FREE/BARGAIN — Mystery, Suspense & Thrillers

[sufue]

The Body in the Bookcase is the ninth in Katherine Hall Page's Faith Fairchild series. It's $1.99 right now at Kindle US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000R4FXRY

Spoiler:

A crime-solving caterer delves into the dark side of the New England antiques trade in the Agatha Award-winning, “highly entertaining series” (Booklist).

Stretched almost to the limit by the capricious demands of a Boston Brahmin bride-to-be, caterer and minister’s wife Faith Fairchild faces real tragedy when she discovers the body of an elderly friend. Sarah Winslow had apparently surprised burglars ransacking her Aleford, Massachusetts, house. No sooner has Sarah been laid to rest than the Fairchilds find themselves the next target—the parsonage is stripped of all their most precious possessions. Devastated and furious, Faith takes action, scouring pawnshops, antique marts, and auctions. As she turns up some of their stolen property, she is drawn onto a dangerous path of larceny and corruption in New England’s venerable antique business—a path that soon leads Faith straight to a killer.

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[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by kyrilson

All of this author’s books are good.

Good to know. I also have Penance, but haven't read it yet.

[salty-horse]

Cross-posted to SF&F.
Grave Expectations by Alice Bell is £1 in the UK (Kobo, Amazon)
Paranormal murder mystery. Review by K. J. Charles

A fast-paced and hilarious debut crime novel, in which a burnt-out Millennial medium must utilize her ability to see ghosts and team-up with a band of oddball investigators to figure out which member(s) of a posh English family are guilty of murder.

Almost-authentic medium Claire and her best friend, Sophie, agree to take on a seemingly simple job at a crumbling old manor in the English performing a seance for the family matriarch's 80th birthday. The pair have been friends since before Sophie went missing when they were seventeen. Everyone else is convinced Sophie simply ran away, but Claire knows the truth. Claire knows Sophie was murdered because Sophie has been haunting her ever since.

Despite this traumatic past, Claire and Sophie are still unprepared for what they encounter when they arrive: a ghost, tragic and unrecognizable, and clearly the spirit of someone killed in a rage at the previous year's party. Given her obsession with crime shows—not to mention Sophie's ability to walk through walls—Claire decides they're the best people to solve the case. And with the help of the only obviously not-guilty members of their host family—sexy ex-policeman Sebastian and far-too-cool non-binary teen Alex—they launch an investigation into which of last year's guests never escaped the manor's grounds.

What follows is somewhat irregular detective work involving stealing a priest's cassock, getting too drunk to remember to question your suspect, and of course, Chekhov's sparkly purple dildo. As Claire desperately tries to keep a lid on the shameful secret that would definitely alienate her new friends, the gang must race against their own incompetence to find the murderer before the murderer finds them.

[sufue]

The Noose, which is the fourth in Philip MacDonald's excellent IMO Anthony Gethryn series, is on sale for $1.99 in the US right now.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01ARSASWE
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the...crime-classics

And, the first in the series, The Rasp, is already PD in the US, and available at Project Gutenberg, while the second in the series, The White Crow, should be entering the public domain in the US in a couple of weeks (assuming SYKM's pub date of 1928 is accurate for the US).

Spoiler:

Gentleman detective Anthony Gethryn is in a race against time to save an innocent man from the hangman’s noose.

Colonel Anthony Gethryn is recalled from a holiday in Spain to solve a murder in the November fogs of London. He finds that his wife is sheltering Mrs Bronson, whose husband is in prison awaiting execution for the murder of a gamekeeper six months before. A petition for reprieve has been rejected and Bronson will shortly hang for someone else’s crime. Convinced by Mrs Bronson of her husband’s innocence, Gethryn embarks on a seemingly hopeless race against time to overthrow the guilty verdict and find the real murderer – and he has only five days before Bronson’s date with the hangman’s noose.

The Noose saw the return of Philip MacDonald’s gentleman detective Anthony Ruthven Gethryn, whose debut in The Rasp six years earlier had been a big success. Judged to be his best book yet, The Noose had the distinction of being chosen as the first book to be published in Collins’ Crime Club in May 1930, helping to immortalise it as one of the seminal books of the crime genre.

And the first in the series, The Rasp, is already PD in the US, and available at Project Gutenberg, and the second in the series, The White Crow, should be entering the public domain in the US in a couple of weeks (assuming SYKM's pub date of 1928 is accurate for the US).

[sufue]

I've long been quite fond of the four humorous/ghostly mysteries by Manning Coles (pen name for Cyril Henry Coles and A.K.O. (Adelaide Frances Oke) Manning). Three comprise the James and Charles Latimer series, and one is a stand-alone. They've been on my "wish they were e-books" list for a long time, and now I note that two of the four have actually been available as e-books since 2021. And at nice prices too:

Brief Candles, Latimers #1, $0.99/£0.99
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MFZ3BJD
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/brief-candles-2
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09MFZ3BJD

The Far Traveller, non-series, $0.99/£0.77
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08W2GKSX1
Kobo US (discountable): https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the...ghostly-comedy
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08W2GKSX1

I've not read any of Coles' Tommy Hambledon spy series (with many more books) - if anyone else has, are they any good? I note that a few of those are also available in e-book.

[sufue]

And while I was checking my "wish-they-were-in-ebook" list, which I clearly haven't done in a few years, I found all eight of the Dan Mallett books by Frank Parrish (pen name for Roger Erskine Longrigg) have been available since 2020. My warm but somewhat indistinct memories of this series remind me a bit of a rural version of Simon Brett's Charles Paris, but I wouldn't put a lot of weight on that since I read these in DTB a few decades ago. However, the first one in the series, Fire in the Barley, is available for $0.99/£0.99, so I'm going to snag it and read it sometime (fairly) soon, and see if memory matches reality. And if I still like the series, the rest are not-too-badly priced either, which is nice.

Fire in the Barley
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087WJNDCJ
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B087WJNDCJ

Spoiler:

The best person to catch a criminal is a criminal himself…

1977, West Country of England

Reclusive poacher Dan Mallett spends his evenings prowling the local countryside for his latest catch.

And one night he is almost caught by the police.

But they weren’t looking for him – someone else has been committing crimes in the local area.

With his night-time hobby at imminent risk, Dan decides to try and catch the offender himself.

He uses methods that are by turn ingenious, crooked, and sensationally successful, but as he gets closer to solving the mystery, it seems the police could be about to pin the crimes on him…

Will Dan catch the perpetrator before the police catch up with him…?

Fire in the Barley is the first cosy village mystery in the Dan Mallett Investigation series: private investigation murder mysteries set in rural England.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by sufue

I've not read any of Coles' Tommy Hambledon spy series (with many more books) - if anyone else has, are they any good? I note that a few of those are also available in e-book.

I quite liked the Hambledon series.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I quite liked the Hambledon series.

[sufue]

Cool, thanks ^^

I may re-read the two cozy ones first , but will try the Hambledon ones soon!

[sufue]

Holiday in Death is the seventh in JD Robb's In Deaths series. It's $1.99 right now in the US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000OIZUUI
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/holiday-in-death-1

Spoiler:

Lieutenant Eve Dallas tails a serial killer who has a passion for the "Twelve Days of Christmas" in this novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling In Death series.

No one likes to be alone during the holidays. For New York's most posh dating service, Personally Yours, it is the season to bring lonely hearts together. But Lieutenant Eve Dallas, on the trail of a ritualistic serial killer who likes to dress up as Santa Claus, has made a disturbing discovery: all of the victims have been traced to Personally Yours. As the murders continue, Eve enters into an elite world of people searching for their one true love. A world where the power of love leads men and women into the ultimate act of betrayal...

[sufue]

The Body in the Boudoir is the twentieth Faith Fairchild book by Katherine Hall Page, but it's a prequel...

It's $1.99 at Kindle US right now.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006FOHNK0

Spoiler:

Massachusetts minister’s wife, caterer, and sometime amateur sleuth Faith Fairchild returns in The Body in the Boudoir, the twentieth installment in the Agatha Award-winning mystery series by Katherine Hall Page that provides mystery, heart, wit, suspense, and mouthwatering recipes aplenty.

Page turns back the clock this time to 1990, as a young Faith Sibley prepares to wed the love of her life, Thomas Fairchild . . . if she can survive a malefactor who’s trying to disrupt the ceremony by doing away with the bride. Fans of cozy culinary mysteries, like the bestselling Goldy Schultz novels of Diane Mott Davidson, will adore the tasty mayhem Katherine Hall Page cooks up in her Boudoir.

[sufue]

Seeing a Large Cat is now £2.99 at Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0080K3JWS

Originally Posted by sufue

Seeing a Large Cat is the 9th in the excellent IMO (and the opinion of lots of others, I suspect, going by Peters' MWA Grand Master Award) Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters. It has dropped to $2.99 at Kindle and Kobo US. Most of the titles in this series don't go on sale very often in the US, so grab this one if you want it.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002WAUVK0
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/seeing-a-large-cat

[sufue]

Five years later, Darker Than Amber is $2.99 in the US again. The links below are still good...

Originally Posted by sufue

Darker Than Amber is the seventh in the Travis McGee series by by John D. MacDonald. It has dropped to $2.99 at Kindle and Kobo US. MacDonald's McGee books don't go on sale in the US very often, so grab it if you want it.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008WOUHNQ
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/darker-than-amber

[sufue]

Blessing of the Lost Girls is the twentieth and most recent (2023) in JA Jance's Joanna Brady series, although the blurb sounds as if it focuses more on related characters than on Joanna herself. It's on sale for $2.99 today as part of the Kindle US Daily Deal, and price matched at Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BM9Y353W
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/ble...the-lost-girls

Spoiler:

From J. A. Jance’s New York Times bestselling Brady and Walker novels, federal investigator Dan Pardee, Brandon Walker’s son-in-law, crosses paths with Sheriff Joanna Brady as he traces the bloody path of a merciless serial killer across the Southwest in this intense thriller.

Driven by a compulsion that challenges his self-control, the man calling himself Charles Milton prowls the rodeo circuit, hunting young women. He chooses those he believes are the most vulnerable, wandering alone and distracted, before he strikes. For years, he has been meticulous in his methods, abducting, murdering, and disposing of his victims while leaving no evidence of his crimes—or their identities—behind. Indigenous women have become his target of choice, knowing law enforcement’s history of ignoring their disappearances.

A cold case has just been assigned to Dan Pardee, a field officer with the newly formed Missing and Murdered Indigenous People’s Task Force. Rosa Rios, a young woman of Apache descent and one-time rodeo star, vanished three years ago. Human remains, a homicide victim burned beyond recognition, were discovered in Cochise County around the time she went missing. They have finally been confirmed to be Rosa. With Sheriff Joanna Brady’s help, Dan is determined to reopen the case and bring long-awaited justice to Rosa’s family. As the orphaned son of a murdered indigenous woman, he feels an even greater, personal obligation to capture this killer.

Joanna’s daughter Jennifer is also taking a personal interest in this case, having known Rosa from her own amateur rodeo days. Now a criminal justice major, she’s unofficially joining the investigation. And as it becomes clear that Rosa was just one victim of a serial killer, both Jennifer and Dan know they’re running out of time to catch an elusive predator who’s proven capable of getting away with murder.

[sufue]

I had a review copy of The Bitter Past, by Bruce Borgos, a while back, and really liked it. I had gotten fascinated by the era of atomic testing in the Las Vegas area by a visit to the National Atomic Testing Museum, just off the Strip, and Borgos' mystery/thriller fit nicely with the background I had learned. And it was funny to see a "thank-you" to the Director of that museum in the acknowledgments at the end. Anyway, The Bitter Past is on sale right now for $2.99 as part of today's US Kindle Daily Deal, and price-matched at Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B9KSJ6JF
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-bitter-past

Spoiler:

In the tradition of Craig Johnson and C. J. Box, Bruce Borgos's The Bitter Past begins a compelling series set in the high desert of Nevada featuring Sheriff Porter Beck…

Porter Beck is the sheriff in the high desert of Nevada, north of Las Vegas. Born and raised there, he left to join the Army, where he worked in Intelligence, deep in the shadows in far off places. Now he's back home, doing the same lawman's job his father once did, before his father started to develop dementia. All is relatively quiet in this corner of the world, until an old, retired FBI agent is found killed. He was brutally tortured before he was killed and clues at the scene point to a mystery dating back to the early days of the nuclear age. If that wasn't strange enough, a current FBI agent shows up to help Beck's investigation.

In a case that unfolds in the past (the 1950s) and the present, it seems that a Russian spy infiltrated the nuclear testing site and now someone is looking for that long-ago, all-but forgotten person, who holds the key to what happened then and to the deadly goings on now.

If you want to read my full review, the URL for my blog is in my signature...