Recommendations based on The Pale Criminalby Philip Kerr

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. March Violets

    by Philip Kerr
    In 1936 Berlin, detective Bernie Gunther investigates a wealthy industrialist's daughter's murder.

    Bernhard Gunther, a 38-year-old Berlin ex-cop turned private detective, is hired in the summer of 1936 by rich industrialist Hermann Six to recover a diamond necklace stolen from his daughter Grete's ... (Wikipedia)

  2. The Naming of the Dead

    by Ian Rankin
    A detective investigates a serial killer during the G8 summit in Edinburgh, Scotland.

    An underlying thread throughout the book is that of familial relationships; the book opens with Detective Inspector John Rebus attending the funeral of his brother Michael, who has died suddenly from ... (Wikipedia)

  3. The Black Widow

    by Daniel Silva
    A thriller following an intelligence agent's pursuit of a dangerous assassin.

    Gabriel Allon is expected to become the chief of Israel’s secret intelligence service . However, on the eve of his promotion, ISIS has detonated a massive bomb in the Marais district of Paris. He had ... (Wikipedia)

  4. The 39 Steps

    by John Buchan
    An ordinary man is framed for murder and must go on the run from the police to clear his name.

    In May of 1914, war looms in Europe. Richard Hannay returns home to London after living in Rhodesia . One night his neighbour, an American who claims to be in fear for his life, visits Hannay. The ... (Wikipedia)

  5. The Thirst

    by Jo Nesbø
    Detective Harry Hole investigates a series of murders related to a sinister new drug.

    The novel features a killer who returns from Harry Hole's past and whom he failed to apprehend previously, but with a frightening new method of killing his victims by biting the victim's body with ... (Wikipedia)

  6. The French Lieutenant's Woman

    by John Fowles
    A love story set in Victorian England, exploring the complexities of class, gender, and social norms.

    Set in the mid-nineteenth century, the narrator identifies the novel's protagonist as Sarah Woodruff, the Woman of the title, also known as "Tragedy" and as "The French Lieutenant's Whore". She lives ... (Wikipedia)

  7. Fresh Water for Flowers

    by Valérie Perrin
    A cemetery caretaker's life is revealed through the flowers left on the graves. A story of love, loss, and the beauty of life.

    A, WALL STREET JOURNAL, BEST BOOK OF SUMMER 2021,A 2020 INDIES INTRODUCE & INDIE NEXT LIST PICK,, A #1 international best-seller,, Fresh Water for Flowers, is an intimately told story about a woman ... (Barnes & Noble)

  8. Gwendy's Button Box

    by Stephen King
    A young girl is presented with a mysterious box that has the power to grant wishes and alter the course of reality.

    The story takes place in King's fictional town of Castle Rock in 1974. Twelve-year-old Gwendy Peterson encounters a stranger in dark clothes and a black hat who invites her to "palaver". "I had a ... (Wikipedia)

  9. Fatherland

    by Robert Harris
    A thriller set in an alternate history of Nazi Germany, where secrets of the past are uncovered.

    The novel opens in Nazi Germany in April 1964 during the week leading up to Adolf Hitler 's ,[note 1], 75th birthday. Detective Xavier March is an investigator working for the Kriminalpolizei ( Kripo ... (Wikipedia)

  10. Glengarry Glen Ross

    by David Mamet
    Cutthroat competition in a real estate sales office, where survival of the fittest is the only way out.
  11. Every Man Dies Alone

    by Hans Fallada
    A man and his wife struggle to resist Nazi oppression in 1940s Berlin.

    Inspired by a true story, Hans Fallada's Alone in Berlin is the gripping tale of an ordinary man's determination to defy the tyranny of Nazi rule. This Penguin Classics edition contains an afterword ... (Goodreads)

  12. I Let You Go

    by Clare Mackintosh
    A mother's life is shattered when her son is killed in a hit-and-run accident. She moves to a remote Welsh town to escape her past, but it catches up with her.

    A tragic accident. It all happened so quickly. She couldn't have prevented it. Could she? In a split second, Jenna Gray's world descends into a nightmare. Her only hope of moving on is to walk away ... (Goodreads)

  13. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

    by John le Carré
    A retired spy is called back into action to uncover a mole in the British Secret Service.

    Control , chief of the Circus, suspects one of the five senior intelligence officers at the Circus to be a long-standing Soviet mole and assigns code names with the intention that should his agent ... (Wikipedia)

  14. Use of Force

    by Brad Thor
    Counterterrorism operative Scot Harvath races against time to stop a terrorist attack on American soil.

    From #1, New York Times, and, #1 Wall Street Journal b,estselling author Brad Thor comes “his latest pulse-pounding adventure” (,The Real Book Spy,) that follows covert operative Scot Harvath as he ... (Barnes & Noble)

  15. Fall of Giants

    by Ken Follett
    Epic historical fiction recounting the tumultuous events of World War I and its aftermath.

    The novel begins with the thirteen-year-old Billy Williams, nicknamed 'Billy With Jesus', going to work his first day in the coal mine underneath the fictional Welsh town of Aberowen in 1911. Three ... (Wikipedia)

  16. Tuesday's Gone

    by Nicci French
    A psychologist is called to help solve a murder case, but her own past traumas begin to resurface.

    A London social worker makes a routine home visit only to discover her client serving afternoon tea to a naked, decomposing corpse. With no clues as to the dead man’s identity, Chief Inspector ... (Goodreads)

  17. The Owl Always Hunts At Night

    by Samuel Bjørk
    A complex and twisted murder investigation that delves into the darkest corners of human nature.

    When a young woman is found dead, the police are quick to respond. But what they find at the scene is unexpected. The body is posed, the scene laboriously set. And there is almost no forensic ... (Goodreads)

  18. Me and You

    by Niccolò Ammaniti
    A 14-year-old boy fakes a school ski trip to spend a week alone in his family's basement, but his plan is disrupted by the unexpected arrival of his older half-sister.

    The action takes place in Rome in 2000. The main character is Lorenzo, a 14-year-old highly introverted boy who has had problems socialising and relating to other children since he was little. He is ... (Wikipedia)

  19. The Faithful Spy

    by Alex Berenson
    A former CIA agent goes undercover in Al Qaeda to prevent a terrorist attack.

    A New York Times reporter has drawn upon his experience covering the occupation in Iraq to write the most gripping and chillingly plausible thriller of the post-9/11 era. Alex Berenson’s debut novel ... (Goodreads)

  20. Only You Can Save Mankind

    by Terry Pratchett
    A boy named Johnny finds himself in a video game where he must save an alien race from annihilation.

    Twelve-year-old Johnny receives a pirate edition of the new video game Only You Can Save Mankind from his friend Wobbler. However, he has not been playing for long when the ScreeWee Empire surrenders ... (Wikipedia)

  21. The Thread

    by Victoria Hislop
    A journey of two families through 20th century Greece, facing hardships & tragedy.

    A beautiful and epic novel that spans nearly a hundred years, The Thread is a magnificent story of a friendship and a love that endures through the catastrophes and upheavals of the twentieth ... (Goodreads)

  22. Chess Story

    by Stefan Zweig
    A chess master's attempt to regain his lost skill, and the psychological battle he faces.

    The narrator opens the story on a passenger liner traveling from New York to Buenos Aires. Driven to mental anguish as the result of total isolation by the Nazis , Dr B, a securities expert hiding ... (Wikipedia)

  23. Archangel

    by Robert Harris
    A British historian uncovers a secret Stalin-era plot to create a puppet monarch in Russia. The past and present collide in a thrilling tale of espionage and betrayal.

    While attending a conference in Moscow , historian Christopher "Fluke" Kelso is met by an old man named Papu Rapava, who claims to have been present at the death of Joseph Stalin . Immediately after ... (Wikipedia)

  24. Tourist Season

    by Carl Hiaasen
    A journalist investigates the mysterious killings of tourists in the Florida Keys.

    Las Noches de Diciembre ( Spanish , "The Nights of December") is a small terrorist cell led by rogue newspaper columnist Skip Wiley, calling himself El Fuego .. Skip believes that the only way to ... (Wikipedia)

  25. Agent 6

    by Tom Rob Smith
    A former Soviet spy searches for his missing wife in 1960s New York, uncovering a web of conspiracy and betrayal.

    Tom Rob Smith—the bestselling, award-winning author of Child 44 , and one of the most critically-acclaimed new writers of our time—returns with a thrilling and provocative new novel: Agent 6 . How ... (Goodreads)

  26. Prince of Fire

    by Daniel Silva
    Gabriel Allon, an Israeli spy, investigates a terrorist attack in Rome and uncovers a conspiracy to ignite a war in the Middle East.

    After terrorists bomb the Israeli embassy in Rome , agents at Israel ’s intelligence service —better known as the Office— struggle to determine a precise motive for the attack. The investigation ... (Wikipedia)

  27. The Treatment

    by Mo Hayder
    A detective investigates a mysterious psychiatric hospital where patients undergo a controversial treatment. The truth is more horrifying than he could have imagined.

    A husband and wife are discovered imprisoned in their own home near Brockwell Park in South London . It is a hot summer and they are badly dehydrated, they've been bound and beaten, and the husband ... (Wikipedia)

  28. Three Blind Mice and Other Stories

    by Agatha Christie
    A collection of short stories featuring Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, and other detectives solving puzzling mysteries.

    The feature of this nine short story collection is "Three Blind Mice" which is actually a novella. The famous story opens with a blinding snowstorm trapping a small group of owners and guests in an ... (Goodreads)

  29. Elmet

    by Fiona Mozley
    A family living off the grid in rural England faces threats from the outside world. A haunting exploration of violence, loyalty, and love.

    The narrator who speaks in the sections in cursive seems to be looking for somebody against a modern landscape of highways, lorries and café stopovers. We will come to realise that this is Daniel, ... (Wikipedia)

  30. Think of a Number

    by John Verdon
    A thrilling mystery novel involving a serial killer, uncovering the truth behind the mysterious deaths.

    An extraordinary fiction debut, Think of a Number is an exquisitely plotted novel of suspense that grows relentlessly darker and more frightening as its pace accelerates, forcing its deeply troubled ... (Goodreads)