FREE/BARGAIN — Mystery, Suspense & Thrillers

[sufue]

Just like in December 2021, it's now December 2022, and Rumpole for Christmas is on sale again at Kindle UK. The links are sitll good....

Originally Posted by sufue

Rumpole at Christmas is a collection of seven holiday-themed stories by John Mortimer. The collection has dropped to £0.99 at Kindle UK. You can see the list of stories in the sample, and I found a couple of them in other omnibuses I already had, but there were some new ones for me too.

Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002RUA5CO
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002RUA5CO

[sufue]

Introducing Harry Bosch is an omnibus of the first three titles in Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch series: The Black Echo, The Black Ice and The Concrete Blonde. If you haven't tried this much nominated/awarded series, now is your chance, since the omnibus is on sale at Kindle UK for £4.99, which works out to £1.66 each if you need all three, which is pretty good.

Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B086QL6QHV
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B086QL6QHV

Spoiler:

The Black Echo

LAPD detective Harry Bosch is a loner and a nighthawk. One Sunday he gets a call-out on his pager. A body has been found in a drainage tunnel off Mulholland Drive, Hollywood. At first sight, it looks like a routine drugs overdose case, but the one new puncture wound amid the scars of old tracks leaves Bosch unconvinced.

To make matters worse, Harry Bosch recognises the victim. Billy Meadows was a fellow 'tunnel rat' in Vietnam, running against the VC and the fear they all used to call the Black Echo. Bosch believes he let down Billy Meadows once before, so now he is determined to bring the killer to justice.

The Black Ice

When a body is found in a hotel room, reporters are soon all over the case: it appears to be a missing LAPD narcotics detective, apparently gone to the bad. The rumours were that he had been selling a new drug called Black Ice that had been infiltrating Los Angeles from the Mexican cartel.

The LAPD are quick to declare the death a suicide, but Harry Bosch is not so sure. There are odd mysteries and unexplained details from the crime scene which just don't add up. Fighting an attraction to the detective's widow, Bosch starts his own maverick investigation, which soon leads him over the borders and into a dangerous world of shifting identities, police politics and deadly corruption . . .

The Concrete Blonde

When LAPD detective Harry Bosch shot and killed Norman Church - the 'Dollmaker' - the police were convinced it marked the end of the search for one of the city's most bizarre serial killers.

But four years later, Norman Church's widow is taking Bosch to court, accusing him of killing the wrong man. To make matters worse, Bosch has just received a note, eerily reminiscent of the ones the Dollmaker used to taunt him with, giving him a location where a body can be found.

Is the Dollmaker still alive? Or is this the work of a vicious copycat killer, determined to repeat the Dollmaker's grisly feats and destroy Bosch's career in the process?

[sufue]

More than a year later, again free at Kindle US and UK....

Originally Posted by sufue

Another freebie from Michael Kenyon's Inspector Peckover series. This time it's Cradling Death, which is a re-titling (grrr) of Peckover Holds the Baby, which was first published in the 1980s. It's nice that it's free, so it makes it a little less important that Lume Books have completely changed the title, because it's not a big deal if you "buy" it again. But still, it's quite frustrating in general when titles get changed beyond recognition...

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D8JXEAM
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01D8JXEAM

[ZodWallop]

The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy is $2.99 at Amazon US

The D. A.'s brass, a sheriff's deputy, and a rough-and-tumble bagman are unknowingly chasing a nightmare in this thrilling novel from the author of "some of the most powerful crime novels ever written" (New York Times).

Los Angeles, 1950 Red crosscurrents: the Commie Scare and a string of brutal mutilation killings. Gangland intrigue and Hollywood sleaze. Three cops caught in a hellish web of ambition, perversion, and deceit. Danny Upshaw is a Sheriff's deputy stuck with a bunch of snuffs nobody cares about; they're his chance to make his name as a cop...and to sate his darkest curiosities. Mal Considine is D.A.'s Bureau brass. He's climbing on the Red Scare bandwagon to advance his career and to gain custody of his adopted son, a child he saved from the horror of postwar Europe. Buzz Meeks-bagman, ex-Narco goon, and pimp for Howard Hughes-is fighting communism for the money. All three men have purchased tickets to a nightmare.

[sufue]

Survival of the Fittest is now $2.99 in the US.

ADD: And only £2.99 in the UK. Links in the quote are still good for there...

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FBFN88
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B000FBFN88
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/sur...-the-fittest-6

Originally Posted by sufue

And a few more £0.99 at Kindle UK, and one at £1.99 (but for three titles)

Survival of the Fittest, Alex Delaware #12, by Jonathan Kellerman
link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002TXZSD0

{edited other books}

[sufue]

Dying on the Vine is the seventeenth in Aaron Elkins' awesome IMO Gideon Oliver forensic series. It's $1.99 in the US right now.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008JHXQCA
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B008JHXQCA
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/dying-on-the-vine-1

Spoiler:

When Gideon Oliver and his wife, Julie, are in Tuscany visiting the Cubbiddu family, the renowned Skeleton Detective is asked to reexamine the remains of a mysterious family tragedy. Pietro Cubbiddu, former patriarch of the Villa Antica wine empire, is thought to have killed his wife and then himself in the remote mountains of the Apennines. It does not take long for Gideon to deduce that, whatever happened, a murder-suicide it was not.

Soon Gideon finds himself in a morass of family antipathies, conflicts, and mistrust, to say nothing of the local authority’s resentment. And when yet another Cubbiddu relation meets an unlikely end, it becomes bone-chillingly clear that the killer is far from finished…

[GA Russell]

A Pinch of Poison (Mr. & Mrs. North) - F. & R. Lockridge

coupled with

Nine Against New York - Albert Leffingwell

$1.99

https://www.radioarchives.com/Two_Co...2_p/re1194.htm

[sufue]

Let the Dead Keep Their Secrets is the third in Rosemary Simpson's Gilded Age series. It's on sale right now in both the US ($1.99) and UK (£1.63), and it's discountable at Kobo.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B7CGL56
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07B7CGL56
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/let...heir-secrets-2
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07B7CGL56
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07B7CGL56

Spoiler:

For fans of HBO’s The Gilded Age, explore the dark side of the alluring world of America’s 19th century elite in this gripping series of riveting mysteries…

In Gilded Age New York, heiress Prudence MacKenzie and ex-Pinkerton Geoffrey Hunter investigate crimes that take them from the slums of Five Points in lower Manhattan to the Fifth Avenue mansions of society's elite. In the late nineteenth century, women are particularly vulnerable . . .

Childbirth can be dangerous even for the wealthy. So when opera singer Claire Buchanan shows Prudence and Geoffrey a postmortem cabinet photograph of her deceased twin sister and newborn niece, they express sadness but not surprise. The popular black-bordered portraits are the era's way of coping with the devastating losses that plague every family. What makes this death different is that Claire is convinced Catherine and her child were murdered.

Prudence's friend is haunted by a sense of her sister's lingering presence, and by the conviction that her dead twin is demanding justice. Catherine's widower, Aaron Sorensen, is a cold, controlling man who swiftly remarried. Now his second wife is already pregnant and may be in terrible danger. In order to discover the truth and find evidence of Sorensen's guilt, Geoffrey will delve deep into his past while Prudence casts herself as his next victim—putting her own life at grave risk . . .

And also, Lies That Comfort and Betray, which is the second in the series, is on sale for $2.99/£2.45 in the US/UK, and also discountable at Kobo.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07142G4RJ
Kindle US/Smile: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07142G4RJ
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/lie...t-and-betray-2
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07142G4RJ
Kindle UK/Smile: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07142G4RJ

Spoiler:

For fans of HBO’s The Gilded Age, explore the dark side of the alluring world of America’s 19th century elite in this gripping series of riveting mysteries…

From the author of What the Dead Leave Behind, this suspenseful and richly atmospheric mystery captures both the elegance and sophistication of New York’s Gilded Age—and the secrets and bloody terrors that lurk behind its elegant facades . . .

Heiress Prudence MacKenzie is a valuable partner to attorney Geoffrey Hunter, despite the fact that women are not admitted to the bar in nineteenth-century New York. And though their office is a comfortable distance from the violence of the city’s slums, the firm of Hunter and MacKenzie is about to come dangerously close to a high-profile killer across the pond . . .

Nora Kenny works in Prudence’s Fifth Avenue house, just as her mother once served Prudence’s mother. As children, they played freely together, before retreating into their respective social classes. Still, they remain fond of each other. So when Nora’s body is discovered in a local park, Prudence is devastated. As other poor, vulnerable young women fall victim, the police are confounded. Has the Ripper crossed the Atlantic to find a new hunting ground? Is someone copying his crimes? A former Pinkerton agent, Geoffrey intends to step in, and Prudence is equally determined. But a killer with a disordered mind and an incomprehensible motive may prove too elusive for even this experienced pair to outwit.

[sufue]

I have no idea why, but I adore the Mr & Mrs North series. It's dated and it's cotton candy and it's, if not misogynistic, at least condescending towards women, but I just laugh all the way through them. Pamela North and her aunts... The cats... And I guess I feel as if I share a bit of Pamela's tendency to jump way ahead (or off to the side) in a train of thought, and my husband puts up with it just as Jerry does, although perhaps with a bit less patience ...

So thanks for reminding me of it, @GARussell, I may have to go for a re-read.

Anyway, JMTCW...

Oh, and the whole series is available from Mysterious Press.com/Open Road, so if you keep your eye out, they all eventually go on sale. And they are discountable at Kobo, although they go on sale there less often.

Originally Posted by GA Russell

A Pinch of Poison (Mr. & Mrs. North) - F. & R. Lockridge

coupled with

Nine Against New York - Albert Leffingwell

$1.99

https://www.radioarchives.com/Two_Co...2_p/re1194.htm

[sufue]

Two books in Anna Lee Huber's Verity Kent series are on sale in the US and UK right now, and discountable at Kobo.

This Side of Murder, #1, $1.99/£1.63

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N4JS4N4
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01N4JS4N4
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/this-side-of-murder-3
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01N4JS4N4
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01N4JS4N4

Treacherous Is the Night, #2, $1.99, not on sale in the UK

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078QSYZ3H
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B078QSYZ3H
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/tre...is-the-night-3

[sufue]

Joffe Books free Friday deal this week, which seems to last through the weekend most of the time, appears to be an omnibus of the first five Hillary Greene books by Faith Martin, free right now at Kindle US and UK. (I didn't get an email this time, but this seems likely to be it...) I haven't read any of these, but did read a couple of books in one of Martin's other series, written under a pen name, and they were okay. But WTH, these are free, so if you don't like them, you can just delete.

DETECTIVE HILLARY GREENE BOOKS 1–5
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08WM2SVT7
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08WM2SVT7

Spoiler:

IN THIS FIVE BOOK BOX SET:

BOOK 1: MURDER ON THE OXFORD CANAL
The death of her husband leaves DI Hillary Greene fighting to save her career. His actions have put her under investigation for corruption. Meanwhile, a body is found floating in the canal. Everyone is saying he fell off a boat, but Hillary is not so sure. Can she clear her name and get to the bottom of a fiendish conspiracy on the water?

BOOK 2: MURDER AT THE UNIVERSITY
A pretty French student is found dead in her room at college. Her death has all the hallmarks of an accidental overdose. But Hillary Greene knows there’s more to the story. This girl was involved in some troubling extracurricular activities. When the shocking true cause of death is revealed, the high-profile hunt for her murderer begins.

BOOK 3: MURDER OF THE BRIDE
DI Hillary Greene is called out to a farm, where there’s a wedding reception in full swing. A grim discovery awaits her in the cowshed: a dead bride. This stunning redhead has been strangled on her special day. Who wanted her dead? Many of the partygoers had motive and means, but they’re not giving up their secrets easily.

BOOK 4: MURDER IN THE VILLAGE
A politician is found battered to death in his own designer kitchen. His wife’s alibi is full of holes and there’s another woman in the picture. And what about his political rivals? DI Hillary Greene is on the case, but is her search for the killer about to lead her into mortal danger?

BOOK 5: MURDER IN THE FAMILY
15–year-old Billy Davies is found dead in his father’s shed. A pair of shears thrust brutally into his chest. Who wanted him dead and why? To catch this killer, Hillary will need to dig deep into the dark secrets of a small community. And she soon realizes teenaged Billy was no innocent.

Don’t miss out on this million-selling series of unputdownable mysteries! YOU GET ALL FIVE OF THE ABOVE BOOKS IN THIS EDITION.

THE DETECTIVE
DI Hillary Greene
An attractive woman in her forties, Hillary Greene is a police officer of many years’ experience, and came up through the ranks. Consequently, she knows how the system works, and is fiercely loyal to the force without being blinkered to its faults. She is a long-standing friend of her immediate superior officer, ‘Mellow’ Mallow and enjoys a rather enigmatic relationship with the steely Superintendent Marcus Donleavy. Popular with the rank and file for her no-nonsense attitude and competence, she is currently under investigation on account of her recently deceased, and definitely corrupt husband (Ronnie Greene). But adversity has never stopped her from doing her job.

Note: These were all originally published with different titles: A Narrow Escape, On the Straight and Narrow, Narrow Is the Way, By a Narrow Majority, and Through a Narrow Door. But since the omnibus is free, it doesn't matter so much if you duplicate. Still, good to know...

[sufue]

The Case of the Baited Hook is about one-fifth of the way through Erle Stanley Gardner's Perry Mason series. It's $2.99 right now in the US, and discountable at Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B081LL1PQQ
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B081LL1PQQ
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the...-baited-hook-1

Spoiler:

The bait is half of a $10,000 bill, delivered to Perry Mason by a man who promises the second half of the note should his companion, a silent masked woman, ever require the lawyer’s services. When a dead body is discovered soon after, Mason feels the hook―but how can one prove the innocence of a person whose identity is unknown?

Suspecting he’s been set up, but curious nonetheless, Perry sets out to solve the mystery from the ground up, beginning with the face behind the veil. The more he learns, the more complex his investigation becomes. Uncovering a convoluted case of stock fraud, divorce, and inheritance, Mason’s nearly left reeling―that is until, with the help of Della Street and Paul Drake, he pulls off one of his most daring gambits ever to finally cast light on the killer.

Filled with memorable characters, a multitude of motives, and just a few red herrings, The Case of the Baited Hook is classic Perry Mason, showcasing the character’s brilliance and pizazz with a plot that pushes his powers into overdrive. As puzzling as it is entertaining, the book exemplifies the style that made Edgar Award winner Erle Stanley Gardner one of the most popular authors of the twentieth century and inspired the hit HBO series.

[sufue]

The Old Success is $2.99 again in the US, and this time also at Kobo US, where it is discountable! The links below are still good for Kindle, and here's the Kobo link: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-old-success-3

Originally Posted by sufue

The Old Success is the 25th and most recent (2019) in the Richard Jury series by Martha Grimes. It is $2.99 at Kindle US right now.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NNR9LC6
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07NNR9LC6

[sufue]

Five of the six books in Lynda S Robinson's Lord Meren series have dropped to $1.99 each right now at Kindle US. These are Mysterious/Open Road, so they go on sale a lot, but it's unusual to see so many on sale at one time. Sadly, they aren't on sale at Kobo US, where they would be discountable, although they do go on sale there too from time to time. I have a huge bias towards mysteries set in Egypt (and/or Nubia), and I really really enjoyed this series when I read it back in the 1990s. I am sad it ended at six books. Anyway, if you want to get most of the series in one fell swoop, now's your chance.

Link to the series webpage:

Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08YRV4WM1
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B08YRV4WM1

[sufue]

And I guess I was wrong about Joffe's Free Friday book a couple of posts up, because I just found the email in my spam, and the "official" free book this week is Catherine Moloney's Crime in the Choir, which is the first in her Detective Markham series. Per the blurb, this was originally published as A Walking Shadow - I have no idea why Joffe feels the compulsion to change so many titles. Sigh!

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RBBLMBL
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07RBBLMBL

Spoiler:

Discover a nail-biting new series.

Please note this book was first published as A Walking Shadow.

Two skeletons are discovered in the grounds of St Mary's Choir School. This was not a centuries-old Christian burial. They are wearing modern-day clothes and there is evidence of foul play. Consecrated land has been sadistically violated.

Detective Inspector Gilbert Markham is a rising talent of the Bromgrove police force. He is on the trail of the murderer, when another life is brutally claimed. Who is the savage killer lurking in this innocent place?

DI Markham and his team are met with intense hostility when they step up their operation. Is this just local panic? Or are they about to stumble into a web of corruption which runs deeper than they could have ever anticipated?

DI MARKHAM FACES A RACE AGAINST TIME TO SAVE HIS GIRLFRIEND FROM BEING THE NEXT VICTIM.