swap_horiz Ross Macdonald Alternatives

1

Vladimir Nabokov

Vladimir Nabokov remains a significant figure in 20th-century literature. He was a Russian-American novelist celebrated...

Classic 20TH Century Literary Postmodern

9.2 Excellent

2

J.D. Salinger

J.D. Salinger is a prominent 20th-century American novelist best known for *The Catcher in the Rye*. This classic work e...

Classic American 20TH Century Coming Of Age

8.8 Great

3

Octavia E. Butler

Octavia E. Butler was a pioneering African American author of science fiction whose acclaimed works, including Kindred,...

Sci Fi Classic American 20TH Century

8.7 Great

4

Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov was a highly influential 20th-century American novelist renowned for his extensive science fiction works. H...

Sci Fi Classic American 20TH Century

8.6 Great

5

Eudora Welty

Eudora Welty was an American author celebrated for her insightful short stories and novels depicting life in the America...

Classic American 20TH Century Literary

8.5 Great

6

Harper Lee

Harper Lee was an American novelist celebrated for her 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird, a semina...

Classic American 20TH Century Coming Of Age

8.4 Great

7

Bernard Malamud

Bernard Malamud was an American novelist and short story writer whose works often explored the struggles of Jewish chara...

Classic Realism American 20TH Century

8.3 Great

8

Raymond Chandler

Raymond Chandler was an American-British novelist who profoundly influenced the hardboiled detective genre with his Phil...

Classic American Mystery 20TH Century

8.1 Great

9

Robert Heinlein

Influential American science fiction writer and pioneer of the genre's golden age, known for the 1961 novel *Stranger in...

Sci Fi Classic American 20TH Century

8.0 Great

10

Dashiell Hammett

Dashiell Hammett was an American author credited with inventing the hardboiled detective fiction genre, debuting his ico...

Classic American Mystery 20TH Century

8.0 Great

11

Georges Simenon

Georges Simenon was a prolific Belgian author who created the fictional detective Jules Maigret, publishing his first Ma...

Classic Detective Mystery 20TH Century

7.9 Good

12

Patricia Highsmith

Patricia Highsmith was an American novelist known for her psychological thrillers, most notably the 1955 novel The Talen...

Classic American Psychological 20TH Century

7.7 Good

13

James Ellroy

American author James Ellroy is best known for his dense, stylized crime novels like L.A. Confidential, which explore th...

American Contemporary Mystery Noir

7.6 Good

14

Elmore Leonard

Elmore Leonard was an acclaimed American novelist celebrated for his gritty crime fiction and sharp dialogue, notably in...

Classic American 20TH Century Crime

7.6 Good

15

Chester Himes

Chester Himes was an African American writer whose gritty crime novels, particularly the Harlem Detective series, won hi...

Classic American Mystery 20TH Century

7.6 Good

16

Theodore Dreiser

American novelist and a leading figure of the naturalist school, best known for exploring the harsh realities of America...

Classic American 20TH Century Social Realism

7.4 Good

17

Walter Mosley

Walter Mosley is an American novelist renowned for his series of historical mysteries featuring detective Easy Rawlins,...

American Contemporary Mystery Noir

7.0 Good

18

Robert A. Heinlein

Robert A. Heinlein was an influential American science fiction author notable for his 1961 novel Stranger in a Strange L...

Sci Fi Classic American 20TH Century

6.9 Fair

19

Sue Grafton

Sue Grafton was an American author best known for her alphabetical detective series featuring private investigator Kinse...

American Detective Mystery 20TH Century

6.5 Fair

20

Edna Ferber

Edna Ferber was an American novelist and short story writer, notable for her bestselling 1926 novel Show Boat, which bec...

Classic Epic American 20TH Century

6.3 Fair