Solve Some Mysteries With These Private Investigators
I love private investigator books. They’re almost always in a series, so you can really get to know the character. PIs usually take the cases that others can’t or won’t solve, so there’s the interesting and/or dangerous element added. And they usually will, at the very least, bend the law when necessary. So high stakes, interesting characters, good mysteries, and sometimes you get private detective books that are also filled with thrills perfect for thriller fans. So many reading wins!
Joe Ide welcomes readers to the diverse community of East Long Beach where IQ (Isaiah Quintabe) takes on cases for whatever the client can afford to pay him—be it food, chickens, whatever. But since that doesn’t reliably pay the rent, he also has to find clients with cash, and those cases certainly will bring trouble. IQ has a reluctant friend and partner named Dodson, which sure does rhyme with Watson. That’s because Ide grew up a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes and it shows in this series, which is like a modern-day, gritty version.
Let’s meet a pair of private detectives, Elvis Cole and Joe Pike, out in Los Angeles, California. Their current case: A prominent restaurateur is accused of murdering his wife. Not only does he swear he’s innocent, but his defense attorney wants these PIs to prove that an LA police detective tampered with evidence that is making his client look guilty. So either the husband did it? An overzealous detective falsified evidence to close the case? Or someone else is getting away with murder?...
Vietnam veteran Darwin Minor isn’t so much a PI, but he is an accident reconstructor, which is similar, as he sifts through wreckages to find out what happened—especially if it was for insurance fraud. Now he has a bunch of high-speed car accidents on California highways to figure out. They all appear to be fraudulent wrecks, but with the passengers dead, it makes no sense...
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Jamie Canavés is a Book Riot contributing editor and Tailored Book Recommendations coordinator. She writes the Unusual Suspects mystery newsletter, never says no to chocolate or ‘80s nostalgia, and can hold a conversation using only gifs. Tweets: @Oh_Dinky.