Books like 'A Usual Suspect'
Readers who enjoyed A Usual Suspect by Vanessa Nelson also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary fantasy urban fantasy dark romance paranormal magic horror mystery
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The Magnus Archives: Season 5 by Johnathan Sims
Rated: 4.69 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsThe Magnus Archives is a horror audiobook written by Jonathan Sims, directed by Alexander J. Newall and distributed by Rusty Quill. Sims narrates the stories in-character as the main character, Jonathan Sims, the newly-appointed head archivist of the fictional Magnus Institute; an institution based in London centred on research into the paranormal... -
Ashes to Ashes by Karina Halle
Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsIt’s been two months since Perry Palomino and Dex Foray’s relationship reached a new turning point, two months since Perry started a new life in Seattle, and two months since their Experiment in Terror show took on a new partner, ex-Wine Babe Rebecca Sims, and found a new level of success. But whenever there is light in their lives, the madness still has a way of coming back in... -
It's a Matter of Midlife and Death by Robyn Peterman
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsMidlife is madness—magical, messy and one freaking crisis after another.With a new job I didn’t apply for and an extended family I didn’t know I had—midlife has become somewhat problematic. Gluing ghosts back together is easy compared to my new celestial occupation.The Grim Reaper wants to put a ring on it. Tim wants to be a father... -
Chosen by Vanessa Nelson
Rated: 4.48 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsDemons on the loose. Ritual murders. An ancient vampire breathing down her neck.Some days Max just doesn't know where to start. The problems facing her city are piling up, and there seems no end or solution in sight.Max's job used to be dealing with supernatural creatures... -
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Called by Vanessa Nelson
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsIn a city full of rising tension, with people going missing or turning up dead, can Max resist the call to help?When Max tries to intervene to prevent an assault and it goes horribly wrong, she wants nothing more than to keep her head down and get on with her job. She does not want to answer calls for help, not even from Bryce, the Order warrior who seems willing to give her a second chance... -
Hunted by Vanessa Nelson
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsUnsolved murders, supernatural creatures and civil unrest. Just another day.Problems keep piling up around Max. No sooner has she dealt with one set of supernatural creatures, than she's called to the city's mortuary to an unusual death. The city's most senior spiritual leader is also trying to get hold of her. On top of that, Bryce cancelled their date and hasn't been seen for days... -
Shadows and Gold by Elizabeth Hunter
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsFailing grades. Misleading wind vampires. And a fortune in forgotten gold. Traveling to the most remote region of China certainly wasn’t what Ben Vecchio had in mind for his summer vacation, but when Tenzin suggested a quick trip, he could hardly turn down a chance to keep her out of trouble and practice the Mandarin he still struggled with in class... -
And With Madness Comes the Light by Karina Halle
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsThe Man. The Mystery. The Madness. Dex Foray has never been anyone’s fool – until he missed his chance for happiness with Perry Palomino. Broken and alone, Dex has no choice but to rise from the ashes Perry left behind and find his own path to redemption. But nothing in Dex’s life has ever come easily, especially when there’s a dark madness waiting in the wings... -
Bound by Benedict Jacka
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsMage Alex Verus is caught between a rock and a hard place in the eighth urban fantasy novel from the national bestselling author of Burned.Right now I wasn’t seeing Richard as the teacher out of my nightmares, he was just another Dark mage, and I looked into the future to see what would happen if I turned that knife on him instead.. -
Forged by Vanessa Nelson
Rated: 4.41 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsBlood may be thicker than water, but not all families are meant to stay together.Struggling to maintain her independence, and the life she has fought so hard to build, Max finally learns the truth about her own origins and her family.Max has no time to absorb the shocking news... -
Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: Guilty Pleasures vol 1 by Laurell K. Hamilton
New York Times bestselling author Laurell K. Hamilton brings Anita Blake to the world of graphic novels. Anita Blake lives in a world where vampires, zombies and werewolves have been declared legal citizens of the United States. Anita Blake is an "animator" - a profession that involves raising the dead for mourning relatives... -
Stealing Phoenix by Joss Stirling
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsPhoenix belongs to the Community, a gang of thieves with paranormal powers. Yves Benedict, an American student visiting London, is her mark. But Yves turns out to be more than just a target. He is her destiny. Her soulmate. The Community owns Phoenix's past and it wants her future too. Can Phoenix save the boy she loves . . -
The Facts of Midlife by Robyn Peterman
Rated: 4.53 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsMidlife is sheer madness, and the facts of midlife are not taught in school. Unfortunately, some lessons are hellishly hard to learn.I thought I had it figured out. I was wrong.Proving I’m the Angel of Mercy is turning into a sh*tshow of epic proportions.Not too long ago, I was a forty-year-old gal with a stable and boring life ahead of me. Now? Not so much... -
Marked by Benedict Jacka
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsMage Alex Verus is hanging on by a thread in the ninth urban fantasy novel from the national bestselling author of Burned.When Mage Alex Verus ends up with a position on the Light Council, no one is happy, least of all him. But Alex is starting to realize that if he wants to protect his friends, he'll need to become a power player himself... -
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Come Alive by Karina Halle
It’s one thing to bring the woman you love back into your life. It’s another to try and keep her there. For Dex Foray, convincing Perry Palomino to open herself to their burgeoning relationship has been more challenging than hunting ghosts, battling demons and stalking Sasquatch combined... -
Werepanther 8: Paranormal Hunter by Logan Jacobs
Rated: 4.75 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsMy crew of badass women and I have officially decimated the Order of the Nile, freed the legions of paranormal creatures the AON were using for gladiator fights, and seized possession of an awesome mansion. My business ventures are also booming, so things are definitely looking up.But there’s still the issue of several rogue Egyptian gods who are out for my head... -
Dust to Dust by Karina Halle
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 37 ratings(New to this angsty, sexy, scary romance series? Start with book #1, Darkhouse, FREE on Amazon and other retailers. Warning: this series contains harsh language, violence, gore and sexual scenes of a graphic nature - reader discretion is advised) **The dramatic conclusion to the Experiment in Terror Series.** Perry Palomino and Dex Foray. On their own, they’re uniquely brilliant... -
A Broken Contract by Vanessa Nelson
Rated: 4.53 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsA promise broken. Her future torn up. But she still has a job to do.Betrayed by her blood family, all Hallie's plans for her future are in ruins. She has no time to lick her wounds as Special Investigator Girard wants her help looking for some members of the elite who have gone missing in Hallie's territory... -
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, Jay Rubin
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 86 ratingsJapan's most highly regarded novelist now vaults into the first ranks of international fiction writers with this heroically imaginative novel, which is at once a detective story, an account of a disintegrating marriage, and an excavation of the buried secrets of World War II. In a Tokyo suburb a young man named Toru Okada searches for his wife's missing cat... -
Dark Dreamers by Christine Feehan, Marjorie M. Liu
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsDARK DREAM Christine Feehan She’s known him since she was fifteen. Every night, he is with her: his face, his voice. Tonight, Sara Marten will meet the man who is both angel and demon, salvation and temptation: Falcon—the Carpathian, the banished hero. Tonight, Sara will meet the dark-eyed destroyer destined to be her mate. A DREAM OF STONE & SHADOW Marjorie M... -
The Killing Floor Blues by Craig Schaefer
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsNobody has ever escaped from the Iceberg. It's a privately-owned prison deep in the Mojave Desert, staffed by brutal guards and surrounded by desolate wasteland. Inside the walls, gangs and predators are constant threats; outside the walls, there's nothing but a sniper's bullet or a slow death in the desert heat... -
Duck Duck Ghost by Rhys Ford
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsParanormal investigator Wolf Kincaid knows what his foot tastes like. Mostly because he stuck it firmly in his mouth when his lover, Tristan Pryce, accidentally drugged him with a batch of psychotropic baklava. Needing to patch things up between them, Wolf drags Tristan to San Luis Obispo, hoping Tristan’s medium ability can help evict a troublesome spirit haunting an old farmhouse... -
A Plain-Dealing Villain by Craig Schaefer
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsIt's hard to make a dishonest buck in Sin City, especially when a rogue FBI agent is gunning for your head. Flat broke and one step ahead of the law, Daniel Faust flees Vegas and lands in Chicago, where a risky heist promises to fill his pockets with cash... -
Closer by Dannika Dark
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsKane never believed in things like fate or karma. Not until the night he took a life. Within the human world is a secret society of immortals and gifted supernaturals. Kane is one of them—a Sensor who experiences emotional energy through touch. But despite his good looks and easy-going personality, Kane lives a solitary life. Unlike other Sensors, he is unnaturally hypersensitive...Categorized as:
magic mystery contemporary paranormal werewolves urban fantasy shapeshifters fantasy -
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The Living End by Craig Schaefer
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsAs the FBI closes in on the Las Vegas underworld, Daniel Faust -- grifter, thief, and sorcerer -- isn't the only one feeling the heat. Half-demon racket boss Nicky Agnelli is fighting to hang onto his empire, leaving a trail of dead informants in his wake, while Daniel's ex-girlfriend Jennifer rallies her forces on the street and aims her sights at Nicky's crown... -
Alexander Death by J.L. Bryan
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsWhile Seth searches for Jenny, Dr. Heather Reynard of the CDC unravels Seth and Jenny's secrets. Alexander opens Jenny's mind to her deep past, and to the full horrific extent of her powers. Torn between her feelings for Alexander and Seth, and between her past lives and her present, Jenny must prepare to face her enemies, as well as the darkness within her.. -
Vampyrdreper by Laurell K. Hamilton
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 65 ratings‘I don’t date vampires. I kill them.’My name is Anita Blake. Vampires call me the Executioner. What I call them isn’t repeatable.Ever since the Supreme Court granted the undead equal rights, most people think vampires are just ordinary folks with fangs. I know better. I’ve seen their victims. I carry the scars.. -
The Bane Witch by Ava Morgyn
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsPractical Magic meets Gone Girl in Ava Morgyn's next dark, spellbinding novel about a woman who is more than a witch - she's a hunter.Piers Corbin has always had an affinity for poisonous things - plants and men... -
The Sinner by Amanda Stevens
I am a living ghost, a wanderer in search of my purpose and place… I'm a cemetery restorer by trade, but my calling has evolved from that of ghost seer to death walker to detective of lost souls. I solve the riddles of the dead so the dead will leave me alone. I've come to Seven Gates Cemetery nursing a broken heart, but peace is hard to come by…for the ghosts here and for me... -
Ghosted by Karina Halle
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsGhosted is an all-new EIT novella told from Dex's POV. It should be read after Dust to Dust (after Veiled, preferably) and before Came Back Haunted.It's available in the All the Love in the World anthology on Amazon, as well as by itself in paperback, and at Nook, iBooks and Kobo... -
Back from the Undead by D.D. Barant
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsAnother work day, another case for the Bloodhound Files. But this time, Jace is truly stumped: How is she, a mere human, supposed to penetrate the dark heart of a child-trafficking ring of pire orphans—one that turns out to be part of a blood-farm operation, in the crime-ridden border city of Vancouver, British Columbia?Jace is in over her head... -
Savor by Kate Evangelista
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsMature and explicit content. Not recommended for readers below 18-years-old. Yup, you've got to be that old to read my story. Consider yourself warned. I’m Dakota Collins, a tough talking, eye patch wearing, workaholic photography student. Why am I important? Well, maybe because I get to spend an entire month with Vicious, only the sickest indie rock band out there... -
Cheat the Grave: The Fifth Sign of the Zodiac by Vicki Pettersson
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsBook 5 in the NYT & USA Today Bestselling “Signs of the Zodiac” series.Light. Shadow. Superhero ... Villain.Las Vegas socialite and otherworldly avenger Joanna Archer gave up everything when she sacrificed her extraordinary abilities and embraced mortality to rescue an innocent child … and a city teetering on destruction... -
Winter by Josh Lanyon
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsFirst in a NEW series! Still grieving over the sudden death of his lover, antiques dealer Flynn Ambrose moves to the ramshackle old house on Pitch Pine Lane to catalog and sell the large inventory of arcane and oddball items that once filled his late uncle's mysterious museum. But not all the items are that easy to catalog. Or get rid of... ˃˃˃ The Haunted Heart series. Four seasons... -
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Much Ado About Vampires by Katie MacAlister
Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsBitter at first bite… Corazon Ferreira is one heck of a jaded woman. Not only did her husband dump her for a pretty, vivacious blonde, but her sister has lost her mind and married a vampire. Worse, it turns out that Cora herself was a vampire’s mate in a past life…the very same vampire she witnessed killing someone... -
Circle of Enemies by Harry Connolly
Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsFormer car thief Ray Lilly is now the expendable grunt of a sorcerer responsible for destroying extradimensional predators summoned to our world by power-hungry magicians. Luckily, Ray has some magic of his own, and so far it’s kept him alive. But when a friend from his former gang calls him back to his old stomping grounds in Los Angeles, Ray may have to face a threat even he can’t handle... -
The Naughty List by Debra Dunbar
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsSam and her angel Gregory are off on a pre-Christmas vacation to a sleepy little town in the Alps. Sam looks for a decent spa while Gregory soaks up the history of local martyrs. What they don't expect is a series of murders - murders that take place every at this time and target the sinful in the town... -
Anne Rice's The Tale of the Body Thief (A Graphic Novel) by Faye Perozich, Travis Moore
Rated: 3.98 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsThe vampire Lestat, bestselling author Anne Rice's chilling creation, is back...in a graphic novel adaptation of The Tale of the Body Thief, part of the bloodsoaked Vampire Chronicles. Immortalised on screen by Tom Cruise in Interview With a Vampire, Lestat is the decadent, corrupt night dweller with a craving for human blood and the ethics of a snake... -
Zen and the Art of Vampires by Katie MacAlister
Rated: 3.99 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsWhite picket fences can be dangerous to vampires...but the right woman can be worth even the direst of consequences... Pia Thomason doesn’t have a typical life, but she wants one. The husband, the kids, the house in the suburbs…with her fortieth birthday looming, she decides to do something drastic, and joins a singles’ tour through romantic Europe... -
Drawing Blood by Poppy Z. Brite
Rated: 3.99 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsRobert McGee is a man living under a dark cloud. Acclaimed cartoonist of the underground comic book Birdland, he has moved his family from Texas to New Orleans and finally to Missing Mile, North Carolina. But Robert is unable to escape the drinking and the violence that have become as natural to him as breathing... -
Redemption Alley by Lilith Saintcrow
Rated: 3.98 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsSome cases are unusual - even for Jill Kismet. When her police contact asks her to look into a "suicide", she suddenly finds herself in a labyrinth of deception, drugs, murder -- and all-too-human corruption. The cops are her allies, except for the ones who want her dead. The hellbreed are her targets, except for the ones who might know what's going on... -
Pretty When She Kills by Rhiannon Frater
Amaliya Vezorak never believed in happy endings… When Amaliya harnessed her necromancer powers to defeat her greatest enemy, she believed she had finally found a happy ending with Cian, her lover and the master of Austin. That happiness is short-lived when the vampire ruling over San Antonio attempts a takeover of Austin in order to capture Amaliya and use her power for his own devices... -
Crouching Vampire, Hidden Fang by Katie MacAlister
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsFor a woman married to the vampire of her nightmares, the honeymoon’s over—and reality bites… Pia’s dream of being married has come true.But her husband is straight out of her nightmares. Pia Thomason is torn between two Dark Ones and feeling like a fool, considering she doesn’t know where either of them are... -
Darkness Calls by Marjorie M. Liu
Rated: 3.95 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsView our feature on Marjorie Liu’s Darkness Calls. Demon hunter Maxine Kiss, inked with living tattoos, is on a mission to rescue the man she loves from a bloodthirsty army. To save him, Maxine has only one choice: to lose control—and release her own powers of darkness... -
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Hex Work by T.A. Moore
My name is Jonah Carrow, and it’s been 300 days since I laid a hex.OK, Jonah Carrow isn’t actually an alcoholic. But there’s no support group of lapsed hex-slingers in Jerusalem, so he’s got to make do. He goes for the bad coffee and the reminder that he just has to take normal one day at a time.Unfortunately, his past isn’t willing to go down without a fight... -
Cursed Moon by Jaye Wells
When a rare Blue Moon upsets the magical balance in the city, Detective Kate Prospero and her Magical Enforcement colleagues pitch in to help Babylon PD keep the peace. Between potions going haywire and everyone's emotions running high, every cop in the city is on edge. But the moon's impact is especially strong for Kate who's wrestling with guilt over falling off the magic wagon... -
The Autumn Castle by Kim Wilkins
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIn this first volume of Wilkins' Europa Suite, a woman's world is turned upside down when her childhood friend, abducted as a young girl into a place of magic and myth, rerturns. But now jealousies and betrayals threaten to destroy them both... -
Undead to the World by D.D. Barant
Rated: 3.91 of 5 stars · 22 ratingsJace’s return to Kansas is an instant reminder that there really is no place like home. The tavern is still brimming with losers, practical jokers, and motorcycle chicks. Even the town’s only Goth is still wearing eyeliner. But just as Jace is about to click her heels and hightail out of there, she’s roped into a brand-new case. Somebody is possessed... -
Witch Hearts by Liz Long
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsHow does a witch stay safe if a killer can get through her protection spells? Witches like Ruby and Courtney can take care of themselves. So when Courtney is murdered, Ruby’s world crashes to a halt. The only thing keeping her grounded is the return of Courtney’s brother, Cooper. He seeks revenge, but Ruby wants to help other witches stay alive... -
Old Blood by Karina Halle
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 34 ratingsA haunting novella from the Experiment in Terror Series... From her harrowing introduction in Darkhouse, the spectre known as “Creepy Clown Lady” has been a constant fixture in Perry Palomino’s life. But beyond the horrid makeup and piercing stare lies Pippa, a woman just like everyone else. Well, not quite...
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