FREE/BARGAIN — Mystery, Suspense & Thrillers

[sufue]

Someone on here used to like the Boysie Oakes books by John Gardner, but it must have been back when we had a new thread each year, because when I search this thread, I don't find those posts. Anyway, for whoever that was...although they probably already have all these titles . At this price, though, it could be worth it just for one.

The Complete Boysie Oakes Series contains:

• The Liquidator
• The Understrike
• Amber Nine
• Madrigal
• Founder Member
• Traitor’s Exit
• The Airlines Pirates, apa Air Apparent
• A Killer for a Song

It's on sale for $0.99/£0.99, and for once, it seems Joffe haven't renamed all of the books. Yay!

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FDB7ZY8R
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FDB7ZY8R

[sufue]

An okay sale price, $2.99, on A Parliament of Spies which is the fourth in the Hildegard of Meaux series by Cassandra Clark. It's on sale at Kindle US, not at Kobo US, but could probably be price-matched. I almost didn't include the rather odd blurb, so don't be off-put by it - I've liked the books in this series that I've read so far.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005T54LVU
Kobo US (price-check): https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/a-p...ent-of-spies-2

Spoiler:

All the danger and intrigue of 14th-century England spring to life in this "compelling" (Publishers Weekly) series about the brave, incorruptible Abbess of Meaux.

Abbess Hildegard may consider herself "just a nun with no useful skills or connections," yet her loyalty and intelligence have brought her to the attention of King Richard II himself—not the safest place to be, when the king has enemies on all sides. As Hildegard wrestles with her role as a spy in the parliament that is hastily gathering at Westminster, Cassandra Clark's A Parliament of Spies shows us the human side of history, giving readers new reason to follow Publishers Weekly's rallying cry: "Medievalists rejoice!"

[GA Russell]

Originally Posted by sufue

Someone on here used to like the Boysie Oakes books by John Gardner, but it must have been back when we had a new thread each year, because when I search this thread, I don't find those posts. Anyway, for whoever that was...although they probably already have all these titles . At this price, though, it could be worth it just for one.

The Complete Boysie Oakes Series contains:

• The Liquidator
• The Understrike
• Amber Nine
• Madrigal
• Founder Member
• Traitor’s Exit
• The Airlines Pirates, apa Air Apparent
• A Killer for a Song

It's on sale for $0.99/£0.99, and for once, it seems Joffe haven't renamed all of the books. Yay!

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FDB7ZY8R
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FDB7ZY8R

Thanks sufue! That was me!

I found that the writing got worse as the series went on, but I recommend the first one for sure.

I have read all but two. Wish I could give you a million karma!

[sufue]

Oh good! I had thought it might be someone who has disappeared from MR...

Now I'll have to try the first one for sure. I had a couple of the books in the series, picked up when they were on sale from the previous publisher, but hadn't read them yet. So I grabbed the $0.99 special. I find I'm often not all that fond of Joffe Books "originals", although I definitely appreciate that they let me try a lot of authors for free. But I really love it when they get the rights to some older, previously published series, or even just a bunch of the earlier titles, and put them all out in an omnibus. And then put the omnibus on sale!

Originally Posted by GA Russell

Thanks sufue! That was me!

I found that the writing got worse as the series went on, but I recommend the first one for sure.

I have read all but two. Wish I could give you a million karma!

[sufue]

Bones is the twenty-third Alex Delaware book by Jonathan Kellerman. It's $1.99 right now in the US. Although people keep trying to call these psychological suspense (presumably because there is a psychologist as one of the main characters), and I avoided the series for years because of that, I finally ended up with some review copies, and find the series - at least the later books - to be much more police procedural than suspense.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001652HUO
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/bones-17

Spoiler:

BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Jonathan Kellerman's Victims.

When it comes to writing deftly layered, tightly coiled novels of suspense, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman reigns supreme as “master of the psychological thriller” (People). Kellerman has worked his magic again in this chilling masterpiece.

The anonymous caller has an ominous tone and an unnerving message about something “real dead . . . buried in your marsh.” The eco-volunteer on the other end of the phone thinks it’s a prank, but when a young woman’s body turns up in L.A.’s Bird Marsh preserve no one’s laughing. And when the bones of more victims surface, homicide detective Milo Sturgis realizes the city’s under siege to an insidious killer. Milo’s first move: calling in psychologist Alex Delaware.

The murdered women are prostitutes–except the most recent victim; a brilliant young musician from the East Coast, employed by a wealthy family to tutor a musical prodigy, Selena Bass seems out of place in the marsh’s grim tableau.

Conveniently–perhaps ominously–Selena’s blueblood employers are nowhere to be found, and their estate’ s jittery caretaker raises hackles. But Milo’s instincts and Alex’s insight are too well-honed to settle for easy answers, even given the dark secrets in this troubled man’s past. Their investigation unearths disturbing layers–about victims, potential victims, and suspects alike–plunging even deeper into the murky marsh’s enigmatic depths.

Bizarre details of the crimes suggest a devilish serial killer prowling L.A.’s gritty streets. But when a new murder deviates from the pattern, derailing a possible profile, Alex and Milo must look beyond the suspicion of madness and consider an even more sinister mind at work. Answers don’t come easy, but the darkest of drives and desires may fuel the most devious of foes.

Bones is classic Kellerman–relentlessly peeling back the skin and psyches of its characters and revealing the shadows and sins of the souls beneath. With jolt after jolt of galvanizing suspense, it drives the reader through its twists and turns toward a climax as satisfying as it is shattering.

[sufue]

Lost Birds is now the next-to-most-recent, and it's on sale in the US for $1.99. The links are still good.

Originally Posted by sufue

The two most recent books in Anne Hillerman's continuation of her father's Leaphorn/Chee/Manuelito series are on sale right now in the US.
{edited other book}

Lost Birds (2024), $2.99
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CCP5FRHC
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/lost-birds-3

[sufue]

eReaderIQ tells me that The Mummy Case was briefly at $0.99 back in February, but I missed that, and Amelia Peabody books rarely go on sale for that price. Luckily, though, here it is again...the links below are still good.

Originally Posted by sufue

A couple of titles in the excellent (IMO) Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters have dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and (one of them) Kobo US. There is an omnibus available of the first four titles, so check carefully before you buy.

The Mummy Case, Amelia Peabody, #3
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Mummy-Case-Am...dp/B000GCFD9A/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-mummy-case


{edited other book}

[sufue]

Water Like a Stone is the eleventh in Deborah Crombie's Duncan Kincaid / Gemma James series. It's $1.99 in the US right now.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000OI0E7M
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/water-like-a-stone

Spoiler:

Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and his partner, Sergeant Gemma James, take their sons to picturesque Cheshire for their first family Christmas with Duncan's parents—a holiday both dreaded and anticipated. But not even the charming town of Nantwich and the dreaming canals can mask the tensions in Duncan's family, which are tragically heightened by the discovery of an infant's body hidden in the wall of an old dairy.

As Duncan and Gemma help the police investigate the infant's death, another murder strikes closer to home, revealing that far from being idyllic, Duncan's childhood paradise holds dark and deadly secrets . . . secrets that threaten everything and everyone Duncan and Gemma hold most dear.

[sufue]

Three titles in Mary Daheim's Bed-and-Breakfast series going for $0.99 each and one for $1.99.

A Fit of Tempera, #6, $1.99
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000OI0EN6
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/a-fit-of-tempera

Wed and Buried, #12
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000OI0EZE
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/wed-and-buried

Snow Place to Die, #13
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000OI0EWC
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/snow-place-to-die

Suture Self, #17
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000OI0EXQ
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/suture-self

[sufue]

Many years later, Royal Blood is $1.99 again in the US, and it's also on sale for £2.99 in the UK. The links below are good for the US, and here are the UK links:

Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B018EGULMS
Kobo UK: https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/royal-blood-14

Originally Posted by sufue

And now for royalty of another era:

Royal Blood is the fourth in the almost-too-cute, but just stays, for me, at least, on the good side of cuteness, Royal Spyness series by Rhys Bowen. Apparently a few other folks agree with me, because the series has picked up a quite a few nominations/wins of various awards. (There is a bit of seriousness in the way it deals with the tensions of the time leading up to WWII.) It features Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, 34th (more or less) in line to the throne and perpetually flat-broke, who ends up doing various little "favors", that somehow always turn into crime investigations, for Queen Mary.

Blood has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Royal-Blood-S...dp/B00400NHOW/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/royal-blood-2

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by sufue

Someone on here used to like the Boysie Oakes books by John Gardner, but it must have been back when we had a new thread each year, because when I search this thread, I don't find those posts. Anyway, for whoever that was...although they probably already have all these titles . At this price, though, it could be worth it just for one.

The Complete Boysie Oakes Series contains:

• The Liquidator
• The Understrike
• Amber Nine
• Madrigal
• Founder Member
• Traitor’s Exit
• The Airlines Pirates, apa Air Apparent
• A Killer for a Song

It's on sale for $0.99/£0.99, and for once, it seems Joffe haven't renamed all of the books. Yay!

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FDB7ZY8R
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FDB7ZY8R

Why can't we get decent covers for an omnibus? Why do they always have to look so bad?

[sufue]

A few new books seem to have been added to this, with some recent price drops in the last few days. If you had a specific book or two you were looking for but didn't find, you might take a second look. The links are still good.

Originally Posted by sufue

A big batch of Sister Fidelma titles by Peter Tremayne have dropped to £2.99 each at Kindle UK right now. I really really like this series, enough that I made my husband go to Cashel for the weekend a few years ago, when we had a business trip to Ireland. Even though the ruins left there now date from much later than Fidelma's time.

The sale books are kind of scattered throughout the series. Most of these books are $14 and up in the US and rarely go on sale. They are mostly usually £5.49 in the UK, which is way better than $14, but £2.99 is even better! The links pick up all the sale books, but may also pick up a stray or two.

Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search/?s...eyword=fidelma
Kobo UK: https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/search?qu...cmaxprice=2.99

[sufue]

Railway to the Grave is the seventh in Edward Marston's Railway Detective series. It's on sale at Kindle US for $0.99, which is a bit unusual since books in this series, other than some of the earliest ones, don't tend to go on sale in the US very often, and are rather pricey when not on sale. (They do, OTOH, go on sale reasonably often in the UK.) Railway is not on sale at Kobo US, but since it's a sale price off of a digital list price at Kindle, it's probably matchable at Kobo. YMMV - read the thread on Kobo price matching.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006WB7GP8
Kobo US (for price check/match): https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/railway-to-the-grave-3

Spoiler:

Tragedy strikes close to the Detective Department when an old friend of Superintendent Tallis walks to meet a speeding train head on.

The suicide, prompted by the disappearance of the man's wife, has shocked the local community and leaves plenty for Inspector Robert Colbeck, the Railway Detective, to uncover. Whispers and rumours abound but did the dead man, Captain Randall, really take his own life in repentance for some harm he did his wife?

[GA Russell]

Assault on Soho
(The Executioner #6)

99 cents

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OYMPCRQ

[sufue]

I'm going to have to quit saying the books in this series don't go on sale in the US, because a number of them recently have.

Tragedy on the Branch Line is $0.99 today at Kindle US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GPLRLRR

Originally Posted by sufue

Tragedy on the Branch Line is the most recent (2021) in Edward Marston's Railway Detective series. It has dropped to £1.89 at Kindle UK as of right now. No idea how long it will stay that way...

Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08GPLRLRR
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08GPLRLRR