FREE/BARGAIN — Mystery, Suspense & Thrillers

[sufue]

I like Davis a little more and Maddox Roberts a lot more than Doherty, as far as historicals go, but still quite like the Egyptian and Macedonian Doherty titles I have read.

As far as Roman historials, I also adore David Wishart's books (especially the ones he calls "political", which have more historical background in them than the "normal" ones; Wishart does have a distinctive style which folks tend to either love or hate), and quite like Rosemary Rowe, Jane Finnis, and Ruth Downie (love Tilla). So maybe if you can't get Maddox Roberts in the UK, some of these are available <grin>.

Originally Posted by maddz

There's a number at 99p and £1.99 on Amazon.co.uk as well:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=sr_pg...qid=1490663603

I've read a few of his works but have to say I prefer Lindsey Davis (waiting for a price drop on 11-20 of Falco), John Maddox Roberts (why aren't SPQR available in the UK?) and Stephen Saylor.

[maddz]

Originally Posted by sufue

I like Davis a little more and Maddox Roberts a lot more than Doherty, as far as historicals go, but still quite like the Egyptian and Macedonian Doherty titles I have read.

As far as Roman historials, I also adore David Wishart's books (especially the ones he calls "political", which have more historical background in them than the "normal" ones; Wishart does have a distinctive style which folks tend to either love or hate), and quite like Rosemary Rowe, Jane Finnis, and Ruth Downie (love Tilla). So maybe if you can't get Maddox Roberts in the UK, some of these are available <grin>.

I tried Wishart a while back and found the historical inaccuracies enough to put me off trying him again. This was several years back so matters may have improved since then but I have enough on the Kindle app alone to keep me busy for months.

I can get hard copies of Maddox Roberts, but not any of the SPQR ebooks (only the Hannibal's Children duology and the Dragonlance (?) he wrote). Makes me consider piracy...

[GA Russell]

A Rule Against Murder (Gamache #4) - Louise Penny - $2.99
https://www.amazon.com/Rule-Against-...dp/B002ASFQ3G/

[sqdancer]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

A Rule Against Murder (Gamache #4) - Louise Penny - $2.99
https://www.amazon.com/Rule-Against-...dp/B002ASFQ3G/

FYI for those who "travel" - the original (Canadian/UK) title is The murder stone

[Wearever]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Thanks for the Doherty recommendations. I've decided to give the Hugh Corbett omnibus a go.

So did I, I've read a couple stand alone books by Doherty and like them. Nice way to try out the Hugh Corbett series.

Thanks Sufue

[Mort1997]

Today's big deal (Amazon)

Books 1 to 6 of Vera (Ann Cleeves)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/b/ref=s9_ac...d_i=5400977031

[GA Russell]

The Complete Crime Stories - James M. Cain - $1.99
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VSLI6LA

[sufue]

Dead On is a non-series title by Robert W. Walker. It is free right now at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Noir-mys...dp/B002DML0PM/

Spoiler:

Just when disgraced Atlanta cop-turned-private eye Marcus Rydell prepares to eat his gun, a kid in trouble, a call to duty, and a dirty blonde named Kat Holley stop him cold.

Kat pulls Marcus from his suicidal depression and his soon-to-be demolished apartment building—only to make him face his past. She leads him on a deadly hunt deep into the blackest forest in the Red Earth State. Near the Georgia-Tennessee border in the breathtaking Blue Ridge countryside, the pair watch a safe haven become their death trap.

They seek to destroy a local legend, a cave-dwelling ex-marine and murderer, a monster whose instincts and military training have allowed him to survive in the wilderness for four years, eluding the Feds as well as Atlanta PD. When the hunters become the hunted, they must duel with this psychotic deviant.

(Published in hardcover by Five Star. Approximately 83,000 words.)

Also features excerpts from CUBA BLUE by Robert W. Walker and Lyn Polkabla, and TRUCK STOP by Jack Kilborn and J.A. Konrath.

[sufue]

The Stranger (apa The Gallows Bird) is the fourth in the Fjällbacka series by Camilla Läckberg. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US (coupon/VIPable).

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Stranger-Nove...dp/B00BNPI7SI/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-stranger-17

Spoiler:

In a remote Swedish village, Detective Patrik Hedstrom looks into a string of suspicious deaths in this mystery by a multimillion-copy bestselling author.

A local woman is killed in a tragic car crash, but it isn’t a clear-cut drunk driving case. The victim’s blood contains high alcohol levels, yet she rarely drank a drop. Meanwhile, a new television series begins shooting in Fjällbacka, and as cameras shadow the stars’ every move, tempers start to flare. When a drunken party ends with an unpopular contestant’s murder, all eyes turn to the cast and crew. Could there be a murderer among them? The ratings spike as the country tunes in to a real life murder mystery.

Detective Patrik Hedstrom finds himself increasingly unable to focus on the strange circumstances of the first case, but what if that holds the key to a series of other unsolved cases across Sweden? Under the unforgiving media spotlight, Patrik tackles his most challenging investigation yet.

[sufue]

A Bicycle Built for Murder is the first in the Manor House series by Kate Kingsbury. It is free right now at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/Bicycle-Built...dp/B01LZO22S7/

Spoiler:

The first book in the fabulous Manor House Mystery Series by Kate Kingsbury, the bestselling author of the Pennyfoot Hotel Mysteries!

Enthralling mystery, lots of laughter and a little bit of romance – that’s village life in wartime England….

Left with only a muddle-headed butler, a bossy cook/housekeeper and a couple of energetic maids, Lady Elizabeth Hartleigh Compton has enough problems on her hands. Not only is she struggling to upkeep the sprawling Manor House and vast acres she inherited, she must also take care of her numerous tenants, while coping with the inconveniences and sacrifices of wartime England. Fortunately Sitting Marsh is far removed from the bombing going on in London and other cities. That doesn’t mean that peace prevails in the tiny village. There’s the handsome American major who takes over the Manor House for officers’ quarters, and the group of belligerent housewives determined to take on the German invaders, not to mention a murder or two…

Lovers of Agatha Christie’s books will find much to enjoy in this tale of intrigue and laughter in an English village, and Emily Brightwell fans will fall in love with the offbeat characters of Sitting Marsh.

A BICYCLE BUILT FOR MURDER
An anxious mother begs Lady Elizabeth to find her missing daughter, and she finds it impossible to refuse. Her tenants are her children, and she’ll do anything to keep them safe and happy. When she discovers the daughter’s bicycle abandoned on the cliffs, and then the young woman’s body washed up on the beach, Lady Elizabeth is faced with far more problems than she anticipated.

[sufue]

The first and the fifth book in the Rei Shimura series by Sujata Massey have dropped to $3.99 at Kindle and Kobo US. Not a great price, definitely on the upper edge of what I'll pay for old backlist, but I liked this series in DTB, so thought I'd mention here.

The Salaryman's Wife, #1
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Salarymans-Wi...dp/B00EXOFE28/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-salaryman-s-wife

Spoiler:

Japanese-American Rei Shimura is a 27-year-old English teacher living in one of Tokyo's seediest neighborhoods. She doesn't make much money, but she wouldn't go back home to California even if she had a free ticket (which, thanks to her parents, she does.) Her independence is threatened however, when a getaway to an ancient castle town is marred by murder.

Rei is the first to find the beautiful wife of a high-powered businessman, dead in the snow. Taking charge, as usual, Rei searches for clues by crashing a funeral, posing as a bar-girl, and somehow ending up pursued by police and paparazzi alike. In the meantime, she manages to piece together a strange, ever-changing puzzle—one that is built on lies and held together by years of sex and deception.

The Bride's Kimono, #5
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Brides-Kimono...dp/B007SNHQVS/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-bride-s-kimono

Spoiler:

Antiques dealer Rei Shimura has managed to snag one of the most lucrative and prestigious jobs of her career: a renowned museum in Washington, D.C., has invited her to exhibit her kimonos and give a lecture on them. Accompanied by a gaggle of Japanese office ladies bent on a week of shopping, Rei lands in the capital. But her big break could ultimately break her. Within hours one of the kimonos is stolen, and then Rei's passport is discovered in a shopping mall dumpster—on the dead body of one of the Japanese tourists. Trouble is only beginning, though, for now Rei's parents have arrived and so has her ex-boyfriend. To track down the kimono and unmask a killer, Rei's got to do some clever juggling, fast talking, and quick sleuthing, or this trip home could be her last.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

The Complete Crime Stories - James M. Cain - $1.99
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VSLI6LA

Back to $7.99. Missed it by that much!

[ATDrake]

Bargain @ 99 cents/pence at Amazon US & UK only until April 6th from Le French Book, which specializes in translations:

Crossing the Line by French author Frédérique Molay (SYKM, Wikipedia FR), 2nd in her Paris Homicide series starring police chief Nico Sirsky. Apparently these are being done via Amazon Countdown, which is only available for US & UK-based customers, which would account for the territorial difficulties they mentioned in the newsletter. But if you have or know someone who's got a US-based account, it can be sent as a gift.

The 1st has previously been offered on sale last week, and the 4th, Looking to the Woods, is also discounted from AmazonCrossing for just $1.99 in Canada & the US (probably for the entire month). Also, the French original of #1, La 7e femme, is just $3.99 USD for Amazon US accounts or $6.99 @ Kobo US (not matched in Canada and indeed, you can't even buy books from the regular francophone publishers in Canada from an Amazon.com account, only .ca).

Days before Christmas in snow-covered Paris, Chief of Police Nico Sirsky returns to work after recovering from a gunshot wound, in love and ready to get back to business. A bizarre case awaits him. Dental students discover a message in the tooth of a severed head. Is it a sick joke? Sirsky and his team of crack homicide detectives follow the clues from an apparent suicide, to an apparent accident, to an all-out murder as an intricate machination starts breaking down. Just how far can despair push a man? How clear is the line between good and evil? For lovers of police procedurals, Molay masters the art of leading readers through the streets, cafés and hidden places in Paris, with "ratcheting suspense" (Cara Black). "The pace is perfect.”

[ATDrake]

If you happen to like international mysteries, Amazon's exclusive AmazonCrossing translation imprint has a slew of their mystery/crime/thriller authors on sale, probably good through the month, available in Canada & the US:

@ 99 cents:

• Rain Girl & Raven Sisters, #1 & #2 in prize-winning Austrian author Gabi Kreslehner's (Wikipedia DE) Franza Oberwieser series starring a homicide detective in Munich
• Swimming in Sharks by bestselling German author Nele Neuhaus (Wikipedia), a thriller set in Wall Street
• Escape by prize-winning Turkish author Perihan Mağden (Wikipedia), a standalone psychogical thriller centred around a family that moves mysteriously from place to place for reasons yet to be revealed
• Stormy Cove by Swiss author Bernadette Calonego, an unsolved murder mystery set in Vancouver, BC

@ $1.50, which is a new sale price point for AmazonCrossing (usually the spread is between 99 cents, $1.99, and then $3.99):

• #1-3 in Finnish author Leena Lehtolainen's (Wikipedia) The Bodyguard series starring female bodyguard Hilja. I'm just going to link you to her author listing sorted by price, where #1-6 of her rather good and recommended Maria Kallio series of police procedural mysteries are also going for $1.99. I've read most of the available translated volumes in both these series, and while I enjoyed the Maria Kallio ones more, they're all reasonably solid cases. The Bodyguard series is more thriller-ish than mystery and has more in the way of f/m romantic subplot and action sequences.
• The Flatey Enigma by Icelandic author Viktor Arnar Ingólfsson (Wikipedia), a standalone mystery involving Icelandic saga elements surrounding a mysterious manuscript with a bit of a code attached if you happen to like figuring those out. I bought this a while ago but haven't finished it, but the story so far is pretty interesting (and I've quite enjoyed his other AmazonCrossing books that I've read).
• Pathological by award-winning Chinese author Wang Jinkang, a standalone biological technothriller

@ $1.99:

• To Clear the Air by German author Mechtild Borrmann (Wikipedia), an apparently standalone murder investigation which won her the 2012 Deutscher Krimi Preis.
• The Missing by Swedish author Caroline Eriksson (Wikipedia SV), a standalone psychological thriller centred around the eerie vanishing of two family members in the wilderness, and the increasingly desperate investigation by the one left behind

There are also a bunch of other sale titles from AmazonCrossing authors, who aren't quite as known in their home countries/abroad or didn't have particularly mystery-looking titles: linkage for the lot sorted by price.

[sufue]

Seven of Stuart M. Kaminsky's titles, mostly Toby Peters, have dropped to $0.99 at Kindle US. (These are Mysterious Press/Open Road titles, which also often drop at Kobo US, where they are couponable/VIPable, but as of right now, they have not.)

Titles are:

• A Fatal Glass of Beer, Toby Peters #20
• The Fala Factor, Toby Peters #9
• A Few Minutes Past Midnight, Toby Peters #21
• Dancing in the Dark, Toby Peters #19
• Buried Caesars, Toby Peters #14
• When the Dark Man Calls, non-series
• Exercise in Terror, non-series

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/search/?se...price-asc-rank
Kobo US (for price-check): https://www.kobo.com/us/en/search?Qu...&sort=PriceAsc