FREE/BARGAIN - Mystery, Suspense, Thriller - 2014

[Victoria]

Originally Posted by HarryT

She is? I'd regard myself as a fan of the "golden age" of British detective fiction, and I can quite honestly say that I've never heard of her!

The four authors who are generally regarded as being the "queens" of the genre are Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham, and Dorothy L. Sayers (who, as with you, is my favourite).

I'll have to give her a go - thanks for the recommendation.

I hadn't heard of her either until a few years ago, when an older friend mentioned her. Mitchell was a member of the Dectection Club, and regarded as one the big three at the time, though as you say, she isn't judged as being in the same league now.

I do recommend her. I'm not an fiction critic, but I felt I should also say sometimes her plots and writing, to me, aren't on par with Dorothy Sayers or Agatha Christie. But she is definitely worth giving a try.

[ATDrake]

Bargain @ $2.99 for Canadians from Random House Canada (probably just for 1 day; this is the Kobo Daily Deal in the Canadian store for Nov 26th and while the other Canadian stores seem to have price-matched it, the last time a Kobo Daily Deal additional price-drop expired, it went back up in all the stores to the $4.99 "sale" it had been previously) @ Kobo (non-couponable), Amazon, Google Play, & iTunes:

Cockroaches by popular Norwegian crime author Jo Nesbø (SYKM, Wikipedia), incidentally a finalist for the Edgar, Macavity, and International Dagger Awards, according to SYKM, and a Glass Key Award winner, 2nd in his Harry Hole series starring an Oslo police inspector, this installment set in Bangkok where he investigates an expat death.

I've read the entire series and while this one isn't nearly as good the ones set in Norway, I thought it was still a pretty decent read with some interesting bits which sets up Harry's character and professional approach well enough, and this is a fairly reasonable price to pay for it, IMHO, which I myself will be doing so shortly. FWIW, I personally wouldn't have shelled out the $4.99 they were asking for it earlier this week when it discounted from the $13 or so CAD it was when I started reading the series both from sale purchases and from the library. For #6 in the series, which I didn't get as part of my two omnibuses, sure if they'd put it on sale, but that was a much better story.

NB: despite the blurb implication, this is not actually a direct sequel to the storyline in the 1st book (currently the MR Book Club selection of the month for November) and while it does pick up with Harry's life afterwards, it can be read perfectly well standalone. Also, the 1st book is very non-representative of the series (technically, so is this one, but to a lesser extent and it does introduce a few of his future Oslo colleagues) and simply not all that well written, so unless you're a stickler for reading things in strict order, you can skip that and begin with this and not miss out on anything really important.

The thrilling sequel to Jo Nesbo's debut novel, The Bat, The Cockroaches sees Harry Hole sent to Bangkok to investigate the murder of the Norwegian ambassador.

Detective Harry Hole arrives in a steaming hot Bangkok. But it's work, not pleasure. The Norwegian ambassador has been found dead in a seedy motel room, and no witnesses have come forward. The ambassador had close ties to the Norwegian prime minister, and to avoid a scandal Harry is sent there to hush up the case. But he quickly discovers that there is much more going on behind the scenes and very few people willing to talk. When Harry lays hands on some CCTV footage that will help him unravel what happened that night, things only get more complicated. The man who gave him the tape goes missing, and Harry realises that failing to solve a murder case is by no means the only danger in Bangkok.

[ATDrake]

Free from the author via KDP Select @ Amazon:

The Inspector's Daughter by Alanna Knight (SYKM), 1st in her Rose McQuinn historical mystery series set in Edinburgh, which is itself a spinoff from her Inspector Jeremy Faro series of Victorian murder mysteries set in Scotland. This originally came out from Constable in 2000.

Rose McQuinn returns to Edinburgh from the American wild west of 1895. Her baby has died while her husband Danny, working with Pinkerton’s Detective Agency in Arizona goes missing. She has little time to grieve before she unwittingly takes on a new career by agreeing to investigate the strange behaviour of the husband of her childhood friend Alice.. But what appears to be an adulterous affair suggests something much more sinister, the brutal and still unsolved murder of a servant girl. Whatever heartbreak lies in store, Rose must discover the truth. From her home in Solomon’s Tower on Arthur’s Seat, aided by a wild deerhound who befriends her, her fist investigation puts her own life in deadly danger.

X-link to the Cozy megathread:

Free from the author('s republishing consortium) via KDP Select @ Amazon: Royal Flush by Shelley Singer (SYKM), 6th in her Jake Samson & Rosie Vicente series starring a Jewish ex-cop and his lesbian carpenter sidekick, originally out from Perseverance Press in 1998.

Also free from the author via KDP Select @ Amazon:

The Emperor's Jade by Robert Mitchell. This is a newly-written treasure hunt adventure thriller involving an artifact from the Qin Dynasty. Mitchell has been previously published by Queensland-based small publisher Boolagong Press, and if you enjoyed the previous backlist freebies he offered, you might perhaps like to give this one a try.

For over two thousand years the secret hiding place of the jade dragon seal of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, has been just that - a secret. But the accidental destruction of a small ancient porcelain pillow reveals that secret, and leads the young Australian teacher and his Scottish friend away from their peaceful college at Nandaihe on the shore of the Bo Sea, drawing them up into the freezing bleakness of the jagged mountains of Huangshan, as they try to outwit and elude those who would steal their secret, the jade seal, and their lives.

[GA Russell]

This is a favorite book of mine. I've been planning for some time to give it to my nephew for Christmas.

The Ninth Directive by Adam Hall - $1.99

http://www.amazon.com/Ninth-Directiv...inth+directive

[mitford13]

'Golden Age' mystery on sale for .99 - definitely an author I haven't heard of, but there's biographical info in one of the amazon reviews, and in the foreword.

She Shall Have Murder by Delano Ames

http://www.amazon.com/Shall-Have-Mur.../dp/B00PT1EG0U

Dagobert Brown’s always got a new hobby. He's been through Gregorian chant, wildflowers, sixteenth-century French poetry . . . But his latest hobby is murder—or at least, the murder mystery he wants Jane Hamish to write.

Jane is the practical one. She only has one weakness: Dagobert, who exasperates her and intrigues her in equal parts. “Dagobert is my hero,” she says, “but he persistently refuses to act like one.”

Mrs. Robjohn seems like the perfect victim for Jane’s book: a lonely, delusional spinster who haunts the law offices where Jane works, telling everyone who’ll listen that sinister men are following her. When Mrs. Robjohn’s found dead of gas poisoning in her flat, Dagobert won’t believe it’s an accident.

Dragging Jane with him through 1940s London, from pub to nightclub to deserted warehouse district, Dagobert throws himself enthusiastically—if eccentrically—into sleuthdom, determined to track down a real-life killer.

In their easy camaraderie and witty banter, Dagobert and Jane bring to mind Dashiell Hammett’s Nick and Nora, but Jane is every inch Dagobert’s intellectual equal and partner in detection.

A classic Golden Age mystery, She Shall Have Murder, the first in Delano Ames’s Dagobert and Jane Brown series, stands up to the best in its genre today. But its absorbing portrayal of life in London between the wars adds another dimension, highlighted in this annotated Manor Minor Press edition.
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[sufue]

I've read three or four of Ames' Jane & Dagobert Brown series in DTB, and they are pretty good. I like the British humor, although the plot in at least one (can't remember which anymore) seemed a bit contrived. Still, I think they are worth a read, and wish more would come out in ebook.

Originally Posted by mitford13

'Golden Age' mystery on sale for .99 - definitely an author I haven't heard of, but there's biographical info in one of the amazon reviews, and in the foreword.

She Shall Have Murder by Delano Ames

http://www.amazon.com/Shall-Have-Mur.../dp/B00PT1EG0U

Dagobert Brown’s always got a new hobby. He's been through Gregorian chant, wildflowers, sixteenth-century French poetry . . . But his latest hobby is murder—or at least, the murder mystery he wants Jane Hamish to write.

Jane is the practical one. She only has one weakness: Dagobert, who exasperates her and intrigues her in equal parts. “Dagobert is my hero,” she says, “but he persistently refuses to act like one.”

Mrs. Robjohn seems like the perfect victim for Jane’s book: a lonely, delusional spinster who haunts the law offices where Jane works, telling everyone who’ll listen that sinister men are following her. When Mrs. Robjohn’s found dead of gas poisoning in her flat, Dagobert won’t believe it’s an accident.

Dragging Jane with him through 1940s London, from pub to nightclub to deserted warehouse district, Dagobert throws himself enthusiastically—if eccentrically—into sleuthdom, determined to track down a real-life killer.

In their easy camaraderie and witty banter, Dagobert and Jane bring to mind Dashiell Hammett’s Nick and Nora, but Jane is every inch Dagobert’s intellectual equal and partner in detection.

A classic Golden Age mystery, She Shall Have Murder, the first in Delano Ames’s Dagobert and Jane Brown series, stands up to the best in its genre today. But its absorbing portrayal of life in London between the wars adds another dimension, highlighted in this annotated Manor Minor Press edition.
Show less

[sufue]

And more Endeavour Press sale books on Kindle US Countdown deal:

Working Stiffs, a collection of short stories by Simon Wood, is on sale at $0.99 for less than a day more, before going up to $1.99
link: http://www.amazon.com/Working-Stiffs...dp/B002VWKG2C/
blurb:

Spoiler:

In this collection of stories, the workplace is a dangerous place. The unscrupulous are primed and ready to take advantage of the innocent and naïve. A slight indiscretion can cost the employee everything. A new position can turn a person into someone they are not. Those at the top can be toppled and those at the bottom can be crushed.

Until now, Vincent’s father has kept one side of the business a secret from his son. Vincent is about to learn the family business. On the most important day of his career, Sam’s world will unravel when he helps a woman in distress. Todd has failed in every job he's undertaken, but that changes when he backs into a drug dealer's car. Now he’s in hock with organized crime and can only get himself out from under if he works for them to pay off his debt. Kenneth Casper is ailing and so is his business empire. His shareholders circle like vultures. Casper pins all his hopes on a Peruvian shaman with a miracle cure.

Working Stiffs...Some jobs are worth killing for.

The book features My Father's Secret which won the Anthony Award for Best Short Story and the novella THE FALL GUY.

What They Are Saying About Working Stiffs:

“Warning: This book is 100% adrenalin. Wood is pure gold.”
— J.A. Konrath, author of Rusty Nail

“Consistently surprising and well-written, Working Stiffs proves Simon Wood is a criminal genius. We should all be glad he’s writing this stuff and not doing it.”
— Cemetery Dance

“For a lover of short stories, this collection was a full meal. Wood changes voices, demographics and plot lines like a teen changes clothes for a first date. Each story is a strong sampling of humans at their most human told with the finesse that comes from experience and a love of the genre.”
— Crime Spree

“Wood delivers the goods!”
— Reviewing The Evidence

“His style will seem effortless to the reader and turn every writer green with envy.”
— Hellnotes

“A virtual virtuoso of suspense—Simon Wood layers tension until you ache.”
— Elaine Flinn, award winning author of The Molly Doyle Mysteries

Making a Killing by JM Gregson, previously published as For Sale, With Corpse, is $0.99 for about 4 more days, before going up to $3.99
link: http://www.amazon.com/Making-Killing.../dp/B00L5T9P6K
blurb:

Spoiler:

Lydon Hall is, as the estate agent's brochure puts it, a house full of character.

But its many interesting features should surely not include a corpse in the elegant drawing-room?

Is this death the suicide it appears to be?

Superintendent John Lambert and Sergeant Bert Hook are brought in to investigate the tight-knit village community which houses Lydon hall.

And everyone one they meet seems suspicious.

From the glamorous French widow of the deceased to the man living rough on the moor they all seem to know more about this death than is at first apparent.

Moreover, it gradually emerges that the staff of the estate agency he owned all had their different reasons for disliking the dead man…

‘Making a Killing’ is a chilling, expertly-plotted mystery story. It is perfect for fans of Ian Rankin and Peter Robinson.

Praise for J M Gregson:

‘Begins with quiet observation before pouncing to murderous effect’ - Sunday Express

‘A chilling story that never flags from start to finish’ - Bolton Evening News

James Michael Gregson taught for twenty-seven years in schools, colleges and universities before concentrating on full-time writing. He has written books on subjects as diverse as golf and Shakespeare. His other crime novels include ‘Stranglehold’ and ‘Body Politic’.

A Killer for a Song is the last of John Gardner's Boysie Oakes series. It's $0.99 for about 5 more days, before going up to $3.99
link: http://www.amazon.com/Killer-Song-Jo.../dp/B00LUZ9DJI

Spoiler:

Secret agent Boysie Oakes feels completely alone.

He is on the run and terrified, travelling from Paris, across France, and down to his old stamping ground, the Cote d'Azur.

But who is chasing him? And why?

Nobody escapes the past, and Boysie is no exception - events are catching up with him like hounds descending upon a screeching hare.

A nemesis comes first in the shape of his former boss in the Department - the oily James George Mostyn.

Sought out by Mostyn, Boysie finds himself back on active service and forced to sit on SEAT - Special Executive for Anti-Terrorism.

A routine conference in Paris, however, reveals the truth.

Both Mostyn and Boysie are being set up at the wrong end of a series of ruthless liquidations, and somebody has to lose.

Before he can shout for a lifebuoy, Boysie finds himself on the run - both from the French police and security organisations, who want him for murder; and from the shadows of the past, who want him dead.

‘A Killer for a Song’ is the seventh in the Boysie Oakes series of novels by John Gardner. Tightly written and packed with incredible twists, ‘A Killer for a Song’ is a brilliant continuation of the story of Gardner’s cowardly professional assassin.

It is perfect for fans of classic British spy fiction, including Ian Fleming, Len Deighton, and Desmond Bagley.

Praise for the Boysie Oakes series:

“Gardner’s at the top of his form.” Daily Mirror

“Boysie Oakes is at the top of his form in this topical thriller.” Guardian

“All very entertaining in a crazy sort of way.” Morning Star

Before coming an author of fiction in the early 1960’s John Gardner was variously a stage magician, a Royal Marine officer and a journalist. In all Gardner has fifty-four novels to his credit, including Maestro, which was the New York Times book of the year. He was also invited by Ian Fleming’s literary copyright holders to write a series of continuation James Bond novels, which proved to be so successful that instead of the contracted three books he went on to publish some fourteen titles, including Licence Renewed and Icebreaker. Having lived in the Republic of Ireland, the United States and the UK, John Gardner sadly died in August of 2007 having just completed his third novel in the Moriarty trilogy, Conan Doyle’s eponymous villain of the Sherlock Holmes series.

Unfaithful Servant by Timothy Harris is the third in his Thomas Kyd series. It's $0.99 for about 5 more days, before going up to $3.99
link: http://www.amazon.com/Unfaithful-Ser...dp/B00L2KZH1O/
blurb:

Spoiler:

In twenty-first century L.A, the truth is always more interesting than tabloid gossip.

But when 14-year-old Hugo Vine tries to hire private-eye Thomas Kyd, Thomas is not sure he wants know the truth about the famous Vine family.

A recovering alcoholic still haunted by a terrible crime he committed in Vietnam involving a child, Kyd refuses to work for a minor who is apparently mentally unbalanced.

Months later, Hugo's mother, Sally, hires Kyd against his will to keep a close watch on Hugo.

Thrown together with the boy on a daily basis, Kyd discovers Hugo's life is haunted by the possibility his real father was murdered by the man who replaced him. Even worse, Hugo's own mother may have played a role in his death.

Kyd must test the limits of his own courage and humanity to save Hugo from the deadly web in which he's been caught.

And he must resolve to be an 'unfaithful servant'.

'Unfaithful Servant' is a brilliantly entertaining crime thriller that re-creates the atmosphere of classic noir fiction.

Famed screenwriter Timothy Harris brings back one of the most revered private eyes in Los Angeles's literary history. Unfaithful Servant is the third novel starring Los Angeles P. I. Thomas Kyd.

Praise for Timothy Harris:

"No one since Chandler has captured the excess that is L.A. as well as Harris." - Robert A. Baker & Michael T. Nietzel, from Private Eyes; One Hundred and One Knights, A Survey of American Detective Fiction 1922-1984

"Tim Harris burns down the fences separating genre lit from the serious stuff. His great creation, Thomas Kyd...makes a welcome return in this superb book that sets a fresh standard for the field. Tim Harris is writing better than ever." - Jay Cocks, screenwriter, Gangs of New York

"At long last, someone has hit the bull's-eye dead center...Tim Harris has succeeded in bringing Chandler's vision to bear upon a more frightening time than even Marlowe may have been able to stomach." - New West Magazine

"The best of its kind...a must....Goodnight and Goodbye has something for every hard-boiled fan...a strong blending of all the classical elements that earmark the true private eye tale." - Mystery Magazine

Timothy Harris was born in Los Angeles and attended schools in Africa, Europe and New York. His later education was at Charterhouse and Peterhouse College, Cambridge. His three L.A. crime novels featuring Thomas Kyd are considered some of the finest of the genre. Harris' has had an equally successful career as a producer and screenwriter of numerous films including Trading Places, Twins, Kindergarten Cop, Space Jam, and Falling Down. He now lives in London with his family.

Traitor's Exit by John Gardner is another in Gardner's Boysie Oakes series. It's $0.99 for about 5 more days, then goes up to $3.99
link: http://www.amazon.com/Traitors-Exit-.../dp/B00KXFDA3Q
blurb:

Spoiler:

Rex Upsdale is a spent, washed-out spy writer.

His trade has worn him down to the bone, and he sits alone, rejected and punch-drunk and full of self-pity. Reality and fiction have become mixed in his mind.

In increasing financial trouble, he is offered some semblance of security if he will take on just one journalistic assignment behind the Iron Curtain.

All that’s required is an interview with Kit Styles, the most notorious of all defectors from West to East.

But it’s not as straightforward as he thinks.

He hasn’t reckoned with the eternally incompetent and feckless Boysie Oakes; his puppet master, Mostyn; a neatly curved companion, Miss Hester Havisham; exploits, escapes and escapades in a tank and a helicopter and an outrageous group calling themselves the International Travelling Circus.

And if he is not careful, the Traitor's Exit might also be his own.

John Gardner, whose Boysie Oakes has become required reading for spy lovers since he first appeared in ‘The Liquidator’, has written a tale that’s part satire, part farce, always zany and certainly not for those who take their spy fiction too seriously.

'Cool polished story-telling with all the sexy sidelines in the best James Bond tradition' Evening Standard

Before coming an author of fiction in the early 1960’s John Gardner was variously a stage magician, a Royal Marine officer and a journalist. In all Gardner has fifty-four novels to his credit, including Maestro, which was the New York Times book of the year. He was also invited by Ian Fleming’s literary copyright holders to write a series of continuation James Bond novels, which proved to be so successful that instead of the contracted three books he went on to publish some fourteen titles, including Licence Renewed and Icebreaker. Having lived in the Republic of Ireland, the United States and the UK, John Gardner sadly died in August of 2007 having just completed his third novel in the Moriarty trilogy, Conan Doyle’s eponymous villain of the Sherlock Holmes series.

[GA Russell]

Thanks, sufue! I think that I have all the Boysie Oakes stories now.

[mitford13]

Thanks for the background on Delano Ames, sufue; the publisher is active on Goodreads (how I saw the sale price), if you feel like asking about future ebooks...

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/...or-minor-press

[disconnected]

Twelve Drummers Drumming: A Father Christmas Mystery

Written by C. C. Benison, Published by Random House in 2011

Price was 9.99 and is now .99

It's the first in a series (there have been two more so far).


Father Tom Christmas moves to the picturesque English hamlet of Thornford Regis to become its new vicar and to seek a peaceful haven. But inside the empty village hall, the huge Japanese o-daiko drum that’s featured in the May Fayre festivities has been viciously sliced open—and curled up inside is the bludgeoned body of Sybella Parry, the daughter of the choir director. Realizing this village is not the refuge he’d hoped for, Father Tom comes to a disturbing conclusion: Sybella’s killer must be one of his parishioners. No one is above suspicion—not Sebastian John, the deeply reserved verger, nor Mitsuko Drewe, a local artist, nor Colonel Northmore, survivor of a World War II prison camp. And over all hangs the long-unsolved mystery of a sudden disappearance, one that brought Father Tom to this picture-perfect place to live—or die.

http://www.amazon.com/Twelve-Drummer...mmers+drumming

[BearMountainBooks]

I don't know if this is the right place to post this but Amazon is offering 30 percent off ANY PRINT book today: http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=amb_link...062&pf_rd_i=45

Requires code at checkout: HOLIDAY30

Works on one book only and does not include ebooks or audio.

[Wearever]

Thanks BearMountainBooks I just used the code for a print book "Vanity Fair " for a Christmas gift for my daughter, she is collecting the classic's in hardcover. It was $17 and with the code it was a little over $12 Good Deal since it was the most expensive book she has yet to collect.

[mitford13]

Heh, I used the 30% off to gift myself a little something...

Just wanted to mention B&N also has a 30% off one item, code:
BFRIDAY14


Rules:
Store Coupon 707621 and Online Coupon BFRIDAY14 Details:
For each customer, this coupon can be redeemed only once at any Barnes & Noble retail store and only once per billing address online at BN.com.

This coupon is valid at BN.com from November 27, 2014 at 12:01am to December 1, 2014 at 2:59am Eastern Time, and at Barnes & Noble stores from November 28, 2014 to November 30, 2014 at close of business.

This coupon entitles you to 30% off one (1) eligible item in your order, while supplies last. The discount will be applied to the most expensive eligible item in the order - not the entire purchase - and will be deducted after all other eligible discounts, including (if applicable) the standard Member discount, are applied.

Additional Rules Governing Use of this Coupon: This coupon is (i) not redeemable for cash or cash equivalents (including Gift Cards and eGift Cards); (ii) not valid on past purchases; (iii) not eligible for purchases of the following products and services: Barnes & Noble Memberships, Gift Cards, eGift Cards, gift-wrapping, textbooks, digital content (including but not limited to NOOK Books(TM), NOOK Magazines(TM), NOOK Newspapers, and NOOK Periodicals), NOOK® devices, NOOK accessories that are already discounted, other select hardware and electronics, software, products available for pre-order, products from the Rosetta Stone Series, all LEGO® items in the Toys & Games Department and select LeapFrog products (visit www.bn.com/couponexclusions for more details), in-store purchases of Print Magazines, or products marked as not eligible for "coupons or promotional discounts," (iv) not valid on purchases made from third parties accessible from the BN.COM website (e.g., used books, etc.); (v) not valid on applicable sales tax or shipping or handling expenses; (vi) may not be combined with any other coupon or some promotional discounts when noted; and (vii) may not be combined with the Educator program discount. This coupon is not valid at Barnes & Noble College bookstores or websites. Barnes & Noble is not responsible for typographical or pictorial errors.

This offer is subject to change or discontinuation without notice; we will, however, honor properly placed orders with valid methods of payment with sufficient funds placed prior to such change or discontinuation. Void where prohibited by law.

[BearMountainBooks]

Oh yeah, I had posted that one too, but forgot to post here. There's so many deals out there...

[GA Russell]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

I don't know if this is the right place to post this but Amazon is offering 30 percent off ANY PRINT book today: http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=amb_link...062&pf_rd_i=45

Requires code at checkout: HOLIDAY30

Works on one book only and does not include ebooks or audio.

Many thanks, BMB!