Books like 'Widespread Panic: A novel'
Readers who enjoyed Widespread Panic: A novel by James Ellroy also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical mystery horror usa california north-america urban crime historical-fiction noir
-
St. Benet's by David Blake
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA girl thrown from a church tower, a man sacrificed to Satan, and a priest murdered at the hands of the Devil. When the body of an old man is found lying in the ruins of St Benet’s Abbey, his throat cut, a knife resting in his open hand, DI John Tanner and DC Jenny Evans are given no choice but to accept a ruling of death by misadventure... -
Goodnight Lady by Martina Cole
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA tour-de-force thriller of corruption and violence.In the sixties, Briony Cavanagh ran a string of the most notorious brothels in London. Only Briony knew what went on behind those doors, and she never opened her mouth - unless she stood to benefit. Only Briony knew the painful road she'd travelled to get there...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled historical-fiction law-enforcement suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
Freedom of the Mask by Robert McCammon
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe year is 1703, and Matthew Corbett, professional “problem solver,” is missing. Last seen by his friends in New York before he departed on a lucrative, seemingly straightforward mission for the Herrald Agency in Charles Town, he's been too long absent. His comrade-in-arms Hudson Greathouse has an increasing sense the young friend he thinks of as a son must have met with some unexpected peril...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction law-enforcement suspense action-adventure adult audiobook book -
Mister Slaughter by Robert McCammon
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe world of Colonial America comes vibrantly to life in this masterful new historical thriller by Robert McCammon...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction law-enforcement suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
-
Angels and Demons / The Da Vinci Code (Robert Langdon, #1-2) by Dan Brown
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsEnter the labyrinthine world of internationally bestselling author Dan Brown with his first two spellbinding thrillers featuring Robert Langdon:Angels and DemonsWhen a groundbreaking scientist is found brutally murdered, world renowned Harvard professor Robert Langdon is summoned to identify the mysterious symbol seared on to the dead man's chest...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction law-enforcement suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Complete Poetry by Edgar Allan Poe
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsThe eerie tales of Edgar Allan Poe remain among the most brilliant, enduring, and influencial works in American literature. But Poe is also the author of some of the most haunting poetry ever written--poems of love, death and loneliness that have lost none of their power to enthrall in this unique Signet Classic edition...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction north-america suspense usa adult anthologies classics -
None Left to Tell by Noelle W. Ihli
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThree women, connected by one of the most brutal mass slayings in US history.Lucy is sick of turning the other cheek. Ten years ago, an anti-Mormon mob drove her family and friends from their homes in Illinois. But now, the tables have turned. Rumor has it, some of those same men are traveling through Utah on their way to California. And this time, Lucy won’t run... -
The Queen of Bedlam by Robert McCammon
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsHis epic masterwork, Speaks the Nightbird, a tour de force of witch hunt terror in a colonial town, was hailed by Sandra Brown as "deeply satisfying...told with matchless insight into the human soul...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction law-enforcement suspense urban thriller action-adventure adult -
Some Shall Break by Ellie Marney
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThis sequel to the New York Times bestselling None Shall Sleep is an equally electrifying, chilling thriller that brings us back into the lives of junior FBI consultants Travis Bell and Emma Lewis with a new case that may unravel everything they’ve been working for...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction suspense thriller law-enforcement mystery young-adult horror -
The Providence Rider by Robert McCammon
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratings"The Providence Rider is the fourth installment in the extraordinary series of historical thrillers featuring Matthew Corbett, professional problem solver. The narrative begins in the winter of 1703, with Matthew still haunted by his lethal encounter with notorious mass murderer Tyranthus Slaughter...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction law-enforcement suspense action-adventure adult audiobook book -
Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsAn extraordinary novel inspired by the real-life sorority targeted by America's first celebrity serial killer in his final murderous spree.January 1978. A serial killer has terrorized women across the Pacific Northwest, but his existence couldn’t be further from the minds of the vibrant young women at the top sorority on Florida State University’s campus in Tallahassee...Categorized as:
historical-fiction crime thriller suspense literary-fiction fiction mystery historical -
White Knight, Black Swan by Ross Harding, David Gemmell
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsDavid Gemmell was the UK's number one fantasy and historical novelist until his death in 2006. A regular Sunday Times bestseller, and international sensation, his legacy lives on through his novels, his influence on the genre, and through the David Gemmell Legend awards... -
Judgment of The Witch by Robert McCammon
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAfter a decade, New York Times bestselling author Robert McCammon returns with an epic novel of suspense that reinstates him as one of the great storytellers of our time.... The Carolinas, 1699: The citizens of Fount Royal believe their town is cursed by a witch... -
The Darker Arts by Oscar de Muriel
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsMadame Katerina, Detective 'Nine Nails' McGray's most trusted clairvoyant, hosts a séance for three of Edinburgh's wealthiest families.The following morning everyone is found dead, with Madame Katerina being the only survivor. When questioned she alleges a tormented spirit killed the families for revenge... -
-
Evil Unveiled by Robert McCammon
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratings"New York Times" bestselling author Robert McCammon continues his triumphant return with the conclusion of an epic tale of suspense that reinstates him as one of the great storytellers of our time....The Carolinas, 1699: After hearing damning testimony from the townspeople of Fount Royal, magistrate Isaac Woodward sentences the accused witch, Rachel Howarth, to death by burning... -
The Spinster's Fortune by Mary Kendall
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsMoonlit alleys, shadowy tunnels, and buried secrets…Summer of 1929.Of supposed unsound mind without a penny to her name, Blanche Magruder lies alone in a home for the aged and infirm.Meanwhile, her house, a crumbled ruin in the heart of Georgetown, Washington, D.C., is pillaged nightly by thieves looking for treasure rumored to be hidden there... -
The Loner by J.A. Johnstone
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsMost people have no idea that successful young businessman Conrad Browning is the son of legendary gunfighter Frank Morgan. And that's one secret he plans to keep--until his beautiful wife, Rebel, was kidnapped by a group of deadly bandits...Categorized as:
north-america usa law-enforcement thriller western fiction audiobook action-adventure -
Nineteen Eighty by David Peace
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsDecember 1980, the Yorkshire Ripper murders his thirteenth victim, while Assistant Chief Constable Peter Hunter struggles even deeper in the mire of a culture tainted with dark and sordid detail to solve one of the country's most hellish crimes... -
Gangland by Chuck Hogan
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFrom the acclaimed author of The Town, an epic thriller about the secret right‑hand man of one of the most infamous unprosecuted mob bosses in American history, and the hidden crime that will bring down an empire.In the late 1970s, The Outfit has the entire city of Chicago in its hands. Tony Accardo is its fearless leader... -
Potsdam Station by David Downing
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsApril, 1945. The Third Reich is on the verge of extinction, and its enemies are already plotting against each other. For John Russell, this has personal importance: his son and girlfriend are trapped in Berlin and only the Soviets can get him in there. But the price of their help will threaten both his and the world's postwar future... -
In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes, Paula Rabinowitz
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsPostwar Los Angeles is a lonely place where the American Dream is showing its seamy underside—and a stranger is preying on young women. The suggestively named Dix Steele, a cynical vet with a chip on his shoulder about the opposite sex, is the LAPD's top suspect...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled historical-fiction law-enforcement literary-fiction noir suspense thriller -
The Thicket by Joe R. Lansdale
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsLove and vengeance at the dark dawn of the East Texas oil boom from Joe Lansdale, "a true American original" (Joe Hill, author of Heart-Shaped Box). Jack Parker thought he'd already seen his fair share of tragedy. His grandmother was killed in a farm accident when he was barely five years old...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled historical-fiction literary-fiction noir suspense thriller action-adventure -
The Werewolf of Bamberg by Oliver Pötzsch
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsIn 1668, hangman Jakob Kuisl, his daughter Magdalena, and her husband Simon are traveling to the town of Bamberg. But what was planned as a family vacation soon becomes a nightmare: there is a murderer in Bamberg who is leaving the severed limbs of victims in the trash outside the city...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction law-enforcement literary-fiction suspense adult audiobook book -
Kissyman & the Gentleman by Scott Sigler
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsNew York City, 1946. No one knows his real name, but when the job is too dirty, too dangerous, they call Kissyman. Once an elite Nazi SS commando, an honorable soldier, a taker of lives. When he was assigned to Dachau and saw what he was actually fighting for, he went AWOL and ran as far away as he could — to America. He still makes his living with a gun, but he no longer kills for his country... -
-
An Ancient Evil by Paul Doherty
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAn Ancient Evil inaugurates an ingenious new series of historical mysteries by P. C. Doherty, each one using characters from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. In Chaucer's poem, the pilgrims narrate tales to pass the time during their journey to the sacred shrine of Canterbury; Doherty's pilgrims entertain their companions with stories of mystery, terror, and murder... -
Ten Great Mysteries by Edgar Allan Poe
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe Pit and the Pendulum...The Purloined Letter...The Tell-Tale Heart...A Descent into Maelstrom...and six other choice chillers by the acknowledged master of mystery, fantasy, and horror. These ten absorbing stories, selected by a famed anthologist of science-fiction and the supernatural, prove that even after a century Poe's imagination still works it macabre magic... -
The River of Souls by Robert McCammon
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe year is 1703. The place: the Carolina settlement of Charles Town. . Matthew Corbett, professional “problem solver,” has accepted a lucrative, if unusual, commission: escorting a beautiful woman to a fancy dress ball.What should be a pleasant assignment takes a darker turn when Matthew becomes involved in a murder investigation...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction law-enforcement suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Long Home by William Gay
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn a literary voice that is both original and powerfully unsettling, William Gay tells the story of Nathan Winer, a young and headstrong Tennessee carpenter who lost his father years ago to a human evil that is greater and closer at hand than any the boy can imagine - until he learns of it first-hand... -
The Best American Noir Of The Century by Otto Penzler, James Ellroy
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn his introduction, James Ellroy writes, "Noir is the most scrutinized offshoot of the hard-boiled school of fiction…It's the nightmare of flawed souls with big dreams and the precise how and why of the all-time sure thing that goes bad."Ellroy & Penzler mined the past century to find this treasure trove of thirty-nine stories... -
A Fine Dark Line by Joe R. Lansdale
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIt is the summer of 1958 in Dewmont, Texas, a town the great American postwar boom passed by. The kids listen idly to rockabilly on the radio and waste their weekends at the Dairy Queen. And an undetected menace simmers under the heat that clings to the skin like molasses..Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction noir suspense thriller 21st-century audiobook bildungsroman -
The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratings1950s Los Angeles: The City of Angels has become the city of the Angel of Death. Communist witch-hunts and insanely violent killings are terrorising the community. Three men are plunged into a maelstrom of violence and deceit when their lives become inextricably linked as each one confronts his own personal darkness...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled historical-fiction law-enforcement literary-fiction noir suspense thriller -
The Bone Garden by Tess Gerritsen
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsPresent day: Julia Hamill has made a horrifying discovery on the grounds of her new home in rural Massachusetts: a skull buried in the rocky soil–human, female, and, according to the trained eye of Boston medical examiner Maura Isles, scarred with the unmistakable marks of murder. But whoever this nameless woman was, and whatever befell her, is knowledge lost to another time. . . -
The Lost Girls of Rome by Donato Carrisi
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsA grieving young widow, seeking answers to her husband's death, becomes entangled in an investigation steeped in the darkest mysteries of Rome.Sandra Vega, a forensic analyst with the Roman police department, mourns deeply for a marriage that ended too soon...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction law-enforcement noir suspense urban thriller action-adventure -
Litani by Jess Lourey
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe Amazon Charts bestselling author of Unspeakable Things and Bloodline explores the darkness at the heart of the rural Midwest in a novel inspired by a chilling true crime.In the summer of ’84, fourteen-year-old Frankie Jubilee is shuttled off to Litani, Minnesota, to live with her estranged mother, a county prosecutor she barely knows... -
-
Inspector of the Dead by David Morrell
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsLEGENDARY THRILLER WRITER DAVID MORRELL TRANSPORTS READERS TO THE FOGBOUND STREETS OF LONDON, WHERE A KILLER PLOTS TO ASSASSINATE QUEEN VICTORIA.The year is 1855. The Crimean War is raging. The incompetence of British commanders causes the fall of the English government. The Empire teeters...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction law-enforcement literary-fiction suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
The Man With No Face by Peter May
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsBrussels, 1979. Jaded Edinburgh journalist Neil Bannerman arrives in the capital of European politics intent on digging up dirt. Yet it is danger he discovers, when two British men are found murdered. A CHILD WITH NO FATHER One victim is a journalist, the other a Cabinet Minister: the double-assassination witnessed by the former's autistic daughter... -
Estudio en escarlata/El sabueso de los Baskerville by Arthur Conan Doyle
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsLa popularidad de Sherlock Holmes ha sido inmensa e incesante... si muchos le parodiaron (a Conan Doyle) casi todos los escritores posteriores han moldeado sus héroes conforme a uno de los poliédricos aspectos del gran Sherlock. Este dejó de ser un personaje literario, se convirtió en una criatura viviente y borró la memoria de su creador...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction law-enforcement literary-fiction suspense action-adventure adult book -
Lady Crymsyn by P.N. Elrod
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsVampire detective Jack Fleming made a good bit of money cleaning up the streets of post-prohibition Chicago--enough to realize his dream of owning a nightclub. During renovations, workmen discover the remains of a woman, clad in a distinctive red dress... -
The Dark Sleep by P.N. Elrod
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsDeath hasn't ended Jack Fleming's problems. His girlfriend Bobbi has caught the attention of a famous radio star, who promises to open doors for the lovely singer -- including the one to his bedroom. His current case -- retrieving incriminating letters from the ex-lover of a rich, foolish young socialite, looks simple until bullets start flying. Now Jack's mortal partner is in the hospital... -
Resurrectionist by James McGee
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsBow Street Runner Matthew Hawkwood brings his own form of justice to the salons and slums of Regency London in the gripping sequel to 'Ratcatcher'. For the body snatchers, death is a lucrative business. But it's the corpse they leave behind, horribly mutilated and nailed to a tree, which sets Bow Street Runner Matthew Hawkwood on their trail...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction law-enforcement literary-fiction thriller action-adventure adult book -
Entwined by Lynda La Plante
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsNo matter how cruelly twins are separated, their lives will always be entwined.In the newly liberated streets of modern Berlin two women, a pampered, beautiful Baroness, losing control of her mind, and a fearless wild animal trainer, facing the greatest challenge of her career, are drawn together by a series of tragic and extraordinary coincidences... -
The Big Blow by Joe R. Lansdale
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratings“The sea had turned black as a dutch oven, the sky the color of gangrene, and between sea and sky there appeared to be something rising out of the water, something huge and oddly shaped, like a horrible sea god, and then Simmons realized what it was.”Galveston, Texas. September 4, 1900. A giant hurricane—destined to be remembered as the storm of the century—is brewing offshore... -
Steel Breeze by Douglas Wynne
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA BLACK WIND BLOWS AND LIFE HANGS IN THE BALANCE. It’s been a year since novelist Desmond Carmichael's wife Sandy was brutally murdered. Now, with someone stalking him and his four-year-old son, he fears that the wrong man has been imprisoned for the crime... -
Ruler of the Night by David Morrell
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThomas De Quincey is beginning to control his opium addiction when the excitement of his current case threatens to unravel his grip on reality once and for all. On their way home to the Lake District, the De Quinceys become unwitting witnesses to a truly historic murder: the first to take place on one of England's newly constructed railways...Categorized as:
historical-fiction crime law-enforcement suspense thriller mystery fiction historical -
-
La otra bella durmiente by Phillip Margolin, Eduardo Iriarte
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAfter a serial killer murdered the parents of Ashley Spencer and left Casey Van Meter in a coma, Ashley wonders why her quiet, loving family was targeted by a madman and decides to go into hiding in Europe. Returning years later to bear witness when the suspect is finally apprehended and tried, her pain also resurfaces in a true crime novel written by Miles Van Meter, Casey's twin brother... -
Triflers Need Not Apply by Camilla Bruce
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsEarly in life Bella Sorensen discovers the world is made only for men. They own everything: jobs, property, wives. But Bella understands what few others do: where women are concerned, men are weak.A woman unhampered by scruples can take from them what she wants. And so Bella sets out to prove to the world that a woman can be just as ruthless, black-hearted and single-minded as any man... -
Sunset and Sawdust by Joe R. Lansdale
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn the middle of a cyclone, beautiful, red-haired Sunset Jones shoots her husband Pete dead when he tries to beat and rape her. To Camp Rapture’s general consternation, Sunset’s mother-in-law arranges for her to take over from Pete as town constable...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled historical-fiction law-enforcement noir suspense action-adventure adult -
Crippen by John Boyne
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsJuly 1910: A gruesome discovery has been made at 39 Hilldrop Crescent, Camden.Chief Inspector Walter Dew of Scotland Yard did not expect the house to be empty. Nor did he expect to find a body in the cellar. Buried under the flagstones are the remains of Cora Crippen, former music-hall singer and wife of Dr. Hawley Crippen. No one would have thought the quiet, unassuming Dr... -
Bloodcircle by P.N. Elrod
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 12 ratings"Critics are thirsting for "Vampire Files"...An entertaining blend of detective story and the supernatural". Science Fiction Chronicle"A blend of the hard-boiled detective novel and the vampire tale.. -
Black Sun by Owen Matthews
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA thrilling debut set at the height--and in the heart--of Soviet power, with intricately plotted machinations, secrets and surveillance, corrupt politicos and puppet masters in the Politburo, and one devastating weapon.It is the dawn of the 1960s...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction literary-fiction suspense thriller 20th-century action-adventure adult
Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.