Free/Bargain Suspense/Mystery/Thriller December 2012

[NightBird]

Originally Posted by DianNC

Estreme Instinct by Robert W. Walker free today on Amazon (US).

I downloaded this book today and when I launched K4PC to read it, it came up as a cookbook (Decadent Desserts). I checked my Kindle library and the cover for Extreme Instinct is showing there, plus the confirmation email I received from Amazon lists the title I 'purchased' as Extreme Instinct.

The cookbook is $2.99; otherwise, I'd d/l it just to see if my mystery title appears instead lol.

Previously posted yesterday. I checked my version on my Paperwhite and it is fine.

[NightBird]

From Blasted Heath:

The Long Midnight of Barney Thomson by Douglas Lindsay is free. Also free on Amazon UK. Previously free at Kobo.

Barney Thomson — awkward, diffident, Glasgow barber — lives a life of desperate mediocrity. Shunned at work and at home, unable to break out of a twenty-year rut, each dull day blends seamlessly into the next.

However, there is no life so tedious that it cannot be spiced up by inadvertent murder, a deranged psychopath, and a freezer full of neatly packaged meat.

Barney Thomson's uninteresting life is about to go from 0 to 60 in five seconds, as he enters the grotesque and comically absurd world of the serial killer…

Robert Carlyle wants to make a movie about this book and star in it:

“I am trying to adapt a book called The Long Midnight of Barney Thomson for a movie that I hope to direct next year. And I say ‘hope’ with my fingers crossed.

“It’s a quirky, interesting, dark comedy about a barber who accidentally kills two or three people...The Long Midnight Of Barney Thomson was published in 1999 and is the first of seven novels about a misfit Glasgow barber. Just like Trainspotting – the Irvine Welsh novel which became a hit film starring Robert – much of it is written in Scots dialect.

Author Douglas Lindsay was born in Lanarkshire and studied in Glasgow before moving to England.

The ex-MoD worker has tried unsuccessfully to get his work on the big screen before. He claims the title role was rejected by Ewan McGregor, Robbie Coltrane and Billy Connolly.

Douglas said: “I believe the intention is, that as well as directing, Robert will play Barney, which is great.”

Robert Carlyle to go behind the camera and direct adaptation of Glasgow crime novels

[sqdancer]

Originally Posted by NightBird

From Blasted Heath:

The Long Midnight of Barney Thomson by Douglas Lindsay is free. Also free on Amazon UK. Previously free at Kobo.

Still is free at Kobo (and DRM-free).

[NightBird]

Free thriller from Wild Wolf Publishing - Crimson Letters from Kandahar Province by Ian DG Sandusky.

WHEN NOSTALGIA IS BETTER LEFT ALONE

After a roadside bomb tears Private Quincent L Meyer’s life apart in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, he is left horrifically mutilated. Back home, job opportunities pass him by and children cry at the very sight of him. All alone, the world fades to grey.

WHEN THE INSIDIOUS LIVES AMONG US

Every night, Quince is plagued by nightmares, forced to relive the fatal patrol again and again. As the shrapnel rips through him, he wakes to a life he barely knows anymore.

WHEN TIME IS NO LONGER A FRIEND

When an accident leads to murder, Quincent is presented with a terrifying choice. Little does he know, the real war has only just begun.

ONLY ONE THING WILL REMAIN: THE LETTERS FROM A TIME FORGOTTEN

[NightBird]

L.A. Requiem by Robert Crais is $1.99. This is a Random House title so should come down at the other stores eventually.

The day starts like any other in L.A. The sun burns hot as the Santa Ana winds blow ash from mountain fires to coat the glittering city. But for private investigator Joe Pike, the city will never be the same again. His ex-lover, Karen Garcia, is dead, brutally murdered with a gun shot to the head.

Now Karen's powerful father calls on Pike (a former cop) and his partner, Elvis Cole, to keep an eye on the LAPD as they search for his daughter's killer--because in the luminous City of Angels, everyone has secrets, and even the mighty blue have something to hide. But what starts as a little procedural hand-holding turns into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse. For a dark web of conspiracy threatens to destroy Pike and Cole's twelve-year friendship--if not their lives. And L.A. just might be singing their dirge.

[NightBird]

Dig Ten Graves by Heath Lowrance is free. Ten noir short stories, 5 previously published and 5 new.

'Heath Lowrance follows up his classic debut, THE BASTARD HAND, with a searing collection of hard-boiled, dark fiction. The blackest of noir permeates the pages of DIG TEN GRAVES and oozes into its dark alleyways, its blood stained streets and its rain soaked gutters - even the crevices on the faces of its battle scarred and booze battered protagonists.' - Paul D Brazill, Drunk On The Moon, Guns Of Brixton, 13 Shots Of Noir.

[Blue Tyson]

Originally Posted by sqdancer

Still is free at Kobo (and DRM-free).

Thanks!

[KentE]

looks like this was free back in April-- if you missed it then:
The Big Freeze, by Michael J. Katz.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Big-Freeze.../dp/B007UCE57K

This is part of a series of 3 comedic mysteries originally published in the early 1990's.


Library Journal: Chicago-based private investigator Murray Glick, mystery-cruise concessionaire, and appealing New York "backups" Andy and Susie Sussman (newscaster and lawyer) brighten the ski slopes at Sunburst, Colorado, in their newest case ( Last Dance in Redondo Beach , Putnam, 1988). Beguiling skirt-chaser Glick, hot on the tracks of a young woman who quit college to move in with a greedy ski instructor, connects her disappearance to a questionable land development scheme and the death-by-avalanche of a young ranger. Assuming various disguises to trick the unwary, Glick locates the woman and closes in on the conspirators...

I read all of this series when they first came out, and found them quite enjoyable. Apparently a new book is on it's way....
Kent E

[sufue]

Just noticed two more Paul Doherty omnibuses (omnibi?) in addition to the Amerotke one I previously posted (link). These are priced $9.99 at Kobo, but couponable, so with Bargainmoose40, they come down to $5.99, which for three books - if you need/want them all - is pretty good IMO. Also available at Books on Board and Amazon, but a lot more without the coupon.

I like both of these historical series, but a little less than I like the Amerotke series set in Egypt. Not quite sure why - maybe it's just that I like Egypt and Egyptian history a lot!

One is the Hugh Corbett Omnibus, which contains the first three books in the series:

SATAN IN ST MARY'S 1284: Edward I is battling a traitorous movement founded by the late Simon de Montfort, the rebel who lost his life at the Battle of Evesham in 1258. The Pentangle, the movement's underground society whose members are known to practice the black arts, is thought to be behind the apparent suicide of Lawrence Duket, one of the King's loyal subjects. The King, deeply suspicious of the affair, orders his wily Chancellor, Burnell, to look into the matter. Burnell chooses a sharp and clever clerk from the Court of King's Bench, Hugh Corbett, to conduct the investigation. Corbett - together with his manservant, Ranulf - is swiftly drawn into the tangled politics and dark and dangerous underworld of medieval London.

CROWN IN DARKNESS 1286: on a storm-ridden night, King Alexander III of Scotland is riding across the Firth of Forth to meet his beautiful French bride Yolande. He never reaches his final destination as his horse mysteriously slips, sending them both crashing to their death on the rocks. The Scottish throne is left vacant of any real heir and immediately the great European princes and the powerful nobles of Alexander's kingdom start fighting for the glittering prize. The Chancellor of England, Burnell, ever mindful of the interest his king, Edward I, has in Scotland, sends his faithful clerk, Hugh Corbett, to report on the chaotic situation at the Scottish court. Concerned that a connection exists between the king's death and those now desirous of taking the Scottish throne, Corbett is drawn into a maelstrom of intrigue, conspiracy and danger.

SPY IN CHANCERY Edward I of England and Philip IV of France are at war. Philip, by devious means, has managed to seize control of the English duchy of Aquitaine in France, and is now determined to crush Edward. King Edward suspects that his enemy is being aided by a spy in the English court and commissions his chancery clerk, Hugh Corbett, to trace and, if possible, destroy the traitor. Corbett's mission brings him into danger on both land and at sea, and takes him to Paris, and its dangerous underworld, and then to hostile Wales. Unwillingly he is drawn into the murky undercurrents of international politics in the last decade of the thirteenth century.

The other is the Canterbury Tales by Night omnibus, which also has the first three books in the series:

AN ANCIENT EVIL: As the travellers gather at the start of a pilgrimage to Canterbury, they agree to amuse themselves on their journey with evening tales of mystery, terror and murder. So begins the Knight's tale. It opens with the destruction of a sinister cult during the reign of William the Conqueror, and then moves to Oxford some two hundred years later where terrible murders are being committed. The Abbess of the Convent of St Anne's, believes the murders are connected with the legends of the cult and petitions the King for help...

A TAPESTRY OF MURDERS: As Chaucer's pilgrims continue towards Canterbury, they choose the Man of Law to narrate the next tale of fear and sinister dealings. In August 1358, the adulterous Dowager Queen Isabella, the 'She Wolf of France', lies dying of the pestilence in the sombre fortress of Castle Rising, where her 'loving' son has kept her incarcerated. But as in life so in death Isabella causes intrigue, violence and murder. Nicholas Chirke, an honest young lawyer, is brought in to investigate strange events following her death - and quickly finds himself at his wits' end trying to resolve the mysteries before a great scandal unfolds.

A TOURNAMENT OF MURDERS: While Chaucer's pilgrims settle for the night, the Franklin narrates a mysterious, bloody tale... In 1356 the Black Prince has won his resounding victory at Poitiers. As impoverished knight Gilbert Savage lies dying in the wake of the fight he tells his squire, Richard Greenele, that the story of his parents perishing during the plague is untrue. Richard, if he wishes to uncover what really happened, must travel to Colchester and seek out a sealed letter telling the truth of his parentage, and a most macabre confession that will set him on a mission for revenge from which there is no turning back...

Links for Kobo, hopefully affiliate-free since I typed in the top level URL by hand and searched from there:

Corbett

Canterbury

I wish more writers or publishers (depending on who has the rights) would do more of these reasonably priced reissues of backlist books, whether in omnibus or individually. These three omnibi by Doherty have come out one per month for the last three months. He has lots of series (under lots of names) - wonder if there will be any more...

[mitford13]

I really like seeing the omnibus option, too. Picked up the Corbett last week...
And Doherty really does have a ton of series! I discovered him through the Brother Athelstan series earlier this year, parts of which my library has digitally, then I bought the rest (several of these are also reduced price from Severn, now.) Really enjoyed them - then I tried the latest Canterbury book but was surprised not to like it. Also picked up the first Mathilde of Westminster but haven't gotten to it yet...

Anyway, speaking of omnibi(?), saw this one recommended on the Amazon mystery forum last month - first three in Eric Wright's Charlie Salter series. Apparently he's a Canadian, published in the 80's, now self-pubbing the first three:

A Charlie Salter Omnibus for $7.19

Eric Wright's popular detective, Charlie Salter, is introduced in this collection of the first three books in the well-loved mystery series: The Night the Gods Smiled, Smoke Detector, and Death in the Old Country. Self-righteous and outspoken, Salter has gotten himself shunted to routine duties from what he considers the "real" police work of investigation. However, circumstances give him the chance to redeem himself, and his intelligence and sensitivity guide him through the cases that follow. Interwoven in the detective work, Charlie's wry humour and perception and his personal relationships and family life add extra dividends and enjoyment for the reader.

************************************************** ****

I also picked up:

The Complete Dangerous Davies by Leslie Thomas for $14.37...

...even though the Book Description says: NA
Looks like there's also a UK TV series.

From a customer review:

Greatly enjoyed these three mysteries -- they are ruefully funny as well as truly intriguing and capture the atmosphere of a a gritty West London suburb very well. Dangerous Davies, the rumpled and somewhat battered detective constable of the title, is a loveable character, who is truly good and kind as well as truly in a muddle most of the time. I came to like his feckless sidekick and perpetually unemployed drinking buddy, and also his lovely West Indian girlfriend.

[Synamon]

Originally Posted by mitford13

Anyway, speaking of omnibi(?), saw this one recommended on the Amazon mystery forum last month - first three in Eric Wright's Charlie Salter series. Apparently he's a Canadian, published in the 80's, now self-pubbing the first three:

I remember reading two Canadian mystery writers years ago with the same last name (one was L.R. Wright), so the other is probably him. Anyway, my library has the omnibus so I'll grab it from there and see if I remember the books.

[sufue]

Originally Posted by mitford13

I really like seeing the omnibus option, too. Picked up the Corbett last week...
And Doherty really does have a ton of series! I discovered him through the Brother Athelstan series earlier this year, parts of which my library has digitally, then I bought the rest (several of these are also reduced price from Severn, now.) Really enjoyed them - then I tried the latest Canterbury book but was surprised not to like it. Also picked up the first Mathilde of Westminster but haven't gotten to it yet...

Anyway, speaking of omnibi(?), saw this one recommended on the Amazon mystery forum last month - first three in Eric Wright's Charlie Salter series. Apparently he's a Canadian, published in the 80's, now self-pubbing the first three:

A Charlie Salter Omnibus for $7.19

Eric Wright's popular detective, Charlie Salter, is introduced in this collection of the first three books in the well-loved mystery series: The Night the Gods Smiled, Smoke Detector, and Death in the Old Country. Self-righteous and outspoken, Salter has gotten himself shunted to routine duties from what he considers the "real" police work of investigation. However, circumstances give him the chance to redeem himself, and his intelligence and sensitivity guide him through the cases that follow. Interwoven in the detective work, Charlie's wry humour and perception and his personal relationships and family life add extra dividends and enjoyment for the reader.

************************************************** ****

I also picked up:

The Complete Dangerous Davies by Leslie Thomas for $14.37...

...even though the Book Description says: NA
Looks like there's also a UK TV series.

From a customer review:

Greatly enjoyed these three mysteries -- they are ruefully funny as well as truly intriguing and capture the atmosphere of a a gritty West London suburb very well. Dangerous Davies, the rumpled and somewhat battered detective constable of the title, is a loveable character, who is truly good and kind as well as truly in a muddle most of the time. I came to like his feckless sidekick and perpetually unemployed drinking buddy, and also his lovely West Indian girlfriend.

Both are also available at Kobo, and Bargainmoose40 works on both.

For the Salter omnibus it's a good deal - $7.39 becomes $4.33; for the Dangerous Davies, not so great - $20.99 (!!!) becomes $12.59, which is a bit less than Amazon ($14.37) but not a lot.

Anyway, just another option...I'm getting into far too much trouble with that Bargainmoose40 code

[NightBird]

Three mysteries from Faber and Faber $1.99 each ($2.90 at Kobo with Bargainmoose40 coupon = $1.74).

The Cleansing Flames (St Petersburg Mystery), historical mystery by R.N. Morris. Kobo

Easter, 1872. Fires burn in St Petersburg, a prelude to the revolutionary turmoil that will shake Russia a generation later. As the springtime thaw begins, a body rises to the surface of the Winter Canal. Following an anonymous tip-off, magistrate Porfiry Petrovich is drawn into an investigation of the radical intellectuals who seek to fan the flames of revolution. In the meantime, junior magistrate Pavel Pavlovich Virginsky plays a dangerous game of his own. Following a chance meeting with a man he suspects of being an arsonist, he volunteers to infiltrate a terrorist cell. But the young man's loyalties appear divided, his motives conflicted. Will he track down the killers, or to use his position as a magistrate to further a cause with which he sympathises? The issue comes to a head in a shocking and violent confrontation between two generations. The Cleansing Flames is the fourth book in R. N. Morris's acclaimed series featuring the investigator from Crime and Punishment.

The Black Monastery by Stav Sherez. Kobo

People used to come to the small Greek island of Palassos for the historic ruins. Now they come to take drugs and party all night. But the horrific ritual murder of a boy in the grounds of an old monastery brings back memories of two similar deaths in the mid-1970s, and of a mysterious cult who once dwelt in the island's interior, memories the island has tried hard to forget. As Nikos, the police chief who has been persuaded back to his home island for the final years of his career, begins his investigation, two Brits arrive on the island: the bestselling crime writer Kitty Carson, on a break from the pressures of work and her strained marriage, and Jason, an aspiring writer with a secret of his own. When a second body is discovered - further endangering the island's lucrative tourist trade - these three characters are thrown together, as the gruesome secrets of the past begin to emerge. Brilliantly paced, and featuring a memorable cast of characters, The Black Monastery is a blistering portrait of paradise gone wrong.

The Last Sherlock Holmes Story by Michael Dibdin. Kobo

There can be no question that the contents of this book will prove extremely controversial. Many people will be deeply shocked by the nature of Watson's statement. Many will no doubt prefer to reject it rather than surrender the beliefs of a lifetime. Others will at least regret that two of the great mysteries of crime are finally solved... An extraordinary document comes to light which for fifty years had been held on deposit by the bankers of the deceased John Herbert Watson MD - better known as Dr Watson. The document, written by Dr Watson himself, opens in the East End of London in 1888. Three women have been savagely murdered by Jack the Ripper. To calm the public outcry, Scotland Yard approaches London's most eminent detective, Sherlock Holmes, and asks him to investigate the killer. Can Holmes solve the mystery of Jack the Ripper? And why has this story been suppressed for so long? As cunningly plotted as anything by Conan Doyle, The Last Sherlock Holmes Story is a thrilling addition to the Sherlock Holmes canon from another of Britain's best-loved crime writers.'Dibdin has a gift for shocking the unshockable reader.' Ruth Rendell 'One of British crime fiction's most distinguished and distinctive voices.' Andrew Taylor

Henery Press is having a sale through 1/13, $.99 to $2.99. Less with coupon at Kobo. Appear to be cozy mysteries.

Amazon

B&N

Kobo


Of particular interest - Other People's Baggage - Three connected novellas on the same subject by three different authors and prequels to their other books for $.99.

Three Interconnected Mystery Novellas: Baggage claim can be terminal when a computer glitch mislabels identical vintage suitcases. These are the stories of what happened after three women with a knack for solving mysteries each grabbed the wrong bag.

MIDNIGHT ICE by Diane Vallere (A Mad for Mod Mystery Novella, the prequel to PILLOW STALK): When interior decorator Madison Night crosses the country to distance herself from a recent breakup, she learns it's harder to escape her past than she thought, and diamonds are rarely a girl's best friend.

SWITCH BACK by Kendel Lynn (An Elliott Lisbon Mystery Novella, the prequel to BOARD STIFF): Ballantyne Foundation director Elliott Lisbon travels to Texas after inheriting an entire town, but when she learns the donor was murdered, she has to unlock the small town's big secrets or she'll never get out alive.

FOOL'S GOLD by Gigi Pandian (A Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Novella, the prequel to ARTIFACT): When a world-famous chess set is stolen from a locked room during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, historian Jaya Jones and her magician best friend must outwit actresses and alchemists to solve the baffling crime.

Part of the Henery Press Mystery Series Collection, if you like one, you'll probably like them all! Other People's Baggage is the first in the humorous mystery novella collection series.

[mitford13]

Raymond Chandler's Playback is $3.49 on Amazon.

Marlowe is hired by an influential lawyer he's never herd of to tail a gorgeous redhead, but decides he prefers to help out the redhead. She's been acquitted of her alcoholic husband's murder, but her father-in-law prefers not to take the court's word for it.

"Chandler wrote like a slumming angel and invested the sun-blinded streets of Los Angeles with a romantic presence:" -- Ross Macdonald

[mitford13]

Originally Posted by sufue

Both are also available at Kobo, and Bargainmoose40 works on both.

For the Salter omnibus it's a good deal - $7.39 becomes $4.33; for the Dangerous Davies, not so great - $20.99 (!!!) becomes $12.59, which is a bit less than Amazon ($14.37) but not a lot.

Anyway, just another option...I'm getting into far too much trouble with that Bargainmoose40 code

I probably shouldn't admit to this, but it's taken about a week for it to sink in that now that I have a Fire I can use the apps to start buying/reading e-pubs.


Sometimes I'm a little technologically challenged..


But now I can start checking out all these *other* bargains!