Australian & New Zealand crime/mystery/espionage authors free and bargain

[BelleZora]

Originally Posted by Lynx-lynx

Ahhh Bellezora the wonders of geo restrictions come into play yet again .....

Thank you for alerting us to what Amazon US members can acquire for free.

Sorry about that. When I posted this in the mystery freebie and deals forum I checked the Canadian, UK, and Australian Kindle stores. I didn't notice that the AU site redirected me to back to the US store.

[Lynx-lynx]

Bellezora please don't apologise, it's not you it's Amazon.

Please post again even if it's not avail at the good price in Aus, because it allows us to check out Kobo US for instance to see if it's being matched.

[Lynx-lynx]

Kobo Aus has CS Boag's:

The Case of the Death of a Ladies' Man
$7.69

When Mister Rainbow finds a headless honcho in a Kings Cross alleyway, the tattoo around the corpses neck leaves little doubt as to its identity. Thomas L. Tycho was everybodys enemy a trickster, a dirty dealer, and a wide boy who made the mistake of wide boys the world over not making himself a great deal narrower when the gun went off.The killers identity, however, proves more elusive as everybody hated Tommy, anybody could have popped him. His wife, his girlfriend, and half of Sydneys underworld all had motive, but Mister Rainbow smells something fishier than usual, and its got nothing to do with whats floating in the harbour …The Case of the Death of a Ladies Man, the second novel in the sensational Mister Rainbow series, is a modern story with a wink and a nod to the golden age of pulp fiction.With its memorable characters, witty dialogue and fast-paced plot, it signals the arrival of an arresting new Australian talent.'Mister rainbow is that rare creature a PI with depth. Down at heel, shabby, inept he's a born loser, at his best when the odds are stacked against him. Somehow, in a taut and tense contest, he wins.' Barry Oakley, writer and former literary editor of The Australian

and

The Case of the Hood with No Hands
$7.69

Shes a brain surgeon, shes beautiful and she desperately wants Mister Rainbow to shed some light on her husbands past. But when he does, she wishes he hadnt. Because what Rainbow discovers is a handless hood and an awful lot of murders.Rainbows a retro private eye who keeps himself to himself: lives (illegally) on a boat in Sydney Harbour, has no identity and frequents speakeasies. Hes also got a Nemesis called Pandora ...The Mister Rainbow series of novels is set in Australia; the first The Case of The Hood with No Hands around Sydney and in a NSW country town thats uncannily like one some readers might recognise.'Mister rainbow is that rare creature a PI with depth. Down at heel, shabby, inept he's a born loser, at his best when the odds are stacked against him. Somehow, in a taut and tense contest, he wins.' Barry Oakley, writer and former literary editor of The Australian

I've included both these books even though they are not in the cheap/freebies price range because Kobo has a 50% off promo going for at least the next 2 weeks, which makes each book cheap!!

Pop up into the Kobo Discounts thread for the details.

[Lynx-lynx]

Kobo Aus has got Livia Day's

A Trifle Dead
$6.99 and discountable

Tabitha Darling has always had a dab hand for pastry and a knack for getting into trouble. Which was fine when she was a tearaway teen, but not so useful now she’s trying to run a hipster urban cafe, invent the perfect trendy dessert, and stop feeding the many (oh so unfashionable) policemen in her life.

When a dead muso is found in the flat upstairs, Tabitha does her best (honestly) not to interfere with the investigation, despite the cute Scottish blogger who keeps angling for her help. Her superpower is gossip, not solving murder mysteries, and those are totally not the same thing, right?

But as that strange death turns into a string of random crimes across the city of Hobart, Tabitha can’t shake the unsettling feeling that maybe, for once, it really is ALL ABOUT HER.

And maybe she’s figured out the deadly truth a trifle late…

Currently the 50% off voucher is NOVEND50

(I've just finished this book - I would suggest that it's style is chick lit femme sleuth who cooks and owns a cafe. Set in Hobart)

[mitford13]

Originally Posted by Lynx-lynx

Amazon Aus (amazon.com.au) have NZ author Rhys Chamberlain's Emotion...

"...taking down a murderer with a pension for violence will be even tougher..."

Gadzooks, your benefits system must be a lot different down under...

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by mitford13

Gadzooks, your benefits system must be a lot different down under...

You betcha

[Lynx-lynx]

Kobo Aus has got Peter Corris'

Deal Me Out
$8.79 and discountable

Thrilling novel in the Cliff Hardy series from highly successful Australian crime fiction writer, Peter Corris. Cliff Hardy starts out to help a friend but before long hes looking for an enemy, William Mountain boozer, TV scriptwriter, would-be novelist who is missing and searching for adventure. Mountain is the dealer in a deadly game and the hands he deals become more and more bizarre. Peter Corris is best known as the 'father' of Australian crime fiction through his Cliff Hardy detective stories. He's written many other books, including a very successful biography of Fred Hollows and a collection of short stories revolving around the game of golf.

There are still some re-usable voucher codes and contest codes in the Kobo discounts thread ....

[Lynx-lynx]

Amazon Aus Deal of the Day

Barry Maitland
Dark Mirror
$2.19

Barry Maitland, nominated by The Australian as one of the top five crime writers in the world, returns with a vengeance in Dark Mirror.

When Marion Summers - red-haired, beautiful and mysterious - collapses and dies in the rarefied surrounds of the London Library, DI Kathy Kolla and DCI David Brock are sent to head the investigation. Kathy finds a reluctant kinship with the feisty Marion, who had, like Kathy, left a difficult home life when young and struck out to London for independence.

Marion's research on the intriguing, adulterous circle of artists, wives, lovers and muses around Victorian artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti seems irrelevant until the use of arsenic arises. As Brock and Kolla get closer to the truth, another victim dies an excruciating death by poison in a library, and it looks like a serial poisoner is on the loose.

Amazon US $2.05

Not on special in Canada

UK doesn't seem to have ebook version (odd really because Maitland's series is set in the UK and he was born in England and migrated to Aus as an adult)

Edit

Kobo Aus has this ebook at the extraordinarily ludicrous $21.59

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by Lynx-lynx

Lindy Cameron's first book Golden Relic (1998) cheap enough at Kobo Aus - especially when you apply voucher code.

AUD$2.99 list price and then add your voucher.

Lindy Cameron's written a few books since the Golden Relic, and they're all very reasonably priced on Kobo Aus and they're all discountable!!

Redback
$2.99 - discountable

Commander Bryn Gideon and the crack Australian ‘Redback Retrieval Team’ rescue hostages from Pacific island rebels. American journalist Scott Dreher, researching computer war-game training, uncovers links between Western government agencies and known terrorist groups.

Meanwhile ritual killings in London and Tokyo, a bomb on a European train, an assassination on an Australian beach, and an attack on a US army base have half the world on high alert. The question is: are these incidents the work of isolated opportunistic terrorists, or part of something more sinister?

Gideon’s Redbacks join the race to expose the ultimate conspiracy of a truly evil force; one that plays both sides of the terror divide against each other.

(I'm currently reading The Golden Relic, and it's quite passable!)

[Lynx-lynx]

Kobo Aus has got true crime author Vikki Petraitis' books at excellent prices and discountable. (Don't forget the 50% off vouchers - you'll find them in the Kobo discounts thread)

Pandora's Box
$2.80 and discountable

PANDORA'S BOX: In 1996 a neighbour spies three Asian men running out of a court in Glen Waverley. It looks like two chasing one. But when they head towards a nearby car with an open boot, and suddenly the boot closes and there are only two men standing there, the chase takes on a more sinister aspect.

Young Steve Tragardh joined the police force when he was 18 and a half; he'd tried uni for a while, but it wasn't for him. He had come through the private school system and while his parents might have harboured secret hopes of a career in medicine, or law like his twin brother, they offered their full support when their son chose policing. The kidnapping of this young Asian boy would go onto be a defining moment in his career.

[Lynx-lynx]

Free on Amazon Aus Fergus Humes'

The Mystery of the Hansom Cab

This unlikely first literary attempt by a young law clerk in Australia, published in Melbourne, became the best-selling mystery novel of the 19th century, better even than Sherlock Holmes.

In the dead of night, on a dark, lonely street in Melbourne, a cabby discovers that his drunken passenger has been murdered--suffocated with a chloroform saturated handkerchief. The murderer, his motive, even the identity of the victim are unknown.

WHAT THE ARGUS SAID. The following report appeared in the Argus newspaper of Saturday, the 28th July, 18 "Truth is said to be stranger than fiction, and certainly the extraordinary murder which took place in Melbourne on Thursday night, or rather Friday morning, goes a long way towards verifying this saying. A crime has been committed by an unknown assassin, within a short distance of the principal streets of this great city, and is surrounded by an inpenetrable mystery. Indeed, from the nature of the crime itself, the place where it was committed, and the fact that the assassin has escaped without leaving a trace behind him, it would seem as though the case itself had been taken bodily from one of Gaboreau's novels, and that his famous detective Lecoq alone would be able to unravel it.

Kobo Aus has got it for $3.49 and discountable

Edit
A telemovie of the novel was shown on Aus tv earlier this year .... I enjoyed it

[sufue]

When I checked just now, Amazon US has a bunch of free public domain books by Fergus Hume, including The Mystery of the Hansom Cab. Since US copyright laws are outrageously restrictive, I'd think that if they're public domain here, they would have to be public domain just about everywhere. This looks like maybe an author I'd like, although the few reviews available on Amazon US are sort of spotty. Anyway, I've already sent this one to my Android phone and will give a try - thanks lynx-lynx!

P.S. Project Gutenberg has a bunch too...

[sqdancer]

There are a bunch of Fergus Hume books here at MR in the Patricia Clark Memorial Library too - uploaded by Patricia herself, so they must have good quality formatting.

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by sufue

When I checked just now, Amazon US has a bunch of free public domain books by Fergus Hume, including The Mystery of the Hansom Cab. Since US copyright laws are outrageously restrictive, I'd think that if they're public domain here, they would have to be public domain just about everywhere. This looks like maybe an author I'd like, although the few reviews available on Amazon US are sort of spotty. Anyway, I've already sent this one to my Android phone and will give a try - thanks lynx-lynx!

P.S. Project Gutenberg has a bunch too...

Thank you Sufue

They're definitely all in the public domain in Aus, he died in 1932.

I put both the Amazon and Kobo references because I was unsure as to how well the books were formatted - but sqdancer has the better idea!!

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by sqdancer

There are a bunch of Fergus Hume books here at MR in the Patricia Clark Memorial Library too - uploaded by Patricia herself, so they must have good quality formatting.

Thanks sqdancer ... I came on to check whether there may be any of Hume's books in the MR library, and voila you've got the answer

The MR library link to the Mystery of the Hansom Cab