FREE/BARGAIN — Mystery, Suspense & Thrillers

[sufue]

The Pearl Diver is the 7th in the Rei Shimura series by Sujata Massey. It has dropped to £2.99 at Kindle UK. I quite liked this series back in DTB days, and apparently some other folks did too - many of the titles have won/been nominated for various awards. £2.99 is not great for old backlist, but WTH...

link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pearl-Diver...dp/B007SNJEOU/

Spoiler:

The seventh book in Sujata Massey's Agatha and Macavity Award–winning mystery series is a witty, suspenseful story that takes its young sleuth into the Washington DC restaurant world.

A dazzling engagement ring and the promise of a fresh start bring antiques dealer and sometime sleuth Rei Shimura to Washington, DC. But just as she's starting to settle down –catching up with a long–lost cousin and undertaking a lucrative commission furnishing a trendy Japanese restaurant nearby – things begin to go haywire. First, her cousin vanishes from the restaurant's opening–night party, and then Rei is drafted to help find a Japanese war bride who disappeared 30 years earlier.

The search for both missing women becomes suspiciously linked, and along the way, Rei faces truths about herself that may change her destiny – if she lives long enough.

Two other titles in this series are at £2.49 right now as well:
The Bride's Kimono, #5: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brides-Kimo...dp/B007SNHQVS/
The Samurai's Daughter, #6: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samurais-Da...dp/B007SNJG52/

[sufue]

Bloody Relations is the 5th in the Marc Edwards series by Don Gutteridge. It has dropped to $0.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Bloody-Relati...dp/B00A285VGS/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/bloody-relations-2

Spoiler:

Another exciting installment in Don Gutteridge’s action-packed Marc Edwards mysteries series, in which the hero must rush to solve one murder for the sake of his country.

It is July of 1838, and an uneasy peace hangs over Upper and Lower Canada. The provinces have suffered two rebellions, and the unresolved grievances of the local population still linger beneath the fragile calm. Britain has finally taken note of the situation, and Lord Durham is dispatched as the temporary commissioner of both colonies, tasked with finding a resolution amongst the disputing factions.

News of the impending change is greeted with a mix of fanfare and malice, and to Marc Edwards the new appointment signals an opportunity to unite the country for which he has long fought. But when Lord Durham’s nephew is discovered in bed beside a dead woman, the murder weapon in his hand, it seems as though any hope for progress is lost. Unwilling to jump to conclusions, Marc soon finds himself embroiled in the investigation that ranges from Toronto’s elite mansions to its most violent slums.

With the fate of a country resting on his search, Marc races to uncover the truth behind the murder before time runs out. As Marc and police constable Horatio Cobb thread their way through the political backrooms and seedy barrooms of the city, they will come face-to-face with the desperation embraced by those who have nothing—and everything—to lose.

[sufue]

I'll Keep You Safe is a very recent (2018) non-series title by Peter May. It has dropped to $2.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Ill-Keep-You-...dp/B0763KKZJN/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/i-ll-keep-you-safe-1

Spoiler:

A stunning standalone thriller from Peter May that alternates between the glamorous fashion world of Paris and the rugged beauty of the Isle of Harris--when a killer strikes a pair of fabric entrepreneurs, is the motive money or something far more personal?

Friends since childhood, and lovers and business partners as adults, Niamh and Ruairidh are owners of a small Hebridean company, Ranish Tweed, that weaves its own very special version of Harris Tweed. Although it's a small company, their fabrics have become internationally sought-after as a niche brand in the world of fashion and haute couture.

But the threads of their relationship are beginning to fray. As they prepare for an important showing at the Premi?re Vision fabric fair, held in Paris every year, Niamh accuses Ruairidh of having an affair with Irina, a Russian fashion designer they work with--a fight that ends with Ruairidh storming off and getting into Irina's car. Moments later, Niamh watches in horror as the car containing her life partner explodes in a ball of flame.

With Niamh a prime suspect in the murder, the Parisian police hound her even after she returns to Harris to bury the pitiful remains of her lover and business partner. Amid the grief and struggles that follow, she begins to suspect that things are not what they seem; and when there is an attempt on her life, she becomes convinced that what looked like a terrorist attack on her lover might be something more personal by far . . .

[sufue]

Nineteen titles by Robert Barnard (the classic mystery Robert Barnard, not the thriller Robert Barnard) have gone on sale at Kindle and Kobo US for $0.99 each. Mostly non-series, but a few series titles too. Too many to list, but the links below pull them all up.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/search/?se...&price=099-099
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/search?Qu...cmaxprice=0.99

[sufue]

Nine titles by Frank Kane have dropped to $0.99 at Kindle and Kobo US. Mostly (all?) Johnny Liddell, e-pub by Prologue Books. The Kindle link also pulls up two other Frank Kane titles (not Prologue Books) that are also $0.99. The Kobo link picks up three strays, but all at the end. Most or all of these have been on sale before, so check carefully before you buy...

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/search/&se...node=157305011
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/search?Qu...cmaxprice=0.99

[sufue]

Jurassic Park and its sequel, The Lost World, both by Michael Crichton, have dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

Jurassic Park
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Jurassic-Park...dp/B007UH4D3G/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/jurassic-park-a-novel

Spoiler:

An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Now humankind’s most thrilling fantasies have come true. Creatures extinct for eons roam Jurassic Park with their awesome presence and profound mystery, and all the world can visit them—for a price.

Until something goes wrong. . . .

In Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton taps all his mesmerizing talent and scientific brilliance to create his most electrifying technothriller.

The Lost World
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Lost-World-No...dp/B000FC1J76/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-lost-world-a-novel

Spoiler:

It is now six years since the secret disaster at Jurassic Park, six years since the extraordinary dream of science and imagination came to a crashing end—the dinosaurs destroyed, the park dismantled, and the island indefinitely closed to the public.

There are rumors that something has survived. . . .

[sufue]

The Last Confession of Thomas Hawkins is the second in the Thomas Hawkins series by Antonia Hodgson. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US. Per SYKM, the first title in this series, The Devil in the Marshalsea, won a Historical Dagger. I've had Marshalsea on my TBR list for a while, but haven't actually read it...now I need to read enough of it really fast to decide whether to get Confession while it's on sale...

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Last-Confessi...dp/B011H55J66/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the...omas-hawkins-4

Spoiler:

A lively tale of “pitch-perfect suspense” set in eighteenth-century England—one of Publishers Weekly’s Top Ten Crime/Mystery Novels of the Year.

Winner of the CWA Historical Dagger Award

London, 1728. Tom Hawkins is headed to the gallows, accused of murder. Gentlemen don’t hang, and Tom will be damned if he’s the first—he is innocent, after all.

It’s hard to say when Tom’s troubles began. He was happily living in sin with his beloved—though their neighbors weren’t happy about that. He probably shouldn’t have told London’s great criminal mastermind that he was in need of adventure. Nor should he have joined the king’s mistress in her fight against her vindictive husband. And he definitely shouldn’t have trusted the calculating Queen Caroline. She’s promised him a royal pardon if he holds his tongue, but there’s nothing more silent than a hanged man. Now Tom’s scrambling to save his life and protect those he loves. But as the noose tightens, his time is running out.

[sufue]

Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke won the 2018 Edgar for Best Novel. It has dropped to $2.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Bluebird-Atti...dp/B01N4W6HX6/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/bluebird-bluebird

Spoiler:

*Winner of the 2018 Edgar Award for Best Novel*

*Coming soon to FX as a TV series*

"In Bluebird, Bluebird Attica Locke had both mastered the thriller and exceeded it." --Ann Patchett
"A heartbreakingly resonant new novel about race and justice in America" --USA Today

When it comes to law and order, East Texas plays by its own rules--a fact that Darren Mathews, a black Texas Ranger, knows all too well. Deeply ambivalent about growing up black in the lone star state, he was the first in his family to get as far away from Texas as he could. Until duty called him home.

When his allegiance to his roots puts his job in jeopardy, he travels up Highway 59 to the small town of Lark, where two murders--a black lawyer from Chicago and a local white woman--have stirred up a hornet's nest of resentment. Darren must solve the crimes--and save himself in the process--before Lark's long-simmering racial fault lines erupt. From a writer and producer of the Emmy winning Fox TV show Empire, Bluebird, Bluebird is a rural noir suffused with the unique music, color, and nuance of East Texas.

[sufue]

Dark Fire is the second in the Shardlake series by C. J. Sansom. It has dropped to £0.98 at Kindle UK.

link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Fire-S...dp/B003O86FLI/

Spoiler:

Winner of the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger, Dark Fire is the second thrilling historical crime novel from C. J. Sansom.

It is 1540 and the hottest summer of the sixteenth century. Matthew Shardlake, believing himself out of favour with Thomas Cromwell, is busy trying to maintain his legal practice and keep a low profile. But his involvement with a murder case, defending a girl accused of brutally murdering her young cousin, brings him once again into contact with the king's chief minister - and a new assignment . . .

The secret of Greek Fire, the legendary substance with which the Byzantines destroyed the Arab navies, has been lost for centuries. Now an official of the Court of Augmentations has discovered the formula in the library of a dissolved London monastery. When Shardlake is sent to recover it, he finds the official and his alchemist brother horribly murdered - the formula has disappeared.

Now Shardlake must follow the trail of Greek Fire across Tudor London, while trying at the same time to prove his young client's innocence. But very soon he discovers nothing is as it seems . . .

[sufue]

The Holywell Dead is the 3rd in the John-the-carpenter series by Chris Nickson. It has dropped to £0.99 at Kindle UK.

link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Holywell-De...dp/B074WJCPNB/

Spoiler:

1364: The plague has returned and fear fills the air as the pestilence claims its first victims in Chesterfield. When the local priest vanishes, John the Carpenter believes the man is simply scared – until he discovers a body left in an empty house.

Charged with finding the murderer by the coroner, John must dig deep into the past to discover who in the present has enough hatred to kill.

But as the roll of the dead grows longer, can he keep his family safe from malign forces outside of his control?

The third title in a gripping series following the best-selling titles The Crooked Spire and The Saltergate Psalter.

[sufue]

The Murder Book: 10 Complete Crime Novels, edited by Michael Lister, appears to be pretty much what it says it is...and it's free right now at Kindle and Kobo US.

Three of the titles in this omnibus are listed in SYKM (which is sort of my fast check on self-pub or not when I'm in a hurry) - Blood Oath by Michael Lister, The Dying Hour by Rick Mofina, and Circling the Runway by J.L. Abramo, which (also per SYKM) won the 2016 Shamus Award for Best Paperback. A couple of the other authors' names (Jeff Shelby, author of the Noah Braddock series, and LA Dobbs) ring a bell in my brain but their specific titles aren't in SYKM, and the rest are new to me, but WTH, the omnibus is free.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Book-C...dp/B07CGNTB4G/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-murder-book-6

Spoiler:

The Murder Book Edited by Michael Lister

A crime fiction library like no other.

Ten authors.

Ten complete books.

A collection of crime and mystery books from some of the most exciting writers working today.

Buckle up and open The Murder Book.

Books included:
Blood Oath by Michael Lister
Telling Lies by L.A. Dobbs
The Dying Hour by Rick Mofina
Backwater Bay by Steven Becker
Maniacal by C.M. Sutter
Room Number Three by Gavin Reese
Hide and Seek by Rob Costa
A Stairway to the Sea by Jeff Newberry
Circling the Runway by J.L. Abramo
Thread of Hope by Jeff Shelby

[GeoffR]

Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October (HarperCollins) is £1.99 / $2.99 / $2.99 at UK / AU / NZ retailers, normally £4.99 / $8.99 / $9.99.

[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 )
• The Dark Crusader, apa The Black Shrike
• Fear is the Key
• The Golden Rendezvous

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

[sufue]

Out on a Limb is the 14th in the Claire Malloy series by Joan Hess. It has dropped to £1.46 at Kindle UK.

link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Limb-Claire...dp/B00LEG01QM/

Spoiler:

Faberville bookstore owner Claire Malloy is ruminating over the state of her love life when she gets disturbing news. Elderly Miss Emily Parchester is up a tree. Chained to an old oak, packing a thermos of tea and a gun, the retired schoolteacher is ready to go down with the ship, or rather the tree, before she'll let another historic piece of Farberville be bulldozed in the name of "progress," i.e., developer Anthony Armstrong's condominiums.

With Miss Parchester armed, and therefore dangerous, Claire fears this noble act will end tragically. Unfortunately, it does-when someone murders Armstrong. And suddenly Claire herself is out on a limb: a baby has been left on her doorstep, the child's teenage mom is suspect number one in Armstrong's death, and Claire needs to find the real killer fast. Especially when she discovers Miss Parchester knows more than she's willing to tell . . .

[sufue]

Prayer of the Dragon is the fifth in the Inspector Shan series by Eliot Pattison. The book's webpage says it's the first in the series, but I know that's not the case because I read several of these back in DTB days, and the first, which sat on my shelves for a long time, is The Skull Mantra - which won an Edgar for best first novel... Regardless, Prayer has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US (coupon/VIPable).

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Prayer-Dragon.../dp/B004HYHASK
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/prayer-of-the-dragon-2

Spoiler:

Murders and mysteries abound in a remote Tibetan village in this novel in the Edgar Award–winning series.

Shan Tao Yun, formerly an investigator in Beijing, has been asked to help save a comatose man. The man is believed to be guilty of two murders in which the victims’ arms were removed—but when the detective arrives, he discovers that the suspect is not actually Tibetan, but Navajo.

The man has come here with his niece, seeking the ancestral ties between their people and the ancient Bon. Together with his friends, the monks Gendun and Lokesh, Shan must not only sort out the crime’s true perpetrator, but attempt to solve the riddle of a mountain that is said to be the place “where the world begins” . . .