Books like The Feral Detective by Jonathan Lethem

In an elite New England college, a charismatic classics professor lures a group of eccentric students into obsessive study, leading them from intellectual curiosity to corruption, betrayal, and ultimately murder.

The Goldfinch chronicles the life of thirteen‑year‑old Theo Decker, who survives a museum attack that kills his mother and carries an art piece that becomes a lifelong obsession, exploring loss, identity, and art in contemporary America.

An orphan with Tourette's teams up with a trio of street‑smart boys to run a low‑budget detective agency in Brooklyn—only to find himself embroiled in a murder mystery after their mobster boss is killed.

Lucky Jim is a biting satire of academic life, following a weary history lecturer at a provincial university as he navigates a dull marriage and the absurdities of university culture.

When a coastal dog retrieves a bone that turns out to be human, Isa Wilde’s idyllic village of Salten is thrust into terror as her childhood friends uncover a dark secret, unraveling their shared past.

During the Summer of Love, Easy Rawlins balances the crisis of his daughter’s expensive medical treatment with a dangerous plan involving an armored car heist, a mysterious disappearance, and a web of deception that stretches from LA’s hippie scene to a European tragedy.

Unwilling detective Easy Rawlins is drawn into a tangled mystery when his friend’s daughter turns up seeking help; a search for a missing Vietnam veteran intersects family drama, betrayal, and danger on L.A.’s streets.

Detective Stephen Moran has been waiting for his chance to join Dublin’s Murder Squad when sixteen-year-old Holly Mackey arrives in his office with a photo of a popular boy whose body was found at a girls’ boarding school a year earlier. The photo had been posted at “The Secret Place,” the school’s anonymous gossip board, and the caption says “I KNOW WHO KILLED HIM.” Stephen joins with Detective Antoinette Conway to reopen the case—beneath the watchful eye of Holly’s father, fellow detective Frank Mackey. With the clues leading back to Holly’s close-knit group of friends, to their rival clique, and to the tangle of relationships that bound them all to the murdered boy, the private underworld of teenage girls turns out to be more mysterious and more dangerous than the detectives imagined.

When enigmatic research CEO Eric Moss disappears, Craig Gisto promises private agency Private Sydney to uncover the truth behind his vanishing act, but technology alone cannot reveal what’s truly missing.

A gripping tale of kidnapping and the relentless pursuit of justice, set in Los Angeles and involving private investigators and human trafficking.

Meet Tommy Akhtar, Ugandan Asian cricket fan, devoted son, and not very successful private investigator with offices over his brother Gundappa's mini-cab firm in deepest West London.He's just woken up from his hangover (combing the parting on his toungue) when his next case comes through the door. It looks like just another investigation when hooker Melody comes into his office asking him to find her co-worker, Natasha, last seen meeting new client at a bar in Shepherd's Market.But as the search for Natasha intensifies, Tommy's world becomes increasingly sinister. He is drawn into a murder investigation, the criminal underworld, the world of fundamentalist religion and maybe even terrorist activities. Neate brilliantly explores the oddball underbelly and wierd cultural mix of London - The City of Tiny Lights - today and questions just what it really means to be British now.....

Former CIA operative Lemuel Gunn turns to private investigation in New Mexico, where a mysterious bail bonds case and a vanished drug dealer pull him into a tense, drug‑fueled thriller.

When a young writer discovers his grandfather’s tale of a military deserter risking life in wartime Leningrad, he learns how they gathered hard‑to‑find ingredients for a wedding cake destined for a powerful colonel’s daughter.

After Pearl Harbor, a murder of a Japanese family in Los Angeles sets off a tense investigation that brings together a brilliant Japanese‑American forensic chemist, a daring woman, a future police chief, and a formidable villain.

Detective Carella and Hawes investigate a murder in Isola while 88th Precinct cop Fat Ollie Weeks tracks down three prep school boys and a crack dealer.

Henry Skrimshander, a baseball star at the small Lake Michigan school Westish College, faces self‑doubt when a routine throw goes awry, unsettling the lives of five people.

When Emily Kane finds her family missing at her sister’s house in Las Vegas, she turns to former boyfriend David Raker, a missing persons investigator, to uncover a decades‑old cover‑up and a trail of bodies.

LAPD detective Hieronymous (aka Harry) Bosch is a loner and a nighthawk. Called out on a routine drug overdose case, Bosch soon realises that the victim found lying in the Mullholland Dam drainpipe is no accident case. Billy Meadows was a fellow 'tunnel rat' in Vietnam and Harry swears to bring the killer to justice.