FREE/BARGAIN — Mystery, Suspense & Thrillers

[ZodWallop]

Whalefall by Daniel Kraus is $2 at Amazon and Kobo.

Named a Best Book of 2023 by Book Riot, Shelf Awareness, and NPR

Jay Gardiner has given himself a fool’s errand—to find the remains of his deceased father in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Monastery Beach. He knows it’s a long shot, but Jay feels it’s the only way for him to lift the weight of guilt he has carried since his dad’s death by suicide the previous year.

The dive begins well enough, but the sudden appearance of a giant squid puts Jay in very real jeopardy, made infinitely worse by the arrival of a sperm whale looking to feed. Suddenly, Jay is caught in the squid’s tentacles and drawn into the whale’s mouth where he is pulled into the first of its four stomachs. He quickly realizes he has only one hour before his oxygen tanks run out—one hour to defeat his demons and escape the belly of a whale.

Suspenseful and cinematic, Whalefall is an “powerfully humane” (Owen King, New York Times bestselling author) thriller about a young man who has given up on life…only to find a reason to live in the most dangerous and unlikely of places.

[GA Russell]

Give 'em the Ax

by Erle Stanley Gardner

Cool & Lam from 1944

99 cents

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CZM371VZ/

[sufue]

Forecast Murder (apa Blood of an Aries) is the first in Linda Mather's Jo and Macy mystery series.* It's free right now as Joffe's Free Friday book, usually available through the weekend.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0957ZNYBG
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0957ZNYBG

Spoiler:

Please note this book was first published as Blood of an Aries.

Jo has always dreamed of making it as a professional astrologer. But her practical Virgo soul also recognizes she has to pay the bills, too. When she hears about a part-time job with Macy and Wilson, a private investigation agency, she is more than a little bit curious.

Her new boss (a classic Cancer, and handsome to boot) starts her off with some routine telephone traces. Jo is sure she can make this work alongside her true passion — astrology. But then a man is shot dead, and his sometime lover is found dead in a bath in the Wellington Hotel.

Now Jo is really in over her head . . . Will the victim’s horoscope help unravel what happened at the hour of his death?

[GA Russell]

The Ross Macdonald Collection

Eleven Lew Archer short stories

99 cents

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0DVVMM624/

[BetterRead]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

The Ross Macdonald Collection

Eleven Lew Archer short stories

99 cents

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0DVVMM624/

This book, and other titles from the same "publisher", Andrii Ponomarenko, (such as The Raymond Chandler Collection and various Rex Stout Mysteries), would appear to be bootlegs. These authors are still under copyright in the U.S. and their works appear in legit volumes from publishers such as Vintage and Bantam.

[cc_in_oh]

Originally Posted by BetterRead

This book, and other titles from the same "publisher", Andrii Ponomarenko, (such as The Raymond Chandler Collection and various Rex Stout Mysteries), would appear to be bootlegs. These authors are still under copyright in the U.S. and their works appear in legit volumes from publishers such as Vintage and Bantam.

Probably a dumb question but doesn't Amazon have some responsibility to verify the legitimacy of the books they sell? And why wouldn't the rightful publishers take action to protect their content? I've always assumed that anything I buy or get free from Amazon is legit...

[Quoth]

Sometimes shorts have been in USA magazines, that as part of deal they got the copyright and back then USA magazine copyright had a shorter term, though maybe there was a renewal option.

That seems to be the case on USA Gutenberg, where certainly the novels are not there because the author isn't sufficiently dead.

Edit:
Also big mainstream publishers also publish work that is certainly PD, if they think there is a demand.

Amazon only cares if a proven rights holder complains via lawyer. They ignore 3rd party complaints about IP (for anything) for obvious reasons, including not getting sued by the seller. They mostly ignore safety issue reports from the "public" too.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by cc_in_oh

Probably a dumb question but doesn't Amazon have some responsibility to verify the legitimacy of the books they sell? And why wouldn't the rightful publishers take action to protect their content? I've always assumed that anything I buy or get free from Amazon is legit...

Amazon assumes no responsibility for vetting legitimacy of books. Even in egregious cases such as this one they'll take no action unless the rights holder files a complaint.

Amazon is rife with bootleg ebooks. Some of them have been for sale for years.

[salty-horse]

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt is $3 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)

Shots rang out in Savannah's grandest mansion in the misty,early morning hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder or self-defense? For nearly a decade, the shooting and its aftermath reverberated throughout this hauntingly beautiful city of moss-hung oaks and shaded squares. John Berendt's sharply observed, suspenseful, and witty narrative reads like a thoroughly engrossing novel, and yet it is a work of nonfiction. Berendt skillfully interweaves a hugely entertaining first-person account of life in this isolated remnant of the Old South with the unpredictable twists and turns of a landmark murder case.

It is a spellbinding story peopled by a gallery of remarkable characters: the well-bred society ladies of the Married Woman's Card Club; the turbulent young redneck gigolo; the hapless recluse who owns a bottle of poison so powerful it could kill every man, woman, and child in Savannah; the aging and profane Southern belle who is the "soul of pampered self-absorption"; the uproariously funny black drag queen; the acerbic and arrogant antiques dealer; the sweet-talking, piano-playing con artist; young blacks dancing the minuet at the black debutante ball; and Minerva, the voodoo priestess who works her magic in the graveyard at midnight. These and other Savannahians act as a Greek chorus, with Berendt revealing the alliances, hostilities, and intrigues that thrive in a town where everyone knows everyone else.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a sublime and seductive reading experience. Brilliantly conceived and masterfully written, this true-crime book has become a modern classic.

[sufue]

Today's Big Deal at Kindle UK is now all eleven books in Nicola Upson's Josephine Tey series, featuring Tey as the protagonist. The link below is still good. I've felt this series is a bit up-and-down, but mostly more up than down. And only £0.99 each...

The link below is still good - I deleted the defunct "Smile" one.

These don't seem to be matched at Kobo UK. I'm traveling for work, across the dateline, and am a little mixed up on my days, so I think this is almost over, but not totally sure.

Originally Posted by sufue

Today's Big Deal at Kindle UK (with only a few hours left - apologies - today was crazy for me) is all 10 books in Nicola Upson's Josephine Tey series, featuring Tey as the protagonist. They're £0.99 each...

Here are links to the sale page:

Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=s9_ac...031&pldnSite=1

[salty-horse]

The Third Man by Graham Greene is $2 on Amazon.com (Kobo is full price, and since I don't think they'll agree to price-match since it's a "digital price" discount on Amazon)

This noir classic by the “superb storyteller” is the basis for the movie named the best British film of all time by the British Film Institute (The New York Times).

Almost-broke pulp author Rollo Martins sets out for Vienna after receiving an invitation from his old friend Harry Lime, who might have a financial opportunity for him. But when he arrives, he’s shocked to learn that Lime is dead in what appeared to be an accident—and that his pal had been under investigation for racketeering. That raises questions some questions for Martins, so he starts combing the postwar ruins of the Austrian capital to find out for himself what happened to Harry Lime . . .

The Third Man is one of the best-known works by Graham Greene, author of The Quiet American, Our Man in Havana, and The End of the Affair—famed for his complex, philosophical novels, and compelling tales of crime, espionage, and suspense.

[SomeSteve]

The Mike Hammer Collection, Volume I (I, the Jury; My Gun is Quick; Vengeance is Mine!) by Mickey Spillane is around $2/€2 at various sites, for example:

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the...on-volume-ii-1

https://www.amazon.com/Mike-Hammer-C.../dp/B001QIGZC2

https://www.amazon.ca/Mike-Hammer-Co.../dp/B001QIGZC2

https://www.amazon.fr/Mike-Hammer-Co.../dp/B001QIGZC2

https://www.amazon.de/Mike-Hammer-Co.../dp/B001QIGZC2

[pdurrant]

Guilty by Definition by Susie Dent is just £0.99 at Amazon UK.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CLKZMD3T/

It's also at Kobo, of course, but currently showing £2.99. But you should be able to price match it and get it for £0.89 nett.

https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/guilty-by-definition-1

Susie Dent is a well-known (in the UK) lexicographer. This mystery novel seems to have got good reviews. I shall be interested to read it.

[ballfresno]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Guilty by Definition by Susie Dent is just £0.99 at Amazon UK.
[...]
Susie Dent is a well-known (in the UK) lexicographer. This mystery novel seems to have got good reviews. I shall be interested to read it.

I read this last year. I borrowed it (epub) from the library. Enjoyable book.

[sufue]

Messenger of Truth is the fourth Maisie Dobbs book by Jacqueline Winspear. It has dropped to $1.49 at Kindle US, sadly not matched, at least as of now, at Kobo US. Titles in this series are normally pretty expensive ($10 and up) in the US, so I'd grab it now if you want it!

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000SCHBHK
Kobo US (for price-check): https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/messenger-of-truth

Spoiler:

Maisie Dobbs investigates the mysterious death of a controversial artist—and World War I veteran—in the fourth entry in the bestselling series from Jacqueline Winspear, Messenger of Truth.

London, 1931. The night before an exhibition of his artwork opens at a famed Mayfair gallery, the controversial artist Nick Bassington-Hope falls to his death. The police rule it an accident, but Nick's twin sister, Georgina, a wartime journalist and a infamous figure in her own right, isn't convinced.

When the authorities refuse to consider her theory that Nick was murdered, Georgina seeks out a fellow graduate from Girton College, Maisie Dobbs, psychologist and investigator, for help. Nick was a veteran of World War I, and before long the case leads Maisie to the desolate beaches of Dungeness in Kent, and into the sinister underbelly of the city's art world.

Maisie once again uncovers the perilous legacy of the Great War in a society struggling to recollect itself. But to solve the mystery of Nick's death, Maisie will have to keep her head as the forces behind the artist's fall come out of the shadows to silence her.

Following on the bestselling Pardonable Lies, Jacqueline Winspear delivers another vivid, thrilling, and utterly unique episode in the life of Maisie Dobbs.