FREE/BARGAIN — Mystery, Suspense & Thrillers

[sufue]

Bomber's Moon is the thirtieth in the Joe Gunther series by Archer Mayor. It is the most recent at the moment, until the new title that is scheduled for the end of September. It has dropped to $2.99 at Kindle and Kobo US. I've read and quite liked most of the titles in this police procedural series.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PBR7PMM
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07PBR7PMM
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/bomber-s-moon-5

Spoiler:

The murder of a small-time drug dealer snowballs into the most complex case ever faced by Joe Gunther and his VBI team.

It is said a bright and clear bomber’s moon is the best asset to finding one’s target. But beware what you wish for: What you can see at night can also see you. Often with dire consequences.

Bomber's Moon is Archer Mayor’s latest entry in the Joe Gunther series and it may just be his best yet.

Two young women form the heart of this tale. One, an investigative reporter, the other a private investigator. Uneasy allies from completely different walks of life, they work together—around and sometimes against Joe Gunther and his VBI cops—in an attempt to connect the murders of a small town drug dealer, a smart, engaging, fatally flawed thief, and the tangled, political, increasingly dark goings on at a prestigious prep school.

While Gunther and the VBI set about solving the two murders, Sally Kravitz and Rachel Reiling combine their talents and resources to go where the police cannot, from working undercover at Thorndike Academy, to having clandestine meetings with criminals for their insider’s knowledge of Vermont’s unexpectedly illicit underbelly.

But there is a third element at work. A malevolent force, the common link in all this death and chaos, is hard at work sowing mayhem to protect its ancient, vicious, very dark roots.

[sufue]

Tombland is the seventh and most recent (2019) in CJ Sansom's Matthew Shardlake series. I've read and liked several of the earlier titles in the series, and some other folks must agree with me because SYKM indicates that several of the books in the series have been nominated for various awards, and the third one, Dark Fire, won a Historical Dagger. Tombland has dropped to £0.99 at Kindle UK.

Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07D2C8KVM
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07D2C8KVM

Spoiler:

The Sunday Times Number One Bestseller

England, 1549: Two years after the death of Henry VIII, England is sliding into chaos . . .

The nominal king, Edward VI, is eleven years old. His uncle Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, rules as Protector. The extirpation of the old religion by radical Protestants is stirring discontent among the populace while the Protector’s prolonged war with Scotland is proving a disastrous failure and threatens to involve France. Worst of all, the economy is in collapse, inflation rages and rebellion is stirring among the peasantry.

Since the old King’s death, Matthew Shardlake has been working as a lawyer in the service of Henry’s younger daughter, the Lady Elizabeth. The gruesome murder of Edith Boleyn, the wife of John Boleyn – a distant Norfolk relation of Elizabeth's mother – which could have political implications for Elizabeth, brings Shardlake and his assistant Nicholas Overton to the summer assizes at Norwich. There they are reunited with Shardlake’s former assistant Jack Barak. The three find layers of mystery and danger surrounding Edith's death, as a second murder is committed.

And then East Anglia explodes, as peasant rebellion breaks out across the country. The yeoman Robert Kett leads a force of thousands in overthrowing the landlords and establishing a vast camp outside Norwich. Soon the rebels have taken over the city, England’s second largest.

Barak throws in his lot with the rebels; Nicholas, opposed to them, becomes a prisoner in Norwich Castle; while Shardlake has to decide where his ultimate loyalties lie, as government forces in London prepare to march north and destroy the rebels. Meanwhile he discovers that the murder of Edith Boleyn may have connections reaching into both the heart of the rebel camp and of the Norfolk gentry . . .

This is the seventh stunning novel in the bestselling Shardlake series, that began with Dissolution. Includes an Historical Essay from the author on Reimagining Kett's Rebellion.

[sufue]

Riviera Gold is the latest (2020) in Laurie R King's excellent IMO Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series. It has dropped to £2.39 at Kindle US, which is a pretty good price for a same-year first-in-series. (It is still sitting at $13.99 in the US...)

Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08513W5F7
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08513W5F7

Spoiler:

It's summertime on the Riviera, where the Jazz Age is busily reinventing the holiday delights of warm days on golden sand and cool nights on terraces and dance floors. Just up the coast lies a more traditional pleasure ground: Monte Carlo, where fortunes are won, lost, stolen, and hidden away. So when Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes happen across the Côte d'Azur in this summer of 1925, they find themselves pulled between the young and the old, hot sun and cool jazz, new friendships and old loyalties, childlike pleasures and very grown-up sins...

[ZodWallop]

The Tokyo Zodiac Murders by Soji Shimada is $1.99 at Amazon US. Again, shows as part of a publisher's series, but it is the author's first book. I believe it is a standalone.

An amateur detective investigates a string of gruesome unsolved murders in this classic Japanese locked room mystery

Astrologer, fortuneteller, and self-styled detective Kiyoshi Mitarai must solve a macabre murder mystery that has baffled Japan for 40 years—in just one week. With the help of his freelance illustrator friend, Kiyoshi sets out to answer the questions that have haunted the country ever since: Who murdered the artist Umezawa, raped and killed his daughter, and then chopped up the bodies of six others to create Azoth, ‘the perfect woman’?

With maps, charts, and other illustrations, this story of magic and illusion—pieced together like a great stage tragedy—challenges the reader to unravel the mystery before the final curtain falls.

[sufue]

Now the third in the series has dropped as well, leaving only the first one not on sale. This seems sort of backwards from the way Marketing 101 would tell you to do it, but what do I know? Oh yeah, I realized that in my first post I didn't mention the author - this series is by Amanda Carmack.

Murder in the Queen's Garden, #3
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07CNDPV53
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07CNDPV53

Also, the same five are all now on sale at Kobo US, where they are coupon/VIPable: https://store.kobobooks.com/search?Q...9&fcmedia=Book

Originally Posted by sufue

Several titles in the historical mystery series featuring Kate Haywood and the young Princess Elizabeth have dropped in price at both Kindle US and UK. To make it easy for any moderator who may not be familiar with this series, all five of the titles were originally traditionally published - you can just click on the "mass market paperback" version to verify. I've also read and enjoyed several titles in this series.

If you want to get a "regular" link, rather than the Smile link, just replace "smile" in the URL with "www".

Murder at Westminster Abbey, #2, $0.99/£0.77
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07CCKMDPQ
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07CCKMDPQ

Murder at Whitehall, #4, $0.99/£0.77
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/Murder-Whit...dp/B07C6RBX9C/
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Murder-Wh...dp/B07C6RBX9C/

Murder at Fontainebleau, #5, $0.99/£0.77
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07C6L1DXH
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07C6L1DXH

Murder at the Queen's Masquerade (novella), $0.99/£0.77
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07CCJ7F5J
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07CCJ7F5J

[ZodWallop]

The Missing American by Kwei Quartey is $1.99 at Amazon US.

Accra private investigator Emma Djan's first missing persons case will lead her to the darkest depths of the email scams and fetish priests in Ghana, the world's Internet capital.

When her dreams of rising through the Accra police ranks like her late father crash around her, 26-year-old Emma Djan is unsure what will become of her career. Through a sympathetic former colleague, Emma gets an interview with a private detective agency that takes on cases of missing persons, theft, and infidelity. It’s not the future she imagined, but it’s her best option.

Meanwhile, Gordon Tilson, a middle-aged widower in Washington, DC, has found solace in an online community after his wife’s passing. Through the support group, he’s even met a young Ghanaian widow he’s come to care about. When her sister gets into a car accident, he sends her thousands of dollars to cover the hospital bill—to the horror of his only son, Derek. Then Gordon decides to surprise his new love by paying her a visit—and disappears. Fearing for his father’s life, Derek follows him across the world to Ghana, Internet capital of the world, where he and Emma will find themselves deep in a world of sakawa scams, fetish priests, and those willing to kill to protect their secrets.

[Fbone]

"B" is for Burglar by Sue Grafton is $2.99

https://smile.amazon.com/B-Burglar-K...s%2C166&sr=8-1

[sufue]

Now $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US. Links below are still good....

Originally Posted by sufue

The Last Detective is the first in the Peter Diamond series by Peter Lovesey. It has dropped to $2.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Last-Detectiv...dp/B004J4XGBS/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the...eter-diamond-1

[sufue]

The Case of the Reincarnated Client is the fifth and most recent (2020) in the Vish Puri (and Mummy-ji!) series by Tarquin Hall. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle US, not at Kobo US, at least as of now. Although they go on sale from time to time, this series is usually priced at over $10 in the US, so grab it now if you want it.

I've read and really enjoyed the first three in this series, so happy to see this one on sale. And the third one even inspired me to learn how to make butter chicken in my slow cooker!

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZJP7C5P
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07ZJP7C5P

Spoiler:

"Hilarious … Hall’s plot is filled with engaging twists. Vish is a wonderfully realized character … You can dive in anywhere in this series and be rewarded with a rich experience" – Booklist Starred Review

A client claiming she was murdered in a past life is a novel dilemma even for Vish Puri, India's Most Private Investigator.

When a young woman comes forward claiming to be the reincarnation of Riya Kaur, a wife and mother who vanished during the bloody 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Puri is dismissive. He's busy enough dealing with an irate matrimonial client whose daughter is complaining about her groom’s thunderous snoring. Puri's indomitable Mummy-ji however is adamant the client is genuine. How else could she so accurately describe under hypnosis Riya Kaur's life and final hours?

Driven by a sense of duty - the original case was his late father’s - Puri manages to acquire the police file only to find that someone powerful has orchestrated a cover-up. Forced into an alliance with his mother that tests his beliefs and high blood pressure as never before, it’s only by delving into the past the help of his reincarnated client that Puri can hope to unlock the truth.

[sufue]

Thrones, Dominations is the last in the Lord Peter Wimsey / Harriet Vane series by Dorothy L. Sayers, completed posthumosly by Jill Paton Walsh. It has dropped to $2.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005J52SJ2
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B005J52SJ2
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/thrones-dominations-2

Spoiler:

Deemed "one of the greatest mystery writers of this century" by the Los Angeles Times, Dorothy L. Sayers first captivated readers nearly seventy years ago with her beloved sleuths Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane in the novel Stong Poison. In Busmans's Honeymoon, her last completed Wimsey/Vane novel, Lord Peter and Harriet culminated their partnership with marriage. Now Thrones, Dominations, Sayers' uncompleted last novel, satisfies the vast readership hungry to know what happened after the honeymoon. Here award-winning author Jill Paton Walsh picks up where Sayers left off, bringing Wimsey and Vane brilliantly to life in Sayers' unmistakable voice. Readers and reviewers are rejoicing at the return of this delightful sleuthing couple--as adept at solving a baffling murder mystery as they are a balancing the delicate demands of their loving union.

[sufue]

Traitor's Codex is the twelfth (per SYKM, the webpage can't make up its mind, and says it's the 11th in one place, and the 12th somewhere else) in the Crispin Guest series by Jeri Westerson. I've read and liked many (all?) of the earlier titles in this series, so happy to see this one drop in price. It's $1.99 at Kindle US, not matched at Kobo US yet.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MMNV45D
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MMNV45D

Spoiler:

An ancient and mysterious book leads Crispin Guest into a deadly maze in this latest medieval noir mystery.

Crispin Guest, Tracker of London, is enjoying his ale in the Boar’s Tusk tavern – until a stranger leaves a mysterious wrapped bundle on his table, telling him, "You'll know what to do." Inside is an ancient leather-bound book written in an unrecognizable language. Accompanied by his apprentice, Jack Tucker, Crispin takes the unknown codex to a hidden rabbi, where they make a shocking discovery: it is the Gospel of Judas from the Holy Land, and its contents challenge the very doctrine of Christianity itself.

Crispin is soon drawn into a deadly maze involving murder, living saints, and lethal henchmen. Why was he given the blasphemous book, and what should he do with it? A series of horrific events confirm his fears that there are powerful men who want it – and who will stop at nothing to see it destroyed.

[sufue]

The Corpse at Windsor Bridge is the 10th and most recent (2020) in the Stephen Attebrook series by Jason Vail. It is free right now at Kindle US and UK. I believe this series is mostly/all self-pub, but I have read the first several titles, in a binge reading session when I had a cold one time, and I enjoyed them all. I haven't yet had time to read this newest one, but if I waited until I did, it almost certainly wouldn't be free anymore...

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089KQT49L
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B089KQT49L

Spoiler:

Two weeks after Father Giles de Twet disappeared, his rotting corpse is found in the River Thames beneath the bridge at medieval Windsor, weighed down by a block of stone. Stephen Attebrook, a one-time coroner now at loose ends, finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time after he agrees to escort a herd of cattle from Ludlow to Windsor to feed King Henry’s army, which is preparing for civil war. Edward orders Stephen to find Father Giles’ killer. Meanwhile, Stephen’s arch enemy, Percival FitzAllan, the earl of Arundel, has brought Stephen’s niece Ida to Windsor as his captive to petition the king to make the beautiful young woman his ward. FitzAllan’s ultimate plan — marry Ida to a retainer to gain control of Hafton Manor, Stephen and Ida’s home. Stephen struggles to solve the murder while risking his life and his fortune to shield Ida from a loathsome marriage.

[ZodWallop]

The Red Lamp by Mary Roberts Rinehart is $1.99 at Amazon US.

A supernatural mystery set in an old seaside house from the #1 New York Times–bestselling author known as the American Agatha Christie.
Though he likes to joke about the spirit world, William Porter does not really believe in ghosts. As a professor, he cannot afford to take seriously that which goes bump in the night. But his wife, Jane, is prone to visions, like the one she had last summer about William’s uncle Horace lying dead on the floor—a dream that came just hours before they got the news that the old man had passed away.
A year later, William plans to spend the summer at his recently inherited beachfront property with Jane, but a feeling of psychic dread gives her hesitation, and William will later regret convincing her to go. The house is musty, eerie, and littered with supernatural portents—most chillingly, the faint red light that glows in the wee hours. If they don’t escape soon, William and his wife may be visiting the spirit world themselves.

[pdurrant]

Now You See Them, the fifth in Elly Giffiths' Brighton Mysteries is only £0.99 at Amazon UK today. I read the first four last year and liked them a lot.

[sufue]

The Fifth Witness is the fourth in the Mickey Haller series by Michael Connelly. It is £0.99 today as part of the Kindle UK Daily Deal.

Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004TL0J5M/
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004TL0J5M/

Spoiler:

A blistering courtroom drama featuring The Lincoln Lawyer's Mickey Haller from the master of the genre.

In tough times, crime is one of the few things that still pays, but even criminals are having to make cutbacks. So for defence lawyer Mickey Haller, most of his new business is not about keeping people out of jail; it's about keeping a roof over their heads as the foreclosure business is booming.

Lisa Trammel has been a client of Mickey's for eight months, and so far he's stopped the bank from taking her house. But now the bank's CEO has been found beaten to death - and Lisa is about to be indicted for murder . . .