Books like The Thursday Murder Club

01

Magpie Murders

Anthony Horowitz · Mystery

Magpie Murders is a novel in two interlocking halves.

A kindred mystery read.

02

The Man Who Died Twice

Richard Osman · Mystery

The Man Who Died Twice is the second Thursday Murder Club novel, picking up the Coopers Chase quartet — Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim, and Ron — shortly after the events of the first book.

A kindred mystery read.

03

The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War

Ben Macintyre · History

Ben Macintyre tells the story of Oleg Gordievsky, a KGB officer who became the most important British spy of the Cold War.

A kindred mystery read.

04

In Cold Blood

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.

05

A Is for Alibi

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.

Both dig into justice outside institutions.

06

Flowers for Algernon

Daniel Keyes · Science fiction

Flowers for Algernon is narrated through progress reports written by Charlie Gordon, a 32-year-old man with an intellectual disability who becomes the first human subject in an experimental surgery designed to dramatically increase intelligence.

Both dig into memory and loss.

07

Kafka on the Shore

Haruki Murakami · Literary fiction

Kafka on the Shore runs two parallel narratives that eventually, obliquely, converge.

Both dig into memory and loss.

08

Killing Floor

Lee Child · Thriller

Jack Reacher has just left the Army after thirteen years as a military policeman.

Both dig into justice outside institutions.

09

Never Let Me Go

Kazuo Ishiguro · Literary fiction

Kathy H.

Both dig into memory and loss.

10

Station Eleven

Emily St. John Mandel · Literary fiction

Station Eleven begins with an actor dying of a heart attack onstage during a production of King Lear in Toronto.

Both dig into memory and loss.

11

The Bromance Book Club

Lyssa Kay Adams · Romance

The Bromance Book Club centers on Gavin Scott, a professional baseball player whose wife Thea has just told him their marriage is over.

Both dig into friendship and community.

12

The Cherry Orchard

Anton Chekhov · Literary fiction

The Cherry Orchard is Chekhov's final play, first performed in Moscow in 1904, months before his death.

Both dig into memory and loss.