18 books like The high window

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

Stalking the Angel Robert Crais · 1989 · ★ 4.0 · 256p · ≈ 8h · Moderate Meet Elvis Cole, L.A. private eye . . . he quotes Jiminy Cricket and carries a .38. He’s a literate, wisecreacking Vietnam vet who is determined never to grow up. The blonde who walked into Cole’s office was the bestlooking woman he’d seen in weeks. The only thing that kept her from rating a perfect “10” was the briefcase on one arm and the uptight hotel magnate on the other. Bradley Warren had… Shares: Los angeles, California, Private investigators

The Big Sleep Raymond Chandler · 1939 · ★ 3.9 · 184p · ≈ 6h · Challenging Philip Marlowe, a private eye who operates in Los Angeles's seamy underside during the 1930s, takes on his first case, which involves a paralyzed California millionaire, two psychotic daughters, blackmail, and murder Shares: Los angeles, California, Mystery & Detective, Private investigators

Farewell, My Lovely Raymond Chandler · 1940 · ★ 4.1 · 249p · ≈ 8h · Challenging This is one of Chandler’s most famous crime novels featuring the detective Philip Marlowe, who’s about to give up on a completely routine case when he finds himself in the wrong place at the right time to get caught up in a murder that leads to a ring of jewel thieves, another murder, a fortune-teller, a couple more murders, and more corruption than your average graveyard. Shares: Los angeles, Private investigators

The Monkey's Raincoat Robert Crais · 1987 · ★ 4.0 · 256p · ≈ 8h · Moderate When Los Angeles private detective Elvis Cole investigates the disappearance of Ellen Lang's husband and young son, he stumbles into a bizarre nightmare of high-level intrigue, missing drugs, and murder in Hollywood's seamy underworld. Shares: Los angeles, California, Private investigators

Ticktock Dean Koontz · 1996 · ★ 3.8 · 318p · ≈ 10h · Moderate Tommy Phan is a 30-year-old Vietnamese-American detective and novelist living in Southern California, and a chaser of the American Dream. He drives home his brand-new Corvette one day to discover a strange doll on his doorstep. It's a rag doll made entirely of white cloth, with no face or hair or clothes. Where the eyes should be, there are two crossed stitches of black thread. Five sets of… Shares: California, Private investigators

The Moving Target Ross MacDonald · 1950 · ★ 3.9 · 212p · ≈ 7h · Moderate The first book in Ross Macdonald's acclaimed Lew Archer series introduces the detective who redefined the role of the American private eye and gave the crime novel a psychological depth and moral complexity only hinted at before.Like many Southern California millionaires, Ralph Sampson keeps odd company. There's the sun-worshipping holy man whom Sampson once gave his very own mountain; the fading… Shares: Los angeles, California, Private investigators

The Drowning Pool Ross Macdonald · 1950 · ★ 3.6 · 213p · ≈ 7h · Moderate “Archer wasn't going anywhere with the case. The women in it were getting to him. The one who had married for money was out to show him how little it now mattered. The one who was being blackmailed didn't care how Archer saved her mockery of a marriage. The young girl was the worst; too innocent to be involved in this sordid tangle. Three beautiful women. They had a way of distracting Archer—even… Shares: Los angeles, California, Private investigators

Hard Time Sara Paretsky · 1999 · ★ 4.1 · 392p · ≈ 13h · Moderate "Multimedia conglomerate Global Entertainment has purchased the Chicago Herald-Star, forcing the paper's staff to scramble to stay employed. Reporter Murray Ryerson, V.I.'s longtime friend and sometime rival, manages to reinvent himself as the host of a television show on Global's network. On her way home from a party celebrating Murray's debut, V.I. almost runs over a woman lying in the… Shares: American, Mystery & Detective, Literary Criticism, Private investigators

Sideswipe Charles Ray Willeford · 1987 · ★ 4.4 · 300p · ≈ 10h · Moderate Hoke Moseley has had enough. Tired of struggling against alimony payments, two teenage daughters, a very pregnant, very single partner, and a low paying job as a Miami homicide detective, Hoke moves to Singer Island and vows never step foot on the mainland again. But on the street, career criminal Troy Louden is hatching plans of his own with a gang including a disfigured hooker, a talentless… Shares: American, Mystery & Detective, Literary Criticism

Locating transnational ideals Walter Goebel · 2010 · 288p · ≈ 9h · Moderate This volume defines versions of the transnational in their historical and cultural specificity. By "locating," the contributors contextualize historical and contemporary understandings of the fluid term "transnational," which vary in relation to the disciplines involved. This kind of historical and geographical "locating" implicitly turns against forms of contemporary transnational euphoria… Shares: American, Literary Criticism

Camping for Boys H. W. Gibson · 2007 · 296p · ≈ 9h · Moderate Equip the next generation of outdoor enthusiasts with Camping for Boys by H. W. Gibson. First published in 1911, this foundational text quickly became an essential guide for youth leaders, educators, and the Boy Scout movement, providing detailed, practical instruction for young people to confidently engage with the wilderness.Gibson, a respected figure in organized outdoor youth activities of… Shares: American, Literary Criticism

Off the Grid C. J. Box · 2016 · ★ 4.3 · 392p · ≈ 13h · Moderate There's no hiding off the grid. Joe Pickett's old friend Nate Romanowski is off the grid, lying low while the FBI search for him. But they're not the only ones looking. Nate finds himself confronted by agents who need his help assessing a potential terror threat in Wyoming's Red Desert – in return they'll make Nate's criminal record disappear. Nate knows they can't be trusted – but with his… Shares: American, Mystery & Detective, Literary Criticism

Ask the Dust John Fante · 1939 · ★ 4.3 · 208p · ≈ 6h · Challenging Arturo Bandini is a struggling writer lodging in a seedy LA hotel. While basking in the glory of having had a single short story published in a small magazine, he meets local waitress Camilla Lopez and they embark on a strange and strained love-hate relationship/ Slowly, but inexorably, it descends into the realms of madness. Ask the Dust is one of the truly great, yet unsung, American novels of… Shares: Los angeles, California

Cop Town Karin Slaughter · 2012 · ★ 3.9 · 416p · ≈ 13h · Moderate "In 1974, the Atlanta Police Department is investigating a serial cop killer hardly welcomes women, so they partner Kate and Maggie to isolate them from the action. But the move will backfire, putting them right at the heart of it"-- Shares: American, Mystery & Detective, Literary Criticism

Another City, Not My Own Dominick Dunne · 1997 · ★ 3.8 · 360p · ≈ 12h · Moderate Told from the point of view of one of Dunne's most familiar fictional characters - Gus Bailey - Another City, Not My Own tells how Gus, the movers and shakers of Los Angeles, and the city itself are drawn into the vortex of the O.J. Simpson trial. We have met Gus Bailey in previous novels by Dominick Dunne. He is a writer and journalist, father of a murdered child, and chronicler of justice -… Shares: Los angeles, California

The doorbell rang Rex Stout · 1965 · ★ 4.2 · 178p · ≈ 5h · Moderate There’s no one and nothing the great detective Nero Wolfe wouldn’t take on if the price was right. That’s something wealthy society widow Rachel Bruner is counting on when she writes him a check for a whopping hundred grand. But even Wolfe has a moment’s doubt when he finds out why the prize is so generous. For the oversize genius and his able assistant Archie Goodwin are about to lock horns with… Shares: Literary Criticism, Private investigators

The Last Detective Robert Crais · 2003 · ★ 4.3 · 302p · ≈ 10h · Moderate Elvis Cole is back...With his acclaimed bestsellers, Hostage (a New York Times Notable Book) and Demolition Angel, Robert Crais drew raves for his unstoppable pacing, edgy characterizations, and cinematic prose. Now, in The Last Detective, Crais returns to his signature character, Los Angeles private investigator Elvis Cole, in a masterful page-turner that probes the meaning of family and the… Shares: Los angeles, Private investigators

The Girls Emma Cline · 2016 · ★ 3.5 · 352p · ≈ 11h · Moderate Northern California, during the violent end of the 1960s. At the start of summer, a lonely and thoughtful teenager, Evie Boyd, sees a group of girls in the park, and is immediately caught by their freedom, their careless dress, their dangerous aura of abandon. Soon, Evie is in thrall to Suzanne, a mesmerizing older girl, and is drawn into the circle of a soon-to-be infamous cult and the man who… Shares: American, California, Literary Criticism

About the book The high window →