[arcadata]

Crunch Time: A Novel of Suspense (Goldy Schulz) by Diane Mott Davidson (HarperCollins) is $1.99

Book Description:

No one cooks up a tastier stew of murder, mystery, and mayhem than New York Times bestselling author Diana Mott Davidson. Entertainment Weekly calls her “today’s foremost practitioner of the culinary whodunit.”

When the rental house shared by chef Yolanda Garcia and her irrepressible aunt Ferdinanda is destroyed by arson, the pair moves in with cop-turned-PI Ernest McLeod. But then Ernest is shot dead and his house is set on fire, nearly killing Yolanda, Ferdinanda, and their good friend, Colorado caterer Goldy Schulz, along with nine beagle puppies that Ernest had recently rescued from a puppy mill.

Concerned for her friends, Goldy invites them to stay with her. But even her house isn’t safe. After a failed break-in and the discovery of a second body, the intrepid Goldy decides to swap her chef’s hat for a sleuthing cap. Now she’s got to move fast because it’s crunch time and a killer is getting dangerously close.

A Carrion Death (Detective Kubu) by Michael Stanley (HarperCollins) is $1.99

Book Description:

Smashed skull, snapped ribs, and a cloying smell of carrion. Leave the body for the hyenas to devour — no body, no case.

But Kalahari game rangers stumble on the human corpse mid-meal. The murder wasn’t perfect after all. Enter Detective David “Kubu” Bengu of the Botswana Criminal Investigation Department, an investigator whose personality and physique match his moniker, the Setswana word for hippopotamus — which is a seemingly docile beast, but one of the deadliest, and most persistent, on the continent.

Beneath a mountain of lies and superstitions, Kubu uncovers a chain of crimes leading to the most powerful figures in the country — cold-bloodedly efficient and frighteningly influential enemies who can make anyone who gets in their way disappear.

Labor Day by Joyce Maynard (HarperCollins) is $1.99

Book Description:

With the end of summer closing in and a steamy Labor Day weekend looming in the town of Holton Mills, New Hampshire, 13-year-old Henry – lonely, friendless, not too good at sports – spends most of his time watching television, reading, and daydreaming about the soft skin and budding bodies of his female classmates.

For company, Henry has his long-divorced mother, Adele – a onetime dancer whose summer project was to teach him how to foxtrot; his hamster, Joe; and awkward Saturday-night outings to Friendly’s with his estranged father and new stepfamily. As much as he tries, Henry knows that even with his jokes and his “Husband for a Day” coupon, he still can’t make his emotionally fragile mother happy.

Adele has a secret that makes it hard for her to leave their house, and seems to possess an irreparably broken heart. But all that changes on the Thursday before Labor Day, when a mysterious bleeding man named Frank approaches Henry and asks for a hand. Over the next five days, Henry will learn some of life’s most valuable lessons: how to throw a baseball, the secret to perfect piecrust, the breathless pain of jealousy, the power of betrayal, and the importance of putting others – especially those we love – above ourselves. And the knowledge that real love is worth waiting for.

In a manner evoking Ian McEwan’s Atonement and Nick Hornby’s About a Boy, acclaimed author Joyce Maynard weaves a beautiful, poignant tale of love, sex, adolescence, and devastating treachery as seen through the eyes of a young teenage boy – and the man he later becomes – looking back at an unexpected encounter that begins one single, long, hot, life-altering weekend.

If Today Be Sweet by Thrity Umrigar (HarperCollins) is $2.99

Book Description:

The recent death of her beloved husband, Rustom, has taken its toll on Tehmina Sethna. Now, while visiting her son, Sorab, in his suburban Ohio home, she is being asked to choose between continuing her old life in India and starting a new one in this unfamiliar country with her son, his American wife, and their child.

Her destiny is uncertain, and soon the plight of two troubled young children next door will force the most difficult decision she has ever faced. Ultimately the journey is one that Tehmina must travel alone.