18 books like The Guards

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

The Wee Free Men Terry Pratchett · 1994 · ★ 4.5 · 317p · ≈ 10h · Moderate A riotous, wise, and gripping junior Discworld novel from the Carnegie Medal-winning author and acknowledged master of comic fantasy.Nine-year-old Tiffany Aching thinks her Granny Aching - a wise shepherd - might have been a witch, but now Granny Aching is dead and it's up to Tiffany to work it all out when strange things begin happening: a fairy-tale monster in the stream, a headless horseman… Shares: Community pick

Cross Ken Bruen · 2008 · ★ 4.3 · 288p · ≈ 9h · Moderate A boy has been crucified in Galway city. People are shocked; the broadsheets debate how the brutal death reflects the state of the nation; the Irish Church is scandalized. No further action is taken. Then the sister of the murdered boy is burned alive and PI Jack Taylor decides to take matters into his own hands. Taylor's investigations take him to old city haunts where he encounters ghosts –… Shares: Ex-police officers, Ireland, Private investigators, Mystery

Hidden Prey John Sandford · 2003 · ★ 4.0 · 393p · ≈ 13h · Moderate Det. Lucas Davenport has battled some real demons over the past 15 Prey novels and drifted in and out of lust and love with a host of women. But now he's happily married to the lovely Weather; has a nine month old son, Sam; and takes care of his 12-year old ward, Letty West. Shares: Private investigators in fiction, Private investigators, Police, Mystery

New York Dead Stuart Woods · 1991 · ★ 4.0 · 321p · ≈ 10h · Moderate It Was Just Luck. Everyone is always telling Stone Barrington that he's too smart to be a cop, but it's pure luck that places him on the streets in the dead of night, just in time to witness the horrifying incident that turns his life inside out. Suddenly he is on the front page of every New York newspaper, and his life is hopelessly entwined in the increasingly shocking life (and perhaps death)… Shares: Private investigators in fiction, Private investigators, Mystery

The Taking of Libbie, SD David Housewright · 2010 · ★ 4.4 · 310p · ≈ 10h · Moderate In David Housewright's The Taking of Libbie, SD, a grifter cons an entire town using Mac McKenzie's name, leaving the real McKenzie facing an angry town with nothing left to lose.Rushmore McKenzie is a retired cop, an unexpected millionaire, and an occasional unlicensed private investigator. So, it isn't the biggest surprise in the world when he's attacked and kidnapped from his home—McKenzie has… Shares: Ex-police officers, Private investigators

Day of the Dead J. A. Jance · 2004 · ★ 4.4 · 384p · ≈ 12h · Moderate E-Book Extra: More about J.A. Jance's Thrillers and More about J.A. JanceFor more than thirty years, the case has remained stone cold -- the brutal murder of a local Papago girl, her butchered body found stuffed into a large cooler that was left on the side of Highway 86. No one ever paid for the horrific crime... except, that is, the victim's loved ones, who suffer to this day.Brandon Walker,… Shares: Ex-police officers, Police, Mystery

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: Private investigators in fiction, Private investigators, Mystery

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, Private investigators, Mystery

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: Private investigators in fiction, Private investigators, Mystery

The Crossing Michael Connelly · 2015 · ★ 4.3 Detective Harry Bosch has retired from the LAPD, but his half-brother, defense attorney Mickey Haller, needs his help. A woman has been brutally murdered in her bed and all evidence points to Haller's client, a former gang member turned family man. Though the murder rap seems ironclad, Mickey is sure it's a setup. Bosch doesn't want anything to do with crossing the aisle to work for the defense.… Shares: Ex-police officers, Private investigators, Police

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, Mystery

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, Private investigators, Mystery

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: Private investigators in fiction, Private investigators, Mystery

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, Private investigators, Mystery

The Visitor Lee Child · 2000 · ★ 3.8 · 496p · ≈ 16h · Moderate Lee Child's latest unputdownable thriller starring Jack Reacher features a chilling serial killer.Sergeant Amy Callan and Lieutenant Caroline Cook have a lot in common. Both were army high-flyers.Both were acquainted with Jack Reacher.Both were forced to resign from the service. Now they're both dead.Both were found in their own home, naked, in a bath full of paint.Both apparent victims of an… Shares: Private investigators in fiction, Private investigators, Mystery

A Quiet Flame Philip Kerr · 2009 · ★ 4.2 · 416p · ≈ 13h · Moderate Philip Kerr returns with his best-loved character, Bernie Gunther, in the fifth novel in what is now a series: a tight, twisting, compelling thriller that is firmly rooted in history.A Quiet Flame opens in 1950. Falsely fingered a war criminal, Bernie Gunther has booked passage to Buenos Aires, lured, like the Nazis whose company he has always despised, by promises of a new life and a clean… Shares: Private investigators in fiction, Private investigators

Trent's Last Case E. C. Bentley · 1900 · ★ 4.1 · 182p · ≈ 6h · Challenging Trent investigates the death of an industrialist. He solves the case three times, each time getting closer to the truth. Shares: Private investigators in fiction, Private investigators, Mystery

Dead Man's Folly Agatha Christie · 1956 · ★ 3.8 · 232p · ≈ 7h · Moderate Whilst organising a mock murder hunt for the village fete hosted by Sir George and Lady Stubbs, a feeling of dread settles on the famous crime novelist Adriane Oliver. Call it instinct, but it's a feeling she just can't explain…or get away from. In desperation she summons her old friend, Hercule Poirot – and her instincts are soon proved correct when the 'pretend' murder victim is discovered… Shares: Private investigators in fiction, Private investigators, Mystery

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