Readalikes

Garrison Keillor's tales of life in his mythical Lake Wobegon, Minnesota, best known from the weekly reports on Keillor's Prairie Home
Companion radio program. His first novel set there, Lake Wobegon Days, chronicles the lives of his quirky characters in this quintessential small
town. The humor, similarly unhurried life style, and folksy tales should please Braun fans.

Nancy Atherton's Aunt Dimity series. Set in England's Cotswolds, an area as rich in local color as Moose County, these charming and
humorous Cozies feature Aunt Dimity's ghost who communicates with niece Lori Shepherd and assists in crime-solving.

M.C. Beaton's cozy series featuring Scottish policeman Hamish Macbeth is a good bet for Braun fans.

Marian Babson's entertaining stand-alone Cozy Mysteries, her characters, especially the felines, dominate the story, with the puzzle coming
almost as an afterthought. Babson's characters also reflect the rather old-fashioned sensibilities exhibited by Braun's quirky crew.

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      Dan Brown's first novel, Digital Fortress, debuted in 1998, but it was 2003's The Da Vinci Code that made
      him a household word. Brown specializes in suspense blended with science, history, art, and religion.
      Readers looking for adventure with a healthy dose of codes and cryptograms will enjoy his works and those
      below.

Similar authors include...

John Case blends conspiracies involving science, religion, and more in his fast-paced Suspense Stories which star an everyman caught in a
dangerous situation from which he must save himself and often others. While any of Case's titles may satisfy fans, The Eighth Day offers additional
connections to the world of art and the Vatican.

Daniel Silva also produces gripping tales of corruption and conspiracy, often involving worlds of both art and religion. His fast-paced,
detail-laden Suspense Stories may be darker in tone and delve more deeply into issues, than do Brown's, but readers looking for a more complex
and stylish tale should certainly explore his novels.

Michael Crichton’s books may lack the religious angle of Brown's Langdon series, however they do offer scientific fact and fiction, evil conspiracies,
fast pacing, life-threatening predicaments-caused by human and natural enemies -- and believable characters and situations that should please many
of Brown's fans.

Several writers have addressed another much discussed element from The Da Vinci Code: the role of women in the early church. In The
Prophetess, one of her recent Suspense Stories, Barbara Wood imagines the discovery of a scroll which will change ideas of the role played by
women in the establishment of the early church. Margaret George's Historical Mary, Called Magdalene presents a picture of the strong woman
Brown also suggests in The Da Vinci Code.

Katherine Neville’s first novel, The Eight, includes storylines in the past and present, a mysterious chess set once owned by Charlemagne, danger
and deceit, plot twists, and an evil plan to take over the world. Fast-paced despite its size, this novel offers a wealth of appealing details for fans
who appreciate Brown's plots and style.

     Julie Garwood is well-known in the historical romance genre. For those looking for an alternative to the
     traditional genre, she has penned some romantic suspense novels twinged with humor. Garwood has also
     published some young adult novels.

Linda Howard makes a good match to Garwood as she also changed from a Romance novelist to one of the most popular Romantic Suspense writers.
While Howard is more gritty than Garwood and spends more time describing the details of death, her books hold lots in common with Garwood. As
they were both once Romance novelists, they share the ability to craft a nice love story even if it is set in a scary situation.

J. D. Robb is the alter-ego of another Romance writer, Nora Roberts. Robb shares with Garwood the ability to write well plotted stories with lots of
time for witty dialog and deeply felt romantic attachments. The two authors also share the ability to craft strong secondary and repeating characters
that readers love to follow.

Linda Castillo also has a Romance writer background and uses the skills she gained in writing those books to craft stories full of edgy well
-plotted suspense. Like Garwood, Castillo plays out the romantic relationship in tandem with the suspense so that readers are pulled into both
murder plot and romance. Castillo does not write interconnected books, so the order does not matter.

Karen Robards is another Historical Romance writer turned Contemporary Romance/Crime writer. Like Garwood, Robards delivers tightly
controlled plots, solid pacing, and romance mixed with the mayhem. Robards's books are a bit grittier than Garwood's but the romantic development
is as strong as are the injections of humor and witty dialog. Robards does not write in order, so readers can jump in as they fancy.

Elizabeth Lowell makes a good read-alike for Garwood. Lowell has written all sorts of Romance novels, including some very highly regarded
Historical Romances. So she shares with Garwood the ability to set scenes that draw the reader into the world of the novel. Lowell is also
good at creating well-developed characters and in crafting witty, fast-paced dialog. Her stories are equally fast-paced and mix a good dose of
suspense in with lots of romance. Lowell writes connected stories as does Garwood, so it is best to start at the beginning of one of her series.

    John Grisham is a very popular, prolific writer of legal thrillers. You have probably seen many movies that
    are based on his novels, including those starring Tom Cruise and Matt Damon.   Grisham sets most of his
    novels in Southern courtrooms and law offices. The common protagonist is a young, inexperienced lawyer
    who uses his wits to outsmart the powerful to earn justice for the weak.

Steve Martini writes page-turning Legal Thrillers that feature lawyers as underdogs, fighting for justice. His titles also have a cinematic quality that
characterizes Grisham's books. Sympathetic protagonists (especially series character Paul Madriani and his colleagues) people the stories, and
investigation plays an important role, with actual courtroom drama often taking second place.

Lisa Scottoline, sometimes called the "distaff Grisham," offers the legal focus, sympathetic characters, fast pacing, and a plot full of unexpected
twists. There's more humor and sarcasm in Scottoline's stories, especially in smart-mouthed heroine/attorney Bennie Rosato, but they offer a
similarly suspenseful story.

Brad Meltzer, like Grisham, likes to portray young, vulnerable lawyers caught in difficult situations, pitted against powerful but corrupt enemies.
Fast pacing, provocative storylines, suspense and danger, along with sympathetic characters make satisfying books for Grisham fans.

David Baldacci writes intricately plotted stories of conspiracy and corruption, offering sympathetic protagonists, multiple plot twists, ethical
dilemmas, and more. His novels focus on such themes as corporate corruption, financial manipulation, and abuse of power in the presidency.
Like Grisham, Baldacci offers down-to earth heroes, caught up in impossible situations.

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     Alice Hoffman writes with a special blend of earthy and ethereal characters, mixing the fantasy with reality.
     Her thoughtful plots include a dash of the whimsy and are set primarily in New England. Two of her works,
     Practical Magic and Aquamarine, were adapted into movies.

     Similar authors include...

Christy Yorke’s The Wishing Garden. Advertising creator Savannah has always had a gift for reading the tarot cards and has never turned over a
bad card until she finds one in her own fortune. This propels Savannah to Arizona to visit her distant mother and her loving father who is dying.
With brooding teenager Emma in tow (who can see people's auras), grandmother, mother and daughter will rediscover what they love most about
each other as they slowly lose the person they most love.

Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate. Magic is found in the everyday foods and objects that Tita cooks with. The youngest of three
daughters, she is forbidden to marry her soulmate, Pedro. On his wedding day to her older sister, Tita cries bitter tears into the batter of their
wedding cake, bringing forth mysterious emotions from the wedding guests who eat the cake. Esquivel's writing is sensual and captivating, drawing
the reader into Tita's enchanted kitchen and her poignant love.

Alice McDermott’s Child of My Heart. Theresa has an uncanny ability with young children and pets. The summer her favorite cousin, Daisy, comes
to visit, is a time of good-byes. Daisy is suffering from an unnamed illness which Theresa willfully ignores, and Theresa is slowly crossing the
threshold into womanhood, a fact the fathers of her young charges have noticed, and in some cases, act on. McDermott's young heroine
spins mesmerizing yarns for the children about lollipop trees and teardrop jewels, finds the healing properties in jam-smeared English muffins and
St. Joseph's orange-flavored aspirins and fascinates a renowned painter longing to capture her youth for his canvas and his soul.

Sandra Dallas’s Buster Midnight’s Café. This story chronicles the fiercely loyal friendship of the Unholy Three, Whippy Bird, Effa Commander,
and May Anna Kovacks. When May Anna leaves gritty Butte, Montana for glittery Hollywood, Whippy and Effa keep her humble beginnings under
wraps, until a nosy writer threatens to reveal May Anna's deepest secret.

W. P. Kinsella’s Shoeless Joe. (later made into the movie Field of Dreams) Iowa corn farmer Ray Kinsella hears a mysterious voice telling him to
carve a baseball field out of his cornfield, take Jerry Salinger to a baseball game, and seek out a doctor with a baseball dream lived for only one
inning. Even readers who don't care for sports novels will be entranced with the ghostly athletes who play forever for their human caretakers.

      Khaled Hosseini's novels are the result of his childhood in pre-Soviet-controlled Afghanistan and Iran.
      His popular debut, The Kite Runner, traces the unlikely friendship of a wealthy Afghan youth and a servant's son,
      in a tale that spans the final days of Afghanistan's monarchy through the atrocities of present today.

Diana Abu-Jaber mixes romance with reality in recalling her background for stories.

Andre Dubus is best known for "House of Sand and Fog."

Yasmina Khadra is an Algerian who explores why some of his countrymen choose terrorism as a response to a lifetime of government corruption.

Juhmpa Lahiri blends American settings with those in India to create a multicultural flavor in her writing. Her focus is often on the experience
of Indian immigrants.

Michael Ondaatje is a Canadian poet and novelist whose novels highlight the physical actions and inner challenges of his characters.

        Jonathan Kellerman, a former child psychiatrist, creates complex stories, infusing tension and
        compelling characters to make the "Alex Delaware" series captivating reading. His debut novel,
        When the Bough Breaks, won an Edgar Award and was made into a television movie. The series
        is set in Los Angeles.

Stephen Walsh White's Alan Gregory series employs psychology and investigative techniques to help solve crimes. An intricately twisted plot, details
of psychology and criminal motivation, as well as step-by-step investigation make this a good choice for Kellerman's fans.

Anna Salter offers forensic psychologist Dr. Michael Stone, a court advocate for sexually abused children in Vermont. Personal particulars intrude in
the Mystery, and the pace increases as Michael often finds herself in jeopardy, but the psychological insights and details, as well as the criminal
cases, should please Kellerman's fans.

Sarah Lovett's forensic psychiatrist Sylvia Strange may work in New Mexico, but her world is as bleak and dangerous as Kellerman's Los
Angeles. Gritty details of murderers -- their minds and their acts, mounting suspense, and danger fill these mysteries.

Ridley Pearson's Seattle-based Lou Boldt Mystery/Suspense series offers psychological insights that impact many of the cases investigated. This
series also offers a similarly bleak, urban perspective, and series characters investigating the twisted plots and characters in ways that
parallel Kellerman's in tone and in the nature of the cases.

Keith Ablow's forensic psychiatrist Frank Clevenger is, like Delaware, something of a loner who becomes too absorbed in his cases. These offer
gritty details of murders, as well as frightening glimpses into the criminal mind.

          Stephen King's name has long been synonymous with chills and thrills. In later years, however, he
          built a loyal following in the fantasy genre with his "Gunslinger" series. He has penned more than fifty
          best-selling books and at least a dozen have been made into films.

          Similar authors include...

Douglas J. Preston and Lincoln Child, offer genre-blending titles that contain many of the elements King's readers appreciate: fast-paced
adventures, building suspense, sympathetic characters, frequently a battle against evil, and a horror which can be beaten down but not destroyed.

Dean R. Koontz also writes in multiple, often blended genres. Like King, Koontz's stories feature a cast of personable characters involved in
fast-paced, deadly battles between good and evil. Koontz, too, writes in a variety of genres, including Horror, Fantasy, and Psychological
Suspense. Fans of King's Black House should try Koontz's From the Corner of His Eye.

Peter Straub, co-author of two books with King and a Horror author in his own right, should also be mentioned. Like King, he focuses on
characters, finds Horror in the everyday, and fills his works with ghost stories and nightmares, as well as psychological undertones.

Dan Simmons writes evocative horror novels with fast-paced and involved story lines, personable protagonists, ominous undertones which grow
into horrific situations, evocative settings, and satisfying resolutions.

       Sophie Kinsella, a definitive name in the chick lit genre, is a former financial journalist and the
       author of the bestselling Shopaholic novels, including Shopaholic & Baby, as well as The Undomestic
       Goddess. The series relays the charming antics of Rebecca "Becky" Bloomwood as she navigates
       the challenges of meeting her addiction and finding love.

       Similar authors include...

Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones’s Diary features a protagonist somewhat similar to Becky Bloomwood. Bridget, like Becky, is in a job she really
doesn't care for, she's still looking for Mr. Right, she's still putting up with parents who love her but drive her crazy, and she obsesses about her
weight, her finances, and brand-name fashions

Sarah Mlynowski’s books share several elements with Kinsella's. For example, copy editor Jackie Norris (the protagonist of Milkrun) finds
herself floundering in the dating pool when her boyfriend dumps her via e-mail. Mlynowski's first-person narration, realistic-sounding dialogue,
a secondary cast of supportive friends, and a tale of survival in a job-from-hell setting are all elements found in Kinsella's novels, too. While
the sensuality level of Mlynowski's writing may be higher than in Kinsella's, readers who don't find that a difficulty will enjoy her work.

Jane Green is another very popular British author of chick lit. Green's style is warm and engaging, and readers will come to like the less-than-perfect
but appealing Libby.

Marian Keyes’s Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married. Readers once again meet a London girl in a job she doesn't like, drifting through early
adulthood with no clue of how to find something (someone?) more satisfying than her present lot. Like Becky Bloomwood, Lucy's lifestyle far
exceeds her salary, and there are vile people at her workplace, too. Fans of Kinsella's humor will appreciate the laugh-out-loud moments in this
book, but Keyes also deals with some serious themes that aren't present in Kinsella's work.

Sarah Strohmeyer's Bubbles series offers chick-lit with a little mystery. Thirty-something Bubbles Yablonsky is a "Polish-Lithuanian Barbie"
from Lehigh, Pennslyvania who's trying to swap her job as a hairdresser for a career in investigative reporting. Surrounded by idiosyncratic relatives
and friends, to say nothing of dreamboat AP photographer Steve Stiletto, Bubbles manages to find herself caught up in several perplexing situations.

           James Patterson is a bestselling author of compulsively readable novels of suspense, that are often
           violent and complete with details of the crimes, criminal, and police procedures. His "nursery rhymes"
           novels featuring Alex Cross have been made into several films

           Similar authors include...

John Sandford’s titles feature similarly hard-edged suspense, with strong language and graphically portrayed violence. Both Patterson and
Sandford share Mystery elements as well, since Sandford's series hero is also a police detective. Serial murder is the crime of choice. Both are
fast-paced, bleak stories, pervaded by a menacing atmosphere. Psychological details of the killer may be important.

Greg Iles writes more elegantly than Patterson, but he tells equally complex stories of hard-edged Suspense. Plot twists, contemporary
settings (although he has also written suspenseful Thrillers set in World War II), alternating points of view, and graphic violence feature prominently.

Ridley Pearson's novels serial murders, series detective protagonists, bleak outlooks, graphic violence, and psychological implications.
Pearson’s stories are more densely written and thoughtful, making them an excellent choice for readers who want more depth in their
hard-edged Suspense stories.

Jeff Deaver’s stories are characterized by plot twists, detection enhanced by details (often forensic), series characters, menacing
atmosphere, psychological overtones, and a nightmarish quality.

        Jodi Picoult specializes in stories about women's issues, families, and relationships. She
          successfully creates quaint New England communities populated with residents that readers
          can relate to. Picoult tends to explore what happens to everyday people when their lives take
          on nightmarish qualities.

       Similar authors include...

Chris Bohjalian, another New England author who favors close examination of hot button issues (midwifery, transsexuality and homeopathy, just to
name a few) in small town settings, closely matches Picoult’s writing style.

J acquelyn Mitchard is another author fans of Jodi Picoult should not miss. Mitchard is best known as the debut novelist Oprah Winfrey plucked
from obscurity with her first book club selection, The Deep End of the Ocean. Readers with a preference for observing how families in turmoil deal
with shocking situations will appreciate Mitchard’s works.

Luanne Rice's novels, particularly the earlier titles, are another good match for Picoult. The authors' use of characters is similar; strong,
intelligent women who find themselves consumed by life's everyday and irregular tragedies but work out solutions with help from family and friends.

Ann Hood writes with a quieter, more lyrical tone than Picoult, but like Picoult, Hood's small town female characters are well developed (but
their problems are closer to home — infidelity, sisterly rivalry, and cold feet at an impending marriage). Hood employs a little more introspection
and personal drama in her stories.

              Sci-fi author Terry Pratchett, known for his humorous parodies, has been compared to
              renowned writers J. R. R. Tolkien and P. G. Wodehouse. His most popular works are the
              Discworld novels and Bromeliad trilogy for children.

             Similar authors include...

Douglas Adams’s Hitchhiker series follows the adventures and exploits of Arthur Dent as he travels through the universe with a variety of unusual
companions, human and alien. Like Pratchett, Adams makes creative use of the English language, and his satire spares no sacred cows.

Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next titles are filled with word play and literary allusions. Those who are fond of Pratchett's cultural critiques and
barbs towards contemporary society will find much to enjoy in Fforde's novel.

Eric Flint's The Philosophical Strangler has a similar appeal to much of Pratchett's work. Flint's story of a thoughtful assassin and his sidekick
satirizes every thing from Dante's Inferno to role-playing games. Adventures befall the heroes at every turn, and they encounter wizards and
witches, dwarves and trolls, and thieves and swordsmen (and women). Flint draws on various mythologies -- Greek, Norse, etc. -- for his
inspiration, though, like Pratchett, he twists the stories as needed.

Finally, in his review of Pratchett's 2002 Discworld novel Night Watch, Washington Post critic Michael Dirda says that "In his range of
invented characters, his adroit storytelling, and his clear-eyed acceptance of humankind's foibles, [Pratchett] reminds me of no one in English
literature so much as Geoffrey Chaucer." So a trip back to The Canterbury Tales may be just the thing for Pratchett fans.

        Anne Rice is one of the most popular gothic novelists from the twentieth century. Common themes
          in her novels are the supernatural, good versus evil, mortality and immortality. Her prose is lengthy yet
          relevant to her stories. Her most recent works focused on the life of Christ.

          Similar authors include...

Donna Boyd has recently emerged as one of Anne Rice's most promising heirs, sharing her lush style, intense sexuality, and wit.

Tananarive Due's wide-ranging thrillers, in which complex and appealing characters face the emotional, ethical and spiritual challenges of
immortality, are reminiscent of Anne Rice at her very best.

Jeanne Kalogridis’s Covenant with the Vampire: Diaries of the Family Dracul creates a convincing background story to Dracula, mingling the
sinister chill of Bram Stoker's original with the eroticism, sympathetic ghouls and epic scope of Anne Rice to cast her own uncanny spell.
Kalogridis's skill at evoking history is also on display in The Burning Times, the vividly rendered story of a young witch who finds romance even
in the cruel depths of Inquisition, war and plague.

Tanith Lee's erotic, exotic and esoteric pages are awash with dreamlike images conveyed in succulent prose. Readers with an appetite for
Rice’s gothic ambience and her meticulously crafted mythologies will enjoy a journey through Lee’s dark Fantasy realms.

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro’s works are less introspective than Rice, but both writers share a penchant for rich historical detail, and a strong sense of
the romance, potency and panache of the vampire persona.