FREE/BARGAIN — Mystery, Suspense & Thrillers

[sufue]

And if you're not in a life + 50, and still have to buy these, a bunch of the Judge Dee books (about half the titles that University of Chicago Press publishes) have just dropped to $1.99 and $2.99 at Kindle US, and several, but not as many - so far - have dropped at Kobo US, where they are discountable. Too many to list, but here are the series webpages....

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078MN6C2R...kindle_edition
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/series/th...-dee-mysteries
And one, The Willow Pattern, is on sale at Kindle UK for £1.99: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004ELAHHC

Originally Posted by issybird

For the Canadians and others in Life+50 countries, I saw that Faded Page has just added most of the Judge Dee books by Robert van Gulik. This is a favorite series of mine.

And I agree with @issybird - this is a great series. And I wish someone would e-publish the few remaining ones (Chinese Bell, Chinese Gold, Chinese Nail, and Chinese Lake) that I still have sitting on my shelves, but can't find e-editions of in the US. Or maybe I'll get a business trip to Canada soon!

[sufue]

I haven't read any mysteries by Jo Spain, which SYKM indicates came out in the mid- to late 2010s, but now here's an omnibus of the first three Tom Reynolds books available for $1.99 at Kindle US - and only at Kindle US, at least as of now. So now I'm debating - chance to try new author at a nice price vs adding to my groaning TBR pile...

Titles included are:

• With Our Blessing
• Beneath the Surface
• Sleeping Beauties

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089GL1XY1

Spoiler:

The Tom Reynolds Mysteries: the first three books in the stunning crime series by the bestselling author of The Confession

With Our Blessing (Book 1)

It's true what they say . . . revenge is sweet.

1975
A baby, minutes old, is forcibly taken from its devastated mother.

2010
The body of an elderly woman is found in a Dublin public park in the depths of winter.

Detective Inspector Tom Reynolds is on the case. He's convinced the murder is linked to historical events that took place in the notorious Magdalene Laundries. Reynolds and his team follow the trail to an isolated convent in the Irish countryside. But once inside, it becomes disturbingly clear that the killer is amongst them . . . and is determined to exact further vengeance for the sins of the past.

Beneath the Surface (Book 2)

Late at night, two powerful men meet in a secret location to discuss a long-nurtured plan about to come to fruition. One is desperate to know there is nothing standing in their way -- the other assures him everything is taken care of. Hours later, a high-ranking government official called Ryan Finnegan is brutally slain in the most secure building in Ireland -- Leinster House, the seat of parliament. Inspector Tom Reynolds and his team are called in to uncover the truth behind the murder.

At first, all the evidence hints at a politically motivated crime, until a surprise discovery takes the investigation in a dramatically different direction. Suddenly the motive for murder has got a lot more personal . . . but who benefits the most from Ryan's death?

Sleeping Beauties (Book 3)

A young woman, Fiona Holland, has gone missing from a small Irish village. A search is mounted, but there are whispers. Fiona had a wild reputation. Was she abducted, or has she run away?

A week later, a gruesome discovery is made in the woods at Ireland's most scenic beauty spot -- the valley of Glendalough. The bodies are all young women who disappeared in recent years. D.I. Tom Reynolds and his team are faced with the toughest case of their careers -- a serial killer, who hunts vulnerable women, and holds his victims captive before he ends their lives.

Soon the race is on to find Fiona Holland before it's too late . . .

[sufue]

If you picked Black Run up several years ago, and have been dying to read more of the series, the remaining three that have been translated into English are on sale for $2.99 each right now at Kindle US, although not at Kobo US.

Sadly (and oddly) though, the first one is priced at $11.39 (!!!), so if you want to read in order, and didn't get the first one when @Fbone posted it, you're kind of out of luck.

Adam's Rib, #2
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017R4Y3WM

Out of Season, #3
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072QB3429

Spring Cleaning, #4
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DCDH8QT

Originally Posted by Fbone

Black Run (Rocco Schiavone #1) by Antonio Manzini is $1.99

https://www.amazon.com/Black-Run-Nov...s=books&sr=1-1

[sufue]

The Cat Who Sniffed Glue is the eighth in Lilian Jackson Braun's Koko/Yum Yum/Jim Qwilleran "Cat Who" series. It's $1.99 right now in the US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000OCXJ98
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the...sniffed-glue-1

Spoiler:

When his cat Koko develops an odd obsession, Jim Qwilleran will have to sniff out the cause in this mystery in the New York Times bestselling Cat Who series.

Having inherited millions, Jim Qwilleran and his two feline companions, Koko and Yum Yum, are preparing to settle down into a life of purrfect luxury in Pickax. That is, until the son of a rich banker and his wife are found murdered. To the police it looks like a robbery gone awry. But then Koko develops an odd appetite for glue. Qwill doesn’t spot the clue until his beloved Siamese’s taste for paste tangles them in a web of love, danger, and their stickiest case yet!

[sufue]

Joan Hess is, I think, better known for her Maggody/Arly Hanks cozy series than for her Claire Malloy series, also cozy. Personally, though, although both series are fun, I slightly prefer the Claire Malloy books, possibly because I like academic tie-ins, and the Malloy books are set in a fictional academic town (of sorts).

But, unlike the Maggody books, most or all of which are Mysterious Press/Open Road and go on sale a lot, the Malloy books only rarely go on sale and are mostly $12.99 when not on sale, which is nutso for decades old backlist. Which is why it's nice to see the thirteenth in the series, A Conventional Corpse, on sale in the US for $2.99. And grab it fast if you want it!

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003J5UHWE
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/a-c...ional-corpse-3

Spoiler:

Farberville, Arkansas is playing host to its first ever mystery convention. Sponsored by the Thurber Farber Foundation and held at Farber College, Murder Comes to Campus is playing host to five major mystery writers representing all areas of the field. Dragooned into running the show when the original organizer is hospitalized, local bookseller Claire Malloy finds herself in the midst of a barely controlled disaster. Not only do each of the writers present their own set of idiosyncracies and difficulties (including one who arrives with her cat Wimple in tow), the feared, distrusted, and disliked mystery editor of Paradigm House, Roxanne Small, puts in a surprise appearance at the conference. Added to Claire's own love-life woes with local police detective Peter Rosen, things have never been worse.

Then when one of the attendees dies in a suspicious car accident, Wimple the cat disappears from Claire's home, and Roxanne Small is nowhere to be found, it becomes evident that the murder mystery is more than a literary genre.

[ZodWallop]

The Silent Dead by Tetsuya Honda is $3 at Amazon, B&N and Kobo US.

When a body wrapped in a blue plastic tarp and tied up with twine is discovered near the bushes near a quiet suburban Tokyo neighborhood, Lt. Reiko Himekawa and her squad take the case. The victim was slaughtered brutally---his wounds are bizarre, and no one can figure out the "what" or the "why" of this crime.

At age twenty-nine, Reiko Himekawa of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police's Homicide Division is young to have been made lieutenant, particularly because she lacks any kind of political or family connections. Despite barriers created by age, gender, and lack of connections, she is mentally tough, oblivious to danger, and has an impressive ability to solve crimes.

Reiko makes a discovery that leads the police to uncover eleven other bodies, all wrapped in the same sort of plastic. Few of the bodies are identifiable, but the ones that are have no connection to each other. The only possible clue is a long shot lead to a website spoken only in whispers on the Internet, something on the dark web known as "Strawberry Night."

But while she is hunting the killer, the killer is hunting her... and she may very well have been marked as the next victim.

[sufue]

Before Charlaine Harris got famous for her Sookie Stackhouse series, she wrote ten books in a traditional cozy series featuring librarian Aurora Teagarden, set in Georgia. Now four of those books have dropped to £2.99 each at Kindle UK .

Real Murders, #1, is actually long-term at £2.99
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B076Q1Z74H

Three Bedrooms, One Corpse, #3
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B076PJ2CSS

Last Scene Alive, #7
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B076PQ3SBQ

Poppy Done to Death, #8
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B076PLJ5Y1

[sufue]

If you like, as I do, SJ Parris' historical series featuring real-life monk/philosopher/astronomer Giordano Bruno, you might be interested in the non-fiction book, The Pope & the Heretic: The True Story of Giordano Bruno, the Man Who Dared to Defy the Roman Inquisition, by Michael White. Even though the title is too long. I've had this on eReaderIQ for a little while, and it has just now dropped to $2.99 in the US, and it's discountable at Kobo US.

I like it a lot when authors use real people in their historical mysteries, and like it even more when there is an Author's Note that clarifies what/who is historical, and what/who is made up. And The Pope & the Heretic should be a like a book-length Author's Note!

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000QTEA60
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-pope-the-heretic

Spoiler:

The story of the trial of visionary philosopher Giordano Bruno. “A nice overview of the conflict between religion and philosophy in the Renaissance.” —Publishers Weekly

Giordano Bruno challenged everything in his pursuit of an all-embracing system of thought. This not only brought him patronage from powerful figures of the day but also put him in direct conflict with the Catholic Church. Arrested by the Inquisition and tried as a heretic, Bruno was imprisoned, tortured, and, after eight years, burned at the stake in 1600. The Vatican “regrets” the burning yet refuses to clear him of heresy.

But Bruno’s philosophy spread: Galileo, Isaac Newton, Christiaan Huygens, and Gottfried Leibniz all built upon his ideas; his thought experiments predate the work of such twentieth-century luminaries as Karl Popper; his religious thinking inspired such radicals as Baruch Spinoza; and his work on the art of memory had a profound effect on William Shakespeare.

Chronicling a genius whose musings helped bring about the modern world, Michael White pieces together the final years—the capture, trial, and the threat the Catholic Church felt—that made Bruno a martyr of free thought.

“White’s book is exemplary for its discussions of the period’s intellectual beliefs and social structure and for its vivid detail and illuminating look at Bruno’s trial and subsequent death.” —Library Journal

“Riveting.” —Birmingham Post

[sufue]

The Last Precinct is the eleventh Kay Scarpetta title by Patricia Cornwell. It's $1.99 right now in the US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001VFTYWI
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-last-precinct-1

Spoiler:

Thwarting an attack by a suspected serial killer puts Virginia’s Chief Medial Examiner Kay Scarpetta in the harsh glare of the spotlight. As her personal and professional lives come under suspicion, she discovers that the so-called Werewolf murders may have extended to New York City and into the darkest corners of her past. A formidable prosecutor, a female assistant district attorney from New York, is brought into the case—and Scarpetta must struggle to make what she knows to be the truth prevail against mounting and unnerving evidence to the contrary. Tested in every way, she turns inward to ask, Where do you go when there is nowhere left?

[sufue]

Per an email I received from Oceanview Publishing, The Bucharest Dossier, which is the first book in William Maz's Bill Hefflin spy/thriller series, is free right now at all the usual places. I haven't read this series, since I usually don't gravitate towards thrillers, but have read some other series from Oceanview Publishing, and they are professionally done, and I have liked most that I have read. The email sort of implies that it will be free throughout June, but as usual, if you want it, I'd grab it now.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B091G2FRM8
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-bucharest-dossier
Google Books US: https://play.google.com/store/books/...d=EvsvEAAAQBAJ

Spoiler:

The CIA is rocked to its core when a KGB defector divulges that there is a KGB mole inside the Agency. They learn that the mole' s handler is a KGB agent known as Boris. CIA analyst Bill Hefflin recognizes that name— Boris is the code name of Hefflin' s longtime KGB asset. If the defector is correct, Hefflin realizes Boris must be a triple agent, and his supposed mole has been passing false intel to Hefflin and the CIA. What' s more, this makes Hefflin the prime suspect as the KGB mole inside the Agency.

Hefflin is given a chance to prove his innocence by returning to his city of birth, Bucharest, Romania, to find Boris and track down the identity of the mole. It' s been three years since the bloody revolution, and what he finds is a cauldron of spies, crooked politicians, and a country controlled by the underground and the new oligarchs, all of whom want to find Boris. But Hefflin has a secret that no one else knows— Boris has been dead for over a year.

[Mort1997]

Free today on Amazon UK - The Fifth Column (An Inspector Ruiz Mystery Book 3) by James Garcia Woods.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...oreType=ebooks

Spoiler:

The murder of an American member of the International Brigade training in a village deep in the heart of Republican Spain has implications which soon stretch far beyond a single death.

As mutual suspicions spread amongst the various groups which make up the brigade, it seems as if the unit - which is desperately needed for the defence of Madrid - is about to disintegrate. And so it is that Paco Ruiz is once more called upon to revert to his pre-war role as homicide detective.

Why do some of the peasants seem glad the brigadista who came to defend them is dead? Why does the Lincoln's commander insist that the murderer must have come from outside the village, when it is obvious to Paco that he did not? And how great is the danger that before the case is over Paco will lose Cindy Walker - the woman he loves - to her old college professor?

As the clock relentlessly ticks away, Paco struggles with one of the most complex cases of his career, never realising that he too, has been marked for death.