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Recommendations based on Mildred Pierceby James M. Cain
* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans
Double Indemnity
by James M. Cain
Insurance salesman and femme fatale plot to murder her husband for the insurance money. Things go awry.
Walter Huff, an insurance agent, falls for the married Phyllis Nirdlinger, who consults him about accident insurance for her unsuspecting husband. In spite of his instinctual decency, and intrigued ... (Wikipedia)
The Postman Always Rings Twice
by James M. Cain
A crime drama of forbidden passion, deception and murder.
The story is narrated in the first person by Frank Chambers, a young drifter who stops at a rural California diner for a meal and ends up working there. The diner is operated by a beautiful young ... (Wikipedia)
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)
The Secret History
by Donna Tartt
A small group of misfit college students uncover a sinister secret and their lives become entangled with dangerous consequences.
Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the ... (Goodreads)
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)
The Glass Key
by Dashiell Hammett
A noir crime thriller of political corruption and a tangled web of loyalty and betrayal.
The story revolves around Ned Beaumont, a gambler and best friend of the criminal political boss Paul Madvig. Ned finds the body of a senator's son on the street, and Madvig asks him to thwart the ... (Wikipedia)
Revolutionary Road
by Richard Yates
An American couple's struggle to stay afloat in suburban conventions and expectations.
Set in 1955, the novel focuses on the hopes and aspirations of Frank and April Wheeler, self-assured Connecticut suburbanites who see themselves as very different from their neighbors in the ... (Wikipedia)
Brooklyn
by Colm Tóibín
A young Irish woman's migration to America, exploring themes of identity and belonging.
Eilis Lacey is a young woman who is unable to find work in 1950s Ireland . Her older sister Rose organises a meeting with a Catholic priest called Father Flood on a visit from New York City , who ... (Wikipedia)
Olive Kitteridge
by Elizabeth Strout
An exploration of the life of a small-town woman, revealing her struggles and emotional complexities.
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Olive Kitteridge offers profound insights into the human condition – its conflicts, its tragedies and joys, and the endurance it requires. At times stern, at other times ... (Goodreads)
The Big Sleep
by Raymond Chandler
Private eye investigates a complex case involving a wealthy family and blackmail.
Private investigator Philip Marlowe is called to the home of the wealthy and elderly General Sternwood, in the month of October. He wants Marlowe to deal with an attempt by a bookseller named Arthur ... (Wikipedia)
A Fine Balance
by Rohinton Mistry
A gripping story of four unlikely lives intertwined in the tumult of India's caste system.
The book exposes the changes in Indian society from independence in 1947 to the Emergency called by Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi . Mistry was generally critical of Indira Gandhi in the book. ... (Wikipedia)
Caleb's Crossing
by Geraldine Brooks
A historical novel based on the true story of Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk, the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College in 1665.
A richly imagined new novel from the author of the, New York Times, bestseller,, People of the Book,. Once again, Geraldine Brooks takes a remarkable shard of history and brings it to vivid life. In ... (Goodreads)
Sophie's Choice
by William Styron
A survivor of the Holocaust is confronted with a devastating moral dilemma.
Stingo, a novelist who is recalling the summer when he began his first novel, has been fired from his low-level reader's job at the publisher McGraw-Hill and has moved into a cheap boarding house in ... (Wikipedia)
Ragtime
by E.L. Doctorow
Interweaving stories of disparate individuals as they navigate the changing social and cultural landscape of early 20th century America.
The novel centers on a wealthy family living in New Rochelle, New York , referred to as Father, Mother, Mother's Younger Brother, Grandfather, and 'the little boy', Father and Mother's young son. The ... (Wikipedia)
Too Loud a Solitude
by Bohumil Hrabal
A man's reflections on life and literature, as he crushes books for a living.
The entire story is narrated in the first person by the main character Hanta. Hanta is portrayed as a sort of recluse and hermit, albeit one with encyclopedic literary knowledge. Hanta uses ... (Wikipedia)
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
by Edward Albee
A darkly comedic exploration of a troubled couple's tumultuous marriage.
George and Martha engage in dangerous emotional games. George is an associate professor of history and Martha is the daughter of the president of the college where George teaches. After they return ... (Wikipedia)
The Snowman
by Jo Nesbø
Detective Harry Hole investigates a series of grisly murders, with the help of a mysterious snowman.
In 1980, a married woman has illicit sex with a lover while her adolescent son waits in a car outside; their lovemaking is disturbed when they think somebody is looking at them from outside the ... (Wikipedia)
The Passenger
by Lisa Lutz
A woman on the run, reinventing her identity in a desperate bid to escape her past.
“A dead-serious thriller (with a funny bone)” (,The New York Times Book Review,), from the author of the, New York Times, bestselling Spellman Files series, comes the story of a woman who creates and ... (Barnes & Noble)
Tender Is the Night
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
A young couple's tumultuous journey through love, wealth and tragedy.
Dick and Nicole Diver are a glamorous couple who rent a villa in the South of France and surround themselves with a circle of friends, mainly Americans. Also staying at the nearby resort are Rosemary ... (Wikipedia)
The Long Goodbye
by Raymond Chandler
A hard-boiled detective's journey to unravel the truth behind a mysterious disappearance.
The novel opens outside a club called the Dancers. It is late October or early November. No year is given for the events but internal evidence and the publication date of the novel place them between ... (Wikipedia)
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
by Paul Torday
A wealthy sheikh's dream of introducing salmon fishing to the Yemeni desert becomes a political and personal challenge for a British fisheries expert.
What does it take to make us believe in the impossible? For Dr. Alfred Jones, life is a quiet mixture of civil service at the National Centre for Fisheries Excellence and marriage to Mary—an ... (Goodreads)
The End of the Affair
by Graham Greene
A man's obsession and journey of love, struggling with faith, hatred and forgiveness.
"A story has no beginning or end: arbitrarily one chooses a moment of experience from which to look ahead..." "This is a record of hate far more than of love," writes Maurice Bendrix in the opening ... (Goodreads)
Ethan Frome
by Edith Wharton
Tale of doomed romance set against a harsh New England winter.
The novel is a framed narrative . The framing story concerns an unnamed male narrator spending a winter in Starkfield while in the area on business. He spots a limping, quiet man around the village, ... (Wikipedia)
The Sands of Time
by Sidney Sheldon
A thrilling quest to save the world from an ancient curse.
In Pamplona , Spain in 1976, the Basque people are fighting against the Spanish government for their rights to autonomy. ETA leader Jaime Miro, along with friends Ricardo Mellado and Felix Carpio, ... (Wikipedia)
A Thread of Grace
by Mary Doria Russell
A young girl's story of resilience through the chaos of WWII Italy.
Set in Italy during the dramatic finale of World War II, this new novel is the first in seven years by the bestselling author of The Sparrow and Children of God . It is September 8, 1943, and ... (Goodreads)
Bastard Out of Carolina
by Dorothy Allison
A young girl's coming of age amidst poverty, abuse, and a broken family.
The book opens with Bone relating the details of her birth. Bone's 15-year-old mother Anney gives birth to her after being seriously injured in a car accident. Anney, who is comatose during the ... (Wikipedia)
Rich Man, Poor Man
by Irwin Shaw
A family saga spanning generations, exploring the power of money and its influence on relationships.
In the early parts of the novel Shaw goes to great lengths to make the point about "Jordache blood" – violent, bitter, resentful. One of the ways he does this is by meticulously describing the ... (Wikipedia)
The High Window
by Raymond Chandler
Private detective's desperate hunt for a stolen gem and the mystery behind it.
Private investigator Philip Marlowe is hired by wealthy widow Elizabeth Bright Murdock to recover a missing Brasher Doubloon , a rare and valuable coin. Mrs. Murdock suspects it was stolen by her ... (Wikipedia)
Phantom
by Jo Nesbø
Detective Harry Hole investigates a serial killer preying on young women.
Following from Jo Nesbø's electrifying international best-sellers, The Snowman, and, The Leopard, now comes, Phantom, which plunges the brilliant, deeply troubled, now former police officer Harry ... (Goodreads)
Shades of Grey
by Jasper Fforde
A satirical fantasy adventure through a world divided by the ability to see colors.
Chromatacia is a future dystopian society that exists at least five hundred years (although possibly more) after the collapse of our own society, identified as 'the Previous'. All life is governed by ... (Wikipedia)
