Free/Bargain Suspense/Mystery/Thriller February 2013

[Synamon]

Originally Posted by BelleZora

Free today at Amazon: Bloody Mary (Jack Daniels #2) by J.A. Konrath. Published in hardcover by Hyperion (2005). UK

The 4th book in this series is free today at Amazon, Dirty Martini. I've read two of these, they are amusing.

Originally Posted by NightBird

A couple of Barry Eisler's backlist titles are free:

A Lonely Resurrection (previously published as Hard Rain/Blood From Blood) UK

I've listened to the audio version of Hard Rain, I recommend it.

[KentE]

[QUOTE=NightBird;2424560]A couple of Barry Eisler's backlist titles are free:

Thanks, NightBird! I'd read a couple of Eisler's John Rain series (and enjoyed them) when they were first released, but they'd pretty much dropped out of my memory banks (and radar). I doubt I would have spotted this on my own. And... since my memory bank is faulty on this one, I can look forward to the full experience of a new book again, with none of the risk!
Thanks,
KentE

[KentE]

A surprising number of interesting free offerings on Amazon today. Most are repeat freebies, so you may already have them.

My personal pick:
Solomon vs. Lord by Paul Levine (free)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007RTS9VE
If Donald Westlake wrote comic legal procedurals instead of comic crime capers, it might end up something like this.... This is the first in the series, and books in the series have been nominated for Edgar, McCavity, and James Thurber awards.


"Steve Solomon is the sharpest lawyer ever to barely graduate from Key West School of Law. Victoria Lord is fresh from Yale, toiling for an ambitious D.A., before Solomon gets her fired. And Katrina Barksdale is a sexy former figure skater charged with killing her very wealthy, very kinky husband. With all three tangled in Miami's steamiest trial of the century, the case is sure to make sparks fly, headlines scream - and
opposites attract"


I haven't read the others here, but they looked interesting enough for me to pick them up on a previous go-round.

A Grave Breach, by James Macomber (free)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0076S577U
"John Cann could never defend a war criminal – especially one he’s seen engaged in horrendous acts. But when Arthur Matsen, a trusted friend, mentor and colleague needs his help, Cann must make an impossible choice."

The Castro Game, by Todd Bucholz (free)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0076PEM0Q
Mixed professional reviews, but amazon readers seem more favorable, or more forgiving of flaws.
"From Publishers Weekly
In Buchholz's awkward fiction debut, young boxer Luke Braden, the son of a Columbia literature professor, quits the ring after killing an opponent, but manages to begin a new career as a rising investment analyst for Paul Tremont, a megalomaniacal and seemingly omnipotent financial wizard. Braden finds his ethics sorely tested as he struggles to stay on Tremont's capricious good side, unaware that he's a pawn in a decades-long shadowy duel that originated in the Kennedy administration efforts to topple Castro in the 1960s."


KentE

[KentE]

I've debated whether to post this or not-- it's a little pricier than my usual threshold for "bargain", and I'm not sure whether it's a temporary reduction or permanent price cut.
From Open Road Publishing (quickly growing to be one of my favorite backlist publishers).

Under Cover of Daylight, by James W. Hall
http://www.amazon.com/Under-Cover-Da.../dp/B005HG54GC
Currently $3.79, about a 50% price cut from it's pretty stable price range over the last year.
This is the first of Hall's "Thorn" series (1987), featuring a south-Florida emotionally scarred young man, who really just wants to be left alone in his minimalist lifestyle. Friendships and moral obligations keep getting in the way...

"In the first Thorn mystery, a troubled soul—Thorn—hunts for the men who killed the woman who raised him
Thorn’s parents died the day he was born, run off the road by a drunk driver on their way back from the hospital. The baby lived, the offender beat the rap, and both men went on with their lives until nineteen years later, when Thorn took revenge—hunting down his parents’ killer and taking his life in a vain attempt to bring back those who had been lost.

Two decades later, Thorn remains scarred by his crime. He lives in Key West, selling fishing flies and keeping an eye on Kate Truman, the woman who adopted him. Soon he loses her too, to a pair of brutal murderers whom the police have no hope of tracking down. Thorn knows the Keys, and he will find them—but before he can take revenge, he must confront the horror of the first time he killed."

Perhaps not the strongest of the Thorn series, but good enough that I've been anxiously awaiting each of the 12 or so that have followed it. This one sets up the backstory that's alluded to throughout the series, although it's not critical to read them in order. Hall won a Shamus award for another book in this series, and an Edgar from a stand-alone book. If you enjoy this one, a couple of other early novels in the Thorn series are available at a standard price around $3.

KentE

[KentE]

Originally Posted by Synamon

The 4th book in this series is free today at Amazon, Dirty Martini. I've read two of these, they are amusing.



I've listened to the audio version of Hard Rain, I recommend it.

Thanks for the recommendations on both of these, Synamon! I've been 'collecting' the Jack Daniels series for a while, but haven't read any of them. I guess I need to move them up the list...

KentE

[Synamon]

Originally Posted by KentE

Thanks for the recommendations on both of these, Synamon! I've been 'collecting' the Jack Daniels series for a while, but haven't read any of them. I guess I need to move them up the list...

KentE

Your welcome. I've read Solomon vs. Lord too, terrific banter between the two characters and a fun twisty plot.

[NightBird]

Kindle Daily Deal from Simon & Schuster: The Last Dance by Ed McBain. This is the last -- 50th! -- book in his 87th Precinct series.

The fiftieth is pure gold: from the author The New York Times calls "the man with the golden ear" comes the fiftieth novel in the 87th Precinct series.

In this city, you can get anything done for a price. If you want someone's eyeglasses smashed, it'll cost you a subway token. You want his fingernails pulled out? His legs broken? You want him more seriously injured? You want him hurt so he's an invalid his whole life? You want him skinned, you want him burned, you want him -- don't even mention it in a whisper -- killed? It can be done. Let me talk to someone. It can be done.

The hanging death of a nondescript old man in a shabby little apartment in a meager section of the 87th Precinct was nothing much in this city, especially to detectives Carella and Meyer. But everyone has a story, and this old man's story stood to make some people a lot of money. His story takes Carella, Meyer, Brown, and Weeks on a search through Isola's seedy strip clubs and to the bright lights of the theater district. There they discover an upcoming musical with ties to a mysterious drug and a killer who stays until the last dance.

The Last Dance is Ed McBain's fiftieth novel of the 87th Precinct and certainly one of his best. The series began in 1956 with Cop Hater and proves him to be the man who has been called "so good he should be arrested."

[KentE]

Hit Man, by Lawrence Block, is reduced to $0.99.
http://www.amazon.com/Hit-John-Kelle.../dp/B000FC1264

This is from the John Keller series, original publication date 1998, featuring an introspective killer-for-hire. It's a assembly of short stories/novellas that hang together on a common theme. (The Kirkus review asks "Is the result a novel or a cycle of stories?")

"Keller is your basic urban Lonely Guy.He makes a decent wage, lives in a nice apartment.Works the crossword puzzle. Watches a little TV. Until the phone rings and he packs a suitcase, gets on a plane, flies halfway across the country...and kills somebody. It's a living. But is it a life? Keller's not sure. He goes to a shrink, but it doesn't work out the way he planned. He gets a dog, he gets a girlfriend. He gets along."

And the icing on the cake: the unabridged audiobook can be added for $2.99.

In the rare case that you may not be familiar with Lawrence Block, he's probably one of the most influential writers in the genre over the last 40 years, on a par with Ed McBain, Donald Westlake, etc.. He's one of those rare authors who's managed to write several long-running successful series in slightly different ranges, and do so convincingly. My particular favorite is the Evan Tanner series, about a spy who never sleeps because of a brain injury.

KentE

[cromag]

Hit Man appears to be available at Barnes & Noble for $.99 as well.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hit-...&USRI=hit+man&

[BelleZora]

Open Road is offering a sale (through 26 Feb.) on political and legal thrillers. The site provides links to several booksellers.

The sale has been running for a week, so I apologize if this is duplicates a previous post.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by NightBird

Kindle Daily Deal from Simon & Schuster: The Last Dance by Ed McBain. This is the last -- 50th! -- book in his 87th Precinct series.

For the sake of accuracy, although this is indeed the 50th book in the "87th Precinct" series, it's not the last. He wrote 55 of them.

[winsomnia]

Originally Posted by HarryT

For the sake of accuracy, although this is indeed the 50th book in the "87th Precinct" series, it's not the last. He wrote 55 of them.

Perhaps he made a spelling error and meant to spell "latest" instead of "last."

[koland]

Originally Posted by winsomnia

Perhaps he made a spelling error and meant to spell "latest" instead of "last."

except. there are five after this one...

[NightBird]

It looks like what happened was when Simon & Schuster put up their Kindle version they didn't do a new product description but just copied over the hardback description, so at that time (1999) it would have been the last or latest in the series.

[KentE]

Originally Posted by BelleZora

Open Road is offering a sale (through 26 Feb.) on political and legal thrillers. The site provides links to several booksellers.

Thanks, BelleZora! The Open Road offerings look really good.
The list:
The Eighth Dwarf, by Ross Thomas
Under Cover of Daylight, by James W. Hall
(these 2 are mentioned in earlier posts in this thread, although not linked to all the stores linked via Open Road’s page.)
The Anderson Tapes, by Lawrence Sanders
The Eighth Trumpet (Jared Kimberlain), by John Land
Lawyer Trap, by R.J. Jagger
Bad Lawyer, by Stephen Solomita
Perfect Justice (Ben Kincaid series), by William Bernhardt
Dancing with the Dead, by John Lutz

Most are $2.99, a couple are $3.79. Links are provided through the Open Road page to multiple stores, so I won’t post all the links. At the top of the Open Road page, there’s something like “see all the books on Amazon”, but if you click on any particular book title after the thumbnail, links will show to Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Sony, GooglePlay (and to Overdrive to see if your library has it!). I followed all the links for a couple of books: Kobo & GooglePlay don’t seem to show the discounted pricing, while all others did.
Beyond the Ross Thomas and James W. Hall titles mentioned in previous posts (and recommended) , I’ve read the Bernhardt, Solomita, and Lutz titles. I enjoyed all, with the Solomita and Lutz titles being darker in tone than the Bernhardt. (For me, this isn't one of Lutz's best efforts, but certainly readable-- Kobo, at least, has an excellent selection of Lutz novels at attractive prices.)
KentE