FREE/BARGAIN - Mystery, Suspense, Thriller - 2015

[AnemicOak]

Some first in series books that are currently discounted...


Murder in the Marais (An Aimee Leduc Investigation Book 1) by Cara Black - $1.99 (or less)
Amazon US ($1.39) | Google | Kobo | B&N ($1.39)

Aimée Leduc, a Parisian private investigator, has always sworn she would stick to tech investigation—no criminal cases for her. Especially since her father, the late police detective, was killed in the line of duty. But when an old Jewish man approaches Aimée with a top-secret decoding job on behalf of a woman in his synagogue, Aimée unwittingly takes on more than she was expecting. When she goes to drop off her findings at her client's house in the Marais, Paris's historic Jewish quarter, she finds the old woman strangled, a swastika carved on her forehead. With the help of her partner, René, Aimée sets out to solve this horrendous crime, but finds herself in an increasingly dangerous web of ancient secrets and buried war crimes.

Hit Man (Keller series Book 1) by Lawrence Black - $1.99
Amazon US | Google | B&N

Keller is your basic urban Lonely Guy.He makes a decent wage, lives in a nice apartment.Works the crossword puzzle. Watches a little TV. Until the phone rings and he packs a suitcase, gets on a plane, flies halfway across the country...and kills somebody. It's a living. But is it a life? Keller's not sure. He goes to a shrink, but it doesn't work out the way he planned. He gets a dog, he gets a girlfriend. He gets along.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder (Hannah Swensen series Book 1) by Joanne Fluke - $1.99
Amazon US | Google | Kobo | B&N

Take one amateur sleuth. Mix in some eccentric Minnesota locals. Add a generous dollop of crackling suspense, and you've got the recipe for this delicious new mystery series featuring Hannah Swensen, the red-haired, cookie-baking heroine whose gingersnaps are almost as tart as her mouth and whose penchant for solving crime is definitely stirring things up.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder

Hannah already has her hands full trying to dodge her mother's attempts to marry her off while running The Cookie Jar, Lake Eden's most popular bakery. But once Ron LaSalle, the beloved delivery man from the Cozy Cow Dairy, is found murdered behind her bakery with Hannah's famous Chocolate Chip Crunchies scattered around him, her life just can't get any worse. Determined not to let her cookies get a bad reputation, she sets out to track down a killer. But if she doesn't watch her back, Hannah's sweet life may get burned to a crisp.

By Cook or by Crook (A Five-Ingredient Mystery Book 1) by Maya Corrigan - $1.99
Amazon US | Google | Kobo | B&N

Take one burned-out city girl. Add a crusty codger, a pinch of gossip, and a dash of romance. Stir in a generous helping of murder and you've got the ingredients for one truly delicious mystery. . .
Haunted by the car accident that ended her career as a cookbook publicist, Val Deniston has traded in the chaos of New York City for a quieter life near the Chesapeake Bay. Living with her curmudgeonly grandfather in the tourist town of Bayport is hardly glamorous, but she enjoys working at the Cool Down Café at the local fitness club, and she finally has time to work on her long-planned cookbook. But when one of the club's patrons is found dead, she'll have to cook up a scheme to find the killer. As the number of suspects rises like crabs in a bucket, it's out of the pan and into the fire for Val. If she can't find the culprit soon, she might as well be chum in the water. . .

Includes Five Delicious Recipes from Val's Cookbook!

Antiques Roadkill (A Trash 'n' Treasures Mystery Book 1) by Barbara Allan - $1.99
Amazon US | Google | Kobo | B&N

Determined to make a new start in her quaint hometown on the banks of the Mississippi, Brandy Borne never dreams she'll become the prime suspect in a murder case. . .

Moving back in with her eccentric, larger-than-life mother, Brandy Borne finds small-town Serenity anything but serene. It seems an unscrupulous antiques dealer has swindled Vivian out of the family's heirlooms. But when he is found run over in a country lane, Brandy becomes Murder Suspect Number One--with her mother coming in a very close second. . .

The list of other suspects is impressive--the victim's business seems to have been based on bilking seniors out of their possessions. And when the Borne "girls" uncover a few very unsavory Serenity secrets, they become targets for a murderer whose favorite hobby seems to be collecting victims.

A Catered Murder (A Mystery With Recipes Book 1) by Isis Crawford - $1.99
Amazon US | Google | Kobo | B&N

Bernadette Simmons wasn't sure what to expect when she left L.A.--and her no-good, cheating boyfriend--to move back in with her family in New York. And her sister Libby had no idea what she was in for when she hired Bernie to work for her catering business. But in between cutting up canapés and dishing up desserts, the two find themselves in the midst of a mystery they can really sink their teeth into. . .

It's only been a few days since Bernie and Libby started working together at A Little Taste of Heaven, and already they've got their hands full--baking cookies and slicing rare beef tenderloin to serve at a high school reunion. The dinner has a "Dracula" theme and a very strange guest of honor: Laird Wrenn, a New York Times bestselling author of vampire novels. Libby and Bernie know this will be an evening unlike any other. And they're proven right when Laird pours a glass of water, takes a long sip--and drops stone-cold dead. . .

Now, with murder on the menu and Libby under suspicion, the sisters will have to put their heads together to figure out whodunit--in a mystery that promises to be deadly to the very last bite.

Working Stiff (Mattie Winston Mysteries Book 1) by Annelise Ryan - $1.99
Amazon US | Google | Kobo | B&N

When Mattie Winston catches her husband Dr. David Winston receiving some very special loving care from R.N. Karen Owenby, she quits her job and moves out. Mattie's best friend Izzy offers her a place to stay and suggests she'd be a natural as deputy coroner. Now, instead of taking patients' pulses, Mattie's weighing their hearts and livers.

But Mattie's first homicide call turns out to be for none other than Nurse Karen, and even though she saw her ex in a heated argument with the newly deceased the night before, she refuses to believe David could be a killer. Keeping mum about what she saw, Mattie is also left speechless by the sight of hunky Detective Steve Hurley...

From learning the ropes on her new job to sorting out her feelings about her ex and dealing with her growing attraction to Detective Hurley, Mattie's in deep water and in danger of sinking quickly, especially when she places herself dead center in the path of a desperate--yet determined--killer. . .

Snake Skin (Lucy Guardino FBI Thrillers Book 1) by CJ Lyons - $0.99
Amazon US | Kobo | B&N

WARNING: the Lucy Guardino FBI Thrillers are NOT for the faint of heart! They depict adult situations, realistic violence with consequences, and delve deep into the darkness of the human heart and mind.

Just your average Pittsburgh soccer mom, baking brownies and carrying a loaded forty-caliber Glock...

Lucille Teresa Guardino. A woman of many identities. Lucille to her doting mother, Lulu to her devoted husband, Mom to her pre-teen daughter, Lucy to her friends, LT to her co-workers, and Supervisory Special Agent Guardino to the criminals she captures for the FBI's Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement squad.

A loving mom and wife, dutiful daughter, consummate professional, and kick-ass federal agent, Lucy is living the perfect life.

Until the day she comes up against a predator more vicious and cunning than any she's ever tackled before, one who forces Lucy to choose between the life of the young victim she is fighting to save and her own daughter's....and Lucy's dream life is shattered.

[Fbone]

Florida Roadkill (Serge Storms #1) by Tim Dorsey is $1.99 at most retailers. Harpercollins 1999. GR 3.77. Also available through Overdrive.

https://play.google.com/store/books/...d=_FT3goGtR0oC
http://smile.amazon.com/Florida-Road...+by+tim+dorsey

[sufue]

Two titles in Shelley Singer's Jake Samson & Rosie Vicente series are US Kindle Countdown deals right now.

Samson's Deal is the first in the series and is $0.99 for about 5 1/4 more days.
link: http://www.amazon.com/Samsons-Deal-L.../dp/B00DDU756Q

Spoiler:

Samson's Deal is the FIRST cozy mystery in the Jake Samson and Rosie Vicente detective series by award-winning author Shelley Singer.

"Singer has a good ear for dialogue among the witless … It's fun to watch [Jake and Rosie] work together, and the bad guys eventually get their satisfying comeuppance, after an interesting plot twist that keeps things hopping till the very end." —San Francisco Bay Guardian

MURDER, POLITICS, AND STRANGE BEDFELLOWS...

Ex-Chicago-cop Jake Samson is tired of the rat race. He's living in laid back Oakland, California with a couple of cats and just enough savings to eat canned oysters and accept collect calls from his bemused parents, when an old friend--a progressive political science professor--calls with an enticing offer. Seems the professor's wife was found dead in the backyard of their Berkeley home, and he wants to pay Jake ten thousand dollars (plus expenses) to figure out whodunit.

The police pick up the usual leads; jealousy, dirty politics, and an estate worth killing for. Naturally, since the professor is the dead woman's spouse, he's the primary suspect. Samson doesn't like the guy much, but the case heats up—quite literally—when the professor's office is set afire by a radical right wing activist group, of which, it turns out, the wife was a member.

With his good friend Rosie, and her justice-dispensing two-by-four, Samson follows a twisted trail that leads through the Bay Area's bizarre cultural labyrinth, from pop meditation ashrams to neo-Nazi rallies, to the startling but all too human truth.

“Great bar scenes, a wonderfully wry narrative, and the obvious nonsexual affection between Jake and Rosie will have readers clamoring for more.” -Library Journal

“A fast-paced and often frightening look at the insidious attraction of the extreme right. Even though most of those drawn to the group may be on the lower end of any IQ chart, their sense of dedication to the mistaken idea that they possess a genetic and racial superiority is enough to make them very dangerous. This Shelley Singer novel is recommended.” -Bookbrowser

"...one of the nicer guys in the private eye business, who operates in a relaxed, casual style without need for macho posturing." -Washington Post

WHO WILL LIKE IT: Fans of Parnell Hall's Stanley Hastings series, Tony Dunbar's Tubby Dubonnet series, Bill Pronzini's "Nameless" Detective series, Marcia Muller's Sharon McCone series, Susan Dunlap's Jill Smith series, Julie Smith's Rebecca Schwartz series ... and vintage TV series like COLUMBO, THE ROCKFORD FILES, HARRY O, MAGNUM, and HAWAII FIVE-O.

Shelley Singer is the author of ten mysteries, two science fiction novels, one mainstream fiction, and many short stories.

Suicide King is the fifth in the series, at $0.99 for about 2 more days.
link: http://www.amazon.com/Suicide-Samson...dp/B00KKRHPJ2/

Spoiler:

Suicide King is the FIFTH cozy mystery in the Jake Samson and Rosie Vicente detective series.

"Political pundits will relish the fifth fast-paced whodunit ... another solid performance." -Publishers Weekly

Laid-back P.I. Jake Samson's never been a big fan of politics: fun and profitable if you understand the game, futile and frustrating if you don't. But his longtime friend and (unlicensed) sidekick Rosie Vicente invites him to a posh California fundraiser for the energetic gubernatorial candidate of the liberal underdog Vivo party. Hearing that Joe Richmond’s charisma rivals JFK's, Jake can't resist. And what's worse, Jake's actually impressed by Richmond's rhetoric and charm. It's all fun and political games until Pam Sutherland, Richmond's aide, finds her boss in her backyard, hanging naked from an acacia tree.

The police rule the death a suicide; Jake and Pam suspect foul play. Pam quickly hires Jake to find the culprit, leading him through an intriguing web of campaign shenanigans, backroom wheeling and dealing, affairs, a possible German mafia connection, and a fair amount more danger than our hero could possibly have imagined.

All of the titles in this series have been free or discounted before, but in case you missed these...

[sufue]

Another Sherlock Homes pastiche from Endeavour Press is $0.99 on US Kindle Countdown for about 4 1/4 more days before going to $3.99.

Sherlock Holmes and the Frightened Golfer by JM Gregson
link: http://www.amazon.com/Sherlock-Holme...dp/B00OZKNJFY/

Spoiler:

London, February 1896.

A bright crisp day is the first hint of the spring to come, a welcome intrusion into the winter gloom of the great industrial city.

But as Watson welcomes the sun and tries to cheer up a restless Holmes, there is an urgent knock at the door of 221B Baker Street.

A moment later, a large man bursts into the living quarters of the famous detective.

Alfred Bullimore is a very skilled but also an extremely frightened golfer and he brings with him one of the strangest cases ever to be recorded in Dr Watson's assiduous notes.

What had seemed at first to be no more than tasteless horseplay at Royal Blackheath Golf Club is now threatening to escalate into serious violence.

Already there has been an attack upon an elderly member walking his dog at dusk, and soon this is followed by an attempt at murder, which brings Holmes and Watson swiftly to the scene of the crime at the famous old golf club.

Bullimore is a good enough golfer to mount a serious challenge to win the Open Championship of 1896.

But as his successes accumulate in the month before the Open, the threat to his safety seems ever greater.

The climax of the tale is set thrillingly on the last day of the 1896 Open Championship at Muirfield, with the solution as unexpected as it is timely.

Sherlock Holmes and the Frightened Golfer is a brilliant addition to the stories of Victorian London's greatest detective.

Praise for J M Gregson:

‘Begins with quiet observation before pouncing to murderous effect’ - Sunday Express

‘A chilling story that never flags from start to finish’ - Bolton Evening News

J M Gregson is a Lancastrian by birth and upbringing. He taught for twenty-seven years in schools, colleges and universities before taking early retirement to concentrate on full-time writing. His other titles include ‘Girl Gone Missing’, ‘An Unsuitable Death’, ‘Bring Forth Your Dead’, ‘Making a Killing’ and ‘Stranglehold’.

[mitford13]

Apparently this is a 'lost American classic' (National Book Award finalist, pretty impressive press quotes) - now re-issued/self-pubbed and on Kindle Countdown for .99 for 3 more days:

Death of the Detective by Mark Smith

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00P6NDOKE/

Mark Smith’s Literary Masterpiece of Crime Fiction.
A National Book Award Finalist
The blockbuster New York Times bestseller.

“Remarkable for both its ambition and its accomplishment, it reads as though it were written by a resurrected Charles Dickens, one chilled by a hundred years of graveyard brooding…every page is a pleasure to read,” New York Times

A killer calling himself The Deathmaker is on the loose, pursued by Arnold Magnuson, a grief-stricken detective on the verge of a mental breakdown. Magnuson’s dogged investigation to find the killer, and himself, takes him deep into urban Chicago, laying bare the corrupt city and its seething soul in all its macabre, heartbreaking, and violent complexity. It’s a sprawling, utterly compelling story, widely regarded as a stunning literary achievement and perhaps the best detective novel ever written.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by mitford13

Apparently this is a 'lost American classic' (National Book Award finalist, pretty impressive press quotes) - now re-issued/self-pubbed and on Kindle Countdown for .99 for 3 more days:

Death of the Detective by Mark Smith

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00P6NDOKE/

Mark Smith’s Literary Masterpiece of Crime Fiction.
A National Book Award Finalist
The blockbuster New York Times bestseller.

“Remarkable for both its ambition and its accomplishment, it reads as though it were written by a resurrected Charles Dickens, one chilled by a hundred years of graveyard brooding…every page is a pleasure to read,” New York Times

A killer calling himself The Deathmaker is on the loose, pursued by Arnold Magnuson, a grief-stricken detective on the verge of a mental breakdown. Magnuson’s dogged investigation to find the killer, and himself, takes him deep into urban Chicago, laying bare the corrupt city and its seething soul in all its macabre, heartbreaking, and violent complexity. It’s a sprawling, utterly compelling story, widely regarded as a stunning literary achievement and perhaps the best detective novel ever written.

Got it!

Thank you.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Burglars Can't Be Choosers (Bernie Rhodenbarr #1) by Lawrence Block is $1.99 at all retailers. HarperCollins 1977. GR 3.81

http://smile.amazon.com/Burglars-Can...lawrence+block
https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/eb...-t-be-choosers

HarperCollins reduced the price for Burglars to 99 cents.

[sufue]

Florida Straits is the first in the 1990's-ish Key West series by Laurence Shames. It's a US Kindle Countdown deal for about one more day, at $1.99 before going to $2.99, and eventually presumably to $4.99.

link: http://www.amazon.com/Florida-Strait...dp/B00T1Q4R8K/

Spoiler:

"People go to Key West for lots of different reasons. Joey Goldman went there to become a gangster..."

So begins this classic Key West caper, the hilarious and touching book that launched a much-loved series and introduced the world to Bert the Shirt and his chihuahua Don Giovanni, two of the most unforgettable characters in contemporary fiction.

Joey, the illegitimate son of a major NY mafioso, decides to break away from a decidedly unpromising future in the old neighborhood of Queens. But will the old neighborhood and the Family let him go in peace? Not if knucklehead half-brother Gino has anything to say about it. As Joey is finally establishing his new life in sunny Florida, Gino involves him in a disastrous scam featuring a boatload of stolen emeralds and several squads of very nasty thugs. Finding within himself resources of smarts and courage he never knew he had, Joey beats long odds and muddles through to a brilliant solution to the problems dumped on him by Gino.

Cleverly plotted, enlivened by pitch-perfect dialogue, FLORIDA STRAITS is a completely satisfying mystery, but it's more than that as well. Think of it as a fish-out-of-water coming-of-age novel, a comedy of very bad manners with an unlikely hero you will root for from page one.

[sufue]

Two Joe Gunther books by Archer Mayor have been US Kindle Countdown deals before, but are now $1.99 for about three more days before going to $4.99.

The Skeleton's Knee is the fourth in the series.
link: http://www.amazon.com/Skeletons-Knee...dp/B00C3DA4WG/

Spoiler:

When a reclusive market gardener's death proves to stem from a 20 year-old bullet wound, Lt. Joe Gunther is presented with a very cold homicide to solve. But who was the victim exactly? A deeply private man eking out an ascetic existence from a hardscrabble mountain field, Abraham Fuller was virtually unknown to his neighbors, in the manner of someone pursuing more than mere solitude. The discovery of a duffle of unmarked bills and a body buried in the garden patch suggests that Fuller had motives beyond misanthropy. Nor is it such a cold case either, as someone seems willing to kill to ensure that old secrets remain buried.

The fourth Joe Gunther mystery, The Skeleton's Knee sends Lt. Gunther on an investigation spanning thousands of miles and reaching back decades, to solve a crime whose deepest roots seem to lie in Chicago's troubled summer of 1968. It's easy to see why the New York Times bestselling Mayor has been described as producing "the best police-procedural series being written in America."

Fruits of the Poisonous Tree is the fifth in the series.
link: http://www.amazon.com/Fruits-Poisono...dp/B00C3DHDF2/

Spoiler:

Gail Zigman, town selectwoman and Joe Gunther's companion of many years, is raped, and the detective finds himself caught between the media, local politicians, and a network of well-meaning victims' rights advocates as he tries to put his own feelings aside and follow the trail of evidence.

Every lead seems to point to a single, obvious suspect, but is the evidence too perfect? Risking his friendship with Gail, the respect of his peers, and his own life, Lt. Gunther keeps digging, hoping to find out if the man they have in jail is rightly there, or if the evidence against him is tainted—"fruits of the poisonous tree."

"The police work is impeccable, the action scenes are clear and sharp" — Marilyn Stasio, New York Times

[sufue]

To Speak for the Dead is the first in the Jake Lassiter series by Paul Levine. It's a US Kindle Countdown deal at $0.99 for about 6 1/2 more days before going to $2.99.

link: http://www.amazon.com/SPEAK-DEAD-Las...dp/B003SHDUD6/

Spoiler:

NO. 1 BESTSELLING LEGAL THRILLER

A doctor in love with his patient's wife...
A fatal mistake during surgery...
Accident? Malpractice? Or murder?

Defending a surgeon in a malpractice case, Jake Lassiter begins to suspect that his client is innocent of negligence...but guilty of murder. Add a sexy widow, a deadly drug, and a grave robbery to the stew, and you have Miami's trial of the century.

"Move over Scott Turow. 'To Speak for the Dead' is courtroom drama at its very best." - Larry King, USA Today

[sufue]

Endeavour Press has a ridiculous number of titles on US Kindle Countdown deal right now, many of them repeats, but also including a few which were new to me. Unless otherwise noted, they are all at $0.99 before going back to $3.99.

Rather than individual links and blurbs, I'm providing a link for Endeavour Press mysteries, sorted by ascending price, and you can take a look yourself. I'll try to list authors and titles. Because I've just done a "master link", a few of the titles which pull up from the link may repeat from earlier in the thread, or may be $0.99 titles that are not on countdown. Also, I've tried to eliminate already posted current duplicates from my list below, but won't be perfect, I'm sure...


link: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_st_pr...price-asc-rank


Harry Currie: Debut for a Spy - for about 2 1/2 more days

Sally Spencer: Blackstone and the Burning Secret - for about 2 1/2 more days

Wendy Cartmell: Current of Lies - for about 2 1/2 more days

George Bellairs: Death Drops the Pilot - for about 1 1/2 more days

Gwen Moffat: The Lost Girls - for about 1 1/2 more days

George Bellairs: Crime in Leper's Hollow - for about 2 1/2 more days

Frederic Lindsay: Convictions - for about 2 1/2 more days

Roger Ormerod: Mask of Innocence - for about 2 1/2 more days

JM Gregson: Stranglehold - for about 4 1/2 more days

Roger Ormerod: An Alibi too Soon - for about 5 1/2 more days

JM Straker: Death on a Sunday Morning - for about 3 1/2 more days

JM Straker: A Choice of Victims - for about 5 1/2 more days

[Critteranne]

The Girl on the Train is $6.49 at Amazon, B&N, and other sellers. That's a great price for a recent hardback that is a big best-seller.

[sufue]

And finally, a few more which don't pull up with that link, mostly repeats, but one new to me, perhaps considered to be more thriller than mystery...which I maybe agree with for Gardner, but not for Heley...

All at $0.99 before returning to $3.99.

John Gardner: Madrigal - 3 1/2 more days
link: http://www.amazon.com/Madrigal-John-...dp/B00KECQKUI/

John Gardner: Every Night's a Bullfight - 1 1/2 more days
link: http://www.amazon.com/Every-Nights-B...dp/B00SJ2ANWQ/

John Gardner: A Killer for a Song - 3 1/2 more days
link: http://www.amazon.com/Killer-Song-Jo...dp/B00LUZ9DJI/

Veronica Heley: Cry for Kit - 1 1/2 more days
link: http://www.amazon.com/Cry-Kit-Veroni...dp/B00NV3FE8G/

[GA Russell]

John Gardner's Madrigal and Killer for a Song are Boysie Oakes stories. I enjoy the Boysie stories, although they're not really well written.

I recommend that you pick these two up for 99 cents, but that you read the Boysie stories in order, starting with The Liquidator.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Critteranne

The Girl on the Train is $6.49 at Amazon, B&N, and other sellers. That's a great price for a recent hardback that is a big best-seller.

It's also a good book, especially if you like a suspenseful story with an unreliable narrator. I listened to the audio version and enjoyed it immensely.