10 must-read noir books like Five Decembers by James Kestrel

Cover of Five Decembers by James Kestrel

Five Decembers

By: James Kestrel

4.43

Format: 429 pages, Hardcover

December 1941: America teeters on the brink of war, and in Honolulu, Hawaii, police detective Joe M…

"Aishitemasu"

-James Kestrel, Five Decembers

"It was a complete disaster and no one had done anything wrong."

-James Kestrel, Five Decembers

If you liked the noir plot in Five Decembers by James Kestrel , here is a list of 10 books like this:

Cover of Little Girl Lost (John Blake #1) by Richard Aleas

1. Little Girl Lost (John Blake #1)

By: Richard Aleas

3.78

Format: 221 pages, Paperback

Miranda Sugarman was supposed to be in the Midwest, working as an eye doctor. So how did she wind u… read more

Similar categories in Richard Aleas's Little Girl Lost (John Blake #1) book and James Kestrel's Five Decembers

  • mystery thriller
  • noir
  • fiction
  • mystery
  • crime
Cover of The Dark Room by Jonathan   Moore

2. The Dark Room

By: Jonathan Moore

3.91

Format: None pages, Hardcover

Gavin Cain, an SFPD homicide inspector, is in the middle of an exhumation when his phone rings. San… read more

Similar categories in Jonathan Moore's The Dark Room book and James Kestrel's Five Decembers

  • mystery thriller
  • noir
  • fiction
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
Cover of The Poison Artist by Jonathan   Moore

3. The Poison Artist

By: Jonathan Moore

3.30

Format: 208 pages, Hardcover

Dr. Caleb Maddox is a San Francisco toxicologist studying the chemical effects of pain. After a bru… read more

Similar categories in Jonathan Moore's The Poison Artist book and James Kestrel's Five Decembers

  • mystery thriller
  • fiction
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime

4. The Night Market

By: Jonathan Moore

4.17

Format: None pages, Hardcover

From an author who consistently gives us "suspense that never stops" (James Patterson), a near-futu… read more

Similar categories in Jonathan Moore's The Night Market book and James Kestrel's Five Decembers

5. The Hunter (Parker, #1)

By: Richard Stark

4.12

Format: 440 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Double-crossed, shot, and left for dead -- by his wife. The thriller that introduces Parker. "A bri… read more

Similar categories in Richard Stark's The Hunter (Parker, #1) book and James Kestrel's Five Decembers

6. The Cocktail Waitress (Hard Case Crime #109)

By: James M. Cain

5.00

Format: None pages,

Following her husband's death in a suspicious car accident, beautiful young widow Joan Medford is f… read more

Similar categories in James M. Cain's The Cocktail Waitress (Hard Case Crime #109) book and James Kestrel's Five Decembers

7. Nobody's Angel (Hard Case Crime, #65)

By: Jack Clark

3.90

Format: 15 pages, Paperback

While Chicago cabbie Eddie Miles drives the city streets at midnight, two killers--one targeting pr… read more

Similar categories in Jack Clark's Nobody's Angel (Hard Case Crime, #65) book and James Kestrel's Five Decembers

8. Help, I Am Being Held Prisoner

By: Donald E. Westlake

3.76

Format: 336 pages, Paperback

Westlake pens another comedy caper of seven men who have the perfect alibi--they are in jail. The c… read more

Similar categories in Donald E. Westlake's Help, I Am Being Held Prisoner book and James Kestrel's Five Decembers

Cover of City in Ruins (Danny Ryan, #3) by Don Winslow

9. City in Ruins (Danny Ryan, #3)

By: Don Winslow

4.42

Format: 400 pages, Hardcover

Sometimes you have to become what you hate to protect what you love. Danny Ryan is rich. Beyond … read more

Similar categories in Don Winslow's City in Ruins (Danny Ryan, #3) book and James Kestrel's Five Decembers

  • mystery thriller
  • noir
  • fiction
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
Cover of Gangland by Chuck Hogan

10. Gangland

By: Chuck Hogan

4.12

Format: 352 pages, Hardcover

From the acclaimed author of The Town, an epic thriller about the secret right‑hand man of one of t… read more

Similar categories in Chuck Hogan's Gangland book and James Kestrel's Five Decembers

  • mystery thriller
  • historical
  • noir
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
Cover of Death Comes Too Late by Charles Ardai

11. Death Comes Too Late

By: Charles Ardai

4.26

Format: 400 pages, Paperback

CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF HARD CASE CRIME – 20 UNFORGETTABLE STORIES BY HARD CASE CRIME FOUNDER CHAR… read more

Similar categories in Charles Ardai's Death Comes Too Late book and James Kestrel's Five Decembers

  • mystery thriller
  • noir
  • fiction
  • mystery
  • crime
Cover of The Next Time I Die (Hard Case Crime) by Jason Starr

12. The Next Time I Die (Hard Case Crime)

By: Jason Starr

3.64

Format: 252 pages, Paperback

DYING WAS ONLY THE BEGINNING. Steven Blitz didn't think about his own safety when he saw the man… read more

Similar categories in Jason Starr's The Next Time I Die (Hard Case Crime) book and James Kestrel's Five Decembers

  • mystery thriller
  • noir
  • fiction
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
Cover of Five Decembers by James Kestrel

13. Five Decembers

By: James Kestrel

4.43

Format: 429 pages, Hardcover

December 1941: America teeters on the brink of war, and in Honolulu, Hawaii, police detective Joe M… read more

Similar categories in James Kestrel's Five Decembers book and James Kestrel's Five Decembers

  • mystery thriller
  • historical
  • war
  • world war ii
  • noir
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
"Aishitemasu"

-James Kestrel, Five Decembers

"It was a complete disaster and no one had done anything wrong."

-James Kestrel, Five Decembers

Cover of Call Me a Cab by Donald E. Westlake

14. Call Me a Cab

By: Donald E. Westlake

4.00

Format: 244 pages, Paperback

In 1977, one of the world’s finest crime novelists turned his pen to suspense of a very different s… read more

Similar categories in Donald E. Westlake's Call Me a Cab book and James Kestrel's Five Decembers

  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
  • fiction
Cover of Lowdown Road by Scott Von Doviak

15. Lowdown Road

By: Scott Von Doviak

4.08

Format: 352 pages, Kindle Edition

Join a road trip across 1970s America as two cousins make the heist of their lives and must avoid t… read more

Similar categories in Scott Von Doviak's Lowdown Road book and James Kestrel's Five Decembers

  • mystery thriller
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
Cover of Charlesgate Confidential by Scott Von Doviak

16. Charlesgate Confidential

By: Scott Von Doviak

4.10

Format: 319 pages, Kindle Edition

"CHARLESGATE CONFIDENTIAL is terrific" - Stephen KingA breathtakingly clever, twist-filled narrativ… read more

Similar categories in Scott Von Doviak's Charlesgate Confidential book and James Kestrel's Five Decembers

  • mystery thriller
  • noir
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
"I’ve got the Halloween soundtrack here somewhere,"

-Scott Von Doviak, Charlesgate Confidential

"It was all like a movie—hell, it was a whole damn film festival."

-Scott Von Doviak, Charlesgate Confidential

"His story was incredible—literally, in the sense that it was not credible."

-Scott Von Doviak, Charlesgate Confidential

"Jackie wasn’t just out of my league—we weren’t even playing the same sport."

-Scott Von Doviak, Charlesgate Confidential

Cover of City on Fire (Danny Ryan, #1) by Don Winslow

17. City on Fire (Danny Ryan, #1)

By: Don Winslow

4.10

Format: 384 pages, Hardcover

New York Times Bestseller! From the #1 internationally bestselling author of the Cartel Trilogy … read more

Similar categories in Don Winslow's City on Fire (Danny Ryan, #1) book and James Kestrel's Five Decembers

  • mystery thriller
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
Cover of City of Dreams (Danny Ryan #2) by Don Winslow

18. City of Dreams (Danny Ryan #2)

By: Don Winslow

4.04

Format: 352 pages, Hardcover

Hollywood. The city where dreams are made. On the losing side of a bloody East Coast crime w… read more

Similar categories in Don Winslow's City of Dreams (Danny Ryan #2) book and James Kestrel's Five Decembers

  • mystery thriller
  • fiction
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
Cover of Everybody Knows by Jordan Harper

19. Everybody Knows

By: Jordan Harper

3.76

Format: 352 pages, Hardcover

Welcome to Mae Pruett’s Los Angeles, where “Nobody talks. But everybody whispers.” As a “black-bag… read more

Similar categories in Jordan Harper's Everybody Knows book and James Kestrel's Five Decembers

  • mystery thriller
  • noir
  • fiction
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
"You have to be invited in. Cops are like vampires that way."

-Jordan Harper, Everybody Knows

"What she tells him after that blows out the back of Chris’s head like a book-depository bullet."

-Jordan Harper, Everybody Knows

"Brass and the DAs are the true villains in a cop’s life. The knuckleheads are just the product they trade in."

-Jordan Harper, Everybody Knows

"His hands in his lap grasp and clench the air like he’s trying to find the world’s throat and choke it until it’s dead."

-Jordan Harper, Everybody Knows

Cover of Blood Relations by Jonathan   Moore

20. Blood Relations

By: Jonathan Moore

3.95

Format: 357 pages, Paperback

Who is Claire Gravesend? So wonders PI Lee Crowe when he finds her dead, in a fine cocktail dress,… read more

Similar categories in Jonathan Moore's Blood Relations book and James Kestrel's Five Decembers

  • mystery thriller
  • noir
  • fiction
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
Cover of Deer Season (Flyover Fiction) by Erin  Flanagan

21. Deer Season (Flyover Fiction)

By: Erin Flanagan

4.02

Format: 320 pages, Paperback

It’s the opening weekend of deer season in Gunthrum, Nebraska, in 1985, and Alma Costagan’s intelle… read more

Similar categories in Erin Flanagan's Deer Season (Flyover Fiction) book and James Kestrel's Five Decembers

  • mystery thriller
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime

15 must-read mystery thriller books like Five Decembers by James Kestrel

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3.78

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3.91

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The Poison Artist

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3.30

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4.42

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Julia Keller

3.54

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Joe R. Lansdale

4.39

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Peter Abrahams

3.46

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