FREE/BARGAIN — Mystery, Suspense & Thrillers

[sufue]

An omnibus of the first three titles in Julie Moffett's Lexi Carmichael, and one novella, is $2.99 at Kindle and Kobo US. Titles in the Lexi Carmichael Mystery Series Books 1-3: An Anthology collection are:

• No One Lives Twice
• No One To Trust
• No Money Down
• No Place Like Rome

This is a pretty good price if you need/want all four...

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Julie-Moffett.../dp/B015W85FZY
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/Julie-Moffe.../dp/B015W85FZY
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/jul...es-books-1-3-1

Spoiler:

Get to know geek extraordinaire Lexi Carmichael, her friends and her more-than-friends in three fast-paced, high-tech mysteries.

Includes bonus prequel novella!

NO ONE LIVES TWICE

Lexi Carmichael spends her days stopping computer hackers at the NSA and her nights avoiding her mother and a slew of blind dates. Even though she works for a top-secret agency, her life is anything but exciting. Until the day that two gun-toting thugs appear and her best friend vanishes. Enlisting a team of geniuses—plus a sexy government agent and a rich, handsome lawyer who both have the hots for her—Lexi must navigate a maze of leads to find her friend and save the day.

NO ONE TO TRUST

A series of extraordinary events prompts Lexi to leave government life behind for a fresh start with a brand-new company and an incredibly sexy boss. But when their first client goes missing and his staff think Lexi is involved, she'll have to use her best geek skills—and some help from her friends—to solve the mystery and keep herself safe.

NO PLACE LIKE ROME

Italy might seem like a long way to go to hide after a disastrous date. But when sexy überhacker Slash (no, that's not his real name) asks Lexi Carmichael to go with him to Rome on an investigation, the timing is sort of perfect. Her messed-up love life becomes the least of her worries, though, thanks to a dead body, a near-kidnapping and the discovery of a top secret encrypted file that not even she can hack. Racing against time, Lexi calls in her genius friends to help uncover a secret—one that someone would kill to keep.

NO MONEY DOWN—bonus prequel novella!

Lexi + the legendary Zimmerman twins = a friendship made in geek heaven. It all started back when she worked for the NSA…

[sufue]

The Last Mrs. Summers is the 14th and most recent (2020) in the insanely cute but fun IMO, Lady Georgie/Royal Spyness series by Rhys Bowen. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0818ZF1RF
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0818ZF1RF
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-last-mrs-summers

Spoiler:

Lady Georgiana Rannoch is just back from her honeymoon with dashing Darcy O’Mara when a friend in need pulls her into a twisted Gothic tale of betrayal, deception and, most definitely, murder. . . .

I am a bit at loose ends at the moment. My cook, Queenie, is making my new role as mistress of Eynsleigh something akin to constant torture as Darcy is off on another one of his top secret jaunts. And Grandad is busy helping wayward youths avoid lives of crime. So when my dearest friend, Belinda, inherits an old cottage in Cornwall and begs me to go with her to inspect the property, I jump at the chance.

After a heart-stopping journey in Belinda’s beast of a motorcar, we arrive at the creaky old cottage called White Sails and quickly realize that it is completely uninhabitable. Just when I’m starting to wonder if I would have been better off trying to get Queenie to cook a roast that hasn’t been burnt beyond all recognition, we meet Rose Summers, a woman Belinda knew as a child when she spent time in Cornwall. Rose invites us to stay at Trewoma Hall, the lovely estate now owned by her husband, Tony.

Belinda confesses that she never liked Rose and had a fling with Tony years ago, so staying with them is far from ideal but beggars can’t be choosers as they say. Trewoma is not the idyllic house Belinda remembers. There’s something claustrophobic and foreboding about the place. Matters aren’t helped by the oppressively efficient housekeeper Mrs. Mannering or by the fact that Tony seems to want to rekindle whatever he and Belinda once had right under his wife’s nose.

Our increasingly awkward visit soon turns deadly when a member of the household is found murdered and all clues point to Belinda as the prime suspect. I soon learn that some long buried secrets have come back to haunt those in residence at Trewoma Hall and I’ll need to sift through the ruins of their past so Belinda doesn’t lose her chance at freedom in the present. . . .

[sufue]

A few interesting titles, all $1.99 at Kindle US unless otherwise indicated...

Hardcore Twenty-Four, 24th (duh!) in the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich: https://www.amazon.com/Hardcore-Twen...dp/B01N3KJB3E/

The Paris Spy, seventh in the Maggie Hope series by Susan Elia MacNeal: https://www.amazon.com/Paris-Spy-Mag...dp/B01N1HTUWI/

At Risk, first in the Win Garano series by Patricia Cornwell: https://www.amazon.com/At-Risk-Win-G...dp/B000PC0SHS/

The Venetian Betrayal, third in the Cotton Malone series by Steve Berry: https://www.amazon.com/Venetian-Betr...dp/B000W916SE/

[sufue]

Cat Chase the Moon is the most recent (2019) in the Joe Grey series by Shirley Rousseau Murphy. It has dropped to $2.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074SJFG7D
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B074SJFG7D
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/cat-chase-the-moon

Spoiler:

Feline P. I. Joe Grey and his friends pounce on three investigations that may connect to one larger mystery—including one case that is very personal—in this hair-raising installment in Shirley Rousseau Murphy’s beloved, award-winning series.

Joe Grey and his partner, Dulcie, are frantic when Courtney, their pretty teen-kitten goes missing. Aided by their two- and four-legged friends, they hit the streets of Molina Point in search of their calico girl. Has Joe Grey and Dulcie’s only daughter been lured away by someone and stolen? Is she lying somewhere hurt, or worse?

Courtney has no idea that everyone is desperately looking for her. Locked in an upstairs apartment above the local antiques shop, she’s enjoying her first solo adventure. When she first met Ulrich Seaver, the shop’s owner, Courtney was frightened. But the human has coddled and pampered her, winning her trust. Sheltered by her parents, her brothers, and her kind human companions, the innocent Courtney is unaware of how deceptive strangers can be. She doesn’t know that Ulrich is hiding a dangerous secret that could threaten her and everyone in this charming California coastal village.

With his focus on finding Courtney, Joe Grey has neglected his detective work with the Molina Point Police Department. Before his daughter disappeared, Joe found a viciously beaten woman lying near the beach. Now the police investigation has stalled, and the clever feline worries his human colleagues may have missed a vital clue. Joe is also concerned about a family of newcomers whose domestic battles are disturbing the town’s tranquility. Loud and abrasive, the Luthers’ angry arguing, shouting, and swearing in the early hours of the night have neighbors on edge and the cops on alert. One of the couple’s late-night shouting matches masked the sounds of a burglary, and now a criminal is on the loose.

Though the crimes are as crisscrossed as the strands of a ball of yarn, Joe Grey’s cat senses tell him they may somehow be linked. It’s up to the fleet-footed feline and his crime-solving coterie to untangle the mysteries before it’s too late.

[ZodWallop]

Darker Than Night by John Lutz is $1.99 at Amazon US.

I've read and enjoyed a few of his books, though I haven't read this one yet.

A killer dubbed "The Night Prowler" has turned the city that doesn't sleep into a town kept awake by terror. Unseen, he enters couples' homes. Unsuspected, he lingers until the perfect moment arrives. He leaves "gifts" for his victims--before taking their lives.

Enter ex-homicide cop Frank Quinn, still reeling in the wake of an elaborate setup that ended his career. For Quinn, this isn't just any job--it's a last chance to salvage his reputation. As the investigation proceeds, the murderer loses no time stalking new prey: a loan officer and her high-earning husband; a couple who made a killing in the stock market; a pretty actress and her prosperous lover.

With the body count rising, it's up to Quinn to unlock the mystery of a madman's past and end his bloody reign. Quinn's got his work cut out--because in a city the size of New York, any one of 8 million faces could be that of a killer--or his next target. . .

[sufue]

The Body in the Piazza is the 21st in the Faith Fairchild series by Katherine Hall Page. I read and enjoyed a lot of titles in this series back in DTB days, not so much recently since I don't see titles on sale in e-book that often. But happy to see one go on sale at $2.99 in the US!

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009NG24RO
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B009NG24RO
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-body-in-the-piazza

Spoiler:

Faith Fairchild and her husband are celebrating a big anniversary with a trip to Italy, filled with exquisite indulgences—the art, the Chianti, the food, the Ferragamos! After a weekend in Rome, they'll travel to Tuscany, where Faith's former assistant Francesca has opened a cooking school.

But, along with pecorino, panna cotta, and prosecco, it looks like murder and mayhem are also on the menu! On their fist night in the Eternal City, the Fairchilds stumble upon a dying man in the Piazza Farnese. Mysterious characters from Rome resurface in Tuscany. And somebody is intent on sabotaging Francesca's new business. It's up to Faith to put everything right—and still whip up a mean Spaghetti a la Foriana, of course!

[sufue]

I've read and liked a few books in some of MJ Trow's other series, but have not read anything in his Grand & Batchelor series, which appears to be set in the US around the time of the Civil War. But I notice that The Black Hills, which is the 6th and most recent (2020) in the series has dropped to $2.99 at Kindle UK, and although I'm a bit nervous about starting with the last in a series, I may give it a try.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YBJD6HB
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07YBJD6HB

Spoiler:

Private detectives Grand & Batchelor embark for the Wild West - and headlong into a baffling murder investigation in this gripping Victorian mystery.

March, 1875. Although he has never had much time for George Custer, hero of the American Civil War and Commander of the 7th Cavalry, Matthew Grand feels duty bound to respond to a call for help from his West Point contemporary. Arriving at Fort Abraham Lincoln, deep in Dakota territory, private enquiry agents Grand and Batchelor discover the fort to be a powder keg of rumour and suspicion, petty rivalries, resentments - and closely-guarded secrets.

When a body is discovered during a routine scouting patrol, some of those secrets rise uncomfortably close to the surface. Are the Lakota Sioux responsible? Or does the killer lie closer to home? Could it have been a case of mistaken identity - and was Custer himself the real target? The General has made many enemies - but does someone have a good enough reason to kill him?

[Tarana]

The Minotaur By Barbara Vine (AKA Ruth Rendell) $2.99 at Amazon, Kobo and B&N
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Minotaur-Barb...0387130&sr=8-1
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-minotaur-6

Easy Go By Michael Crichton writing as John Lange $1.99 Amazon, Kobo and B&N
https://www.amazon.com/Easy-Go-Novel...0387282&sr=8-1
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/easy-go

[sufue]

Pumped for Murder is the tenth in the Dead-End Job series by Elaine Viets. It is free right now at Kindle US and UK. This was previously free in an omnibus, but if you want an individual copy, here it is.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079THRVJ6
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B079THRVJ6

Half-Price Homicide is the ninth in the same series. It is $0.99/£0.99 as a US/UK Kindle Countdown deal for about six more days. This was also in a previously free omnibus, so check carefully before you buy...

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079TGYR22
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B079TGYR22
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B079TGYR22
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B079TGYR22

[Fbone]

Compulsion by Jonathan Kellerman is $2.99

https://smile.amazon.com/Compulsion-...s%2C181&sr=8-1

[disconnected]

A Tan and Sandy Silence by John D MacDonald, #13 Travis McGee, is 2.99

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/a-t...-sandy-silence
https://www.amazon.com/Tan-Sandy-Sil...0690396&sr=8-2

I think I only keep buying these because I'm a hoarder; I haven't even begun to actually reread them. I enjoyed them back in the day but even then I began to be annoyed by his notion that he could "fix" damaged women by allowing them to share his bed and do his domestic chores. Nonetheless, I have now managed to buy all except #19, Free Fall in Crimson, and no doubt I'll buy that one too if I ever see it on sale.

[Tarana]

At Bertram’s Hotel By Agatha Christie $2.99 Amazon, Kobo and B&N
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/At-Bertrams-H...0701380&sr=8-1
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/at-bertram-s-hotel

[Fbone]

Savage Run (A Joe Pickett Novel Book 2) by C. J. Box is $2.99

https://smile.amazon.com/Savage-Run-...t%2C168&sr=1-2

[sufue]

Some other folks upthread (including me) have liked Steve Hockensmith's Holmes on the Range series. The book I'm posting now appears to be in a different series of his that is self-pubbed, although there is a large-print hardcover version, which is sort of odd for self-pub ??? And it has a starred review from Publishers Weekly. In any case, though, if you're potentially offended by this free book, please skip the rest of the post. But if you like Hockensmith's other books, you may appreciate the chance to try this series for free.

The White Magic Five and Dime, Tarot Mysteries #1
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QDF24ZL
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07QDF24ZL

Spoiler:

When Alanis McLachlan learns that her mother's been murdered, she's completely unsurprised. Not that Alanis had been given a glimpse into the future. That would be crazy, right? It's just that her con-woman mom, Barbra, was bound to cross the wrong people sooner or later. It's why Alanis was lucky to get out of her childhood alive - and why she hadn't spoken to her mother in decades.

But there is a surprise in store for Alanis. Barbra left her something in her will: a New Age shop in the tiny tourist trap town of Berdache, Arizona. The White Magic Five & Dime.

After going to Berdache to claim her inheritance, Alanis is drawn into the mystery around her mother's death. Did one of Barbra's customers finally get wise to her con-artist ways and take revenge? Alanis thinks she knows how to find out: She'll make those customers her own until she can find the killer. Alanis McLachlan, cynic and unbeliever, is about to become a tarot card reader.

With a little help from her mother's teenage apprentice and a snarky tarot how-to book called Infinite Roads to Knowing, Alanis begins bluffing her way through phony readings. But the more she gets to know the cards, the more she sees real meaning in them...and the closer the murderer comes to making her the next victim.

"Hilarious." -Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A clever and compelling tale filled with colorful and engaging characters." -Foreword Reviews

"Hockensmith, author of the award-winning Big Red/Old Red series, and coauthor Falco deliver a charming comic mystery." -Booklist

"The story is fun and light, and the mystical background and details of tarot reading are treated with good-natured skepticism." -Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

[sufue]

A Drop of the Hard Stuff is the seventeenth in the Matthew Scudder series by Lawrence Block. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0047Y178O
Kindle US/Smile: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0047Y178O
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/a-d...the-hard-stuff

Spoiler:

Facing his demons in his first year of sobriety, Matthew Scudder finds himself on the trail of a killer. When Scudder's childhood friend Jack Ellery is murdered, presumably while attempting to atone for past sins, Scudder reluctantly begins his own investigation, with just one lead: Ellery's Alcoholics Anonymous list of people he wronged. One of them may be a killer, but that's not necessarily Scudder's greatest danger. Immersing himself in Ellery's world may lead him right back to the bar stool.

In a novel widely celebrated by critics and readers, Lawrence Block circle back to how it all began, reestablishing the Matthew Scudder series as one of the pinnacles of American detective fiction.

"Right up there with Mr. Block's best . . . A Drop of Hard Stuff keeps us guessing." -- Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal