Books like Kick Back by Val McDermid

Two young lovers, Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, form a private detective agency and are hired to locate a missing woman named Jane Finn, whose disappearance threatens post‑war Britain.

Miss Marple finds herself in the Caribbean, where a mysterious old soldier hints at a strange coincidence that could spark adventure.

In the tranquil village of Lymstock, a sudden wave of poison-pen letters turns the community into a web of suspicion and tragedy. When a desperate situation rises, an unlikely hero arrives to restore order.

The engaging and sassy owner of Botswana's only detective agency, Precious Ramotswe, expands her business to include car repair and a beauty pageant, but her sense of justice remains unshaken by scandal and deceit, as in THE NO. 1 LADIES' DETECTIVE AGENCY and TEARS OF THE GIRAFFE.

In a Georgian town, a mutilated college professor’s murder forces pediatrician‑coroner Sara Linton to uncover a serial killer’s gruesome deeds, while her ex‑husband, Police Chief Jeffrey Tolliver, and sister‑detective Lena Adams clash over justice.

From McDermid's webpage: "Four in the morning, mid-December, and snow is smothering St Andrews. Student Alex Gilbey and his three best friends are staggering home from a party when they stumble upon the body of a young woman. Rosie Duff has been raped, stabbed and left for dead in the ancient Pictish cemetery. And the only suspects are the four young students stained with her blood. Twenty-five years later, Fife police mount a cold case review. Among the unsolved murders they’re examining is that of Rosie Duff. But someone else has their own idea of how justice should be done. One of the original quartet dies in a suspicious house fire. Soon after, a second is killed in what looks like a burglary gone sour. But Alex fears the worst. Someone is taking revenge for Rosie Duff. He has to find out who it is before he becomes the next victim. And it might just save his life if he can uncover who really killed Rosie all those years ago."

Detective Chief Inspector Carol Jordan returns to Bradfield after a violent assault, only to find psychologist Dr. Tony Hill on the scene as a new post at a high‑security mental hospital. When a prostitute is found murdered in a pattern echoing a previous case, Jordan must rely on Hill to unravel a chilling serial killer that may be hiding within the force.

Kate Brannigan, a principled private investigator, tackles betrayal, medical fraud, and rock‑music crime while trying to save her life and the life of her pregnant girlfriend.

After a heated quarrel, Agatha Raisin’s husband James vanishes, leaving a single bloodstain and a trail of suspicion. To clear her name and uncover the truth, Agatha teams up with Sir Charles and dives into a tangled web of love, betrayal, and murder.

Retired Carole Seddon unwittingly becomes the sleuth when, with her Labrador Gulliver, she discovers a body on Fethering beach that vanishes before the police act. Together with eccentric neighbor Jude, she tackles a mystery the authorities ignore.

A British clinical psychologist pursues a serial killer crossing into the Netherlands and Belgium, while a police officer infiltrates a ruthless drug and human trafficking ring in Berlin.

Irene Adler, the famed American opera singer who once outwitted Sherlock Holmes, steps into a new mystery where her keen detective skills rescue barrister Godfrey Norton and force a showdown with the legendary detective himself.

In "Dead Beat," private detective Kate Brannigan is hired to find missing songwriter Moira Pollock, leading her into Leeds’ and Bradford’s seediest neighborhoods where the search uncovers a murder mystery.

Private investigator Hannah Wolfe protects fidgeting teen Mattie Shepherd in London while uncovering a sinister link to the Animal Liberation Front that threatens their lives.

Tony Hill and his partner Carol investigate a serial killer targeting single women at weddings in northern England, confronting a chilling moral dilemma as they chase a killer who lures victims to remote, burned‑out cars.

Regan Reilly, a private investigator and daughter of a famed mystery writer, is drawn aboard the Queen Guinevere to solve the murder of her former roommate, navigating secrets, lovers, and a hidden killer on a transatlantic cruise.

Kickback follows the gritty, cynical world of hard‑boiled detective fiction as an accomplished thief, Wyatt, navigates a dangerous heist while down on luck.

301 p. ; 22 cm

Three co‑owners of the Cackleberry Club Café investigate the murder of milk farmer Mike Mullen, turning their culinary partnership into a crime‑scene investigation as they chase the killer through New York’s dairy backstreets.