FREE/BARGAIN — Mystery, Suspense & Thrillers

[sufue]

A Deceptive Composition is the twelfth and most recent (2024) in Anna Lee Huber's Lady Darby series, at least until a new one comes out next June. It has dropped in price in the UK to £1.99 at Kindle UK, and £2.99 (but discountable) at Kobo UK.

Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CJBNRT8L
Kobo UK: https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/a-d...ve-composition

Spoiler:

Lady Kiera Darby and her dashing husband, Sebastian Gage, hope they’ve finally found peace after a tumultuous summer, but long-buried family secrets soon threaten to unravel their lives . . .

October 1832. Kiera is enjoying the slower pace of the English countryside. She, Sebastian, and their infant daughter have accompanied her father-in-law, Lord Gage, home so that he can recuperate from the injuries he sustained in a foiled attempt on his life. But as the chill of autumn sweeps across the land, they receive a summons from an unexpected quarter. Lord Gage’s estranged uncle—a member of the notorious Roscarrock family—has been murdered, and his family is desperate for answers. Despite Lord Gage’s protests, Kiera and Sebastian press on to Cornwall to assist.

It isn’t long before they discover that almost nothing is as it seems among the Roscarrocks, and they’ve been lured to their isolated cove under false pretenses. There are whispers of a lost treasure and frightening allusions to a series of murders stretching back decades that touch the lives of the family personally. Kiera and Sebastian are left with no choice but to uncover the truth before the secrets of the past threaten to destroy them all.

[sufue]

Smoke Without Fire is the sixth book in the Andrew Basnett series by EX Ferrars. It's on sale at Kindle US for $2.99 as part of today's Daily Deal, but not matched at Kobo US, at least as of now. The title doesn't make it obvious, but this is another holiday title.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CBNN3XLN
Kobo US (for price check): https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/smoke-without-fire-2

Spoiler:

Andrew Basnett does not have very good luck with Christmas. Most recently, while visiting friends in Australia for the festive season, he wound up with a front-row seat to some rather extraordinary family strife. And this time around, his plans for a peaceful English-village holiday get blown up when. . . . well, when his hosts’ neighbor, Sir Lucas Dearden, gets blown up.

This is England in the 1980s; everyone shudders, blames the IRA, and moves on. Except, of course, for Andrew Basnett. Who knew, he wonders, about Sir Lucas’s last-minute change of plans? Why had Sir Lucas meticulously removed one page of the (rather stunningly dull) memoir he was writing? And could the bomb possibly have been intended for someone else?

[sufue]

Too Good to Hang is finally on sale in the US, for $0.99 at Kindle US, but not matched (so far) at Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BN2S5MRY
Kobo US (for price check): https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/too-good-to-hang-1

Originally Posted by sufue

Too Good to Hang is the eleventh and most recent in Sarah Hawkswood's Bradecote/Catchpoll series. It's on sale right now for £1.89 at Kindle UK.

Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BN2S5MRY

[sufue]

I'm not totally sure about Henery Press, but their website looks pretty legit, and I recognize a couple of their other authors too, although mostly too cozy even for me. And Julie Mulhern's books are listed in SYKM, which is really my more important criteria. And the third book in Mulhern's Country Club series, Clouds in my Coffee, is free right now both in the US and UK, so you can try it and make up your mind. Or not, if you don't want to risk the time to try it...

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B094NWH8QK
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/clouds-in-my-coffee-8
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B094NWH8QK
Kobo UK: https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/clouds-in-my-coffee-8

Spoiler:

When Ellison Russell is nearly killed at a benefactors’ party, she brushes the incident aside as an unhappy accident. But when her house is fire-bombed, she’s shot at, and the person sitting next to her at a gala is poisoned, she must face facts. Someone wants her dead. But why? And can Ellison find the killer before he strikes again? Add in an estranged sister, a visiting aunt with a shocking secret, and a handsome detective staying in her guesthouse, and Ellison might need more than cream in her coffee.

[sufue]

Please Pass The Guilt is almost at the end of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin series. It's on sale right now in the US and UK.

Kindle US, $1.99: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003V4BPUQ
Kobo US, $1.99: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/please-pass-the-guilt
Kindle UK, £0.99: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003V4BPUQ
Kobo UK, £1.99, but discountable: https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/please-pass-the-guilt

Spoiler:

A brilliant Rex Stout murder mystery featuring Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin

A bomb explodes in the desk drawer of a top TV executive. Was it intended for him or the man who opened the drawer? They each had enemies enough to die a dozen times over. Was it the jealous wife or the ambitious partner? The secretary who got passed around like an inter-office memo? Or the man who couldn’t wash the blood off his hands? Nero Wolfe didn’t want any part of it—but he was up to his neck in the toughest case of his career!

[sufue]

If you missed this earlier this year, it's now on sale again, this time for £3.99, which is still a great price. The links are still good.

Originally Posted by sufue

I've been traveling, so not sure how much longer this will last, but an omnibus of all fourteen books in Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther series is on sale for £2.99 right now in the UK. That's less than £0.25 each if you need them all, and it's still a great deal if you only need a few. And it's a great series, with several books awarded or finalists for various Edgar, Shamus, Dagger, etc. awards. In the interests of getting this posted quickly, I'm not going to list all the books, but it truly is all of them.

Philip Kerr: The Complete Bernie Gunther Novels
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BT4JMJBM
Kobo UK: https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/phi...vels-14-titles

[sufue]

Goodbye California is now £0.99 at Kindle UK and £1.99 at Kobo UK. I'd still prefer my house to remain intact...

Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002RTINBU
Kobo UK: https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/goodbye-california

A little bit interesting, since it also says it's KU, but also is available at Kobo - I thought if a book was in KU, it wasn't supposed to be anywhere else ???

Originally Posted by sufue

Four titles by Alistair Maclean have dropped to $3.99 at Kindle US. Not a great price for very old backlist, but better than the $5.99 that seems to be their long-term price.

Titles are:

• Goodbye California (a matter of some sensitivity to me, since I'd prefer my house and myself to stay in one piece )
  {edited other books}

link for all four: https://www.amazon.com/gp/search/?se...price-asc-rank

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by sufue

A little bit interesting, since it also says it's KU, but also is available at Kobo - I thought if a book was in KU, it wasn't supposed to be anywhere else ???

I suspect that rule only applies to small (Kindle Direct Publishing) publishers.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I suspect that rule only applies to small (Kindle Direct Publishing) publishers.

Yes. it's only Kindle Direct Publishing Select (KDP Select), which is not used by larger publishers. Of course Amazon decides. Regular KDP is non-exclusive.

[sufue]

Three more Joffe books, this time with two seasonally appropriate ones...

Murder for Christmas (apa The Ghost of Christmas Past) is the eighth in the Honey Driver series by Jean G Goodhind
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BFJG87FF
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BFJG87FF

Inspector Proby's Christmas is the first in John Gano's Inspector Proby series
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018IOM64W
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B018IOM64W

The Syndicate Six Murder, by Geoffrey Osborne
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08LDR2PJS
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08LDR2PJS

[sufue]

If you want to read ALL the books in Deryn Lake’s John Rawlings series, now is your chance. They are all gathered into two omnibuses, which are on sale right now for $1.99/£1.99 each. They are Kindle Countdown Deals, good for a bit more than three days.

I’m not going to re-type a list of all seventeen (!!!) of the books in the series – you can see a list of the first sixteen at SYKM, and the seventeenth is titled, Death on the River Thames.

The John Rawlings Historical London Mysteries, Volume One contains the first ten books.
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CBSDS383
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CBSDS383

The John Rawlings Historical London Mysteries, Volume Two contains the last seven books.
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CCF4MTQR
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CCF4MTQR

[Quoth]

Thanks, the John Rawlings sets were already in my Amazon list, since ages, though it doesn't indicate that £1.99 is price reduction. I see it's to go to £5 approx in 3 days from 8 am UK time.

[DrNefario]

The Labyrinth House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji, the newly-translated third book in the Bizarre House Mystery series, is down to £1.99 on the UK Kindle store, today. (Book one - The Decagon House Murders - is really outstanding, but I saw through book two - The Mill House Murders - almost immediately.)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Labyrinth-H.../dp/B0DCG8CSRC

[sufue]

Several years later, An Artless Demise is now $1.99 again in the US, £0.99 at Kindle UK, and £1.99 (but discountable) at Kobo UK. The links below are still good, and here's one for Kobo UK: https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/an-artless-demise

Originally Posted by sufue

An Artless Demise is the seventh and next-to-most-recent (2019) in the Lady Darby series by Anna Lee Huber. It has dropped to $1.99/£1.49 in the US/UK respectively. (It seems that a number of "mainstream" books have started going on sale at the same time in the US/UK - I'll have to start paying attention to which publisher(s)...)

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Artless-Demis...dp/B07FC7Y6GT/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/an-artless-demise
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Artless-Dem...dp/B07FC7Y6GT/

{edited out the Amazon Smile stuff}

[sufue]

Today's Joffe freebie...

Guard Her with Your Life is a stand-alone thriller by Joy Ellis
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CVBD5848
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CVBD5848

Spoiler:

Detective Sam Helsdown waits anxiously at the airport. He’s excited and more than a little nervous to be picking up his daughter. It’s the first time he’s seen ten-year-old Zoe in two years.

Flight BA631 from Athens lands and soon people begin trickling through Arrivals. A blonde-haired girl races towards him and throws herself into his arms crying, ‘Daddy!’.

Sam hugs her tightly. But then he looks down at her properly — and an icy horror grips him.

The next day, the phone rings. The voice is urgent. ‘Help will come. Until then, guard her with your life.’ It’s Julia, his ex.

Ruthless criminals are closing in and Sam will do whatever it takes to keep this girl safe.

This utterly gripping crime thriller is perfect for fans of L.J. Ross, J.D. Kirk, Elly Griffiths, Rachel McLean or Ann Cleeves.

Please note that this is a novella, not a full-length book.