FREE/BARGAIN — Mystery, Suspense & Thrillers

[sufue]

Two Edward Marston Domesday Book titles are £1.49 each at Kindle UK right now.

The Serpents of Harbledown, #5
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B085149GP3
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B085149GP3

Spoiler:

When seventeen-year-old Bertha is found in a holly patch, dead from a snakebite, her premature death shocks and stresses the entire town of Canterbury. Her father succumbs to a suicidal rage, and the news devastates the leper colony at Harbledown, where Bertha had charitably spent much of her time. On the day that Bertha's body is discovered, Norman soldier Ralph Delchard and lawyer Gervase Bret arrive in Canterbury to settle a land dispute between the archbishop and the head of the abbey. Newly married Ralph hopes to tour the famous cathedral and surrounding countryside with his bride, Golde, a beautiful Saxon. But their honeymoon is cut short, and Delchard's investigation into the property claim is upended when astonishing clues demonstrate that Bertha was in fact murdered. Ultimately, Ralph Delchard and Gervase Bret must look for a force more vicious than a mere snake.

The Stallions of Woodstock, #6
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08514GLRJ
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08514GLRJ

Spoiler:

Three powerful Norman lords and a dispossessed Saxon thegn watch their steeds race close to the forest of Woodstock, each lusting for a win. But the first horse past the post has an empty saddle and his rider is lying in a copse with a knife in his back. Ralph Delchard and Gervase Bret, Domesday commissioners on behalf of the King, are guests of the Sheriff of Oxford while they settle a land dispute. But soon their attentions are focused on a stretch of grass outside Woodstock where a murderer's secrets are to be found.

[sufue]

Nearly three years later, The Affacombe Affair has dropped to £0.99 at Kindle UK again. Somewhat unusually, since titles in this series have mostly been going on sale at the same time in the US and UK, it hasn't dropped in the US - yet, at least. The links below are still good.

And the first book is still semi-perm at $0.99/£0.99, and those links are still good too.

Originally Posted by sufue

I just noticed that many (most? all?) titles in the Tom Pollard/Gregory Toye series by Elizabeth Lemarchand are available as ebooks, with the first couple of titles attractively priced at $0.99/£0.99. (Per eReaderIQ, the first title was actually briefly free a while back, but I missed it...sigh!)

Death of an Old Girl
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FHK31X8
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07FHK31X8

The Affacombe Affair
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GSLFHWX/
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07GSLFHWX/

[sufue]

The Clerkenwell Affair is the fourteenth and most recent (2020) in Susanna Gregory's Thomas Chaloner series, at least until the new one comes out in August. It has dropped to £0.99 at Kindle UK.

Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0823WRJSH
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0823WRJSH

Spoiler:

In the spring of 1666 everyone's first reaction to a sudden death at the palace of White Hall is that the plague has struck, but the killing of Thomas Chiffinch was by design, not disease. Chiffinch was holder of two influential posts - Keeper of the Closet and Keeper of the Jewels - and rival courtiers have made no secret of their wish to succeed to those offices. To Thomas Chaloner, ordered to undertake the investigation, such avarice gives a whole host of suspects an ample motive for murder.

The same courtiers are at the heart of the royal entourage endorsing the King's licentious and ribald way of life, and Chaloner has some sympathy with the atmosphere of outrage and disgust at such behaviour. London's citizens, already irked by the wealthy fleeing to the country at the outbreak of the plague, have scant patience with the Court on its return. The city is abuzz with rumours of dissent and rebellion, fuelled by predictions from a soothsayer in Clerkenwell of a rain of fire destroying the capital on Good Friday.

Chaloner initially dismisses such talk as nonsense, but as he uncovers ever more connections to Clerkenwell among his suspects, he begins to fear that there is also design behind the rumours - and that, come Easter Day, the King and his Court might find themselves the focus of yet another rebellion.

[sufue]

Three-and-a-half years later, A Great Reckoning is £0.99 at Kindle UK again. There is a new link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B098DC9CGR

Originally Posted by soulfuldog

Couple of the excellent Inspector Gamache series (books 1 & 12) on offer in UK

A Great Reckoning, Louise Penny - 99p
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01DM0JH30/
https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/a-great-reckoning-1

{edited other book}

[sufue]

The House of Crows is the sixth in Doherty's Brother Athelstan series. It's £0.99 right now at Kindle UK.

Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0844WLBVM
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0844WLBVM

Spoiler:

A brutal murderer, a house of assassins, a devil incarnate...
It’s the Spring of 1380 and the Regent John of Gaunt needs money and supplies for his war against the French.

Unfortunately, the members of parliament at Westminster are proving especially stubborn – and the Regent’s cause is not aided when some representatives from the shire of Shrewsbury are foully murdered.

John of Gaunt orders Sir John Cranston, along with his trusty ally Brother Athelstan, to find the assassin before he loses every chance of obtaining the taxes he requires, before more innocent people are found dead.

[sufue]

All eight of Ruth Downie's Gaius Petreius Ruso/Tilla series have dropped to £0.99 each at Kindle UK. I really like this series, which is (mostly) set in northern Britain in the time of the Romans.

Here's a link to the series webpage: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07XXDHY...rwt_sb_pc_tukn

[sufue]

The Last Kashmiri Rose is the first in Barbara Cleverly's Joe Sandilands series, which I've quite liked. It is $1.99/£0.99 right now in the US/UK.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004NNUZ50
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the...ashmiri-rose-1
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005E8823A

Spoiler:

In a land of saffron sunsets and blazing summer heat, an Englishwoman has been found dead, her wrists slit, her body floating in a bathtub of blood and water. But is it suicide or murder? The case falls to Scotland Yard inspector Joe Sandilands, who survived the horror of the Western Front and has endured six sultry months in English-ruled Calcutta. Sandilands is ordered to investigate, and soon discovers that there have been other mysterious deaths, hearkening sinister ties to the present case.

Now, as the sovereignty of Britain is in decline and an insurgent India is on the rise, Sandilands must navigate the treacherous corridors of political decorum to bring a cunning killer to justice, knowing the next victim is already marked to die.

And in the UK only, there is also an omnibus of the first four titles in the series (The Last Kashmiri Rose, Ragtime in Simla, The Damascened Blade, and The Palace Tiger) that has been a very affordable £3.99 for quite a while now.

Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GHK71G8

[sufue]

A bit more than three years later, again $1.99 in the US. The links are still good.

Originally Posted by sufue

Dark Tort is the 13th 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/dp/B000GCFBUG
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/dark-tort

[sufue]

Now on sale for £2.99 in the UK, not a great sale price, but better than its recent £4.99.

Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B018EGULKK
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B018EGULKK

Originally Posted by sufue

Queen of Hearts is the eighth in the cozy but really fun IMO Lady Georgie series by Rhys Bowen. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G3L7X9Q/
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00G3L7X9Q/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/queen-of-hearts-19

[sufue]

More than two years later, again $2.99 in the US. The link below is still good for Kindle US, and here's the link for Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/smarty-bones

Originally Posted by sufue

A couple of titles I spotted in the soon-ending US Kindle Monthly deals for February. (Luckily it's leap year .)

Smarty Bones is the 13th in the very cozy, but fun IMO, Sarah Booth Delaney series by Carolyn Haines, $2.99: https://www.amazon.com/Smarty-Bones-...dp/B00B22ASMU/

{edited other book}

[sufue]

The appropriately named (albeit one day late) April Fool Dead is the thirteenth in Carolyn Hart's Death on Demand series. It is on sale for $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000OVLJO6
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B000OVLJO6
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/april-fool-dead

Spoiler:

Someone is playing a rather nasty April Fool's prank on mystery bookstore owner Annie Darling. A felonious forger on the idyllic -- if rarely tranquil -- South Carolina island of Broward's Rock has made it appear as if Annie is accusing some of her neighbors of murder. In the wink of a bloodshot eye, the Darling name is mud . . . and then the Broward's Rock body count starts mysteriously increasing. And now it's up to Annie to follow the well-hidden trail of the vicious trickster -- or a secret slayer's next lethal "joke" may very well be on her!

[Tarana]

Slow Horses By Mick Herron $2.99
Thriller - haven't read this author but made into an Apple+ TV series
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/slow-horses-2
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Slow-Horses-S...t%2C123&sr=1-1

Dead Land By Sara Paretsky $1.99
Crime - VI Warshinski series
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/dead-lands
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Unti-Sara-Par...t%2C124&sr=1-1

Look Alive Twenty-Five By Janet Evanovich $2.99
Mystery cozy
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/look-alive-twenty-five
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Look-Alive-Tw...t%2C221&sr=1-2

Dying to Call You - Eileen Viets FREE Amazon only
Mystery Cozy - Dead-End Job Mystery Book 3.
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Dying-Call-De...8998084&sr=8-1

Dark Tort By Diane Mott Davidson $1.99 Amazon, Kobo
Cozy - Loved this series!

[sufue]

If you didn't go for it at £2.59, it's now £1.90 at Kindle UK. The links below are still good.

Originally Posted by sufue

Castle Shade is the 17th and most recent in Laurie R. King's Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series. It has dropped to £2.59 at Kindle UK - not quite the £0.99 that new releases often briefly drop to in the UK, but still not bad for a book that just came out in June. I had a review copy of this book, and loved it - especially the character of Queen Marie of Roumania, who was in real life (and in the book!) a granddaughter of Queen Victoria’s on her father’s side, and a granddaughter of Emperor Alexander II of Russia through her mother, and who managed by her astute politicking at the end of WWI to keep Roumania independent, and even increase its size. (And there's a good mystery too....)

Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08S6T8CZ6
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08S6T8CZ6


And if you want to read my full review, the link to my blog is in my signature...

[sufue]

Free again, a couple of years later...

Originally Posted by sufue

Tall Man in Ray-Bans is the first in the John Tall Wolf series by Joseph Flynn, which is a spin-off from Flynn's Jim McGill series. Flynn started off as traditionally published, and now runs his own Stray Dog Press, but I've liked all of Flynn's books that I've read, including this one.

Tall Man is free right now at Kindle US and UK.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007FIQMHU
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007FIQMHU

[sufue]

A Credible Threat is the sixth in Janet Dawson's Jeri Howard series. It's free right now at Kindle US and UK. It was previously free as part of an omnibus, but WTH, it's free now individually, so if you prefer that, here you go...

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005ELNU2K
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005ELNU2K

Spoiler:

Oakland PI Jeri Howard is now taking house calls. At least when her ex-husband's daughter, Vicki Vernon, is on the other end of the line. Vicki, who is an undergrad at prestigious UC Berkeley, fears the worst when her shared house receives multiple threats from an unknown antagonizer.

First, it's hostile phone calls. Then vandalism and stalking. And everything becomes real when Jeri picks up the house phone and hears the stalker's chilling voice herself.

As if that weren't enough, a nasty flyer circulates around the law school filled with bigoted epithets against students of color and women -- and it's uncannily similar to the anonymous caller's hateful words. But with so many possible targets in one household, Jeri's just not sure which of the housemates is the target.

After all, Rachel volunteers at an abortion clinic. Ben is an African-American student on scholarship. Marisol spends her time helping victims of domestic abuse. And Vicki and Emily have been harassed on campus by a sexist chemistry student.

But when someone throws a pipe bomb through the students' window, the case all but explodes.

Hard-boiled detective fans who devour vintage PIs like those invented by Sue Grafton, Marcia Muller, Sara Paretsky, and Linda Barnes will will flip for this absorbing private investigator story—and indeed Dawson’s whole series; so will those who enjoy the more contemporary Laura Lippman, Alison Gaylin, and T.R. Ragan