Books like 'When the Sacred Ginmill Closes'
Readers who enjoyed When the Sacred Ginmill Closes by Lawrence Block also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
mystery action / adventure thriller crime law-enforcement noir hard-boiled urban politics investigator
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The Investigator by John Sandford
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsLetty Davenport, the brilliant and tenacious adopted daughter of Lucas Davenport, takes the investigative reins in the newest thriller from #1 bestselling author John Sandford.By age twenty-four, Letty Davenport has seen more action and uncovered more secrets than many law enforcement professionals...Categorized as:
crime investigator law-enforcement political-intrigue politics suspense thriller action-adventure -
Cross Down by James Patterson, Brendan DuBois
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsOnly John Sampson can save his partner, Alex Cross . . . and America. The brilliant crime-solving duo of Washington DC’s Metro PD and the FBI has a proven operating procedure: Detective Alex Cross makes his own rules. Detective John Sampson enforces them. Then a series of military-style attacks erupts. No sooner do Cross and Sampson join the investigation than Alex is brutally sidelined... -
Without Measure by Scott Blade
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAfter a long night trying to sleep in the cab of a truck—hauling bullets, of all things—Jack Widow gives up trying to catch some sleep. He gets out at the next stop, a small town in the northeast corner of California with two industries: a small arms manufacturer and a Marine base on the verge of being forgotten... -
Bodily Harm by Robert Dugoni
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR ROBERT DUGONI RETURNS WITH HIS MOST EXHILARATING THRILLER TO DATE, A PULSE-POUNDING STORY OF CORPORATE GREED, ESPIONAGE, AND THE LENGTHS ONE MAN IS WILLING TO GO FOR JUSTICE.Bodily Harm opens with a big win for David Sloane and his new partner, Tom Pendergrass, in a malpractice case centered on the death of a young child...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement political-intrigue politics suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
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Missing Persons by James Patterson, Adam Hamdy
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsIn Afghanistan, a US Special Forces pilot is shot down during a covert mission.In New York, a mother is forced to flee with her two young children.A wealthy businessman approaches Jack Morgan, head of Private - the world's largest investigation agency - with a desperate plea to track down his daughter and grandchildren, who have disappeared without a trace... -
No Way Back by Rick Mofina, Christian Rummel
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSan Francisco crime reporter Tom Reed is burned out. On the day he decides to finally quit the news business, a sensational story breaks. A heart-stopping robbery-homicide at a jewelry store. The suspects have shot and killed a police officer before fleeing with a female hostage. Reed rushes to the scene, his passion resurrected for one last big story...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled investigator law-enforcement suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
Tell No One / Gone For Good by Harlan Coben
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFrom New York Times bestselling author Harlan Coben comes an unforgettable duet of classic novels—two top-notch thrillers filled with the author’s signature storytelling genius.TELL NO ONEFor Dr. David Beck, the loss was shattering. And every day for the past eight years, he has relived the horror of what happened. The gleaming lake. The pale moonlight. The piercing screams... -
Blueblood by Matthew Iden
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFour unrelated murders. Nothing special in Washington DC. Not even good enough to make the evening news. But then a concerned police lieutenant approaches retired homicide detective Marty Singer with a simple fact that changes everything. They were all cops...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled investigator law-enforcement noir suspense thriller action-adventure -
Cold Kill by Stephen Leather
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 17 ratings"While investigating a crew of people-traffickers…Dan Shepherd discovers a cross-Channel currency-smuggling operation. Posing as a low-level criminal, Shepherd infiltrates the gang, befriending its London soldiers and establishing contact with the Albanian gangster who masterminds the business from his swank Paris flat...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled law-enforcement political-intrigue suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
Blood of Others by Rick Mofina
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe disappearance and murder of a lonely San Francisco insurance clerk puts a relentless crime reporter and legendary homicide cop on separate tracks in their pursuit of a killer.The suspect lures solitary women out of their quiet worlds and into his nightmare as he races the clock and travels the globe searching for the one woman who will forgive the unforgivable...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled investigator law-enforcement suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
Next Exit, Three Miles by C.W. Browning
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAlina Maschik was one of the best. She never missed. Yet, two years ago in Cairo, she missed her shot at one of the world’s most wanted terrorists. Now, he’s back. This time, he’s on US soil.Given the opportunity to redeem herself, Alina’s objective is simple: find the terrorist and complete her mission... -
Sunset Express by Robert Crais
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsProminent restaurateur Teddy Martin is facing charges in his wife’s brutal murder. But he’s not going down without spending a bundle of cash on his defense. So his hotshot attorney hires P.I. Elvis Cole to find proof that Detective Angela Rossi tampered with the evidence. Rossi needs a way back to the fast track after falling hard during an internal investigation five years ago... -
Lullaby Town by Robert Crais
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsHollywood's newest wunderkind is Peter Alan Nelson, the brilliant, erratic director known as the King of Adventure. His films make billions, but his manners make enemies. What the boy king wants, he gets, and what Nelson wants is for Elvis Cole to comb the country for the airhead wife and infant child the film-school flunkout dumped en route to becoming the third biggest filmmaker in America... -
Family Values by G.M. Ford
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsReturning to Seattle after a business trip, retired PI Leo Waterman is shocked to find his girlfriend, Rebecca Duvall, unconscious on the bathroom floor, her house filled with gas. Officials believe it was a suicide attempt in the wake of a humiliating scandal. Under investigation for dereliction of duty, she’d been suspended from her job as medical examiner for King County...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled investigator law-enforcement noir political-intrigue thriller action-adventure -
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The Namatjira Connection by Estelle Ryan
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsLooted artworks. Italian Mafia. Deepfakes.The weekend in Italy is supposed to be a family event—a celebration as well as a break for the whole team to enjoy everything Naples has to offer. As it is, Doctor Genevieve Lenard is hard-pushed to keep an autistic shutdown at bay while surrounded by boisterous relatives and friends...Categorized as:
suspense investigator law-enforcement thriller political-intrigue crime fiction mystery -
A Gambling Man by David Baldacci
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsAloysius Archer, the straight-talking World War II veteran fresh out of prison, returns in this riveting new thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci.The 1950s are on the horizon, and Archer is in dire need of a fresh start after a nearly fatal detour in Poca City...Categorized as:
crime investigator law-enforcement noir political-intrigue politics suspense thriller -
The Dead Tracks by Tim Weaver
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratings"The Dead Tracks" is the second in the David Raker series from Tim Weaver. A serial killer more terrifying than you could ever imagine...Seventeen-year-old Megan Carver was an unlikely runaway. A straight - a student from a happy home, she studied hard and rarely got into trouble. Six months on, she's never been found. Missing persons investigator David Raker knows what it's like to grieve...Categorized as:
crime investigator law-enforcement suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
Misery Bay by Steve Hamilton
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIt's a beautiful place to die... The latest superb novel from EDGAR AWARD-winning author of THE LOCK ARTIST. In the dead of winter a young man is found hanging from a tree on a remote shore of Lake Superior known as Misery Bay. There's no evidence of foul play. Nothing to suggest it's anything other than a tragic teenage suicide...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled investigator law-enforcement suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
Executive Order by Max Allan Collins
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA riveting novel by MWA Grand Master Award winner Max Allan Collins. In Eastern Europe four CIA agents are dead—geopolitical pawns caught in border dispute cross fire. Why were they there? Who sent them? Not even the President knows.Back in Washington, the Secretary of the Interior dies from an apparent allergic shock. As details emerge, so do suspicions that she was murdered...Categorized as:
crime investigator law-enforcement political-intrigue politics suspense thriller action-adventure -
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... -
Flamingo by James Lee Burke
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA routine assignment transporting two death-row prisoners to their executions goes fatally wrong, leaving Dave Robicheaux brutally wounded and his partner dead. Obsessed with revenge, Dave is persuaded by the DEA to go undercover into the torrid sleepy depths of New Orleans, a volatile world of Mafia drug-running and Cajun voodoo magic...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled investigator law-enforcement noir suspense thriller action-adventure -
Eight Million Ways to Die by Lawrence Block
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsNobody knows better than Matthew Scudder how far down a person can sink in this city. A young prostitute named Kim knew it also—and she wanted out. Maybe Kim didn't deserve the life fate had dealt her. She surely didn't deserve her death. The alcoholic ex-cop turned p.i. was supposed to protect her, but someone slashed her to ribbons on a crumbling New York City waterfront pier... -
A Dance At The Slaughterhouse by Lawrence Block
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn Matt Scudder's mind, money, power, and position elevate nobody above morality and the law. Now the ex-cop and unlicensed p.i. has been hired to prove that socialite Richard Thurman orchestrated the brutal murder of his beautiful, pregnant wife. During Scudder's hard drinking years, he left a piece of his soul on every seedy corner of the Big Apple... -
Murder Board by Brian Christopher Shea
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA Boston homicide detective sets out to find a young girl’s killer—and confronts the dark world of city politics and organized crime. THE FIRST NOVEL OF THE NEW BOSTON CRIME THRILLER SERIES BY FORMER DETECTIVE BRIAN SHEA. The young girl was from a good family in an affluent suburb...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled investigator law-enforcement politics suspense thriller action-adventure -
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Wicked Prey by John Sandford, Richard Ferrone
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIt's September 2008, and the Republicans have come to St. Paul, Minnesota, for their convention. For most of the delegates, guests, reporters, and locals, it's a festive event, an occasion for having a good time and experiencing a unique moment in history. For law enforcement officials, however, it offers a grab-bag of embarrassing dangers, from small-fry con men to major stickup artists...Categorized as:
crime investigator law-enforcement political-intrigue politics suspense thriller action-adventure -
Silent as the Grave by Cheryl Bradshaw
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratings38-year-old Rebecca Barlow drops her four-year-old son off at parents' house, promising to return by five.Five comes and goes.Then six.Then seven.Worried, Rebecca's parents try calling. She doesn't answer, and her friends haven't heard from her either. It seems no one has.As concern mounts, Rebecca's father drives to the lake house where she's been staying... -
Todo lo peor by César Pérez Gellida
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsSigue la Guerra fría, sigue en pie el muro que divide Alemania en dos partes. Todo lo peor sucederá en estas circunstancias.Un asesino comienza a matar. Sus víctimas son homosexuales y sus crímenes parecen tener un componente religioso... -
Sleepless City by Reed Farrel Coleman
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsEvery cop in the city knows his name, but no one says it out loud.In fact, they don't talk about him at all. He doesn't wear a uniform, but he is the most powerful cop in New York. Nick Ryan can find a criminal who's vanished. Or he can make a key witness disappear. He has cars, safe houses, money, and weapons hidden all over the city... -
Twelve Mile Limit by Randy Wayne White
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIt starts out as a fun excursion for four divers off the Florida coast. Two days later only one is found alive-naked atop a light tower in the Gulf of Mexico. What happened during those 48 hours? Doc Ford thinks he's prepared for the truth. He isn't...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled law-enforcement political-intrigue suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
The King’s Evil by Andrew Taylor
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWinner of The HWA Gold Crown 2020From the No.1 bestselling author of The Ashes of Londonand The Fire Court comes the next book in the phenomenally successful series following James Marwood at the time of King Charles II.A royal scandal that could change the face of England forever… London 1667...Categorized as:
crime investigator law-enforcement political-intrigue politics suspense thriller action-adventure -
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...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled investigator law-enforcement noir suspense thriller action-adventure -
Blood is the Sky by Steve Hamilton
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsBefore Blood is the Sky, the Alex McKnight series had already hit bestseller lists and won awards, but this novel took it to a whole new level. Set in the forests of northern Ontario, a land of savage beauty and sudden danger, Blood is the Sky shows why Steve Hamilton is one of the most acclaimed crime novelists writing today...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled investigator law-enforcement suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
A Ticket to the Boneyard by Lawrence Block
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsTwelve years ago, Matthew Scudder lied to a jury to put James Leo Motley behind bars. Now the ingenious psychopath is free. And the alcoholic ex-cop-turned-p.i. must pay dearly for his sins. Friends and former lovers -- even strangers unfortunate enough to share Scudder's name -- are turning up dead... -
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... -
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The President's Henchman by Joseph Flynn
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsAccording to the polls, it's only a matter of time - and not that long a time - before the United States elects its first female president. Which will make her husband - what? Well, if he's the ex-cop who solved the murder of the president's first husband and brought the killers to justice ... and if he's not the kind of guy to stand on formality ..Categorized as:
crime investigator political-intrigue politics suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
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 politics suspense action-adventure -
Purple Cane Road by James Lee Burke
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsDave Robicheaux has spent his life confronting the age-old adage that the sins of the father pass onto the son. But what has his mother's legacy left him? Dead to him since youth, Mae Guillory has been shuttered away in the deep recesses of Dave's mind. He's lived with the fact that he would never really know what happened to the woman who left him to the devices of his whiskey-driven father...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled investigator law-enforcement noir suspense thriller action-adventure -
Early Autumn by Robert B. Parker
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratings"[Robert B.] Parker's brilliance is in his simple dialogue, and in Spenser."--The Philadelphia InquirerA bitter divorce is only the beginning. First the father hires thugs to kidnap his son. Then the mother hires Spenser to get the boy back. But as soon as Spenser senses the lay of the land, he decides to do some kidnapping of his own... -
Stranger in Town by Cheryl Bradshaw
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsHe only needed her to look away for a few seconds... Six-year-old Olivia Hathaway tiptoes down the center aisle of Maybelle's Market, stopping once to glance over her shoulder and make sure her mother isn't watching. But Mrs. Hathaway is too preoccupied to notice her daughter has slipped away. Moments later, a frantic Mrs...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled political-intrigue politics suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
Bad To The Bones by James Harper
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratings**Alternative cover edition for ASIN: B076H9C28F here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...**What would you give, how far would you go, to find a lost child and redeem your soul? And will it ever be far enough? Ten years ago, Linda Clayton's son Daniel disappeared. The love and support of her husband Robbie was all that kept her sane—until the day he ran away... -
Cinnamon Skin by John D. MacDonald
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhen Travis McGee's friend Meyer lent his boat to his niece Norma, and her new husband Even, the boat exploded out in the waters of the Florida Keys. Travis McGee thinks it's no accident, and clues lead him to ponder possibilities of drugs and also to wonder where Evan was when his wife was killed...."Proves again that MacDonald keeps getting better with each new adventure... -
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...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled investigator law-enforcement noir suspense thriller action-adventure -
Chance by Robert B. Parker, Burt Reynolds
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsSearching for a big-time hoodlum's missing son-in-law, Spencer and Hawk probe organized crime...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled investigator law-enforcement suspense thriller 20th-century action-adventure -
Hidden Prey by John Sandford, Eric Conger
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWhen a Russian sailor is found shot to death on the shore of Lake Superior, everyone has a theory: the local authorities, the FBI, even a female cop flown in from Russia. Lucas Davenport has a theory too - the right one - and it's putting him in more peril than he's ever faced before...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled investigator law-enforcement political-intrigue politics suspense thriller -
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Lupa nera by Juan Gómez-Jurado
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsRestare viva non è mai stato tanto difficile. Dopo Regina Rossa, che ha incoronato Antonia Scott come la nuova protagonista assoluta del thriller spagnolo, il secondo capitolo della trilogia bestseller di Juan Gómez-Jurado. Antonia Scott e Jon Gutiérrez sono ancora alla ricerca di Sandra Fajardo, quando Mentor li convoca per un altro caso al momento più pressante... -
House Arrest by Mike Lawson
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn the thirteenth book in Mike Lawson’s celebrated series, Joe DeMarco finds himself on the wrong side of an investigation—in the wake of a political assassination, he’s been framed as the killer.As the fixer for Congressman John Mahoney in Washington, D.C., Joe DeMarco has had to bend and break the law more than a few times...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement political-intrigue politics suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
Terminal Rage by A.M. Khalifa
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIn this critically acclaimed and bestselling international thriller, FBI hostage-negotiator Alexander Blackwell is dragged out of a dishonorable retirement to negotiate with a terrorist leader who has taken hostages in a Manhattan skyscraper...Categorized as:
crime political-intrigue politics suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
Backflash by Richard Stark
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsParker's got a couple of rules that have helped keep him alive throughout his long career. One of those is never to work on a boat. But with a gambling boat cruising down the Hudson, stuffed to the gunwales with cash, Parker’s got a plan, a team, and a new rule: a shot at a big enough score makes any rule worth breaking... -
Nine Lives by Tom Barber
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIt’s New Year’s Eve. A major terrorist cell is planning a series of attacks across London over the next forty-eight hours. The government has surveillance on the group, a man undercover, and prepare to move in, to take out the terrorists before they can strike. But they lose contact with their inside man...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement political-intrigue suspense thriller action-adventure adult book -
No Way to Die by M.D. Grayson
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSeattle mathematician Thomas Rasmussen had everything to live for. He had a beautiful, loving wife and two great kids. He was well known and respected in his field . His startup company – Applied Cryptographic Solutions recently finished building a revolutionary decryption device called The Starfire Protocol that was already attracting offers in the millions...
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