Free/Bargain Suspense/Mystery/Thriller December 2012

[NightBird]

Big City, Bad Blood (Ray Dudgeon Series #1) by Sean Sercover from HarperCollins is $.99. Normally $7.99 and was $2.99 in August and September. B&N Kobo

A disillusioned newspaper reporter turned private detective, Ray Dudgeon isn't trying to save the world. He just wants to do an honest job, and do it well. But when doing an honest job threatens society's most powerful and corrupt, Ray's odds for survival make for a sucker's bet. . . .

While working on a movie in Chicago, Hollywood locations manager Bob Loniski saw something he shouldn't have. Now he's a prosecution witness against a suspected member of the Chicago Outfit. Petrified, he comes to Ray for protection. Ray's mob contacts insist that they have no interest in Loniski, so he takes the bodyguard gig.

Then people start dying and everything goes to hell.

Ray's investigation leads to a stash of blackmail files involving the sex trade, Washington political corruption, and a deadly power struggle among Chicago's organized crime bosses—setting the FBI, the Chicago police, and the mob on his tail. He now holds evidence against top-ranking cops and politicians . . . but with the line between good and bad blurring, he doesn't know who he can trust.

If he does the right thing, Ray is sure to die. But if he doesn't, how can he live with himself?

From the back alleys of Chicago to the man-sions of Beverly Hills to the corridors of power in Washington, D.C., Sean Chercover's Big City, Bad Blood propels readers relentlessly forward on a bullet-fast, adrenaline-pumping ride they will not soon forget.

[NightBird]

Another G.M. Ford book in his Leo Waterman series is reduced (others previously reduced to $2.99 in September) to $3.99.

The Deader the Better is #6 in the series and is published by HarperCollins. B&N Kobo

Seattle p.i. Leo Waterman isn't looking for trouble when he and his forensic pathologist girlfriend Rebecca escape into the Washington wilder for a few days of relaxation -- it just seems to find him. An old friend has purchased some choice property here in North America's only rain forest and his posting of "No Trespassing" signs has incurred the wrath of every sportsman for miles around. But what starts as irksome harassment by the offended locals soon escalates into the real of the lethal. And it's just Waterman's luck to be in the epicenter of this murderous mess at the very moment it bursts into flames.

[NightBird]

Omnimystery News is reporting new small publisher Snubnose Press has reduced their 30 titles at Amazon to $.99 each. This small pressed is composed of authors Sandra Ruttan and Jack Getze, and editor Brian Lindemuth.

Snubnose Press is the newly formed ebook imprint of Spinetingler Magazine. Spinetingler has been around since 2005. We have a long history of publishing short fiction from new, established and emerging writers. Spinetingler is also a paying short story market. Snubnose will be an ebook extension of that ethos focusing on longer works of fiction.

Snubnose Press Titles

[NightBird]

Trigger City (Ray Dudgeon Series #2) by Sean Chercover is $1.99. Kobo B&N

The facts:

A lonely woman was murdered by her disturbed coworker.

The police have investigated. The case is closed.

But facts are not truth.

A routine investigation of an open-and-shut case is just what PI Ray Dudgeon needs to recover from the physical and emotional consequences of confronting the Chicago Outfit—until "routine" spirals out of control. The victim was no quiet, unassuming, unlucky single woman; she lived a double life in the shadowy realm of covert intelligence . . . and she died for the truth. Suddenly, Ray's ensnared in a conspiracy of darkness that weaves its way through the very fabric of the nation, and in grave danger of becoming collateral damage in America's war on terror. And his greatest enemy may be himself.

[NightBird]

Dragon Sim-13 by Bob Mayer, second in his Green Beret series, is free.

As the historic events in Tiananmen Square unfold, a Chinese American controller turns a computerized Special Forces readiness exercise into the real thing as he dispatches a commando team to China.

Fantastic Fiction

[sqdancer]

Originally Posted by NightBird

Dragon Sim-13 by Bob Mayer, second in his Green Beret series, is free.



Fantastic Fiction

Also free at Kobo. (The formating leaves a lot to be desired (viewed in ADE) and there's no cover.)

[NightBird]

Some of Stuart MacBride's other books have been reduced in price:

Dying Light (Logan McRae Book 2) $.99 at Kobo

The Number One bestselling detective series from the award-winning Stuart MacBride continues in this second crime thriller. It’s summertime in Scotland: the sun is shining, the sky is blue and people are dying…She’s just the first. How many more will die?It starts with Rosie Williams, a prostitute, stripped naked and beaten to death down by the docks – the heart of Aberdeen’s red light district. For DS Logan McRae it’s a bad start to another bad day.Rosie won’t be the only one making an unscheduled trip to the morgue. Across the city six people are burning to death in a petrol-soaked squat, the doors and windows screwed shut from the outside. And despite Logan’s best efforts, it’s not long before another prostitute turns up on the slab…An unputdownable serial killer tale packed with mystery and suspense, as well as Stuart MacBride’s distinctive grittiness and dark humour.

Broken Skin (Logan McRae, Book 3) $.99 at Kobo

In this third DS Logan McRae thriller, The Granite City’s seedy side is about to be exposed…A crime of passion, or cold-hearted murder?A serial rapist is leaving a string of tortured women behind him, but while DS Logan McRae’s girlfriend, PC Jackie ‘Ball Breaker’ Watson, is out acting as bait, he’s trying to identify a blood-drenched body dumped outside Accident and Emergency.Logan’s investigations suggest someone in the local bondage community has developed a taste for violent death, and he soon finds himself dragged into the twilight world of pornographers, sex-shops and S&M.Meanwhile, the prime suspect in the rape case turns out to be Aberdeen Football Club’s star striker, and he has an alibi for every attack. Logan thinks they’ve got it horribly wrong, but can he get anyone to listen before the real rapist strikes again? Especially as Jackie is convinced the footballer’s guilty and she’s hell-bent on a conviction at any cost…

Flesh House (Logan McRae Book 4) $3.99 at Kobo

The 4th thriller in the Number One bestselling crime series from the award-winning Stuart MacBride. Panic grips The Granite City as DS Logan McRae heads up a manhunt for ‘The Flesher’ – one of the UK’s most notorious serial killers.The case was closed. Until the killer walked free…When an offshore container turns up at Aberdeen Harbour full of human meat, it kicks off the largest manhunt in the Granite City’s history.Twenty years ago ‘The Flesher’ was butchering people all over the UK – turning victims into oven-ready joints – until Grampian’s finest put him away. But eleven years later he was out on appeal. Now he’s missing and people are dying again.When members of the original investigation start to disappear, Detective Sergeant Logan McRae realizes the case might not be as clear cut as everyone thinks…Twenty years of secrets and lies are being dragged into the light. And the only thing that’s certain is Aberdeen will never be the same again.

Blind Eye (Logan McRae Book 5) $3.99 at Kobo

Nothing keeps a crime hidden like fear, and DS Logan McRae hits a dead-end in this 5th crime thriller from the award-winning Stuart MacBride.‘You can’t be an eyewitness if I cut out your eyes…’Someone’s preying on Aberdeen’s growing Polish population. The pattern is always the same: men abandoned on building sites, barely alive, their eyes gouged out and the sockets burned.With the victims too scared to talk, and the only witness a paedophile who’s on the run, Grampian Police is getting nowhere fast. The attacks are brutal, they keep on happening, and soon DS Logan McRae will have to decide how far he’s prepared to bend the rules to get a result.The Granite City is on the brink of gang warfare; the investigating team are dogged by allegations of corruption; and Logan’s about to come to the attention of Aberdeen’s most notorious crime lord…

Dark Blood (Logan McRae Book 6 $3.99. Kobo

In this sixth DS Logan McRae thriller, Scotland’s finest see first-hand how starting again can be murder…

Everyone deserves a second chance.

Richard Knox has served his time, so why shouldn’t he be allowed to live wherever he wants? Yes, in the past he was a violent rapist, but he’s seen the error of his ways. Found God. Wants to leave his dark past in Newcastle behind him and make a new start. Or so he says.

Detective Sergeant Logan McRae isn’t exactly thrilled to be part of the team helping Knox settle into his new Aberdeen home. He’s even less thrilled to be stuck with DSI Danby from Northumbria Police – the man who put Knox behind bars for ten years – supposedly here to ‘keep an eye on things’.

Only things are about to go very, very wrong.

Edinburgh gangster Malk the Knife wants a slice of the development boom Donald Trump’s golf course is bringing to the Granite City, whether local crime lord Wee Hamish Mowat likes it or not. Three heavies from Newcastle want a ‘quiet word’ with DSI Danby about a missing mob accountant. And Richard Knox’s dark past isn’t done with him yet…

Shatter the Bones (Logan McRae Book 7) Kobo

The seventh DS Logan McRae thriller is a gripping page-turner in which fame and fortune crash head-on with crime and punishment.

No suspects. No clues. No rest for the wicked.

'You will raise money for the safe return of Alison and Jenny McGregor. If you raise enough money within fourteen days they will be released. If not, Jenny will be killed.'

Alison and Jenny McGregor – Aberdeen's own mother-daughter singing sensation – are through to the semi-finals of TV smash-hit Britain's Next Big Star. They're in all the gossip magazines, they've got millions of YouTube hits, everyone loves them.

But their reality-TV dream has turned into a real-life nightmare. The ransom demand appears in all the papers, on the TV, and the internet, telling the nation to dig deep if they want to keep Alison and Jenny alive.

The media want action; the public displays of grief and anger are reaching fever-pitch. Time is running out, but DS Logan McRae and his colleagues have nothing to go on: the kidnappers haven't left a single piece of forensic evidence. The investigation is going nowhere.

It looks as if the price of fame just got a lot higher…

[NightBird]

Free from Wild Wolf Publishing - Noho (Fear in Fitzrovia) by James Davis.

When a dead dancing girl with all the wrong connections is found with Nick Valentine’s name scrawled on a scrap of paper in her pocket, life gets complicated for the disgraced Great War hero.

Unwillingly drawn into a web of espionage and crime in the underbelly of 1930’s London, Nick soon discovers that who killed her may be less important than why. With British Intelligence leaning on Nick to use his underworld connections to investigate the girl’s killing, it soon becomes clear that there’s more to the murder than meets the eye.

Nick soon finds himself at odds not just with the authorities, but on the wrong side of Soho’s gangland bosses and pursued by a foreign spy ring. Trawling Fitzrovia and Soho’s demi-monde of clubs, cabarets and pubs for answers, Nick realises that the stakes go beyond national security, and that no one can be trusted.

As the net closes and the case draws to an increasingly bloody conclusion, Nick is left to tie up the loose ends at a terrible personal cost.

This dark and brooding thriller lifts the covers on a fascinating 1930s’ London few know, while the plot’s twists and turns keep the reader guessing right up to the final page.

[NightBird]

Free from Endeavor Press - Ward 19 (A Parva Corcoran Suspense Thriller) by John L. Probert.

St Margaret's Hospital has 18 Wards.

And one extra one that no one wants to visit.

Ward 19.

The mortuary.

But when horribly dissected corpses starting appearing on the hospital grounds, it is about to get very crowded.

The CID coroner Parva Corcoran must work out why the hospital's own staff - dedicated to saving lives - are being targeted by a serial killer who shows no mercy? And why the bodies have been horribly mutilated?

As she starts to uncover the horrifying truth of Ward 19, her own professional past is called into question. And as she digs into the toughest case of her career, the reality is far worse than anything she could have imagined.

'Ward 19' is a gripping suspense thriller, featuring coroner Parva Corcoran, a coroner with a mysterious past, and a character who is as memorable as she is smart

[BelleZora]

Most of the Michael Connelly books on my watch list dropped in price today. None actually qualify as 'bargain books' unless, like me, you're a Connelly fan.

http://www.amazon.com/Michael-Connel...qid=1354740775

[koland]

The Complete Sherlock Holmes (Main/UK), by Arthur Conan Doyle and Robert Ryan (foreword), is free to pre-order in the Kindle store, courtesy of publisher Simon & Schuster UK.

The complete collection of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes tales, both long and short, compiled together for the first time by Simon & Schuster for free!

This fantastic collection is accompanied by an exciting new introduction from Robert Ryan, a writer who's own book has been fully endorsed by the Conan Doyle Estate. A big Holmes fan himself, he will undoubtedly provide a fascinating new look at the detective and his bizarre ability to read both people and objects, in order to discover who dunnit.

[badgoodDeb]

There's a Sherlock Holmes Omnibus here on MobileRead too. I don't know what the difference is. However, frequently, the ones here are made with more love and care (and OCR checking).

[koland]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

There's a Sherlock Holmes Omnibus here on MobileRead too. I don't know what the difference is. However, frequently, the ones here are made with more love and care (and OCR checking).

Generally, so are those by the larger publishers (not so the "self-pubbed", which are often just ripped off gutenberg ocr scans).

Presumably this one has notes, editing and the foreword that is mentioned. I would hope they are also arranged by either story line or chronologically and have a good TOC.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by koland

The Complete Sherlock Holmes (Main/UK), by Arthur Conan Doyle and Robert Ryan (foreword), is free to pre-order in the Kindle store, courtesy of publisher Simon & Schuster UK.

Many thanks! It will be interesting to compare the text with the one here.

[NightBird]

Free from Robert W. Walker - Extreme Instinct

In novels such as KILLER INSTINCT and DARKEST INSTINCT, FBI pathologist Dr. Jessica Coran has probed the deepest recesses of the criminal mind, coming face-to-face with killers as brilliant as they are vicious.

But now Jessica must face a deadly new foe.

A murderer terrorizing the American West from Arizona to Montana who ties his victims down, drowns their sins in gasoline, and cleanses them with flame. He is on a Satanic mission - and only by stepping into the fire can Jessica stop him.

(This book is sixth in Robert W. Walker's Instinct series. It was originally published in paperback.)

Free from Wild Wolf Publishing - By the Sword by I.S. Paton.

A macabre discovery in a city cemetery…
A political scandal engulfing the city…
A samurai-obsessed swordsman on the rampage…

The severed body parts point to one man: gangland killer ‘Banzai Billy’ Boyle.
What lies at the root of his obsession with the bushido culture of Japan? How is he linked to sleazy politician and prospective MP ‘Big Jim’ McConnarty? Are the walls of Barlinnie Prison secure enough to contain him? Can police crime analyst Grace Andrew track him down before she becomes the next victim?

This conspiracy unravels in horrific detail as it twists and turns from the grimy backstreets of Glasgow to the cherry-blossom groves of Japan, where it reaches a terrifying and gut-wrenching conclusion.