18 books like Painted Ladies

What to read after Painted Ladies — books similar to it, matched on shared themes.

The Judas Goat Robert B. Parker · 1978 · 181p · ≈ 6h · Moderate Private eye Spenser returns to take on the terrorists who killed his client's wife and daughters in a London bombing, chasing them across Europe to the Montreal Olympics and a devastating climax. Shares: Spenser, Boston, Private investigators

God Save the Child Robert B. Parker · 1974 · ★ 4.0 · 185p · ≈ 6h · Moderate New York Times bestselling author of the Spenser series of crime thrillers - Book 2 in the series -Appie Knoll is the kind of suburb where kids grow up right. But something is wrong. Fourteen-year-old Kevin Bartlett disappears. Everyone thinks he's run away -- until the comic strip ransom note arrives.  It doesn't take Spenser long to get the picture -- an affluent family seething with rage,… Shares: Spenser, Boston, Private investigators

Sudden Mischief Robert B. Parker · 1998 · 274p · ≈ 9h · Moderate Brad Sterling - former Harvard football player, ne'er-dowell, and Susan Silverman's long-out-of-touch ex-husband - is, by all appearances, a successful businessman. But when he is charged with sexual harassment in the course of running a vast fund-raiser called Galapalooza, he turns to Susan for help. Though Brad denies the charge, he's desperate, behind in alimony and child support to other… Shares: Spenser, Boston, Private investigators

The Widening Gyre Robert B. Parker · 1983 · ★ 4.0 · 183p · ≈ 6h · Moderate The adoring wife of a senatorial candidate has a smile as sweet as candy and dots her "i's" with little hearts. A blond beauty, she is the perfect mate for an ambitious politician, but she has a little problem with sex and drugs -- a problem someone has managed to put on videotape. The big boys figure a little blackmail will put her husband out of the race. Until Spenser hops on the candidate's… Shares: Spenser, Boston, Private investigators

Looking for Rachel Wallace Robert B. Parker · 1980 · ★ 4.5 · 219p · ≈ 7h · Moderate When Spenser accepts a job as a "bodyguard" for a beautiful young woman, he gets in way over his head. Shares: Spenser, Boston, Private investigators

Pale Kings and Princes Robert B. Parker · 1987 · ★ 4.0 · 312p · ≈ 10h · Moderate Spenser is hired to determine whether a reporter was killed by dope dealers or by an irate husband. Shares: Spenser, Boston, Private investigators

A Catskill Eagle Robert B. Parker · 1985 · ★ 4.0 · 311p · ≈ 10h · Moderate Spenser loves just one woman, even though she's the one he's just lost. So when her desperate letter arrives, he doesn't think twice. He has to free his best friend from a life sentence, and get Susan out of trouble. Shares: Spenser, Boston, Private investigators

Mortal Stakes Robert B. Parker · 1975 · ★ 4.0 · 330p · ≈ 11h · Moderate Everybody loves a winner, and the Rabbs are major league. Marty is the Red Sox star pitcher, Linda the loving wife. She loves everyone except the blackmailer out to wreck her life. Is Marty throwing fast balls or throwing games? It doesn't take long for Spenser to link Marty's performance with Linda's past...or to find himself trapped between a crazed racketeer and an enforcer toting an M-16.… Shares: Spenser, Boston, Private investigators

Ceremony Robert B. Parker · 1982 · ★ 4.0 · 231p · ≈ 7h · Moderate Spenser tracks down a young high school dropout who has run away from home to a life of prostitution. Shares: Spenser, Boston, Private investigators

The Friends of Eddie Coyle George V. Higgins · 1972 · ★ 4.0 · 192p · ≈ 6h · Moderate "Eddie Coyle is a small-time punk with a big-time problem - who to sell out to avoid being sent up again. Eddie works for Jimmy Scalisi, supplying him with guns for a couple of bank jobs. But a cop named Foley is onto Eddie, and he's leaning on him to finger Scalisi, a gang leader with a lot to hide. And then there's Dillon, a full-time bartender and a part-time contract killer pretending to be… Shares: Boston, Criminals

R. Holmes & Co. John Kendrick Bangs · 1906 · ★ 3.4 · 266p · ≈ 8h · Challenging The son of Sherlock Holmes (who also happens to also be the grandson of thief A. J. Raffles) decides to have his own adventures published. Upon selecting the man who will chronicle his life (much as Watson did for Holmes), we get the tale Raffles' astonishing origin, followed by an exciting series of adventures involving burglary, extortion, armed robbery, and more-with Raffles treading the fine… Shares: Criminals, Private investigators

The Professional Robert B. Parker · 2009 · ★ 3.9 · 289p · ≈ 9h · Moderate A knock on Spenser's office door can only mean one thing: a new case. This time the visitor is a local lawyer with an interesting story. Elizabeth Shaw specializes in wills and trusts at the Boston law firm of Shaw & Cartwright, and over the years she's developed a friendship with wives of very wealthy men. However, these rich wives have a mutual secret: they've all had an affair with a man named… Shares: Spenser, Boston, Private investigators

A Stranger in Mayfair Charles Finch · 2010 · 336p · ≈ 11h · Moderate In Charles Finch's A Stranger in Mayfair, the next enthralling installment in the Charles Lenox Mysteries, detective Lenox tries to resist the lure of a case and focus on his new career in Parliament. Returning from a continental honeymoon with his new wife, Lady Jane, Lenox is asked by a colleague in Parliament to consult in the murder of a footman, bludgeoned to death with a brick. His… Shares: Private investigators, Investigation, Crime

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, Crime

Moonlight Mile Dennis Lehane · 2010 · ★ 4.0 · 381p · ≈ 12h · Moderate Amanda McCready was four years old when she vanished from a Boston neighborhood twelve years ago. Desperate pleas for help from the child's aunt led investigators Kenzie and Gennaro to take on the case. The pair risked everything to find the young girl, only to orchestrate her return to a neglectful mother and a broken home. Now Amanda is sixteen and gone again. A stellar student, brilliant but… Shares: Boston, Private investigators, Investigation

The Heist Daniel Silva · 2014 · ★ 4.5 · 475p · ≈ 15h · Moderate Gabriel Allon, art restorer and occasional spy, searches for a stolen masterpiece by Caravaggio. Sometimes the best way to find a stolen masterpiece is to steal another one. Shares: Art thefts, Investigation

Private James Patterson & Maxine Paetro · 2008 · ★ 3.9 · 387p · ≈ 12h · Moderate The police can't help you Former CIA agent Jack Morgan runs Private, a renowned investigation company with branches around the globe. It is where you go when you need maximum force and maximum discretion. The secrets of the most influential men and women on the planet come to Jack daily--and his staff of investigators uses the world's most advanced forensic tools to make and break their… Shares: Private investigators, Investigation, Crime

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, Crime

About the book Painted Ladies →