards
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWhen Aurore Gerritsen watched her lover kill her father, it was just one act of violence in a long chain of dramatic events.Years later, behind the iron lace gates of wealthy New Orleans, beneath the veneer of her society name, linger secrets that Aurore Gerritsen has hidden for a lifetime, and truths that threaten to change forever the lives of her unsuspecting family... -
Dauntless by Adele Clee
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsNoah Ashwood has suffered his fair share of injustices. It’s why he joined the Gentlemen of the Order, why he solves crimes committed against the vulnerable and needy. To his friends he’s known as Dauntless—a fearless fighter, a man with steely determination. And yet his strength is tested when he forms an infatuation for his new client...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction industrial-era literary-fiction adult audiobook book fiction -
Truly Beloved by Grace Burrowes
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFabianus Haviland, Viscount Penweather, did not journey to the wilds of Dorsetshire in the dead of winter to engage in yet another dalliance with yet another lonely widow. Being a trifle lonely himself—only a trifle—he's looking for a fresh start in fresh surrounds.Fabianus has always enjoyed the company of sensible women, though, and Lady Daisy is very sensible... -
The Fourth Daughter by Lyn Liao Butler
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIn Taiwan, the bond between grandmother and granddaughter opens up a healing world for them both in an inspiring family saga about the comfort of food, untold histories, and indomitable mother love.Chef Liv Kuo’s star is on the rise…until a traumatic incident leaves her emotionally unable to venture outside her Manhattan apartment...Categorized as:
historical-fiction family literary-fiction female-mc romance fiction mystery historical -
Faith by Lesley Pearse
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsHow far can you trust a friend? 1995, Scotland. The prison of Cornton Vale. Laura Brannigan is in jail for murder. For two years she's been battling for justic - insisting that she didn't kill her best friend, Jackie. Yet with her spirits at their lowest ebb, she receives a letter that takes her back to a different time and memory of an old love .. -
-
Before the Rain Falls by Camille Di Maio
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAfter serving seventy years in prison for the murder of her sister, Eula, Della Lee has finally returned home to the Texas town of Puerto Pesar. She’s free from confinement—and ready to tell her secrets before it’s too late... -
The Mysteries of Pemberley by Amy D'Orazio
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsElizabeth Bennet made her sister a promise on her deathbed: to love and care for her son, young Charles Bingley, like her very own child. And so she did, for four years, until the boy's guardian, Fitzwilliam Darcy showed up in Meryton, insisting on removing the boy from his aunt, his life and everything he knew, to be raised at Pemberley...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction industrial-era literary-fiction adult audiobook book fiction -
Emmeline's Exile by Josephine Blake, Covers and Cupcakes
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsEmmeline was abandoned at Madame Wigg's School and Foundling Home as a small child. When, as a young woman, her eyesight begins to fade, she is prepared to spend the rest of her life teaching and managing her blindness in the only home she has ever known.Madame Wigg has other ideas... -
The Bridled Tongue by Catherine Meyrick
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsDeath and life are in the power of the tongue. England 1586 Alyce Bradley has few choices when her father decides it is time she marry as many refuse to see her as other than the girl she once was—unruly, outspoken and close to her grandmother, a woman suspected of witchcraft...Categorized as:
family female-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction adult audiobook book early-modern -
His White Wager by Tammy Andresen
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsShe’s no lady...Rebecca White makes her own way. She’ll dress as a man to support her mother if she chooses, she’ll participate in illegal gaming if it pleases her, and she’ll even cheat a lord now and then if the idea catches her fancy. But what she didn’t count on was an entire family of White’s tracking her down and being just as stubborn and independent as—well—herself... -
The Blacksmith by Kelli Ann Morgan
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsShe wanted a fresh start... Grace Nolan left the city for the small town of Stone Creek, Kansas, but wants nothing to do with the legends surrounding her family's name there. However, when her new life is threatened, she must follow a map that will lead her to the truth with the aid of the one man whose very touch promises forever. He'd lost all hope..
Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.