Free (DRM-free iTunes/Kindle) Artifacts by M. A. Evans [Archaeology Murder Mystery]

[ATDrake]

Artifacts by Mary Anna Evans is 1st in her Faye Longchamp contemporary archaeological murder mystery series, free courtesy of publisher Poisoned Pen Press, who are offering tie-in sale pricing on further volumes in the series.

I bought and read this earlier as part of PPP's monthly rotating introductory 1st-in-series 99 cent sale and liked it enough to keep the series in mind for future sales/library lookups. I've just finished the 2nd in series which I bought a couple of days ago at the sale pricing and it was fairly fun, and I fully intend to go on with the rest.

Currently free without DRM @ iTunes and Amazon (both available to Canadians). The publisher's infopage for this book indicates that they intend a multi-store promo, so you can check their links to the other stores to see if it's dropped yet.

#2 Relics & #3 Effigies in the series are discounted to $2.99 when bought directly from the publisher (DRM-free ePub/Mobi bundle, but you'll have to make your own backups) and other outlets.

These two are even cheaper via Books on Board (DRM-free ePub) for $2.34 + $0.24 Reward Bucks store credit or Kobo for $2.88 couponable (DRM ePub).

Further books in the series are sale priced at $4.99 (regular $6.99) and again, cheapest at Books on Board during their 40-50% off backlist sale for $2.90 less $0.40 Reward Bucks, effectively working out to $2.50 per book.

See PPP's author page for Evans for series order numbering (try not to read the later blurbs, which will spoiler you for some personal developments) and links to various stores as well as their own shopping cart. The author also has some KDP Select short stories and a suspense novel, which have appeared as freebies in recent months.

Description
Faye Longchamp has lost nearly everything except for her quick mind and a grim determination to hang onto her ancestral home, Joyeuse, a moldering plantation hidden along the Florida coast. No one knows how Faye’s great-great-grandmother Cally, a newly freed slave barely out of her teens, came to own Joyeuse in the aftermath of the Civil War. No one knows how her descendants hung onto it through Reconstruction, world wars, the Depression, and Jim Crow, but Faye has inherited the island plantation—and the family tenacity. When the property taxes rise beyond her means, she sets out to save Joyeuse by digging for artifacts on her property and the surrounding National Wildlife Refuge and selling them on the black market. A tiny bit of that dead glory would pay a year’s taxes. A big valuable chunk of the past would save her home forever.

But instead of potsherds and arrowheads, she uncovers a woman’s shattered skull, a Jackie Kennedy-style earring nestled against its bony cheek. Faye is torn. If she reports the forty-year-old murder, she’ll reveal her illegal livelihood, thus risking jail and the loss of Joyeuse. She doesn’t intend to let that happen, so she probes into the dead woman’s history, unaware that the past is rushing up on her like a hurricane across deceptively calm Gulf waters...

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

#2 Relics & #3 Effigies in the series are discounted to $2.99 when bought directly from the publisher (DRM-free ePub/Mobi bundle, but you'll have to make your own backups) and other outlets.

#2 and #3 are $2.51 and $2.99 at Amazon.

#4 and #5 are both $3.82

[rhadin]

It is supposed to be free at B&N according to PP's website, but B&n shows it for 99 cents. #2 and #3 are $2.99 at B&N.

[sunnysmiles]

Not free in UK . I really dislike these restrictions on books esp in the age of the internet. I dont see the point in them . I can understand for Paperbooks.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

#2 and #3 are $2.51 and $2.99 at Amazon.

#4 and #5 are both $3.82

Depends on where you are. All $2.99 and $4.99 for me in Canada, respectively.