Books like “Dead Until Dark”

What to read after “Dead Until Dark” by Charlaine Harris: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.

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1
The Little Friend
Donna Tartt · 2002
Similar atmosphere: “Southern Gothic”
- Southern Gothic
- Small Town Secrets
Years after a boy was found hanged in the family garden, his younger sister sets out to learn who killed him. Her amateur sleuthing among the town's odd characters pulls her from her grieving family into a dangerous, half-understood world.
2
The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires
Grady Hendrix · 2020
Similar atmosphere: “Southern Gothic”
Patricia, a suburban housewife in 1990s Charleston, joins a true-crime book club that becomes the only excitement in her week. When a new neighbour is suspected of preying on local children, the women try to convince a town that would rather not listen, and then take matters into their own hands.
3
To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee · 1960
Similar atmosphere: “Southern Gothic”
- Southern Gothic
- Small Town Secrets
A girl grows up in a sleepy Alabama town where her father, a lawyer, defends a Black man falsely accused of a crime. Through her eyes we watch the town's prejudice, the trial, and a reclusive neighbour's secret. A classic about childhood, race and courage.
4
Dark Lover
J. R. Ward · 2005
From the same world: “Vampires”
- Vampires
- Forbidden Love
Wrath, the vampire king of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, never planned to care for a mortal. When he promises a dying comrade to watch over the man's half-human daughter, Beth, their growing bond pulls them both into the Brotherhood's hidden war with the slayers hunting their kind.
5
Halfway to the Grave
Jeaniene Frost · 2007
From the same world: “Vampires”
- Vampires
- Forbidden Love
Half vampire Cat has spent years hunting the creatures her father belonged to. When she meets Bones, a vampire bounty hunter, he offers to train her in exchange for help with his own list of targets, and the partnership draws her into a world she cannot leave.
6
Sharp Objects
Gillian Flynn · 2006
Similar atmosphere: “Southern Gothic”
- Southern Gothic
- Small Town Secrets
Reporter Camille Preaker returns to her small hometown to cover the murders of two girls. She must face her mother and half-sister, and her own memories, while the pressure of the assignment pushes her back toward the habits she has tried to leave behind.
7
The House Next Door
Anne Rivers Siddons · 1978
Similar atmosphere: “Southern Gothic”
- Southern Gothic
- Small Town Secrets
A new house is built beside the Kennedys in their quiet Atlanta neighbourhood. Over two years the families who move in are destroyed by scandal and violence, and even visitors are touched. Colquitt begins to believe the house itself is malevolent, and decides to warn the world.
8
Twilight
Stephenie Meyer · 2005
From the same world: “Vampires”
- Vampires
- Forbidden Love
Bella Swan moves to the rainy town of Forks and is drawn to Edward Cullen, who is beautiful, distant and not human. As she learns he is a mind-reading vampire, the danger of loving him becomes impossible to ignore.
9
Kiss of Midnight
Lara Adrian · 2007
From the same world: “Vampires”
- Vampires
- Forbidden Love
Gabrielle hides in Boston, painting by day and avoiding the vampires who killed her family. When she witnesses a battle between the Breed warrior Lucan and his enemies, she is pulled into the Midnight Breed's hidden war and a dangerous attraction to an assassin sworn to hunt his own kind.
10
Sunshine
Robin McKinley · 2003
From the same world: “Vampires”
- Vampires
Rae Seddon, a baker called Sunshine, is captured by vampires at her family's lake cabin and learns she carries magic of her own. Bound to a vampire who should be her enemy, she is pulled into a war among the Others, the supernatural beings living beside humans.
11
The Serpent and the Wings of Night
Carissa Broadbent · 2022
From the same world: “Vampires”
- Vampires
Oraya is a human adopted by the vampire king and has always been an outsider at his court. To win protection she enters the Kejari, a tournament that kills most of its competitors, and forms an uneasy alliance with Raihn, a rival vampire she cannot trust and should not love.
12
A Discovery of Witches
Deborah Harkness · 2011
From the same world: “Vampires”
- Vampires
- Forbidden Love
Diana Bishop, a historian and reluctant witch, calls up an enchanted manuscript that every creature in Oxford wants. When the vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont offers his help, their alliance defies the laws that keep witches, vampires, and daemons apart.