FREE/BARGAIN — Mystery, Suspense & Thrillers

[Mort1997]

Free on Amazon UK today - A Game of Consequences by Shelley Smith

Spoiler:

Tom Ransome was jobless, on the brink homelessness and at his wit’s end when he bumped into Jeremy Eskdale…

The two men had not met since their days at Rugby, until that chance encounter in the Flying Fox which was so strangely to alter their lives.

For from that moment their lives were to become curiously entwined.

Tom, at the very end of his fortunes, found himself looking after the huge ramshackle country house which Jeremy's rich wife was trying to sell.

To Tom it was a stroke of great good luck, but while his two young daughters considered the new country life a haven, Tom's wife thought otherwise.

A world away from the sociable and wealthy life she used to lead, Kate Ransome began to deteriorate with the strain of being the sole source of income for the family.

Especially when — again quite by chance — Jeremy and his wife come to stay and Tom, good-natured obliging Tom, finds himself acting as their unpaid servant.

Jeremy, bored and idle, and the happy-go-lucky extrovert Tom amuse themselves with hatching absurd improbable plots.

A game that was to lead to the most terrible consequences…

But has it all been a matter of chance?

Does anything ever happen by chance?

And who was making use of whom?

UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Game-Conseq...ndeavour+press

US
https://www.amazon.com/Game-Conseque...ndeavour+press

Au
https://www.amazon.com.au/Game-Conse...ndeavour+press

Can
https://www.amazon.cak/Game-Conseque...ndeavour+press

[ATDrake]

X-link to the Comics thread for a bundle with some mystery/crime graphic novels in it:

Humble Comics Bundle IDW Creator Showcase contains the Eisner Award-winning adaptations of the late Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Donald E. Westlake's (SYKM, Wikipedia) Parker novels written as Richard Stark, with artwork done by the late Darwyn Cooke (Wikipedia).

One of them is available at the $10 tier, and 3 more at the $18 top tier, which is good value for money compared to what you'd pay for them normally, even if you read nothing else in the bundle. There's also some other mystery/crime-ish comics in there, but the Cooke/Parker adaptations are one of the main draws, IMHO.

[sufue]

The first two titles in Elly Griffith's Magic Men series, featuring Edgar Stephens and Max Mephisto, have dropped to $2.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

The Zig-Zag Girl, #1
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Zig-Zag-Girl-...dp/B00QPIGTOM/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-zig-zag-girl-2

Spoiler:

One of Entertainment Weekly's 10 Great Fall Thrillers
"Clever, immensely likeable...Captivating." —The Wall Street Journal

In the first installment of a compelling new series by Elly Griffiths featuring Detective Inspector Edgar Stephens and the magnificent Max Mephisto, a band of magicians who served together in World War II track a killer who’s performing their deadly tricks.

Brighton, 1950. The body of a girl is found cut into three pieces. Detective Inspector Edgar Stephens is convinced the killer is mimicking a famous magic trick—the Zig Zag Girl. The inventor of the trick, Max Mephisto, is an old war friend of Edgar’s. They served together in a shadowy unit called the Magic Men, a special ops troop that used stage tricks to confound the enemy.

Max is on the traveling show circuit, touring seaside towns with ventriloquists, sword-swallowers and dancing girls. He’s reluctant to leave this world to help Edgar investigate, but advises him to identify the victim quickly — it takes a special sidekick to do the Zig Zag Girl. Those words come back to haunt Max when the dead girl turns out to be Ethel, one of his best assistants to date. He’s soon at Edgar’s side, hunting for Ethel’s killer.

Another death, another magic trick: Edgar and Max are sure the answer to the murders lies in their army days. And when Edgar receives a letter warning of another “trick” on the way — the Wolf Trap — he knows they’re all in the killer’s sights.

Smoke and Mirrors, #2
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Smoke-Mirrors...dp/B01912P01Q/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/smoke-and-mirrors-37

Spoiler:

In the sequel to the "captivating" Zig Zag Girl, DI Edgar Stephens and the magician Max Mephisto hunt for a killer after two children are murdered in a tragic tableau of a very grim fairy tale.

Wall Street Journal

It’s Christmastime in Brighton, and the city is abuzz about a local production of Aladdin, starring the marvelous Max Mephisto. But the holiday cheer is lost on DI Edgar Stephens. He’s investigating the murder of two children, Annie and Mark, who were strangled to death in the woods, abandoned alongside a trail of candy—a horrifying scene eerily reminiscent of Hansel and Gretel.

Edgar has plenty of leads to investigate. Annie, a surprisingly dark child, used to write gruesome plays based on the Grimms' fairy tales. Does the key to the case lie in her unfinished final script? Or does the macabre staging of Annie and Mark’s deaths point to the theater and the capricious cast of characters performing in Aladdin? Once again Edgar enlists Max's help in penetrating the shadowy world of the theater. But is this all just classic misdirection?

[sufue]

Dying to Get Even is the second in the Jennifer Marsh series by Judy Fitzwater. It has dropped to $0.99 at Kindle and Kobo US (couponable/VIPable).

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Dying-Even-Je...dp/B005TLFQE0/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/dying-to-get-even-1

Spoiler:

The second in the acclaimed Jennifer Marsh mystery series!

Unpublished author and reluctant amateur detective Jennifer Marsh doesn't know how she keeps finding herself in the middle of a murder. Okay, the first one was her fault (she framed herself) but this one is just bad luck: catching her good friend, Emmie Walker, standing over her dead ex-husband, Edgar, holding a bloody knife.

Jennifer's sure Emmie is innocent. She's a sweet senior citizen who is way too smart to do something so stupid. So what if she has motive (her former husband was loaded and she'd gain ownership over his successful chain of restaurants) and opportunity (found holding a knife over his body)? She's not the only one.

Edgar Walker was not a nice man. People were probably standing in line to murder him. The question is who got to him first?

With help from her quirky writer's group, gorgeous, cranky reporter Sam, and her own fictional heroine Maxie Malone, Jennifer's determined to get to the bottom of this... before Emmie's convicted based on Jennifer's own eyewitness testimony.

And the first in this series, Dying to Get Published, is a long term freebie, so if you want to try before you buy, here are links:

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Dying-Publish...dp/B004GB0MG6/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/dyi...et-published-1

Spoiler:

Jennifer Marsh is a mystery writer with a stack of eight unpublished manuscripts and rejection letters to match filling her closet. She's sure that if she can just get famous for something, someone will have to publish her books. Why not murder?

She'll find a target so mean that she'd actually be doing the world a favor by bumping him or her off. And she knows just the person:
Penney Richmond, a high-powered literary agent who's made it her job to ruin people's lives. All Jennifer has to do is frame herself, do the deed, and come out with an iron-clad alibi, and she'll be well on her way to getting a three book deal. So what if she chickens out at the last minute? A vegetarian good girl who rescued a greyhound could never actually kill someone. But when Penney is found murdered and the police think Jennifer did it, she’d better find the real murderer before she goes away... for life.

Along with her eccentric writer's group, spunky old ladies with a nose for sleuthing, her neurotic greyhound, and a sexy, sarcastic reporter named Sam, Jennifer embarks on a journey filled with danger, deception, and disguises that could leave her Dying to Get Published...

[sufue]

A bunch of Max Allan Collins price drops to $0.99 at Kindle US. His titles drop often, so check carefully before you buy. Too many titles to list since I'm tight on time right now, but here's a link. Mostly from his "Disaster" titles, a couple of others...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/search/?se...price-asc-rank

[sufue]

A good chunk (the early titles) of the Joe Gunther series by Archer Mayor has dropped to $1.99. Once upon a time, long ago, these titles were dropping one at a time to $0.99 as part of the US Kindle Countdown program, but I haven't seen $0.99 in quite a while, so $1.99 is also pretty good. This is a police procedural series that I enjoyed in DTB.

link for them all: https://www.amazon.com/gp/search/?se...price-asc-rank

[sufue]

The blurb for The Secrets of Wishtide indicates it's the first in the new Laetitia Rodd series by Kate Saunders. For some reason its description sort of reminds me of the Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley, but I haven't read it, so that's just an impression. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Wisht...dp/B01DM9Q6DA/

Spoiler:

The first in a clever and charming new crime series that will immediately delight all fans of Agatha Christie and Alexander McCall Smith.

Mrs. Laetitia Rodd, aged fifty-two, is the widow of an archdeacon. Living in Hampstead with her confidante and landlady, Mrs. Bentley, who once let rooms to John Keats, Laetitia makes her living as a highly discreet private investigator.

Her brother, Frederick Tyson, is a criminal barrister living in the neighboring village of Highgate with his wife and ten children. Frederick finds the cases, and Laetitia solves them using her arch intelligence, her iron discretion, and her immaculate cover as an unsuspecting widow. When Frederick brings to her attention a case involving the son of the well-respected, highly connected Sir James Calderstone, Laetitia sets off for Lincolnshire to take up a position as the family's new governess--quickly making herself indispensable.But the seemingly simple case--looking into young Charles Calderstone's "inappropriateÂ?? love interest--soon takes a rather unpleasant turn. And as the family's secrets begin to unfold, Laetitia discovers the Calderstones have more to hide than most.

Dickensian in its scope and characters, The Secrets of Wishtide brings nineteenth century society vividly to life and illuminates the effect of Victorian morality on women's lives. Introducing an irresistible new detective, the first book in the Laetitia Rodd Mystery series will enthrall and delight.

[sufue]

After sitting at $2.99 for a long time, most (all?) of the titles in the Owen Archer series by Candace Robb went up in price for a year or so. They have now dropped to $1.99 at Kindle US, so if you didn't bite at $2.99, you might bite at $1.99 .

link for them all (and a stray short story): https://www.amazon.com/gp/search/?se...price-asc-rank

[sufue]

The Private Wound is a non-series title by Nicholas Blake. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/Private-Wound...dp/B00B0CXFH2/

Spoiler:

In the West of Ireland in 1939 a young novelist rents a lonely cottage to write his new book in peace.

Almost at once, and without great resistance, he is seduced by the wife of the local squire. Harriet's husband is an older man - hot-tempered, impoverished, gone to seed - who once fought famously against the Black and Tans. Soon this eternal triangle becomes a local scandal, and the atmosphere of threat and violence, intensified by the approaching war in Europe, leads to a horrific murder.

The Private Wound is Nicholas Blake's last book, written with such intensity of feeling and depth of character that it is widely regarded as his best.

"Really splendid. When they come round to having a Crime-writer Laureate, Mr Blake's brow is there for the wreathing" - The Times

[sufue]

Circle of Danger is the second in the C.I.D Room series by Roderic Jeffries. It is a US Kindle Countdown at $0.99 for about the next 6 1/4 days.

link: https://www.amazon.com/Circle-Danger...dp/B01LXHYR7J/

Spoiler:

A body has washed up at Fortrow Docks…

This is now the third drowning within three months and individually they are deemed accidents by the coroner.

But looking at them as a whole, Detective Inspector Fusil cannot shake the feeling that there is more to the deaths.

Detective Constable Kerr leads the investigation which places him in the middle of what was previously a well concealed drug ring.

Following leads, he is ordered to get close to Jane Waynet in an attempt to gather more information.

Is she involved in the crimes? An innocent caught in the middle?

Their relationship soon blossoms into something more, but he can’t help wondering if this an attempt to distract him from the case?

Her hesitance to answer any questions should be a warning. But Kerr is seemingly blinded by his feelings.

Believing that she is being forced into loyalty to the drug lord, Kerr refuses to break the courtship off.

Despite orders from his superiors to back off.

Lost in a sea of emotions, Kerr pushes forward with a new determination to catch the criminals.

But can he catch them without endangering Jane?

Circle of Danger is a gripping crime novel, full of suspense that will keep you guessing right until the end.

[sufue]

Some price drops in the $2.99 - $3.99 range. I'm traveling and don't have time for blurbs, but here's a list:

The Wrong Rite, 5th in the Janet and Madoc Rhys series by Charlotte MacLeod, $2.99
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Rite-Ma...dp/B0099HZQ2W/
Kobo US (coupon/VIPable): https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-wrong-rite

Sympathy for the Devil, 1st in the Madeline Bean series by Jerrilyn Farmer, $3.99
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Sympathy-Devi...dp/B003JBHUX2/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/sympathy-for-the-devil

Site Unseen, 1st in the Emma Fielding series by Dana Cameron, $2.99
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Site-Unseen-E...dp/B000VYX96C/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/site-unseen

Burglars Can't Be Choosers, 1st in the Bernie Rhodenbarr series by Lawrence Block, $3.49
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Burglars-Cant...dp/B000FC1PJ8/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/bur...-t-be-choosers

More later...

[sufue]

Two titles in the Lady Julia Grey series by Deanna Raybourn have dropped in price. Both have been on sale before, and there is also an omnibus, so check carefully before buying...

Silent in the Grave, #1, $1.99
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Silent-Grave-...dp/B0105XRMQG/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/silent-in-the-grave-6

Spoiler:

Return to the beginning of Deanna Raybourn's adored Lady Julia Grey's Victorian mystery series, and be carried off by adventure…

"Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave. "

These ominous words are the last threat that the darling of London society, Sir Edward Grey, receives from his killer. Before he can show them to Nicholas Brisbane, the private inquiry agent he has retained for his protection, Sir Edward collapses and dies at his London home, in the presence of his wife, Julia, and a roomful of dinner guests.

Julia is outraged when Brisbane visits and suggests that Sir Edward has been murdered. It is a reaction she comes to regret when she discovers the damning paper for herself, and realizes the truth. Determined to bring her husband's murderer to justice, Julia engages the enigmatic Brisbane to help her investigate Edward's demise, following a trail of clues that lead her to even more unpleasant truths, and ever closer to a killer who waits expectantly for her arrival.

Silent in the Sanctuary, #2, $3.99
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Silent-Sanctu...dp/B0105XRMUC/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/sil...he-sanctuary-6

Spoiler:

Recapture the Victorian mystery and magic of Lady Julia Gray with book 2 in Deanna Raybourn's fan-favorite series

Fresh from a six-month sojourn in Italy, Lady Julia returns home to Sussex to find her father's estate crowded with family and friends. Much to her surprise, the one man she had hoped to forget—the enigmatic and compelling Nicholas Brisbane—is among her father's houseguests…and he is not alone. Not to be outdone, Julia shows him that two can play at flirtation and promptly introduces him to her devoted, younger, titled Italian count.

But the homecoming celebrations quickly take a ghastly turn when one of the guests is found brutally murdered in the chapel. Lady Julia resumes her unlikely and deliciously intriguing partnership with Nicholas Brisbane, setting out to unravel a tangle of deceit before the killer can strike again.

[sufue]

And a few more price drops, all to $3.99, about the most I'll pay for backlist, so not great, but better than $6.99 or $7.99.

The Leper's Return is the sixth in the Simon Puttock/Sir Baldwin Furnshill series by Michael Jecks
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Lepers-Return...dp/B000JMKT78/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-leper-s-return

Don of the Dead is the first in the Pepper Martin series by Casey Daniels
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Don-Dead-Pepp...dp/B000WCWV8A/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/don-of-the-dead

Double Shot is the 12th in the Goldy Schulz series by Diane Mott Davidson
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Double-Shot-G...dp/B000FC2KJM/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/double-shot-2

I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason is the first in the Cece Caruso series by Susan Kandel (up there in the great title category IMO, along with The Cannibal Who Overate, and I Still Miss My Man but My Aim Is Getting Better )
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Dreamed-Marri...dp/B001RS8KP6/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/i-d...ed-perry-mason

The Bride's Kimono is the 5th in the Rei Shimura series by Sujata Massey
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Brides-Kimono...dp/B007SNHQVS/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-bride-s-kimono

[sufue]

The "Today's Big Deal" at Kindle UK features 34 mystery/thriller-ish titles, including titles by Ann Cleeves, CJ Sansom, Jack Higgins, Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, CJ Lyons, Ed McBain, and some others. The ones I looked at all were in the range of £0.99 to £1.19, although I didn't look comprehensively.

This is a horribly messy link, but I don't think I see a tag in it, and not sure how/if to clean it up:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/b/ref=s9_ac...d_i=5400977031

[cromag]

Lara McClintoch Archaeological Mysteries by Lyn Hamilton are free this week at Smashwords. The individual books are regularly priced at $1.99 for the first book and $4.99 for each of the other books, so this is a remarkable bargain. I bought the entire series a few years ago at a discount -- but not free! -- and really enjoyed them. These were first published by Berkley -- read about them <HERE>.

These books are part of Smashwords' Read an Ebook Week promotion, so they should go back up to their regular prices on Saturday, March 11.

The series is <HERE>.