FREE/BARGAIN - Mystery, Suspense, Thriller - 2016

[sufue]

Five Fun Female Sleuths is a box set (as usual, whatever that means on an e-reader ) with titles by Julie Smith, Adrienne Barbeau, Michaela Thompson and Tracy Whiting. All of the titles have been on sale/free before, with the possible exception of the Barbeau title, which I might not have paid attention to because I'm not usually much into paranormal stuff - although this one looks sort of cute. I'm a huge francophile, so I especially liked the Whiting title, The 13th Fellow, which is set in (wait for it) France. The box set is on US Kindle Countdown at $0.99 for about 1 3/4 more days.

Titles are:

• Smith: Louisiana Bigshot
• Smith: The Sourdough Wars
• Whiting: The 13th Fellow
• Barbeau: Love Bites
• Thompson: Paper Phoenix

link: https://www.amazon.com/Five-Fun-Fema.../dp/B01IADAPF8

Spoiler:

In the mood for a handful of deliciously amusing cozy mysteries? It’s as if Stephanie Plum meets Jackie Brown and spars with Amelia Peabody in these five humorous puzzlers, featuring five unique leading ladies: a New Orleans poet-turned-private-eye, a witty Hollywood vampire, an American academic in Provence, a sassy San Francisco lawyer, and a sly divorcee starting anew in the 70s.

Prepare yourself for plenty of laughs, curl up, and devour all 5 cozies for just 6.99!

LOUISIANA BIGSHOT

IT’S QUEEN LATIFAH PLUS DANNY DEVITO IN THIS MULTILAYERED MURDER MYSTERY BY EDGAR-WINNER JULIE SMITH
…Or it would be if this were a movie—in print, they’re Talba Wallis and Eddie Valentino. Talba’s got the beauty, the brains, the computer savvy, the poetic soul, the youth, the right demographic, and the sass. Eddie’s got the detective agency. Also a short fuse and yes, wisdom. Not only do they make it work, they’ve got chemistry.

And they need every skill and ounce of courage they can summon in this intricate tale of a decades-old conspiracy only now coming home to roost, with the murder of Talba’s friend Babalu Maya. Babalu is actually Clayton Robineau, daughter of the local banker in a small Louisiana town that bears her name. And that town has plenty of skeletons in its closet.

LOVE BITES

NOT YOUR MAMA’S POLICE PROCEDURAL—A COP STORY WITH BITE…AND ROMANCE
IN Adrienne Barbeau's second Vampyres of Hollywood mystery, Ovsanna’s the successful owner of her own Hollywood film studio and the star of 17 blockbuster horror films, plus three, sadly, that went straight to video. (But even vampyres have bad days.) Peter, on the other hand, is a Beverly Hills cop firmly rooted in human affairs, from the domestic issues of his lively Italian family to the romantic ones of his neighbor, snake dancer Suzie Q.

Though Ovsanna’s had flings with everyone from Genghis Khan to Errol Flynn, Peter’s got what it takes to catch her eye and hold her interest. And he’s one hell of a detective. Together, the duo takes on Hollywood in an action-packed mystery with sly satire, spiced and seasoned with paranormal characters that the author manages to turn into metaphors for the monsters we all encounter on a daily basis.

THE 13TH FELLOW

POETRY, MURDER, BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE...AND PROVENCE!
American Professor Havilah Gaie has always seen herself as “an academic version of Pam Grier’s characters in Tracy Whiting;s first mystery: smart, quick on their feet, loyal with a keen sense of purpose.” Now she’s got a chance to suit up for action because suddenly she’s a witness in a murder, having spoken with the victim on her phone moments before he was attacked.

SOURDOUGH WARS by Julie Smith

TO YOU, ITS JUST A FROZEN LUMP OF DOUGH; TO SOME, IT'S LIFE AND DEATH...
Especially to handsome Peter Martinelli, who wants to auction off the fabled sourdough starter from his family’s famous bakery. But who’d buy a frozen hunk of flour and water? Only, it turns out, every bakery in San Francisco, a national food conglomerate, and an upstart ringer with a mysterious backer. Someone would even kill for it. And does.

PAPER PHOENIX by Michaela Thompson

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...

[sufue]

Death Runs in the Family is the third in the Alvarez Family series by Heather Haven. It's a US Kindle Countdown deal at $0.99 for about 1 3/4 more days.

link: https://www.amazon.com/Death-Family-.../dp/B00JVGRGBK

Spoiler:

Winner of the Global Gold Best Mystery Fiction 2013.

Lee Alvarez' ex-husband, Nick -- a man she divorced with joy in her heart and a gun in her hand - sprints back in her life only to disappear again. She'd love to leave it at that, but could he be responsible for the recent death of her cousin, who keeled over at the finish line of a half-marathon in front of hundreds of spectators? As PI for the family run business, Discretionary Inquiries, Lee follows the clues to Vegas, where she joins forces with Shoshone PI, Flint Tall Trees. Together they uncover a multi-million dollar betting syndicate, a tacky lounge lizard act, and a list of past but very dead runners, plus future ones to off. At the top of the 'future' list is the love of her life, Gurn Hanson. Hoping to force the culprits out in the open, Gurn and Lee's brother, Richard, vow to run San Francisco's famous Palace to Palace 12K in only a few days. Can Lee keep the two men she loves from hitting the finish line like her cousin? With more at stake than she ever dreamed possible, Lee is in a battle against time to stop the Alvarez Family's race with death.

The first in this series, Murder is a Family Business, is part of a "box set", Sleuthing Women: 10 First-in-Series Mysteries, which is itself only $0.99, so if you want to try the first one first, you can do that and get nine other titles as a bonus . Info in this previous post: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho....php?p=3350195.

[sufue]

The three currently available titles (per SYKM) in the Tracy Crosswhite serie by Robert Dugoni have dropped to $1.99 at Kindle US.

Titles are:

• My Sister's Grave
• Her Final Breath
• In the Clearing

link for all three (and a stray): https://www.amazon.com/gp/search/?se...&price=100-200

[ATDrake]

Some UK-available Nordic Noir/Eurocrime in translation markdowns:

@ £0.99 each:

• Nightblind by Icelandic author Ragnar Jónasson, translated by British author Quentin Bates (SYKM), himself the writer of an Iceland-based series which I've liked so far, from Euro crime specialty imprint Orenda Books @ Amazon UK (not discounted at Kobo, but you can do the request a price-match after purchase). This is the 2nd in his Dark Iceland series of crime thrillers; #1 was a previously a £0.99 special, but has gone back up to £2.99.
  
  The rest of the series is couponable @ Kobo using the OPEN50 50% off code for the UK which expires today. This series is not available in North America (although going from my local library's listings, the 1st book has been translated into Korean) slated for release next year by St. Martin's Minotaur Press, with a pre-order price of $14 CAD for the first book. Also available in French translation in Canada.
  
• #1-3 (couponable) in Norwegian author Thomas Enger's (SYKM, Wikipedia NO) Henning Juul series starring an investigative crime reporter in Oslo, out from Faber. This has been nominated for some sort of minor crime literature award, according to his Wikipedia page. I've started reading these, and so far it's been a slow but entertaining build which goes in-depth into the character of the sleuth before getting into the crime, and has a satirical deadpan sense of humour about the media industry (Enger is himself a journalist).
  
  For comparison, the North American-available versions are priced at $17 CAD each, non-couponable from Simon & Schuster's Atria imprint. (for some reason which I suspect is a glitch, Scarred is available from Faber at $2 CAD at Kobo CA)

@ £1.99 each (couponable):

Closed for Winter & The Caveman by Norwegian author Jørn Lier Horst (SYKM, Wikipedia), out from mystery/crime specialty small publisher Sandstone Press. These are #7 & #8 in his William Wisting series starring a Chief Inspector in Larvik; #1-5 have not been translated into English yet. The series has garnered a bunch of Scandinavian crime writing prizes, according to his Wikipedia page.

@ £2.50 each (couponable)

• Blind Goddess & Punishment by Norwegian author Anne Holt (SYKM, Wikipedia), who is apparently known as the Norwegian "Queen of Crime". These are the respective #1 for her Hanne Wilhelmsen series starring a lesbian police officer in Oslo, and her Johanne Vik series starring a psychology professor, also in Oslo, out from Corvus/Atlantic. I started reading the 1st Vik novel a while ago when I picked it up during a previous sale, before I got sidetracked onto something else, and so far it was pretty decent, though not as engaging as the Enger Juul book.
  
  The Vik series has not yet been made available in North America, but IIRC some HarperCollins imprint has the Wilhelmsen series and prices them at $17 now dropped to $8 CAD each (although I did get #1 & #2 when they dropped to $1.99 on sale). Incidentally, the latest book in the Wilhelmsen series garnered 3 Best Novel nominations in translation, according to SYKM.
• Dark Branches by Norwegian author Nik Frobenius, out from Sandstone Press. Apparently a standalone suspense thriller with horror-ish elements.

@ £3.99 (couponable):

Chilling Tales: 3-book Crime Thriller Collection by German author Sebastian Fitzek (Wikipedia), an omnibus edition of 3 of his novels (The Eye Collector, Splinter, and Therapy), which also happen to be individually marked down to £1.99 each, but are cheaper in this collected edition from Atlantic/Corvus.

These don't seem to be available in English translation in North America, but apparently this author has the widest spread of foreign-language versions I've seen at Kobo (and was popular enough in French translation to merit a minor spotlight in the 70% off thrillers sale at Kobo CA).

[ATDrake]

More UK-couponable mystery bargains from Atlantic Corvus:

@ £3.75, 3-book omnibus of #1-3 in The Sandro Cellini Mysteries by Christobel Kent (SYKM), starring an ex-cop turned PI in Florence, Italy.

@ £1.99 each, #4, A Darkness Descending & #5, The Killing Room, making for the complete series thus far.

These are published under different titles by St. Martin's Minotaur imprint (non-couponable) in North America, at considerably higher prices.

[ATDrake]

A couple more Scandicrime titles on sale in the UK:

@ £0.99 (not couponable)

Buried Angels by Swedish author Camilla Läckberg (SYKM, Wikipedia), from HarperCollins. This is #8 in her Falck & Hedström series teaming up a detective and a writer in the small fishing town of Fjällbacka, for which #1-6 have previously been a £0.99 Amazon UK deal of the day, and the omnibus edition of #1-3 was a $4.99 CAD Kobo Deal of the Day in Canada. So if you've already started getting these, you might want to pick this one up too while it's cheap.

@ £2.50 (couponable)

The Princess of Burundi by Swedish author Kjell Eriksson (SYKM, Wikipedia; nominated for Best Swedish Crime Novel 5 times, according to one of the blurbs), #4 in his Inspector Ann Lindell series set in Uppsala, out from Allison & Busby. This is the volume that was first available in English translation to start the series with. #1-2 & #5 are still untranslated, and #3 is upcoming later this year.

@ £3.99 each (couponable):

#5 Black Lies, Red Blood (original Swedish #9) & #6 Open Grave (original Swedish #10) in the English translations of the Ann Lindell series, which is not really a sale price, but #2-4 (corresponding to Swedish #6-8), which appear to be more recent translations, are priced at £5.50 each, so with the 50% off OPEN50 coupon if it's still working, these are reasonably cheap if you intend to continue the series.

For comparison purposes, these start at $10.99 CAD each from St. Martin's Minotaur imprint (non-couponable), although I did get the 1st-in-series for $2 or $3 on sale last summer and have been waiting to see if any others would drop (they haven't so far).

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Some UK-available Nordic Noir/Eurocrime in translation markdowns:

@ £0.99 each:

• Nightblind by Icelandic author Ragnar Jónasson, translated by British author Quentin Bates (SYKM), himself the writer of an Iceland-based series which I've liked so far, from Euro crime specialty imprint Orenda Books @ Amazon UK (not discounted at Kobo, but you can do the request a price-match after purchase). This is the 2nd in his Dark Iceland series of crime thrillers; #1 was a previously a £0.99 special, but has gone back up to £2.99.
  
  The rest of the series is couponable @ Kobo using the OPEN50 50% off code for the UK which expires today. This series is not available in North America (although going from my local library's listings, the 1st book has been translated into Korean) slated for release next year by St. Martin's Minotaur Press, with a pre-order price of $14 CAD for the first book. Also available in French translation in Canada.
  
• #1-3 (couponable) in Norwegian author Thomas Enger's (SYKM, Wikipedia NO) Henning Juul series starring an investigative crime reporter in Oslo, out from Faber. This has been nominated for some sort of minor crime literature award, according to his Wikipedia page. I've started reading these, and so far it's been a slow but entertaining build which goes in-depth into the character of the sleuth before getting into the crime, and has a satirical deadpan sense of humour about the media industry (Enger is himself a journalist).
  
  For comparison, the North American-available versions are priced at $17 CAD each, non-couponable from Simon & Schuster's Atria imprint. (for some reason which I suspect is a glitch, Scarred is available from Faber at $2 CAD at Kobo CA)

@ £1.99 each (couponable):

Closed for Winter & The Caveman by Norwegian author Jørn Lier Horst (SYKM, Wikipedia), out from mystery/crime specialty small publisher Sandstone Press. These are #7 & #8 in his William Wisting series starring a Chief Inspector in Larvik; #1-5 have not been translated into English yet. The series has garnered a bunch of Scandinavian crime writing prizes, according to his Wikipedia page.

@ £2.50 each (couponable)

• Blind Goddess & Punishment by Norwegian author Anne Holt (SYKM, Wikipedia), who is apparently known as the Norwegian "Queen of Crime". These are the respective #1 for her Hanne Wilhelmsen series starring a lesbian police officer in Oslo, and her Johanne Vik series starring a psychology professor, also in Oslo, out from Corvus/Atlantic. I started reading the 1st Vik novel a while ago when I picked it up during a previous sale, before I got sidetracked onto something else, and so far it was pretty decent, though not as engaging as the Enger Juul book.
  
  The Vik series has not yet been made available in North America, but IIRC some HarperCollins imprint has the Wilhelmsen series and prices them at $17 now dropped to $8 CAD each (although I did get #1 & #2 when they dropped to $1.99 on sale). Incidentally, the latest book in the Wilhelmsen series garnered 3 Best Novel nominations in translation, according to SYKM.
• Dark Branches by Norwegian author Nik Frobenius, out from Sandstone Press. Apparently a standalone suspense thriller with horror-ish elements.

@ £3.99 (couponable):

Chilling Tales: 3-book Crime Thriller Collection by German author Sebastian Fitzek (Wikipedia), an omnibus edition of 3 of his novels (The Eye Collector, Splinter, and Therapy), which also happen to be individually marked down to £1.99 each, but are cheaper in this collected edition from Atlantic/Corvus.

These don't seem to be available in English translation in North America, but apparently this author has the widest spread of foreign-language versions I've seen at Kobo (and was popular enough in French translation to merit a minor spotlight in the 70% off thrillers sale at Kobo CA).

Bought a whole bunch, thanks to you!

[sufue]

Murder On The ICW is the 5th in the Magnolia mystery series by Ellen Elizabeth Hunter. (ICW is the Intracoastal Waterway, for those of you who didn't grow up visiting your grandmother in the South - the US South - every summer...) The names of the protagonists are Ashley and Melanie Wilkes, so I suspect a heavy dose of cozy . It is free right now at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00865FJHA

Spoiler:

During the Prohibition Era, moonshine operations flourished along the creeks that fed the Intracoastal Waterway. So Ashley Wilkes, historic preservationist, is not surprised to learn that the hunting lodge she is restoring once housed an operational still. But what she discovers under a small mountain of moonshine bottles is both surprising and shocking. Meanwhile, Melanie's boyfriends are turning up dead. Is she loving them to death? The police think so. Thanksgiving weekend finds Ashley and Melanie sailing in the annual Holiday Flotilla. But are those popping noises they hear fireworks or gunfire?

"Best mystery series portraying Wilmington NC" -- Spirit, Southwest Airlines Magazine

"Hunter's fascination with historic Wilmington is evident in the rich descriptions, and her list of murder suspects will keep the reader guessing until the end." -- Our State Magazine

"Hunter sets her historical preservationist sleuth Ashley Wilkes on another agreeably diverting mission in Murder on the ICW." -- Raleigh News & Observer

[Fbone]

The Feast of Artemis (The Greek Detective #7) by Anne Zouroudi is FREE on Amazon today. Bloomsbury 2013. GR 3.92

https://smile.amazon.com/Feast-Artem...ast+of+Artemis

[Tarana]

Oh crumb, Kobo doesn't let me shift countries anymore. Could be because my cards were changed from Visa to Mastercard. Oh pooh. I was hoping for some Nordic Noir.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Tarana

Oh crumb, Kobo doesn't let me shift countries anymore. Could be because my cards were changed from Visa to Mastercard. Oh pooh. I was hoping for some Nordic Noir.

I love Nordic Noir, as well.

There must be something you can do. Drop on over to the Kobo Coupons section of this Forum or to the Kobo Forum - perhaps they might have some suggestions.

To miss Nordic Noir is....unthinkable....untenable... and downright depressing. To NOT have Nordic Noir is like attending a festive birthday party, when what you really want is bleakness and unending snow....and a murder or two, of course (fictionally speaking!)

[ATDrake]

Some last-minute bargains from Kobo Canada's Labour Day sale which also offers 10x bonus points on each (mostly not matched in other stores, as far as I can tell):

@ $2.99 CAD (eligible for extra VIP discount) from Orenda Books and House of Anansi's Spiderline imprint (regularly around $7-11 CAD):

• We Shall Inherit The Wind by Norwegian author Gunnar Staalesen (SYKM, Wikipedia), #18 (#6 in available translations) in his popular Varg Veum series starring a PI in Bergen. This is basically the start of the series readily available as e-books now, as the English-language publisher for #1-5, Arcadia Books, did something within the past couple of months to pull their catalogue from every store except Amazon (and no, apparently not KDP Select exclusivity for the Kindle Unlimited thing, as far as I can tell).
• The Evolution of Fear by Paul E. Hardisty (SYKM), 2nd in his conspiracy mystery/adventure thriller series starring a South African oil engineer in Yemen. Cover for this says the author was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey Dagger Award, which IIRC, corresponds to what SYKM calls the New Blood Dagger Award listed on his page.
• #1-3 in British author Elena Forbes' (SYKM) Mark Tataglia series, starring a detective inspector in London.

@ $2.99 CAD (matched in other stores, but bonus points at Kobo, non-couponable):

The Ice Child by Swedish author Camilla Läckberg, whose credentials are only a few posts upthread; 9th in her Falck & Hedstrom series set in a small fishing village, out from HarperCollins.

@ $3.89 each from assorted small presses:

• Winemaker Detective Mysteries: An Omnibus by French authors Jean-Pierre Baleaux & Noël Balein (SYKM), containing the translated versions of #1-3 in their series starring winemaker turned gentleman detective in France, out from Le French Book. Matched at Amazon.
• The Toronto Series Bundle by Canadian author John McFetridge (SYKM), a 3-book omnibus of his stanadlone novels set in Toronto.
• The Wilson Mystery Omnibus by Canadian author Mike Knowles, containing #1-3 in his series starring a mob enforcer who betrays his boss in Hamilton; #3 was an Arthur Ellis Award finalist, according to SYKM. #4 is available separately, also for $3.89.
• 5 titles from Canadian author William Deverell (SYKM, Wikipedia), frequent Arthur Ellis Award nominee, including 3 standalone and 2 in his Arthur Beauchamp series starring a retired lawyer turned farmer on an island off the BC Coast, some of which are the actual award nominees.
• #1-8 in Canadian author Anne Emery's (SYKM) Collins-Burke series set in Halifax, teaming up a priest and a lawyer; we've previously gotten the 1st book, which was an Arthur Ellis finalist, as a freebie.
• #1-7 in Canadian author Ian Hamilton's (SYKM) excellent Ava Lee series starring a Chinese-Canadian lapsed Catholic lesbian forensic accountant. These are investigative (mostly) non-murder action adventure mysteries which have her tracking down and recovering money and dealing with financial fraud stuff, and are very entertaining, if you like that sort of thing. The prequel novella (included in a bundle with book #1) is available to read for free online, courtesy of the author himself: The Dragon Head of Hong Kong. A different publisher has the rights for these in the US, and they are $9.99 a pop and non-couponable.

There's also about 16 pages worth of other discounted mysteries (some expiring off their sale prices already) which are all eligible for the 10x bonus points Labour Day sale deal, including cozy mysteries from Kensington, and other publishers: linkage for the lot.

[Mort1997]

Free Today on Amazon UK - The Annam Jewel: A Golden Age Mystery by Patricia Wentworth

Spoiler:

“Thou hast betrayed, and thou hast slain…”

What is the mystery shrouding the lovely but sinister Annam stone, stolen from a remote shrine? Every owner of it has suffered an unhappy fate. When Peter Waring, nephew of the original thief, inherited the jewel, it would mean great power and wealth—or so he imagined. His rude awakening leads to a maze of deceit and treachery, a bogus love affair, and a narrowly escaped death. Peter believes the gem is in the hands of the one man in the world he has every reason to hate. A game of cat and mouse is about to ensue, with each man believing the other has what he wants…

UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Annam-Jewel...362247031_f_68

Au
https://www.amazon.com.au/Annam-Jewe...362247031_f_68

Can
https://www.amazon.ca/Annam-Jewel-Go...362247031_f_68

[Mort1997]

Free Today on Amazon UK - The Draycott Murder Mystery: A Golden Age Mystery by Molly Thynne

Spoiler:

There was something about those hands, with their strangely crisped fingers, as though they had been arrested in the very act of closing, that somehow gave the lie to the woman’s attitude of sleep.

A howling gale … A lonely farmhouse … the tread of a mysterious stranger … and then the corpse of a beautiful blonde, seemingly stopped in the act of writing.

This is all a bit much for local bobby PC Gunnet, especially when it seems the dead – and aristocratic – woman shouldn’t even have been there in the first place. But nonetheless the owner of the farm, John Leslie, is convicted, and his guilt looks certain. Certain, that is, until the eccentric Allen “Hatter” Fayre, an old India hand, begins to look more deeply into the case and discovers more than one rival suspect in this classic and satisfying puzzler.

UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Draycott-Mu...54QMW5VH2ZQWCY


Au
https://www.amazon.com.au/Draycott-M...54QMW5VH2ZQWCY

Can
https://www.amazon.ca/Draycott-Murde...54QMW5VH2ZQWCY

[Mort1997]

Free Today on Amazon UK - Deadly Crossroads by Daniel Bjork

Spoiler:

19th century America

Doctor Josiah Bartlett has grown fat tending to the mundane needs of the people in Concord, Massachusetts.

But the bucolic bliss is rudely shattered by the tragic death of Mary Chase, a vivacious young woman who teaches in the local school and a close friend of Louisa May Alcott, the soon-to-be author.

Mary is believed to have drowned herself after she is fished out of the Concord River.

But when Doctor Bartlett examines the bloated and rigid corpse, he finds her head caved in.

Could the suicide be murder?

Lack of hard evidence leads the local sheriff to dismiss Doctor Bartlett when he tried to persuade him to open a murder investigation.

He warns Bartlett to leave the law to him.

But the old doctor relishes his new self-appointed role and calls on the town’s intellectuals to help him interpret Mary’s diary.

It soon reveals an unnamed lover who lives amid the bright lights of Boston.

It’s not long before a very different picture of Mary begins to emerge – one of a hot-blooded young female whose true nature and vitality has had a dramatic, sometimes awful, impact on the lives of the men she has been involved with.

Before they know it, another brutal killing rocks the town.

Is it linked to Mary’s death?

Or is it just a terrifying coincidence?

Doctor Bartlett must race to the heart of the matter, before his own life reaches a Deadly Crossroads…

UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Deadly-Cros...ndeavour+press


US
https://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Crossr...ndeavour+press

Au
https://www.amazon.com.au/Deadly-Cro...ndeavour+press

Can
https://www.amazon.ca/Deadly-Crossro...ndeavour+press