Books like Public secrets

Public secrets by Nora Roberts reads as romantic, suspenseful. These 12 books share its genome — matched by how they actually read, not just their shelf label.

What Public secrets is like to read

A decades-spanning romantic suspense in which a woman's buried childhood trauma resurfaces just as her adult love story turns sinister. Family saga scaffolding meets thriller propulsion. Best for: readers who want romance braided with a stalker/suspense plot and a long emotional runway.

Divine Evil

Nora Roberts · 1992

A romantic suspense blend where a woman's return to her hometown unearths buried trauma and a creeping sense of evil, balanced against a steady, sensual romance with the town's sheriff.

guaranteed HEAcreepy, not gorydeep cut

Love is Murder

Sandra Brown · 2012

Same thriller feel

Pretend You Don't See Her

Mary Higgins Clark · 1997

A tense, fast-moving thriller following a witness in hiding whose isolation and family ties become the killer's way back to her — the fear comes from exposure and pursuit rather than gore.

creepy, not gorydeep cut

Double Take

Catherine Coulter · 2007

A brisk romantic-suspense procedural: an attempted murder on a pier reopens a psychic's killing while a parallel Virginia missing-wife thread runs alongside.

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Double Standards

Judith McNaught · 1985

A glossy 80s corporate romance built on a deception the heroine can't undo — the pull is watching the lie tighten as the feelings deepen.

mildly eeriecomplete storydeep cut

The Heiress Bride

Lynne Graham · 2002

A dramatic romance centered on two strong-willed characters navigating forced marriage, secrets, and passionate connection against a backdrop of wealth and Greek society.

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Guardian

Nicholas Sparks · 2003

A tender yet darkening exploration of a widow's emotional reawakening complicated by romantic choice and mounting danger; Sparks blends his signature melancholic romance with genui

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The Ice Princess

Camilla Läckberg · 2008

A slow-building small-town mystery where a writer's obsession with a dead friend's past intertwines with a detective's investigation, unearthing buried secrets.

mildly eeriedeep cut

Sparkling Cyanide

Agatha Christie · 1945

A classic closed-circle poisoning puzzle: six suspects, one anniversary dinner, and a second death that resets the game.

mildly eeriecomplete storydeep cut

The Angel of Terror

Edgar Wallace · 1923

A brisk 1920s pulp mystery-thriller built on an inheritance deadline and a suspicious proposal — quick, plot-forward, and driven by melodrama rather than prose texture.

mildly eeriedeep cut