If you liked
Books like Bury Me Deep
by Megan Abbott
Megan Abbott's Bury Me Deep is the 2009 novel that established her as the literary heir to the noir-tinged Patricia Highsmith and Vera Caspary line. Marion Seeley, the doctor's wife in 1931 Phoenix, is the rare noir protagonist who earns the reader's complicity. These five next.
The shortlist
What to read next
The End of Everythingby Megan Abbott
“Megan Abbott writing a thirteen-year-old's point of view as her best friend disappears. Quiet, devastating, almost too uncomfortable to recommend.”
Cold Steel Rainby Kenneth Abel
“The first Danny Chaisson novel. Kenneth Abel writing New Orleans politics and corruption with a New Orleans-specific moral exhaustion you cannot fake.”
When Rich Men Dieby Harold Adams
“When Rich Men Die by Harold Adams 1987 review. The fifth Carl Wilcox Depression-era mystery sends the alcoholic itinerant artist back to Corden, South Dakota for a banker’s murder.”
Enough Ropeby Lawrence Block
“Lawrence Block's collected short fiction. Eighty-plus stories. The case for Block as one of the most versatile American crime writers of his generation.”
The Church of the Dead Girlsby Stephen Dobyns
“The Church of Dead Girls by Stephen Dobyns 1997 review. Three teenage girls disappear from an upstate New York town and the community begins to suspect everyone, including itself.”
FAQ
Common questions about Bury Me Deep read-alikes
- Are these all noir or noir-adjacent?
- Mostly. Dobyns's Church of Dead Girls is literary suspense rather than strict noir. The Harold Adams pick is Depression-era regional crime. Cold Steel Rain is Louisiana contemporary noir. The connective tissue is the patient psychological precision Abbott does so well.
- Which is the best next Megan Abbott?
- The End of Everything (the suburban-disappearance follow-up to Bury Me Deep) is the right next read. After that, Dare Me, The Fever, and Give Me Your Hand are her strongest 2010s novels.
- What about her newer books?
- The Turnout (2021) is her most recent and her most ambitious. We rate it slightly below Dare Me but above The Fever, which puts it firmly in the recommend-without-reservation zone.
The original