FREE/BARGAIN - Mystery, Suspense, Thriller - 2016

[sufue]

I struggled a bit with whether this is a romantic suspense title or a suspenseful romance, but in the end, I went with SYKM, which lists it as a non-series mystery by Vickie Britton and Loretta Jackson. Path of the Jaguar is free right now at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/Path-Jaguar-V.../dp/B004VNMR3K

Spoiler:

When Lennea Andrew's traveling companion, Delores, mysteriously vanishes in the bustling Mexico City airport, Lennea has no choice but to trust handsome Joseph Darrigo, who gallantly comes to her aid. The handsome, dark-eyed stranger helps her get through customs and escorts her to Merida, where she is to work with renowned archaeologist Wesley Hern.

When Lennea finds a large amount of money in a secret compartment in Delores' luggage, she becomes tangled in a web of intrigue. Where did the money come from? And what of the handsome stranger Lennea has come to trust? Is Joseph Darrigo really who he claims to be, or is he, along with Delores, involved in some illegal scheme?

In addition Britton and Jackson also have free right now what looks as if it may be a self-pub continuation (if this offends you, skip the rest of this post) of their originally traditionally published High Country series, Crying Woman Bridge. Kindle US link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0167N4JEG

[sufue]

Queen's Ransom is the third in the Ursula Blanchard series by Fiona Buckley. It has dropped to $3.99 at Kindle US. This is about the upper limit at which I consider a backlist genre book to be on sale, but this is one of my top ten favorite mystery series, so I thought I'd post it anyway.

The second title in the series had dropped to $3.99 for a while last month and is still at $4.49, which is not too bad, but unfortunately the rest of the titles in the series, including the first, To Shield the Queen (currently at $9.99), are $5.99 and up - ridiculous, IMO, for backlist titles, so if you like to read in order, or read complete series, that's not going to work too well here. In any case, for this one...

link: https://www.amazon.com/Queens-Ransom.../dp/B000FC0T6S

Spoiler:

Long live the Queen! A magnificent Queen Elizabeth I reigned in the movie Shakespeare in Love, but it is the younger queen of the film Elizabeth whom we meet in Fiona Buckley's acclaimed Ursula Blanchard mystery series.

It's 1562 and Catholic Spain threatens the stability of Protestant England. In France, the Protestant Huguenots also face threats from the powerful Catholics. Fearing that such pro-Catholic movements might spread to England, Elizabeth hopes to mediate a peace between the two French factions.

Enter Ursula Blanchard, twenty-seven-year-old Lady of the Presence Chamber, who has a special mandate from Sir William Cecil, Secretary of State, to spy on behalf of the queen. Nearly the same age as Elizabeth, Ursula has already proved herself worthy of the queen's gratitude in difficult and dangerous situations.

The queen wants Ursula to go to France, where civil war may break out at any moment, to hand-carry a letter from Elizabeth to France's queen mother and regent, Catherine de Médicis. To keep her mission secret, Ursula will ostensibly accompany her former father-in-law, Luke Blanchard, a man she neither likes nor trusts, when he travels to France to fetch his young ward, Helene, to the safety of England.

Ursula has the queen's protection and she has with her her faithful servants Brockley and Dale. But she soon realizes that sinister forces threaten her. Is someone trying to prevent her from delivering the letter? Whom can she trust? Luke Blanchard? Helene? Her servants? Anthony Jenkinson, the blithe merchant adventurer whose path crosses hers and who has enemies of his own? Can she be sure even of the queen? What will happen to Meg, her little daughter left behind in England, if she fails to return?

Perhaps the most poignant of all, Ursula's second husband, Matthew, a Frenchman and an enemy of Elizabeth, is somewhere in France, but can she see him without bringing disaster on both of them? There is powerful chemistry between them but what is their destiny?

Ursula soon learns that she faces an enemy who will stop at nothing -- not murder, not torture, not charges of heresy that may lead to burning at the stake -- to destroy her. To prevail, she must undertake a desperate new mission of her own, with an innocent life at risk.

Murder, treason, treasure, passion -- they all combine to make a compelling historical mystery from an author whose vast knowledge of the period adds depth and color to this riveting new series.

[sufue]

A couple of titles (one collection of short stories, one novel) by Robert Barnard have dropped to $3.99 at Kindle US. As in my post just above, $3.99 is about my limit for thinking backlist titles are "on sale", but Barnard is pretty well known and a Diamond Dagger winner, so I thought I'd list these.

The Habit of Widowhood (SS)
link: https://www.amazon.com/Habit-Widowho.../dp/B00AYIDTTM

Spoiler:

Prize-winning author Robert Barnard presents seventeen witty mystery stories featuring everyday characters who discover their potential for murder, including a young woman who weds a string of old men and develops a penchant for widowhood.

Dying Flames
link: https://www.amazon.com/Dying-Flames-.../dp/B000GCFXLS

Spoiler:

From Robert Barnard, the internationally acclaimed Diamond Dagger-winning crime writer . . .

Some memories are better left buried in the past. Well-known author Graham Broadbent has managed to repress one particularly dangerous memory for many years, but a trip home to a school reunion brings back the shocking reality of a desperate youthful passion.

It all begins with a knock on Graham's hotel door. His visitor is nineteen-year-old Christa, who read in the newspaper that he would be in town. She introduces herself as his long-lost daughter. His daughter? It's true that many years ago Graham had a fling with Christa's mother, an exquisitely alluring school actress named Peggy Somers. The dates don't work, though. Graham maintains he was out of the country when Christa was conceived. He couldn't be her father.

He's almost sorry that he can't claim Christa, a lively young woman who intrigues him in a strange way. And what about Christa's mother, the formidable Peggy, who made such an impression when she portrayed Saint Joan in the school play all those years ago? Why would she have lied to Christa about her paternity? Why name Graham as the girl's father?

Separated from his wife, at loose ends in his writing, Graham takes the fateful step of searching out Peggy. It's a big mistake. Peggy's life, which started with such promise, has been a major disappointment. Now it's about to become a disaster. Peggy lies. She fabricates. She fantasizes. She is the kind of person who will destroy Graham if he lets her.

As Graham finds himself drawn increasingly into the turmoil surrounding this woman and her children, he must deal with deception and, ultimately, with murder. The sins of the past return to haunt the living, and the lives of those who survive will never be the same.

Writing with the piercing insight and wit for which he is renowned, Robert Barnard creates a poignant masterpiece of mystery, as thoughtful as it is entertaining.

I should probably also note that a bunch of Barnard's titles (pub by Allison & Busby or Bello) are in the £0.99 to £2.99 range at Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=sr_pg...qid=1468323824

[sufue]

And now the "original" first in this series, Veil of Lies, has dropped to $2.99 at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/Veil-Lies-Med.../dp/B004DNWBZW

Spoiler:

"A great read, through and through. Westerson's finely wrought portrait of gritty Medieval London is embued with great wit and poignancy. Crispin Guest is a knight to remember." -- Cornelia Read, author of A Field of Darkness, on Veil of Lies.

Crispin Guest is a disgraced knight, stripped of his rank and his honor - but left with his life - for plotting against Richard II. Having lost his bethrothed, his friends, his patrons and his position in society. With no trade to support him and no family willing to acknowledge him, Crispin has turned to the one thing he still has - his wits - to scrape a living together on the mean streets of London. In 1383, Guest is called to the compound of a merchant - a reclusive mercer who suspects that his wife is being unfaithful and wants Guest to look into the matter. Not wishing to sully himself in such disgraceful, dishonorable business but in dire need of money, Guest agrees and discovers that the wife is indeed up to something, presumably nothing good. But when he comes to inform his client, he is found dead - murdered in a sealed room, locked from the inside. Now Guest has come to the unwanted attention of the Lord Sheriff of London and most recent client was murdered while he was working for him. And everything seems to turn on a religious relic - a veil reported to have wiped the brow of Christ - that is now missing.

Originally Posted by sufue

Cup of Blood is the 7th published (but in reading order, it's a prequel) in Jeri Westerson's Crispin Guest Medieval Noir series. I've read and enjoyed all of the titles in this series except for the most recent, which at $14.99 is too pricey for me. Per SYKM, the first few titles in this series all were finalists for various awards, and Cup itself was a finalist for the 2015 Left Coast Crime Bruce Alexander Award. It has dropped to $0.99 at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/Cup-Blood-Cri.../dp/B00KI1R0RW

[sufue]

The Case of the Deadly Butter Chicken is the third in the Vish Puri series by Tarquin Hall. I've read the first two in the series and enjoyed them, and am glad to see this one drop to $3.99 at Kindle US. Although this series is set in India, many thousands of miles away from the US state of Colorado, it sort of reminds me of James Yaffe's "Dave and Dave's Mom" series for the dynamics between the nominal protagonist and his mother.

link: https://www.amazon.com/Case-Deadly-B.../dp/B0061Q6BE6

Spoiler:

Now featuring mouthwatering recipes from the Vish Puri family kitchen, this installment in Tarquin Hall’s mystery series offers a taste of India alongside the thrill of a rich and fulfilling whodunit mystery.

Dubbed “a wonderfully engaging P.I.” (The Times, London), Tarquin Hall’s irresistible protagonist Vish Puri has become an international favorite through a series that “splendidly evokes the color and bustle of Delhi and the tang of contemporary India” (Seattle Times). Now the gormandizing, spectacularly mustachioed sleuth finds himself facing down his greatest fears in an explosive case involving the Indian and Pakistani mafias.

When the elderly father of a top Pakistani cricketer playing in a new multimillion-dollar cricket league dies frothing at the mouth during a post-match dinner, it’s not a simple case of Delhi Belly. His butter chicken has been poisoned. To solve the case, Puri must penetrate the region’s organized crime, following a trail that leads deep into Pakistan—the country in which many members of the P.I.’s family were massacred during the 1947 partition of India. The last piece of the puzzle, however, turns up closer to home when Puri learns of the one person who can identify the killer. Unfortunately it is the one person in the world with whom he has sworn never to work: his Mummy-ji.

With riotously entertaining prose, a boisterous cast of characters, and a pitch-perfect sense of place, Tarquin Hall has crafted a gripping whodunit that takes us deep into Indian history and society. He brings a hugely appealing culture to life with all its sights, sounds, smells, foods, and complexity. As the title implies, The Case of the Deadly Butter Chicken is a succulent read by a writer at the top of his game.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Mort1997

Free on Amazon UK - An Unsuitable Death by J M Gregson

Spoiler:

The lurid news of ‘The Sacristan’ had plagued the headlines for months.

Victims' bodies were deposited in quiet churches or graveyards.

When the body of a beautiful young woman is found in Hereford Cathedral, it appears he has struck again.

Appointed to the case, DSI Lambert and DS Hook soon come to realise however that nothing about this case — or indeed its victim — is as straightforward as it first appears…

Delving into the history of the victim - Tamsin Rennie - they discover a number of sinister characters, each with their own dark motives.

But what’s more disturbing is that this murder bears little resemblance to The Sacristan Murders.

They suspect that a resourceful new killer is within their midst.

With little known about this new assailant, and a number of potential suspects, Lambert and Hook have to solve one of the most puzzling cases they have ever encountered.

UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unsuitable-...ndeavour+press

US
https://www.amazon.com/Unsuitable-De...ndeavour+press


Au
https://www.amazon.com.au/Unsuitable...ndeavour+press

Can
https://www.amazon.ca/Unsuitable-Dea...ndeavour+press

Got it.

Thank you!

[sufue]

The 7th Woman is the first in the Paris Homicide series by Frédérique Molay. It won the Prix du Quai des Orfèvres for French crime fiction. It has been translated via publisher Le French Book, whose motto, per their website is, "Bringing France's best mysteries and thrillers to readers across the English-speaking world. If we love it, we’ll translate it." I've read and liked this title, but I'm a huge francophile, so YMMV. It has dropped to $0.99 at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/7th-Woman-Par.../dp/B009ED24VC

Spoiler:

"Frédérique Molay is the French Michael Connelly" — Jean Miot, Agence France Presse (AFP).

Winner of France's prestigious Prix du Quai des Orfèvres prize for best crime fiction, named Best Crime Fiction Novel of the Year, and already an international bestseller with over 150,000 copies sold.

There's no rest for Paris's top criminal investigation division, La Crim'. Who is preying on women in the French capital? How can he kill again and again without leaving any clues? A serial killer is taking pleasure in a macabre ritual that leaves the police on tenterhooks. Chief of Police Nico Sirsky—a super cop with a modern-day real life, including an ex-wife, a teenage son and a budding love story—races against the clock to solve the murders as they get closer and closer to his inner circle. Will he resist the pressure? The story grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go until the last page, leading you behind the scenes with the French police and into the coroner’s office. It has the suspense of Seven, with CSI-like details. You will never experience Paris the same way again!

"A taut and terror-filled thriller with a lightning-quick, sinister plot." – Robert Dugoni, New York Times bestselling author

"Ratcheting tension won't let you put the book down." – Cara Black, bestselling author of Paris mysteries

[rbruce1314]

Originally Posted by Mort1997

Free on Amazon UK - An Unsuitable Death by J M Gregson

Free on Amazon UK - Final Toll by Roger Ormerod

Thanks Mort1997 - Gregson and Ormerod are always worth a download and read.

[sufue]

I don't often post the Kindle Daily Deals, leaving that to others, but today's US Kindle Daily Deal includes the first fourteen (of sixteen, at least according to SYKM) Peter Diamond books by Peter Lovesey for $1.99 each. I haven't read any of these titles, but did read and enjoy Lovesey's three Bertie titles many many years ago. I'm in a bit of a hurry, so not going to list each one individually, but here's a link for them all:

link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.htm...cId=1000677541

P.S. Has anyone read this particular series? Have an opinion?

[sufue]

The Skeleton Road is the second in Val McDermid's Detective Inspector Karen Pirie series. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/Skeleton-Road.../dp/B00JLQ4OHE

Spoiler:

Internationally best-selling crime writer Val McDermid is one of the most dependable professionals in the mystery and thriller business, whose acutely suspenseful, seamlessly plotted novels have riveted millions of readers worldwide. In The Skeleton Road, she delivers a gripping standalone novel about a cold case that links back to the Balkan Wars of the 1990s.

In the center of historic Edinburgh, builders are preparing to demolish a disused Victorian Gothic building. They are understandably surprised to find skeletal remains hidden in a high pinnacle that hasn’t been touched by maintenance for years. Who do the bones belong to, and how did they get there? Could the eccentric British pastime of free climbing the outside of buildings play a role? Enter cold case detective Karen Pirie, who gets to work trying to establish the corpse’s identity. And when it turns out the bones may be from as far away as former Yugoslavia, Karen will need to dig deeper than she ever imagined into the tragic history of the Balkans: to war crimes and their consequences, and ultimately to the notion of what justice is and who serves it.

The Skeleton Road is an edge-of-your-seat, unforgettable read from one of our finest crime writers.

[sufue]

Right Church, Wrong Pew sounds as if it should be in the Christian deals thread, if MR ever would start one, but is actually really truly a murder mystery - it is the first in the Carlton Withers series by Walter Stewart. It has dropped to $0.99 at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/Right-Church-.../dp/B00P6V0J4U

Spoiler:

By all reports Ernie Struthers got what was coming to him . . . But erstwhile reporter Carlton Withers sure wishes Struthers hadn’t turned up dead on his front porch. As the only person, presumably, in town with a motive to kill Struthers, Withers is hard pressed to prove his innocence.

With the evidence stacked against him and mounting by the day, Withers turns to his trusted neighbour, retired police inspector Hanson Eberley, and Hannah Klovack, a newly-arrived news photographer from Toronto, to help clear his name.

Right Church, Wrong Pew is the first Carlton Withers mystery set in the idyllic Kawartha Lakes district of Ontario. Withers and Hannah Klovack return to solve yet another small-town murder in Hole in One.

Strangely enough the second title in the series, Hole in One, already had dropped in price to $0.99 at least a couple months ago - usually the first in series drops first or only. It is still at $0.99, so if you read the first one and like it, the second one is affordable too.

link: https://www.amazon.com/Hole-One-Carl.../dp/B00P6V0J36

Spoiler:

When old Charlie Tinkelpaugh is killed on the third hole of the Bosky Dell golf course, a series of ever-more-strange events is set in motion, and only Carlton Withers, inept golfer and sometimes-employee of the Silver Falls Lancer, can put the pieces of the puzzle together.

With the help of his colleague-slash-girlfriend, Hanna Klovack, and local Ojibwa elder Joe Herkimer, a.k.a. Running Elk, Withers must unravel the complex web of clues that lead to Tinkelpaugh’s murderer . . . and that may also reveal who is behind the illegal sale of the Bosky Dell golf course to a local development corporation.

Hole in One is the second Carlton Withers mystery set in the idyllic Kawartha Lakes district of Ontario.

And even more strangely, the box set of two titles is still $11.99. No link given

[Dr. Drib]

About the first in a series dropping in price first:

I've noticed an unpleasant trend where some authors make the second book free, so one is then 'forced' to purchase the first in a series in order to start the reading at the beginning.

Those clever little authors and their clever little minds!

[Mort1997]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

About the first in a series dropping in price first:

I've noticed an unpleasant trend where some authors make the second book free, so one is then 'forced' to purchase the first in a series in order to start the reading at the beginning.

Those clever little authors and their clever little minds!

That is OK - I can wait

[badgoodDeb]

Originally Posted by sufue

Right Church, Wrong Pew sounds as if it should be in the Christian deals thread, if MR ever would start one,

You mean like this thread here? "Free/Bargain Christian Interest"

[sufue]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

You mean like this thread here? "Free/Bargain Christian Interest"

Oops, clearly I missed that, probably in the midst of ATDrake's many posts of Christian books that are not in that thread

I do remember asking for such a thread once long ago, and getting told "no" - glad to see it eventually materialized!