MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Free (Kindle KDP) Silk Train Murder by Sharon Rowse [Canadian Historical Mystery]

ATDrake · 02-09-2012, 12:57 PM

The KDP Select exclusive-or-else slushpile spits forth something rather nice today, at least from my point of view.

Sharon Rowse's historical mystery is not only an Arthur Ellis Award-nominee (this is our major national crime/mystery prize), it's also set in Vancouver. And involves the Yukon Gold Rush! That's like a hat trick of awesome right there.

Also some some backlist romances and thrillers and Christian fiction for people who don't appreciate hat tricks of awesome.

The Silk Train Murder (The Klondike Era Mysteries) by Sharon Rowse was published in hardcover by Caroll & Graf in 2008 and the sequel is currently out from local small press Three Cedars.

This was nominated for an Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel and has favourable comments from prestigious outlets in the blurb.

Since it involves opium dens and burlesque halls, not to mention what appears to be escalating murder, it is probably profoundly misfiled under this particular category which it is nevertheless listed as a bestseller in, according to the Amazon ranking info:

#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Children's Fiction > Historical Fiction > Canada

Anyway, since Amazon has removed the formerly helpful info, you'll have to play DRM-or-Not Roulette while it's free for who knows how long @ Amazon main UK DE ES FR IT

Description
SILK TRAINS! FAN DANCERS! OPIUM DENS! All this and MURDER too!

A body found on the Vancouver waterfront, a friend jailed for murder – John Granville must unravel a web of deceit and betrayal in a world of silk trains and Klondike gold, smuggling rings and opium dens.

At the turn of the last century, sleek liners carried a fortune in silk from the Orient to Vancouver. The costly material, insured by the day, was rushed to New York in specially designed silk trains, which became the target of every crook across the continent.

Hungry and broke, adventurer John Lansdowne Granville takes a job guarding silk trains, along with his friend and fellow gold-hunter Sam Scott. When they stumble on a gangster’s corpse, Scott is arrested for murder.

Granville’s hunt for the real killer takes him to the seedy side of Vancouver; to burlesque halls, gambling joints and down along Dupont Street -- two blocks of brothels and opium dens along the reeking mudflats. He finds allies in Emily Turner, the emancipated daughter of a very Victorian father and in young would-be train robber Trent Davis.

Can Granville survive the dark side of the city and find the answers he needs in time to save his friend…

The rest of the slushpile yield, not sorted since I have a quiz today and should probably go review.

Bram Stoker/British Fantasy award-nominated Tony Richards (ISFDB, Wikipedia) offers a supernatural/possibly-horror suspense short: A Night in Tunisia

ISFDB-ed David Bain offers a creative non-fiction essay which perhaps aspiring authors could use for possible character motivation insight: Being Buried: An Essay Exploring then Darker Origins of the Author's Love/Hate Relationship with Alcohol Really, this is the sort of thing you put up in your blog, not for 99 cents for Kindle.

Kathleen Cross offers a 1999-Avon-paperbacked literary fiction novel about social issues surrounding interracial relationships: Skin Deep

Previously-featured Theresa Ragan who had that RWA Golden Heart newbie-with-promising-manuscript nomination writing as T.R. Ragan offers an apparently non-romantic mystery/thriller: Abducted (Lizzy Gardner Series #1)

Sourcebooks-published Loucinda McGary, whose published paranormal romance we received as a freebie some time ago, offers a prequel novelette to it: The Sidhe Princess

Zebra-published Tracy Sumner offers an historical romance: To Seduce A Rogue (Southern Heat/Book One: ADAM)

Darrell Delamaide has written non-fiction historical/political books for Doubleday and Plume, and had a fiction novel paperbacked by Onyx. Here is an historical thriller set during the height of the British Empire, which the blurb likens to Wilbur Smith and Alan Furst-type novels: The Grand Mirage

Fellow MR member author Paul Levine offers another in his Jake Lassiter legal thriller series, 1997-William Morrow-published: Flesh and Bones

Robert Elmer offers a YA historical set in Denmark during the Nazi occupation, printed by Christian publisher Bethany House in 1994: A Way Through the Sea (Young Underground) If you are interested in this time period/theme, we recently got his currently-published Wildflowers of Terezin as a freebie, and if you missed it, Abingdon seems to be repeating theirs fairly frequently.

Sherban Young has one of those books of mini-mysteries to test your mind out from Dover Publications, who have a very nice line in reprints and original niche mostly-non-fiction (they do some good origami books). This is his self-published apparently comedic mystery/thriller adventure: Five Star Detour

Helen Smith has written a couple of children's educational historical books printed in the early 2000s. She also seems to have a novel picked up by the AmazonEncore promising-indie imprint. This is not it, but a dystopian near-future thriller: The Miracle Inspector

You know what? I have this inordinate fondness for cultures which produce dragon boats, and they tend not to get written about all that often. I therefore include this YA fantasy (also categorized under horro) book for the lulz, because how can you not want to at least give a sample skim to something whose blurb ends with "And what can she do about the ancient Berserker warriors she accidentally calls up, who pledge their allegiance and then demand junk food runs to Voodoo Doughnut and Burgerville?": Valhalla

R. Harper Mason wrote environmental columns for the Arkansas Wildlife Federation and hosted a radio show. He offers an historical litfic story about "child’s life in the rural South during World War II" based upon his own true-life experience: Lyin' Like a Dog

Jerri Corgiat offers a 2004-Onyx-paperbacked romance featuring a country music star: SING ME HOME (Love Finds A Home - Book One)

Michael Lister, who edited that Florida Heatwave crime anthology we got free from Adams Media last year, offers a 2004-Bleak House-printed mystery/thriller about a prison chaplain who investigates murder: Blood of the Lamb (a John Jordan Mystery)

Previously-featured horror writer Derek Gunn offers some kind of political adventure thriller this time around: Gemini

Martin Roth is an Australian writer who says he was "a finalist in the 2011 Australian Christian Book of the Year awards" for one of his small-press-published (they have several authors in their stable with apparently faith-based books) mystery books. This is not it, but he offers Christian military/political thriller: Brother Half Angel (Military Orders Series, Book 1)

Chinle Miller is listed as having contributed to specialist publications from the Museum of Arizona. Here is her 60s-set literary/adventure novel about an archaeologist on a quest to find herself, as well as clues to an ancient civilization: Uranium Daughter

Previously-featured South African expat playwright Ian Fraser (Wikipedia entry) returns with his Hollywood-set literary suspense: No Man's Land

Bryan Young, who's the 2nd multimedia person today to have a Wikipedia entry, offers a set of historical fiction stories and some advice for aspiring filmmakers: Linkage for both

Another freebie issue of the horror e-magazine if you've been collecting them: Shock Totem 4: Curious Tales of the Macabre and Twisted

Previously-featured Canadian writer Rick Dewhurst, who had a mystery novel hardcovered by Christian publisher B&H who sometimes give us freebies, offers a "noir masterpiece of chick-lit crime" with a PI investigating a pastor's death: The Good Book Club (A Jane Sunday Mystery)

Nebula Award-winner Eric James Stone offers another freebie short (may be a repeat): Salt of Judas

Carolyn Brown Heinz wrote a 1999-printed work which was apparently used as an anthropology textbook. Here is her novel featuring antiquities smuggling and an angry goddess: Mage at Midnight

Bantam/Fanfare & Samhain-published Ellen Fisher repeats her historical romance: Love Remembered

Lyn Horner is a newbie self-pub author, but she helpfully tells us she "was a 2008 semi-finalist in the prestigeous Orange Rose Romance Writers Contest" which apparently was from the various writer's guilds she is a member of, and then goes on to mention that she released her first book later in 2010. For being honest and giving specifics, I include her historical paranormal romance "Texas Druids" novella: White Witch

If you wanted to see an example of what a typical single author/single work/single publisher with only that work self-pub entry into the ISFDB looks like, here's one for you to look at (actually, there was another today, but his book was not nearly as interesting). She does claim a few additional named-title named-venue publication credits, but no awards, nor best-selling status and I like the sense of humour in her bio. Anyway, this looks like it might be cracktastically entertaining and and a quick sample skim showed the prose to have no immediately fatal grammatical/coherency flaws, so I will include her comedic sci-fi spoof: There Goes the Galaxy

If you were alive during the Cold War and you don't know who J Robert Oppenheimer is and the effect his work had on your entire global sociopolitical framework, you should hang your head in shame and remedy your appalling ignorance with the following graphic novel: ATOMIC DREAMS : THE LOST JOURNAL OF J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER It won't be nearly as good as Jim Ottaviani's Fallout, but it's currently free. There is also apparently an "app book" version (also free) which is optimized for Kindle Fire and the author/artists have some other freebie GNs for you to try including one with some involvement by Stefan Petrucha, who used to write the old X-Files comic book and is a noted horror author (ISFDB entry) in his own right.

Happy reading, if you happen to pick up the feature title or the final one, or otherwise spot something you think you might like.

02-09-2012, 12:57 PM	#1
ATDrake Wizzard Posts: 11,517 Karma: 33048258 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Roundworld Device: Kindle 2 International, Sony PRS-T1, BlackBerry PlayBook, Acer Iconia	Free (Kindle KDP) Silk Train Murder by Sharon Rowse [Canadian Historical Mystery] The KDP Select exclusive-or-else slushpile spits forth something rather nice today, at least from my point of view. Sharon Rowse's historical mystery is not only an Arthur Ellis Award-nominee (this is our major national crime/mystery prize), it's also set in Vancouver. And involves the Yukon Gold Rush! That's like a hat trick of awesome right there. Also some some backlist romances and thrillers and Christian fiction for people who don't appreciate hat tricks of awesome. The Silk Train Murder (The Klondike Era Mysteries) by Sharon Rowse was published in hardcover by Caroll & Graf in 2008 and the sequel is currently out from local small press Three Cedars. This was nominated for an Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel and has favourable comments from prestigious outlets in the blurb. Since it involves opium dens and burlesque halls, not to mention what appears to be escalating murder, it is probably profoundly misfiled under this particular category which it is nevertheless listed as a bestseller in, according to the Amazon ranking info: #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Children's Fiction > Historical Fiction > Canada Anyway, since Amazon has removed the formerly helpful info, you'll have to play DRM-or-Not Roulette while it's free for who knows how long @ Amazon main UK DE ES FR IT Description SILK TRAINS! FAN DANCERS! OPIUM DENS! All this and MURDER too! A body found on the Vancouver waterfront, a friend jailed for murder – John Granville must unravel a web of deceit and betrayal in a world of silk trains and Klondike gold, smuggling rings and opium dens. At the turn of the last century, sleek liners carried a fortune in silk from the Orient to Vancouver. The costly material, insured by the day, was rushed to New York in specially designed silk trains, which became the target of every crook across the continent. Hungry and broke, adventurer John Lansdowne Granville takes a job guarding silk trains, along with his friend and fellow gold-hunter Sam Scott. When they stumble on a gangster’s corpse, Scott is arrested for murder. Granville’s hunt for the real killer takes him to the seedy side of Vancouver; to burlesque halls, gambling joints and down along Dupont Street -- two blocks of brothels and opium dens along the reeking mudflats. He finds allies in Emily Turner, the emancipated daughter of a very Victorian father and in young would-be train robber Trent Davis. Can Granville survive the dark side of the city and find the answers he needs in time to save his friend… The rest of the slushpile yield, not sorted since I have a quiz today and should probably go review. Bram Stoker/British Fantasy award-nominated Tony Richards (ISFDB, Wikipedia) offers a supernatural/possibly-horror suspense short: A Night in Tunisia ISFDB-ed David Bain offers a creative non-fiction essay which perhaps aspiring authors could use for possible character motivation insight: Being Buried: An Essay Exploring then Darker Origins of the Author's Love/Hate Relationship with Alcohol Really, this is the sort of thing you put up in your blog, not for 99 cents for Kindle. Kathleen Cross offers a 1999-Avon-paperbacked literary fiction novel about social issues surrounding interracial relationships: Skin Deep Previously-featured Theresa Ragan who had that RWA Golden Heart newbie-with-promising-manuscript nomination writing as T.R. Ragan offers an apparently non-romantic mystery/thriller: Abducted (Lizzy Gardner Series #1) Sourcebooks-published Loucinda McGary, whose published paranormal romance we received as a freebie some time ago, offers a prequel novelette to it: The Sidhe Princess Zebra-published Tracy Sumner offers an historical romance: To Seduce A Rogue (Southern Heat/Book One: ADAM) Darrell Delamaide has written non-fiction historical/political books for Doubleday and Plume, and had a fiction novel paperbacked by Onyx. Here is an historical thriller set during the height of the British Empire, which the blurb likens to Wilbur Smith and Alan Furst-type novels: The Grand Mirage Fellow MR member author Paul Levine offers another in his Jake Lassiter legal thriller series, 1997-William Morrow-published: Flesh and Bones Robert Elmer offers a YA historical set in Denmark during the Nazi occupation, printed by Christian publisher Bethany House in 1994: A Way Through the Sea (Young Underground) If you are interested in this time period/theme, we recently got his currently-published Wildflowers of Terezin as a freebie, and if you missed it, Abingdon seems to be repeating theirs fairly frequently. Sherban Young has one of those books of mini-mysteries to test your mind out from Dover Publications, who have a very nice line in reprints and original niche mostly-non-fiction (they do some good origami books). This is his self-published apparently comedic mystery/thriller adventure: Five Star Detour Helen Smith has written a couple of children's educational historical books printed in the early 2000s. She also seems to have a novel picked up by the AmazonEncore promising-indie imprint. This is not it, but a dystopian near-future thriller: The Miracle Inspector You know what? I have this inordinate fondness for cultures which produce dragon boats, and they tend not to get written about all that often. I therefore include this YA fantasy (also categorized under horro) book for the lulz, because how can you not want to at least give a sample skim to something whose blurb ends with "And what can she do about the ancient Berserker warriors she accidentally calls up, who pledge their allegiance and then demand junk food runs to Voodoo Doughnut and Burgerville?": Valhalla R. Harper Mason wrote environmental columns for the Arkansas Wildlife Federation and hosted a radio show. He offers an historical litfic story about "child’s life in the rural South during World War II" based upon his own true-life experience: Lyin' Like a Dog Jerri Corgiat offers a 2004-Onyx-paperbacked romance featuring a country music star: SING ME HOME (Love Finds A Home - Book One) Michael Lister, who edited that Florida Heatwave crime anthology we got free from Adams Media last year, offers a 2004-Bleak House-printed mystery/thriller about a prison chaplain who investigates murder: Blood of the Lamb (a John Jordan Mystery) Previously-featured horror writer Derek Gunn offers some kind of political adventure thriller this time around: Gemini Martin Roth is an Australian writer who says he was "a finalist in the 2011 Australian Christian Book of the Year awards" for one of his small-press-published (they have several authors in their stable with apparently faith-based books) mystery books. This is not it, but he offers Christian military/political thriller: Brother Half Angel (Military Orders Series, Book 1) Chinle Miller is listed as having contributed to specialist publications from the Museum of Arizona. Here is her 60s-set literary/adventure novel about an archaeologist on a quest to find herself, as well as clues to an ancient civilization: Uranium Daughter Previously-featured South African expat playwright Ian Fraser (Wikipedia entry) returns with his Hollywood-set literary suspense: No Man's Land Bryan Young, who's the 2nd multimedia person today to have a Wikipedia entry, offers a set of historical fiction stories and some advice for aspiring filmmakers: Linkage for both Another freebie issue of the horror e-magazine if you've been collecting them: Shock Totem 4: Curious Tales of the Macabre and Twisted Previously-featured Canadian writer Rick Dewhurst, who had a mystery novel hardcovered by Christian publisher B&H who sometimes give us freebies, offers a "noir masterpiece of chick-lit crime" with a PI investigating a pastor's death: The Good Book Club (A Jane Sunday Mystery) Nebula Award-winner Eric James Stone offers another freebie short (may be a repeat): Salt of Judas Carolyn Brown Heinz wrote a 1999-printed work which was apparently used as an anthropology textbook. Here is her novel featuring antiquities smuggling and an angry goddess: Mage at Midnight Bantam/Fanfare & Samhain-published Ellen Fisher repeats her historical romance: Love Remembered Lyn Horner is a newbie self-pub author, but she helpfully tells us she "was a 2008 semi-finalist in the prestigeous Orange Rose Romance Writers Contest" which apparently was from the various writer's guilds she is a member of, and then goes on to mention that she released her first book later in 2010. For being honest and giving specifics, I include her historical paranormal romance "Texas Druids" novella: White Witch If you wanted to see an example of what a typical single author/single work/single publisher with only that work self-pub entry into the ISFDB looks like, here's one for you to look at (actually, there was another today, but his book was not nearly as interesting). She does claim a few additional named-title named-venue publication credits, but no awards, nor best-selling status and I like the sense of humour in her bio. Anyway, this looks like it might be cracktastically entertaining and and a quick sample skim showed the prose to have no immediately fatal grammatical/coherency flaws, so I will include her comedic sci-fi spoof: There Goes the Galaxy If you were alive during the Cold War and you don't know who J Robert Oppenheimer is and the effect his work had on your entire global sociopolitical framework, you should hang your head in shame and remedy your appalling ignorance with the following graphic novel: ATOMIC DREAMS : THE LOST JOURNAL OF J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER It won't be nearly as good as Jim Ottaviani's Fallout, but it's currently free. There is also apparently an "app book" version (also free) which is optimized for Kindle Fire and the author/artists have some other freebie GNs for you to try including one with some involvement by Stefan Petrucha, who used to write the old X-Files comic book and is a noted horror author (ISFDB entry) in his own right. Happy reading, if you happen to pick up the feature title or the final one, or otherwise spot something you think you might like. Last edited by ATDrake; 02-09-2012 at 09:34 PM. Reason: More less educational works. And now, fix broken link in one of them that no one saw fit to mention.