If you liked
Books like Broken Harbor
by Tana French
Broken Harbor is Tana French's fourth Dublin Murder Squad novel, set in a half-built ghost estate after the crash, where a by-the-book detective and a terrible crime slowly come apart together. It is crime fiction written like literature. If you want more mysteries that haunt rather than just click shut, these are the reads.
The shortlist
What to read next
In the Woodsby Tana French
“In the Woods by Tana French 2007 review. Dublin Murder Squad detective Rob Ryan is assigned to a child murder in the same woods where his two best friends disappeared twenty years earlier. The Edgar winner that launched the strongest contemporary literary-crime series.”
The Silent Patientby Alex Michaelides
“The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides 2019 review. A forensic psychotherapist works with an artist who has not spoken since the night she shot her husband. The thriller debut that topped the New York Times bestseller list for over a year and became the most-discussed contemporary psychological thriller of its decade.”
The Secret Historyby Donna Tartt
“The Secret History by Donna Tartt 1992 review. A new student at a Vermont college is drawn into an exclusive Greek-studies seminar and the murder that the small clique conceals. The novel that defined the dark-academia register before it had a name.”
The Lincoln Lawyerby Michael Connelly
“The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly 2005 review. Mickey Haller, a Los Angeles defense attorney who works out of the back of a Lincoln Town Car, takes a case that pulls him into something larger. The novel that launched a series and a film franchise.”
Big Little Liesby Liane Moriarty
“Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty 2014 review. Three mothers at an Australian elementary school converge on a kindergarten Trivia Night where someone will die. The contemporary domestic-suspense novel that defined the late-2010s book-club shelf.”
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastleby Stuart Turton
“The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton 2018 review. Aiden Bishop wakes in eight different bodies at a 1920s country house and must solve a murder. Costa First Novel Award winner.”
FAQ
Common questions about Broken Harbor read-alikes
- I want more Tana French.
- In the Woods is where the Dublin Murder Squad begins, a detective working a child's murder that echoes his own buried trauma. Same literary crime, same slow psychological dread. French is the whole reason to read on.
- What is the closest literary-crime match?
- The Secret History by Donna Tartt puts a death at the center and cares most about the psychology of the people around it, exactly French's priority. The Silent Patient is the twistier, more plot-driven option.
- I want a mystery inside a community of secrets.
- Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty opens with a death and rewinds through a town's worth of lies. Sharper and funnier than French, but it shares the everyone-is-hiding-something engine.
- I want a clever puzzle or a propulsive procedural.
- The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton is an ingenious time-loop whodunit, and The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly is the clean, fast procedural pick. Both scratch the solve-it itch from different angles.
The original