Detective Books that Deserve Adaptation

With the recent release of Agatha Christie’s detective fiction adaptation of Death On The Nile, which received mixed reviews and did not do an adequate job at the box office – here is a list of 8 detective books that deserve adaptation. Even if you are not a fan of the crime or detective genre you are going to love reading these books.

Bury Me When I’m Dead – Cheryl A. Head

Charlene Mack aka Charlie is a savvy and smart black woman who is struggling with her sexual orientation and a mom suffering from early-onset Alzheimer’s. She runs one of the most prestigious private investigation agencies in Detroit. Charlie and her team head to Birmingham to deal with a missing case but soon the case would turn personal and deadly.

The Spellman Files – Lisa Lutz

The Spellmans are a family of detectives. When the youngest Spellman Rae goes missing, her sister Izzy drops whatever she is doing and goes out in search while delving into the history of their family. But the important question is who abducted Rae? And, does this abduction have anything to do with the cold case Izzy is involved in?

Generation Loss – Elizabeth Hand

Cass Neary made her name in the 1970s as a photographer in the burgeoning punk movement that happened in NYC. Her photographs of the musicians, the damned, the dead, and the infamous got her into galleries and a book contract. But thirty years she is lost and down. Then an old acquaintance sends her to take an interview with a famously isolated photographer residing on an island located in Maine. When Cass came to Downeast she stumbles across an old mystery that could be the one final shot at redemption.

Kiss Me, Judas – Will Christopher Baer

A morphine addict and a disgraced cop named Phineas Poe have just come out from the psych ward when he bumped into a beautiful woman in a hotel bar named Jude. Poe takes her back to his hotel and the next morning he wakes up with a missing kidney, and a bathtub filled with ice and blood. Now Poe is obsessed with her and all he wants is to find her and kill her.

Peckerwood – Jedidiah Ayres

Terry Hickerson is living a good life with occasional blackmail, armed robbery, and assault. He has a pet dog, enough money to get drunk, a best friend, and a teenage son who can carry him home when he is drunk. But soon, the life of Terry and his familiar ones will be involved in broken bones, bullets, and bodies.

A Friend is a Gift You Give Yourself – William Boyle

Rena Ruggiero embarks on a bizarre adventure when he hits Enzio, her 80-year-old neighbor who tried to make a move but got hit by Rena with an ashtray. She retreats to her daughter Adrienne and granddaughter Lucia’s house in the Bronx only to be turned away at the threshold. Adrienne’s neighbor Lacey Wolfstein, a former Adult Film star and retired Florida Suncoast grifter takes Rena in and they became friends. Soon, each of them will run from something and something uncertain that is about to happen next.

Broken Places – Tracy Clark

Cass Raines was profoundly traumatized after taking a bullet two years ago and she resigned from the Chicago PD. Presently, she is ahead of a private agency earning enough o pay her bills. She spends her day biking, keeping an eye on tenants, and playing chess with the only father figure she ever had, Father Ray Heaton. When Father Heaton was murdered in his church, the assigned detective thought it to be a case of burglary but Cass had her doubts and she needs to know the truth.

The Digger’s Game – George V. Higgins

An ex-con and proprietor of a workingman’s Boston bar named Jerry “Digger” Doherty supplement his earnings with the occasional “odd job” like picking up hot goods or stealing live checks. Jerry’s brother is a priest and his wife is a nag, and Jerry has a deadly appetite for gambling and martinis. Digger has been let in on a small duty that can be helpful for the gambling debt only if he can pull off the task without getting murdered.

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