18 books like Mystic river

What to read after Mystic river — books similar to it, matched on shared themes.

Big Little Lies Liane Moriarty · 2014 · ★ 4.5 · 482p · ≈ 16h · Moderate Pirriwee Public is a beautiful little beachside primary school where children are taught that ‘sharing is caring.’ So how has the annual School Trivia Night ended in full-blown riot? Sirens are wailing. People are screaming. The principal is mortified. And one parent is dead. Was it a murder, a tragic accident or just good parents gone bad? As the parents at Pirriwee Public are about to discover,… Shares: Friendship, Murder, Thriller, Mystery

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: Police, Investigation, Murder

Next of Kin David Hosp · 2011 · ★ 3.8 · 400p · ≈ 13h · Moderate Next of kin is a persons closest living blood relative or relatives. Shares: Boston, Investigation, Murder, Thriller

Resurrection Men Double Sided A2 Poster Ian Rankin · 2001 · ★ 4.0 · 440p · ≈ 14h · Moderate Sent to a rehabilitation school after a serious mistake, Inspector John Rebus discovers that among his fellow "resurrection men" are a group of classmates plotting a drug heist and joins forces with his protTgT, Detective Sergeant Siobhan Clarke to investigate ties to an art dealer's murder, a crime that could lead to scandal and danger at the highest level of law enforcement. 50,000 first… Shares: Police, Thriller, Mystery

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

The Voice of the Night Dean Koontz · 1980 · ★ 4.0 · 277p · ≈ 9h · Moderate No one could understand why Colin and Roy were best friends. They were complete opposites. Colin was fascinated by Roy--and Roy was fascinated by death. Then one day Roy asked: "You ever killed anything?" And from that moment on, the two were bound together in a game to terrifying to imagine. Shares: Male friendship, Friendship, Thriller

Done in one Grant Jerkins · 2015 · ★ 3.8 · 276p · ≈ 9h · Moderate "One bullet equals one kill. For SWAT sniper Jake Denton, the bullet casings he saves as grim reminders of his "kills" are beginning to add up. His wife, his department-ordered psychiatrist, and even Jake himself are all beginning to question just how these sanctioned kills are affecting his mental health. Nobody wants him to end up like Lee Staley, his mentor and ex-partner--now out on permanent… Shares: Police, Investigation, Murder, Mystery

The Day of the Owl Leonardo Sciascia · 1984 · 124p · ≈ 4h · Moderate A man is shot dead as he runs to catch the bus in the piazza of a small Sicilian town. Captain Bellodi, the detective on the case, is new to his job and determined to prove himself. Bellodi suspects the Mafia, and his suspicions grow when he finds himself up against an apparently unbreachable wall of silence. A surprise turn puts him on the track of a series of nasty crimes. But all the while… Shares: Police, Investigation, Murder

14th Deadly Sin James Patterson & Maxine Paetro · 2015 · ★ 4.5 · 366p · ≈ 12h · Moderate With a beautiful baby daughter and a devoted husband, Detective Lindsay Boxer can safely say that her life has never been better. In fact (for a change), things seem to be going well for all the members of the Women's Murder Club as they gather to celebrate San Francisco Medical Examiner Claire Washburn's birthday. But the party is cut short when Lindsay is called to a gruesome crime scene, where… Shares: Police, Investigation, Friendship, Murder

The Yard Alex Grecian · 2012 · ★ 4.4 · 544p · ≈ 18h · Moderate As Jack the Ripper’s reign of terror in London comes to an end, a new era of depravity sets the stage for the first gripping mystery featuring the detectives of Scotland Yard’s Murder Squad.“If Charles Dickens isn’t somewhere clapping his hands for this one, Wilkie Collins surely is.”—The New York Times Book Review Victorian London—a violent cesspool of squalid sin. The twelve detectives of… Shares: Police, Investigation, Murder, Mystery

The King of Diamonds Simon Tolkien · 2011 · ★ 4.2 · 336p · ≈ 11h · Moderate David Swain has spent two years of his life sentence for murdering the lover of his ex-girlfriend, Katya Osman. On the night he escapes from prison, Katya is found murdered in her uncle's home. Inspector Trave heads the manhunt for David, but his personal life becomes entangled in case because his ex-wife his having an affair with Katya's uncle. Shares: Police, Investigation, Murder

Broken Harbor Tana French · 2012 · ★ 4.0 · 450p · ≈ 15h · Moderate The mesmerizing fourth novel of the Dublin murder squad by New York Times bestselling author Tana French Mick "Scorcher" Kennedy, the brash cop from Tana French’s bestselling Faithful Place, plays by the book and plays hard. That’s what’s made him the Murder squad’s top detective—and that’s what puts the biggest case of the year into his hands. On one of the half-built, half-abandoned "luxury"… Shares: Police, Investigation, Murder

Beau Death P Lovesey · 2018 · 416p · ≈ 13h · Moderate Shares: Police, Investigation, Murder

Dark tides Chris Ewan · 2014 · ★ 4.0 · 439p · ≈ 14h · Moderate "When Claire Cooper was eight years old her mother mysteriously vanished during Hop-tu-naa, Halloween on the Isle of Man. At fourteen, Claire is still struggling to come to terms with her disappearance when she's befriended by a group of five teenagers who mark every Halloween by performing dares. But Claire's arrival begins to alter the group's dynamic until one year a prank goes terribly wrong,… Shares: Police, Investigation, Friendship, Murder

Murder on the Mediterranean Alexander Campion · 2014 · ★ 4.4 · 384p · ≈ 12h · Moderate Even on a well-deserved Mediterranean cruise, murder follows Commissair Capucine Le Tellier. Shares: Police, Investigation, Murder

The D.A. Draws a Circle Erle Stanley Gardner · 1939 · 191p · ≈ 6h · Challenging A California D.A. investigates a corpse without clothes and bloody clothes without a body in this classic mystery by the author of the Perry Mason series."The bestselling author of the century . . . a master storyteller." —The New York TimesAlphonse Baker Carr is the smooth-talking defense lawyer murderers and gangsters turn to when they want to win in court. To escape the hustle… Shares: Police, Investigation, Murder, Mystery

The Bitter Season Tami Hoag · 2016 · ★ 4.5 Kovac and Liska take on multiple twisted cases as #1 New York Times bestselling author Tami Hoag explores a murder from the past, a murder from the present, and a life that was never meant to be. As the bitter weather of late fall descends on Minneapolis, Detective Nikki Liska is restless, already bored with her new assignment to the cold case squad. She misses the rush of pulling… Shares: Police, Investigation, Murder, Thriller

Find The Lady Roger Silverwood · 2008 · 224p · ≈ 7h · Moderate When gangster Mike Spagliotti is found shot through the head inside his locked New York hotel suite, it is a perplexing problem for Detective-Inspector Flannel. And when newspaper reporter Anita Curzon begins to interfere, Flannel's temper does not improve ... In THE EGYPTIAN TOMB Tony Gilmour and his friends Ron and Alan travel to Egypt to investigate the suspicious death of Ron's father - but… Shares: Police, Investigation, Murder

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