FREE/BARGAIN - Mystery, Suspense, Thriller - 2016

[sufue]

To Ruin a Queen is the fourth 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. Several other titles in this series have been $3.99 in the not too distant past, so hopefully whoever controls the pricing is slowly working their way though the series (doesn't hurt to be optimistic ).

link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0033DDIU0

Spoiler:

With historical mysteries and tales of Tudor England in high demand, acclaimed author Fiona Buckley returns with a poignant new novel featuring Ursula Blanchard, waiting woman and secret agent for Queen Elizabeth I. Still loyal to her royal mistress but needing to be with her French husband, Matthew de la Roche, Ursula begins to build a new life for herself at Matthew's château. She loves Matthew, although she longs desperately for her little girl, Meg, left behind in England. But when Meg's passage is finally arranged, the child is missing. Where is she, and could her disappearance be part of a plot to tempt Ursula back to her homeland? Frightened for her child, Ursula follows a trail that leads to the home of the ancient Mortimer family, the mysterious Vetch Castle, a grim, haunted keep on the Welsh border. There she finds castle owner Philip Mortimer, who boasts that he will force Queen Elizabeth to restore the fortunes of his once-great family. There, too, Ursula finds Philip's mother, the aging but still beautiful Lady Thomasine, who is frightened by her son's claims and pleads for Ursula's help in discovering what it is that he knows. What deadly secrets does this castle hide? What ghostly faces look from the windows of the deserted southwest tower? What has Philip Mortimer discovered? The secrets of Vetch Castle could be dangerous, especially if they concern the Queen -- dangerous to the Mortimers and to Ursula and those she loves, as she soon learns to her peril. Richly evocative of its rugged English and Welsh setting, precise in its historical detail, and filled with memorable characters, To Ruin a Queen will affirm Fiona Buckley's growing reputation as a queen of historical crime.

[GA Russell]

The Dead Letter - free
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017LB6UMC

*****

The Eighth Circle - Stanley Ellin - $1.99
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L2TDQHW

(Edgar Best Novel winner)

[Little.Egret]

Endeavour Books, free

Missing, Presumed Dead by J M Gregson

Detective Inspector `Percy' Peach is not a natural sportsman.
However, as chance would have it, a recent discovery at his local club might just allow for his other talents to come to the fore.
A body has been found on the golf course.
It is that of a pregnant young woman, killed by strangulation.
Upon examining the body, they make a troubling discovery.
Her corpse has been there approximately two years.

James Michael Gregson's other crime novels include `Bring Forth Your Dead', `Dead on Course', `Making a Killing', `Stranglehold' and `Body Politic'.


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OK7PB94/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00OK7PB94/
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00OK7PB94/

[jselby]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

The Dead Letter - free
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017LB6UMC

Also available at Gutenberg
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46708

[sufue]

Ruff Way to Go is the second in the Allida Babcock series by Leslie O'Kane (pen name for Leslie Caine). It has dropped to $0.99 at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/Ruff-Allie-Ba.../dp/B006MN8P0G

Spoiler:

Allie’s dog therapy practice in Boulder, Colorado is thriving. Her divorcing neighbors, Edith and Trevor, hire Allie to decide which one gets custody of Shogun, their silky terrier. And another neighborhood pair, Cassandra and Paul, need help with a fostered Siberian husky and her puppies.

Life seems to be ambling along quite nicely for Allie…until she finds Cassandra’s bloodied body sprawled on Edith’s deck with a bloody pawprint next to it – and the silky terrier, Shogun, nowhere to be found.

Who could have possibly murdered Cassandra? And where could have little Shogun run to? And even more curious, what really does make that old couple down the street so incredibly hostile?

Not only is Allie in the doghouse with just about everyone she knows, the police are also hounding her…hard. Not one to rest on her heels, Allie unleashes her sleuthing skills and finds herself in one close and awfully uncomfortable encounter with a cold-hearted killer…

NOTE: Play Dead is the first in this series. It has previously been free, but is still only $0.99 if you prefer to read in order.

link: https://www.amazon.com/Play-Dead-All.../dp/B006MN8HVS

Spoiler:

At her brand new shop in Boulder, Allie’s very first client is a dejected collie whose previous owner allegedly took her own life. But with a natural nose for crime, Allie soon suspects murder—leaving her dejected canine client as possibly the sole witness to the crime.

With the scent fresh, Allie is quickly on the case – but a second murder curtails her investigation. Before taking another step, Allie needs to count her enemies: several suspicious dog owners, a boyfriend with a temper (and a demand for vengeance!), and a mysterious door-to-door salesman with a curious tale to tell…

Bizarre salesman, vicious boyfriend and suspect dog owners – one thing is for sure – Allie’s life may never be safe until one of these characters lands in the pen…

[sufue]

Natchez Burning is the fourth in the Penn Cage series by Greg Iles. Per SYKM, it won the 2015 Barry Award for Best Novel. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FJ3AC10

Spoiler:

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Greg Iles comes the first novel in his Natchez Burning trilogy—which also includes The Bone Tree and the upcoming Mississippi Blood—an epic trilogy that interweaves crimes, lies, and secrets past and present in a mesmerizing thriller featuring Southern lawyer and former prosecutor Penn Cage.

Raised in the southern splendor of Natchez, Mississippi, Penn Cage learned all he knows of duty from his father, Dr. Tom Cage. But now the beloved family doctor has been accused of murdering the African American nurse with whom he worked in the dark days of the 1960s. Once a crusading prosecutor, Penn is determined to save his father, but Tom, stubbornly invoking doctor-patient privilege, refuses even to speak in his own defense.

Penn's quest for the truth sends him deep into his father's past, where a sexually charged secret lies. More chilling, this long-buried sin is only one thread in a conspiracy of greed and murder involving the vicious Double Eagles, an offshoot of the KKK controlled by some of the most powerful men in the state. Aided by a dedicated reporter privy to Natchez's oldest secrets and by his fiancée, Caitlin Masters, Penn uncovers a trail of corruption and brutality that places his family squarely in the Double Eagles' crosshairs.

With every step costing blood and faith, Penn is forced to confront the most wrenching dilemma of his life: Does a man of honor choose his father or the truth?

[sufue]

Raise the Titanic! is the fourth in the Dirk Pitt series by Clive Cussler. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0014E7IHO

Spoiler:

The President's secret task force has developed an unprecedented defensive weapon that relies on an extremely rare radioactive element--and Dirk Pitt has followed a twisted trail to a secret cache of the substance. Now, racing against brutal storms, Soviet spies, and a ticking clock, Pitt begins his most thrilling mission--to raise from its watery grave the shipwreck of the century...

[sufue]

A Fearsome Doubt is the sixth Inspector Ian Rutledge title by Charles Todd. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FBFMA2

Spoiler:

Bestselling author Charles Todd has earned a special place among mystery’s elite writers with his acclaimed series featuring Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge, a former soldier seeking to lay to rest the demons of his past in the aftermath of World War I. But that past bleeds into the present in a complex murder case that calls into question his own honor...and the crimes committed in the name of God, country, and righteous vengeance.

A Fearsome Doubt

In 1912 Ian Rutledge watched as a man was condemned to hang for the murders of elderly women. Rutledge helped gather the evidence that sent Ben Shaw to the gallows. And when justice was done, Rutledge closed the door on the case. But Shaw was not easily forgotten. Now, seven years later, that grim trial returns in the form of Ben Shaw’s widow Nell, bringing Rutledge evidence she is convinced will prove her husband’s innocence. It’s a belief fraught with peril, threatening both Rutledge’s professional stature and his faith in his judgment. But there is a darker reason for Rutledge’s reluctance. Murder brings him back to Kent where, days earlier, he’d glimpsed an all-too-familiar face beyond the leaping flames of a bonfire. Soon an unexpected encounter revives the end of his own war, as the country prepares for a somber commemoration on the anniversary of the Armistice. To battle the unsettled past and the haunted present at the same time is an appalling mandate.

And the people around him? among them the attractive widow of a friend, a remarkable woman who survived the Great Indian Mutiny; a bitter, dying barrister; and a man whose name he never knew—unwittingly compete with the grieving Nell Shaw. They’ll demand more than Rutledge can give, unaware that he is already carrying the burden of shell shock? and the voice of Hamish MacLeod, the soldier he was forced to execute in the war. The killer in Marling is surprisingly adept at escaping detection. And Ben Shaw’s past is a tangle of unsettling secrets that may or may not be true. Rutledge must walk a tortuous line between two murderers...one reaching out to ruin him, the other driven to destroy him. From the Hardcover edition.

[sufue]

To Brew or Not to Brew is the first in the Brewing Trouble series by Joyce Tremel. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U5KNT3K

Spoiler:

An all-new mystery series set in a Pittsburgh craft brew pub, featuring a brewmaster with a head for sleuthing.

The Allegheny Brew House is a dream come true for Maxine “Max” O’Hara, who went all the way to Germany for her brewmaster certification, and is now preparing to open her own craft brew pub in a newly revitalized section of Pittsburgh. But before she can start pouring stouts and lagers to thirsty throngs, there’s trouble on tap. Suspicious acts of sabotage culminate in Max finding her assistant brewmaster and chef Kurt Schmidt strangled in one of the vats.

Between rescuing a stray gray tabby she names Hops and considering a handsome ex-hockey player as her new chef, Max doesn’t have a lot of time to solve a murder. But with a homicide detective for a dad, she comes to criminal investigation naturally. And if someone is desperate enough to kill to stop her from opening, Max needs to act fast—before her brand-new brew biz totally tanks...

INCLUDES RECIPES

[sufue]

Blood Rain is the seventh in the Aurelio Zen series by Michael Dibdin. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002RLBKNG

Spoiler:

Aurelio Zen—cynical and tough, yet worn down from years of law enforcement—has just been given the worst assignment he could imagine. He has been sent to the heart of hostile territory: Sicily, the ancient, beautiful island where blood has been known to flow like wine, and the distinction between the police and the criminals is a fine one. Even worse, he has been sent to spy on the elite anti-Mafia squad.The only thing that makes the job palatable—and takes his mind off routine details like the rotting body found in a remote train car—is that Zen's adopted daughter, Carla, is also in town. But life becomes precarious for Carla when she stumbles upon some information she'd be better off not knowing and befriends a local magistrate on the Mafia's most wanted list. What ensues is a breakneck plot of amazing complexity that culminates in a stunning finale. Blood Rain, emotionally gripping and defiantly original, is surely one of Dibdin's finest works. From the Trade Paperback edition.

[sufue]

The other three titles in this enjoyable (IMO) series have dropped to $3.99 at Kindle US. Unfortunately Butter Chicken has gone back up (to $9.99!!!), but now all four have been on sale at some point.

Titles are:

• The Case of the Missing Servant
• The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing
• The Case of the Love Commandos

link for all three: https://www.amazon.com/gp/search/?se...&price=001-400

Originally Posted by 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

[sufue]

Two titles in the much-award-nominated (per SYKM) Emmanuel Cooper series by Malla Nunn have dropped to $3.99 at Kindle US.

Titles are:

• Blessed are the Dead, #3
• Present Darkness, #4

link for both: https://www.amazon.com/gp/search/?se...&price=001-400

[Little.Egret]

Endeavour Press, free

An Open Window (Richard and Amelia Patton) by Roger Ormerod

As Amelia Patton approaches a caravan parked in their usual spot, it explodes, killing the woman inside.
As she recovers in a hospital near the Welsh coast, she learns that she is the residual legatee in her uncle's will.
As she cannot attend the reading herself, her husband, ex-Detective Inspector Richard Patton, drives to the Midlands on her behalf.
He finds that the word `residual' can be extremely deceptive, and that the will is bound to provoke trouble between the children of Amelia's eccentric uncle, Walter Mann, who died just two days after signing the new will.
Richard is intrigued by this: Walter had become a virtual recluse and locked himself away in his rooms.
But when he was found, having fallen from the third-story window and through the roof of his conservatory, the key for the door was on its chain around his neck.
Was it suicide?

And was the caravan explosion meant for Amelia ?

Roger Ormerod is the author of over twenty novels including A Shot At Nothing, Third Time Fatal, The Key to the Case and The Night She Died.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B013GCPQM0/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B013GCPQM0/
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B013GCPQM0/

[sufue]

Two titles in the Highland Gazette series by A.D. Scott have dropped to $3.99 at Kindle US. Titles are:

• A Small Death in the Great Glen, #1
• North Sea Requiem, #4

link for both: https://www.amazon.com/gp/search/?se...&keyword=-magi

[itisbomb]

The Firm
by John Grisham

is $1.99 at

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/the-firm-1

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Firm-Novel-Jo...ham#nav-subnav