FREE/BARGAIN - Mystery, Suspense, Thriller - 2014

[ATDrake]

Bargain @ $1.99 each from Simon & Schuster (non-couponable; linkage goes to Kobo, should be the same price in the other Canada & US venues, may or may not also be discounted in other regions, etc):

• The Christmas Thief: A Novel by Mary Higgins Clark (Wikipedia) & Carol Higgins Clark (SYKM, Wikipedia), a festive mystery originally out in 2004, apparently 9th in her Regan Reilly, California PI series
• Santa Cruise: A Holiday Mystery at Sea, also by Higgins Clark mère et fille, originally out in 2006, 12th in the same series, according to SYKM

Also, for those of you who also read French and like Nordic and other translated crime/mysteries, Hachette's Black Moon francophone imprint has a handful of novel-length translated titles temporarily deep-discounted (both Kobo & iTunes Canada are listing them as some kind of weekly special, Google Play doesn't seem to have them at all, at least not in Canada).

These are also on sale from Amazon, but only in the regional stores (.CA, .FR, etc.; the titles I spot-checked don't exist in the Amazon main store, even if you have an address set to Canada).

Between 99 cents & $3.99 CAD (or equivalently low in Euros, non-couponable in Canada), are titles by Swedish novelist Liza Marklund (SYKM, Wikipedia, available in English from Simon & Schuster), Finland's Leena Lehtolainen (SYKM, Wikipedia, available in English from AmazonCrossing), among others, and also native francophone authors like Frédéric Mars (French Wikipedia).

Linkage for the lot @ Kobo & Amazon CA & FR (Kobo for some reason lists the Black Moon Thriller line as kids/YA books; this is a laughably inaccurate misfiling)

Quite frankly, I'm going to snap these up, since it is incredibly rare that French-language publishers of reasonable prominence ever put anything on sale, much less for below $5 CAD and stuff I'd actually read. And the paperbacks are horribly expensive. Also, I want to compare the French translations of Lehtolainen's Bodyguard series to the upcoming AmazonCrossing English ones which are on my wishlist to eventually buy once they go on sale.

[sufue]

Two more Endeavour Press deals:

The Eve of Murder is part of the Detective Frank Miller series by James Whitworth. It's a US Kindle Countdown deal at $0.99 for about 4 more days, before going up to $2.99.
link: http://www.amazon.com/Murder-Detecti.../dp/B00M7A2LPS

Spoiler:

The Yorkshire coastal town of Whitby is getting ready for the literary festival that is going to put it back on the cultural map.

But as the opening day draws near, the body of Georgina Callan, the festival’s organizer, is found dead on West Cliff - at exactly the same spot where her father threw himself to his death many years before.

Except her death was no suicide. She has been strangled.

An elderly dog walker reveals that he has seen her at the Cliff almost every night for the last year. She always has company, yet her male companion is not her husband.

Was her death an isolated attack? Or is there a serial killer at large in the town?

Meanwhile, Don Watson, the famous writer and literary figure , is coming to Whitby to speak at the festival. He needs police protection because he has been receiving death threats.

Detective Inspector Frank Miller has a big job on his hands: solve the murder before the festival starts and keep Don Watson safe.

Can Miller stop another killing.

Or is this 'The Eve of Murder'?

'The Eve of Murder’ is a gripping contemporary crime novel set in the North Yorkshire coastal town of Whitby. It is perfect for fans of Peter James and Ian Rankin.

'A gripping page-turner of a read.' - Robert Foster, best-selling author of 'The Lunar Code'.

'Frank Miller is the most interesting detective series on the market.' - Tom Kasey, best-selling author of Trade Off.

James Whitworth is a writer and cartoonist. He is the author of the best-selling 'Death's Disciple'.

Pretty Maids All in a Row is the 3rd in Anthea Fraser's DCI Webb series. It was previously a US Kindle Countdown deal, but now is just showing at $0.99, not as part of the Countdown Deal program, with no indication of how long this price will be good.
link: http://www.amazon.com/Pretty-Maids-A.../dp/B00NB41QWS

Spoiler:

When newly wedded actress Jessica Randal accompanies her biographer husband to the country for a month's research, she fully expects to be bored, especially with her leg in plaster following an accident on their honeymoon.

The couple are the talk of the town - but not for the reasons you might expect.

They soon learn they are renting the house of a murder victim, and that a rapist is at large who has singled her out.

Jessica, caught in the melodrama of the not so sleepy town of Steeple Bayliss, is determined to keep her independence.

But at what cost?

Chief Inspector Webb and Sergeant Jackson pit their wits against a cunning adversary as everyone in the village — including Jessica's husband — is under suspicion...

‘Pretty Maids All in a Row’ is a gripping crime novel featuring Anthea Fraser's popular detective David Webb.

Praise for Anthea Fraser:

“A superbly crafted, riveting, page-turner of a read" - Booklist

“Ms Fraser is her dependable elegant, guileful self withholding the killer's identity till a dying fall" - Sunday Times

'A well-mannered, well-plotted and well-told story' - Birmingham Post

'Sympathetic, well-executed book, in which full attention is paid to human feelings and failings' - Yorkshire Post

ANTHEA FRASER has written all her life but did not begin to take it seriously until after marriage, when she found herself at home with two small daughters and embarked on a correspondence course with the London School of Journalism. She wrote short stories before turning to novels of the supernatural, and then to crime. Her other books include ‘Eleven Who Went Up to Heaven’, The Ten Commandments’, ‘The Seven Stars’ and ‘One is One and All Alone’.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by sufue

Two more Endeavour Press deals:



Pretty Maids All in a Row is the 3rd in Anthea Fraser's DCI Webb series. It was previously a US Kindle Countdown deal, but now is just showing at $0.99, not as part of the Countdown Deal program, with no indication of how long this price will be good.
link: http://www.amazon.com/Pretty-Maids-A.../dp/B00NB41QWS

When I saw the title of the book I thought of The Eagles Hotel California Album.
Apache

[Joykins]

Free from Amazon US:

Without a Trace: The Rock Harbor Series by Colleen Coble.

When a plane carrying Bree Nicholls' husband and son disappears, her life changes forever. Her relentless determination to find them starts an investigation that links their disappearance to a violent crime threatening to tear the peaceful town of Rock Harbor apart.

Mystery fans will love this exciting new series from best-selling author Colleen Coble. Set in the untamed beauty of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, the Rock Harbor Series is full of suspense and romance, drawing you into the life and operation of a canine search-and-rescue team as it unravels the secrets of an enchanting wilderness.

The reviews indicate it is also Christian fiction.

[Wearever]

Thanks Sufue for the Endeavor Press books again ! So far I have been lucky in collecting them all for 99 cents.

[ATDrake]

Free from the author via KDP Select @ Amazon:

Three First Series Novels by Michael Lister (SYKM), a 3-book omnibus edition of Power in the Blood, originally out from Pottersville Press in 1997, Thunder Beach, originally out from Adams Media's Tyrus Books imprint in 2010, and The Big Goodbye, out from Lister's own Pulpwood Press imprint in 2011.

These Florida-set mystery/crime thriller series star a prison chaplain, a newspaper editor turned police chief, and a 1940s one-armed ex-cop turned PI, respectively. We've previously received other volumes in the John Jordan series free as well.

A Prison Chaplain, a Private Detective, and a Former Reporter . . .

Meet 3 of the most compelling and intriguing series detectives in contemporary crime fiction -- John Jordan, Jimmy "Soldier" Riley, and Merrick McKnight -- in the first novel in each of Michael Lister's seminal series: POWER IN THE BLOOD, THE BIG GOODBYE, and THUNDER BEACH.

[sufue]

The first and fourth in the Ellie Foreman series by Libby Fischer Hellmann are US Kindle Countdown deals at $0.99 for about 8 more hours, before going up to $4.99. It's about 1 pm US Pacific time right now.

An Eye For Murder - #1
link: http://www.amazon.com/Eye-Murder-Ell.../dp/B008EOCM00
blurb:

Spoiler:

August, 1944, Prague is where the story begins with a seemingly casual exchange. But in wartime, is any act, any one thing, trivial? Decades later, in contemporary Chicago, the consequences emerge through the medium of television. Documentary filmmaker Ellie Foreman gets a letter prompted by the success of her show “Celebrate Chicago.” One viewer was the elderly Ben Sinclair. When he suddenly dies, his landlady Mrs. Fleischman finds Ellie’s name among his effects and writes to her. Ellie, who hasn’t a clue about a connection to Ben, is curious. And she agrees to help dispose of Ben Sinclair’s possessions. She became a filmmaker to help people tell their stories. The books and wartime relics Ben left behind—will they be enough to tell his?

All too soon, Mrs. Fleischman dies. Then Ben’s things are stolen from Ellie’s suburban home. The single mom, working to move past her ex, doesn’t know what to think. But she has to scramble for work and is soon embroiled in producing a campaign video for a steel magnate running for a Republican seat in the Illinois Senate. Despite these distractions, Ellie stays focused on her odd link to the dead man and turns to her father, a retired lawyer with deep roots in Chicago’s Jewish community, for insights into the mystery of Ben Sinclair. In time, a terrifying scenario develops that reaches back into several pasts. From the political present of the North Shore to the buried memories of the city’s ethnic neighborhoods, the components of Ben’s story eventually merge into an explosive climax.

AN EYE FOR MURDER is the sequel to the author’s award-winning short story "The Day Miriam Hirsch Disappeared."

NB A corrected version was uploaded October, 2012.

A Shot To Die For - #4
link: http://www.amazon.com/Shot-Die-Ellie.../dp/B008EOCPFC
blurb:

Spoiler:

In this fourth title in the Ellie Foreman mystery series, the Chicago documentary filmmaker finds herself in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Returning from a video shoot at the Lodge, a newly renovated, upscale resort, Ellie befriends a woman who claims her ride abandoned her at a highway rest stop. But Ellie’s kindness is brutally cut short when a pickup truck pulls up, the rear window opens, and the woman is shot dead.

Even with her history of sleuthing, Ellie is not eager to get involved. Then the victims’s family arrives and begs for information. When the second shooting occurs, Ellie decides to poke around on her own. She is soon drawn into the history of a wealthy and prominent family, deeply rooted in a magnificent mansion on the shores of the lake, and surrounded by an elaborate web of lies, murder, and family secrets that have plagued both them and the town for years—secrets that now place Ellie in the crosshairs of a killer.

[sufue]

Three books in the Lake George series by Anne White are US Kindle Countdown deals, all at $0.99 before going up to $2.99. According to SYKM, the first in this series (not on sale) was a finalist for the 2001 Agatha Award for Best First Novel.

Beneath The Surface - #2 - on sale for about 2 1/2 more days
link: http://www.amazon.com/Beneath-Surfac.../dp/B005A76PRA
blurb:

Spoiler:

It's a glorious June morning in upstate New York and thirty-four-year-old Loren Graham, the recently elected mayor of sleepy little Emerald Point, has found the perfect spot on the Lake George shoreline for her morning run. Perfect, that is, until she encounters sixteen-year-old Todd Lewis, discovers a car submerged in the lake, and stumbles on a decomposing corpse.

The body is quickly identified as Tammy Stevenson, a beautiful, promiscuous teenager, who's been missing for a year.

Then tragedy strikes again. Another death. Attempted suicide or murder? No one knows for sure. But as a freak tornado slashes across a secluded campground on the Point, Loren learns how far a killer will go to cover up his crime.

Best Laid Plans - #3 in the series according to SYKM, although Amazon calls it #2 - on sale for about 4 1/2 more days
link: http://www.amazon.com/Best-Laid-Plan.../dp/B005A76MLO
blurb:

Spoiler:

Mayor Loren Graham is counting on Emerald Point's new community center to attract the tourists the town needs to recover financially from the devastating effects of the previous year's tornado. And she's pulling out all the stops to make sure everything's ready for the start of the summer season on Memorial Day.

But Loren's best laid plans can't stem the run of misfortune plaguing the Lake George community. First, a body in contemporary clothing turns up among the statues of Rogers' Rangers in a French and Indian War display case, a body which disappears before it can be identified. Then, as the town gathers to celebrate the center's opening, a mysterious explosion disrupts the festivities. A few nights later, attractive, popular Madeline Hathaway, a driving force on the center committee, is found murdered outside her elegant lakeside home.

Madeline kept many secrets, both from her wealthy but socially inept husband, Ted, and from the new friends she made after moving to the lake. When Madeline's poor relations arrive in Emerald Point unexpectedly, they ask Loren for help. As Loren comes to their aid, she learns more than she bargained for about Madeline's past and a secret affair which will shock the town and turn her own life upside down.

Secrets Dark and Deep - #4 in the series according to SYKM, although Amazon calls it #3 - on sale for about 2 1/2 more days
link: http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Dark-D.../dp/B005A7RNXA
blurb:

Spoiler:

As mayor of Lake George, a small resort town, Loren Graham tends to become overly involved in local investigations, much to the chagrin of Sheriff's Investigator Jim Thompson who has warned her to keep out of matters involving law enforcement. But when a stranger stumbles across a skeleton and insists on showing Loren, Loren finds herself drawn into the murder of a young college student 25 years earlier.

Travel writer Millicent Halstead has moved back to Lake George, where she once lived with her husband, poet Carl Durocher, rumored to have had an intimate relationship with the murdered young woman. It's bad enough that Millicent keeps imposing on Loren's time, which distracts her from mending her tense relationship with boyfriend Don Morrison, but someone is stalking the neighborhood while local bat expert Arthur Blake's reclusive mother keeps disappearing. Although Loren tries to stay below Thompson's radar during the ongoing murder investigation, she keeps being pulled back in by those who knew the young woman. When Loren inadvertently learns the identity of the killer, she becomes targeted for murder.

[sufue]

Black Ice by Colin Dunne is another Endeavour Press US Kindle Countdown deal, at $0.99 for about 3 1/2 more days, before going up to $3.99.

link: http://www.amazon.com/Black-Ice-Clas.../dp/B00M0DUN4S

blurb:

Spoiler:

'If you've never come to in the middle of the night to find yourself approximately halfway between New York and Moscow, right up on top of the world, standing outside a block of flats wearing nothing other than a ladies' silk dressing-robe - and that decorated with large scarlet kisses - allow me to describe the sensation. Confused. That's the word, I think. Confused, and cold around the knees'.

Stranded in Iceland, journalist turned spy Sam Craven wakes up to the greatest adventure of his career.

Sent to Reykjavik to track down the model Solrun, in whom British intelligence have taken a sudden interest, Craven finds himself caught up in a vast power-play between two superpowers on the brink of war - and with only his wits to rely on.

Trying to stay alive, and one step ahead of a band of ruthless killers, Sam is skating on black ice. One slip and he's dead.

'Black Ice' is a classic Cold War thriller, certain to appeal to fans of Jack Higgins, Len Deighton and Ian Fleming.

'Black Ice' has been widely praised.

'Cleverly plotted and genuinely witty’ (Jack Higgins)

‘Crisp characters, amazing pace, every low lunch in the book on target’
(The Sunday Times)

‘Sharp, funny and stylish’ (Yorkshire Post)

[sufue]

Murder at St. Polycarp by Marianna Heusler is the second in the St. Polycarp series. It's on US Kindle Countdown at $0.99 for about 2 1/2 more days before going up to $2.99. This was originally pubished (in the US at least) by Worldwide, according to the as-yet-unread 2010 DTB sitting on my shelf, which will now probably be replaced by an unread ebook sitting on my computer...

Unfortunately the first one, Cappuccino at the Crypt, which has a much better title (IMO) than the rather blandly named Murder at St. Polycarp, is not on sale, at least not now.

link: http://www.amazon.com/Murder-Polycar.../dp/B00MI6L814
blurb:

Spoiler:

When seventh-grade teacher Mildred Pinkerton is found dead before first period, it's another headache for St. Polycarp's beleaguered principal, Father Felix. Especially when two teachers suspect Mildred was murdered. They've got an empty bottle of pills and a motive: Miss Pinkerton was suspicious of something-or someone-rotten at the school. The victim had requested a meeting to discuss an important matter. Instead, she ended up facedown in her morning coffee. Searching for clues, Julia Hopwood and Amelia Johnston try to connect a series of strange events. The cookie sale money is missing; there's a suspicious new math teacher; and another teacher is hiding a criminal past. When a second death occurs, it's clear a killer plans to teach a lesson in murder that St. Polycarp won't soon forget.

[ATDrake]

Bargain @ $4.99 for Canadians only from HarperCollins (linkage goes to Kobo, should be price-matched in the other usual Canadian stores, £19.99 in the UK, and the US doesn't have this edition, or any other equivalent that I could see):

Camilla Lackberg Crime Thrillers 1-3: The Ice Princess, The Preacher, The Stonecutter by Swedish author Camilla Läckberg (SYKM, Wikipedia), an omnibus edition of #1-3 in her Hedström & Falck crime thriller series starring a police detective and a writer, set in a small fishing town in Sweden.

I was waiting for a pricedrop on this (it was $17 or so when I mentioned it back upthread when #7 was on sale, IIRC) and will be snapping it up shortly.

The first three crime thrillers from worldwide 10 million-copy bestseller Camilla Lackberg, ‘the hottest female writer in Sweden’ (Independent).

The Ice Princess: The body of crime writer Erica Falck’s childhood friend is discovered, wrists slashed, in an ice cold bath. Was it murder or suicide? The investigation leads her to a community on the brink of tragedy.

The Preacher: Twenty years ago, two young women disappeared in Fjällbacka – now their remains are found, along with a new victim. As Patrik Hedström works to solve these murders, do the dark secrets of a local family hold the key?

The Stonecutter: When a little girl is found in a fisherman’s net, the police realize it was no accidental drowning. Patrik Hedström investigates the death of a child both he and Erica knew well.

[Fbone]

A Matter of Trust by Lis Wiehl is FREE at Amazon today. Published by HarperCollins Christian but doesn't seem to fit the category.

http://smile.amazon.com/Matter-Trust...atter+of+trust

[Difflugia]

Originally Posted by Fbone

A Matter of Trust by Lis Wiehl is FREE at Amazon today. Published by HarperCollins Christian but doesn't seem to fit the category.

http://smile.amazon.com/Matter-Trust...atter+of+trust

B&N Kobo

[ATDrake]

Bargain @ 99 cents for today only (Dec 16th) according to the newsletter from Open Road Media (couponable @ Kobo, price good for all the standard Canada & US stores, may or may not be discounted in other regions, etc.):

Night Passage by Carol Davis Luce (SYKM), a standalone suspense thriller set in Nevada starring a reporter vs a murderer, originally out from Zebra in 1995.

Puzzling secrets, eerie atmosphere, vicious murders—these surround the Nevada town of Eagleton, where Roni Mayfield is trapped, compelled to investigate the brutal slaughter of her mentor Caroline Holt. While rumored a suicide, Roni knows that Caroline’s death is a result of sinister foul play. As a reporter who needs to investigate all happenings exhaustively and as a friend who demands revenge, she seeks to restore balance to the scales of justice. With only the rotting corpse, John Glazer, as an ally, Roni must evade the shadow-like murderer who follows her almost undetectably and get the answers she needs. What she does not know is that she has a larger mission: survive.

[ATDrake]

Some Canada-only bargains from award-winning Canadian mystery authors (non-couponable, linkage goes to Kobo, should be price-matched in the standard Canadian stores, either higher in the US/UK or non-existent in their stores, etc.):

Individuals @ $1.99 each from Doubleday Canada (the author's e-books are $12 each in the US, and don't seem to exist in the UK yet):

The first 3 titles of C.C. Benison (SYKM)'s (pseudonym of Arthur Ellis Award-winning Douglas Whiteway) Father Tom Christmas series starring a widower vicar single father in a small English village, which the blurb likens to mystery writers such as Alexander McCall Smith and Louise Penny and calls "perfect for cozy fans", though YMMV, of course, since they're not actually filed as cozies in any of the store categories.

1. Twelve Drummers Drumming, the obligatory intro to the series where Father Tom finds out that the sleepy little village he fled to in the wake of personal tragedy is actually chock-full of infidelity, theft, and murder, as sleepy little villages are so often wont to be
2. Eleven Pipers Piping, involving bagpipes, haggis, scotch, and murder to celebrate Robert Burns Day*, as you do
3. Ten Lords A-Leaping, which demonstrates why going skydiving above villages prone to sudden death syndrome which house a convenient amateur sleuth is like taking your life into your own hands and throwing it out the plane door

3-book omnibuses @ $9.99 from HarperCollins Canada & McClelland & Stewart ($13-$15 in the US, £10-12 in UK):

1. The Joanne Kilbourn Mysteries 3-Book Bundle Volume 1, aka The Early Investigations of Joanne Kilbourn according to the cover, containing #1-3 of Gail Bowen's (SYKM, Wikipedia) multiple Arthur Ellis Award-winning series starring the Saskatchewan-based political science professor. This has been cheaper @ $4.99, but that was back during Kobo's Labour Day weekend holiday sale, which is a major-ish Canadian discount time, so a price that good probably won't come again for some time.
2. The Further Investigations of Joanne Kilbourn, containing #4-6. I haven't seen this one on sale before (granted, I haven't been paying attention to it for that long, but it was $19.99 before).
3. ETA: Gail Bowen Ebook Bundle, containing #1-3 of her Charlie D series starring a late-night talk show host, which is a spinoff from her Kilbourns, is also available at the $8.39 mark (couponable from Orca Books' Raven imprint).

4-book omnibus @ $14.99 from McClelland & Stewart (a native Canadian publisher acquired by Random House, and this one doesn't exist in US/UK):

The Inspector Banks 4-Book Bundle: Aftermath; Friend of the Devil; Playing with Fire; Strange Affair by Peter Robinson (SYKM, Wikipedia), containing #12, #14-15, #17 in his multiple Arthur Ellis Award-winning UK-set police procedural series if I've counted them right (in publication order; this might make more sense in some kind of storytelling arc fashion). Huh, just looked at Wikipedia and apparently it's because these were the 4 novels that have been adapted for British TV.

The last time I saw this it was at something like $20-$25, so this seems a pretty decent price for the lot, at less than $4 per novel. We did previously get Aftermath as a freebie a long time ago, so if you already have it from then, $5 per novel is pretty much what Kobo tends to deep-discount Robinson's individual titles to during the sporadic weekend sales.

Bonus 3-book omnibus bargain @ $14.99 from Vintage Canada (doesn't exist in the US/UK):

Harry Hole Mysteries 3-Book Bundle: The Snowman, The Leopard, Phantom by Glass Key Award-winning Norwegian author Jo Nesbø (SYKM, Wikipedia) #7-9 in his Harry Hole, Oslo Police Inspector series.

This has been cheaper @ $4.99 during the Labour Day sale when I bought it, but that's not likely to happen again any time soon and it was at least $24.99 the last time I looked at it, so it's up to you if you want it. The individuals look to be priced between $10-$13 CAD.

* My dad still remembers the haggis they used to serve in the dining hall at his boarding school in Scotland during his student days. No memories of bagpipes, scotch, or murder, though. Not that I've really asked about the latter, mind you…