FREE/BARGAIN — Mystery, Suspense & Thrillers

[sufue]

A few years later, Real Murders is $0.99 again in the US, at both Kindle and Kobo. @ATDrake's links are still good. And it's discountable at Kobo...

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Bargain @ 99 cents for today only as part of the Kindle Daily Deals for April 24th in Canada & the US:

Real Murders by Charlaine Harris (SYKM, ISFDB, Wikipedia), perhaps best known for her Sookie Stackhouse vampire mystery series which was adapted into the HBO show True Blood. This is the 1st in her Aurora Teagarden series of cozy mysteries starring a librarian in Georgia who is also a crime buff, and was a finalist for the 1990 Agatha Award for Best Novel. According to ISFDB, these exist in the same meta-universe as the Sookie books, but have no sfnal elements. Originally published by Worldwide, but now being offered via the Jabberwocky Literary Agency.

Seems to be on sale at Amazon only, but here's a Kobo link in case you want to price-match (Jabberwocky is couponable and seems to have much of the rest of the series, and this particular installment is DRM-free at Kobo, but apparently not Amazon).

Aurora Teagarden, small town librarian and true crime buff, is looking forward to the monthly meeting of the Real Murders Society, a group of fellow crime enthusiasts who share a unique interest in historical murders. The Society meetings are the highlight of Roe’s social life in sleepy Lawrenceville, Georgia, and she’s ready for a quiet night of discussion, coffee, and cookies. But after she finds the body of a Society member in a staged crime scene eerily similar to the one the group was supposed to discuss that very night, Roe finds herself at the center of a murderous story of her own.

As the killer strikes again, it’s obvious that members of the Real Murders Society have become targets of a knowledgeable copycat. With the help of handsome police detective Arthur Smith and the town’s dashing new resident, mystery novelist Robin Crusoe, it’s up to Roe to discover if the murderer is one of the group’s own and to piece the perplexing puzzle together before another body appears.

[sufue]

Until Proven Guilty is the first in JA Jance's excellent IMO JP Beaumont series. It's $1.99 at Kindle US right now as part of their "start-a-series" sale, matched at Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FC14CG
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B000FC14CG
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/until-proven-guilty

Spoiler:

Now fans of the enormously popular Sheriff Joanna Brady suspense series by J.A. Jance can discover another side to the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author. Until Proven Guilty—a riveting tale of the very worst kind of murder—marks the debut of Seattle Homicide Detective J.P. Beaumont. This Premium Plus edition of Until Proven Guilty—the classic novel that put the incomparable Jance on the crime fiction map—indisputably proves that she truly belongs “in the elite company of Sue Grafton and Patricia Cornwell” (Flint Journal).

[sufue]

Now $1.99 in the US...

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MGNZB26
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/death-in-focus

Originally Posted by sufue

Several price drops at Kindle UK to £2.99, which is a bit more than I usually post, but there are some good titles in here. (Not checking for previous posts, so if I step on someone else's post, please forgive...)

{edited other books}

Death in Focus, Elena Standish #1, by Anne Perry
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07D2FNSM3
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07D2FNSM3

{edited other books}

[sufue]

Now $1.99 in the US...

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004J4X9HE
Kindle US/Smile: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004J4X9HE
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/mr-...ll-s-secretary

Originally Posted by sufue

Mr Churchill's Secretary is the first in the Maggie Hope series by Susan Elia MacNeal. It has dropped to £0.99 at Kindle UK, possibly due to the newest title in the series coming out in about a week. I've read and quite enjoyed several of the titles in this series.

link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00LSGMTXQ

[sufue]

Detective Kubu Investigates is a collection of short stories in the Detective Kubu series by Michael Stanley. The collection has dropped to $0.99 at Kindle and Kobo US, and it's discountable at Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BNWKS9M
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00BNWKS9M
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/det...investigates-1

Spoiler:

The first collection of Michael Stanley short stories introducing Detective David “Kubu” Bengu of the Botswana Criminal Investigation Department. A large man with big appetites—his nickname Kubu means hippo in the Setswana language—he’s happily married and lives in the capital, Gaborone. And he’s smart! Entertainment Weekly called him “The African Columbo,” and the New York Times said that “Readers may be lured to Africa by the landscape, but it takes a great character like Kubu to win our loyalty. ”Twenty-first century Botswana is a country with real issues and real murders. In this collection of stories—one specially written for this collection—Kubu investigates three mysterious deaths. A man is stabbed outside a bar. Is it just a jealous fight or is there something much more sinister behind it? A man suffers a gruesome death in a country town. Is it the result of witchcraft, or could there be another cause? A policeman is shot dead at close range in his own home. Is it the colleagues of a man he killed who was resisting arrest? And what of his wife's alibi? In the last story of the collection, The Haunting, a very unusual detective in South Africa solves a strange disappearance and fraud in a most unconventional way. Finally, author Michael Stanley interviews Detective Kubu himself in Gaborone until Kubu amusingly turns the tables! This entertaining collection of Kubu's shorter adventures is not to be missed by his many fans. And if you haven't met Kubu yet, then a treat is in store for you. Michael Stanley is the pen name of two South Africans—Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip—who write fiction together. Their novels featuring Detective Kubu are A CARRION DEATH, THE SECOND DEATH OF GOODLUCK TINUBU (A DEADY TRADE outside North America), DEATH OF THE MANTIS, DEADLY HARVEST, A DEATH IN THE FAMILY, DYING TO LIVE, and FACETS OF DEATH. The new Detective Kubu mystery, A DEADLY COVENANT, is out in 2022. There’s an excerpt from it at the end of the collection. Several of the books have been shortlisted for a variety of awards, and DEATH OF THE MANTIS won the BARRY AWARD for best paperback original in 2012 and was shortlisted for the EDGAR AWARD.

[sufue]

Breakdown is the fifteenth in the VI Warshawski series by Sara Paretsky. It's on sale in the US for $1.99.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005ERIJ98
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B005ERIJ98
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/breakdown-9

Spoiler:

A strange crime gets V.I. Warshawski involved with some of Chicago’s most rich and powerful players in this thriller from New York Times bestselling author Sara Paretsky.

When a group of Chicago tweens holds a ritual in an abandoned cemetery, they stumble on an actual corpse—stabbed through the heart in a vampire-style slaying. V.I. Warshawski arrives on the scene to escort the girls home–but protecting them places her at the tangled center of the investigation. And the girls include daughters of some of Chicago’s most powerful families: the grandfather of one, Chaim Salanter, is among the world’s wealthiest men; the mother of another, Sophy Durango, is running for the United States Senate.

For V.I., the questions multiply faster than the answers. Is the killing linked to a hostile media campaign against Durango—or to Salanter’s childhood in Nazi-occupied Lithuania? As V.I. struggles to find an answer, she finds herself fighting enemies who are no less terrifying for being all too human.

[sufue]

Heartbreak Hotel is the 32nd in Jonathan Kellerman's Alex Delaware series. It has dropped to $2.99.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FBZZNEG
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01FBZZNEG
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/heartbreak-hotel-9

Spoiler:

At nearly one hundred years old, Thalia Mars is a far cry from the patients that child psychologist Alex Delaware normally treats. But the charming, witty woman convinces Alex to meet with her in a suite at the Aventura, a luxury hotel with a checkered history.

What Thalia wants from Alex are answers to unsettling questions—about guilt, patterns of criminal behavior, victim selection. When Alex asks the reason for her morbid fascination, Thalia promises to tell all during their next session. But when he shows up the following morning, he is met with silence: Thalia is dead in her room.

When questions arise about how Thalia perished, Alex and homicide detective Milo Sturgis must peel back the layers of a fascinating but elusive woman’s life and embark on one of the most baffling investigations either of them has ever experienced. For Thalia Mars is a victim like no other, an enigma who harbored nearly a century of secrets and whose life and death draw those around her into a vortex of violence.

Heartbreak Hotel is classic Delaware and classic Kellerman.

[sufue]

Joseph Flynn started off traditionally published, and then moved to his own Stray Dog Press, which still turns out e-books I enjoy reading. With that said, I'm not personally a huge fan of many of his non-series titles, which run more thriller-ish IMO than I usually care for. But that's just my personal preference. I do like his original Jim McGill/President's Henchman series and its spin-offs. Right now, the first book in that series is free in the US and UK, and also three of his non-series books. I probably wouldn't have listed the non-series ones, but since I'm doing the Jim McGill one, which I very much like, I figured I'd add the other three on too. Just skip the last three at the bottom of the post if you are offended . Also, a lot (or all) of the Jim McGill books are KU, so if you like the first one and have a KU subscription, you can binge for free - or at least for your sunk cost...

The President's Henchman, book 1 of Jim McGill series
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPYK8KK
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00DPYK8KK

One False Step
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004YQCPHW
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004YQCPHW

Farewell Performance
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002UKOWP2
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002UKOWP2

Blood Street Punx
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004NNV4T6
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004NNV4T6

[Dr. Drib]

^
Also, all 4 books are totally FREE (U.S.), so if you have no KU plan, just pick them up for nothing. ($0.00)

[Tarana]

Most of Dorothy Sayer's Lord Wimsey books are on sale for $2.99 at Amazon and Kobo.

[sufue]

Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries Volume One contains the first three books and a couple of short stories in the Captain Lacey series by Ashley Gardner (pen name for Jennifer Ashley). It's on sale for $0.99/£0.99 at Kindle US/UK right now. The first half-ish of this series was traditionally published, and Gardner has continued the series by self-publishing, but I've liked all of the titles I've read - which is most of them. And, in any case, these (The Hanover Square Affair, A Regimental Murder, The Glass House, and The Gentleman’s Walking Stick) are among the ones that were traditionally published to start with.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006YZ0OOM
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B006YZ0OOM
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B006YZ0OOM
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B006YZ0OOM

And, if $0.99/£0.99 is too much for you to try the series, the first book, The Hanover Square Affair, is free right now as well !

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004O4C1AK
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004O4C1AK

[Tarana]

The War Widow By Tara Moss $1.99 Amazon, Kobo
Historical crime fiction.

I don't know this author, but the blurb looked good.

With World War II over, journalist Billie Walker returns to Australia to manage her father’s small private investigation agency. But soon, the case of a vanished boy upends everything…

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/War-Widow-Bil...s%2C164&sr=8-1
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-war-widow-7

[Tarana]

The Spies of Warsaw By Alan Furst $2.99 Amazon, Kobo
Historical thriller; book made into TV

The inspiration behind the acclaimed miniseries starring David Tennant: As World War II looms, Colonel Jean-François Mercier, a military attaché at the French embassy in Warsaw, navigates a world of intrigue. From a “master of the historical spy novel” (Publishers Weekly starred review)

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Spies-Warsaw-...s%2C182&sr=8-1
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-spies-of-warsaw-1

[sufue]

A huge chunk of Catriona McPherson's Dandy Gilver series is on sale for £0.99 each in the UK right now. Titles include:

• Bury Her Deep, #3
• The Winter Ground, #4
• Dandy Gilver and the Proper Treatment of Bloodstains (great title BTW), #5
• Dandy Gilver and a Bothersome Number of Corpses, #7
• Dandy Gilver and a Deadly Measure of Brimstone, #8
• Dandy Gilver and The Reek of Red Herrings, #9
• Dandy Gilver and the Unpleasantness in the Ballroom, #10
• Dandy Gilver and a Most Misleading Habit, #11
• Dandy Gilver and a Spot of Toil and Trouble, #12
• A Step So Grave , #13
• The Turning Tide, #13
• The Mirror Dance, #15

Here's a link to the series webpage: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B074CGH3...kindle_edition

And, oddly, two titles aren't on the series webpage, so here are individual links:
Dandy Gilver and a Deadly Measure of Brimstone, #8: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00BMUVVFA
Dandy Gilver and The Reek of Red Herrings, #9: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00IORP8IK

I had a chance to review the most recent title, The Mirror Dance, a while back, and liked it a lot. You can see my review on my blog if you're interested - the URL is in my signature.

[sufue]

Now £0.99 at Kindle UK....

Originally Posted by sufue

Promised Land is the fourth in the Spenser series by Robert B. Parker. It has dropped to £1.98 at Kindle UK.

{edited other book}

link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07XF7NX21