Crime Books that Should Be Made Into Movies Book List

Enjoy that book to movie situation? Like to see more books made into movies? Want to read those kinds of books? Check out this book list...



1) "The Book of Paul" by Richard Long

"Everything you've ever believed about yourself...about the description of reality you've clung to so stubbornly all your life...all of it...every bit of it...is an illusion." In the rubble-strewn wasteland of Alphabet City, a squalid tenement conceals a treasure "beyond all imagining"-- an immaculately preserved, fifth century codex. The sole repository of ancient Hermetic lore, it contains the alchemical rituals for transforming thought into substance, transmuting matter at will...and attaining eternal life. When Rose, a sex and pain addicted East Village tattoo artist has a torrid encounter with Martin, a battle-hardened loner, they discover they are unwitting pawns on opposing sides of a battle that has shaped the course of human history. At the center of the conflict is Paul, the villainous overlord of an underground feudal society, who guards the book's occult secrets in preparation for the fulfillment of an apocalyptic prophecy. The action is relentless as Rose and Martin fight to escape Paul's clutches and Martin's destiny as the chosen recipient of Paul's sinister legacy. Science and magic, mythology and technology converge in a monumental battle where the stakes couldn't be higher: control of the ultimate power in the universe--the Maelstrom. The Book of Paul is the first of seven volumes in a sweeping mythological narrative tracing the mystical connections between Hermes Trismegistus in ancient Egypt, Sophia, the female counterpart of Christ, and the Celtic druids of Clan Kelly.

2) "The Liquidator" by Iain Parke

Dangerous things happen in Africa. People disappear. Everybody knows that. But as an outsider, Paul thinks he is safe, even from the secret police, whatever he starts to find, or wherever it leads. But when he finds himself holding a deadly secret as the country begins to implode how safe is he? And what will he be prepared to do to protect those around him? After all, everyone knows wazungu cannot just disappear – not at least without a good explanation being provided to the authorities. Everybody knows that – don’t they?

3) "A Plague of Dissent" by Nic Taylor

It paints a picture of the UK, where media companies hack into personal communications at will in search of their next headline. Of politicians lining their pockets with falsified expense claims, and crooked practices operating within the police force. Where government contracts can be bought and sold by those that have the Prime Minister's ear, and where banks and corporations make millions at the expense of the man in the street.

It is a story of greed and corruption; where riots and civil unrest are turning the country upside down, and a small group of men who are attempting to use this spreading anarchy to further their own agendas.

Into this nightmare scenario are dragged a young man Adam, his girlfriend Isobel and his brother Dan, a professional rugby player and England wing forward. They are pursued by faceless men who believe they are party to information that could compromise their mission. They have two choices: to run, or to turn and fight for their lives.

4) "Table 21" by Rafael Cimino

Every Restaurant Has An Owner's Table...This One Runs The City. It's New York City, December 1999. As one millennium ends and another begins, an erratic chain of events unfolds that could change the face of the Italian mafia forever. In the turmoil, a vacuum is created when one family falls and an unprecedented void of power and struggle for control of the underworld ensues. Roman Sabarese is the owner of Evangeline's, the hottest restaurant in Tribeca; he also has the adoration of an A-list television star. After a tawdry cover story in a popular celebrity tabloid, the spotlight illuminates the fact that Roman is the son of an indicted mob kingpin and the presumptive heir to his father's vast criminal enterprise that commands the Tri-state area. Zoë Greene is young, attractive and enjoying rave reviews in her role on The Prosecutor, a primetime network television series. While on hiatus from her show for the New Year holiday, she visits the restaurant where she worked her way through college. After a quick dinner with her friend Roman in the midst of the frantic holiday crowd at Evangeline's, she vanishes without a trace. Captain Stanley Fitzgerald is the decorated head of NYPD's 1st Precinct in lower Manhattan. His hands are full with the upcoming New Year's Eve celebration, a personal battle with renal cancer and the rigors of police life. When an old friend appears in his office to ask for help in locating the missing starlet, he is more than reluctant. As the clock ticks and precious time runs out, the city is turned upside down in a desperate attempt to find that which is lost and answer questions that have been a mystery for over a generation. In the end, secrets will be revealed, alliances will be forged, and friendships will be betrayed. Table 21 will have you guessing to the last page about who will live to see the new millennium and who will not.

5) "The Bride Collector" by Ted Dekker

FBI Special agent Brad Raines is facing his toughest case yet. A Denver serial killer has killed four beautiful young women, leaving a bridal veil at each crime scene, and he's picking up his pace. Unable to crack the case, Raines appeals for help from a most unusual source: residents of the Center for Wellness and Intelligence, a private psychiatric institution for mentally ill individuals whose are extraordinarily gifted.

It's there that he meets Paradise, a young woman who witnessed her father murder her family and barely escaped his hand. Diagnosed with schizophrenia, Paradise may also have an extrasensory gift: the ability to experience the final moments of a person's life when she touches the dead body.

In a desperate attempt to find the killer, Raines enlists Paradise's help. In an effort to win her trust, he befriends this strange young woman and begins to see in her qualities that most 'sane people' sorely lack. Gradually, he starts to question whether sanity resides outside the hospital walls...or inside.

As the Bride Collector picks up the pace-and volume-of his gruesome crucifixions, the case becomes even more personal to Raines when his friend and colleague, a beautiful young forensic psychologist, becomes the Bride Collector's next target.

The FBI believes that the killer plans to murder seven women. Can Paradise help before it's too late?

6) "A Game of Proof" by Tim Vicary

A mother's worst nightmare - can her son be guilty of murder?

Sarah Newby, who left school at 15, and was living as a teenage single parent on an inner-city estate, has worked her way up to begin a career as a criminal barrister. But what should she do when her own son, Simon, is arrested and charged with a series of brutal rapes and murders?

Has Sarah, in her single-minded determination to create a career for herself, neglected her son so much that she no longer knows him? He has often lied to her in the past, so how can she trust him when he says he is innocent this time? And what should she do when she herself uncovers evidence that seems to suggest his guilt?

7) "Find Virgil" by Frank Freudberg

Get inside the mind of a serial killer as you never have before.

Is Martin Muntor a villain or victim?
Can you imagine yourself rooting for a madman to succeed in a terroristic plot to kill hundreds of people? Second-hand smoke gave Martin Muntor lung cancer, and he's mad. Very mad...and he's going to do something about it.

It's 1995, and the tobacco industry thinks it's invincible. But is it? Muntor devises an ingenious strategy to put cigarette companies out of business, and he doesn't care how many people he has to take with him in order to do it.

Hapless private investigator Tommy Rhoads has to find Muntor, and fast. But that's not going to be so easy. Muntor's smart and has nothing to lose, and the FBI doesn't want Rhoads's help. Rhoads has a lot at stake -- personally and professionally -- and is desperate to stop the killer.

Who's right, and who's wrong?

8) "The Case of Jack the Nipper" by H.L. Stephens

Mister Marmee is a Victorian gentlecat, not a detective...or so he thinks. Everything changes when he takes up residence with Stephen Hanover, London’s premier doctor of veterinary medicine, and his vivacious dachshund detective, Sir Happy, at their home, Hanover Place. With a nose for finding and following clues, Sir Happy soon begins to teach his feline friend the tricks of the investigative trade. Within short order, Mister Marmee finds himself whiskers-deep in one of the most perplexing and brutal crime sprees London has ever seen. Drawn into the fray by the charming but bewildered Hyrum Farley of Scotland Yard, Mister Marmee and Sir Happy follow the trail of a lifetime as they endeavor to track down a killer canine before it strikes again. From the slums of Cheapside and the dog fighting rings of the warehouse district to the sleepy manors of the British countryside, onto the very doorstep of Hanover Place itself, it’s a race against the clock…and time is running out!