The book of unholy mischief

The Glass Lake

Maeve Binchy

A young woman in an Irish village deals with the aftermath of her mother's disappearance and the discovery of a hidden life.

Same warm register, still historical fiction

pace-1·prose0·bleak0

Blood on the dining-room floor

Gertrude Stein1948

A repetitive, circular narrative about a death in a country house. It uses experimental prose to obscure the facts of a traditional mystery.

warm → playful, still mystery

pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

Amberes

Roberto Bolaño2002

A fragmented series of fifty-six short sections follows a police officer, a redhead, and a hunchback through a series of loosely linked crimes.

warm → cold

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

The Doves Necklace

Raja Alem2014

A detective investigates an unidentified woman's body found in a Mecca alleyway. The city itself narrates parts of the story.

warm → dreamlike

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

Beautiful Bastard

Christina Lauren2013

An MBA intern and her demanding media executive boss engage in a series of sexual encounters while competing at work. It is an erotic romance.

warm → playful

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

The Lost Symbol

Dan Brown2009

Symbologist Robert Langdon follows a trail of Masonic puzzles through Washington D.C. monuments to save his kidnapped mentor.

warm → propulsive

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Hot mahogany

Stuart Woods2008

A lawyer guards a former spy with amnesia who restores antique furniture. They uncover a conspiracy linked to the man's service in Vietnam.

warm → wry, still mystery

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Ten Big Ones

Janet Evanovich2004

Stephanie Plum witnesses a gang hit and becomes a target herself. She balances the threat with her ongoing romantic indecision.

warm → playful, still mystery

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Private Vegas

James Patterson2015

Jack Morgan investigates a man who trains women to become killers in Las Vegas. The story follows multiple perspectives in short chapters.

pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

Pines

Blake Crouch2012

A Secret Service agent searches for missing colleagues in an Idaho town he cannot leave. The townspeople and physics itself seem to work against him.

warm → tense, still mystery

pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1

My Name Is Red

Orhan Pamuk

In 1591 Istanbul, miniaturists investigate a colleague's murder. Objects and colors narrate chapters alongside the human characters.

warm → meditative, still historical fiction

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

The English Patient

Michael Ondaatje1992

Four people shelter in a ruined Italian villa at the end of WWII. They care for a burned, anonymous man who recounts his past in the desert.

warm → elegiac, still historical fiction

pace-2·prose+1·bleak+1

Dhalgren

Samuel R. Delany1975

An amnesiac wanderer enters Bellona, a city cut off from the world where time and geography shift. He joins a gang and writes poetry.

warm → dreamlike

pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

Affinity

Sarah Waters1999

A grieving socialite visits a medium in a Victorian women's prison. Their relationship develops through diary entries and clandestine meetings.

warm → bleak, still historical fiction

pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

Libra

Don DeLillo1988

A fictionalized biography of Lee Harvey Oswald. It follows his life and the CIA conspiracy that leads to the assassination of JFK.

warm → eerie, still historical fiction

pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

The Virgin Suicides

Jeffrey Eugenides

A group of neighborhood boys obsessively observes five sisters in 1970s Michigan. They document the girls' lives leading up to their suicides.

warm → tense, still mystery

pace0·prose+1·bleak+2