Police Procedural Books

The best police procedural book reviews. A subgenre of crime fiction, police procedurals focus on the methods and tactics used by law enforcement to solve cases and catch criminals.

The Final Second, a Fiercely Entertaining Serial-Killer Thriller by Jim De La Vega

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The Bottom Line: A fiercely entertaining serial-killer thriller that weaponizes doubt and never lets justice off the hook. The Final Second opens where most serial-killer thrillers would end: in a Georgia execution chamber. Eddie Ray Calhoone, convicted of seven murders attributed to the notorious Blood Smile Killer, is put to death as Sheriff Parker Chord watches. The victims were shot through the heart, each left

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Main Street Fringe, a First-Rate Conspiracy Thriller by Matthew Lavoie

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The Bottom Line: An electrifying debut that deftly combines the twists of a first-rate conspiracy thriller with the moral complexity of vigilante justice. opens with Virginia State Police detective Theo Barnes watching a sting operation snap shut around State Senator Royce Andrews, who has arrived at a seedy motel expecting to have sex with a fourteen-year-old girl. Andrews is arrested and the scandal erupts into

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Before the Devil Knows, An Irresistible Crime Thriller by R. John Dingle

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The Bottom Line: Irresistible. Before the Devil Knows pushes Dingle’s Gus Wheeler series into its darkest terrain yet, where religious terror and ritual murder collide. Before the Devil Knows opens in the Maine woods with the kind of betrayal that makes a book impossible to put down. Teenager Adam Carson is dragged from his bed, hooded, beaten and chained to a tree and surrounded by

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Storm Damage, a Captivating Crime Thriller by Terry R. Bacon

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The Bottom Line: A captivating crime thriller led by an unlikely hero with a saxophone, a big heart, and a talent for finding trouble. Thirty-four-year-old blues musician Sonny Marshall, already struggling with chronic pain and oxycodone dependence, is playing with his band in San Francisco when he learns that girlfriend Detective Sergeant Katrina “Kat” Hastings has been shot while responding to a mass shooting.  Sonny

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A Tempest Dropping Fire, an Urban Police Thriller by Edward J. Leahy

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The Bottom Line: NYPD detectives are the target of a terrifying killer in this taut urban cop thriller. Kim Brady’s refusal to accept the easy answer makes for a thoroughly entertaining police procedural with some satisfying surprises. As Edward J. Leahy’s fifth Kim Brady series book opens, the NYPD homicide detective is finishing her first half-marathon in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. Just as she begins to

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Deranged, a Propulsive Detective Origin Story by John Netti

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The Bottom Line: A dark, propulsive origin story that pits a newly minted detective against the kind of evil that doesn’t stay buried. Maddy Reynolds is a heroine built to last. Set primarily in late-1970s upstate New York, Deranged introduces newly promoted detective Maddy Reynolds. Following in her father’s footsteps, who was fatally stabbed by an uncaught serial killer, Maddy investigates the disappearance of an

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Birds of Prey Don’t Sing, a Bold Assassination Thriller by Joe Cary

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The Bottom Line: A bold assassination thriller about a perfect kill that refuses to stay buried. Highly recommended. Birds of Prey Don’t Sing opens on the African savanna in 1988 with sixteen-year-old Michael Harrier lying prone on a ridge. As poachers rake an elephant with automatic fire, Michael calmly picks them off with a sniper’s rifle. Just as he muses about the seduction of self-righteousness, he swears the poachers’

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Sayonara, My Sweet, a Sophisticated Crime Thriller by Lea O’Harra

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The Bottom Line:  A gritty, compact and emotionally sophisticated crime thriller that should win over plenty of Michael Pronko fans. Sayonara, My Sweet opens with a Nippon Daily evening-edition newspaper report announcing the mysterious death of twenty-three-year-old Kaori Hirakata in Murota after she collapses from poisoned chocolates. Set in a quiet town where violent crime is rare, author Lea O’ Harra’s framing is immediately effective.  The

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The Fires of Rubicon, an Unforgettable Crime Novel by Robert Allen Stone

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The Bottom Line: For fans of police procedurals, The Fires of Rubicon is an unforgettable rust belt noir that lingers long after the last page. Set in 1971, The Fires of Rubicon opens in Cleveland Police Headquarters, where Lieutenant Alex Wesner and Detective Sergeant Benjamin Friedman question a troubled young man whose account of steelworker Anton Wojcik’s disappearance feels sprawling and unreliable. Anton’s job places him beside

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Bloody Deeds novel

Bloody Deeds, a Tense and Twisty Murder Mystery by Stephen Kronwith, M.D.

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The Bottom Line: A tense, twisty murder mystery built on false evidence, fierce loyalties and a heroine worth following anywhere. As Bloody Deeds opens, Nassau County homicide detective sergeant Jane Rieger-Franklin is at home with her wife, Anna, talking about artificial insemination and the future shape of their family. Then the phone rings, and the novel swerves hard into crisis. CPA Jeremy Summers, husband of Detective Vivian Summers,

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