FREE/BARGAIN - Mystery, Suspense, Thriller - 2016

[sufue]

Five titles by Timothy Williams are $2.99 at Kindle US, with the exception of the first, which is $1.99.

link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/search/?se...node=157305011

Titles are (in series order):
Converging Parallels
The Puppeteer
Persona Non Grata
Black August
Big Italy

[Little.Egret]

Free

The Arena (Colonel Russell series Book 3) by William Haggard

First published in Great Britain in 1961 by Cassell

First time in ebook

I remember reading this series long ago

Colonel Russell of the Security Executive

The City of London is Britain's financial beating heart and a nest of gossip, intrigue and greed. The Government has always been powerless to control its activities. But when a sinister foreign company looks set to take over one of Britain's oldest banks, which in turn controls government secrets, Colonel Russell's Security Executive is faced with a dilemma - to watch, wait and let the free market operate, or to act and cross the invisible line into the Arena . . .

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H2DPLSI/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01H2DPLSI/
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01H2DPLSI/

I have only checked the UK and Canadian availability

Also published NOT FREE

Slow Burner (Colonel Russell series Book 1) by William Haggard

Venetian Blind (Colonel Russell series Book 2) by William Haggard

The Unquiet Sleep (Colonel Russell series Book 4) by William Haggard

[ATDrake]

Kobo Canada has been running a long weekend sale (expires at the end of today, Dec 12th) on mysteries and thrillers for $4.99 CAD and under, which is actually pretty decent and has some titles not discounted elsewhere. A few of them are multi-store publisher promotions which may linger a little beyond the expiry, but a lot are Kobo-exclusives, as far as I can tell.

For aficionados of Nordic noir, there are 3 titles by Icelandic author Arnaldur Indriðason at $3.99 CAD from Random House Canada (this is a fairly low price for them, and they don't often get discounted from their usual $12 CAD mark), 2 by Norwegian Jo Nesbø from HarperCollins Canada for the same price (The Bat is a rather meh start to the Harry Hole series and I'd advise you to hold out for $2.99 unless you're desperate to start at the very beginning, with what's essentially a overseas trip prequel to the better stories set in actual Norway), some 99 cent ones from Finland's Kati Hiekkapelto and Norway's Gunnar Staalesen, and David Hewson's novelization of the popular Danish TV series Forbrydelsen (aka The Killing) and a 1st-in-series novel by Norway's Hans Olav Lahlum, both for $3.50 after VIP discount, which are $9.99 everywhere else that I checked.

Also, a bunch of Canadian mysteries from the smaller publishers, often by award-nominated authors, are on sale as well.

Read the night away with these bone-chilling thrillers main page, with categories: Books to Make Your Blood Run Cold, Chilly Thrillers from Scandinavia, Chilly Thrillers from Canada, Chilly Thrillers from Across the Pond (have some of the Nordic titles mixed in here), Crime Thrillers and Murderous Mysteries, Heart Pounding Romantic Suspense, Cozy Mysteries to Warm Your Heart
, Chilling Thrillers for Young Readers.

Speaking of Nordic mysteries, if you happen to read French, Gaïa Editions' Gaïa Polar imprint has put a whole bunch of their catalogue on $7.99 sale (regularly $13.99 and up), and they've got authors who've yet to be translated into English, such as Sweden's Fredrik Ekelund and Denmark's Anna Grue and Norway's Monica Kristensen (who unusually, writes mysteries set on the arctic island of Svalbard: there's a rather nice interview here in English about her crime writing and scientific work): Polars scandinaves : jusqu'à 50% de rabais (also available at Amazon CA & iTunes CA, where there are a few extra books which for unfathomable reasons do not seem to exist at Kobo CA)

Their titles also happen to be redeemable for points, and at 4000 points per at the $7.99 mark, are better value than English-language books, which IIRC are 4800 points for a $5 title. (ETA: This Gunnar Staalesen 3-book bundle is better value than buying the separate individual volumes (only two of which seem to be available at Kobo), and the omnibus includes a recipe for Bergen fish soup as well, in case you were wondering what the exclusive bonus material was.)

@ $3.49 CAD each (redeemable for 2800 points) some additional Nordic mystery bargains offered by Random House's Vintage Digital imprint (the rare couponable/VIP discount-eligible one) which are not part of the Kobo weekend sale:

• Oblivion by Icelandic author Arnaldur Indriðason (SYKM), latest in his Detective Erlendur series; SYKM says this is a prequel novel set in the 1970s, which you should be able to read standalone
• Calling Out For You & The Drowned Boy by Norwegian author Karin Fossum (SYKM), 5th & 11th in her Inspector Sejer series (if you've bought her books in the US, check the titles, since some of them vary by country)

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by sufue

Eight titles by Helene Tursten are $2.99 at Kindle US right now (except the first, which is $1.99).

link for them all (plus one stray): https://www.amazon.com/gp/search/?se...en&price=0-300

Titles are:

• Detective Inspector Huss, #1
• Night Rounds, #2
• The Torso, #3
• The Glass Devil, #4
• The Golden Calf, #5
• The Fire Dance, #6
• The Beige Man, #7
• The Treacherous Net, #8

Could anyone who has read these tell me if you think the first book is representative of the series? It sounds good and seems to have pretty good reviews, but I was a bit disappointed with the first book.

[GeoffR]

Pierre Lemaitre's Irène (book one of the Brigade Criminelle trilogy) is $0.99/£0.99 at UK/Australian/New Zealand retailers.

Edit: Alex, the second book in the trilogy, is also reduced to $4.99 (from $11.99/$13.99) at Australian/NewZealand retailers.

[ATDrake]

X-link to the DRM-free thread for a new Wildside Press freebie:

Wildside Press Presents: Discover A New Author!: Lyn McConchie contains a cat-themed Sherlock Holmes pastiche story by the eponymous author, who apparently specializes in such (general Holmesian pastiche stories that is, not specifically cat-themed ones, presumably, though one never knows, since there's a niche for everything).

[Little.Egret]

Endeavour, free

Sherlock Holmes and the Yule-tide Mystery by Val Andrews

Christmas is fast approaching - but for Sherlock Holmes and his assistant, Dr Watson, a sudden visitor is to change what little plans they had made.
James Harding, owner of a Guildford antique business, has travelled to 221B Baker Street armed with an intriguing proposition for the ever-dutiful detective.
He has received an invitation from a Mr. Gerald MacMillan to assemble some friends and spend the festive period with him at his stately home in Sussex.
A bizarre proposal considering Harding had only just met MacMillian...
Holmes, who swiftly recognises MacMillan as a former confidence man, together with Watson shall form the rest of the travelling party.
Whilst there, the famous duo try to uncover the intentions of the seemingly hospitable host who has chosen to spend Christmas with a stranger...

Val Andrews (15 February 1926 - 12 December 2006) authored many Sherlock Holmes pastiches

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0193S82GS/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0193S82GS/
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0193S82GS/

[Little.Egret]

Endeavour, free

Christmas Killing by Chrissie Loveday

December and the Fordyce's Christmas grotto is looking as festive and busy as ever.
So when Jimmy North, a veteran at playing Santa, realises his elf is missing, he thinks nothing of it.
Oblivious to the danger he's in, Jimmy returns to work the next day to find Julie Bennett crammed into the changing room locker with her neck snapped in half.
Who would want to kill an elf? Is the question Jimmy asks himself.
More poignant questions are asked by experienced Detective Chief Inspector Ray Jones and his younger partner Detective Sergeant Ted Wilkes, who is quick off the mark.

Chrissie Loveday has written almost fifty books


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B019FVCBIS/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B019FVCBIS/
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B019FVCBIS/

[sufue]

Several titles by Agatha Christie have dropped to $1.99 at Kindle US. Here's a link for all of them, and some stray public domain ones, mostly The Secret Adversary. I was able to figure out how to get rid of ONE of the two common Christie public domain titles (Mysterious Affair at Styles), by using &field-keywords=-styles, but when I tried &field-keywords=-styles-adversary and other variants on that, it seemed to interpret the second as a word to include, not exclude. If anyone knows how to exclude two keywords in such a search, I'd be very happy if you'd post it here!

Anyway here's the link:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/search/?se...ywords=-styles

And the titles at $1.99 are:

• And Then There Were None
• Murder on the Orient Express
• Murder on the Links
• Murder in Mesopotamia
• The ABC Murders
• The Clocks
• Sparkling Cyanide
• A Caribbean Mystery
• Cards on the Table
• The Body in the Library
• Endless Night

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by sufue

I was able to figure out how to get rid of ONE of the two common Christie public domain titles (Mysterious Affair at Styles), by using &field-keywords=-styles, but when I tried &field-keywords=-styles-adversary and other variants on that, it seemed to interpret the second as a word to include, not exclude. If anyone knows how to exclude two keywords in such a search, I'd be very happy if you'd post it here!

You have to put a + between the two or more - terms in order that the search string reads them as separate keywords to exclude, like so:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/search/?search-alias=digital-text&field-author=agatha+christie&price=190-200&field-language=English&field-keywords=-styles+-secret+-adversary

This yields 13 books instead of 14, and most of them the official HarperCollins William Morrow editions on sale, less the stageplay version of And Then There Were None.

[sufue]

Formula for Murder is the 3rd in the Maternal Instincts series by Diana Orgain. It is a US Kindle countdown deal for about 6 more days.

link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B012JGRHTE

Spoiler:

Bringing up baby--Bringing down a killer
An over the top, good-time cozy mystery
While taking baby Laurie to her very first Photo Shoot, sleuth and first-time mom Kate Connolly and her baby are the victims of a hit-and-run. Fortunately they escape unharmed, but when a witness identifies the car's French diplomatic license plates, Kate and her hubby try to get some answers. Soon they discover there's something going on at the French consulate that's dirtier-and far deadlier-than any diaper. It's up to Kate to keep Family Life on track while solving another puzzling whodunit!

[sufue]

Cross-post to ferrywoman's post in the romance thread for some Kensington freebies, including some I would call more mystery than romance. You get one free for giving them your email address. Titles include:

• Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke
• A Bollywood Affair by Sonali Dev
• Jilting the Duke by Rachael Miles
• Termination Orders by Leo J. Maloney
• Almost Dead by Lisa Jackson

link to post: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho....php?p=3443120

[sufue]

I have to spread karma around before giving you more, but thanks!

Originally Posted by ATDrake

You have to put a + between the two or more - terms in order that the search string reads them as separate keywords to exclude, like so:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/search/?search-alias=digital-text&field-author=agatha+christie&price=190-200&field-language=English&field-keywords=-styles+-secret+-adversary

This yields 13 books instead of 14, and most of them the official HarperCollins William Morrow editions on sale, less the stageplay version of And Then There Were None.

[ATDrake]

Bargain @ $1.99 in Canada & US from Amazon's exclusive Thomas & Mercer imprint:

Switcheroo by Edgar Award-winner Aaron Elkins (SYKM, Wikipedia), 18th in said Edgar Award-winning Gideon Oliver series starring a forensic anthropologist. This is an excellent and enjoyable science-based series which I highly recommend. The 1st one was a freebie via an old RAEBW giveaway which you may have already. (I got mine via an old Fictionwise sale and ended up buying and bingeing upon the rest of the lot that were sold on Fictionwise during the next and then getting the then-available remainder in paper from the library to mainline once I'd run out of the ebooks).

Unless something has changed in the past 2 books, this is a series with self-contained non-backreferential cases and not much character change between novels, which can be safely read as standalones, IMHO. The first 10 books are now available from Open Road Media, who acquired e-Reads, and is couponable/tends to give semi-regular deep discounts and the next 7 are out from Penguin's Berkley imprint, which at least sells them for paperback-equivalent prices and not something terribly exorbitant.

The Skeleton Detective is back.

A cold case dating from the 1960s draws forensic anthropologist Gideon Oliver to the Channel Islands decades later to shine a light on the mysterious connection between two men who died there on the same night.

Swapped as young boys by their fathers during the Nazi occupation, wealthy Roddy Carlisle and middle-class George Skinner had some readjusting to do after the war ended—but their lives remained linked through work, trouble with the law, and finally, it would seem, through murder.

Nobody expects that Gideon’s modern-day investigation will turn up fresh bodies. But old bones tell many tales, and the Skeleton Detective has to be at his sharpest to piece together the truth before the body count mounts still higher.

Declared “a series that never disappoints” by the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Gideon Oliver mystery series is highly recommended for fans of Agatha Christie and Kathy Reichs.

[elaysee]

Today's Akashic Books Advent Calendar entry is Brussels Noir, one of the city-themed anthologies.

Free in DRM-free ePub and Mobi until midnight 12/19.