Book Match

This readalike is in response to a patron's book-match request. If you would like personalized reading  recommendations, fill out the book-match form and a librarian will email suggested titles to you.  Available for adults, teens, and kids.

If you liked Ian Rankin's Dead Souls, you may enjoy these titles which are similar in tone and atmosphere:

The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy
"...a roman noir on an epic scale: a classic period piece that provides a startling conclusion to America's most infamous unsolved murder mystery--the murder of the beautiful young woman known as The Black Dahlia."-catalog summary

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
"When a dying millionaire hires Philip Marlowe to handle the blackmailer of one of his two troublesome daughters, Marlowe finds himself involved with more than extortion. Kidnapping, pornography, seduction, and murder are just a few of the complications he gets caught up in."-catalog summary

This readalike is in response to a patron's book-match request. If you would like personalized reading  recommendations, fill out the book-match form and a librarian will email suggested titles to you.  Available for adults, teens, and kids.

If you liked  The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, outrageous humor may be the draw.
If so, you may want to try one of the books listed below:

The Philosophical Strangler by Eric Flint 
Greyboar's professional career as an assassin for hire falls prey to his penchant for philosophy as moral qualms intervene to cause disaster in even the simplest tasks. The latest fantasy by the author of 1632 features an angst-ridden hero, a fast-talking side-kick, fast-paced action, and bawdy humor. Though sometimes the comedy misses the mark,
Flint tells a multilayered tale of camaraderie in the face of misadventure with apologies to the great philosophers. (Library Journal)

The Steampunk Trilogy by Paul Di Filippo 
Raunchy, uproarious silliness in the time-honored sf tradition of alternative history. (Library Journal) Features 19th century stories of Queen Victoria, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, and Hottentots in Massachusets.

This readalike is in response to a patron's book-match request. If you would like personalized reading  recommendations, fill out the book-match form and a librarian will email suggested titles to you.  Available for adults, teens, and kids.

If you liked the "Sword of Truth" series, by Terry Goodkind, for the way an ordinary person rises to be a hero and for the way the story was flavored by the author with humor and suspense, you may enjoy these titles:

Good Omens
by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
"From two delightful imaginations comes a comic masterpiece in which the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse ride motorcycles, the hound of the devil chases sticks, and the end of the world is subject to Murphys Law."-catalog summary


Bill the Galactic Hero
by Harry Harrison
"It was the highest honor to defend the Empire against the dreaded Chingers, an enemy race of seven-foot-tall lizards. But Bill, a Technical Fertilizer Operator from a planet of farmers, wasn't interested in honor-he was only interested in two things: his chosen career, and the shapely curves of Inga-Maria Calyphigia. Then a recruiting robot shanghaied him with knockout drops, and he came to in deep space, aboard the Empire warship Christine Keeler. And from there, things got even worse... From the sweltering fuse room aboard the Keeler, where he loses an arm while blasting a Chinger spaceship, to the Department of Sanitation far below the world-city of Helior, where he finds peace, job security, and unlimited trash...here is Bill, a pure-hearted fool fighting a deluxe cast of robots, androids, and aliens in a never-ending losing battle to preserve his humanity while upholding the glory of the Empire."-catalog summary

This readalike is in response to a patron's book-match request. If you would like personalized reading  recommendations, fill out the book-match form and a librarian will email suggested titles to you.  Available for adults, teens, and kids.

Shalimar by Rebecca Ryman is a historical novel, set in India. If you want some titles that are either set in India (modern, or historical) or just have the same "feel" of a good story, you might try the following titles:

The Last Kashmiri Rose by Barbara Cleverly.
In the 1920s, a serial killer targets the wives of Britons attached to the military Bengal Greys near Calcutta. Disguised as accidents, the murders go undetected until the latest, the purported suicide of a young wife, finally attracts the attention of investigator Joseph Sandilands.
(from Library Journal)

The Case of the Missing Servant : From the Files of Vish Puri, India's "Most Private Investigator" by Tarquin Hall.
Portly, persistent, and unmistakably Punjabi, (Vish Puri) cuts a determined swath through modern India's swindlers, cheats, and murderers. (description)

This readalike is in response to a patron's book-match request. If you would like personalized reading  recommendations, fill out the book-match form and a librarian will email suggested titles to you.  Available for adults, teens, and kids.

The first place to start is to read all of Jane Austen’s novels. She only had six novels published, but no writer has ever surpassed her in writing the novel of manners, revealing the human heart through the minutiae of social interaction.

Emma. by Jane Austen - As daughter of the richest, most important man in the small provincial village of Highbury, Emma Woodhouse is firmly convinced that it is her right--perhaps even her "duty"--to arrange the lives of others. Considered by most critics to be Austen's most technically brilliant achievement, "Emma" sparkles with ironic insights into self-deception, self-discovery, and the interplay of love and power.

Mansfield Park  by Jane Austen - Fanny is an impoverished young woman, snubbed by society, who earns the respect and love of her cousin in this classic set in 19th century England.



 
 

This readalike is in response to a patron's book-match request. If you would like personalized reading  recommendations, fill out the book-match form and a librarian will email suggested titles to you.  Available for adults, teens, and kids.

If you like Tess Gerritsen's The Keepsake, you may like these books and authors:

206 Bones by Kathy Reichs
Chicago forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan is accused of mishandling the autopsy and the case of a missing heiress from Montreal--an investigation that becomes more complicated when two more bodies of elderly women are found in Montreal and Tempe faces the very real possibility that a colleague has sabotaged work in the lab.
--Catalog Summary.

Moving Target by Elizabeth Lowell
In a familiar plot refreshed by historical and artistic detail, Lowell's modern lovers hear echoes of past lives. When her grandmother falls victim to arson, weaver and free spirit Serena Charters inherits a charred cabin, a piece of cloth, a warning to trust no one and eight pages from a brilliantly illuminated Celtic manuscript. Serena sends copies of the pages to two appraisers who recognize it as the Book of the Learned, passed down for centuries through the first-born women of Serena's family. One appraiser, Norman Warrick, a curmudgeon billionaire surrounded by the greedy relatives and toadies of the House of Warrick, claims the pages are fraudulent, but stops at nothing to acquire them.
The second appraiser, Erik North, is a dashing art investigator as adept at cliff climbing as at deciphering archaic texts. Erik hides from Serena his longtime obsession with the book as well as his own family connections to it. Working with the ingenious researchers, negotiators and security specialists of Rarities Unlimited, a company devoted to the preservation of art, artifacts and the fortunes to be made from them, Erik offers to help Serena solve the murder of her grandmother and prevent her own while uncovering layers of history in the priceless palimpsest. But can Serena trust Erik or his employer? --from Publishers Weekly

This readalike is in response to a patron's book-match request. If you would like personalized reading  recommendations, fill out the book-match form and a librarian will email suggested titles to you.  Available for adults, teens, and kids.

If you liked "The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms" by N.K. Jemisin for the blend of fantasy and romance, you may enjoy these titles:

"Poison Study" by Maria V. Snyder
"About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She'll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia. And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly Dust - and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay the agonizing death from the poison."-catalog summary

"The Thief" by Megan Whalen Turner
"Deception, intrigue and adventure abound in this entertaining and original book. The king's scholar, the magus, has discovered the location of an ancient treasure that invests the possessor with the right to rule a neighboring country. He springs a skilled thief from the king's prison to do the job."-catalog summary

This readalike is in response to a patron's book-match request. If you would like personalized reading  recommendations, fill out the book-match form and a librarian will email suggested titles to you.  Available for adults, teens, and kids.

If you like The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown, you may also like the following titles:

Labyrinth by Kate Mosse
In the Pyrenees mountains near Carcassonne, Alice, a volunteer at an archaeological dig stumbles into a cave and makes a startling discovery-two crumbling skeletons, strange writings on the walls, and the pattern of a labyrinth; between the skeletons, a stone ring, and a small leather bag. Eight hundred years earlier, on the eve of a brutal crusade to stamp out heresy that will rip apart southern France, Alais is given a ring and a mysterious book for safekeeping by her father as he leaves to fight the crusaders. The book, he says, contains the secret of the true Grail, and the ring, inscribed with a labyrinth, will identify a guardian of the Grail. As crusading armies led by Church potentates and nobles of northern France gather outside the city walls of Carcassonne, it will take great sacrifice to keep the secret of the labyrinth safe. In the present, another woman sees the find as a means to the political power she craves; while a man who has great power will kill to destroy all traces of the discovery and everyone who stands in his way. (Catalog Summary)

The Rosetta Key by William Dietrich
As Napoleon launches his 1799 invasion of the Holy Land, U.S. adventurer Ethan Gage scours Judea for an ancient Egyptian scroll with occult powers. Following Bonaparte to France, the resourceful Gage faces old enemies with new friends and--with time running out--resourcefully tries to stop evil forces from controlling the world. (Catalog Summary)

This readalike is in response to a patron's book-match request. If you would like personalized reading  recommendations, fill out the book-match form and a librarian will email suggested titles to you.  Available for adults, teens, and kids.

If you are a fan of Lee Child's books, try these titles and authors:

The General's Daughter by Nelson DeMille.
West Point graduate and daughter of legendary General "Fighting Joe" Campbell, Ann Campbell is the pride of Fort Hadley, until one morning when her lifeless body is found naked and bound on the firing range. Paul Brenner is a member of the army's elite undercover investigative unit and the man in charge of this politically explosive case. Teamed with rape specialist Cynthia Sunhill, Brenner is about to learn just how many people were sexually, emotionally, and dangerously involved with the Army's "golden girl".
 

Separation of Power by Vince Flynn
Newly appointed CIA Director Dr. Irene Kennedy is the target of an inside plot to destroy her and end the American President's term. Even worse, Israel uncovers an Iraqi plan to enter the nuclear arms race. Now, Rapp has two weeks to beat the clock--or watch the world go up in flames. (Catalog description)

This readalike is in response to a patron's book-match request. If you would like personalized reading  recommendations, fill out the book-match form and a librarian will email suggested titles to you.  Available for adults, teens, and kids.

If you enjoyed "Confessions of a Shopaholic" by Sophie Kinsella for the humor, romance, and clever writing, these titles may appeal to you:

The Little Lady Agency by Hester Browne
"Melissa Romney-Jones can bake a perfect sponge cake, type her little heart out, and plan a party blindfolded. But none of that has helped her get far in life or in love. When she gets sacked -- again -- she decides to market her impeccable social skills to single men. To avoid embarrassing her father, a Member of Parliament, Melissa dons a blonde wig and becomes "Honey," a no-nonsense bombshell who helps clueless bachelors shop, entertain, and navigate social minefields. She even attends parties if a client needs a "date." But when a dashing American starts to request Honey's services on a regular basis, it's only a matter of time before Honey's and Melissa's worlds collide...."-catalog summary

Babyville by Jane Green
Bestselling author Jane Green has won the hearts of thousands of readers with her fresh take on single life and the dating jungle. Now in Babyville, she applies her golden touch to the next phase of a girl's life, in an irresistible ... novel about two young women coping with the chimes of their biological clocks, and one independent glamour-girl who tries to tune hers out. (Book Description)