Books like Spanking Watson by Kinky Friedman

In an alternate present-day Alaska, Detective Eli Ratner investigates a murder that unearths the political and cultural legacy of a Jewish refuge founded in 1941.

James Ellroy’s hard‑boiled crime novel follows detectives as they unravel Los Angeles’s darkest mystery, the unsolved murder of the Black Dahlia, blending gritty police work with atmospheric noir.

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.

In The Big Nowhere, three men become entangled in a vast web of ambition, perversion, and deceit amid the gritty backdrop of Los Angeles.

When a property crime spirals in Detroit, a former hitman and a corrupt partner force a couple into the Witness Protection Program, turning a routine house visit into a deadly showdown.

American conspiracies collide when a Vegas cop, armed with six thousand dollars, uncovers the dark layers behind Kennedy’s assassination and the ensuing swirl of crime and politics in the 1960s.

Charlie Asher discovers he has been chosen to succeed as Death, forcing him to balance a normal family life in San Francisco with the grim responsibility of ending lives.

Stone Barrington, a private investigator in New York, finds himself embroiled in a dangerous mystery when a nighttime encounter leads to a dead body and a high-profile murder involving a famous TV anchor.

Private investigator Matt Scudder investigates a brutal murder of a wealthy couple after a concert in New York, uncovering a conspiracy that defies police assumptions.

In her fourth book, LIPSTICK JUNGLE, best-selling author Candace Bushnell re-creates a real-life world as compelling and fascinating as Sex and the City. In LIPSTICK JUNGLE, high fashion meets the powerful women who actually wear it.Victory Ford -- single, beautiful, creative and unconventional -- has worked for years to create her own independent fashion house. But when her company goes into a tailspin, Victory falls into the arms of the ruthless cosmetics baron, Lyne Bennett. As she struggles to keep her company afloat, she learns crucial lessons about what she really wants from a relationship.One of the most powerful women in publishing, Nico O'Neilly seems to have it all -- a stellar career, a well-respected husband, and an eight-year-old daughter whom she adores. But at forty-three, Nico finds that this isn't enough. Her secret ambition is to become the first female CEO of Splatch-Verner (the multimedia company that owns her magazine), but if she's going to achieve her goal, she needs to start acting now.Wendy Healy, President of Parador Pictures, has chutzpah to spare. It’s propelled her to the very top of the cutthroat movie business, yet as she tries to bring her most important movie to the screen, her drive is not enough to save her. Selden Rose, the president of MovieTime, is secretly lobbying to oust Wendy and take over Parador; meanwhile, her twelve-year-marriage to her metrosexual househusband is falling apart. One has to go--and in a series of unconventional plot twists, Wendy finds a startling answer.Following these determined but likeable leading ladies through the ups and downs of their careers, their marriages and their affairs, Candace Bushnell shows us how three strong women stay at the top of their fields in the toughest town in the world.

When detective Kinky Friedman is hired to help his old friend, country legend Willie Nelson, recover from a troubled state, they hit the road together and uncover a mix of mystery, danger, and roadside drama that threatens the singer’s safety.