Books like 'Delilah Dirk and the King's Shilling'
Readers who enjoyed Delilah Dirk and the King's Shilling by Tony Cliff also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical fantasy action / adventure mystery comedy alternate history violent-conflict historical-fiction humor friendship
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The Good, The Bad and The History by Jodi Taylor
16 ratingsSt Mary's is under investigation. Their director has been shot and Max is Number One Suspect. Can things get any worse? We all know the answer to that one.Max needs to get away - fast - and a Brilliant Idea soon leads her to a full-scale uprising in twentieth-century China. If she can come by a historical treasure or two in the process, even better. That is, if she makes it out alive... -
The Fall of the House of Cabal by Jonathan L. Howard
16 ratingsJohannes Cabal, a necromancer of some little infamy, has come into possession of a vital clue that may lead him to his ultimate goal: a cure for death. The path is vague, however, and certainly treacherous as it takes him into strange territories that, quite literally, no one has ever seen before... -
Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart
22 ratingsWhen the children of his village were struck with a mysterious illness, Number Ten Ox sought a wiseman to save them. He found master Li Kao, a scholar with a slight flaw in his character. Together, they set out to find the Great Root of Power, the only possible cure... -
The Brothers Cabal by Jonathan L. Howard
16 ratingsHorst Cabal has risen from the dead. Again. Horst, the most affable vampire one is ever likely to meet, is resurrected by an occult conspiracy that wants him as a general in a monstrous army. Their plan: to create a country of horrors, a supernatural homeland. As Horst sees the lengths to which they are prepared to go and the evil they cultivate, he realizes that he cannot fight them alone...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction humor industrial-era steampunk action-adventure adult alternate-history -
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The Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones
26 ratingsHis father and uncles are enchanters, his mother a powerful sorceress, yet nothing seems magical about Christopher Chant except his dreams. Night after night, he climbs through the formless Place Between and visits marvelous lands he calls the Almost Anywheres. Then Christopher discovers that he can bring real, solid things back from his dreams...Categorized as:
friendship humor 20th-century action-adventure alternate-history animals audiobook boarding-school -
The Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud, Simon Jones
27 ratingsIt is 950 B.C.E., and King Solomon rules Jerusalem with a steely hand; a hand on which gleams a magic ring of immense and unforgiving power. Solomon has just begun work on his marvelous temple, charging Khaba, a formidable magician in his royal court, to oversee its construction. The workforce is an ill-behaved bunch of demons, a particularly unruly djinni named Bartimaeus among them... -
The Story of the Stone by Barry Hughart
17 ratingsIn the valley of Sorrows, a monk is brutally murdered for a worthless manuscript, and the abbot of the humble monastery calls upon Master Li and Number Ten Ox to investigate the seemingly senseless killing. The most likely suspect is the infamous Laughing Prince, founder of the valley, whose murderous frenzies have made him a legend... -
My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton
33 ratingsEdward (long live the king) is the King of England. He’s also dying, which is inconvenient, as he’s only sixteen and he’d much rather be planning for his first kiss than considering who will inherit his crown…Jane (reads too many books) is Edward’s cousin, and far more interested in books than romance. Unfortunately for Jane, Edward has arranged to marry her off to secure the line of succession...Categorized as:
family friendship historical-fiction humor action-adventure alternate-history animals audiobook -
Magicians of Quality by Patricia C. Wrede, Caroline Stevermer
6 ratingsFor country-bred cousins Cecelia Rushton and Katherine Talgarth, something extraordinary is afoot besides the constant whirl of Regency balls - something Young Ladies of Quality rarely come in contact with: magic. Oh, not the mere love spells used by country folk, but real sorcery capable of thwarting ambitions and destroying life...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction humor industrial-era regency action-adventure alternate-history book -
Renegade Magic by Stephanie Burgis
14 ratingsThe feisty Kat Stephenson is back in the second installment of the Regency era magical trilogy Kirkus Reviews calls “enjoyable mayhem...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction humor industrial-era regency action-adventure alternate-history book -
Eight Skilled Gentlemen by Barry Hughart
15 ratingsOnce again World Fantasy Award-winner Barry Hughart blends folklore and fantasy to create a work of enchantment set in an ancient China that never was…but should have been. Master Li and Number Ten Ox—heroes of Bridge of Birds and The Story of the Stone—return to solve the mystery of how and why respected mandarins are being mysteriously murdered... -
The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your Home by Joseph Fink, Jeffrey Cranor
18 ratingsFrom the New York Times bestselling authors of Welcome to Night Vale and It Devours! and the creators of the hit podcast, comes a new novel set in the world of Night Vale and beyond.In the town of Night Vale, there’s a faceless old woman who secretly lives in everyone’s home, but no one knows how she got there or where she came from...until now...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction humor action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book comedy -
The Fear Institute by Jonathan L. Howard
18 ratingsJohannes Cabal and his rather inexact powers of necromancy are back once more. This time, his talents are purchased by The Fear Institute as they hunt for the Phobic Animus - the embodiment of fear... -
The Hound of the D'Urbervilles by Kim Newman, Tom Hodgkins
16 ratingsImagine the twisted evil twins of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson and you have the dangerous duo of Professor James Moriarty—wily, snake-like, fiercely intelligent, terrifyingly unpredictable—and Colonel Sebastian Basher Moran—violent, politically incorrect, debauched. Together they run London crime, owning police and criminals alike... -
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Fool by Christopher Moore
33 ratings“Hilarious, always inventive, this is a book for all, especially uptight English teachers, bardolaters, and ministerial students.” —Dallas Morning NewsFool—the bawdy and outrageous New York Times bestseller from the unstoppable Christopher Moore—is a hilarious new take on William Shakespeare’s King Lear…as seen through the eyes of the foolish liege’s clownish jester, Pocket...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor 21st-century action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook book -
The League of Gentlewomen Witches by India Holton
21 ratingsJust when you thought it was safe to go back into the teahouse...Miss Charlotte Pettifer belongs to a secret league of women skilled in the subtle arts. That is to say—although it must never be said—witchcraft. The League of Gentlewomen Witches strives to improve the world in small ways...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction humor industrial-era regency steampunk action-adventure adult -
My Contrary Mary by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton
16 ratingsWelcome to Renaissance France, a place of poison and plots, of beauties and beasts, of mice and . . . queens?⠀⠀Mary is the queen of Scotland and the jewel of the French court. Except when she's a mouse. Yes, reader, Mary is an Eðian (shapeshifter) in a kingdom where Verities rule. It's a secret that could cost her a head—or a tail.⠀⠀Luckily, Mary has a confidant in her betrothed, Francis...Categorized as:
family friendship historical-fiction humor action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book -
Wyrde and Wayward by Charlotte E. English
10 ratings‘If you had not already realised it, this is a very strange house you are come to.’ The Scions of the House of Werth are all born normal. It is what happens afterwards that sets them apart. It is not easy being the most supernatural family in England...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction humor industrial-era regency action-adventure adult alternate-history -
A Night of Blacker Darkness: Being the Memoir of Frederick Whithers As Edited by Cecil G. Bagsworth III by Dan Wells
10 ratingsWrongly imprisoned, Frederick Whithers is desperate to commit the crime he's already being punished for: defrauding the bank out of a vast inheritance. He fakes his death to escape, but when he's seen climbing out of a coffin everyone assumes he's a vampire; when he shows none of the traditional vampire weaknesses, they decide he must be the most powerful vampire in the history of the world...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook book comedy -
The Magicians of Caprona by Diana Wynne Jones
24 ratingsTonino is the only person in the famous Montana household who wasn't born with an instinct for creating spells, but he has other gifts. His ability to communicate with cats just might help defend the city of Caprona against a mysterious enchanter -- but only if Tonino can learn to cooperate with a girl from the hated Petrocchi family of spell-makers... -
The Brass Queen by Elizabeth Chatsworth
8 ratingsIn 1897, a fiery British aristocrat and an inept US spy search for a stolen invisibility serum that could spark a global war.Miss Constance Haltwhistle is the last in a line of blue-blooded rogue inventors. Selling exotic firearms under her alias, the ‘Brass Queen,’ has kept her baronial estate’s coffers full... -
Dodger by Terry Pratchett
26 ratingsA storm. Rain-lashed city streets. A flash of lightning. A scruffy lad sees a girl leap desperately from a horse-drawn carriage in a vain attempt to escape her captors. Can the lad stand by and let her be caught again? Of course not, because he's...Dodger.Seventeen-year-old Dodger may be a street urchin, but he gleans a living from London's sewers, and he knows a jewel when he sees one... -
The Napoleon of Notting Hill by G.K. Chesterton
16 ratingsIn a London of the future, the drudgery of capitalism and bureaucracy have worn the human spirit down to the point where it can barely stand. When a pint-sized clerk named Auberon Quinn is randomly selected as head of state, he decides to turn London into a medieval carnival for his own amusement...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor industrial-era violent-conflict war 20th-century action-adventure adult -
The Wood Nymph and the Cranky Saint by C. Dale Brittain
6 ratingsCaught between renegade magic and cranky religion, what's a poor wizard supposed to do? When the king of Yurt goes on vacation, leaving his Royal Wizard Daimbert in charge, he is faced with the escalating crises of the cranky saint of the shrine of the Holy Toe, an all-too-beguiling wood nymph, bizarre horned rabbits, a scandalous duchess, the royal nephew's mid-life crisis, and a monstrous... -
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The Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore
24 ratingsNew York Times bestselling author Christopher Moore channels William Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe in this satiric Venetian gothic that brings back the Pocket of Dog Snogging, the eponymous hero of Fool, along with his sidekick, Drool, and pet monkey, JeffVenice, a long time ago...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor absurdism action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook book -
The Not-So-Jolly Roger by Jon Scieszka, Lane Smith
12 ratingsThe first four books of the wildly popular Time Warp Trio series are now in one value-priced boxed set! Whether the gang's fighting off the Black Knight in the middle of Camelot, practicing magic tricks on Blackbeard and his pirates, stampeding cattle in the Old West, or running from a woolly mammoth, one thing is for sure: no one's ever bored when the Time Warp Trio's...Categorized as:
friendship historical-fiction humor action-adventure alternate-history book children children-books -
The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton
23 ratingsA prim and proper lady thief must save her aunt from a crazed pirate and his dangerously charming henchman in this fantastical historical romance.Cecilia Bassingwaite is the ideal Victorian lady. She's also a thief. Like the other members of the Wisteria Society crime sorority, she flies around England drinking tea, blackmailing friends, and acquiring treasure by interesting means...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction humor industrial-era regency steampunk action-adventure adult -
Apocalypso by Robert Rankin, Axel Merz
10 ratingsThe Ministry of Serendipity at Mornington Crescent runs everything. And that is everything. When the Ministry learns of' a spacecraft that crashed four thousand years ago into the Pacific Ocean, it sends Sir John Rimmer and his elite team of' paranormal investigators to recover it. Amongst Sir John's team is Danbury Collins, and Danbury isn't keen. He's seen the movies... -
Unholy Night by Seth Grahame-Smith
18 ratingsFrom the author of the New York Times bestselling Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, comes UNHOLY NIGHT, the next evolution in dark historical revisionism. They're an iconic part of history's most celebrated birth...Categorized as:
drama historical-fiction humor action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book christian -
Sacré Bleu by Christopher Moore
28 ratings“Christopher Moore is a very sick man, in the very best sense of that word.”—Carl Hiassen“[Moore’s novels] deftly blend surreal, occult, and even science-fiction doings with laugh-out-loud satire of contemporary culture.”—Washington Post“If there’s a funnier writer out there, step forward.”—PlayboyAbsolutely nothing is sacred to Christopher Moore...Categorized as:
drama historical-fiction humor industrial-era steampunk 21st-century absurdism action-adventure -
Flora Segunda by Ysabeau S. Wilce
18 ratingsFlora knows better than to take shortcuts in her family home, Crackpot Hall--the house has eleven thousand rooms, and ever since her mother banished the magickal butler, those rooms move around at random. But Flora is late for school, so she takes the unpredictable elevator anyway. Huge mistake... -
Piratica: Being a Daring Tale of a Singular Girl's Adventure Upon the High Seas by Tanith Lee
16 ratingsArtemesia is the daughter of a pirate queen, and she's sick of practicing deportment at the Angels Academy for Young Maidens. Escaping from the school, she hunts up her mother's crew and breezily commands them out to sea in a leaky boat... -
My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows
25 ratingsYou may think you know the story. After a miserable childhood, penniless orphan Jane Eyre embarks on a new life as a governess at Thornfield Hall. There, she meets one dark, brooding Mr. Rochester. Despite their significant age gap (!) and his uneven temper (!!), they fall in love—and, Reader, she marries him... -
My Calamity Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton
18 ratingsWelcome to 1876 and a rootin’-tootin’ America bursting with gunslingers, outlaws, and garou.JANE (a genuine hero-eene)Calamity’s her name, and garou hunting’s her game—when she’s not starring in Wild Bill’s Traveling Show, that is. She reckons that if a girl wants to be a legend, she should just go ahead and be one... -
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Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith
42 ratingsIndiana, 1818. Moonlight falls through the dense woods that surround a one-room cabin, where a nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his suffering mother's bedside. She's been stricken with something the old-timers call "Milk Sickness.""My baby boy..." she whispers before dying.Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother's fatal affliction was actually the work of a vampire...Categorized as:
drama historical-fiction humor violent-conflict war action-adventure alternate-history audiobook -
Triumff: Her Majesty's Hero by Dan Abnett
10 ratingsSir Rupert Triumff. Adventurer. Fighter. Drinker.Saviour?Pratchett goes swashbuckling in the hotly anticipated original fiction debut of the multi-million selling Warhammer star.Triumff is a ribald historical fantasy set in a warped clockwork-powered version of our present day … a new Elizabethan age, not of Elizabeth II but in the style of the original Virgin Queen...
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