FREE/BARGAIN — Mystery, Suspense & Thrillers

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by sufue

The Ambassador's Wife is the first in the Inspector Samuel Tay series by Jake Needham. It is free right now at Kindle US. It has been free before, but a couple of years ago, so I thought I'd post again. I've read and enjoyed a couple of Needham's Jack Shepherd titles, but not any of the ones in this series, so this has reminded me that I've got this one to try .

link: https://www.amazon.com/AMBASSADORS-W...dp/B006E8ZYPI/

Thanks - free on Amazon UK, too. I obviously missed this one the last time around!

[sufue]

The Deep Blue Good-by is the first in the Travis McGee series by John D. MacDonald. This is one of my favorite series (me along with a lot of other folks ). Good-by has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

It would be nice if more of the Travis McGee titles dropped in price. In the US, at least, they hover in the $12 - $13 range, ridiculous IMO for older backlist titles that people are likely to own in DTB. I can pretty confidently say that I will never pay anything close to that much to replace a DTB . In the past, if one was willing to travel, it was possible to pick up omnibuses of of Travis McGee titles at more reasonable prices; don't know if that is still the case. But in any case, here is the first in the series for $1.99...

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Blue-Goo...dp/B009FKTTMQ/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/search?Qu...p+Blue+Good-by

Spoiler:

From a beloved master of crime fiction, The Deep Blue Good-by is one of many classic novels featuring Travis McGee, the hard-boiled detective who lives on a houseboat.

Travis McGee is a self-described beach bum who won his houseboat in a card game. He’s also a knight-errant who’s wary of credit cards, retirement benefits, political parties, mortgages, and television. He only works when his cash runs out, and his rule is simple: He’ll help you find whatever was taken from you, as long as he can keep half.

“John D. MacDonald was the great entertainer of our age, and a mesmerizing storyteller.”—Stephen King

McGee isn’t particularly strapped for cash, but how can anyone say no to Cathy, a sweet backwoods girl who’s been tortured repeatedly by her manipulative ex-boyfriend Junior Allen? What Travis isn’t anticipating is just how many women Junior has torn apart and left in his wake. Enter Junior’s latest victim, Lois Atkinson.

Frail and broken, Lois can barely get out of bed when Travis finds her, let alone keep herself alive. But Travis turns into Mother McGee, giving Lois new life as he looks for the ruthless man who steals women’s spirits and livelihoods. But he can’t guess how violent his quest is soon to become. He’ll learn the hard way that there must be casualties in this game of cat and mouse.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by sufue

It would be nice if more of the Travis McGee titles dropped in price. In the US, at least, they hover in the $12 - $13 range, ridiculous IMO for older backlist titles that people are likely to own in DTB. I can pretty confidently say that I will never pay anything close to that much to replace a DTB . In the past, if one was willing to travel, it was possible to pick up omnibuses of of Travis McGee titles at more reasonable prices; don't know if that is still the case.

They all appear to be around £3 ($4) at Amazon UK, which seems reasonable enough to me.

[cc_in_oh]

Originally Posted by sufue

The Deep Blue Good-by is the first in the Travis McGee series by John D. MacDonald. This is one of my favorite series (me along with a lot of other folks ). Good-by has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

It would be nice if more of the Travis McGee titles dropped in price. In the US, at least, they hover in the $12 - $13 range, ridiculous IMO for older backlist titles that people are likely to own in DTB. I can pretty confidently say that I will never pay anything close to that much to replace a DTB . In the past, if one was willing to travel, it was possible to pick up omnibuses of of Travis McGee titles at more reasonable prices; don't know if that is still the case. But in any case, here is the first in the series for $1.99...

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Blue-Goo...dp/B009FKTTMQ/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/search?Qu...p+Blue+Good-by

And they're readily available at libraries, like most older mystery series (except Perry Mason). I've toyed with the idea of buying some of the Bosch books on sale, but knowing myself, owning just 6 or 8 out of the 20+ would be more frustrating than gratifying...

[Little.Egret]

Endeavour, free

One Way to Venice by Jane Aiken Hodge

Modern Romantic suspense, Mary Stewart style

First published 1975 by Hodder & Stoughton

Following a bitter divorce and separation from her son, Julia finds herself broken and alone.
Soon, she starts receiving a series of anonymous and menacing letters urging her to find her missing son in Venice.
Despite the danger involved, Julia has no choice but to follow the taunting messages.
With her miserable days in La Rivière still looming over her, she ventures to Italy on a train.
But she can’t shake the feeling that the letters were written by someone she knows, someone playing an awful and dangerous game.
Meanwhile, Julia meets a handsome stranger on the train, but does she dare fall for him?
In the mystical and unfamiliar city of Venice, who can she trust?
The journey to Venice brings a new friendship, an old confrontation and, above all, danger. But there is also the hope of happiness, if Julia can fight her way out of the conspiracy around her…

Jane Aiken Hodge (1917–2009) was an American-born British author of many Regency and modern novels. She is also the author of ‘Runaway Bride’, ‘Escapade’ and ‘All for Love’.


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YPM14TU/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00YPM14TU/

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00YPM14TU/

[sufue]

Several titles by Charlotte MacLeod have dropped at Kindle and Kobo US (couponable/VIPable).

The Madoc and Janet Rhys Mysteries is an omnibus of the first three titles in MacLeod's (wait-for-it) Madoc and Janet Rhys series, originally written using her pen name, Alisa Craig. Titles include: A Pint of Murder, Murder Goes Mumming, and A Dismal Thing to Do. It has dropped to $2.99.
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Madoc-Janet-R...dp/B072NZL83C/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the...rhys-mysteries

Spoiler:

The first three cozy mysteries in a series featuring a Royal Canadian Mountie and his resourceful wife from an international-bestselling author.

The beloved sleuthing couple solves a trio of murder cases in the austere beauty of Canada’s New Brunswick. Originally published under the pseudonym Alisa Craig, these three tales are a witty look at murder in a small town—“the epitome of the ‘cozy’ mystery” (Mostly Murder).

A Pint of Murder: When Janet Wadman realizes her friend Agatha was murdered with a jar of tainted green beans, her discovery leads to another untimely death. Height-challenged Mountie Madoc Rhys proves more capable than he looks, and Janet is duly impressed.

Murder Goes Mumming: Madoc decides to ask Janet for her hand in marriage. But when the newly engaged couple finds their Christmas plans spoiled by murder, the investigating duo once again finds they have a gift for serving justice.

A Dismal Thing to Do: Janet witnesses a terrible accident on the back roads of Canada. But after dashing into a nearby barn to get help, someone thanks her by stealing her car and then trying to kill her. Or were they? Madoc arrives and together they work to stop a deadly crime wave in its tracks.

The Grub-and-Stakers Move a Mountain is the first in MacLeod's Dittany Henbit Monk series, also written with pen name, Alisa Craig. It has dropped to $0.99.
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Grub-Stakers-...dp/B009S33K2K/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the...ove-a-mountain

Spoiler:

To prevent Lobelia Fall from being turned into a subdivision, a citizen turns to cold-blooded murder

Anyone growing up in Lobelia Falls is taught to learn the elegant, ancient, and occasionally deadly art of shooting with a bow and arrow. Practicing the craft, freelance secretary Dittany Henbit is strolling through the woods with her bow at her side when she meets a surveyor making surveys where he shouldn’t. Dittany is giving him what-for when an arrow goes whizzing above her head. It is sharp enough to kill, and was not fired by accident, but Dittany wasn’t the target. She and the surveyor find Mr. Architrave, the head of the water department, not far away—lying dead beneath the trees that he loved so much.

Progress is coming to Lobelia Falls, and one resident will do anything to stop it. But in a town where every child can shoot, how can Dittany discover who drew the killer bow?

The Recycled Citizen is the 7th in MacLeod's Sarah Kelling/Max Bittersohn series. It has also dropped to $0.99.
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Recycled-Citi...dp/B0099IRKM0/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-recycled-citizen

Spoiler:

A homeless man’s murder threatens to destroy the Kelling family

Boston and its suburbs are stuffed with Kellings, and the city is about to get one more. Sarah Kelling and her husband Max Bittersohn—a pair of amateur sleuths equally at home in back alleys as they are at black-tie balls—are about to have a baby. And if the child takes after his parents, he will be one of the cleverest infants in New England. But while Sarah is a month away from giving birth, she cannot let pregnancy slow her down—she has a murder to solve.

A resident at one of Sarah’s Uncle Dolph’s homeless centers is found mugged and murdered on one of Boston’s seedier side streets. Someone at the shelter has been dealing drugs, and plans to frame Uncle Dolph for the murder. Now Sarah and Max must race to clear Dolph’s name, lest the newest Kelling arrive before his family honor can be restored.

[sufue]

The amusingly named (amusing to me, at least) Fifty Shades of Greyhound is the fifth in the Pampered Pets series by Sparkle Abbey. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/Fifty-Shades-...s+of+Greyhound

Spoiler:

"Fifty Shades of Greyhound gives 'roll over and play dead' a whole new meaning!"

--Ethel Merman & Ella Fitzgerald, canine companions to award-winning author, Holly Jacobs

It was a killer party.

Caro Lamont, Laguna Beach's favorite pet therapist, is thrilled to support the elite fundraising gala for Greys Matter, a SoCal greyhound rescue group. All the guests in the couture-attired crowd are clad in varying shades of grey, the champagne and donations are flowing, and there are fifty gorgeous greyhounds in attendance. But before the evening ends, a stranger in their midst is dead.

Caro sets out to help the rescue group find the identity of the mystery guest but soon finds herself in the doghouse with homicide detective, Judd Malone--oh, and federal agent, John Milner. When there's a second death, Caro is convinced she's on the track of someone who wants a secret to stay buried, but it's a race to see whether Caro can uncover the truth before the killer decides she's next.

[sufue]

Mortal Remains has dropped again to $0.99, this time also at Kobo US. Last time it was only on sale for a day, so here's a second chance if you missed it.

Kobo link: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/mor...ins-in-maggody

Originally Posted by sufue

Mortal Remains in Maggody is the 4th (SYKM) or 5th (blurb) in the Arly Hanks/Maggody series by Joan Hess. It has dropped to $0.99 at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/Mortal-Remain...dp/B01ENRHK9O/

[sufue]

If you don't like traveling, and thus have missed these and the other free non-Miss Silver titles by Patricia Wentworth, here's one on sale, although not free, in the US: The Black Cabinet has dropped to $0.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Black-Cabinet...dp/B01CTOTFU0/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-black-cabinet

Spoiler:

Chloe Dane inherits a fabled ancestral estate—and plunges into deadly danger—in this novel of romance and suspense from the author of the acclaimed Miss Silver Mysteries

The lowly assistant to a London dressmaker, Chloe Dane yearns for a new life. She has bittersweet memories of being a carefree child playing hide-and-seek at Danesborough, her family’s magnificent country estate. Decades later, the ancestral mansion has been restored to its former glory—and Chloe is shocked to discover that she is the sole heir.

Danesborough is not the sun-filled, evergreen place she remembers. The trees are bare and the house is shrouded in mist. But the enormous gold-and-black lacquered Chinese cabinet in the drawing room is exactly the same. Chloe’s childhood imagination created an entire story out of the intricate carvings on the cabinet: a flowing river filled with boats and fishermen and one frightening man she called Mr. Dark.

But now, as Chloe begins to uncover Mitchell Dane’s true motives for bequeathing her the centuries-old manse, she has a very real reason to be afraid: The truth about what’s hidden in the black cabinet will soon threaten her life.

Originally Posted by Little.Egret

Free, Patricia Wentworths are not US

Touch and Go: A Golden Age Mystery by Patricia Wentworth

The Black Cabinet: A Golden Age Mystery by Patricia Wentworth

Secrets Can't be Kept: A Bobby Owen Mystery by E.R. Punshon


https://www.amazon.com/s/?url=search...r=dean+street*

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?url=sear...r=dean+street*

https://www.amazon.ca/s/?url=search-...r=dean+street*

[sufue]

Death of an Old Sinner is the first in the short three-book Mrs. Norris series by Dorothy Salisbury Davis. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US (couponable/VIPable).

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Death-Sinner-...dp/B00HWKHS2E/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/death-of-an-old-sinner

Spoiler:

A Grand Master of crime fiction, Dorothy Salisbury Davis introduces the redoubtable crime-solving Scottish housekeeper Mrs. Norris in this thrilling tale of family secrets and murder

General Ransom Jarvis is writing his memoirs about a distinguished career that spanned five continents and three wars. Along the way, he stumbles upon a scandal about a philandering ancestor—America’s ambassador to England who went on to become president of the United States. But a very clear and present danger embroils the irascible retired general in a deepening quagmire of deceit, fraud, and murder.

Enter Mrs. Norris, the housekeeper who has been almost a mother to Ransom’s son since he was a boy. Jimmie is currently running for governor of New York and enjoying his budding relationship with sculptor Helene Joyce. A sudden death changes everything, plunging Jimmie and Mrs. Norris into a bizarre case headed up by Jasper Tully, chief investigator for the Manhattan district attorney’s office. With more lives at stake, the trio follows lead after lead into a web of crime that only the canny housekeeper can clean up in the nick of time.

Death of an Old Sinner is the first novel in Dorothy Salisbury Davis’s Mrs. Norris Mysteries, which also include A Gentleman Called, a finalist for the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award; Old Sinners Never Die; and “Mrs. Norris Observes,” a short story in the collection Tales for a Stormy Night.

Death of an Old Sinner is the 1st book in the Mrs. Norris Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

[pdurrant]

Several of Mary Stewart's adventure/mystery stories are available at Amazon UK for £0.99 at the moment.

Link to author's page of Kindle books sorted by price

I've read her Arthurian series, but not anything else. Does anyone recommend any of the £0.99 books in particular?

[KyBunnies]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Several of Mary Stewart's adventure/mystery stories are available at Amazon UK for £0.99 at the moment.

Link to author's page of Kindle books sorted by price

I've read her Arthurian series, but not anything else. Does anyone recommend any of the £0.99 books in particular?

I really hate it (no offense PDurrant) when I see an author posted, find a book I would like to read and it is not available in my country. Really. Guess I need to visit Kobo and travel a little. UGH!!!!

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I've read her Arthurian series, but not anything else. Does anyone recommend any of the £0.99 books in particular?

I seem to remember liking Nine Coaches Waiting, but it was a long time ago.

[ATDrake]

X-link to the DRM-free thread for a new StoryBundle:

The Dark Crimes Bundle curated by Kristine Kathryn Rusch contains a mix of backlist and indie mystery/crime thriller novels, and trad-published short story anthologies with some well-known contributing authors.

[badgoodDeb]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Several of Mary Stewart's adventure/mystery stories are available at Amazon UK for £0.99 at the moment.

Link to author's page of Kindle books sorted by price

I've read her Arthurian series, but not anything else. Does anyone recommend any of the £0.99 books in particular?

I think I've read most of them, but they made no particular impression on me. Ok for a one-time read, but not "Must Keeper" like the Arthurian saga is.