Books like The plot against Roger Rider by Julian Symons

Hard‑boiled detective Sam Spade races to recover a priceless, gem‑encrusted statuette while double‑crosses and danger creep from every corner.

A dark New England mansion, the House of the Seven Gables, casts an ancestral curse over the Pyncheon family, revealing secrets, mysterious deaths, and a complex mix of gothic, historical, and moral themes.

John le Carré’s third George Smiley novel follows the former chief of Britain’s MI6 as he attempts to revive the agency, cleanse it of the mole Bill Haydon, and confront his enigmatic adversary Karla.

Stefano Ferraro, a powerful crime boss with a mysterious family talent, crosses paths with Francesca Cappello, a woman carrying a dangerous secret, leading to a perilous, twisted romance in noir Chicago.

John le Carré’s Cold‑War spy thriller follows British agent Alec Leamas as he takes one last perilous assignment to outwit East German intelligence.

Taken from France as a young child, Cassandra Deville has grown up wild and free in the South Seas. She spent her childhood following her artist father from island to island as her father crossed the seas, in constant fear that his mortal enemy would find and kill him. One day, when Cassie is on the brink of womanhood, the unthinkable happens. Jared Danemount, her father's sworn enemy, sails into the harbor with a retinue of sailors, ready to drag her father back to face his execution in France. Jared is enchanted with the bare breasted beauty he meets on the deserted beach. He's stunned to find that she is the daughter of the man he has sailed from England to capture. His desire for the beauty turns to rage when she drugs and binds him, allowing her father to escape back to France. Cassie knows that her father is on his way to France in a desperate attempt to clear his name. She strikes a bargain with Jared. She will sail to France as his hostage with the understanding that he will have his way with her. A battle of wills ensues that carries them across the seas to Jared's castle, where both find the true meaning of love and honor.

In turn‑of‑the‑century Texas, Bernadette Barron enters a marriage of convenience with the enigmatic Count Eduardo Cortes, only to find their bargain transforms into a passionate battle of wills and love.