Free/Bargain Cozy Mystery - July & August 2014

[peachiekene]

We point out free and bargain cozy mysteries to each other, and recommend certain books that are/were free (or the opposite!).

Because Kindle freebies are easiest to find, the majority of the books listed are from Amazon, but freebies and bargains from other retailers and in other formats are more than welcome!

In case no retailer is specifically mentioned in a post, it is safe to assume it's for Amazon US.

Be aware that many freebies are only free for a day, so grab them fast!

[peachiekene]

Free

A Pedigree to Die For by Laurien Berenson

Melanie' Travis's life is going to the dogs. With school out for the summer, a stint as a camp counselor falling through, and her sometime boyfriend dumping her for a Las Vegas chorus girl, the thirty-something Connecticut teacher and single mother figures that things can't get any worse.
She figures wrong...

Everyone knew that Melanie's Uncle Max had a weak heart. When Aunt Peg finds him dead on the cold floor of their championship kennel, surrounded by eleven whining, prize-winning Standard poodles, she isn't shocked...and doesn't panic. But Melanie is surprised when, three days after the funeral, Peg shows up seeking her help. One of her prize pooches is missing -- and it's beginning to look like Max's sudden demise is more a matter of... murder.

With her four-year-old son Davey happily ensconced in day camp, Melanie manages to maneuver herself into Connecticut's elite canine circles. Posing as a poodle breeder in search of the perfect stud, she mingles with sophisticated exhibitors and professional handlers...and soon starts feeling a little out of her clas. Until she meets Sam Driver. Although the irresistibly attractive breeder is soon wooing her with seductive candle lit dinners, Melanie resolves to be wary.

Then the killer strikes again, and Melanie realizes that she has been barking up the wrong tree. As events -- mysterious and romantic -- culminate in the celebrated Westminster Dog Show, she suddenly finds herself on a long leash of intrigue and greed...hot on the scent of a chilling secret to die for.

AmazonUS
AmazonCA
AmazonUK
Kobo
Google
B&N

[ATDrake]

Free from the author('s publishing collective) via the KDP Select program @ Amazon. (ETA: This has already been free for at least 2 days, with potentially 3 left out of the 5 per 90 day total.)

Paper Phoenix: A Mystery of San Francisco in the '70s (A Classic Cozy--with Romance!) by Michaela Thompson, originally out from Dutton & Ballantine in 1986/1987 under the name of Mickey Friedman.

First comes divorce, then comes murder…

…or at least sweet thoughts of murder. Maggie Longstreet has plenty of them after slimy, ambitious Richard trades her in for a more recent model. She’s so depressed she can barely get out of bed when Larry Hawkins, a seemingly not-at-all depressed acquaintance, commits suicide out of the blue. Suddenly Maggie goes on high alert, remembering something her evil ex said about Larry—something highly suspicious.

And from there, it's just a short segué to a bracing new development:

“When some women get divorced they go back to school, I thought. Some do volunteer work at the hospital, or join communes and learn to birth calves. Some have affairs with inappropriate men. My new interest is burglary. Maggie Longstreet, former wife and mother, past president of the Museum Guild, now starting a career as a second-story woman.”

Fortunately, Maggie isn’t alone in her adventure—a very attractive, much younger man proves a lot more fun than Richard ever was. In fact, the real delight of this witty, sly mystery is seeing Maggie come alive again after a suffocating marriage. Set in the’70s, it has a bit of that Mad Men feel of women on the brink of something big. And completely unexpected.

You know Maggie’s going to be okay when she says: “I’d rather have had one of those cute little guns with a mother-of-pearl handle, but this (diamond pin) would have to do. I concealed it in my hand. At least now I was armed—or pinned.”