18 books like Murder at the Breakers

What to read after Murder at the Breakers — books similar to it, matched on shared themes.

Murder at Chateau sur Mer Alyssa Maxwell · 2017 · 291p · ≈ 9h · Moderate Covering a polo match for the Observer, Emmas job is to take note of the real players off the field -- Newports well-bred elite. But the fashionable façade is breached when a woman in gaudy clothing creates a scene demanding to speak to the wife of Senator George Wetmoreuntil she is escorted off the grounds by the police. The next morning, police detective Jesse Whyte asks Emma to meet him at the… Shares: Rhode island, Reporters and reporting, Women journalists, Investigation

Murder at Beechwood Alyssa Maxwell · 2015 · ★ 4.5 · 332p · ≈ 11h · Moderate Having turned down the proposal of Derrick Andrews, Emma Cross has no imminent plans for matrimony--let alone motherhood. But when she discovers an infant left on her doorstep, she naturally takes the child into her care. Using her influence as a cousin to the Vanderbilts and a society page reporter for the "Newport Observer", Emma launches a discreet search for the baby's mother. But as Emma… Shares: Rhode island, Reporters and reporting, Women journalists, Investigation

Murder at Rough Point Alyssa Maxwell · 2016 · ★ 4.0 · 299p · ≈ 9h · Moderate In glittering Newport, Rhode Island, at the close of the nineteenth century, status is everything. But despite being a poorer relation to the venerable Vanderbilts, Emma Cross has shaped her own identity--as a reporter and a sleuth. Fancies and Fashion reporter Emma Cross is sent by the Newport Observer to cover an elite house party at Rough Point, the "cottage" owned by her distant cousin… Shares: Rhode island, Reporters and reporting, Women journalists, Investigation

Murder at Marble House Alyssa Maxwell · 2014 · ★ 4.5 · 333p · ≈ 11h · Moderate With the dawn of the twentieth century on the horizon, the fortunes of the venerable Vanderbilt family still shine brightly in the glittering high society of Newport, Rhode Island. But when a potential scandal strikes, the Vanderbilts turn to cousin and society page reporter Emma Cross to solve a murder of a fortune teller and the disappearance of Consuelo Vanderbilt. Shares: Rhode island, Reporters and reporting, Women journalists, Investigation

Murder at Ochre Court Alyssa Maxwell · 2018 · ★ 4.0 · 305p · ≈ 10h · Moderate For fans of HBO’s The Gilded Age, explore the dark side of the alluring world of America’s 19th century elite in this gripping series of riveting mysteries…In the summer of 1898, reporter Emma Cross investigates a shocking death among the bright lights of Newport's high society . . . After a disappointing year as a society columnist for the Herald, Emma has returned to the salty air, glittering… Shares: Rhode island, Women journalists, Investigation, Murder

Lady in the Lake Laura Lippman · 2019 · ★ 3.5 · 384p · ≈ 12h · Moderate "The revered New York Times bestselling author returns with a novel set in 1960s Baltimore that combines modern psychological insights with elements of classic noir, about a middle-aged housewife turned aspiring reporter who pursues the murder of a forgotten young woman. In 1966, Baltimore is a city of secrets that everyone seems to know--everyone, that is, except Madeline "Maddie" Schwartz. Last… Shares: Reporters and reporting, Women journalists, Investigation, Murder

The note II Angela Elwell Hunt · 2009 From Christy Award–winning and bestselling author Angela Hunt comes The Note, the powerful story that inspired the Hallmark Channel original movie of the same name.Newspaper columnist Peyton MacGruder's advice column, The Heart Healer, is floundering--and so is she. Once passionate about helping others, Peyton now writes on autopilot, her own heart closed off by disappointment and regret.… Shares: Reporters and reporting, Women journalists

Trust Me Once Jan Coffey · 2001 · ★ 4.5 · 364p · ≈ 12h · Moderate From USA Today Bestselling Author Jan Coffey comes a riveting tale of betrayal and murder...TRUST ME ONCEA woman runs through the glittering streets of Newport with killers on her trail.She needs help. She needs someone she can trust…Attorney Sarah Rand thought she had left danger behind—until she returned home to discover she had been declared dead.The murder victim was wrongly identified as… Shares: Rhode island, Investigation, Murder

Smoky Mountain investigation Annslee Urban · 2014 · ★ 4.4 · 224p · ≈ 7h · Moderate A mysterious caller taunts journalist Kylie Harper with details about a decade-old death, leading her to a new trail of murder. Who is this deranged person and what does he want from her? Ex-Delta Force captain and Kylie's former love Nick Bentley fled their Smoky Mountain hometown after the murder of their classmate. When family duty calls him back, Nick comes face-to-face with Kylie and the… Shares: Women journalists, Investigation, Murder

A Burial at Sea Charles Finch · 2011 · 314p · ≈ 10h · Moderate In March 1873 aristocratic sleuth Charles Lenox undertakes a delicate espionage mission to Egypt, where five British agents have been killed, apparently by the French. But soon after Charles's ship sets sail, the captain calls on him to dust off his deductive skills when a crew member is murdered and left eviscerated on the deck. Shares: Investigation, Murder

Moonlight Becomes You Mary Higgins Clark · 1996 · ★ 3.9 · 339p · ≈ 11h · Moderate Maggie Holloway is unsatisfied with the explanation for her former stepmother's death, and when the residents of a nursing home begin dying suddenly and inexplicably she becomes suspicious. It is only later that she realizes she herself is a target for a twisted killer. Shares: Rhode island, Investigation, Murder

Sharp Objects Gillian Flynn · 2006 · ★ 4.0 · 312p · ≈ 10h · Moderate WICKED above her hipbone, GIRL across her heart Words are like a road map to reporter Camille Preaker's troubled past. Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, Camille's first assignment from the second-rate daily paper where she works brings her reluctantly back to her hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls.NASTY on her kneecap, BABYDOLL on her legSince she left town eight years… Shares: Women journalists, Investigation, Murder

Bad wolf Nele Neuhaus · 2014 · ★ 3.7 · 464p · ≈ 15h · Moderate "On a hot June day the body of a sixteen-year-old girl washes up on a river bank outside of Frankfurt. She has been brutally murdered, but no one comes forward with any information as to her identity. Even weeks later, the local police have not been able to find out who she is. Then a new case comes in: A popular TV reporter is attacked, raped, and locked in the trunk of her own car. She… Shares: Reporters and reporting, Investigation, Murder

The Redbreast Jo Nesbø · 2007 · ★ 4.5 · 448p · ≈ 14h · Moderate Don’t Miss the Netflix series Detective Hole, based on Jo Nesbo’s Harry Hole series, premiering March 26, 2026!“An elegant and complex thriller….Harrowingly beautiful.” —New York Times Book Review“The Redbreast certainly ranks with the best of current American crime fiction.” —Washington PostJo Nesbø, the New York Times bestselling author of The Snowman, has solidified his spot as one of the most… Shares: Investigation, Murder

Swimsuit James Patterson · 1997 · ★ 3.7 · 356p · ≈ 11h · Moderate THE BEACH...A breathtakingly beautiful supermodel disappears from a swimsuit photo shoot at the most glamorous hotel in Hawaii. Only hours after she goes missing, Kim McDaniels's parents receive a terrifying phone call. Fearing the worst, they board the first flight to Maui and begin the hunt for their daughter....WILL NEVER BE...Ex-cop Ben Hawkins, now a reporter for the L.A. Times, gets the… Shares: Reporters and reporting, Investigation, Murder

City of Stairs Robert Jackson Bennett · 2014 · ★ 4.3 · 452p · ≈ 15h · Moderate The city of Bulikov once wielded the powers of the gods to conquer the world, enslaving and brutalizing millions — until its divine protectors were killed. Now, Bulikov’s history has been censored and erased, its citizens subjugated. But the surreal landscape of the city itself, forever altered by the thousands of miracles its guardians once worked upon it, stands as a haunting reminder of its… Shares: Investigation, Murder

A Rare Interest In Corpses Ann Granger · 2006 · 408p · ≈ 13h · Moderate A classic mystery from "an accomplished veteran . . . [ who] knows her history and relates it with charm in this peek at Victorian morals and foibles" (Kirkus Reviews).   It is 1864 when Lizzie Martin takes up the post of lady's companion to a wealthy widow who is also a slum landlord. Lizzie is intrigued to learn that her predecessor as companion had disappeared, supposedly… Shares: Investigation, Murder

Ghost Shadow Heather Graham · 2010 · ★ 4.0 · 400p · ≈ 13h · Moderate "There are those who walk among us who are no longer alive, but not yet crossed over. They seek retribution, vengeance, to warn. Among the living, few intuit their presence. Katie O'Hara is one who can. As she's drawn deeper and deeper into a gruesome years-old murder, whispered warnings from a spectral friend become more and more insistent. But Katie must uncover the truth: could David Beckett… Shares: Investigation, Murder

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