FREE/BARGAIN — Mystery, Suspense & Thrillers

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The Lighthearted Quest is the first in the Julia Probyn series by Ann Bridge. I read this and some of the others in this series a long time ago in DTB and quite enjoyed them. Quest has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US (coupon/VIPable).

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Lighthearted-...dp/B005O7VHZQ/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-lighthearted-quest

Spoiler:

When Julia Probyn's cousin and childhood friend Colin cuts off all contact with his family, it is down to Julia to find him. Setting sail for Morocco – the last place he was seen – and using her occupation as a journalist as a cover, Julia is ready for a fairly lighthearted quest. But Julia wasn't counting on the level of secrecy surrounding her cousin's disappearance.

With the British consulate offering little help, Julia must use her charm and tenacity to follow the clues and unravel the mystery left in Colin's wake.

Book one of The Julia Probyn Mysteries, The Lighthearted Quest has Ann Bridge's trademark blend of humour and adventure which transports us to exotic places, but also throws a good deal of light on the explosive political issues that French Morocco encountered in the 50s.

'Here's an answer for the multitude of readers demanding a good story, adventure, mystery [and] romance' -Kirkus

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Marriage, Monsters-in-Law, and Murder is the 8th in the Ellie Avery series by Sara Rosett. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Marriage-Mons...dp/B0165HVINY/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/mar...law-and-murder

Spoiler:

Ellie Avery is a professional organizer, not a diplomat. But by agreeing to help organize a family wedding, she's basically signed on to prevent two mothers-in-law from killing each other. It comes as a complete surprise, then, when another member of the wedding party is the one who's actually murdered . . .

Ellie's sister-in-law, Summer, has planned a four-day destination wedding at a posh private resort on one of Georgia's beautiful barrier islands, but it won't be a vacation for Ellie. Summer has asked her to assist with the last-minute details, which includes keeping the peace between the groom's mother and stepmother.

The ladies are a handful, but the real problems are the ones Ellie and Summer haven't anticipated--like mysterious pranks directed toward the bride. When the best man shows up with the groom's gorgeous if unstable ex-girlfriend, she seems like an obvious suspect for the practical jokes.

But when a suspicious death occurs, Ellie realizes there's more going on than mean-spirited pranks. Is Summer the killer's real target? And what could possibly be driving someone to murder? Ellie vows to get to the truth so the blushing bride can walk down the aisle without fearing she'll never reach the altar . . .

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The Grilling Season is the 7th in the Goldy Schulz series by Diane Mott Davidson. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US:

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Grilling-Seas...dp/B0030P1WMW/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-grilling-season

Spoiler:

A chilly reception....

Caterer Goldy Schulz has been hired to host a hockey party. But the proceedings won't be all fun and games. Unfortunately, her client won't be satisfied until Goldy adds a hefty serving of revenge.

An ex-husband from hell....

Patricia McCracken is certain that her obstetrician and her penny-pinching HMO are responsible for the loss of her baby. Now she is suing both, and she wants Goldy's advice on coming out on top. For Dr. John Richard Korman, aka the Jerk, is none other than Goldy's abusive ex-husband. Goldy knows all about John Richard's secret life--but even she is shocked when he's arrested for the murder of his latest girlfriend.

A dish best served cold....

As much as Goldy would like to see her ex get his just desserts, could he really be a killer? Soon she will find herself sifting through a spicy mix of sizzling gossip for clues to a mystery that threatens her catering deadline, her relationship with her son and new husband... and even her life.

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Two titles in the Mainely Needlepoint series by Lea Wait have dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US. In addition, the first title in this series spends a lot of time at $1.99 and is currently there right now...

Twisted Threads, #1
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Twisted-Threa...dp/B00LCDSPQK/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/twisted-threads-2

Spoiler:

Returning to the quaint coastal town of Harbor Haven, Maine—a place she once called home—Angie Curtis finds her memories aren't all quite pleasant ones. . .

After leaving a decade ago, Angie has been called back to Harbor Haven by her grandmother, Charlotte, who raised her following her mother's disappearance when she was a child. Her mother has been found, and now the question of her whereabouts has sadly become the mystery of her murder.

The bright spot in Angie's homecoming is reuniting with Charlotte, who has started her own needlepointing business with a group called Mainely Needlepointers. But when a shady business associate of the stitchers dies suddenly under suspicious circumstances, Charlotte and Angie become suspects. As Angie starts to weave together clues, she discovers that this new murder may have ties to her own mother's cold case. . .

Thread and Gone, #3
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Thread-Gone-M...dp/B00VQFKH8I/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/thread-and-gone

Spoiler:

When a priceless antique is stolen, murder unravels the peaceful seaside town of Haven Harbor, Maine…

Angie Curtis and her fellow Mainely Needlepointers know how to enjoy their holidays. But nothing grabs their attention like tying up loose threads. So when Mary Clough drops in on the group’s Fourth of July supper with a question about antique needlepoint she’s discovered in her family Colonial-era home, Angie and her ravelers are happy to look into the matter.

Their best guess is that the mystery piece may have been stitched by Mary, Queen of Scots, famous not just for losing her head, but also for her needlepointing. If they’re right, the piece would be extremely valuable. For safekeeping, Angie turns the piece over to her family lawyer, who places it in her office safe. But when the lawyer is found dead with the safe.

Dangling by a Thread, #4
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Dangling-Thre...dp/B01BAYWZHU/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/dangling-by-a-thread

Spoiler:

The Mainely Needlepointers are about to learn that no man is an island—especially when greedy developers want his land . . .

Hermit Jesse Lockhart lives alone on King’s Island, three miles east of Haven Harbor, Maine, where he’s created a private sanctuary for the endangered Great Cormorants. But when a wealthy family wants to buy the island and Jesse’s cousin Simon petitions for power of attorney to force him to sell, Jesse is the one who becomes endangered.

Mainely Needlepointer Dave Perry, who befriended Jesse in the VA hospital, rallies the group to his defense. Angie Curtis and the ravelers stitch “Save the King’s Island Cormorants” pillows and sell T-shirts to pay for Jesse’s legal counsel. But tragically, on a visit to the island, Angie finds Jesse dead. Now the search is on for a common thread that can tie the murdered man to his killer . . .

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Her Royal Spyness is the first in the Royal Spyness series by Rhys Bowen. This series, featuring Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, 34th in line for the English throne, is almost terminally cute, but somehow I still really like it - it's a lot of lighthearted fun. Spyness has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Her-Royal-Spy...dp/B0015DRP1I/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/her-royal-spyness

Spoiler:

THE FIRST ROYAL SPYNESS MYSTERY!

The New York Times bestselling author of the Molly Murphy and Constable Evan Evans mysteries turns her attentions to “a feisty new heroine to delight a legion of Anglophile readers.”*

London, 1932. Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, 34th in line for the English throne, is flat broke. She's bolted Scotland, her greedy brother, and her fish-faced betrothed. London is a place where she'll experience freedom, learn life lessons aplenty, do a bit of spying for HRH—oh, and find a dead Frenchman in her tub. Now her new job is to clear her long family name...

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The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag is the second in the Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley. Another series that I really like, and apparently some folks agree with me, because the first in the series won about a bazillion "Best First Novel" awards. Later titles have not been so awarded, but I've liked all of them that I have read. Weed has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Weed-That-Str...dp/B0030DHPH0/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the...angman-s-bag-1

Spoiler:

BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Alan Bradley's A Red Herring Without Mustard, discussion questions, and an essay by the author.

Flavia de Luce, a dangerously smart eleven-year-old with a passion for chemistry and a genius for solving murders, thinks that her days of crime-solving in the bucolic English hamlet of Bishop’s Lacey are over—until beloved puppeteer Rupert Porson has his own strings sizzled in an unfortunate rendezvous with electricity. But who’d do such a thing, and why? Does the madwoman who lives in Gibbet Wood know more than she’s letting on? What about Porson’s charming but erratic assistant? All clues point toward a suspicious death years earlier and a case the local constables can’t solve—without Flavia’s help. But in getting so close to who’s secretly pulling the strings of this dance of death, has our precocious heroine finally gotten in way over her head?

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The Cat Who Dropped a Bombshell is the last but one (28th, according to the blurb, and I'm too lazy to count at SYKM) in the Cat Who series by Lilian Jackson Braun. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Cat-Who-Dropp...dp/B000OCXJHK/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the...-a-bombshell-1

Spoiler:

The residents of Pickax are about to celebrate the 150th anniversary of its founding. But in the midst of all the preparations, Qwill has to take time out to deal with Koko's strange new habit of dropping from balconies and landing in the oddest of places-and a couple that has mysteriously gone missing.

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Not One Clue is the sixth in the Chrissy McMullen series by Lois Greiman. It has dropped to $0.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Not-One-Clue-...dp/B0036S4F1S/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/not-one-clue

Spoiler:

L.A. psychologist Christina McMullen’s relationship with Detective Jack Rivera is heating up—until a client threatens to put a damper on their sparks. Chrissy has been counseling Micky Goldenstone to face the secrets from his past, but she had no idea that they would lead to a dangerous confrontation with a criminal even the police can’t protect her from. To make matters worse, Chrissy’s best friend, Hollywood starlet Laney Butterfield, has started getting creepy mail that’s turning stalker-ugly. And Chrissy’s neighbor desperately needs her help to rescue her runaway sister from an abusive husband. When it comes to swimming in a sea of crazy, Chrissy is a pro, but she’ll need more than a few clues to keep her head above water.

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Two titles in the Sarah Booth Delaney series by Carolyn Haines have dropped in price at Kindle and Kobo US.

Bones To Pick, #6, $1.99
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Bones-Sarah-B...dp/B005R9E7RQ/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/bones-to-pick-2

Spoiler:

Wickedly witty and full of more dirt than a debutante's diary, the mysteries of Carolyn Haines bring the southern Delta to roaring, rollicking life. . .

Intrepid P.I. Sarah Booth Delaney has been known to single-handedly save her family's Mississippi plantation, converse with Dahlia House's ghost, and capture a killer or two. But when a local girl is found dead in a cotton field, it's enough to make a lady toss back a Bloody Mary before noon on Sunday.

Someone held twenty-three-year-old Quentin McGee's face down in the rich Southern soil until she suffocated. The lawmen think Quentin's lover killed her. When the suspect's brother hires Sarah to prove his sibling innocent, Sarah quickly learns that the victim had plenty of wealthy, powerful enemies. Each had a bone to pick with Quentin for writing a scandalous exposé on her hometown. Adding spice to the gumbo is the news that Quentin was due to inherit the family fortune the day after she was killed. . .and that a second book was in the works. From illicit lovers and outraged families to slandered aristocrats, everyone is a suspect—and no one is safe. . .

Ham Bones, #7, $2.99
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Bones-Sarah-B...dp/B005R9E7Y4/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/ham-bones-1

Spoiler:

Carolyn Haines's Southern Belle mysteries kick sleuthing up a notch with Sarah Booth Delaney, the sassiest heroine this side of the Mississippi. . .

Displaced from its New Orleans venue, a red-hot touring production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is opening right in the heart of Zinnia, and featuring hunky star Graf Mileau! Sarah Booth, who had her own brief stint with Mileau himself, is less than thrilled. Graf is now linked with his costar, Renata Troviola, a dyed-in-the-wool diva who plans to ride Graf's coattails all the way to Hollywood. But Renata's trip to the top comes to a screeching halt on the play's second night when someone laces her lipstick with cyanide.

It seems Renata was stirring up plenty of drama behind the scenes, making enemies galore: her long-suffering makeup artist, an extremely harsh critic, an angry audience member. . .even boy toy Graf had a motive. But the most damning evidence points to Sarah. Now, to save her reputation, Sarah reckons she'll have to bring the curtain down on a mystery with more twists and turns than the Old Muddy. . .

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Bones Never Lie (with bonus novella Swamp Bones) is the 17th and next-to-last (2014) in the Temperance Brennan series by Kathy Reichs. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Bones-Never-b...dp/B00IQRN4YS/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/bon...la-swamp-bones

Spoiler:

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • This ebook edition contains a special preview of Kathy Reichs’s upcoming novel Two Nights.

The evidence is irrefutable: In sixteen New York Times bestsellers over the course of as many years, Kathy Reichs has proven herself “a genius at building suspense” (New York Daily News). In forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, Reichs has created a detective fiction heroine who’s brilliant to the bone. “Every minute in the morgue with Tempe is golden,” says The New York Times Book Review. In the acclaimed author’s thrilling new novel, Brennan is at the top of her game in a battle of wits against the most monstrous adversary she has ever encountered.

Unexpectedly called in to the Charlotte PD’s Cold Case Unit, Dr. Temperance Brennan wonders why she’s been asked to meet with a homicide cop who’s a long way from his own jurisdiction. The shocking answer: Two child murders, separated by thousands of miles, have one thing in common—the killer. Years ago, Anique Pomerleau kidnapped and murdered a string of girls in Canada, then narrowly eluded capture. It was a devastating defeat for her pursuers, Brennan and police detective Andrew Ryan. Now, as if summoned from their nightmares, Pomerleau has resurfaced in the United States, linked to victims in Vermont and North Carolina. When another child is snatched, the reign of terror promises to continue—unless Brennan can rise to the challenge and make good on her second chance to stop a psychopath.

But Brennan will have to draw her bitter ex-partner out of exile, keep the local police and feds from one another’s throats, and face more than just her own demons as she stalks the deadliest of predators into the darkest depths of madness.

In Bones Never Lie, Kathy Reichs never fails to satisfy readers looking for psychological suspense that’s more than skin-deep.

Don’t miss Kathy Reichs’s short story “Swamp Bones” in the back of the book.

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Five titles in Stuart Neville's Belfast series have dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

Titles are:

• The Ghosts of Belfast, #1 (finalist for lots of awards)
• Collusion, #2
• Stolen Souls, #3
• The Final Silence, #4
• Those We Left Behind, #5 (although SYKM calls this the first in a different series)

links for all five:
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/search/&se...&price=199-199
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/search?Qu...cminprice=1.99

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Clear and Present Danger is the fifth (blurb) or fourth (SYKM) in the Jack Ryan series by Tom Clancy. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US. As I've mentioned before, I don't like the way Clancy's politics really obviously bled into his later books (or even, IMO, overwhelmed some of them), but he did write some good thrillers early on, like Red Storm Rising and Hunt for Red October. Up to you to decide if you think this is one of them!

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Clear-Present...dp/B001QEAQQ2/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/cle...esent-danger-1

Spoiler:

The sudden and surprising assassination of three American officials in Colombia.

Many people in many places, moving off on missions they all mistakenly thought they understood.

The future was too fearful for contemplation, and beyond the expected finish lines were things that, once decided, were better left unseen.

Tom Clancy's new thriller is based on America's war on drugs . . . and the covert -- and shocking -- U. S. response.

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Under the Eagle is the first in the Cato & Macro series by Simon Scarrow, and has dropped to $0.99 at Kindle and Kobo US. This is one of my top ten favorite series, or maybe even top five (my rankings vary a bit based on mood and what I've read last ). This is a bit of an odd series to post here, because it's maybe more an "intrigue" series than a true mystery series with a classical detective protagonist, although there are deaths to resolve and puzzles to figure out. There's also a lot of military action. I really like both the stories themselves, and also the sense of place/time, although Scarrow can get a bit cute sometimes, such as the time in one of the later books when (without being too much of a spoiler) Macro meets this nice girl, Boudicca, in a pub...

Simon Scarrow is not well known in the US, but I get the impression he is much better known in the UK, which is where I first started reading his books, which I would pick up in DTB on periodic business trips. At first, I would find this series in the Crime section; later on I found them more often in a general fiction section, or even featured near the front of the store. And recently I've just been buying them as ebooks, of course, and not paying attention to where they are listed.

In any case, though, SYKM lists this series as a mystery series, so I'm going with that...

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Under-Eagle-E...dp/B00GW4VXL8/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/und...f-the-empire-1

Spoiler:

UNDER THE EAGLE is the gripping first novel in Simon Scarrow's bestselling EAGLES OF THE EMPIRE series. A must read for fans of Bernard Cornwell.

It is AD 42, and Quintus Licinius Cato has just arrived in Germany as a new recruit to the Second Legion, the toughest in the Roman army. If adjusting to the rigours of military life isn't difficult enough for the bookish young man, he also has to contend with the disgust of his colleagues when, because of his imperial connections, he is appointed a rank above them. As second-in-command to Macro, the fearless, battle-scarred centurion who leads them, Cato has more to prove than most in the adventures that lie ahead.

Then the men discover that the army's next campaign will take them to a land of unparalleled barbarity - Britain. After the long march west, Cato and Macro undertake a special mission that will thrust them headlong into a conspiracy that threatens to topple the Emperor himself...

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Skinner's Rules is the first in the Bob Skinner series by Quintin Jardine. It has dropped to $0.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Skinners-Rule...dp/B00GW4U9OU/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/ski...eries-book-1-1

Spoiler:

Edinburgh's hardest cop hunts a serial killer...

The book that launched a legend: Skinner's Rules is the first novel in the bestselling Bob Skinner series by acclaimed author Quintin Jardine. Perfect for fans of Ian Rankin and Peter James.

'Remarkably assured novel... a tour de force' - New York Times

As head of Edinburgh's CID, Detective Chief Superintendent Bob Skinner has seen it all... but even he is shocked by the savagely mutilated corpse discovered in a dark alleyway. The victim is identified as a successful young lawyer, and the motive for the brutal death remains a mystery. Then further seemingly random killings in the city begin to suggest a vicious serial killer is on the rampage. But when the lawyer's fiancée is also murdered, Skinner realises that someone is in deadly earnest...

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Killing Silence is the first in the Loser series by Peg Herring. It is free right now at Kindle US. I'm not quite sure about LL Publications as a publisher vs. self-pub, however: (1) I've read three of the four books in Herring's historical Simon & Elizabeth series and quite liked all three, (2) SYKM lists the series, and they can be pretty picky, and (3) it's FREE, so if you try it and hate it, no big deal. I will note though that this looks to be quite a different thing than the Simon & Elizabeth historical series...

link: https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Silen...dp/B00A87IAQG/

Spoiler:

Is it possible to be a rescuer when you live among the lost?

Killing Silence, the first of The Loser Mysteries, presents a unique protagonist: Loser, who sleeps on the streets of Richmond, Virginia, washes up in gas station bathrooms, eats when an opportunity comes along, and spends her waking hours in front of the local drug store, watching the world pass by and speaking less than thirty words per day.

When there's a murder, and Loser finds herself in the company of the prime suspect, can she pull herself out of her own pain to help catch the real a killer? Her investigation is hampered by her inability to hold a normal conversation and her inner demons.

Why should anyone believe her anyway? She is Loser, a nobody. The freak who rarely speaks.

Every street person has a story, and Loser is no different. Her past haunts her present.

Besides, Loser has good reason to avoid the police...and it goes way beyond loitering.

ADDING: I just also noticed that although Killing Silence is not free at Kobo US, a different Herring title is free there and not at Kindle US:
Macbeth's Niece (orig pub by Five Star, listed as a non-series title by SYKM)
link: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/macbeth-s-niece

Spoiler:

Tessa macFindlaech meets three witches on a Scottish hillside as she leaves her home to join the household of her uncle, Thane Macbeth. The weird women make predictions for her future, but Tessa sees no likelihood of truth in them. After all, the first crone claims Tessa is on her way to England, which is in the opposite direction.
Surprises await that make her reconsider the prophecies. When Tessa discovers that Jeffrey Brixton, a guest in her uncle's castle, is a spy, he captures her and takes her to his home in England. There she must face the fact that her only asset is her beauty, her only friend the woman she believes to be Jeffrey's mistress.
After a year in England, Tessa is married but not a wife, which the witches predicted. When Jeffrey is reported dead, she returns to Scotland. Her uncle's life has taken several ironic turns: he gained the throne he wanted so badly but lost everything he loves. Tessa does what she can for him, but by now Macbeth is his own worst enemy.
Chased by murderous outlaws, trapped in a loveless marriage with a man who will not give her up, and alone except for an elderly but faithful servant, Tessa meets the witches once more and this time finds hope in their message. Now her quest is to find love, but love is not always wise. Does the man she loves return her affection, or will he plunge her into danger again, as he has done before?
Set against the backdrop of Macbeth's rise and fall from power in Scotland, this historical novel provides both romance and adventure. Like her famous uncle, Macbeth's niece Tessa refuses to settle for an ordinary life, no matter how difficult the extraordinary becomes.