18 books like Murder in Three Acts

What to read after Murder in Three Acts — books similar to it, matched on shared themes.

Presumed Innocent Scott Turow · 1987 · ★ 4.0 · 431p · ≈ 14h · Moderate The novel that launched Turow's career as one of America's pre-eminent thriller writers tells the story of Rusty Sabicch, chief deputy prosecutor in a large Midwestern city. With three weeks to go in his boss' re-election campaign, a member of Rusty's staff is found murdered; he is charged with finding the killer, until his boss loses and, incredibly, Rusty finds himself accused of the murder. Shares: Detective and mystery fiction, Murder, Mystery

Mystic river Dennis Lehane · 2001 · ★ 4.2 · 496p · ≈ 16h · Moderate When they were children, Sean Devine, Jimmy Marcus, and Dave Boyle were friends. But then a strange car pulled up to their street. One boy got into the car, two did not, and something terrible happened -- something that ended their friendship and changed all three boys forever. Twenty-five years later, Sean is a homicide detective. Jimmy is an ex-con who owns a corner store. And Dave is trying to… Shares: Investigation, Murder, Mystery

Prayers for rain Dennis Lehane · 1999 · ★ 4.1 · 478p · ≈ 15h · Moderate The master of the new noir, Dennis Lehane delivers a shattering tale of evil, depravity, and justice that captures the dark realism of Boston’s gritty blue-collar streets.Private Investigator Patrick Kenzie wants to know why a former client, a perky woman in love with life, could, within six months, jump naked from a Boston landmark -- the final fall in a spiral of self-destruction. What he finds… Shares: Private investigators, Mystery

Red Dragon Thomas Harris · 1981 · ★ 4.1 · 415p · ≈ 13h · Moderate Red Dragon is a novel by American author Thomas Harris, first published in 1981. The plot follows former FBI profiler Will Graham, who comes out of retirement to find and apprehend an enigmatic serial-killer nicknamed "The Tooth Fairy". The novel introduced the character Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial-killer, whom Graham reluctantly turns to for advice and… Shares: Mystery

The Line of Beauty Alan Hollinghurst · 2004 · ★ 3.8 · 501p · ≈ 16h · Moderate It is the summer of 1983, and twenty-year-old Nick Guest has moved into an attic room in the Notting Hill home of the Feddens: conservative Member of Parliament Gerald, his wealthy wife Rachel, and their two children, Toby--whom Nick had idolized at Oxford--and Catherine, highly critical of her family's assumptions and ambitions, who becomes both a friend to Nick and his uneasy… Shares: Community pick

Poirot's Early Cases Agatha Christie · 1963 · ★ 3.9 · 304p · ≈ 10h · Moderate With his career still in its formative years, we learn many things about how Poirot came to exercise those famous "grey cells" so well. Fourteen of the eighteen stories collected herein are narrated by Captain Arthur Hastings—including what would appear to be the earliest Poirot short story, The Affair at the Victory Ball, which follows soon on the events of The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Two… Shares: Private investigators in fiction, Poirot, Hercule Poirot, English Detective and mystery stories

Death in the Clouds Agatha Christie · 1935 · ★ 3.9 · 254p · ≈ 8h · Challenging From seat number nine, Hercule Poirot is almost ideally placed to observe his fellow air travelers on this short flight from Paris to London. Over to his right sits a pretty young woman, clearly infatuated with the man opposite. Ahead, in seat number thirteen, is the Countess of Horbury, horribly addicted to cocaine and not doing too good a job of concealing it. Across the gangway in seat number… Shares: Murder in fiction, Private investigators in fiction, Poirot, Hercule Poirot

Murder in the Mews Agatha Christie · 1955 · ★ 3.8 · 222p · ≈ 7h · Moderate When a young woman is found in a locked room having been shot, the police assume it’s suicide. However, when Poirot looks further he begins to suspect murder – would a right-handed woman shoot herself from the left? A story of novella length, it was first published in Woman’s Journal in December 1936, and later formed one of four stories the collection, Murder in the Mews, published in 1937 by… Shares: Detective and mystery fiction, Poirot, Hercule Poirot, English Detective and mystery stories

The Labours of Hercules Agatha Christie · 1947 · ★ 3.8 · 258p · ≈ 8h · Challenging The Labours of Hercules is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1947. It features Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, and gives an account of twelve cases with which he intends to close his career as a private detective. His regular sidekicks (his secretary, Miss Lemon, and valet, George/Georges) make cameo appearances, as… Shares: Private investigators in fiction, Poirot, Hercule Poirot, English Detective and mystery stories

Dumb Witness Agatha Christie · 1937 · ★ 3.9 · 228p · ≈ 7h · Challenging Emily Arundel changed her will only days before her death, and Hercule Poirot must "determine which of the victim's disgruntled relatives did not have a motive for murder."--Cover. Shares: Private investigators in fiction, Poirot, Hercule Poirot, Private investigators

The Clocks Agatha Christie · 1963 · ★ 4.4 · 248p · ≈ 8h · Moderate Sheila Webb, typist-for-hire, has arrived at 19 Wilbraham Crescent in the seaside town of Crowdean to accept a new job. What she finds is a well-dressed corpse surrounded by five clocks. Mrs Pebmarsh, the blind owner of No. 19, denies all knowledge of ringing Sheila’s secretarial agency and asking for her by name — yet someone did. Nor does she own that many clocks. And neither woman seems to… Shares: Poirot, Hercule Poirot, English Detective and mystery stories, Private investigators

Elephants Can Remember Agatha Christie · 1969 · ★ 3.7 · 224p · ≈ 7h · Moderate E-book exclusive extras:1) Christie biographer Charles Osborne's essay on Elephants Can Remember;2) "The Poirots": the complete guide to all the cases of the great Belgian detective."The Ravenscrofts didn’t seem that kind of person. They seemed well balanced and placid…" And yet, twelve years earlier, the husband had shot the wife, and then himself — or perhaps it was the other way around, since… Shares: Poirot, Hercule Poirot, English Detective and mystery stories, Private investigators

The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding Agatha Christie · 1960 · ★ 3.8 · 264p · ≈ 8h · Moderate First came a sinister warning to Poirot not to eat any plum pudding...then the discovery of a corpse in a chest...next, an overheard quarrel that led to murder...the strange case of the dead man who altered his eating habits...and the puzzle of the victim who dreamt his own suicide. What links these five baffling cases? The little grey cells of Monsieur Hercule Poirot! Shares: Poirot, Hercule Poirot, English Detective and mystery stories, Private investigators

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe Agatha Christie · 1940 · ★ 3.8 · 201p · ≈ 6h · Challenging The dentist was found with a blackened hole below his right temple. A pistol lay on the floor near his outflung right hand. Later, one of his patients was found dead from a lethal dose of local anaesthetic. A clear case of murder and suicide. But why would a dentist commit a crime in the middle of a busy day of appointments? A shoe buckle holds the key to the mystery. Now – in the words of the… Shares: Poirot, Hercule Poirot, English Detective and mystery stories, Private investigators

Murder on the Links Agatha Christie · 1923 · ★ 3.9 · 193p · ≈ 6h · Challenging Belgian detective Hercule Poirot is summoned to France after receiving a distressing letter with a urgent cry for help. Upon his arrival in Merlinville-sur-Mer, the investigator finds the man who penned the letter, the South American millionaire Monsieur Renauld, stabbed to death and his body flung into a freshly dug open grave on the golf course adjoining the property. Meanwhile the… Shares: Poirot, Hercule Poirot, English Detective and mystery stories, Private investigators

The Hollow Agatha Christie · 1946 · ★ 3.9 · 280p · ≈ 9h · Challenging E-book exclusive extras:1) Christie biographer Charles Osborne's essay on The Hollow;2) "The Poirots": the complete guide to all the cases of the great Belgian detective. Shares: Private investigators in fiction, Poirot, Hercule Poirot, Private investigators

Mrs. McGinty's Dead Agatha Christie · 1951 · ★ 3.9 · 254p · ≈ 8h · Moderate Poirot, disillusioned by the "senseless cruel brutality" of modern crime, pays no attention to the sad case of Mrs McGinty, an old woman apparently struck dead by her lodger for thirty pounds that she kept under a floorboard. When, however, he is asked by the investigating officer to take another look at the case to stop an innocent man going to the gallows, he realises that things may not be as… Shares: Poirot, Hercule Poirot, English Detective and mystery stories, Private investigators

Peril at End House Agatha Christie · 1932 · ★ 4.0 · 279p · ≈ 9h · Challenging Hercule Poirot is vacationing on the Cornish coast when he meets Nick Buckley. Nick is the young and reckless mistress of End House, an imposing structure perched on the rocky cliffs of St. Loo. Poirot quickly takes a particular interest in the young woman. Recently, she has narrowly escaped a series of life-threatening accidents. Something tells the Belgian sleuth that these so-called accidents… Shares: Poirot, Hercule Poirot, English Detective and mystery stories, Private investigators

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