Books like 'The Happy Widow'
Readers who enjoyed The Happy Widow by David Crosby also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
mystery action / adventure serial killer crime cozy nautical thriller pulp amateur-sleuth investigator
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Black Coral by Andrew Mayne
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFor a police diver in Florida, solving a cold-case mystery brings a serial killer out of hiding...Sloan McPherson and the Underwater Investigation Unit have discovered a van at the bottom of a murky Florida pond. Sealed inside the watery tomb are the bodies of four teenagers who disappeared thirty years ago after leaving a rock concert. To authorities, it looks like a tragic accident... -
![The House in the Woods by Mark Dawson]()
The House in the Woods by Mark Dawson
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFour murders. Two detectives. One mystifying crime. On Christmas Eve, DCI Mackenzie Jones is called to a shooting at a remote farmhouse. Ralph Mallender believes his father lies dead inside. When three more bodies are discovered, it’s clear a festive family gathering has turned into a gruesome tragedy... -
![Angel by LJ Ross]()
Angel by LJ Ross
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsHe’ll make you his angel, but first you have to die... After a turbulent time, DCI Ryan’s life is finally beginning to return to normal and he’s looking forward to spending an uneventful Easter bank holiday weekend with his fiancée. Then, on Good Friday morning he is called out to a crime scene at one of the largest cemeteries in Newcastle... -
![Signature by Jeff Carson]()
Signature by Jeff Carson
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsChief Detective Wolf and Special Agent Kristen Luke are back — and they’re going up against a sadistic killer whose signature works span the Four Corners region of Colorado and are now spilling into Rocky Points. Signature is the latest pulse-thumping thriller in Jeff Carson’s popular David Wolf mystery-thriller series... -
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![The Dead Call by J.M. Dalgliesh]()
The Dead Call by J.M. Dalgliesh
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhen someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.. -
![The Poet by Michael Connelly]()
The Poet by Michael Connelly
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsDenver crime-beat reporter Jack McEvoy specializes in violent death. So when his homicide detective brother kills himself, McEvoy copes in the only way he knows how--he decides to write the story. But his research leads him to suspect a serial killer is at work--a devious murderer who's killing cops and leaving a trail of poetic clues... -
![August Origins by Alan Lee]()
August Origins by Alan Lee
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsMack August, frustrated Los Angeles police detective, moves to a smaller city in Virginia to start over. Rather than join the force, he opens his own P.I. shop and hires out to local attorneys--until Sheriff Stackhouse comes calling, a stunner in designer khakis. Trouble has arrived, she explains, in the form of a gang general from the West Coach... -
![The Courbet Connection by Estelle Ryan]()
The Courbet Connection by Estelle Ryan
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsForged masterpieces. Kidnapped students. The dark net. Nonverbal communications expert Doctor Genevieve Lenard's search for an international assassin is rudely interrupted by an autistic teenager who claims that forged masterpieces are being sold on the dark net--a secret internet few know exists... -
![Last Victim by Helen H. Durrant]()
Last Victim by Helen H. Durrant
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA two-month-old baby is missing. James’s parents left him with a babysitter while they went out for dinner. But when they get home, there’s no sign of baby or sitter.This is the last thing DCI Rachel King wants to hear on her last night of maternity leave. But worse is to come. The missing infant belongs to Scott Agnew, alleged member of Manchester drug-dealing ring, the Trio... -
![Jack and the Giant Killer by Christopher Greyson]()
Jack and the Giant Killer by Christopher Greyson
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsYou said people were safe so he wanted to let them know they’re not. He wants people to be afraid. He wants them to be scared. If you want to catch this killer, let him know that he accomplished his goal. You need to let people know that he’s right—they should be scared because they’re not safe... -
![The Girl in the Sand by L.T. Vargus, Tim McBain]()
The Girl in the Sand by L.T. Vargus, Tim McBain
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsShallow graves scar the desert landscape. A cemetery in the sand. Some of the lost are never found. Thousands of girls go missing every year in Las Vegas. Taken. Bought and sold. Or worse. And now the dead are calling. These lost girls summon FBI Profiler Violet Darger to Sin City -- a new case... -
![Message in the Grave by Dawn Merriman]()
Message in the Grave by Dawn Merriman
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA psychic suspense thriller The darker the secret, the harder it is to keep buried I’m finally accepting that my psychic talents serve a purpose, that I can use them to help people. But two mysteries plague me... -
![The Sirani Connection by Estelle Ryan]()
The Sirani Connection by Estelle Ryan
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsStolen masterpieces. Deadly narcotics. Artificial intelligence.A mysterious email and the arrest of a fugitive art thief send Doctor Genevieve Lenard and her team to Prague, where it soon becomes apparent that this theft has a close connection to a sadistic killer they've been tracking for almost a year... -
![I'm Still Here by Jon Mills]()
I'm Still Here by Jon Mills
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsStill haunted by her brother’s disappearance and the high profile murder trial that gripped the nation, New York homicide detective, Kara Walker deals with survivor’s guilt by tracking down killers. But as the anniversary of her brothers abduction approaches, Kara receives news of her mother’s death and is drawn back to her rural hometown in the Olympic Peninsula to tie up loose ends... -
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![Where The Dead Fall by M.J. Lee]()
Where The Dead Fall by M.J. Lee
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsOne chance encounter, one street side murder, will change everything… The extraordinary new Ridpath crime thrillerManchester has been at peace for twenty years. Not any more.DI Ridpath is in the process of getting his life back together when everything goes wrong... -
![Looking Glass by Andrew Mayne]()
Looking Glass by Andrew Mayne
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsProfessor Theo Cray caught one of the most prolific serial killers in history using revolutionary scientific methods. Cut off from university research because of the shroud of suspicion around him after the death of his former student and the aftermath of catching his quarry, Cray tries to rebuild his life but finds himself drawn into another unsolved case... -
![Unbound Ties: When the past unravels, all that’s left is death ... by Liz Mistry]()
Unbound Ties: When the past unravels, all that’s left is death ... by Liz Mistry
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhen the past unravels, all that’s left is death.Lavender’s blue, dilly dilly,When DI Gus McGuire is called out to the murder of a pregnant woman, the crime scene tells him that this killer is not only taunting them … he’s also just getting started.Lavender’s green,With ritualistic precision, the killer has placed a series of clues beneath the victim’s feet...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled thriller mystery suspense law-enforcement police-procedural domestic-drama -
![A L'ombre Du Mal by Robert Crais, Hubert Tézenas]()
A L'ombre Du Mal by Robert Crais, Hubert Tézenas
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsElvis Cole is Back--In a Desperate Fight to Clear his Name... It's fire season, and the hills of Los Angeles are burning. When police and fire department personnel rush door to door in a frenzied evacuation effort, they discover the week-old corpse of an apparent suicide... -
![Wired In by Toby Neal]()
Wired In by Toby Neal
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsParadise has no protection from a hacker with a hidden agenda.Do you love a woman sleuth with a dark past, a great dog, and a complicated romantic life?Meet tech agent Sophie Ang.Sophie’s emotions are battered by a child kidnapping case, and in tracking the criminal ring, her rogue data analysis program D.A.V.I.D...Categorized as:
amateur-sleuth crime investigator thriller action-adventure animals anthologies conspiracies -
![Chosen Prey by John Sandford]()
Chosen Prey by John Sandford
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsA New York Times bestseller! Lucas Davenport returns in the most harrowing and unexpected Prey novel yet—the story of a congenial man, and his most uncongenial obsession...An art history professor and writer and cheerful pervert, James Qatar had a hobby: he took secret photographs of women and turned them into highly sexual drawings. One day, he took the hobby a step further and.. -
![Murder in the Village by Faith Martin, Gemma Dawson]()
Murder in the Village by Faith Martin, Gemma Dawson
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA would-be politician is found battered to death in the kitchen of his expensive home in a lovely Oxfordshire village. His wife's alibi is full of holes and there's another woman in the background. And what about his seemingly mild-mannered political rival? DI Hillary Greene tries to get to the bottom of this perplexing murder... -
![No Way Back by Rick Mofina, Christian Rummel]()
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... -
![One-Eyed Jack by Kristi Belcamino]()
One-Eyed Jack by Kristi Belcamino
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe men, mostly virgins, gather in the darkest corners online, drawn together by a common self-hatred. They hate the way they look. They hate their disastrous sex lives. They hate alpha malesThere is only one thing they hate women.Women are the root of all their problems. Women are inferior and deserve to be punished for rejecting them... -
![Bad Blood by L.T. Vargus, Tim McBain]()
Bad Blood by L.T. Vargus, Tim McBain
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe body slumps over the steering wheel. Pools of blood going tacky on the dash. Two shots to the back of the head. A mafia-style hit in a small town.So Special Agent Violet Darger arrives in rural Michigan. She must make sense of this savagery. Figure out how something like this could happen in an idyllic town of just 5,000.The victim had been living the American dream... -
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![Blood Work by Michael Connelly]()
Blood Work by Michael Connelly
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsNew York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly presents his most ambitious, most gripping achievement to date--a novel of masterly suspense and righteous obsession that will never let you go.When Graciella Rivers steps onto his boat, ex-FBI agent Terrell McCaleb has no idea he's about to come out of retirement. He's recuperating from a heart transplant and avoiding anything stressful...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled investigator thriller 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
![The Narrows by Michael Connelly]()
The Narrows by Michael Connelly
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 34 ratingsFBI agent Rachel Walling finally gets the call she's dreaded for years, the one that tells her the Poet has surfaced. She has never forgotten the serial killer who wove lines of poetry in his hideous crimes--and apparently he has not forgotten her.Former LAPD detective Harry Bosch gets a call, too--from the widow of an old friend...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled investigator thriller 21st-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
![The Southern Lawyer by Peter O'Mahoney]()
The Southern Lawyer by Peter O'Mahoney
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAfter more than twenty years away from the law, Joe Hennessy is forced back into the courtroom…Trying to save his vineyard after years of drought, Hennessy returns to practice in the city he walked away from after the murder of his ten-year-old son—Charleston, South Carolina... -
![Her Last Day by T.R. Ragan]()
Her Last Day by T.R. Ragan
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIn this page-turner of a thriller by bestselling author T.R. Ragan, unlikely partners PI Jessie Cole and crime reporter Ben Morrison search for clues to a mystery buried in their own pasts—only to discover that sometimes the truth is better off buried... -
![Neon Prey by John Sandford, Richard Ferrone]()
Neon Prey by John Sandford, Richard Ferrone
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsListening length: 11 hours and 17 minutesClayton Deese looks like a small-time criminal, muscle for hire when his loan shark boss needs to teach someone a lesson. Now, seven months after a job that went south and landed him in jail, Deese has skipped out on bail, and the U.S. Marshals come looking for him... -
![Caleb by Jeff Menapace]()
Caleb by Jeff Menapace
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsVengeance is therapy.Caleb Lambert kills people for a living. The money is nice, but it comes a distant second to his primary reason for choosing such a Caleb often calls it “scratching an itch.”Here’s the thing, Caleb won’t just accept any contract. He and his team thoroughly vet each and every prospective mark to make sure they deserve to be punished... -
![The Creek Killer by Dominika Best]()
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 thriller mystery fiction contemporary law-enforcement police-procedural action-adventure -
![The House that Jack Built by Willow Rose]()
The House that Jack Built by Willow Rose
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsScott Kingston is afraid of monsters. He thinks they’re lurking outside his bedroom window at night when his mother tucks him in. He asks his mother to keep the light on to scare the monsters away. But that light is exactly what lures the kidnapper to his window and the next morning, Scott Kingston is gone... -
![Hear No Evil by J.M. Dalgliesh]()
Hear No Evil by J.M. Dalgliesh
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhen the bonds of brotherhood are strained, who do you turn to?The celebration of the Viking Festival of Scira ensures that thousands descend annually on the small coastal town of Sheringham, but when one man dies amidst the grand finale, it falls to DI Tom Janssen and his team to identify who the victim was and how he met such a grisly end... -
![Blood of Others by Rick Mofina]()
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... -
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![Mastermind by Andrew Mayne]()
Mastermind by Andrew Mayne
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsA mysterious electrical storm plunges Manhattan into darkness. As a strange, smothering fog rolls in, all communication crashes. In the blink of an eye, the island seems to vanish into a void.FBI special agent Jessica Blackwood and brilliant scientist Dr. Theo Cray know this isn’t a freak accident. It’s a sinister sleight of hand... -
![Dead to Me by J.M. Dalgliesh]()
Dead to Me by J.M. Dalgliesh
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsLet go of your past... or it will be the death of you...When a man's body is discovered crammed into the boot of an abandoned car in a remote location, DI Tom Janssen and his team must unpick his life to find out how he came to be there.The victim was a local man, popular with some although hated by others, and he had a habit of making enemies, enemies that any sane man would seek to avoid... -
![Murdered by Prejudice: A Liz Lucas Cozy Mystery Series by Dianne Harman]()
Murdered by Prejudice: A Liz Lucas Cozy Mystery Series by Dianne Harman
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA prison guard. A postmaster. A Forest Service employee. A U.S. Department of Agriculture employee. All murdered. They worked for the federal government, but so do a lot of other people. What else did they share? Seems like a serial killer is on the loose. And it looks like he’s targeting the sleepy community of Red Cedar... -
![The Suicide King by Kristi Belcamino]()
The Suicide King by Kristi Belcamino
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFormer assassin and mafia boss Eva Lucia Santella has lost everything she’s ever cared about, but is still attempting to carve out a new life for herself back in Italy as a modern day Robin Hood, devoted to taking down those who prey on the innocent. And she’s training an army of female assassins to help her do it. When one of her top lieutenants comes under attack, Eva vows revenge... -
![The Next Accident by Lisa Gardner]()
The Next Accident by Lisa Gardner
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFBI Agent Pierce Quincy is haunted by his daughter's death in a drunk-driving accident. Pierce knew about his daughter's problem with alcohol, and about her loneliness. And so, he is sure, did the man who killed her. Rainie Conner is an ex-cop with a past overshadowed by violence. She was once involved with Pierce in a harrowing case that brought them together personally and professionally... -
![Dead End Girl by L.T. Vargus, Tim McBain]()
Dead End Girl by L.T. Vargus, Tim McBain
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsHer body is broken. Wrapped in plastic. Dumped on the side of the road. She is the first. There will be more.The serial killer thriller that "refuses to let go until you've read the last sentence."The most recent body was discovered in the grease dumpster behind a Burger King. Dismembered. Shoved into two garbage bags and lowered into the murky oil... -
![Darkness, Take My Hand by Dennis Lehane]()
Darkness, Take My Hand by Dennis Lehane
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsMaster of new noir Dennis Lehane magnificently evokes the dignity and savagery of working-class Boston in Darkness, Take My Hand, a terrifying tale of redemption.Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro’s latest client is a prominent Boston psychiatrist, running scared from a vengeful Irish mob. The private investigators know about cold-blooded retribution... -
![Eyes of the Predator: The Pickham County Murders by Glenn Trust]()
Eyes of the Predator: The Pickham County Murders by Glenn Trust
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratings***For Mature Readers*** Eyes scanning, searching, the predator sits motionless in a parking lot. His next victim is only feet away. Within hours a backwater south Georgia county will be rocked by two seemingly unrelated murders that signal the arrival of a serial killer in the rural southland... -
![The Curator by M.W. Craven]()
The Curator by M.W. Craven
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsIt's Christmas and a serial killer is leaving displayed body parts all over Cumbria. A strange message is left at each scene: #BSC6. Called in to investigate, the National Crime Agency's Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw are faced with a case that makes no sense... -
![Remnants by Carolyn Arnold]()
Remnants by Carolyn Arnold
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsSavannah, Georgia used to be a tranquil tourist destination—until human body parts started floating down the river.FBI Agent Brandon Fisher trusts his team with his life—or at least he did. It’s only been six months since Brandon’s boss almost died at the hands of a serial killer when the team is called to Savannah, Georgia... -
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![The Runaway by Nick Petrie]()
The Runaway by Nick Petrie
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsPetrie has a preternatural talent for ratcheting up suspense.--New York Times Book Review When Peter Ash rescues a stranded woman, he finds she's in far deeper trouble than he could ever imagine in the powerful new thriller in this bestselling and award-winning series... -
![Holmes, Marple & Poe: The Greatest Crime-Solving Team of the Twenty-First Century by James Patterson, Brian Sitts]()
Holmes, Marple & Poe: The Greatest Crime-Solving Team of the Twenty-First Century by James Patterson, Brian Sitts
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsCrime! Murder! Who are you going to call? In New York City, three intriguing, smart, and stylish private investigators open Holmes, Marple & Poe Investigations. Who are these detectives with famous names and mysterious, untraceable pasts?Brendan Holmes—The Brain: Identifies suspects via deduction and logic.Margaret Marple—The Eyes: Possesses powers of observation too often underestimated... -
![Running Blind by Lee Child, Dick Hill]()
Running Blind by Lee Child, Dick Hill
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsIn Jack Reacher, Lee Child has created an epic hero: tough, taciturn, yet vulnerable. His first three Reacher novels, Killing Floor, Die Trying and Tripwire, were published to great acclaim; Killing Floor was recently awarded the Anthony Award in America for the Best First Novel, and Die Trying was selected as a Thumping Good Read by W.H. Smith in the U.K...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled investigator thriller 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
![Gone Daddy Gone by Cheryl Bradshaw]()
Gone Daddy Gone by Cheryl Bradshaw
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA single moment is about to change Sloane Monroe's life forever. On an early winter morning, college student Shelby McCoy walks the quiet, snowy path back home. A tree branch snaps in the distance. Then another. A man is there with her, following close behind, whispering her name. She looks back, sees him gaining on her, and runs... -
![Misery Bay by Steve Hamilton]()
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... -
![Torpedo Juice by Tim Dorsey]()
Torpedo Juice by Tim Dorsey
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe drinks are on Sunshine State historian/spree killer Serge A. Storms, who's decided it's high time he got married. So he's motoring down to the Florida Keys -- the ultimate end of the line -- in search of Ms. Right . . .and finding his doped-up basket case bud Coleman along the way...
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