Like Grisham, but not Grisham
July 5, 2020 1:04 PM Subscribe
My husband has started reading books by John Grisham and loves them. Not my cup of tea at all, so I don't know where to start, but for his birthday, I would like to give him books that scratch a similar itch but by different authors. Specifics below.
Nr. Omnomnom, as a European, says that one thing he loves that he's learning a lot about America (he actually fact checks the things he reads in the books on the internet, and is impressed by them checking out).
Knowing him, he also loves a fast paced page turner of a plot and of course the law and crime element.
What else would he love?
Nr. Omnomnom, as a European, says that one thing he loves that he's learning a lot about America (he actually fact checks the things he reads in the books on the internet, and is impressed by them checking out).
Knowing him, he also loves a fast paced page turner of a plot and of course the law and crime element.
What else would he love?
Patricia Cornwell’s murder mystery novels about medical examiner Kay Scarpetta
posted by sallybrown at 1:08 PM on July 5, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by sallybrown at 1:08 PM on July 5, 2020 [4 favorites]
Try David Baldacci or Lee Child.
posted by lyssabee at 1:09 PM on July 5, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by lyssabee at 1:09 PM on July 5, 2020 [3 favorites]
Scott Turow.
posted by suelac at 1:10 PM on July 5, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by suelac at 1:10 PM on July 5, 2020 [4 favorites]
Seconding the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child for sure. Absolutely great pacing etc. I don’t even normally go for that type but I tore through a half dozen of those page turners after I borrowed one out of desperation.
posted by SaltySalticid at 1:24 PM on July 5, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by SaltySalticid at 1:24 PM on July 5, 2020 [3 favorites]
The Alienest series by Caleb Carr.
posted by tafetta, darling! at 1:52 PM on July 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by tafetta, darling! at 1:52 PM on July 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
Michael Connelly, John Sandford, Walter Mosley.
posted by Flannery Culp at 2:05 PM on July 5, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Flannery Culp at 2:05 PM on July 5, 2020 [2 favorites]
I like the same type of novels. Some authors I've read and enjoyed:
Scott Pratt
Brad Meltzer
Steve Martini
Mark Gimenez
posted by DrGail at 2:07 PM on July 5, 2020
Scott Pratt
Brad Meltzer
Steve Martini
Mark Gimenez
posted by DrGail at 2:07 PM on July 5, 2020
Fall of the House of Zeus is a nonfiction book about a Southern lawyer deeply connected to power and his rise and fall. Basically real life Grisham.
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/9598220-the-fall-of-the-house-of-zeus
posted by momus_window at 2:08 PM on July 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/9598220-the-fall-of-the-house-of-zeus
posted by momus_window at 2:08 PM on July 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
I hated The Alienist, for whatever that's worth. Ha-ted-it.
Seconding Michael Connelly, and specifically The Lincoln Lawyer series. The movie was a faithful adaptation so if he liked that at all he'll like the book and the others in the series.
posted by phunniemee at 2:28 PM on July 5, 2020 [2 favorites]
Seconding Michael Connelly, and specifically The Lincoln Lawyer series. The movie was a faithful adaptation so if he liked that at all he'll like the book and the others in the series.
posted by phunniemee at 2:28 PM on July 5, 2020 [2 favorites]
I really like Marcia Clark's novels, starting with Guilt by Association.
posted by ferret branca at 2:40 PM on July 5, 2020
posted by ferret branca at 2:40 PM on July 5, 2020
I just read The Poet by Michael Connelly, who was recently reviewed in the NYT book section for a newer book. The Poet was quite good and has a detective duo of a journalist who collaborates with a female FBI agent. There are 2 additional books that continue this detective duo, I think. The Poet is the first.
posted by citygirl at 2:46 PM on July 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by citygirl at 2:46 PM on July 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
Stieg Larsson's "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" series?
posted by bz at 3:25 PM on July 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by bz at 3:25 PM on July 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
I have enjoyed the first two books in the Higher Law series by Sheldon Siegel. The MC is a former San Francisco prosecutor turned private attorney who spends a lot of time giving his gumshoes a workout. Eleven books out so far, starting with Special Circumstances.
posted by Flexagon at 4:01 PM on July 5, 2020
posted by Flexagon at 4:01 PM on July 5, 2020
Stephen L. Carter's books (start with The Emperor of Ocean Park) will probably fit the bill, especially if he's interested in learning more about Black life in America.
posted by dizziest at 4:22 PM on July 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by dizziest at 4:22 PM on July 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
Depending just how much he is into history he might really like the LONG series of books about art-restorer-turned-assassin Gabriel Allon in Daniel Silva's series. It's got a particular take on Israel (and terrorism) which might be an issue but it has the thriller-page-turner-fun-to-find-out-facts part down really well. Will not teach your spouse about America much but there is a lot there about Arab and Israeli history.
posted by jessamyn at 4:23 PM on July 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by jessamyn at 4:23 PM on July 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
I would guess that he would like Tom Clancy. Maybe also Nelson Demille
posted by AugustWest at 4:48 PM on July 5, 2020
posted by AugustWest at 4:48 PM on July 5, 2020
Attica Locke! Her mysteries are great, often have a protagonist with a legal background, and you learn a ton about the South.
posted by the primroses were over at 5:07 PM on July 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by the primroses were over at 5:07 PM on July 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
I came in to suggest the Kay Scarpetta novels as well. They can be a bit gory, since the main character is a medical examiner. If you can get him to read them in order, that would be prettty important (though not absolutely necessary) as there are storylines that cross books.
posted by Night_owl at 5:48 PM on July 5, 2020
posted by Night_owl at 5:48 PM on July 5, 2020
If he might like some period literature, the stuff that pretty much established the genre is Erle Stanley Gardner's Perry Mason series.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 6:08 PM on July 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Kirth Gerson at 6:08 PM on July 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
Nthing the Da Silva series, also all of John Sandford.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 6:23 PM on July 5, 2020
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 6:23 PM on July 5, 2020
+1 for the Jack Reacher series (a former military policeman wanders the country on his pension, finds Trouble, solves it, moves on)
Florida Is Weird - anything by Carl Hiassen
New Jersey is Weird - the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich (a bail bondswoman in Newark with no skills or training rounds up lowlifes and weirdos who don't show up for court)
Texas Is Weird - the Hap and Leonard series by Joe R. Lansdale (two poor best friends failing to stay out of trouble)
Anything by Elmore Leonard (everything from cowboy westerns to Get Shorty and Justified)
Dated, but still American in feel:
60s-70s -John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee novels (film noir, but on a Florida houseboat)
50's - Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe series (not for Wolfe who cogitates, but for Archie Goodwin who does all the legwork)
posted by bartleby at 8:25 PM on July 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
Florida Is Weird - anything by Carl Hiassen
New Jersey is Weird - the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich (a bail bondswoman in Newark with no skills or training rounds up lowlifes and weirdos who don't show up for court)
Texas Is Weird - the Hap and Leonard series by Joe R. Lansdale (two poor best friends failing to stay out of trouble)
Anything by Elmore Leonard (everything from cowboy westerns to Get Shorty and Justified)
Dated, but still American in feel:
60s-70s -John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee novels (film noir, but on a Florida houseboat)
50's - Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe series (not for Wolfe who cogitates, but for Archie Goodwin who does all the legwork)
posted by bartleby at 8:25 PM on July 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
Kevin Baker's Dream Land and Paradise Alley would be good choices. Historical mysteries set in NYC in different eras.
Richard Price would be good.
Chester Himes because he's a great author of hardboiled detective novels and its always good to see an era through non-white eyes.
posted by brookeb at 9:24 PM on July 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
Richard Price would be good.
Chester Himes because he's a great author of hardboiled detective novels and its always good to see an era through non-white eyes.
posted by brookeb at 9:24 PM on July 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
Adding Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins series. He's a Black detective in the hardboiled tradition, and also wrote about a dozen freestanding but connected books. The first book, and reading them in order is helpful for the background and reappearance of some characters, is Devil in A Blue Dress. It's terrific!
posted by citygirl at 3:29 AM on July 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by citygirl at 3:29 AM on July 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
In this vein I've enjoyed every George Pelecanos book I've read. As a European they paint (to me) a very evocative picture of the DC area where they are set.
As a bonus, to seal the deal he also works as a screenwriter and has contributed to The Wire, Treme, The Deuce and Bosch amongst others.
posted by jontyjago at 3:56 AM on July 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
As a bonus, to seal the deal he also works as a screenwriter and has contributed to The Wire, Treme, The Deuce and Bosch amongst others.
posted by jontyjago at 3:56 AM on July 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
For learning about America, and especially for "the crime element," any of Elmore Leonard's crime novels are the pinnacle of that genre. Not much courtroom drama, but great writing. Tishomingo Blues is one of the better ones.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 6:10 AM on July 6, 2020
posted by Kirth Gerson at 6:10 AM on July 6, 2020
I'll second Scott Turow. I think he's a much better writer than Grisham while covering a lot of the same territory.
(I bounced off of the Grisham books I tried--except for a couple of audio books on long drives--mostly because I hated his characterization. Turow's characters are much more plausible and sympathetic, IMO.)
posted by suetanvil at 6:24 AM on July 6, 2020
(I bounced off of the Grisham books I tried--except for a couple of audio books on long drives--mostly because I hated his characterization. Turow's characters are much more plausible and sympathetic, IMO.)
posted by suetanvil at 6:24 AM on July 6, 2020
If it doesn’t have to be based in the US Ian Rankin‘s Rebus series ticked a lot of the same boxes for me that Grisham and Lee Child tick.
posted by koahiatamadl at 11:04 AM on July 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by koahiatamadl at 11:04 AM on July 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
Nthing Michael Connelly!! Since he likes legal, the Lincoln Lawyer books are a good place to start, and his Harry Bosch series (cop detective) are my favorites. Also agree on Lee Child, though I will note his first book is not my favorite, so if he doesn’t love that one it’s still worth reading others. Past Tense was a good one; they don’t need to be read in order. Also, Child is a Brit, so it’s not the horse’s mouth, but it is super fun.
posted by sumiami at 11:09 AM on July 6, 2020
posted by sumiami at 11:09 AM on July 6, 2020
Richard North Patterson! Similar genre, but way better. Give him a twofer of Degree of Guilt and Eyes of a Child. (CW: both have rape and/or child abuse as major plot points.)
posted by Aquifer at 11:40 AM on July 6, 2020
posted by Aquifer at 11:40 AM on July 6, 2020
I have enjoyed these series/authors because they are well written & drenched in local atmosphere.
Greg Iles 2 series: Mississippi and Penn Cage. Cannot separate the setting from the story.
James Lee Burke Billy Bob Holland series in Texas and Robicheaux series in Louisiana. Sensory evocation of the colors, sounds, and scents.
Randy Wayne White's Doc Ford series is set in Florida, with Robicheaux' love of the landscape
Stuart MacBride's Logan Mcrae series is set in Scotland. (Tartan Noir)
John Burdett's Sonchai Jitpleecheep series is set in Thailand.
Daniel Woodrell's Winter's Bone is one of his standalone novels, not a series. The movie was equally fine. (Hillbilly Noir.)
Julia Keller's Bell Elkins series is set in West Virginia.
posted by ohshenandoah at 5:21 PM on July 6, 2020
Greg Iles 2 series: Mississippi and Penn Cage. Cannot separate the setting from the story.
James Lee Burke Billy Bob Holland series in Texas and Robicheaux series in Louisiana. Sensory evocation of the colors, sounds, and scents.
Randy Wayne White's Doc Ford series is set in Florida, with Robicheaux' love of the landscape
Stuart MacBride's Logan Mcrae series is set in Scotland. (Tartan Noir)
John Burdett's Sonchai Jitpleecheep series is set in Thailand.
Daniel Woodrell's Winter's Bone is one of his standalone novels, not a series. The movie was equally fine. (Hillbilly Noir.)
Julia Keller's Bell Elkins series is set in West Virginia.
posted by ohshenandoah at 5:21 PM on July 6, 2020
I won't say that the prose is anything to write home about, but Nevada Barr has a series of mysteries set at US National Parks, and the lead character is a park ranger, which definitely gives a distinct sense of place.
posted by suelac at 8:44 AM on July 7, 2020
posted by suelac at 8:44 AM on July 7, 2020
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