FREE/BARGAIN — Mystery, Suspense & Thrillers

[basschick]

Originally Posted by sufue

Wow, I almost didn't post this when I stumbled on it because it seems more thriller-ish than mystery-ish, and I don't follow/know much about thriller authors/titles. Glad I did .

If I only tend to read a few thrillers a year, should this be one of them? It's still at $1.99 as of now, so I could still snag it...

this is more thriller than mystery, but while i don't generally care for thrillers, i found i cared about the main character, who had quite the interesting background, and there's a hint of parody in there, as well as some interesting relationships. i didn't care for the author's other books as much, but this one is one i recommended to lots of friends, and in fact it was originally a recommendation to me from a friend who very rarely made recommendations.

the sample isn't entirely indicative of the entire book imo...

[sufue]

Thanks for the additional info!

I have to admit I'm not thrilled by "Hel survived the destruction of Hiroshima to emerge as the world’s most artful lover" in the blurb either, which sounds sort of corny/cheap, but at $1.99 and with a couple of recommendations, WTH...I'll add it to my far-too-big TBR pile.

Originally Posted by basschick

this is more thriller than mystery, but while i don't generally care for thrillers, i found i cared about the main character, who had quite the interesting background, and there's a hint of parody in there, as well as some interesting relationships. i didn't care for the author's other books as much, but this one is one i recommended to lots of friends, and in fact it was originally a recommendation to me from a friend who very rarely made recommendations.

the sample isn't entirely indicative of the entire book imo...

[sufue]

All eight titles in the Cait Morgan series by Cathy Ace are on sale at Kobo US as part of their 4th of July sale, ending today, some at $2.99 and some at $3.99, coupon/VIPable. The sale also comes with 4x Super Points. I'm not totally sure about Touchwood Editions as a publisher, but SYKM lists the whole series, and when in doubt, I go with SYKM. These are not on sale at Kindle US.

Titles are:

• The Corpse with the Silver Tongue
• The Corpse with the Golden Nose
• The Corpse with the Emerald Thumb
• The Corpse with the Platinum Hair
• The Corpse with the Sapphire Eyes
• The Corpse with the Diamond Hand
• The Corpse with the Garnet Face
• The Corpse with the Ruby Lips

link for all eight: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/search?Qu...&sort=PriceAsc

[Mort1997]

Free Today on Amazon UK -One Way Ticket (A Smith and Hughes Mystery Book 1) by Jay Forman

Spoiler:

Somebody tried to kill me.

Travel writer Lee Smith experiences a bumpy landing when she returns to Canada from a Caribbean cruise.

A text from her best friend, billionaire Jack Hughes, pops up on her phone before her plane has even stopped at the gate in Toronto - Somebody tried to kill me.

Just over three hours (and one speeding ticket) later, she’s standing beside Jack’s hospital bed near her home in the beautiful Muskoka area of Ontario.

Jack wasn’t kidding; someone tried to run him over.

Even worse, it happened at Berkshire, the prestigious school where they first met.

Twenty years earlier, Berkshire’s iron gates and thick walls may have kept Lee safe from the media frenzy over her father’s sensational trial, but they also locked her into her own kind of prison.

Despite the elaborate story she made up to hide her identity, her classmates found out who she really was and bullied her mercilessly. The emotional scars left behind still haven’t healed.

Berkshire’s walls haven’t kept a current student safe, either.

A seventeen year old girl has tumbled out of the Berkshire tower to her death - did she jump? Was she pushed?

Lee would rather travel to any other place on the planet than return to Berkshire but Jack needs her help.

And maybe the time has come to face her old demons?

Braving Berkshire, Lee finds sex tapes, a blackmail scheme, and a murderer who’s only just getting started – and it looks like Lee could be next on the list…

UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ticket-Smit...ndeavour+press

US
https://www.amazon.com/Ticket-Smith-...ndeavour+press

Au
https://www.amazon.com.au/Ticket-Smi...ndeavour+press

Can
https://www.amazon.ca/Ticket-Smith-H...ndeavour+press

[Mort1997]

Free Today on Amazon UK -The Compromised Detective (An Inspector Lafarge Thriller Book 2 by Pirate Irwin

Spoiler:

It’s August 1944 and the people of France are celebrating liberation from Nazi occupation – but a nasty hangover remains.

French men and women faced a stark choice in those dark days: to resist or to collaborate. Some, like Chief Inspector Gaston Lafarge, tried to keep a foot in both camps.

Lafarge, as a significant cog in the Vichy regime which worked with its German masters, believed he could still go about his business of investigating ordinary crime while his bosses plotted crimes that would stain the history of the proud country for decades to come – and also plot their downfall.

After committing a series of murders Lafarge attempts to flee the country in search of a new life with his Argentine wife and two children, but his bid ends with the sinking of their ship.

He is rescued and returns alone to Paris where he is permitted to resume his police duties at a time when the Free French leader General de Gaulle is returning from exile in London to take control of the country.

But reluctantly backed by the Americans, who give in to Winston Churchill’s persuasive powers, de Gaulle faces a new enemy from within – a right-wing group of pro-monarchists led by one Colonel Antoine de Cambedessus who long to restore the monarchy in the shape of Henri d’Orleans, the Comte de Paris, and descended from Louis-Philippe King of France from 1830-48.

Incredibly, Lafarge takes de Cambedessus’ wife Berenice as his lover – so their paths are already on a collision course.

The latest in Pirate Irwin’s historical fiction series,The Compromised Detective, re-imagines the immediate post-Occupation days in France, a country whose collaboration with Nazi evil cost it its reputation for decades after they openly connived in rounding up the Jews, even children that the Nazis had not asked them to do, and perpetrating other heinous crimes against their own people.

Though fictional, the novel is based on real events and features real people – intellectuals, politicians, members of the Vichy regime – and examines the complex French situation which exposed the best and the worst of human nature of the citizens in an occupied country.

UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Compromised...ndeavour+press

US
https://www.amazon.com/Compromised-D...ndeavour+press

Au
https://www.amazon.com.au/Compromise...ndeavour+press

Can
https://www.amazon.ca/Compromised-De...ndeavour+press

[Mort1997]

Free Today on Amazon UK -The Remington Factor by Raymond Obstfeld

Spoiler:

Pittsburgh.

In a hotel elevator a man collapses. His body pulses, the organs rupturing inside him, trying to break free.

Those who try to help him, applying CPR to his prostrate form, pull pieces of his flesh away in their hands. Blood gushes out; the onlookers can only watch as paramedics and doctors at the scene try to salvage his disintegrating form.

He dies, helpless and in agony.

But he is not alone. Soon others who had been in contact with him wind up dead, their bodies likewise mutilated.

The doctor at the scene and his wife.

A father at the movies with his daughter in Seattle.

Today, many will die.

Tomorrow, thousands more?

The top-secret Intelligence Cooperative in Washington D. C. are scrambling into action. Only four men besides themselves know of the existence of this deadly weapon known as Moonshadow.

And those men have had their memories erased.

One of their names: Clifford Remington.

When Remington wakes to find that he cannot remember who he is, he will stop at nothing to find the answer.

Everything is in doubt. All he knows for certain is that there is something terribly wrong.

The world is crumbling around him. And he is the only man capable of putting it back together again.

But there are those who wish to stop him. And they are following him close behind…

And what will they do when they find out that Remington’s memory is slowly returning?

And with it, the memory of Moonshadow…

UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Remington-F...ndeavour+press

US
https://www.amazon.com/Remington-Fac...ndeavour+press

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

Can
https://www.amazon.ca/Remington-Fact...ndeavour+press

[sufue]

Bethlehem Road is the 10th in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series by Anne Perry. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US (VIP/couponable).

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Bethlehem-Roa...dp/B0052ZEI4C/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/bethlehem-road

Spoiler:

When Members of Parliament are murdered crossing Westminster Bridge, Thomas and Charlotte Pit must sift through the many suspects to find the killer—before he strikes again

In the few minutes it takes to cross Westminster Bridge, Sir Lockwood Hamilton has his throat slit and is tied securely to the lamppost with his evening scarf. The killer then vanishes without being seen. Inspector Thomas Pitt thinks the motive might have been personal . . . or political. When a second Member of Parliament is murdered in the same way, politics appear to be the reason. Soon the suspect list includes anarchists and suffragettes. Public outrage mounts and fear grips London and Parliament after a third lamppost murder.

Deep in his end of the investigation, Pitt must rely on his wife, Charlotte, and Great-aunt Vespasia to explore the drawing rooms of the upper class for clues to the mystery. With burning social issues swirling around them, the three of them must solve the case before another MP falls victim to the Westminster cutthroat.

[Demingy]

A couple of Ellis Peters' Cadfael books are $1.99 each on Amazon:

One Corpse Too Many, book 2 (https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...eries_rw_dp_sw)
The Holy Thief, book 19 (https://smile.amazon.com/Holy-Thief-...2Aentries%2A=0)

[badgoodDeb]

Originally Posted by Demingy

A couple of Ellis Peters' Cadfael books are $1.99 each on Amazon:

One Corpse Too Many, book 2 (https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...eries_rw_dp_sw)
The Holy Thief, book 19 (https://smile.amazon.com/Holy-Thief-...2Aentries%2A=0)

Oooo! Blessings upon your head! I have them all in paper, but I'll gladly build up my library in ebooks too.

[sufue]

Edwin of the Iron Shoes is the first in the Sharon McCone series by Marcia Muller. It has dropped to $2.99 at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/Edwin-Shoes-S...dp/B007TVYE82/

Spoiler:

The book that launched the massively popular series! It's Sharon McCone's first case as staff investigator for All Souls Legal Cooperative. She knows nothing about antiques, yet she has an affection for Salem Street with its charming mix of antique and curio shops. Now elderly dealer Joan Albritton has been found dead, stabbed with an antique dagger. Her neighbors are shocked. Recurring vandalism has them frightened. And McCone's introduction to Lieutenant Gregory Marcus doesn't help matters. Ferreting out the facts will take Sharon from the chaotic jumble of the junk dealer's establishment to a museum where San Francisco's most elegant socialites gather.

[sufue]

One Coffee With is the first in the Sigrid Harald series by Margaret Maron, perhaps better known for her Deborah Knott series (in which Sigrid Harald has occasionally appeared). Coffee has dropped to $0.99 at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/Coffee-Sigrid...dp/B004L2LKCK/

Spoiler:

An award-winning mystery novelist and New York Times Bestseller, Margaret Maron uses her North Carolina background when writing the popular Judge Deborah Knott series.

But before Deborah Knott, there was Lt. Sigrid Harald, a homicide detective with the NYPD. Now, with the re-release of Maron's very first book, long out of print, new readers can finally get to know the character that started it all. In One Coffee With, we meet Sigrid for the first time when murder strikes the Art Department of Vanderlyn College. Who poisoned the deputy chairman's morning coffee? Everyone in the department had both motive and opportunity and it will take Lt. Harald’s cool, level-headedness to determine who the killer is before he – or she – strikes again.

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine has said, "Harald is no stereotypical policewoman....Getting to know her is a pleasure;" while the San Diego Union-Tribune says, "Maron combines a lighthearted style, surefooted suspense, and a captivating cast."

[sufue]

Genteel Spirits is the fifth in the Daisy Gumm Majesty series by Alice Duncan. This is one of my top ten favorite series, although, as I've mentioned before, I'm perhaps a bit biased since I went to school and lived in Pasadena for many years. Still, if you like historical cozies, I think this is a really fun series. Genteel has dropped to $0.99 at Kindle US. (Note there is also a box set of titles 4-6 that has been on sale before, so check carefully before you buy...)

link: https://www.amazon.com/Genteel-Spiri...dp/B00ERCS3G0/

Spoiler:

The movie biz has come to Pasadena and Daisy Gumm Majesty is up to her ears in trouble. Spike is in obedience training, a spoiled actress wants Daisy as her very own spiritualist and someone is sending poison-pen letters to the Leading Man.

Worse, the motion picture folks claim that Germans are out to steal their new invention being used on the set.

Butting heads with Detective Sam Rotondo, assigned to the movie-set as security, Daisy is on the case with Spike in tow. Now, if she can just find a way to keep everyone's secrets a secret without letting the Germans get away with grand theft.

[sufue]

A whole bunch of titles by Nicholas Rhea are on US Kindle Countdown for $0.99 right now. All have been on sale/Countdown before, so check carefully before you buy. Titles include:

Constable Nick series

• Constable on the Prowl, #2 ($0.99, but not on Countdown)
• Constable Along the Lane, #7, 6 1/4 more days
• Constable in Disguise, #10, 5 1/4 more days
• Constable in the Dale, #5, 4 1/4 more days
• Constable About the Parish, #19, 6 1/4 more days

Detective Mark Pemberton series

• Confession, #3, 6 1/4 more days
• Family Ties, #1 ($0.99, but not on Countdown)
• Suspect, #2, 3 1/4 more days

DI Montague Pluke series

• A Well-Pressed Shroud, #3, 6 1/4 more days
• Omens of Death, #1, 6 1/4 more days

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

[sufue]

A huge chunk (all? nearly all?) of the Mrs. Bradley series by Gladys Mitchell and a few of Mitchell's Timothy Herring series have dropped to $1.49 and $1.99 at Kindle US.

Way too many titles to list, but here's a link, in price ascending order so the $1.49 ones come first...

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

[sufue]

Death at Hilliard High is the third in the Susan Lombardi series by Carole Shmurak. It is free right now at Kindle US. I have had this book and one other from the series sitting on a shelf for years, since back in the days when I went to used DTB sales, but it never managed to float to the top of my TBR list. Still, for free, I'll replace it with an e-book version .

The other titles in the series are KU, so if you have KU, you can read in order if you prefer.

link: https://www.amazon.com/Death-Hilliar...dp/B004PGO35S/

Spoiler:

Professor/sleuth Susan Lombardi is back with two mysteries to solve: Who is playing the cruel pranks on the new teacher - a twisted student or a jealous colleague? And what has become of the teacher whose wife's body was found in their cellar? “A short, fast, smoothly readable story... not just another copy- cat. Try it for yourself.” Kim Malo, MyShelf.com “A quick read with a satisfying ending on all counts.” Ceil Carey, The Cozy Library