FREE/BARGAIN — Mystery, Suspense & Thrillers

[GA Russell]

The Zebra-Striped Hearse (Lew Archer #10)

by Ross MacDonald

$4.99

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004G8PG10

After 60 years, these Lew Archer stories ought to be cheap; but $4.99 is as low as most of them get.

[cc_in_oh]

Fortunately I've been able to get the whole series from our public library network...

Originally Posted by GA Russell

The Zebra-Striped Hearse (Lew Archer #10)

by Ross MacDonald

$4.99

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004G8PG10

After 60 years, these Lew Archer stories ought to be cheap; but $4.99 is as low as most of them get.

[GA Russell]

Originally Posted by cc_in_oh

Fortunately I've been able to get the whole series from our public library network...

I should check mine out!

[sufue]

Today's Big Deal at Kindle UK is the first six books in Gyles Brandreth's Victorian Murder Mystery series, on sale for £0.99 each. I haven't read any of these books, which were originally published by Touchstone (part of Simon & Schuster) and are now published by Hodder & Stoughton (part of Hachette UK). So YMMV. Also note that there are some "updated" titles, as there so often are when changing publishers. Oh, and even the series name changed - it was previously called "The Oscar Wilde Murder Mystery" series. Sigh! So check carefully before buying. You can see these at SYKM: https://www.stopyourekillingme.com/B...eth_Gyles.html

Oh, and price-matched at Kobo UK...

Link to the Kindle UK deals page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/b/?_encodin...ode=4725112031
Link to the series at Kobo UK: https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/series/th...mystery-series

[salty-horse]

Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane is £1 in the UK (Kobo, Amazon)

New York Times bestselling author Dennis Lehane returns with a masterpiece to rival Mystic River: an all-consuming tale of revenge, family love, festering hate, and insidious power, set against one of the most tumultuous episodes in Boston's history**.**

In the summer of 1974 a heatwave blankets Boston and Mary Pat Fennessey is trying to stay one step ahead of the bill collectors. Mary Pat has lived her entire life in the housing projects of 'Southie', the Irish American enclave that stubbornly adheres to old tradition and stands proudly apart.

One night Mary Pat's teenage daughter Jules stays out late and doesn't come home. That same evening, a young Black man is found dead, struck by a subway train under mysterious circumstances.

The two events seem unconnected. But Mary Pat, propelled by a desperate search for her missing daughter, begins turning over stones best left untouched - asking questions that bother Marty Butler, chieftain of the Irish mob, and the men who work for him, men who don't take kindly to any threat to their business.

Set against the hot, tumultuous months when the city's desegregation of its public schools exploded in violence, Small Mercies is a superb thriller, a brutal depiction of criminality and power, and an unflinching portrait of the dark heart of American racism.

[sufue]

Today's Big Deal at Kindle UK, good for only a few more hours, because I've been travelling, is thirteen Penguin Modern Classics books, with a decided bent towards crime/spy/thriller, for £0.99 each. I'm slammed and don't have time to figure out a Kobo UK link, but I spot checked five of them and all were on sale at Kobo UK too.

Kindle UK Big Deal page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/b/?_encodin...ode=4725112031

Note 1: At least one of these (the Tey book), and possibly more, may be public domain for you depending on where you are/live right now, so check before you buy.

Note 2: And FWIW, I love the Chandler cover!

[sufue]

And another one with just a few hours to go...

Dead Hill is the first in the DCI Jack Harris series by John Dean.* It's free right now (but not for much longer) at Kindle US and UK as Joffe's Free Friday book, still good as of Sunday, US time.**

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XH2ZJQ4
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XH2ZJQ4

Spoiler:

The theft of the eggs of a rare golden eagle leads to a murder investigation and a serious questioning of loyalties

A man is killed by being pushed over the edge of a quarry. There is no doubt about who the culprits are, so why can't DCI Harris lay a finger on them?

Surly and abrasive, veteran detective Jack Harris at times shows more concern for the wildlife in his beloved Pennine Hills than keeping up cordial relations at work. Indeed, when a trio of local criminals try to steal the eggs of a rare bird, DCI Harris treats it almost like a personal insult and readies to envelop them in the long arm of the law.

Yet when two of the criminals descend from the hills into Harris’ snare, rather than the expected three, Harris finds himself with a murder investigation on his hands. But far from being an open and shut case, it is one that will wrench him out of his rural idyll, and back into the gritty criminal underworld to solve.

The murdered man is formally identified as a gangland member and Harris is beset by a troubled local community and doubts amongst his colleagues that he can bring the killer to justice. Doing so will force Harris to confront a nasty episode in his own past and question the loyalties of those around him.

This novel is set in the fictional town of Levton, nestled in the bleak and blustery Pennine Hills in the north of England. It is the first in a series of titles featuring Jack Harris and the Levton Police Force.

[sufue]

A while ago, in a different post, I mentioned that Joffe had perhaps gotten the rights to DB Borton's Cat Caliban series, some of which I had read and liked in DTB many many years ago. And I had a review copy of a re-issued version of the first book a couple of years ago, and still liked it. (You can see on my blog if you wish...)

Now, Joffe is out with an omnibus of all eight books in the series, on sale at this moment for $0.99/£0.99. As usual, Joffe has messed with the titles, but these are pretty easy to figure out since both sets have sequential numbers in the titles.

As above, I don't have time just now to list all eight, but here's a link to SKYM's DB Borton page, which at least has all the old titles, and most of the new ones aren't much different: https://www.stopyourekillingme.com/B...orton_D-B.html

And here are links to the omnibus:
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FTZ5J8DH
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FTZ5J8DH

[sufue]

London Rules is the fifth Slough House book by Mick Herron. It's £0.99 today in the UK as part of today's Kindle Daily Deal, and it will probably drop in price at Kobo UK sometime later today.

Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B072L7JM4K
Kobo UK (for price-check): https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/london-rules-1

Spoiler:

At Regent's Park, the Intelligence Service HQ, new First Desk Claude Whelan is learning the job the hard way.

Tasked with protecting a beleaguered Prime Minister, he's facing attack from all directions: from the showboating MP who orchestrated the Brexit vote, and now has his sights set on Number Ten; from the showboat's wife, a tabloid columnist, who's crucifying Whelan in print; and especially from his own deputy, Lady Di Taverner, who's alert for Claude's every stumble. Meanwhile, the country's being rocked by an apparently random string of terror attacks.

Over at Slough House, the last stop for washed up spies, the crew are struggling with personal problems: repressed grief, various addictions, retail paralysis, and the nagging suspicion that their newest colleague is a psychopath. But collectively, they're about to rediscover their greatest strength - making a bad situation much, much worse.

[Cactus Chef]

The Complete Miss Marple Collection (Miss Marple Mysteries) by Agatha Christie is $1 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)

The Complete Miss Marple Collection gathers together all of Agatha Christie’s novels featuring her beloved intrepid investigator, Miss Marple. It’s an unparalleled compendium of murder, mayhem, mystery, and detection that represents some of the finest crime fiction in the field, and is an essential omnibus for Christie fans.

Described by her friend Dolly Bantry as “the typical old maid of fiction,” Miss Marple has lived almost her entire life in the sleepy hamlet of St. Mary Mead. Yet, by observing village life she has gained an unparalleled insight into human nature—and used it to devastating effect. As her friend Sir Henry Clithering, the ex-Commissioner of Scotland Yard, has been heard to say: “She’s just the finest detective God ever made”—and many Agatha Christie fans would agree.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

The Complete Miss Marple Collection (Miss Marple Mysteries) by Agatha Christie is $1 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)

Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FOPTNDQ/

[salty-horse]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FOPTNDQ/

There's already an Amazon link in the text you quoted.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by salty-horse

There's already an Amazon link in the text you quoted.

I should have said: Fixed Amazon link.

[salty-horse]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I should have said: Fixed Amazon link.

That link is generated by my script - it leads to a search results page with the correct item, by design, since it's using the ISBN and not the ASIN.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by salty-horse

That link is generated by my script - it leads to a search results page with the correct item, by design, since it's using the ISBN and not the ASIN.

Not for me - I get a page "No results for your search query in Kindle Store" by clicking that link.

But checking more closely, I see that something auto-redirected the link from amazon.com to amazon.co.uk (which doesn't have that book). Interesting!