Mystery · Similar reads
Books like L.A. Confidential
The best books like L.A. Confidential are In Cold Blood, Blood Meridian, and No Country for Old Men. L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy is about corruption and complicity, los angeles mythology, ambition and moral compromise. If that's what drew you in, here are 12 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.
- In Cold Blood
01
Truman Capote · Memoir
Truman Capote's account of the 1959 murders of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas — and of the investigation, capture, trial, and execution of the killers Perry Smith and Richard Hickock — is the founding document of the true crime genre and one of the most admired works of American nonfiction of the twentieth century.
A kindred mystery read.
Read the summary → - Blood Meridian
02
Cormac McCarthy · Literary fiction
Blood Meridian, or The Evening Redness in the West is set along the Texas-Mexico border in the 1840s and loosely follows a teenage runaway known only as the kid, who falls in with the Glanton gang — a historical band of scalp hunters hired by the Mexican government to kill Apache raiders.
A kindred mystery read.
Read the summary → - No Country for Old Men
03
Cormac McCarthy · Literary fiction
No Country for Old Men begins in the Texas desert in 1980 where a Vietnam veteran named Llewelyn Moss stumbles on the aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong: a ring of dead men, trucks, a cache of heroin, and two million dollars in a case.
A kindred mystery read.
Read the summary → - Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders
04
Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders
Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry · Memoir
Helter Skelter is the account of the Tate-LaBianca murders of August 1969 written by Vincent Bugliosi, the Los Angeles deputy district attorney who prosecuted Charles Manson, with journalist Curt Gentry.
A kindred mystery read.
Read the summary → - American Pastoral
05
Philip Roth · Literary fiction
American Pastoral opens with a narrator, Nathan Zuckerman, learning at a high school reunion about the life and death of Seymour "the Swede" Levov — a man who embodied postwar American success so completely he seemed almost allegorical.
A kindred mystery read.
Read the summary → - The Black Dahlia
06
James Ellroy · Mystery
In January 1947, the body of Elizabeth Short — a young woman who wanted to be an actress — is found mutilated in a vacant lot in Los Angeles.
Both dig into los angeles mythology.
Read the summary → - Along Came a Spider
07
James Patterson · Thriller
Along Came a Spider introduces Alex Cross, a Black homicide detective and forensic psychologist working in Washington D.C., in the case that made James Patterson a bestseller.
Both dig into race and power.
Read the summary → - James
08
Percival Everett · Literary fiction
James retells Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of Jim — renamed James here — the enslaved man who escapes down the Mississippi with Huck Finn.
Both dig into race and power.
Read the summary → - The Underground Railroad
09
Colson Whitehead · Historical fiction
The Underground Railroad takes a central metaphor of American history — the network of safe houses and abolitionists that helped enslaved people flee north — and makes it literal: Colson Whitehead imagines the railroad as an actual underground train system, with tunnels, platforms, and conductors.
Both dig into race and power.
Read the summary → - Washington Black
10
Esi Edugyan · Historical fiction
Washington Black opens on a Barbados sugar plantation in the 1830s, where George Washington Black — Wash — is an eleven-year-old enslaved boy.
Both dig into race and power.
Read the summary → - A Fatal Grace
11
Louise Penny · Mystery
A Fatal Grace is the second novel in Louise Penny's Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, set in the fictional Quebec village of Three Pines.
A kindred mystery read.
Read the summary → - A Is for Alibi
12
Sue Grafton · Mystery
Kinsey Millhone is a private investigator in Santa Teresa, California — Grafton's fictionalized Santa Barbara — recently divorced for the second time and living alone in a small apartment she describes with genuine affection.
A kindred mystery read.
Read the summary →
Books like L.A. Confidential: quick answers
What are the best books like L.A. Confidential?
The best books like L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy are In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy, Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry, American Pastoral by Philip Roth, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with L.A. Confidential, such as corruption and complicity, los angeles mythology, ambition and moral compromise.
What should I read after L.A. Confidential?
A natural next read after L.A. Confidential is In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. A kindred mystery read. Other strong choices are Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy, Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry.
What books are similar to L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy?
L.A. Confidential centers on corruption and complicity, los angeles mythology, ambition and moral compromise. Books with a similar feel include In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy, Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry, American Pastoral by Philip Roth, The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
