Books like 'Dust'
Readers who enjoyed Dust by Martha Grimes also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary mystery thriller europe british-isles united-kingdom england crime law-enforcement cozy
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Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly
Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsDefense attorney Mickey Haller is back, taking the long shot cases, where the chances of winning are one in a million. After getting a wrongfully convicted man out of prison, he is inundated with pleas from incarcerated people claiming innocence. He enlists his half brother, retired LAPD Detective Harry Bosch, to weed through the letters, knowing most claims will be false...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement thriller police-procedural literary-fiction mystery fiction legal -
A Whisper of Sorrows by J.D. Kirk
Rated: 4.55 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThe hunter has become the hunted.Ten years ago, DCI Jack Logan caught the twisted child killer known as Mister Whisper.Two days ago, Mister Whisper escaped.Now, Jack must track down the most ruthless enemy he has ever faced before he can strike again. But, after ten years behind bars, it isn't just murder that Mister Whisper has in mind.It's revenge...Categorized as:
europe british-isles united-kingdom crime law-enforcement police-procedural thriller scotland -
Graves on the Fens by Joy Ellis
Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIt arrives in the morning. An old-fashioned airmail envelope addressed to Detective Nikki Galena. Inside, on a single sheet of blue airmail paper, are three words:You failed me.The second airmail envelope arrives at Nikki’s home address. The same message. Only this time, it’s followed by four names: Alexandra Cornfield, Ruth Baker, Bethany Lyons, Leanne Delaney.Four missing women... -
Dark Skies: A DCI Ryan Mystery by LJ Ross
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFROM THE #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF HOLY ISLAND Beware what lies beneath… One fateful, starry night, three friends embark on a secret camping trip but only two return home. Thirty years later, the body of a teenage boy rises from the depths of England’s biggest reservoir and threatens to expose a killer who has lain dormant…until now... -
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In This Bright Future by Peter Grainger
Rated: 4.47 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsTwo weeks of rest and recuperation – that’s what the doctor ordered. Detective Sergeant DC Smith could listen to some music, make some of his own and maybe even catch up on his reading; he is almost looking forward to it. And then there is a knock on the door...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural thriller mystery fiction audiobook contemporary -
Lying Beside You by Michael Robotham
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIf I could tell you one thing about my brother, it would be this. Two days after his nineteenth birthday, he killed our parents and twin sisters because he heard voices in his head. As defining events go, nothing else comes close for Elias, or for me.As a boy, Cyrus Haven survived a family massacre and slowly pieced his life back together... -
Murder Never Misses by Faith Martin
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThree missing young women. One evil stalker. But Hillary doesn’t think it all adds up. Hillary is recovering from the vicious attack by her stalker. It appears that he is also behind the disappearance and murder of three women. Her bosses want these unsolved cases closed, but Hillary has a theory that will shock everyone... -
The Fossil Beach Murders by Rachel McLean
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe Susannah Ramsay and Sadie Dawes cases are solved and DCI Lesley Clarke's team is back together.But there are tensions... -
Cover Shot by LynDee Walker
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIt’s been a slow news month in Richmond, and crime reporter Nichelle Clarke is enjoying the downtime when ominous messages and a dead body kick things into high gear. And that’s before the guy with the rifle takes a hospital full of people hostage...Categorized as:
cozy crime law-enforcement police-procedural thriller adult amateur-sleuth audiobook -
Todesurteil by Andreas Gruber
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn Wien verschwindet die zehnjährige Clara. Ein Jahr später taucht sie völlig verstört am nahen Waldrand wieder auf. Ihr gesamter Rücken ist mit Motiven aus Dantes "Inferno" tätowiert – und sie spricht kein Wort. Indessen nimmt der niederländische Profiler Maarten S. Sneijder an der Akademie des BKA für hochbegabten Nachwuchs mit seinen Studenten ungelöste Mordfälle durch... -
The Rags of Time by Peter Grainger
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsMark Randall lay dead in a field near Lowacre long before Smith had done what he had to do in Belfast. By the time he went back to work, the investigation was well underway. “It’s not my case” he says more than once, and he really doesn’t need it to be; he has enough to think about as it is... -
Last Breath by Robert Bryndza
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsHe’s your perfect date. You’re his next victim. When the tortured body of a young woman is found in a dumpster, her eyes swollen shut and her clothes soaked with blood, Detective Erika Foster is one of the first at the crime scene. The trouble is, this time, it’s not her case...Categorized as:
british-isles crime england europe law-enforcement police-procedural united-kingdom thriller -
Dark Water by Robert Bryndza
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsBeneath the water the body sank rapidly. She would lie still and undisturbed for many years but above her on dry land, the nightmare was just beginning. When Detective Erika Foster receives a tip-off that key evidence for a major narcotics case was stashed in a disused quarry on the outskirts of London, she orders for it to be searched...Categorized as:
british-isles crime england europe law-enforcement police-procedural united-kingdom thriller -
Murder Never Retires by Faith Martin
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsHillary Greene returns to Thames Valley Police HQ, acting as a consultant for the Crime Review Team, looking into murders which the police have never been able to solve. She wasn’t sure she wanted to go back. But solving crimes is irresistible for Hillary Greene. And it doesn’t hurt that her new boss is devastatingly handsome... -
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The Monument Murders by Rachel McLean
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhen a body is found draped over Swanage's iconic Globe monument, DCI Lesley Clarke is called in.A message points to the Go Home.Is this a hate crime? Or something closer to home?Lesley must find the killer before he or she strikes again, all while dealing with a mutiny in her team and political pressure from her boss...Categorized as:
europe british-isles united-kingdom england crime law-enforcement police-procedural cozy -
Hope to Die by Cara Hunter
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSelf-defense or murder? In the continuation of one of Britain’s most popular crime series from Cara Hunter — the author of the instant New York Times bestseller Murder in the Family — DI Fawley returns to determine if someone has staged a crime scene in connection with another homicide from years past. Midnight. A grisly murder scene at isolated farm on the outskirts of Oxford... -
The 39 Cupcakes by Zara Keane
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAn Irish cozy mystery. Ex-cop-turned-P.I. Maggie Doyle is stuck chaperoning a group of bratty summer camp kids to an archaeological dig on Whisper Island. After a day of fart jokes, fidget spinners, and fist fights, Maggie's regretting volunteering—and then one of her feral charges discovers a skeleton... -
The Remorseful Day by Colin Dexter
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe final Inspector Morse mystery finds the cunning detective and the long-suffering Sergeant Lewis in pursuit of nurse Yvonne Harrington's murderer . . . two years after her death...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural thriller 20th-century adult book contemporary -
The Clifftop Murders by Rachel McLean
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsDCI Lesley Clarke is settling into her new job in Dorset's Major Crimes Unit, and becoming accustomed to a slower pace of life.But then she's called in to solve the murder of a woman with links to Lesley's new girlfriend...Categorized as:
europe british-isles united-kingdom england crime law-enforcement police-procedural cozy -
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 law-enforcement police-procedural united-kingdom thriller -
The Canal Murders by J.R. Ellis
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsLife moves at a slower pace on the canals. But death always comes when you least expect it. The last thing DS Stephanie Johnson and DS Andy Carter expected during their much-needed canal holiday was a murder. When retired folk musician Annie Shipton is found stabbed through the neck at the helm of her barge, the couple can’t help investigating the seemingly impossible crime... -
Reluctantly Home by Imogen Clark
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsFrom the bestselling author of Where the Story Starts comes a tale about dealing with the past—and finally facing the future.Pip Appleby seems to have it all, with her prestigious job as a human rights lawyer and her enviable London home. But then a tragic accident stops her life in its tracks, and in an instant everything changes...Categorized as:
british-isles england europe friendship literary-fiction united-kingdom adult audiobook -
The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe nineteenth mystery in the #1 New York Times bestselling Armand Gamache seriesRelentless phone calls interrupt the peace of a warm August morning in Three Pines. Though the tiny Québec village is impossible to find on any map, someone has managed to track down Armand Gamache, head of homicide at the Sûreté, as he sits with his wife in their back garden... -
Persons of Interest by Peter Grainger
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn the peace and tranquillity of the woods at Pinehills on a Saturday afternoon, a mobile phone begins to ring. The phone belongs to DC Smith and it isn’t unusual that the call is from Kings Lake Central police station; what is unusual is the fact that he seems to be the subject of an investigation rather than taking part in one... -
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The Creek Killer by Dominika Best
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsHow would you prove you weren’t dead? Jane Smith has been running from danger her whole life. That danger followed her everywhere, leaving a trail of death in its wake. When the mummified bodies of six girls are discovered in the wetlands of Los Angeles, Jane is surprised to learn one of the dead girls bears her name—the name she abandoned twenty-five years ago to go into hiding...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement thriller police-procedural mystery fiction contemporary action-adventure -
The Reluctant Coroner: A Fenway Stevenson Mystery by Paul Austin Ardoin
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsBlood is thicker than oil—until murder is involved.Fenway Stevenson doesn't want to return to the coastal town where her estranged father is practically king. But the death of her mother draws her back home—and the murder of the county coroner draws her into a deepening conspiracy... -
Luck and Judgement by Peter Grainger
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsWhen a worker goes missing from a North Sea gas platform, there seem to be just two possible explanations – it was a tragic accident or a suicide. It does not take Smith and his detectives long, however, to discover that James Bell led a double life back onshore in Kings Lake, a life complicated enough to make him at least one dangerous enemy... -
The Whole Truth by Cara Hunter
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhen an Oxford student accuses one of the university's professors of sexual assault, DI Adam Fawley's team think they've heard it all before. But they couldn't be more wrong.Because this time, the predator is a woman and the shining star of the department, and the student a six-foot male rugby player.Soon DI Fawley and his team are up against the clock to figure out the truth...Categorized as:
british-isles crime england europe law-enforcement police-procedural united-kingdom thriller -
The Island Murders by Rachel McLean
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAn isolated community... a web of secrets... a mysterious death.When a body washes up on the shores of Brownsea Island, DCI Lesley Clarke initially suspects suicide. But as she gets closer to the island's close-knit community, she starts to suspect foul play...Categorized as:
europe british-isles united-kingdom england crime law-enforcement police-procedural thriller -
The Railway Murders by J.R. Ellis
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA puzzling locked-room mystery that puts someone Oldroyd loves in terrible danger…When a film shoot on Wharfedale’s vintage railway turns into a grisly crime scene, DCI Oldroyd’s idyllic visit to the countryside with his partner Deborah is well and truly stopped in its tracks. One of the film’s stars has been shot dead in a train carriage while the cameras rolled outside... -
The Shell House Detectives by Emylia Hall
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratings"A cleverly plotted and thoroughly enjoyable book about dark deeds in beautiful places."—Elly Griffiths Welcome to the coastal paradise of Porthpella, where murder lurks among the dunes… Late one night, a distraught young man knocks on the door of retired and recently widowed Ally Bright’s remote home on the Cornish coast...Categorized as:
europe british-isles united-kingdom england cozy crime law-enforcement police-procedural -
Fatal Reunion by Annette Dashofy
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAs Monongahela County’s new coroner Zoe Chambers-Adams gears up for a third day searching for a missing woman, she receives the news she’s been dreading: a body has been found. What she discovers at the scene leaves no doubt—the missing woman was violently murdered. Worse, the manner of death mirrors the Monongahela Strangler case that terrorized the county when Zoe was in high school... -
No Way Out by Allison Brennan
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFrom Allison Brennan, the New York Times bestselling author of Cut and Run, comes a new e-novella, No Way Out: FBI Agent Lucy Kincaid faces her worst fear when her husband goes missing Nine years ago, mercenary Kane Rogan and photojournalist Siobhan Walsh risked their lives to rescue Hestia Juarez, a thirteen-year-old girl being forced to marry a much older man to expand her father’s crime family... -
The Calling by Neil Cross
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsMeet DCI John Luther.He's brilliant. He's intense. He's obsessional. He's dangerous.DCI John Luther has an extraordinary clearance rate. He commands outstanding loyalty from friends and colleagues. Nobody who ever stood at his side has a bad word to say about him. But Luther seethes with a hidden fury that at times he can barely control...Categorized as:
british-isles crime england europe law-enforcement police-procedural united-kingdom thriller -
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The Baltimore Boys by Joël Dicker
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsSwiss Sensation Joel Dicker's compulsive follow-up to the phenomenally bestselling The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair... -
A Killing in November: a razor-sharp Oxford mystery by Simon Mason
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsRyan Wilkins grew up on a trailer park, a member of what many people would call the criminal classes. As a young Detective Inspector, he's lost none of his disgust with privileged elites - or his objectionable manners. But he notices things; they stick to his eyes... -
The Center Cannot Hold: A Ray Elkins Thriller by Aaron Stander
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsIn the depths of winter, Cedar County is on occasion literally frozen in place. Roads are impassable; the area schools are closed for days at a time. And the bad guys and gals, they’re hunkered down like everyone else until the weather breaks. But this winter isn’t the usual. There’s arson and murder...Categorized as:
literary-fiction law-enforcement police-procedural crime thriller mystery fiction contemporary -
The Girl Who Ran Away: The McClintock-Carter Crime Thriller Series by Susan Lund
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA new missing persons case, a prime suspect and questions about an old friend challenge amateur sleuth and crime reporter Tess McClintock and FBI Special Agent Michael Carter in THE GIRL WHO RAN AWAY, a new book in the McClintock-Carter Crime Thriller Series... -
The Eleventh Hour by Anina Collins
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe first book in the Poppy McGuire Mystery Series! Poppy McGuire has always been a curious soul, but it's her life that's usually the topic of conversation in the small town of Sunset Ridge. But now one of the town's most important citizens has been found murdered, and everyone's life is suspect... -
Dark Suits and Sad Songs by Denzil Meyrick
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe third installment in the bestselling DCI Daley series, packed with accurate police procedure and gritty, dark humour. The best of Scottish crime.When a senior Edinburgh civil servant spectacularly takes his own life in Kinloch harbour, DCI Jim Daley comes face to face with the murky world of politics. To add to his woes, two local drug dealers lie dead, ritually assassinated... -
Messiah by Boris Starling
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA former reporter and a specialist in kidnap negotiations releases a debut serial killer novel that reveals the making of a mass murderer. Three bodies are found with their tongues cut out and replaced with silver spoons. The killer's motives and methods are so elusive that talented investigator Red Metcalf must search the darkest corners of his own soul to stop the killings... -
The Bertie Project by Alexander McCall Smith
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsOnce more, we catch up with the delightful goings-on in the fictitious 44 Scotland Street from Alexander McCall Smith . . .Bertie's respite from his overbearing mother, Irene, is over. She has returned from the middle-east, only to discover that her son has been exposed to the worst evils of cartoons, movies and Irn Bru, and her wrath falls upon her unfortunate husband, Stuart... -
But For The Grace by Peter Grainger
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 17 ratings“We are living in the departure lounge,” said Ralph Greenwood, “and flights leave with monotonous regularity.” So when another resident of the Rosemary House care home is found dead in her chair one Saturday evening in December, no-one is very surprised – not until the results of a routine post-mortem reveal something extraordinary... -
The Pact by Sharon J. Bolton
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA golden summer, and six talented friends are looking forward to the brightest of futures - until a daredevil game goes horribly wrong, and a woman and two children are killed.18-year-old Megan takes the blame, leaving the others free to get on with their lives. In return, they each agree to a 'favour', payable on her release from prison.Twenty years later Megan is free.Let the games begin . .Categorized as:
british-isles crime europe friendship law-enforcement police-procedural united-kingdom thriller -
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The Scent of Death by Simon Beckett
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIt has been a good summer for forensics expert Dr David Hunter. His relationship is going well and he's in demand again as a police consultant. His life seems to be on an even keel.But not for long. The call comes from an old associate: a body has been found, and she’d like Hunter to take a look . . .St Jude’s Hospital now stands empty... -
A Plague of Secrets by John Lescroart
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsDismas Hardy, Abe Glitsky, and Wyatt Hunt return in a compelling and timely legal thriller filled with blackmail, political intrigue, and multiple murder.The first victim is Dylan Vogler, a charming ex-convict who manages the Bay Beans West coffee shop in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district. When his body is found, inspectors discover that his knapsack is filled with high-grade marijuana... -
Dead at First Sight by Peter James
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA man waits at London Airport for Ingrid Ostermann, the love of his life, to arrive. Across the Atlantic, a retired NYPD cop waits in a bar in Florida’s Key West for his first date with the lady who is, without question, his soulmate. The two men are about to discover they’ve been scammed out of almost every penny they have—and that neither woman exists... -
The Silent Girl by Michael Hjorth, Hans Rosenfeldt
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAn idyllic white, two-storey, beautiful house in Sweden. Inside, a family has been brutally murdered – mother, father and two young children all shot in broad daylight. And the killer has got away.Sebastian Bergman has been brought in to solve the crime, but with no credible suspects, he is at a dead end.Until he discovers that there was a witness to the crime...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement literary-fiction police-procedural thriller adult audiobook book -
No Mark Upon Her by Deborah Crombie
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsNew York Times bestselling author Deborah Crombie makes her mark with this absorbing, finely hued tale of suspense - a deeply atmospheric and twisting mystery full of deadly secrets, salacious lies, and unexpected betrayals involving the mysterious drowning of a Met detective - an accomplished rower - on the Thames...Categorized as:
british-isles cozy crime england europe law-enforcement police-procedural united-kingdom -
The Cove by L.J. Ross
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsTHE PERFECT ESCAPE...Gabrielle Adams has it all – brains, beauty, a handsome fiancé, and a dream job in publishing. Until, one day, everything changes.The ‘Underground Killer’ takes his victims when they least expect it: standing on the edge of a busy Tube platform, as they wait for a train to arrive through the murky underground tunnels of London...Categorized as:
british-isles cozy crime england europe law-enforcement literary-fiction police-procedural
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