Novels like Cold Case
Books Chinese readers most often put in the same booklists as Cold Case, best match first.
- 1 The Archives Unit 档案组 [Horror + Mystery + Deduction] (This story is entirely fictional.) In the world we live in, countless mysterious corners often lie hidden beneath the surface calm. Events that cannot be easily explained by common sense are like phantoms in the fog, drawing people in to seek the truth behind them. And this book, The Archives, will take you on a journey of exploration into a world filled with mystery and wonder. Liu Yumin was originally just an unassuming employee in the police station’s records 10Reads—Score—Shelves
- 2 Case Files Group 3 档案组3 [Horror + mystery + deduction] (This story is entirely fictional.) With Wen Licheng joining the archives team, they face a series of unprecedented challenges. A bizarre string of murders shatters the peace of Xueyang City. The victims come from all walks of life, yet their deaths share an eerily similar pattern. Liu Yumin leads the members of the archives team as they swiftly throw themselves into the investigation. Archives Team 3 takes you into a world of mystery, danger, and warmth. Follow 7Reads—Score—Shelves
- 3 Archives Unit 4 档案组4 [Horror + Suspense + Mystery] (This work is entirely fictional.) As we peeled back the layers of one mysterious case after another and searched for the truth, we journeyed through the first three installments of The Archives Team. Every case was a contest of wits and courage, and every investigation offered a profound glimpse into the good and evil of human nature. Now The Archives Team 4 is about to begin a new chapter, taking everyone once more into a world shrouded in mystery and challenges. 1Reads—Score—Shelves
- 4 A Box Set of Highly Rated Mystery and Suspense Novels (3 Books) 高评推理悬疑小说套装（共3册） This work brings together three highly rated mystery novels: The Invisible Elephant, Plum Blossom Nail, and The Long Night Is Coming. The Invisible Elephant: Elephant, whose real name is Wu Xing, is a newspaper reporter with an extraordinary sense of smell. He needs eight and a half hours of sleep every day and is afraid of camera flashes. One day, while working, he comes across a bizarre murder. The victim was strangled to death with a rope, dressed in a red bellyband, blindfolded with black cl 15Reads9.1Score—Shelves
- 5 Wrong Body: A Deadly Game of Two Faces 错躯：双面死局 [Mystery + mind-bending + body swap] It seemed like an ordinary kidnapping spree, but it dragged him into an endless abyss... When he woke up, police detective Chen Yuan had switched bodies, and with none other than the kidnapper he was hunting... —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 6 Evil Buried Deep 深埋下的罪恶 My new novel, The Silent Boy, is a sequel series to this book. If you’re interested, you can find it on my profile. Many thanks! ♥♥♥ (Mystery + criminal investigation + coming of age + human nature. The male and female leads are drawn into the case because of the people they each love. The investigation takes center stage, with romance as a supporting element.) A scandal-hit actress is found brutally murdered at home, setting off a storm of rumors and a chain of events. The culprit seems to be r 280Reads8.1Score—Shelves
- 7 Into the Abyss 探入深渊 A clueless, comedy-loving detective, a cool and aloof genius, and a series of standalone cases Why did the hotel’s beautiful cleaning lady vanish without a trace, with neither her body nor any sign of her to be found? Why was there a fresh male corpse lying in a coffin in an ancient tomb? Why did a survivor of a fire end up in the morgue after all? Why were four human heads found at the bottom of a water reservoir? … 166Reads6.5Score—Shelves
- 8 Scenting the Killer 闻见凶手的味道 After an accident, Shen Xi’s sense of smell becomes extraordinary. The air smells like nothing to us, unless someone has deliberately released “poison gas,” of course. But to her, it smells of blood. If the smell of blood in the air grows so strong that she can hardly breathe, there must be a murderer nearby. This ability has helped criminal investigation captain Qiu Han quickly identify suspects time and again. For some reason, she can’t smell the blood in the air whenever she’s beside Qiu Han. 46Reads—Score—Shelves
- 9 Murdering Eric 谋杀Eric On Monday morning, a murder took place in a bustling CBD. A partner at a globally renowned accounting firm was bludgeoned to death with a heavy object. The police questioned everyone connected to the case, only to uncover a suicide from many years ago... 59Reads—Score—Shelves
- 10 Lord Shaoqing, Please Have Some Tea 少卿大人请喝茶 Xie Jue, junior minister of the Court of Judicial Review, and Yan Qinglan, the Prime Minister's daughter, join forces to solve one baffling case after another. On the day the much-anticipated Xingjiu Pavilion is completed, the missing former Fourth Prince, Prince Zhou, suddenly reappears under mysterious circumstances. A fleeting encounter from eighteen years ago left behind a feud that has yet to be resolved. As Hanyue Kingdom welcomes back its princess, the winds of change stir across Chongyao —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 11 Pufferfish 河豚 [No brainless plot] + [No protagonist plot armor] + [No ghosts] + [Three male leads] A tightly paced, plot-driven crime-solving story. It all begins with a bizarre murder in the small town of Menghai... A dead man checking into a hotel, an unknown toxin, a mole in the police force, execution-style killings, a secret buried for years... In this case, criminal investigation captain Si Jiannan, case consultant Cheng Tian, and rookie officer Duan Luo untangle the clues and find redemption... Love ha 14Reads8.1Score—Shelves
- 12 Detective Chen Meng: Twelve Secrets from Major Cases, Complete in 3 Volumes 刑警陈猛：重案秘闻十二宗（共3册） I’m a special crimes detective. Just one of the countless ordinary detectives out there. This is both a collection of criminal cases and a record of memories. In this novel, there’s me, my mentor, and my best friend. Like me, they’re each one of a kind, yet utterly ordinary. We once strode forward with bold ambition and high spirits. We once unraveled tangled clues, cutting through the fog to hunt down the truth. We also faced twelve major cases that left us grief-stricken, hesitant, and lost. M 211Reads6.9Score—Shelves
- 13 Ashes: Classified Files 灰烬之绝密档案 (Crime + investigations + criminal investigation + romance) From the deadly flight attendant and the demon on a rainy night to the dead man's delivery, the shadow in the dark, split personality, a sisters' tragic bond, and hatred that came too late... There are no drawn-out romances, only killers you would never guess, lives steeped in tragedy, and characters who leave you sighing. Every story grips you, every plot point gives you food for thought, drawing you into the scene until you can't help 123Reads—Score—Shelves
- 14 The Cold Case Club 悬案俱乐部 A pure mystery and crime-solving novel On the Edge of Truth: Huangfu Cheng's Mystery Cases... Huangfu Cheng is both a detective consultant and the moderator, under the name “Withered Leaf,” of the popular video account “Unsolved Case Club.” He has attracted a large following by sharing analyses of unsolved cases and criminal psychology, while also using the power of the internet to gather case leads. But his life is thrown into turmoil when his older brother disappears. He suspects his brothe 11Reads—Score—Shelves
- 15 The Nineteenth Act of Domestic Violence 第十九次家暴 The Nineteenth Beating 1Reads—Score—Shelves
- 16 I Am the Suspect 我就是嫌疑人 A high-IQ suspect versus a criminal investigator [Mystery and deduction, ensemble cast, no CP or romance, slow-paced. Please don’t read if that’s not your thing.] Ten years ago, the head of Guangyang Orphanage was found dead in a gruesome state. A twelve-year-old child named “A Lang” became the prime suspect, but has never been brought to justice. Ten years later, A Lang reappears. After killing three people, he takes an entire junior high school class hostage and calls the police himself. In fr 232Reads8.4Score—Shelves
- 17 The Long, Long Night 长夜长夜 Long Night, Long Night is an engrossing criminal investigation novel. It opens with the suicide of a veteran detective, drawing readers into a world of suspense and danger. The story then leads to the suicide of a female student more than a decade earlier, which in turn brings to light the accidental death of a police officer and a series of related cases. The plot is tightly paced, packed with suspense and twist after twist, making it impossible to stop reading. Every chapter leaves behind clu 217Reads8.2Score104Shelves
- 18 He Is the Killer 他是凶手 He was an outstanding police officer. How did he become a murderer? Was he framed, or does he have a split personality? If he is the culprit, why did he become an undercover agent? When someone has nowhere left to turn, will they break their oath? When someone is trapped in a dead end, how can they redeem themselves? The cruelty of the truth often exceeds all imagination. No one can escape the fate Heaven has dealt them. 11.6kReads9.0Score988Shelves
- 19 Fifteen Years Hunting a Killer: The Restaurant Family Massacre 追凶十五年：饭店灭门惨案 Fifteen years ago, the family of the owner of the Xinxin Restaurant in Linhai City was massacred, and the restaurant burned to ashes overnight. Was it a vendetta or a random crime? Over the next fifteen years, three generations of detectives, young and old, tirelessly passed the investigation from one to the next, peeling back layer after layer until they finally found the killer. 167Reads6.5Score—Shelves
- 20 The Psychiatric Hospital Murder: A High-IQ Crime Detective 精神病院谋杀案高智商犯罪侦探 The murder of Li Zhiming, director of a psychiatric hospital, unexpectedly unravels a child abduction case from 32 years ago. New and old cases intertwine, mysteries pile up, and a web of clues connects everything. Human nature and animal instinct collide as detectives take on what appears to be a perfect crime. Who will outsmart whom? A mind-bending tale of a high-IQ criminal with mental illness! 12Reads—Score—Shelves
- 21 The Sin City Case Files 罪城迷案录 In gloomy Liuzhou, a sharp-witted “detective” joins forces with a stubborn, diligent doctor. Together, they unravel the clues and solve baffling cases shrouded in mystery. Their pursuit of the truth is like a dance on the edge of an abyss, each step bringing them closer to the dark force lurking in the shadows, a force feared by all. As sparks from their investigations ignite the darkness buried deep within, a storm between good and evil, powerful enough to shake the city's foundations, is alrea 3Reads—Score—Shelves
- 22 Young Marquis, Behave! I Just Want to Solve Cases 小侯爷别闹，我只想破案 [A genius girl detective disguised as a boy × an arrogant, self-obsessed young marquis hopelessly in love; mysteries and deductions, with everyone keeping their wits about them. Enjoy a sweet, drama-free romance amid the mysteries of an alternate dynasty!] After her family suffers a sudden upheaval, Li Xianyu has no choice but to hide her identity and go to Shengjing to study. There, amid the lively life of the academy, she meets many young nobles. By a twist of fate, she also gets caught up in 34Reads—Score—Shelves
- 23 The All-Powerful Detective Princess 神探王妃是全能大佬 Tang Waner, once a top profiler who solved countless cases, has an accident and becomes the wild daughter of a county magistrate. Major cases pile up, from a faceless female corpse to a dried-out body hidden inside a wall. Everyone looks down on her, a despicable man treats her cruelly, and even her family wants to drive her out... Tang Waner: “Father, what do you think?” Her father falls to his knees and begs: “Daughter, you’re in charge of everything, at home and beyond!” The martial world: “Y 50Reads6.7Score—Shelves
- 24 Nightwalker 夜行者 [Sweet and Adorable Yet Highly Skilled Fighter Ruan Chuxia VS Aloof Older Brother Leng Bing] [Cases First, Romance Second, A Powerful Team with Flawless Coordination!] When working cases, they are a perfectly synchronized pair: one excels at criminal investigations, while the other is an expert in autopsies and the art of divination. A case involving a corpse hidden in a scarecrow exposes the ugliness of human nature and the bond between people and animals. The Sister Drum case is one of torment 127Reads6.5Score—Shelves
- 25 The Silent Killer 沉默的凶手 Psychologist Xu Feifei thinks the Voldemort she sees is a hallucination. Then Voldemort writes a line on the mirror: “I have always been right behind you.” After that, Voldemort follows her everywhere, like a shadow. The human bones inside a sculpture, the rabbit-head mask in the maze, the invisible man in a single office worker’s home, the woman bricked into a wall, the novelist’s second personality, the remains in the basement: the murder cases encountered by the police captain and the psychol 147Reads8.7Score—Shelves
- 26 The Whole Picture 全局 The Longjing City Public Security Bureau has an undefeated warrior on its force. According to officers from every precinct, there isn't a case he can't crack. Longjing Police College is a small school affiliated with Longjing People's Police University. And yet, somehow, it produced a young woman who dares to challenge anyone. Even our undefeated warrior doesn't dare talk back to her. One strange case after another unfolds: the Man in Black case, the Human-Skin Mask case, the Marionette case.. 50Reads8.2Score—Shelves
- 27 The Cases of Judge Shi 施公案 The novel tells the story of the honest official Shi Shilun during the Kangxi era, who, aided by Huang Tianba and other heroes of the martial world, roots out corrupt officials, solves cases, and captures bandits. 3Reads8.4Score—Shelves
- 28 An Investigation into the Three Great Unsolved Cases of the Early Qing 清初三大疑案考实 A Critical Examination of the Three Great Mysteries of the Early Qing is composed of three parts: A Critical Examination of the Empress Dowager's Alleged Marriage, A Critical Examination of Emperor Shunzhi's Alleged Monastic Vows, and A Critical Examination of Emperor Yongzheng's Accession to the Throne. With a historian's rigor, Mr. Meng Sen carefully investigates the three long-circulating mysteries of the empress dowager's alleged marriage, Shunzhi's alleged decision to become a monk, and Yon 2Reads8.7Score—Shelves
- 29 The Dragon Map’s Divine Detective Cases 龙图神断公案 A high-energy cut of Bao Zheng solving cases. The mastermind behind the civet-cat-for-the-crown-prince plot, a terrifying scene as a black basin cries out for justice, impostors trading identities as the top scholar… A Northern Song version of Medical Examiner Qin Ming meets Today's Legal Report. When the executioner's blade falls, demons flee! The Kaifeng F4 squad is ready for action! 4Reads8.0Score—Shelves
- 30 Don't Say I Didn't Warn You 别说我没告诉你 I won’t waste words. Let’s get straight to the cases, solved in the freshest, most unconventional ways. The Twelve Detectives will open your eyes. “The Butterfly Case” “The Powdered Face and Vermilion Lips Case” “The Slow-Steamed Case” “The Cicada’s Shedding Case” “The Haunted Old Mansion Case” For anyone who likes detective stories and wants a few laughs... 155Reads8.9Score—Shelves
- 31 Feike’s Banquet 费可的晚宴 A Chinese version of And Then There Were None. The best mysteries come from reality and are hidden in the human heart. A mysterious invitation to dinner brings six strangers who have never met together in a lakeside villa. Yet the host never shows up. As the story unfolds, memories and reality intertwine, gradually revealing a connection they had never noticed: every one of them had been swindled by the host. Stories steeped in desire and betrayal, temptation and sorrow, sketch the life of a cri 980Reads9.4Score241Shelves
- 32 The Mysterious Pry Marks 神秘的撬痕 31Reads—Score—Shelves
- 33 Detective Ji Nian 刑警纪年 One bizarre murder after another unfolds quietly in the real world: an impossible locked-room mystery, a flawless disguise, a motive buried by time... Every case is a tug-of-war between human desire and the truth. Protagonist Cheng Wang leads a criminal investigation team, painstakingly peeling back the layers of each case to expose humanity's most unspeakable secrets. He doesn't rely on flashes of genius, only on the smallest clues. With timelines, psychological profiles, and crime-scene recon 17Reads—Score—Shelves
- 34 Records of the Luoyang Pagoda 洛阳浮屠录 (Main story complete) The young master, Sixteenth Lang, of the Duke of Chu's household has been kept at home all day and raised like a sheltered young lady. At last, he works up the courage to run away, only to end up aboard an enemy ship loaded with poison, ready to take on the Tang navy's hundred thousand men. Faced with a victim stabbed until he is covered in bloody holes, it isn't Sixteenth Lang who screams. It's Ashimi, a beautiful Qin-Tang mixed-blood who can't stop clinging to him like a 3Reads—Score—Shelves
- 35 Words Bloom Beneath the Seventh Month Moon in Nanzhou [Criminal Investigation] 言花七月下南州【刑侦】 On Yan Cen's first day at work, before she'd even officially checked in, she happened to give her new boss a thorough “investigation” while mistaking him for a stranger. She thought she'd been discreet inside the car, but she'd been spotted long ago and thoroughly investigated herself. Jiang Junzhou went for his usual morning run, only to find himself inexplicably under someone's scrutiny. When he looked into it, he discovered she was a “nepo hire” who'd been slipped into the department. It was 1.9kReads8.9Score252Shelves
- 36 The Wrongly Placed Murder Case 错位追凶 Lawyer Shi Yi takes on a death penalty review case and meets Ting Fang, a condemned prisoner in the twilight of her life. To his surprise, Ting Fang seems to know him. She not only asks him to retrieve something from a certain place, but confidently insists that they will be in touch again. Not long afterward, Ting Fang is executed. Shi Yi intends to put the matter behind him, but somehow he still goes to the place she mentioned. There, he finds an old music box and a notebook Ting Fang left fo 12.4kReads9.3Score1.7kShelves
- 37 The Dark River's Book of Crimes 暗河罪书 I write with care, creating stories readers feel were worth their time and cases they can talk about. Some characters and events in this novel are based on real cases, blending reality with fiction. Not AI-generated + no goody-two-shoes heroines + mind-blowing twists + explosive plot + every facet of life People can look up and see the Milky Way billions of light-years away, yet look down and fail to see the underground rivers just a few hundred meters beneath their feet. In those dark, turbulen 1.3kReads8.2Score214Shelves
- 38 Following the Clues [Criminal Investigation] 觅迹【刑侦】 Criminal Investigation Deputy Captain Nan Feng vs. Officer He Yi [Some plot details are fictionalized. Please don’t compare them to real life!] [A secret-crush story from the heroine’s perspective, with a little angst.] [If you don’t like criminal investigation stories with a heroine and a romance plot, this may not be for you.] [If you’re okay with the premise, follow the story where it leads.] [Features a fantasy crossover with other protagonists on the author’s bookshelf] Seek an unknown tru 905Reads8.9Score102Shelves
- 39 Forensic Bone Evidence 法医骨证 A torrential downpour triggered a landslide, and a young woman's hip bone was swept into a vegetable garden in Dongjia County. Su Tianyi, a forensic bone-evidence expert with the Public Security Department, discovered marks indicating the body had been dismembered with a chainsaw. Alongside Miao Xiaoyu, a local female forensic examiner from Dongjia County, he dug up three more bags of remains at the scene, but found no skull. The garden's owner, the prime suspect, suddenly hanged himself. The ca 8.5kReads9.4Score962Shelves
- 40 Tracking the Unsolved Case 迷案追踪 Twenty years ago, a brutal murder took place in Jiangcheng. Song Xiaotian, captain of the city’s criminal investigation squad, was murdered at home. His pregnant wife, Yao Yao, was not only brutally killed but also had her abdomen cut open to take the baby. Their eldest son, Song Yunran, was five years old at the time. Traumatized by the ordeal, he lost his memory and could recall nothing about what had happened that night. Fearing the killer would come after him, Yao Yun, Song Yunran’s aunt, se 6.3kReads9.0Score754Shelves
- 41 Tracking Bizarre Cases 诡案追踪 Do curses really work? What secrets lie behind the skeletons in the cave? ...No matter how bizarre a phenomenon seems, there’s always a rational explanation behind it. A serious-crimes unit chief who arrives out of nowhere, shrouded in mysteries, and a forensic unit chief who is professional and diligent yet warm and sunny join forces. Together, they’re unstoppable at work. Watch as they use science to unravel the clues and crack one case after another! A science-based crime procedural for all a 501Reads9.3Score101Shelves
- 42 Cold Case Detective Agency 冷案侦探事务所 As the name suggests, the Cold Case Detective Agency investigates cold cases: murder investigations shelved by the official authorities for various reasons. Gu Che, one of the agency’s owners, stands 187 centimeters tall, with long brows, phoenix-shaped eyes, and a slight upward curve to his lips. Beneath his right eye is a tiny vermilion mole. He wears his hair in a buzz cut and is obsessed with Chrome Hearts and Goro’s. A rebel from a family of doctors who have practiced medicine for generatio 250Reads8.4Score101Shelves
- 43 Detective Peter 神探皮特 The protagonist, Pete Li, gets called Detective Pete by someone after a chance encounter, and then sets off on a remarkable journey through life. 89Reads8.8Score—Shelves
- 44 The Golden Branch Casebook 金枝洗冤录 [One-on-one romance + sweet affection + two strong leads + solving cases + both leads’ first relationship] Ten cases, each one gripping! The main romance is all sweet, no angst! Eight years ago, the beloved Princess Changle, Chu Qianyue, nearly died in the great fire at the late empress’s palace. She was saved at the last moment by a handsome young man... Eight years later, everyone says the fire was an accident, but she refuses to believe it! While investigating the late empress’s death, Chu Qi 19Reads—Score—Shelves
- 45 The Narcissus Killing Game 水仙杀局 [Crime investigation + mind-bending schemes + undercover intrigue + corporate conspiracies] Word that the Water Nymph had appeared on Tongji Lake spread across Caiyun City overnight. Some said they saw a white-robed fairy dancing across the waves. Others claimed a god had descended to punish the wicked. Han Hu, chief of the East District Public Security Bureau, had vanished. His deputy chiefs fell silent as one, and police stations were buried under a mountain of reports, yet no one dared invest 81Reads8.7Score—Shelves
- 46 The Guilty Old Man's Notes 罪翁停记 The Radio Butcher, a ghost killing students on campus, a livestreaming influencer’s death, a deadly ice cream, a star player’s demise… Behind these baffling cases often lies the unknown side of human nature. Watch as police detective Yan Da painstakingly pieces together the clues and brings everything to light. His name is Yan Da. He was born on November 11, 1983, into a family of police officers, but somehow kicked himself right out of the criminal investigation team and into a local police sta 5.8kReads9.1Score545Shelves
- 47 Case Files 推案实录 Si Li never dreamed that a trip back to her old family home would end with her grandfather foisting her and all her luggage onto Yan Huai, captain of the city bureau’s criminal investigation squad, to serve as her “human bodyguard.” Fine. If it would help the old man sleep peacefully, she could stay there. She’d just shut herself in and paint. They could mind their own business. For the first month, they got along without incident. She worked on game illustrations while he went out to crime s 1.6kReads7.3Score180Shelves
- 48 Beat Cop Lin Feng 片警林峰 In August 1992, 52-year-old criminal investigation expert Lin Feng died in the line of duty during a pursuit. When he opened his eyes again, he had returned to age eighteen, to the very day he was assigned as a neighborhood police officer at the Chaoyang Police Station in Jiangcheng. In his previous life, he specialized in major cases. Now, he had to start with family squabbles and everyday nuisances. Stolen bicycles, disputes between neighbors, pickpockets at the market... Yet among these “mino —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 49 Love Against Three Lifetimes: The Third Prince Slays His Beloved 情逆三世之三公斩红颜 Yao Yifeng and Shen Lixue fell deeply in love at school, but rumors and misunderstandings tore them apart. She died by suicide, consumed by resentment; he threw himself from a building to follow her. Neither expected death to cast them into three lifetimes of reincarnation, bound by the cruelest fate imaginable. Their souls transmigrated through three lifetimes. In each, he became a renowned official and reunited with her, who bore the same name and face. Filled with guilt, he struggled to make 4Reads—Score—Shelves
- 50 A Man's Criminal Psychology Files 1 男子犯罪心理档案1 [Delving into the causes of crime + analyzing criminal psychology + investigating the truth behind crimes] Who quietly cleans up the evidence in the dead of night? Who hides body after body in places no one would think to look? And who, looking back on the past from behind prison walls, murmurs, “I didn't have to kill…”? A baby in a refrigerator, an unidentified body encased in a concrete wall, an unsolved case with no answers… Each case is horrifying, yet gives us pause for thought. When a kill 204Reads9.1Score—Shelves
![Words Bloom Beneath the Seventh Month Moon in Nanzhou [Criminal Investigation]](https://p3-novel.byteimg.com/novel-pic/p2o2f69136270a5f6170dc40f156e591e46~tplv-resize:120:0.jpeg)
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