Books like A dead man in Malta by Michael Pearce

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

In 1546, lawyer Matthew Shardlake is drawn into the deadly politics of Henry VIII’s dying reign, where he must navigate treachery, religious persecution, and a family will dispute while being summoned by Queen Catherine Parr for secret assistance.

During the Peninsular War, Richard Sharpe confronts his ruthless nemesis, Obadiah Hakeswill, as both men clash in a siege on a mountain pass that holds captured British and French women.

The University should have been delighted when an influential courtier decides to found a new College in Cambridge, but the older Colleges are jealous of the newcomer's ostentatious wealth, and the townsfolk bitterly resent yet another academic foundation thrust into their midst. Tensions between town and gown rise further still when physician Matthew Bartholomew snatches an unpopular felon from the jaws of death - an incident that coincides with a sudden increase in violent crime across the whole region. As the new College is about to receive the charter that will make it an official part of the University, an arrow flies through the air and kills the Junior Proctor. With the townsfolk and the scholars blaming each other for the murder, Bartholomew and his friend Brother Michael must find the culprit before the whole region erupts in a frenzy of recrimination and revenge.