Recommendations based on A Drink Before the Warby Dennis Lehane

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  1. Darkness, Take My Hand

    by Dennis Lehane
    Detective's hunt for a serial killer in a gritty urban setting.

    Master of new noir Dennis Lehane magnificently evokes the dignity and savagery of working-class Boston in Darkness, Take My Hand, a terrifying tale of redemption. Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro’s ... (Goodreads)

  2. Gone, Baby, Gone

    by Dennis Lehane
    Private detectives search for a missing four-year-old girl in an urban environment.

    Boston private detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro are hired to find four-year-old Amanda McCready, abducted from her bed on a warm, summer night. They meet her stoned-out, strangely ... (Goodreads)

  3. Sacred

    by Dennis Lehane
    A private investigator is hired to find a missing woman, but the case becomes more complicated as he delves into the dark secrets of her past.

    Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro are hired by a dying billionaire to find his daughter, Desiree, after the previous detective working the case, Jay Becker, disappeared. The novel won the 1998 Nero ... (Wikipedia)

  4. The Black Echo

    by Michael Connelly
    A former LAPD detective is drawn into a web of mystery and crime as he investigates the death of a Vietnam vet.

    The novel centers on Harry Bosch , a Vietnam veteran who served as a " tunnel rat " (nicknamed Hari Kari Bosch), with the 1st Infantry Division — a specialized soldier whose job it was to go into the ... (Wikipedia)

  5. The Poet

    by Michael Connelly
    A Pulitzer Prize-winning poet's descent into darkness, as he unravels a web of deceit and murder.

    Denver crime-beat reporter Jack McEvoy specializes in violent death. So when his homicide detective brother kills himself, McEvoy copes in the only way he knows how–he decides to write the story. But ... (Goodreads)

  6. The Black Dahlia

    by James Ellroy
    A 1940s Los Angeles detective story, exploring the depths of a gruesome unsolved murder.

    On January 15, 1947, the torture-ravished body of a beautiful young woman is found in a vacant lot. The victim makes headlines as the Black Dahlia—and so begins the greatest manhunt in California ... (Goodreads)

  7. Presumed Innocent

    by Scott Turow
    Prosecutor Rusty Sabich is accused of murdering his colleague and mistress. He must prove his innocence while navigating a web of lies and deceit.

    The novel begins with the discovery of Carolyn Polhemus, dead in her apartment. She is the victim of what appears to be a sexual bondage encounter gone wrong, killed outright by a fatal blow to the ... (Wikipedia)

  8. The Green Mile

    by Stephen King
    A prison guard discovers the power of redemption, and miracles, when he meets a mysterious inmate.

    Featuring a first-person narrative told by Paul Edgecombe, the novel switches between Paul as an old man in the Georgia Pines nursing home writing down his story in 1996, and his time in 1932 as the ... (Wikipedia)

  9. Echo Burning

    by Lee Child
    A former military man is hired for a dangerous job to protect a woman and her daughter from an abusive husband.

    Jack Reacher breaks a bully's nose and finger after being repeatedly provoked in a Texas saloon, so when the bully turns out to be a local cop and shows up with three of his colleagues the following ... (Wikipedia)

  10. The Godwulf Manuscript

    by Robert B. Parker
    Detective investigates a mysterious case involving an ancient manuscript.

    Set in the early 1970s, this novel serves as the introduction to Spenser , a private investigator in Boston . Spenser, who served as an infantryman in the 1st Infantry Division during the Korean War ... (Wikipedia)

  11. Case Histories

    by Kate Atkinson
    A series of intertwining stories of people whose lives are changed by an unexpected event.

    'Case Histories' tells the story of Jackson Brodie, a private investigator who tries to find out the truth of some cases. Brodie meets some people who reclaims his help to solve their cases Kirkus ... (Wikipedia)

  12. Relic

    by Douglas Preston
    Scientists investigate an ancient secret, hidden deep in the South American jungle.

    In September 1987, Dr. Julian Whittlesey is leading an expedition through the Amazon Basin , in the Brazilian rainforest , in search of the lost Kothoga tribe. He hopes to prove that they still do ... (Wikipedia)

  13. Firestarter

    by Stephen King
    A young girl with pyrokinetic powers is pursued by a mysterious government agency.

    Andy and Charlene "Charlie" McGee are a father/daughter pair on the run from a government agency known as The Shop. During his college years, Andy had participated in a Shop experiment dealing with ... (Wikipedia)

  14. The Black Ice

    by Michael Connelly
    A murder investigation leads to a complex web of intrigue, threatening a detective's life and career.

    In the book, narcotics officer Calexico (named after the place Calexico ) Moore's body is discovered on Christmas night in a seedy Hollywood motel, from an apparent suicide. It was rumored that he ... (Wikipedia)

  15. Persuader

    by Lee Child
    A former military cop is forced to confront his past when a case involving a missing woman takes a deadly turn.

    Jack Reacher is working unofficially with the DEA to bring down a boy's father, Zachary Beck, who is suspected of smuggling drugs under the pretext of trading in oriental carpets. They stage a kidnap ... (Wikipedia)

  16. Neverwhere

    by Neil Gaiman
    A mysterious journey through a hidden realm of London, filled with danger and unexpected allies.

    Neverwhere is the story of Richard Mayhew and his trials and tribulations in London. At the start of the story, he is a young businessman, recently moved from Scotland and with a normal life ahead. ... (Wikipedia)

  17. Plum Island

    by Nelson DeMille
    A mysterious investigation into a series of strange, unexplained events on a remote island.

    In 1997, NYPD detective John Corey is on the back porch of his uncle's waterfront home on the North Fork of Long Island recovering from three gunshot wounds while working in his town of Manhattan, ... (Wikipedia)

  18. Point of Impact

    by Stephen Hunter
    A gripping story of a sniper and his mission to protect the President from an assassin.

    He was one the best Marine snipers in Vietnam. Today, twenty years later, disgruntled hero of an unheroic war, all Bob Lee Swagger wants to be left alone and to leave the killing behind. But with ... (Goodreads)

  19. Act of Treason

    by Vince Flynn
    CIA operative Mitch Rapp must track down a traitor in the White House before they can do irreparable damage to national security.

    The fallout from a horrific Washington explosion has just begun, along with CIA superagent Mitch Rapp’s hunt for a killer with a personal agenda in this “fun, finger-blistering page-turner” (,Star ... (Barnes & Noble)

  20. Absolute Power

    by David Baldacci
    A power-hungry President, a daring thief and a determined investigator collide in a thrilling tale of manipulation and murder.

    An experienced burglar, Luther Whitney, breaks into a billionaire's house with the intent of robbing it. While there, he witnesses the President of the United States and the billionaire's wife having ... (Wikipedia)

  21. Iron Lake

    by William Kent Krueger
    A small town detective investigates a mysterious murder, uncovering hidden secrets.

    Part Irish, part Anishinaabe Indian, Corcoran "Cork" O'Connor is the former sheriff of Aurora, Minnesota. Embittered by his "former" status, and the marital meltdown that has separated him from his ... (Goodreads)

  22. The Watchman

    by Robert Crais
    Detective investigates a suspicious death in Los Angeles and discovers a much bigger conspiracy.

    To pay back an old debt, Pike is coerced into protecting Larkin Barkley, a hard-partying young heiress whose life is in danger after a "wrong place wrong time" encounter that quickly escalates and ... (Goodreads)

  23. The Maltese Falcon

    by Dashiell Hammett
    Detective Sam Spade must solve a mysterious case involving a precious artifact and a deadly trio of criminals.

    ‘Sam’ Spade is a private detective in San Francisco , in partnership with Miles Archer. The beautiful "Miss Wonderley" hires them to follow Floyd Thursby, who has run off with her sister. Archer ... (Wikipedia)

  24. Gods and Generals

    by Jeff Shaara
    Epic saga of the American Civil War, recounting the experiences of its heroes and leaders.

    Copying his father's approach of focusing on the most important officers of the two armies ( General Robert E. Lee , Major General Winfield Scott Hancock , Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson , ... (Wikipedia)

  25. One Shot

    by Lee Child
    A former military investigator must solve a murder case in a short period of time.

    In a small Indiana city, a lone gunman in a parking garage calmly fires into a rush-hour crowd in a public plaza, committing a massacre of five apparently random victims with six shots. The shooter ... (Wikipedia)

  26. Pet Sematary

    by Stephen King
    A family's terrifying journey of life and death, as the line between the living and the dead blurs.

    Louis Creed, a doctor from Chicago , is appointed director of the University of Maine 's campus health service. He moves to a large house near the small town of Ludlow with his wife Rachel, their two ... (Wikipedia)

  27. World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

    by Max Brooks
    A collection of interviews recounting tales of the zombie apocalypse.

    It has been nearly twenty years since the start of the apocalyptic worldwide pandemic known as the Zombie War, and about ten years since the war has ended in humanity's victory. The framing device ... (Wikipedia)

  28. The Namesake

    by Jhumpa Lahiri
    A young Indian-American's journey of reconciling two different cultures and his own identity.

    The story begins as Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli, a young Bengali couple, leave Calcutta , India, and settle in Central Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts . Ashoke is an engineering student at the ... (Wikipedia)

  29. The Wanted

    by Robert Crais
    Private investigator Elvis Cole and his partner Joe Pike are hired to find a missing girl, but soon discover a dangerous criminal underworld.

    When single mother Devon Connor hires private investigator Elvis Cole, it’s because her troubled teenage son Tyson is flashing cash and she’s afraid he’s dealing drugs. But the truth is devastatingly ... (Goodreads)

  30. The Sins of the Fathers

    by Lawrence Block
    Private investigator Matt Scudder is hired to investigate a series of murders that seem to be connected to a group of men who committed a crime together years ago.

    The pretty young prostitute is dead. Her alleged murderer—a minister's son—hanged himself in his jail cell. The case is closed. But the dead girl's father has come to Matthew Scudder for answers, ... (Goodreads)