If Cyril DePaul’s tightrope act—cutting deals with the Ospies while trying to keep Aristide’s network and Cordelia out of the noose—hooked you, you’ll love how The Traitor Baru Cormorant turns political survival into a blood sport. Baru infiltrates an imperial bureaucracy the way Cyril infiltrates Amberlough’s salons: with numbers as daggers, alliances as disguises, and betrayals that land like body blows. It’s the same perfume of decadence and doom, the same calculation of what you’re willing to sacrifice to keep the people you love breathing.

If the volatile, irresistible pull between Cyril and Aristide—sparks flying across private boxes, backstage corridors, and smoky clubs—was your favorite thread, Swordspoint offers that same intoxication. Richard St. Vier and Alec navigate a city where flirtation is a weapon and duels decide policy, much like Amberlough’s salons where a kiss or a secret can redraw the map. The witty barbs, decadent parties, and dangerous liaisons will feel like stepping back into Gedda’s glittering, treacherous night.

If watching Cyril barter pieces of his soul to keep his cover and outmaneuver the Ospies gripped you, le Carré’s classic will hit the same nerve. Alec Leamas is sent on a bleak, coiled mission where every promise curdles and every ally might be a snare—echoing the way Cyril’s ‘good intentions’ trap him in lies that endanger Aristide and Cordelia. The tradecraft is razor-sharp, the betrayals cut deep, and the final reckoning lands with the same cold shock.

If Amberlough’s curfews, raids, and back-alley desperation—Cordelia ducking the Ospies while the city dims its lights—stayed with you, The Night Watch delivers that same soot-and-ash intimacy. Waters follows queer Londoners through the Blitz and its aftermath, tracing love affairs and compromises forged under bombardment. Like Gedda sliding into authoritarian darkness, this London forces its characters to haggle with fate for one more night, one more touch, one more chance.

If the cabaret glow of Cordelia’s stage life and the fragile, fervent bond between Cyril and Aristide were what you loved, Passing Strange is a perfect echo. In 1940s San Francisco’s bohemian circles, two women fall in love while navigating speakeasies, galleries, and peril that creeps as quietly as an informer at Amberlough’s door. There’s a whisper of magic, but the heart is the same: art, found community, and a romance brave enough to risk everything when the city turns hostile.