18 books like The Gangster

What to read after The Gangster — books similar to it, matched on shared themes.

Murder in the Ball Park

Murder in the Ball Park Robert Goldsborough · 2014 · 240p · ≈ 8h · Moderate A killer hiding among the crowd at a Dodgers-Giants game forces Nero Wolfe to step up to the plate in this "superb" mystery (Publishers Weekly, starred review). Archie Goodwin and Saul Panzer have ventured into the wilds of northern Manhattan to watch the Giants take on the Dodgers at the Polo Grounds. The national anthem is just winding down when Panzer spies a notable in the box seats:… Shares New york, Private investigators

R. Holmes & Co. John Kendrick Bangs · 1906 · ★ 3.4 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

When the Sacred Ginmill Closes

When the Sacred Ginmill Closes Lawrence Block · 1986 · ★ 4.0 · 261p · ≈ 8h · Moderate In the dark days, in a sad and lonely place, ex-cop Matt Scudder is drinking his life away -- and doing "favors" for pay for his ginmill cronies. But when three such assignments flow together in dangerous and disturbing ways, he'll need to change his priorities from boozing to surviving. Shares New york, Private investigators

Strega

Strega Andrew Vachss · 1987 · ★ 4.0 · 293p · ≈ 9h · Moderate Andrew Vachss's implacable private eye has a new client, Strega. She wants Burke to find an obscene photograph--and that search will take him into the ocean that flows just beneath the city, an ocean whose currents are flesh and money, the anguish of children and the pleasure of twisted adults. It is a place that Burke can visit only at the risk of his sanity and his life. But between the power… Shares New york, Private investigators

The Face of Fear Dean Koontz · 1977 · ★ 3.9 · 244p · ≈ 8h · Moderate To stop a brutal killer, the NYPD enlists the help of clairvoyant Graham Harris. He sees the murders in his mind--sometimes at the moment they are happening. Then he sees the most terrifying vision of all--his own murder... Shares Criminals, New york

The History of the Life of Jonathan Wild, the Great Henry Fielding · 1754 · ★ 3.4 · 287p · ≈ 9h · Challenging Shares Organized crime, Criminals with this book.

The Awful Secret

The Awful Secret Bernard Knight · 2006 · 356p · ≈ 11h · Moderate Shares History with this book.

The Ivory Grin

The Ivory Grin Ross MacDonald · 1952 · 204p · ≈ 6h · Moderate Traveling from sleazy motels to stately seaside manors, The Ivory Grin is one of Lew Archer's most violent and macabre cases ever.A hard-faced woman clad in a blue mink stole and dripping with diamonds hires Lew Archer to track down her former maid, who she claims has stolen her jewelry. Archer can tell he's being fed a line, but curiosity gets the better of him and he accepts the case. He… Shares Private investigators

Dead Men's Money Joseph Smith Fletcher · 1920 · ★ 3.7 · 212p · ≈ 7h · Moderate A mysterious one-eyed stranger, a midnight meeting at a lonely spot on the Scottish border, the secret password "Panama", and a corpse This is the situation Hugh Moneylaws, a young law clerk finds himself facing. Who murdered the man he was sent to meet, and why? With the only two men who knew the purpose of the meeting dead, it would seem a puzzle that would never be solved. Yet to save himself… Shares History

The Lady of the Rivers

The Lady of the Rivers Philippa Gregory · 2011 · ★ 4.0 The Lady of the Rivers tells the story of Jacquetta, daughter of the Count of Luxembourg, and kinswoman to half the royalty of Europe, who was married to the great Englishman John, Duke of Bedford, uncle to Henry VI. Widowed at the age of nineteen she took the extraordinary risk of marrying a gentleman of her house­hold for love, and then carved out a life for herself as Queen Margaret of Anjou's… Shares History

The doorbell rang Rex Stout · 1965 · ★ 4.2 · 178p · ≈ 5h · Moderate Shares New york, Private investigators with this book.

Satanstoe ; or, The littlepage manuscripts, a tale of the colony James Fenimore Cooper · 1845 · 382p · ≈ 12h · Challenging Every chronicle of manners has a certain value. When customs are connected with principles, in their origin, development, or end, such records have a double importance; and it is because we think we see such a connection between the facts and incidents of the Littlepage Manuscripts, and certain important theories of our own time, that we give the former to the world. Shares New york, History

Smaldone Dick Kreck · 2009 · ★ 2.0 I never thought it would end.—Clyde SmaldoneStarted by Italian brothers from North Denver, the high-profile Smaldone crime syndicate began in the bootlegging days of the 1920s and flourished well into the late twentieth century. Connected to such notorious crime figures as Al Capone and Carlos Marcello, as well as to presidents and other politicians, charismatic Clyde Smaldone was the crime… Shares Organized crime, Criminals, History

Abraham Lincoln Seth Grahame-Smith · 2010 · ★ 4.2 · 366p · ≈ 12h · Moderate While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving a Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. Gifted with legendary height, strength, and skill with an ax, young Abe Lincoln sets out to avenge the death of his mother at the hands of a vampire. Shares Presidents

Canto for a Gypsy

Canto for a Gypsy Martin Cruz Smith · 1972 · ★ 4.0 · 191p · ≈ 6h · Moderate Gypsy antique dealer Roman Grey is back in one of Martin Cruz Smith's most beloved novels--​the exciting and fast-paced Canto for a Gypsy . The priceless Royal Crown of Hungary is on display in St Patrick's Cathedral in New York. Guarded by many, including the NYPD and the gypsy antique dealer Roman Grey, a heist is impossible. But everybody wants the legendary Crown of Saint Stephen. The… Shares New york

The Rough Riders Theodore Roosevelt · 1894 · 128p · ≈ 4h · Challenging "The Rough Riders (1899) is the story of the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, the regiment Roosevelt led to enduring fame in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. Roosevelt recounts how the regiment was raised from an unusual mixture of hardened southwestern frontiersmen and privileged northeastern college graduates, and how it trained in Texas and then sailed "southward through the topic seas… Shares Presidents, History

Judas Astrid Holleeder · 2018 · ★ 4.0 · 416p · ≈ 13h · Moderate "This stunning, edge-of-your seat memoir chronicles Astrid's terrifying experience working as a double agent, preserving her brother's trust just so that she could get enough information to put him away for life. Judas is the intimate account of Astrid's deeply personal betrayal, set against the backdrop of their haunting family history and the astonishing world of the criminal… Shares Organized crime, Criminals

Mob star Gene Mustain · 1988 · ★ 4.3 · 269p · ≈ 8h · Moderate John Gotti is terminally ill; when he passes on to that great Mafia in the sky, co-author Capeci will be in great demand for interviews and will the plug the book.As he battles terminal cancer in a federal prison in Illinois, John Gotti, still the acting head of the Gambino Mafia family, is constantly in the news. Once Mr. Gotti ascends to Mafia heaven, he will be worldwide news-and Alpha will… Shares Organized crime, Criminals

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