Capital Crimes: The Best Washington D.C. Crime Novels
Aesop, the Greek fabulist and storyteller, once said: “We hang petty thieves and appoint the great thieves to public office.” This goes to show you that people have been skeptical of politicians for about as long as there have been politicians. And where do you find the most politicians? That’s right: Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C. makes for a great setting for crime novels, because most everyone assumes politicians are at best dishonest, and at worst, criminals. And it’s also the capital of the United States, and home to the White House, the Pentagon, and many more of the most important monuments in the country.
So put that all together, and you have plenty of material for political thrillers, as well as straight-up big city crime novels set in D.C. And there are a LOT of them. How does one get started with so many to chose from? Luckily, this list has 13 great crime novels set in D.C. to help you with your decision. Because it wouldn’t be a list about Washington, D.C. if someone wasn’t trying to sway your opinion, now would it?
You can't have a list about D.C. crime novels and not kick it off with one written by an actual former president of the United States. (With help from the world's best-selling author, James Patterson.) In Clinton's first novel takes place over the course of three days, there is a traitor in the White House, a plot to unleash a virus on all of the country's technology, and to top it off, the President appears to be missing.
Michael Hudson is a prisoner with a lust for reading who spends the long days in his cell pouring over the books given to him by Anna, the prison librarian. When he is released back into the world, the D.C. he remembers is gone, and he must decide if he's going to be the man Anna respected, or go back to a life of crime.
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In this first in a hit series from New York Times bestselling author Baldacci, four Washington D.C. conspiracy theorists team up with the Secret Service agent to uncover a diabolical plot that could have disastrous consequences worldwide.
This is the first book in the D.C.-based series about homicide detective Alex Cross. Cross gets involved with Jezzie Flanagan, the first-ever woman to act as supervisor of the Secret Service in Washington. But a dangerous criminal is about to interrupt their lives.
In Vaughan's second Kitty Norville supernatural thriller, celebrity werewolf and late-night radio host Kitty Norville is invited to testify at a Senate hearing on behalf of supernaturals, which exposes her to a lot of dangerous new enemies.
Ace reporter Barrie Travis is summoned to investigate the death of her friend's baby. Travis isn't a detective, but the investigation must remain so secret that her friend trusts no one else to help her. Because her friend is the First Lady of the United States.
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And one more from Baldacci, because he's just that good! This is the first in his series about Will Robie, a D.C. hitman who chooses not to carry out a job when he senses something suspicious. Now Robie finds himself in the crosshairs and must go on the run, but he may risk coming out of hiding to save a teenage girl at the center of a conspiracy plot.
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Liberty Hardy is a Book Riot senior contributing editor, co-host of All the Books, a Book of the Month judge, and above all else, a ravenous reader. She resides in Maine with her cats, Millay, Farrokh, and Zevon. You can see pictures of her cats and book hauls on Twitter @MissLiberty and Instagram @franzencomesalive.