The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane

A Finer End

Deborah Crombie2001

A London detective and his partner visit Glastonbury to help a cousin, only to find a mystery involving ancient monks and a modern murder.

Same earnest register, still mystery

pace0·prose0·bleak0

Amberes

Roberto Bolaño2002

A fragmented series of fifty-six short sections follows a police officer, a redhead, and a hunchback through a series of loosely linked crimes.

earnest → cold

pace0·prose+2·bleak+1

The Doves Necklace

Raja Alem2014

A detective investigates an unidentified woman's body found in a Mecca alleyway. The city itself narrates parts of the story.

earnest → dreamlike

pace0·prose+2·bleak+1

American Psycho

Bret Easton Ellis1991

A wealthy investment banker details his daily routines, consumer habits, and graphic murders. The narrative is cold and repetitive.

earnest → cold

pace0·prose+2·bleak+2

Two for the dough

Janet Evanovich1996

An inexperienced bounty hunter tracks a man who jumped bail for shooting his friend. She competes with a vice cop to find him first.

earnest → playful, still mystery

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Catering to Nobody

Diane Mott Davidson1990

A Colorado caterer is accused of poisoning a guest at a wake. She investigates the murder to save her business and includes recipes in the text.

earnest → warm, still mystery

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Real Murders

Charlaine Harris1990

A librarian in a small Georgia town belongs to a club that studies famous crimes. A real murder occurs that mimics a historical case.

earnest → wry, still mystery

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Ten Big Ones

Janet Evanovich2004

Stephanie Plum witnesses a gang hit and becomes a target herself. She balances the threat with her ongoing romantic indecision.

earnest → playful, still mystery

pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1

Private Vegas

James Patterson2015

Jack Morgan investigates a man who trains women to become killers in Las Vegas. The story follows multiple perspectives in short chapters.

pace+2·prose-1·bleak0

Pines

Blake Crouch2012

A Secret Service agent searches for missing colleagues in an Idaho town he cannot leave. The townspeople and physics itself seem to work against him.

earnest → tense, still mystery

pace+2·prose-1·bleak+1

The Habitation of the Blessed

Catherynne M. Valente2010

A priest finds the lost kingdom of Prester John. The story is told through three nested layers of journals, myths, and historical accounts.

earnest → dreamlike, still historical fantasy

pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

The miracle at Speedy Motors

Alexander McCall Smith2008

Mma Ramotswe helps a woman find her long-lost family in Botswana. The story follows small domestic complications and slow-paced investigations.

earnest → warm

pace-1·prose0·bleak-1

Dhalgren

Samuel R. Delany1975

An amnesiac wanderer enters Bellona, a city cut off from the world where time and geography shift. He joins a gang and writes poetry.

earnest → dreamlike

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

Sharp Objects

Gillian Flynn2006

A reporter returns to her hometown to cover the murders of two girls while grappling with her own history of self-harm.

earnest → tense

pace+1·prose0·bleak+2

In Cold Blood

Truman Capote1965

A reconstruction of the 1959 murder of a Kansas family and the subsequent investigation. It follows both the victims and the killers.

earnest → clinical

pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

Lord of the Flies

William Golding1954

Schoolboys are stranded on an island and try to organize a society. Order collapses into tribalism and violence.

earnest → tense

pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2