FREE/BARGAIN — Mystery, Suspense & Thrillers

[sufue]

As Death Draws Near is now in the middle of the series , and it's also on sale for £0.99 at Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B016JPTK2I

Originally Posted by sufue

As Death Draws Near is the most recent (until this coming March) in the Lady Darby series by Anna Lee Huber. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Death-Draws-N...dp/B016JPTK2I/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/as-death-draws-near

[sufue]

If you missed The Neon Rain at £0.99 a few years ago, it's now £2.99 at Kindle UK. Not as nice a price, but still not bad. It's the first in Burke's Robicheaux series....

Originally Posted by sufue

A bunch of price drops at Kindle UK, mostly to £0.99, mostly first-in-series, probably mostly as part of the June monthly price drops.
{edited other books}

The Neon Rain, Dave Robicheaux series by James Lee Burke: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003PPDICO

{edited other books}

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by sufue

If you missed The Neon Rain at £0.99 a few years ago, it's now £2.99 at Kindle UK...

That same title could be used to write a cyberpunk masterpiece

[sufue]

Today's Big Deal at Kindle UK is seven Miss Marple books by Agatha Christie for £0.99 each. Six are from early in the series, and the seventh is near the end.

Here's a link to the sale webpage: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?node=4725112031

[sufue]

Two books in the Tom Pollard/Gregory Toye series by Elizabeth Lemarchand are on UK Kindle Countdown at £0.99 each for about 6 1/2 more days. Books by Lemarchand usually go on sale at the same time in the US and UK, and oddly, right now, these aren't on sale in the US. However, the previous posts linked below also have US links, so you can price check, and perhaps they'll drop soon...

Death on Doomsday, #4, info in this previous post

Cyanide With Compliments, #5, info in this previous post

And the first in the series, Death of an Old Girl, seems to be more-or-less permanently at $0.99/£0.99 - info in this previous post

[sufue]

I'm late with this, but it should be good for at least a few more hours...

This weekend's Joffe Free Fridays book is a box set: The Complete Merry & Neal Mysteries by Janice Frost. The six books in the set are listed in the blurb.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089B5ZZY1
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B089B5ZZY1

Spoiler:

IN THIS SIX-BOOK BOX SET:

BOOK 1: DEAD SECRET
Who killed Amy Hill? Amy Hill, a nineteen-year-old student, is strangled and her body dumped on open ground in the city. New police partners, DI Jim Neal and DS Ava Merry are called in to investigate this brutal crime. The last person to see Amy alive was Simon, the son of a family friend, but before he can be properly questioned he disappears.

BOOK 2: DARK SECRET
Gray Mitchell’s body is found buried under fresh snowfall in the early hours of the morning outside Stromford Cathedral. DI Jim Neal and DS Ava Merry are called in to investigate. It seems that a number of people had motives to kill him, including his partner.

BOOK 3: HER HUSBAND’S SECRET
Two children sneak out on a freezing winter night, hoping to see a ghost. But instead they witness something far more terrifying. A man dumping a body . . .

BOOK 4: THEIR FATAL SECRETS
At the end of a drunken night out two students see something strange in the river: a young woman’s body. Hours later, a second woman washes up on the banks of the same river.

BOOK 5: DIRTY SECRETS
Val Marsh gets home to find her husband Russell shot through the head. Russell’s ‘angel investment’ company had made him many enemies. Business was bad, and his family and friends weren’t all on his side. But did any of them really want him dead?

BOOK 6: MURDEROUS SECRETS
Detective Ava Merry goes to a forties-themed dance at Northfields Farm on Valentine’s Day. But it soon becomes the scene of two brutal slayings. A young couple, Nick and Samantha are found stabbed multiple times.

THE DETECTIVES
DS Ava Merry is a young policewoman, recently promoted to detective sergeant. She is fitness fanatic with a taste for dangerous relationships. DI Jim Neal is single dad who juggles his devotion to his job with caring for his son.

[ZodWallop]

Evan Hunter (aka Ed McBain) has a few novels on sale for $2.99 a piece, seems to be Amazon only, but I'm linking to all three because last time this happened with Open Road, the books went on sale at the other sites the next day.

The Blackboard Jungle Amazon Kobo B&N

The “shocking” and “suspense-packed” bestseller about one teacher’s stand against student violence, and the basis for the Academy Award–nominated film (The New York Times Book Review).

After serving his country in World War II, Richard Dadier decides to become an English teacher—and for the sin of wanting to make a difference, he’s hired at North Manual Trades High School. A tough vocational school in the East Bronx, Manual Trades is home to angry, unruly teenagers exiled from New York City’s regular public schools. On his first day, Dadier endures relentless mockery and ridicule and makes an enemy of the student body by rescuing a female colleague from a vicious attack.

His fellow educators are bitter, disillusioned, and too afraid of their pupils to risk turning their backs on them in the classroom. But Dadier refuses to give up without a fight. Over the course of the semester, he tries again and again to break through the wall of hatred and scorn and win his students’ respect. The more he learns about their difficult circumstances, the more convinced he becomes that a good teacher can make a difference in their lives. His idealism will be put to the ultimate test, however, when a long-simmering power struggle with his most intimidating student explodes into a violent schoolroom showdown.

The basis for the blockbuster film starring Glenn Ford and Sidney Poitier, Evan Hunter’s The Blackboard Jungle is a brutal, unflinching look at the dark side of American education and an early masterpiece from the author who went on to write the gritty 87th Precinct series as Ed McBain. Drawn from Hunter’s own experiences as a New York City schoolteacher, it is a “nightmarish but authentic” drama that packs a knockout punch (Time).

Last Summer Amazon Kobo B&N

Three teenagers turn an idyllic summer vacation into a violent nightmare in this “compelling and unforgettable” novel by the bestselling author of The Blackboard Jungle (Harper’s).

Bored, restless, privileged teenagers Sandy, David, and Peter meet while vacationing with their families on remote Greensward Island. The two boys, both sixteen, are immediately entranced by Sandy’s beauty and frank sexuality.

Over the course of the summer, the trio creates an illicit teenage paradise far removed from adult supervision. Stolen beers and lustful teasing lead to more nefarious games, however, when Rhoda appears. Shy, quiet, and unsophisticated, the fifteen-year-old desperately wants to fit in with her more glamorous peers. Her awkwardness brings out a vicious cruel streak in Sandy, who has David and Peter so tightly wrapped around her finger they’ll do whatever she wants—even if it means destroying an innocent life.

A fearless, unflinching portrait of youth gone wild, Last Summer was the basis for an Academy Award–nominated film starring Barbara Hershey, Bruce Davison, Richard Thomas, and Catherine Burns. Originally published in 1968 and heralded by Cosmopolitan as “the most chilling novel of this—or any—autumn,” Last Summer transforms a coming-of-age story into a dark and twisted fable and confirms Evan Hunter’s reputation as a master of suspense.

Buddwing Amazon Kobo B&N

An amnesiac hunts for his lost life in every corner of New York City in this “brilliant” novel from the bestselling author of The Blackboard Jungle (Chicago Tribune).

Sunrise in Central Park. A man wakes up on a park bench with no idea who he is or how he got there. The only clues to his identity are the gold ring engraved “From G.V.” he wears on his right hand and the black address book with a single phone number he finds in his jacket pocket. Lacking a name, the man takes one from a passing beer truck and a plane flying overheard—Buddwing, he decides to call himself.

For the next twenty-four hours, Buddwing searches Manhattan hoping to rediscover his missing life. But no matter where he looks or whom he talks to, the past remains a confusing, disconnected jumble. One key name, however, echoes through the dim corridors of his mind: Grace.

Unfortunately, there is no grace to be found in the sprawling city. From the pretty young college student who brings him to her Greenwich Village apartment to the drunken sailor on shore leave who shows him a wild time in Chinatown to the wealthy, disillusioned blonde who claims him as a treasure-hunt prize, no one Buddwing encounters has the answers he seeks. Weary and desperate, he fears the life he’s forgotten is too terrible to recall. But even the most painful memory has to be better than the emptiness of not knowing. Or does it?

A vivid, kaleidoscopic portrait of 1950s New York City and a “fascinating exercise in the workings of the psyche,” Buddwing was the basis for the Academy Award–nominated film Mister Buddwing starring James Garner, Suzanne Pleshette, Jean Simmons, and Angela Lansbury (St. Louis Post-Dispatch). Evan Hunter’s personal favorite of his many novels, this masterpiece of psychological fiction moves with dreamlike intensity toward a shattering and unforgettable conclusion.

[sufue]

Evan Can Wait is the fifth in Rhys Bowen's first, very cozy, but very fun, Evan Evans series. It has dropped to £0.99 in the UK today, where Joffe has the rights - and the whole series is either £0.99 or £1.99.

Sadly in the US, where a big publisher still has the rights, these sit at $11.99, which is crazy for decades old backlist. So if you live in or travel to the UK, grab these there .

Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B8DZVGB8

Spoiler:

Constable Evan Evans leaves behind the big city for the sleepy Welsh village of Llanfair. But murder follows him . . .

The peaceful village of Llanfair is turned upside down by the arrival of hot-shot filmmakers from London.

They’re dredging Llyn Llydaw Lake to find a World War II German bomber for a documentary.

But that’s not all they’re dredging. As a number of painful secrets rise to the surface, the body of the director is found in a deep pool of water . . . weighed down with slate.

Grantley Smith was arrogant and conceited. A man with many enemies. But would anyone want to murder him?

It’s up to Constable Evans to unmask the killer before anyone else gets hurt.

Constable Evan Evans has his work cut out in this charming cozy Welsh village mystery.

[Quoth]

I bought 9 of the Rhys Bowen's Evans series last time it was mentioned here. All 9 for about €15 and they were brilliant.
Her Molly Murphy #1 is 87p https://www.amazon.co.uk/Murphys-Law...dp/B00GHK743S/
#21 is free right now The Amersham Rubies (Molly Murphy Book 21) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Amersham-Ru...dp/B00PY26WI8/

UK is default Marketplace for Irish Kindle owners.

Joffe seems to have a free book each Friday, but not all are to my taste.

[Quoth]

Also Rhys Bowen is on Kobo (Ireland anyway) at a similar price.
https://www.kobo.com/ie/en/search?qu...&sort=PriceAsc

Through the Window & The Face in the Mirror are 99c. The Amersham Rubies is Free (all Kobo in Ireland).

[Tarana]

Monster In the Box - Ruth Rendell - $1.99 Amazon, Kobo and B&N
Inspector Wexford - crime

Red as Blood By Lilja Sigurðardóttir $.99 Amazon, Kobo and B&N
Icelandic Crime Bk 2 of Aurora Investigations

Edited to add a couple of additions:

Live Flesh - Ruth Rendell $1.99 Amazon, Kobo, B&N
Crime - Stand alone novel

Dark Adapted Eye - Ruth Rendell writing as Barbara Vine $1.99 Amazon only
Crime - Stand alone novel

[sufue]

Well-Schooled in Murder is the third in Elizabeth George's Inspector Lynley series. It's on sale for $1.99 in the US right now.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000W93CUO
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/wel...ed-in-murder-1

Spoiler:

When thirteen-year-old Matthew Whately goes missing from Bredgar Chambers, a prestigious public school in the heart of West Sussex, aristocratic Inspector Thomas Lynley receives a call for help from the lad’s housemaster, who also happens to be an old school chum. Thus, the inspector, his partner, Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, and forensic scientist Simon Allcourt-St. James find themselves once again outside their jurisdiction and deeply involved in the search for a child—and then, tragically, for a child killer. Questioning prefects, teachers, and pupils closest to the dead boy, Lynley and Havers sense that something extraordinarily evil is going on behind Bredgar Chambers’s cloistered walls. But as they begin to unlock the secrets of this closed society, the investigation into Matthew’s death leads them perilously close to their own emotional wounds—and blinds them to the signs of another murder in the making. . . .

[sufue]

Promised Land by Robert B. Parker is the fourth in the Spenser series. A year-and-a-half later, it's $1.99 again at Kindle US...

Originally Posted by sufue

Now $1.99 at Kindle US. Per SYKM, this won the 1977 Edgar Award for Best Mystery.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XF7NX21/
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07XF7NX21/

[sufue]

Today's Joffe Free Friday free book - which usually lasts through the weekend, but don't count on it - is Dead in the Water by Peter Tickler. Forgive me while I rant about Dead in the Water as a title - used by Dana Stabenow, Ted Wood, Julie Smith and Ann Granger, just off the top of my head...and putting it into Kindle, there are pages more. But, rant over...here are links for this one...

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B013RUFWLQ
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B013RUFWLQ

Spoiler:

A gripping British mystery full of twists and turns

Private detective Doug Mullen discovers a body floating in the River Thames. He doesn't tell the police that he knows who it is, and when he is hired to investigate the dead man, matters get very complicated. Mullen is used to tracking down cheating husbands, not ruthless killers. The victim turns out to have been playing a complex game of deception with more than one woman.

As Mullen gets closer to tracking down the killer, he finds himself in grave danger. Unless he can crack the case, Detective Inspector Dorkin may pin the crime on him, or those with secrets to hide may put him out of circulation.

Mullen fights for his life as this fast-moving mystery reaches its stunning conclusion.

If you like Angela Marsons, Colin Dexter, Ruth Rendell, or Mark Billingham you will be gripped by this compelling crime fiction writer.

DEAD IN THE WATER is the first in a new series of detective thrillers featuring Doug Mullen — ex-army, ex-runaway, struggling human being — and recently set up as a private detective, with his only work coming from tracking down cheating husbands.

[sufue]

Murder in Westminster is the first in the Lady Worthing series by Vanessa Riley, whose earlier romance novel, The Duke, The Lady, and a Baby was one of Oprah Magazine's 25 must‑read Black romance novels. It's on sale right now at Kindle US for $2.99, not price-matched (at least as of now) at Kobo US. It's also KU if you have that...

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MZVBW48

Spoiler:

Vanessa Riley, whose The Duke, The Lady, and a Baby was one of Oprah Magazine's 25 Must‑Read Black Romance Novels, cements her reputation as an innovative new voice in historical romance with this new historical mystery series. Perfect for fans of Bridgerton and readers seeking more diversity and authenticity, Murder in Westminster introduces the strong, capable Lady Abigail Worthing, who must unearth a killer to clear her own name.

Discovering a body on her property presents Lady Abigail Worthing with more than one pressing problem. The victim is Juliet, the wife of her neighbor, Stapleton Henderson. Although Abigail has little connection with the lady in question, she expects to be under suspicion. Abigail’s skin color and her mother’s notorious past have earned her a certain reputation among the ton, and no amount of wealth or status will eclipse it.

Abigail can’t divulge that she was attending a secret pro-abolition meeting at the time of the murder. To her surprise, Henderson offers her an alibi. Though he and Juliet were long estranged, he feels a certain loyalty to his late wife. Perhaps together, he and Abigail can learn the truth. . . . Abigail, whose marriage was not a love match, knows well how appearances can deceive—and how treacherous London’s high society can be. Yet who would have killed Juliet, and why? Taking the reins of her life in a way she never has before, Abby intends to find out—but she may uncover more danger than she ever imagined . . .