Books like 'The Proving Ground'
Readers who enjoyed The Proving Ground by Michael Connelly also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary mystery suspense legal crime thriller noir technology law-enforcement police-procedural
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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... -
![An Isolated Incident by J.D. Kirk]()
An Isolated Incident by J.D. Kirk
Rated: 4.54 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsDo you know who's knocking at your door?After a violent home invasion in the remote wilds of Glen Coe leaves a family of four dead, DCI Jack Logan and his team are brought in to lead the manhunt... -
![Ahead of the Game by J.D. Kirk]()
Ahead of the Game by J.D. Kirk
Rated: 4.55 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsWhen a body is discovered at a popular Highland landmark, it seems like just another day on the job for DCI Jack Logan and his team.Except this body is missing a very vital component, and given its location - The Well of Seven Heads - it seems like someone is trying to send a message... -
![Six Graves by Angela Marsons]()
Six Graves by Angela Marsons
Rated: 4.75 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIt’s a typical teenage bedroom with posters covering the walls and clothes littering the floor. But the girl lying on her bed, wearing a delicate chain around her neck, is lifeless. A circle of red stains her white vest top and Kim feels a sharp stab of sadness... -
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![Graves on the Fens by Joy Ellis]()
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... -
![The Innocent Wife by Lisa Regan]()
The Innocent Wife by Lisa Regan
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsCandles are lit and their rich vanilla scent twists its way through the cabin. The table is set for a romantic anniversary dinner with fresh roses dropping crimson petals on crisp white linen... -
![The Killing Code by J.D. Kirk]()
The Killing Code by J.D. Kirk
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsWhat would you do if there weren't any consequences?After twenty years on the force, Detective Chief Inspector Jack Logan thinks he has seen it all.He is wrong.When a nurse is murdered on her way home from nightshift, Jack and his team go on the hunt for her killer... -
![Dead Memories by Angela Marsons]()
Dead Memories by Angela Marsons
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsShe ruined their lives. Now they’re going to destroy hers. ‘Someone is recreating every traumatic point in your life. They are doing this to make you suffer, to make you hurt and the only possible end game can be death. Your death.’ On the fourth floor of Chaucer House, two teenagers are found chained to a radiator. The boy is dead but the girl is alive... -
![Child's Play by Angela Marsons]()
Child's Play by Angela Marsons
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFinally we’re playing a game. A game that I have chosen. I give one last push of the roundabout and stand back. 'You really should have played with me,’ I tell her again although I know she can no longer hear... -
![Frozen Souls by Rita Herron]()
Frozen Souls by Rita Herron
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsShe looked like an angel. She lay perfectly still, silky blonde hair falling to her pale shoulders. Icicles clung to her eyelashes as snowflakes fluttered to the frozen ground, burying her body.As a snowstorm wreaks havoc in the mountain town of Crooked Creek, a woman is found buried in ice. Detective Ellie Reeves is first on the scene... -
![Lost Angels by Stacy Green]()
Lost Angels by Stacy Green
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhen Special Agent Nikki Hunt is called to the Boundary Waters near Stillwater, Minnesota, it’s not just the cold that shocks her to her core: the body of a young woman has been found frozen beside a remote lake... -
![Hope to Die by Cara Hunter]()
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 Waiting by Michael Connelly, Christine Lakin]()
The Waiting by Michael Connelly, Christine Lakin
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsLAPD Detective Renée Ballard tracks a terrifying serial rapist whose trail has gone cold with the help of the newest volunteer to the Open-Unsolved Patrol Officer Maddie Bosch, Harry's daughter.Renée Ballard and the LAPD's Open-Unsolved Unit get a hot shot DNA connection between a recently arrested man and a serial rapist and murderer who went quiet twenty years ago... -
![The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly]()
The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsMickey Haller has fallen on tough times. He expands his business into foreclosure defense, only to see one of his clients accused of killing the banker she blames for trying to take away her home. Mickey puts his team into high gear to exonerate Lisa Trammel, even though the evidence and his own suspicions tell him his client is guilty...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement legal noir police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure -
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![The Gathering Dark: Inspector McLean Book 8 by James Oswald]()
The Gathering Dark: Inspector McLean Book 8 by James Oswald
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe gripping new crime thriller in the highly acclaimed Inspector McLean series A truck driver loses control in central Edinburgh, ploughing into a crowded bus stop and spilling his vehicle's toxic load. The consequences are devastating. DI Tony McLean witnesses the carnage... -
![The Academy by Robert Dugoni]()
The Academy by Robert Dugoni
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsDriven by the disappearance of her sister, Tracy Crosswhite quits her job as a high school science teacher to join the Seattle Police Department. While most of her classmates and instructors at the academy want her to succeed, Detective Johnny Nolasco is hell-bent on keeping the boys’ club intact... -
![The Shape of Lies by Rachel Abbott, Lisa Coleman]()
The Shape of Lies by Rachel Abbott, Lisa Coleman
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsYesterday, Scott was dead.Today, he’s back.And Anna doesn’t believe in ghosts.Fourteen years ago Scott was Anna’s boyfriend. She loved him, but he ruined her life. When he died, she should have been free.But today Scott is on the radio, talking about her. Threatening to spill her secrets.Anna is a mother, a wife, and head teacher of a primary school. And she’s a very good liar... -
![The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly]()
The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsThings are finally looking up for defense attorney Mickey Haller. After two years of wrong turns, Haller is back in the courtroom. When Hollywood lawyer Jerry Vincent is murdered, Haller inherits his biggest case yet: the defense of Walter Elliott, a prominent studio executive accused of murdering his wife and her lover... -
![A Woman to Blame by Vincent Panettiere]()
A Woman to Blame by Vincent Panettiere
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsHours after a thoroughbred racehorse collapses and dies after finishing last in a race he was favored to win, his trainer—a young woman with a promising career—is found dead on a suburban Chicago beach. To the police, it's a simple case of murder-suicide. But Mike Hegan, veteran police detective, refuses to believe the official story... -
![A Deeper Fear by Allison Brennan]()
A Deeper Fear by Allison Brennan
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFBI Agent Lucy Kincaid’s husband, Sean Rogan, is in a dark place after being held captive. He won’t talk about it with anyone, not even Lucy. She’s hoping a conference in Sacramento, which includes family and the unveiling of a highly sought after drone Sean’s been working on, will help him heal... -
![City of The Dead by Jonathan Kellerman]()
City of The Dead by Jonathan Kellerman
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe past comes back to haunt psychologist Alex Delaware and Detective Milo Sturgis when they investigate a grisly double homicide and uncover an even more unspeakable motive in this riveting thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense.Los Angeles is a city of sunlight, celebrity, and possibility. The L.A. often experienced by Homicide Lt... -
![Malibu Burning by Lee Goldberg]()
Malibu Burning by Lee Goldberg
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFor a professional criminal and a relentless arson investigator, fear and revenge spread like wildfire in a an incendiary thriller by #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Goldberg.Hell comes to Southern California every October. It rides in on searing Santa Ana winds that blast at near hurricane force, igniting voracious wildfires. Master thief Danny Cole longs for the flames...Categorized as:
crime suspense law-enforcement thriller police-procedural mystery fiction action-adventure -
![Her Deadly Touch by Lisa Regan]()
Her Deadly Touch by Lisa Regan
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe woman is kneeling at a gravestone, her hair blowing in the breeze, a bunch of wilting yellow daffodils on the grass beside her. Her eyes are fixed on the ground and her mouth is parted in a silent prayer... -
![King City by Lee Goldberg]()
King City by Lee Goldberg
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsMajor Crimes Unit detective Tom Wade secretly worked with the Feds to nail seven of his fellow cops for corruption…turning him into a pariah in the police department. So he’s exiled to patrol a beat in King City’s deadliest neighborhood… with no back-up, no resources, and no hope of survival...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement noir police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
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![The Gods of Guilt by Michael Connelly]()
The Gods of Guilt by Michael Connelly
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 34 ratingsMickey Haller gets the text, "Call me ASAP - 187," and the California penal code for murder immediately gets his attention. Murder cases have the highest stakes and the biggest paydays, and they always mean Haller has to be at the top of his game...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement legal noir police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure -
![The Railway Murders by J.R. Ellis]()
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... -
![Dead Tomorrow by Peter James]()
Dead Tomorrow by Peter James
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 20 ratings*Lynn gripped the sides of the armchair, trying to put aside her own inner terror. 'I can't believe I'm thinking this, Ross. I'm not a violent person, even before Caitlin's influence, I never even liked killing flies in my kitchen. Now I'm sitting here actually willing some stranger to die...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
![And So It Begins by Rachel Abbott]()
And So It Begins by Rachel Abbott
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsMark and Evie had a whirlwind romance. Evie brought Mark back to life after the sudden death of his first wife. Cleo, Mark's sister, knows she should be happy for him. But Cleo doesn't trust Evie...When Evie starts having accidents at home, her friends grow concerned... -
![The Secret Witness by Victor Methos]()
The Secret Witness by Victor Methos
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFrom the bestselling author of A Killer’s Wife comes the thrilling first installment in the Shepard & Gray series, featuring a young sheriff who teams up with a former prosecutor to stop a copycat killer.This is Reaper speaking.So begins an anonymous letter published in a Utah newspaper after a young couple is viciously murdered... -
![The Burning Room by Michael Connelly]()
The Burning Room by Michael Connelly
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 34 ratingsIn the LAPD's Open-Unsolved Unit, not many murder victims die almost a decade after the crime. So when a man succumbs to complications from being shot by a stray bullet nine years earlier, Bosch catches a case in which the body is still fresh, but any other evidence is virtually nonexistent...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement legal noir police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure -
![My Child is Missing by Lisa Regan]()
My Child is Missing by Lisa Regan
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe little girl’s bright blue eyes are wide with fear, her hair tousled, her tears making tracks in the dirt smudged across her cheek. Curled tight in a tiny ball, it’s as if she wants to hide away forever. “He took her!” she cries. “He took my sister!”When a desperate mother calls Denton Police Department to report her children missing, Detective Josie Quinn races to investigate... -
![Mad River by John Sandford]()
Mad River by John Sandford
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThey thought they were Bonnie and Clyde. And what's-his-name, the sidekick. Three teenagers with dead-end lives, chips on their shoulders, and guns. The first person they killed was a woman during a robbery. The second was incidental. Simply in the way...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
![No Way Out by Allison Brennan]()
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... -
![Dead Ringer by Mary Burton]()
Dead Ringer by Mary Burton
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsSOME NIGHTMARES . . . Beside each body, he leaves a simple charm bearing a woman’s name. Ruth . Judith . Rachel. The victims were strangers to each other, but they have been chosen with the utmost care. Each bears a striking resemblance to Kendall Shaw, a local anchorwoman…each brutally strangled by a madman whose obsession will never end... DON’T FADE . . -
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![Bad Liar by Tami Hoag]()
Bad Liar by Tami Hoag
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsMasterful #1 New York Times bestselling author Tami Hoag is back with a riveting, emotionally powerful new thriller! Small town labels are hard to shake. Hometown hero. Fallen angel... -
![Third Watch by Robert Dugoni]()
Third Watch by Robert Dugoni
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsTracy Crosswhite’s ordinary night patrolling her Seattle beat becomes front page news when she responds to a domestic disturbance call that turns into a hostage crisis...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller adult alpha-mc anthologies -
![The Missing and the Dead by Stuart MacBride]()
The Missing and the Dead by Stuart MacBride
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsOne mistake can cost you everything…A little girl’s body washes up just outside the sleepy coastal town of Macduff, kicking off a major manhunt. Officially, the investigation is out of Sergeant Logan McRae’s hands, but DCI Steel’s Major Investigation Team, drafted in from Aberdeen, is getting nowhere fast.Steel is running out of ideas and time... -
![In Harm's Way by Viveca Sten]()
In Harm's Way by Viveca Sten
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA woman’s dangerous career comes to a chilling end in this spellbinding thriller by Viveca Sten, bestselling author of In the Heat of the Moment… The body of world-famous journalist Jeanette Thiels is discovered the day after Christmas, frozen in a snow-spotted garden just steps from her hotel on Sandhamn Island... -
![The Silent Watcher by Victor Methos]()
The Silent Watcher by Victor Methos
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe bestselling author of A Killer’s Wife delivers a haunting legal thriller, plunging the reader headlong into the search for a deadly stalker—and a quest to bring a young victim peace.Far from the neon glare of the Vegas strip, attorney Piper Danes walks away from a hotshot law firm to work as a guardian ad litem (GAL)... -
![Hidden in Shadows by Viveca Sten, Marlaine Delargy]()
Hidden in Shadows by Viveca Sten, Marlaine Delargy
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSecrets, vengeance, and a brutal murder unsettle an idyllic winter paradise in a blood-chilling novel of suspense by the acclaimed author of Hidden in Snow and the Sandhamn Murder series.In the Swedish resort of Åre, crime is rare. Certainly nothing so brutal as the murder of Johan Andersson, a former Olympic skier found bound and beaten to death in the forest... -
![La casa delle voci by Donato Carrisi]()
La casa delle voci by Donato Carrisi
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsPietro Gerber non è uno psicologo come gli altri. La sua specializzazione è l'ipnosi e i suoi pazienti hanno una cosa in comune: sono bambini. Pietro è il migliore di tutta Firenze, dove è conosciuto come l'addormentatore di bambini. Ma quando riceve una telefonata da parte di una collega australiana che gli raccomanda una paziente, Pietro reagisce con perplessità e diffidenza... -
![The Murders at Fleat House by Lucinda Riley]()
The Murders at Fleat House by Lucinda Riley
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsThe Murders at Fleat House is a suspenseful and utterly compelling crime novel from the multi-million copy global bestseller, Lucinda Riley.The sudden death of a pupil in Fleat House at St Stephen’s – a small private boarding school in deepest Norfolk – is a shocking event that the headmaster is very keen to call a tragic accident... -
![His Other Lie by Ava Strong]()
His Other Lie by Ava Strong
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsStella Fall, still reeling from the trauma of her deceitful fiancé and her failed engagement, has decided to pursue her dreams, follow in her father’s footsteps, and throw herself into law enforcement. Upon graduating from the FBI’s academy, she isf placed in the FBI’s Connecticut field office... -
![The Center Cannot Hold: A Ray Elkins Thriller by Aaron Stander]()
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:
suspense law-enforcement police-procedural crime thriller mystery fiction contemporary -
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![The Girl Who Ran Away: The McClintock-Carter Crime Thriller Series by Susan Lund]()
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... -
![A Plague of Secrets by John Lescroart]()
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]()
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]()
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... -
![Not Dead Enough by Peter James]()
Not Dead Enough by Peter James
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsOn the night Brian Bishop murdered his wife, he was sixty miles away, asleep in bed at the time. At least, that’s the way it looks to Detective Superintendent Roy Grace who is called in to investigate the kinky slaying of beautiful young Brighton socialite, Katie Bishop...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
![Saints of the Shadow Bible by Ian Rankin]()
Saints of the Shadow Bible by Ian Rankin
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsRebus and Malcolm Fox go head-to-head when a 30-year-old murder investigation resurfaces, forcing Rebus to confront crimes of the pastRebus is back on the force, albeit with a demotion and a chip on his shoulder. He is investigating a car accident when news arrives that a case from 30 years ago is being reopened...
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