18 books like Putting Lipstick on a Pig
Salvation Boulevard
Some cases test a private investigator's wits, others test his courage, and still others, his character. In Salvation Boulevard, P.I. Carl Van Wagener has found a case that tests them all, and then goes on to test his soul. A professor is dead and a suspect-who has confessed-is in custody. But nothing is what it seems. After all, the dead man is an atheist professor, the accused an Islamic…
Shares: Legal stories, Mystery
L'affaire Lerouge
Le jeudi 6 mars 1862, surlendemain du Mardi gras, cinq femmes du village de La Jonchere se presentaient au bureau de police de Bougival.
Shares: Mystery
Dead Men Tell No Tales
The classic story ties together themes of adventure and romance. Hornung's traditional writing style is incredibly descriptive and can be often relaxing to read. The story of Dead Men Tell No Tales doesn't rush but rather takes it's time to develop characters and provide indulgent details for readers. The tale of Mr. Cole and Ms. Eva is an excellent addition to any library and showcases some of…
Shares: Mystery
The Talleyrand Maxim
The “Talleyrand Maxim” holds that “With time and patience, the mulberry leaf is turned into satin.” The adage has the character of guidance for life for an ambitious legal clerk, Linford Pratt. Unlike most people, he decides to take extreme measures to get what he believes is his due.
Shares: Mystery
At the Villa Rose, in Four acts
The place: Aix-les-Bains, a lakeside town in southeast France, popular for vacations of the well-to-do.
The players:
(1) The young Englishman, Harry Wethermill, who, after a brilliant career at Oxford and at Munich, had applied his scientific genius and made a fortune for himself at the age of twenty-eight.
(2) Mr. Ricardo, approaching the fifties in age; a widower — "a state greatly to his…
Shares: Mystery
The House in Lordship Lane
Enter Bryan Devisher, over the side of the ketch in which Mordaunt was taking Mr. Julius Ricardo home to London on the summons of his old friend, Inspector Hanaud of the Paris Surete and the English ' idioms.' Exit, Devisher and Mordaunt. Enter Daniel Horbury. Exit Daniel Horbury-violently, with his throat slit in the garden room of the House in Lordship Lane, with Olivia, his wife, locked in her…
Shares: Mystery
L' Argent des autres
Vainement on chercherait dans Paris une rue plus paisible que la rue Saint-Gilles, au Marais, a deux pas de la place Royale.La, pas de voitures, jamais de foule. A peine le silence y est rompu par les sonneries reglementaires de la caserne des Minimes, par les cloches de l'eglise Saint-Louis ou par les clameurs joyeuses des eleves de l'institution Massin a l'heure des recreations.Le soir, bien…
Shares: Mystery
A Judgement in Stone
"A classic."--The London Times What on earth could have provoked a modern day St. Valentine's Day massacre?On Valentine's Day, four members of the Coverdale family--George, Jacqueline, Melinda and Giles--were murdered in the space of 15 minutes. Their housekeeper, Eunice Parchman, shot them, one by one, in the blue light of a televised performance of Don Giovanni. When Detective Chief…
Shares: Mystery
The Inklings Detective Agency
J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Agatha Christie, and other literary legends join forces to unravel a deadly conspiracy in this gripping mystery that sweeps from the halls of Oxford to the streets of London and the shores of Loch Ness.“This multiverse adventure is imaginative, intriguing, and wildly satisfying.”—John Hendrix, New York Times bestselling illustrator and author of The Mythmakers: The…
Shares: Mystery
The Briar Club
Washington, DC, 1950. Everyone keeps to themselves at Briarwood House, a down-at-the-heels all-female boardinghouse in the heart of the nation’s capital where secrets hide behind white picket fences. But when the lovely, mysterious widow Grace March moves into the attic room, she draws her oddball collection of neighbors into unlikely friendship: poised English beauty Fliss, whose facade of…
Shares: Mystery
A Gentleman of Very Few Words
Lord Julian Caldicott associates the seaside with war, partings, death, and dyspepsia. At the request of his dear Hyperia, he nevertheless journeys to the shore, where he and his lady plan to speak their wedding vows and begin their honey month at the oceanfront home of Lady Ophelia Oliphant.
Unbeknownst to Julian, Lady Ophelia has rented out cottages on her estate to a pack of professional…
Shares: Mystery
Murder and the Missing Treasure
When the celebrated biographer of the infamous pirate Blackheart takes a suite at the Mayfair Hotel to live out his final months, Goliath the porter is desperate to ask the one question that has haunted treasure hunters for Where is the loot buried? Forbidden to disturb a guest, he instead visits the man writing the author’s own life story, only to discover him dead at his desk. Accused of the…
Shares: Mystery
Murder at the Dressmaker's Salon
As fashion designer to London’s elite, she had an eye for detail and a flare for the dramatic. But there’s nothing stylish about her cold-blooded murder.
 
With the social season just around the corner, the women in Cleo’s family are having new outfits made by the most sought-after designer in the city. Madame Poitiers is bold, self-absorbed and not French, despite her claims.
 
When…
Shares: Mystery
The Lotus Shoes
NATIONAL BESTSELLER"Brilliantly written, masterful storytelling, and hard to put down. This story will stay with me for a very, very long time." —Heather Morris, #1 bestselling author of The Tattooist of AuschwitzAn empowering, uplifting tale of two women from opposite sides of society, and their extraordinary journey of sisterhood, betrayal, love and triumph.1800s China. Tightly bound feet,…
Shares: Mystery
The Housewives of Atomic Lane
'I absolutely devoured this… One of my favourites… Incredible… I was immersed from the very first page… Completely captivating' NetGalley reviewer, ★★★★★Four housewives. One quiet street. A Cold War secret that could destroy everything.In a town built around America’s most secretive nuclear site, housewife Betty Mahoney knows the rules: don’t ask questions, and don’t listen too closely.But when…
Shares: Mystery
Murder at Hambledon Hall
The genteel tranquility of a country house party is shattered when the gamekeeper is shot. Was his death the result of his recent indiscretions, or long-buried secrets?
 
The weekend was supposed to be an enjoyable time with her family at the neo-Gothic manor of Lord and Lady Kershaw, but when the gamekeeper is murdered, Cleo can’t rest until the killer is caught. As a witness herself, she’s…
Shares: Mystery
Murder on Harley Street
When a patient is electrocuted by a medical therapy device, the manufacturer proves it was tampered with. Who killed her? And what grudge did they hold against her doctor, whose reputation now lies in tatters?
The medical profession’s faith in electric shock therapies for treating female nervous conditions is shaken after a patient dies while connected to one such device. Harry Armitage is…
Shares: Mystery
The Chapel of Bones
Million-copy bestselling author Kate Ellis returns with the brand new mystery in the DI Wesley Peterson crime series.South Devon is returning to its usual calm after the summer tourist season when DI Wesley Peterson and his team receive a disturbing call. A mummified body has been discovered, hidden behind a wall, during the renovation of nearby Sycamore House.The body is that of Dr Aleric…
Shares: Mystery