Books like 'The Left Hand of Calvus'

Readers who enjoyed The Left Hand of Calvus by L.A. Witt also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.

historical  gay romance  ancient times  military  suspense  queer

  • The Scottish Prisoner by Diana Gabaldon

    The Scottish Prisoner by Diana Gabaldon

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 55 ratings
    In this highly-anticipated new novel, Diana Gabaldon brings back one of her most compelling characters: the unforgettable Lord John Grey - soldier, gentleman, and no mean hand with a blade. Set in the heart of the eighteenth century, Lord John's world is one of mystery and menace. Diana Gabaldon brilliantly weaves together the strands of Lord John's secret and public lives...
  • The Death of Friends by Michael Nava

    The Death of Friends by Michael Nava

    Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars
    · 13 ratings
    Winner of six Lambda Literary awards, the Henry Rios mystery series is iconic. Originally published during the darkest years of the AIDS epidemic in the gay community, The Death of Friends received extraordinary praise both as a mystery and an eloquent work of witness...
  • Sponsored links
  • Chain Reaction by Nicole Edwards

    Chain Reaction by Nicole Edwards

    Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    From New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Nicole Edwards comes the tenth installment in her Brantley Off the Books series.During the two years since they created the Off the Books Task Force, Brantley Walker and Reese Tavoularis have had their share of difficult cases, but their next one hits close to home. Too close...
  • Eryx: A Spartan Tale by Jaclyn Osborn

    Eryx: A Spartan Tale by Jaclyn Osborn

    Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    My father once told me, above all else... Live and die for Sparta. Honor. Loyalty. Duty. These were the things that mattered most. And then Axios came into my life, teaching me other lessons: humility, brotherhood... love. There were moments when the brutal training stripped me of my humanity, where it turned me into a mindless beast of flesh and muscle set to destroy everything in my way...
  • The Only Gold by Tamara Allen

    The Only Gold by Tamara Allen

    Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    Jonah Woolner's life is as prudently regulated as the bank where he works. It's a satisfying life until he's passed over for promotion in favor of newcomer Reid Hylliard. Brash and enterprising, Reid beguiles everyone except Jonah, who's convinced Reid's progressive ideas will be the bank's ruin...
  • A Trail of Fire by Diana Gabaldon

    A Trail of Fire by Diana Gabaldon

    Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars
    · 27 ratings
    Four extraordinary stories featuring characters from the bestselling OUTLANDER series. In Lord John and the Plague of Zombies Lord John Grey is posted to Jamaica to assist the Governor as he faces a most unusual kind of uprising among the colony's slave population...
    Categorized as:
    suspense  queer  war  mystery  m-m  historical  georgian  length-medium
  • Rough Pages by Lev A.C. Rosen

    Rough Pages by Lev A.C. Rosen

    Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Private Detective Evander "Andy" Mills has been drawn back to the Lavender House estate for a missing person case. Pat, the family butler, has been volunteering for a book service, one that specializes in mailing queer books to a carefully guarded list of subscribers...
    Categorized as:
    queer  mystery  historical  m-m  length-medium
  • 夜畫帳 第三卷 by Byeonduck

    夜畫帳 第三卷 by Byeonduck

    Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 5 of 5
    Explicit and plentiful [?] · 13 ratings
    白羅謙一直以為自己是不得已才留在尹府。為了先生的官途,他才重拾春宮畫筆,甚至不惜委身尹勝浩,付出比他想像更多的代價。可被他寄託了所有的先生,卻似乎並不這麼想。比起對他呼來喚去動手動腳的尹少爺,先生那不經意間流露出的輕視,更傷人。他在尹勝浩帶給他的肉體歡愉之中漸漸沉淪,本以為這一切的本質都是傷害,可當隱隱感受到尹勝浩對他流露出的在意與占有慾時,少年越發感到迷惘……本書特色※韓國話題性耽美漫畫第三卷堂堂登場!※韓國Lezhin...
  • Rag and Bone by Michael Nava

    Rag and Bone by Michael Nava

    Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    One of the most highly acclaimed writers in the mystery genre "explores new emotional depths" in this last Henry Rios novel. The gay Mexican-American attorney, after the loss of his lover, must face his own mortality while recovering from a heart attack-and reach out to a family he didn't know he had...
  • An Affair for Aumont by J.A. Rock, Lisa Henry

    An Affair for Aumont by J.A. Rock, Lisa Henry

    Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    All he wants is the love he lost.Four years ago, Louis-Charles Aumont, the Marquis de Montespan, chose duty over the man he loved. And then the man he loved chose death in service to England. Now, after finally cutting ties with his king, Aumont is living in a slum in Seven Dials–and intending to die there too...
    Categorized as:
    queer  historical  m-m  regency  georgian  length-short
  • Year of the Rat by Marshall Thornton

    Year of the Rat by Marshall Thornton

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Long Beach, California 1996. Despite having little obvious experience, bartender Dom Reilly is hired as an investigator for the Freedom Agenda, a not-for-profit justice project. His first case involves a twelve-year-old homicide, in which a teenage girl was viciously murdered...
    Categorized as:
    suspense  queer  mystery  m-m  historical  length-short
  • A Mean Season by Marshall Thornton

    A Mean Season by Marshall Thornton

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Dom Reilly is back. In this follow up to Year of the Rat, Dom helps clear three men wrongly convicted of rape while also following a pet project—the twenty-year-old case of a man accused of killing his lover in 1976. Meanwhile, Dom gets wind that someone is looking for him. A private detective from Chicago...
  • Alec by William di Canzio

    Alec by William di Canzio

    Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars
    · 17 ratings
    William di Canzio's Alec, inspired by Maurice, E. M. Forster's secret novel of a happy same-sex love affair, tells the story of Alec Scudder, the gamekeeper Maurice Hall falls in love with in Forster's classic, published only after the author's death.Di Canzio follows their story past the end of Maurice to the front lines of battle in World War I and beyond...
    Categorized as:
    queer  historical  m-m  war  contemporary  length-medium
  • Skybound by Aleksandr Voinov

    Skybound by Aleksandr Voinov

    Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars
    · 17 ratings
    Germany, 1945. The Third Reich is on its knees as Allied forces bomb Berlin to break the last resistance. Yet on an airfield near Berlin, the battle is far from over for a young mechanic, Felix, who’s attached to a squadron of fighter pilots. He’s especially attached to fighter ace Baldur Vogt, a man he admires and secretly loves...
  • An Honest Man by Ben Fergusson

    An Honest Man by Ben Fergusson

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    In West Berlin in 1989, eighteen-year-old Ralf has just left school and is living a final golden summer with his three best friends. They spend their days swimming, smoking and daydreaming about the future, oblivious to the storm gathering on the other side of the Berlin Wall...
  • A Sanctuary for Soulden by J.A. Rock, Lisa Henry

    A Sanctuary for Soulden by J.A. Rock, Lisa Henry

    Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    He wasn't meant for a quiet life.Philip Winthrop, Viscount Soulden, is a fop. An idle popinjay with nothing more on his mind than how to best knot his cravat. He definitely doesn’t spy against the French. Or arrange hasty weddings. Or occasionally commandeer the navy. And he certainly doesn’t seek out mortal danger in order to combat his pervasive ennui...
  • The Charioteer by Mary Renault

    The Charioteer by Mary Renault

    Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars
    · 33 ratings
    After enduring an injury at Dunkirk during World War II, Laurie Odell is sent to a rural veterans’ hospital in England to convalesce. There he befriends the young, bright Andrew, a conscientious objector serving as an orderly. As they find solace and companionship together in the idyllic surroundings of the hospital, their friendship blooms into a discreet, chaste romance...
  • A Scandal for Stratford by J.A. Rock, Lisa Henry

    A Scandal for Stratford by J.A. Rock, Lisa Henry

    Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars
    · 7 ratings
    He has all he could ask for. James Lewis, the Earl of Stratford, has precisely what he wants: a quiet existence on his family estate, a thriving horse trade that leaves him plenty of time to work on the final volume of his anonymously published opus, The Maiden Diaries, and a deeply committed albeit unconventional relationship with his stablemaster, Harold Granger...
  • Home for Charlie by Minerva Howe

    Home for Charlie by Minerva Howe

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    Charlie Putnam loves his job at the Grand Springs hotel, not because he adores front desk work, but because he gets to meet all kinds of people, which he'd be too scared to do otherwise. He's also being allowed to redecorate some of the rooms...
  • Jaxon by Ruby Raynes

    Jaxon by Ruby Raynes

    Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    Alex: My life is going fine. Okay, it was going fine until I found myself both homeless—my trusty car Trixie on her last leg—and in need of a fake fiancé. What I don't expect is for Jaxon, my long-time crush and the owner of Ink Me, to come swooping in like a knight in shining armor...
  • When Skies Have Fallen by Debbie McGowan

    When Skies Have Fallen by Debbie McGowan

    Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    For many in war-torn 1944, love blossoms in the dance hall, and airman Arty Clarke is no exception. He’s a thinker and a dreamer; however, it’s not the beautiful, talented dancer in his arms—his best friend Jean—who inspires his dreams. For when his gaze meets that of Technical Sergeant Jim Johnson, Arty dares to imagine a different dance...
  • When Skies Have Fallen (When Skies Have Fallen) by Debbie McGowan

    When Skies Have Fallen (When Skies Have Fallen) by Debbie McGowan

    Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 3 of 5
    Open door [?] · 9 ratings
    For many in war-torn 1944, love blossoms in the dance hall, and airman Arty Clarke is no exception. He’s a thinker and a dreamer; however, it’s not the beautiful, talented dancer in his arms—his best friend Jean—who inspires his dreams. For when his gaze meets that of Technical Sergeant Jim Johnson, Arty dares to imagine a different dance...
  • Midnight Flit by Elin Gregory

    Midnight Flit by Elin Gregory

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Miles Siward and Briers Allerdale return for another thrilling Jazz Age adventure.“Silk stockings on expenses.” Miles’s aristocratic mother has information of importance to the British Government and he must escort her home from Bucharest immediately, but their plans go violently awry and Miles and Lady Siward find themselves on a train to Belgrade - where Miles’s lover is posted...
  • Uriel: Yule Lads Book Two by Macy Blake

    Uriel: Yule Lads Book Two by Macy Blake

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    His holiday is about to go off-book…Uriel Lad is single all the way. He enjoys his quiet life in the small town of Mistletoe Falls, running Ornamentary Books and More. This holiday, though, Uriel’s Yule Lad magic is back, which means making mischief throughout the season. It should be a perfect Christmas, until his new friend Joe begs for help with a problem...
  • Walking Wounded by Lauren Gilley

    Walking Wounded by Lauren Gilley

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    Luke always thought he’d grow up to be a famous author. He also thought nothing could ever damage his relationship with his childhood best friend, Hal. He thought a lot of things that proved to be untrue. Now he barely makes rent and proofreads articles at a New York gossip rag, dreaming about what-might-have-been. He’s not bitter about it. He’s not. And he certainly isn’t lonely...
  • The General and the Horse-Lord by Sarah Black

    The General and the Horse-Lord by Sarah Black

    Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    2nd Edition The General and the Horse-Lord: Book One General John Mitchel and his favorite pilot, Gabriel Sanchez, served together as comrades and brothers-in-arms for more than twenty-five years. They followed the warrior’s path: honor first, and service, and the safety of the tribe. Their own needs for love and companionship were secondary to the mission...
  • Night Drop by Marshall Thornton

    Night Drop by Marshall Thornton

    Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 2 of 5
    Behind closed doors [?] · 13 ratings
    It’s 1992 and Los Angeles is burning. Noah Valentine, the owner of Pinx Video in Silver Lake, notices the fires have taken their toll on fellow shopkeeper Guy Peterson’s camera shop. After the riots end, he decides to stop by Guy’s to pick up his overdue videos, only to find Guy’s family dividing up his belongings...
  • The Custom of the Army by Diana Gabaldon

    The Custom of the Army by Diana Gabaldon

    Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars
    · 32 ratings
    Diana Gabaldon, bestselling author of the acclaimed Outlander series, weaves an engrossing tale of war, history, and suspense in this original novella—available exclusively as an eBook—featuring returning hero Lord John Grey. London, 1759. After a high society electric-eel party leads to a duel that ends badly, Lord John Grey feels the need to lie low for a while...
  • Untethered by R.A. Thorn

    Untethered by R.A. Thorn

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 4 of 5
    Explicit open door [?] · 6 ratings
    Determined to help the war effort, Frankie Norris joins the US Air Force in 1943. Braving intimidating drill sergeants and unending marches, Frankie struggles to hide his secret—he’s queer. But having passed basic training, he’s not going to risk an undesirable discharge or any of his fellow recruits finding out...
  • The Flight of the Heron by D.K. Broster

    The Flight of the Heron by D.K. Broster

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    A young Highlander leaves his home and his bride-to-be to follow the standard of Bonnie Prince Charlie...
    Categorized as:
    military  suspense  queer  historical  highlander  m-m  war  georgian
  • Games of Rome by J.P. Kenwood

    Games of Rome by J.P. Kenwood

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    Second Place in the 2016 Rainbow Awards, Best Gay Historical.In this sequel to Dominus, Gaius Fabius Rufus, the victorious general of Rome’s brutal Dacian Wars, finds his loyalties and his affections pulled in different directions...
  • Hammer & Powder by Megan Derr

    Hammer & Powder by Megan Derr

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    The Kingdom of Rinaha is all that stands between the violent, greedy Boorna and the rest of the continent, and they do so by way of their immense and heavily guarded Wall of Gamala, an enormous undertaking that runs the length of the southern end of the continent, standing strong for more than two hundred years...
    Categorized as:
    suspense  military  queer  m-m  historical  length-medium
  • One More Soldier by Marie Sexton

    One More Soldier by Marie Sexton

    Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars
    · 13 ratings
    It is 1963. Being gay is a sin against God. And twenty-eight year old mechanic Will meets Bran for the first time. Over the years a close bond forms between them despite the seventeen year age difference. Will teaches Bran to swim and helps him with homework. The years pass, Bran drops out of school and moves away. Then Bran comes home...
  • The Impetuous Afflictions of Jonathan Wolfe by Charlie Cochet

    The Impetuous Afflictions of Jonathan Wolfe by Charlie Cochet

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    Eight years after leaving the deserts of Africa and the French Foreign Legion behind, Jonathan Wolfe has settled into life at Hawthorne Manor in the English countryside. Johnnie helps his adopted family run the manor and provide a safe, loving home for a new generation of “brats”: boys mistreated and discarded for their homosexuality—something all too familiar to Johnnie...
  • Unmentionables by David Greene

    Unmentionables by David Greene

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Winner Book of the Year bronze medal for Gay literary fiction.Unmentionables is the story of two pairs of lovers in the American Civil War south. One couple is straight, white and wealthy. The other couple is gay, black and enslaved. Field hand Jimmy meets Cato, a house servant from a nearby plantation. Over time, Jimmy's fascination with Cato grows into romantic love...
  • On a Lee Shore by Elin Gregory

    On a Lee Shore by Elin Gregory

    Rated: 3.97 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    “Give me a reason to let you live…” Beached after losing his ship and crew, and with England finally at peace, Lt Christopher Penrose will take whatever work he can get. A valet? Why not? Escorting an elderly diplomat to the Leeward Islands seems like an easy job, but when their ship is boarded by pirates, Kit’s world is turned upside down...
  • Deviant Desire by Jackson Marsh

    Deviant Desire by Jackson Marsh

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 7 ratings
    The Victorian East End lives in fear of the Ripper and his mission to kill rent boys. Silas Hawkins, nineteen and forging a life on the streets could well be the next victim, but when he meets Archer, his life changes forever. Young, attractive and rich, Archer is The Viscount Clearwater, a philanthropist, adventurer and homosexual...
  • The Larks Still Bravely Singing by Aster Glenn Gray

    The Larks Still Bravely Singing by Aster Glenn Gray

    Rated: 3.86 of 5 stars
    · 7 ratings
    The Great War cost Robert his left leg and his first love.A shattering breakup leaves Robert convinced that he is a destructive force in romantic relationships. When he finds himself falling in love with David, an old friend from boarding school, he's sure that he shouldn’t confess his feelings...
  • Bodies of Men by Nigel Featherstone

    Bodies of Men by Nigel Featherstone

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    There is nothing more important than love and refuge. Egypt, 1941. Only hours after disembarking in Alexandria, William Marsh, an Australian corporal at twenty-one, is face down in the sand, caught in a stoush with the Italian enemy. He is saved by James Kelly, a childhood friend from Sydney and the last person he expected to see. But where William escapes unharmed, not all are so fortunate...
    Categorized as:
    military  queer  historical  m-m  length-medium
  • A Rose By Any Other Name by Charlie Cochet

    A Rose By Any Other Name by Charlie Cochet

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 5 ratings
    Nights in the roaring city remind bright young things that life’s too short to take for granted. Tucked away in Times Square hides the Pantheon: a secret cabaret for wealthy gay men. Pretty young men in elaborate costumes and rouged lips are eager to please, and the champagne flows all night long. It’s a world of frivolity, fantasy, and debauchery...
  • Once a Gentleman by Eliot Grayson

    Once a Gentleman by Eliot Grayson

    Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 4 of 5
    Explicit open door [?] · 11 ratings
    Penniless, friendless, and with nowhere left to turn after his family’s ruin, Kit Hewlett can’t afford any more disasters. When a rakish, too-handsome gentleman—and Kit’s own clumsiness—cause him to lose his position as a bookshop clerk, Kit has no choice but to accept the gentleman’s offer of employment as his secretary...
  • The Gentleman's Madness by Bonnie Dee, Summer Devon

    The Gentleman's Madness by Bonnie Dee, Summer Devon

    Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 3 of 5
    Open door [?] · 11 ratings
    "An imprisoned heart finds escape in forbidden love. " No pride. No privacy. No hope. Academic John Gilliam thought being caught embracing another man was the worst that could happen. Until he agrees to "treatment" at an asylum, where a vicious attack leaves him shaken and afraid. But having all means of writing or reading taken from him... "That" is a serious threat to his sanity...
  • To Love a Traitor by J.L. Merrow

    To Love a Traitor by J.L. Merrow

    Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 3 of 5
    Open door [?] · 13 ratings
    Wounds of the heart are the hardest to heal. Solicitor’s clerk George Johnson has a secret goal when he moves into a London boarding house in the winter of 1920: to find out if his fellow lodger, Matthew Connaught, was the wartime traitor who cost George’s adored older brother Hugh his life. Yet the more he gets to know his quarry, the more George loses sight of his mission -- and his heart...
    Categorized as:
    military  queer  m-m  historical  mystery  war  length-short  open-door
  • The Last Concubine by Catt Ford

    The Last Concubine by Catt Ford

    Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 3 of 5
    Open door [?] · 14 ratings
    When Princess Lan'xiu's brother delivers her under duress into General Hui Wei's harem as a political offering, her only question is how soon her secret will be discovered. She is under no illusions: when the general discovers she is actually a he, death is his only future-though he doesn't plan to make it easy. Lan'xiu has dressed as a woman all his life, but he is no damsel in distress...
    Categorized as:
    suspense  military  queer  historical  war  harems  royalty  m-m
  • The Auspicious Troubles of Chance by Charlie Cochet

    The Auspicious Troubles of Chance by Charlie Cochet

    Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    Chance Irving is a young man with a gift for getting into trouble-not surprising, as trouble is all he's ever known. After losing everything he held dear one fateful night, he decides to leave New York and his past behind, and joins the French Foreign Legion...
    Categorized as:
    military  queer  historical  mystery  war  m-m  length-novella
  • Winds of Change by Lee Rowan

    Winds of Change by Lee Rowan

    Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    The ruggedly handsome Lt. William Marshall of His Majesty's Navy carries a secret close to his heart, one that is more important than either his loyalty to England or his devotion to duty. His shipmate, Lt. David Archer, is not only his best friend, he's been his lover for over a year. The penalty should their relationship be discovered? Death, by hanging...
    Categorized as:
    military  queer  historical  m-m  length-medium
  • Easy Ryder by Deanna Wadsworth

    Easy Ryder by Deanna Wadsworth

    Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    It’s July 3, 1976, the beginning of America’s bicentennial weekend, and everyone seems to be celebrating their freedoms except eighteen-year-old runaway Michael Ryder. Fresh from rural Pennsylvania, Michael is doing whatever and whoever it takes to get to San Francisco, where he hopes to find a new life with the freedom to love without fear...
    Categorized as:
    military  queer  suspense  abuse  m-m  historical  contemporary  bikers
  • A Body to Dye For by Grant Michaels

    A Body to Dye For by Grant Michaels

    Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    Hot water is nothing new for Stan Kraychik, a smart-mouthed Boston hairdresser who gave up a career in psychology to "shrink 'em at the sink" instead. When a vacationing National Park ranger turns up dead in Boston, Stan is implicated in the murder, and must find the killer to clear his own name...
  • Deliverance by Aleksandr Voinov

    Deliverance by Aleksandr Voinov

    Rated: 3.80 of 5 stars
    · 5 ratings
    Once a renowned tournament fighter known as the "Lion of Kent," William Raven joined the Templars in the Holy Land to escape his past and the political machinations of his enemies. Called to protect travelling pilgrims bound for Jerusalem, William comes face to face with Guy de Metz, his lover from the past. But Guy is no longer the foppish young noble William knew...
    Categorized as:
    military  queer  m-m  historical  medieval  length-novella
  • Strange Meeting by Susan Hill

    Strange Meeting by Susan Hill

    Rated: 3.86 of 5 stars
    · 21 ratings
    Susan Hill's classic novel Strange Meeting tells of the power of love amidst atrocities. 'He was afraid to go to sleep. For three weeks, he had been afraid of going to sleep . . .' Young officer John Hilliard returns to his battalion in France following a period of sick leave in England...
Fantastic book recommendations by romance book lovers for romance book lovers.
Find out more about romance.io.


Get recommendations by genres & tropes

Use the romance book finder to mix and match over 100 content keywords to find the books that match your preferences

romance book finder

Looking for more inspiration? Enter another book title to get more suggestions on what to read next.


Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.