FREE/BARGAIN - Mystery, Suspense, Thriller - 2016

[Little.Egret]

Endeavour Press, Free

Busted Flush by Brad Smith

First published 2005 by Henry Holt and Company


Stuck with a wife he doesn't like and a job that he hates, Dock Bass could use some good news.
So when he learns that he's inherited an ancient house from a deceased relative he never knew existed, he is ready to make a move.

He quickly discovers a newfound solace in tearing it down to its elegant, pre-Civil War foundations, but in stripping away the drywall and lathe, he discovers a doorway in the rock face.
Behind it, Dock stumbles upon a treasure trove of Civil War memorabilia squirreled away in an old root cellar, including pictures and possibly even a recording of Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg.
However, it's not long before Dock's discovery brings him more attention and press than he can bear.
As the onslaught of collectors, history buffs, and media hounds descends - including an easy-on-the-eyes television reporter - Dock needs every stubborn and independent bone in his body to fight of the hustlers and scam artists.
When the opportunists start crawling out of the woodwork, will there be anyone left that Dock can trust?

Brad Smith is also the author of Busted Flush, All Hat, and One-Eyed Jacks


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01J8C1DGA/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01J8C1DGA/
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01J8C1DGA/

[sufue]

The Secret Servant is the 7th in the Gabriel Allon series by Daniel Silva. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000TO0TD0

Spoiler:

A terrorist plot in London leads Israeli spy Gabriel Allon on a desperate search for a kidnapped woman in this thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Daniel Silva.

While in Amsterdam, Israeli intelligence officer and master art restorer Gabriel Allon discovers a plot that is about to explode in the middle of London. The daughter of the American ambassador is to be brutally kidnapped. But Gabriel arrives too late to save her. And when he reveals his face to the plot’s masterminds, his fate is sealed as well.

Drawn once more into the service of American intelligence, Gabriel desperately searches for the missing woman as the clock ticks steadily toward the hour of her execution. The search will thrust him into an unlikely alliance with a man who has lost everything because of his devotion to Islam. It will cause him to question the morality of the tactics of his trade. And it might very well cost him his life…

A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year

[sufue]

The Breaking Point is the 9th in the Bill Brockton/Body Farm series by Jefferson Bass. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HPWTH0A

Spoiler:

Past, present, and future collide to throw respected forensic anthropologist Bill Brockton’s successful, secure life into devastating turmoil in this poignant novel in the New York Times bestselling Body Farm mystery series.

It’s been ten years since Dr. Bill Brockton created the Body Farm—the world’s first postmortem research facility dedicated to advancing the frontiers of forensic science—and the researcher is at the pinnacle of his career. Under his leadership, the University of Tennessee’s forensic anthropology program has become the most prominent in the world, and Brockton’s skills and knowledge are in high demand among top law enforcement. Calling him in for a number of high profile cases, the FBI now wants him to identify the charred remains of a maverick millionaire, killed in a fiery plane crash.

But a storm is about to hit Brockton with cataclysmic force. First, his identification of the crash victim is called into question. Then he receives a threatening message from the serial killer who attempted to murder the scientist and his family a decade ago. And from Brockton’s beloved wife Kathleen—his lodestone and his source of security—he gets the most shocking news of all. Will Brockton be able to weather this deluge . . . or has he finally reached the breaking point?

[sufue]

Murder on the Mediterranean is the fifth and most recent (2014) in the Capucine LeTellier Culinary series by Alexander Campion. It has dropped to $2.99 at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I2W15W0

Spoiler:

Escaping the demands of Paris police work, Commissaire Capucine Le Tellier embarks on a well-deserved Mediterranean cruise. But wherever the renowned inspector goes, murder is sure to be close on the horizon. . .

On the azure waters off the coasts of Corsica and Sardinia, what could be more relaxing and rewarding than traipsing around the Mediterranean enjoying the local culinary delights. Among the invited bon vivants are Capucine, her husband, the celebrated restaurant critic, her special agent cousin Jacques, a famed bar owner, and even her boss. To all appearances, the table is set for an affair to remember.

In the midst of this pleasure cruise, Natalie, the yacht's cook, is lost overboard. A sudden squall is the assumed cause. But once a bullet hole is discovered in her jacket, suspicions quickly shift and the onboard bonhomie suffers accordingly. When a shell casing is uncovered that matches the gun Capucine is authorized to carry, for the first time in her stellar career, the hardworking detective finds herself the prime suspect.

For Capucine, these are clearly not the deep waters she envisioned as part of her holiday. As the motives become murkier, the gifted Commissaire will need to harness all her powers of deduction to get to the bottom of the mystery--before she ends up at the bottom of the sea.

[sufue]

Miss Julia Takes Over is the second in the (you guessed it) Miss Julia series by Ann B. Ross. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000OCXFX8

Spoiler:

When Miss Julia burst on the scene in her fictional debut, Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind, this proper lady of a certain age found her orderly world turned upside down when Hazel Marie Puckett appeared with her nine-year-old son, Little Lloyd, who looked disturbingly similar to Miss Julia's late husband. Now, in Miss Julia Takes Over, with her sharp tongue and iron backbone intact, Miss Julia must tackle another disruption when Hazel Marie doesn't return from a dinner date with a fund-raiser who, in Miss Julia's opinion, wears his shorts too tight. Frantic and unable to persuade the local police that Hazel Marie is in danger, Miss Julia hires J. D. Pickens to investigate, despite her reservations about his taste for beer and women. She and Little Lloyd help search for Hazel Marie, running into adventures ranging from a most indelicate display of fisticuffs to a high-speed car chase on the track of a NASCAR Speedway, all the while standing strong ...because if Miss Julia doesn't take care of things, who will?

Fast paced, funny, and full of colorful characters you'll want to meet again and again, Miss Julia Takes Over is a zany race through the South you'll not soon forget.

[sufue]

Wyatt is the 7th in the (again you guessed it) Wyatt series by Gary Disher. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle US. Per SYKM, it was the winner of the 2010 Ned Kelly Award for Best Novel.

link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004NNUYFQ

Spoiler:

Garry Disher's cool, enigmatic anti-hero Wyatt has a job--a jewel heist. The kind Wyatt likes. Nothing extravagant, nothing greedy. Stake out the international courier, one Alain Le Page, hold up the goods in transit and get away fast.

Wyatt prefers to work alone, but this is Eddie Oberin's job. Eddie's very smart ex-wife Lydia has the inside information. Add Wyatt's planning genius and meticulous preparation, and what could possibly go wrong?

Plenty. And when you wrong Wyatt, you don't get to just walk away.

Taut plots, brilliant writing and relentless pace; plus an unforgettable cast, including the ever-elusive Wyatt himself: these are the hallmarks of Garry Disher's Wyatt series.

[sufue]

An Eye For Murder is the first in the Ellie Foreman series by Libby Fischer Hellmann. It is free right now at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008EOCM00

Spoiler:

The first novel in crime writer Libby Fischer Hellmann’s popular Ellie Foreman mystery series, An Eye for Murder, introduces the documentary filmmaker, single mom, and amateur sleuth in a tale that opens in Nazi-era Prague and closes on the North Shore suburb of present-day Chicago.

When an elderly stranger, Ben Sinclair, watches Ellie’s "Celebrate Chicago" cable television show and dies suddenly not long after, Ellie receives a letter from Ben’s landlady, who’s found Ellie’s name on a scrap of paper among Ben’s possessions. Agreeing to help dispose of his effects, but not knowing of any connection, Ellie begins to piece together Ben’s story from the books and wartime relics he’s left behind.

Ellie’s search for clues takes her on a dangerous, winding trail from the political present of the North Shore to buried memories of the city’s ethnic neighborhoods and steel mills, an illicit love affair, Nazi-era intrigue, and more than one murder thrown in.

Introducing an exciting new character from Libby Fischer Hellmann

An Eye for Murder (published in 2002) is the first in the four Ellie Foreman mystery thrillers from Libby Fischer Hellmann, and was followed by A Picture of Guilt (2003), An Image of Death (2004), and A Shot to Die For. Ellie Foreman’s first outing was nominated for an Anthony Award (Best First), one of the mystery community’s most prestigious awards.

[GA Russell]

The Friends of Eddie Coyle - George V. Higgins - $2.99
https://www.amazon.com/Friends-Eddie...dp/B003H4I54E/

[rbruce1314]

Originally Posted by sufue

An Eye For Murder is the first in the Ellie Foreman series by Libby Fischer Hellmann. It is free right now at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008EOCM00

But Not UK..........

[GA Russell]

Uncle Abner - free
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KWPSNPM

[sufue]

Angel in Black is the 12th in the Nathan Heller series by Max Allan Collins. It has dropped to $0.99 at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0054LXX3G

Spoiler:

Honeymooning in LA, private detective Nate Heller is a suspect in the LAPD's Black Dahlia murder investigation and must rely on old friend Eliot Ness to help solve the crime before it's too late.

[sufue]

St. Peter's Finger is the 9th in the Mrs. Bradley series by Gladys Mitchell. It has dropped to $0.99 at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H4K5C0W

Spoiler:

Mrs. Beatrice Lestrange Bradley receives a visit from her barrister son, Ferdinand Lestrange, who brings with him a plea for help. The coastal convent and girls' school of Saint Peter's Finger reports that student Ursula Doyle has died under inexplicable circumstances. The poor girl was found in the filled tub of a guesthouse bathroom but the coroner discovers that she had died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Fearing public outcry at the suspicious death, the nuns ask the Home Office psychoanalyst to look into matters. Mrs. Bradley dutifully attends.

Arriving at the convent, the detective quickly learns that the flow of information runs differently here. Though the nuns don't withhold facts, neither do they extend them. Part of the difficulty lay in the circumstances: although none can believe little Ursula capable of committing the cardinal sin of suicide, the possibility of murder occurring at St. Peter's is particularly disagreeable. As facts continue to find against a ruling of accidental drowning, Mrs. Bradley is forced to start looking for a murderer.

A couple of outsiders fit nicely: the dead girl's aunt, Mrs. Maslin, moved one step closer to seeing Ursula's large inheritance bestowed to her own stepdaughter; Miss Bonnet, a visiting physical training mistress, certainly had the strength—and possibly a motive—for murder; and cousin Ulrica, an enigmatic girl with signs of religious mania, was the last person to see Ursula alive. Even simple-minded Sister Bridget, with affinities for a pet mouse and for starting fires, cannot be immediately ruled out. As a solution begins to form, Mrs. Bradley grows increasingly uneasy with the situation and warns the Mother Superior to take steps to avoid another crime. In so doing, the old sleuth will also have to act fast to preserve her own life.

[ATDrake]

Some AmazonCrossing bargains at Amazon (Canada & the US) for their exclusive translated works, which haven't been mentioned yet, as far as I can tell (might expire today, depending on whether they're part of the Kindle Monthly Deals):

@ 99 cents each:

• A Small Indiscretion by Swedish author Denise Rudberg (Wikipedia), 1st in her Marianne Jidhoff series set in Stockholm, starring a widow returning to the workforce as a secretary for a prosecutor. I bought this late last year when it was at $1.99, and liked it enough when I read it that I'll be picking up any others that show up in translation.
• The Girl and the Rat by Finnish author Jari Järvelä, 2nd in his Graffiti Trilogy. This installment takes his Finnish protagonists to Berlin.

@ $1.99 each:

• The Girl and the Bomb by Jari Järvelä, 1st in the Graffiti Trilogy, set in a small town in Finland. More of a thriller than a mystery, from the looks of the blurb, and the Amazon categories file it under Vigilante Justice.
• The Bodyguard, The Lion of Justice, and The Devil's Cubs by Finnish author Leena Lehtolainen (SYKM, Wikipedia), comprising the entirety of her Bodyguard Trilogy starring a globe-trotting Finnish female professional bodyguard. I bought #1 & #2 in English and French when they went on sale, and finished and liked #1, which was more action-thriller-y than the author's Maria Kallio police procedural series that I quite like, but still enjoyable, and am partway through #2 in French. There are stronger romantic elements in these than for the MK books, but the suspense thriller plotline mostly takes precedence.
• A Darker Sky by Swedish author Mari Jungstedt (SYKM, Wikipedia), 1st in her Canary Islands series set on the titular islands, co-starring a local Chief Inspector and visiting Swedish reporter. I've wanted to try her works for a while, so it's nice to see this one go on sale (her better known series is out from a different publisher and decidedly uncheap).
• Turned to Stone by Spanish author Jorge Magano, 1st in his Jaime Azcaráte starring the titular journalist and art historian, who's investigating a museum heist. Bio-blurb says he's an award-winning author who has an art history degree and has participated in archaeological expeditions, so this will likely have the research done right.
• Revenge on the River by Belgian author Philippe Bouin (Wikipedia FR), a winner of the Prix Polar Cognac mystery prize. 1st in his Sister Blandine mystery series starring a retired detective turned nun, which looks interesting; this installment takes place in Lyon, France and involves some Chilean environmental issues.
• Rain Girl & The Raven Sisters by Austrian author Gabi Kreslehner, whose bio-blurb says that she is an award-winner of some sort. 1st & 2nd in her series starring homicide detective Franza Oberwieser.
• Terminal by German author Mike Powelz, whose bio-blurb says that he works for some of Germany's top entertainment magazines. So this thriller set at a terminal care hospice where the residents all have secrets for the amateur sleuth to uncover should be suitably sensational.
• Woman Without Fear by French author J. P. Touzeau, a standalone-looking thriller which appears to be set amongst anglophones in Las Vegas, involving dodgy pharmaceutical stuff.
• The Girl at Rosewood Hall by Annis Bell, actually not translated, but part of the imprint because the author is British? Anyway, 1st in the Lady Jane mysteries set amongst the 19th century upper class.

There are also a bunch of other 99 cent and $1.99 AmazonCrossing markdowns in other genres (possibly other mystery/thrillers; I just picked out the ones I was already familiar with or that obviously looked liked a genre fit), which you can browse via this price-sorted link.

[Little.Egret]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Some AmazonCrossing bargains at Amazon (Canada & the US) for their exclusive translated works, which haven't been mentioned yet, as far as I can tell (might expire today, depending on whether they're part of the Kindle Monthly Deals):
[*]The Girl at Rosewood Hall by Annis Bell, actually not translated, but part of the imprint because the author is British? Anyway, 1st in the Lady Jane mysteries set amongst the 19th century upper class.

a reviewer says it's translated from German

https://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R2WL683FV52E9B/

Look Inside

Previously published as Die Tote von Rosewood Hall (Lady Jane 1) by Amazon Publishing in Germany in 2014. Translated from German by Edwin Miles in 2015. First published in English by AmazonCrossing in 2015.

[ATDrake]

Huh. I totally missed that, thanks for clearing up my confusion!

Interesting that the original German publication was from Amazon as well (they usually pick authors' works previously established elsewhere), but I guess it's a sign that their uplifted indie line is doing well?

ETA: a couple more $1.99 markdowns from AmazonCrossing (which looked deceptively like litfic from the covers):

• Stormy Cove by Swiss author Bernadette Calonego, another translation of a work originally out from German Amazon Publishing. This involves a Vancouverite photographer investigating stuff in Newfoundland, and I have to get it just to see how the author actually handles Canadiana, although her bio-blurb says that she's actually lived here, so it probably shouldn't be too bad.
• The Capital of Latecomers by Bulgarian author Nina Nenova (ISFDB), starring an artist pulled back into the art world when investigating a mysterious death in his studio. This is apparently somewhat sfnal in nature, with mentions of tribal folklore and quantum physics in the blurb, and the author's bio-blurb says that her books have been part of the "Eurocon/Bulgacon list of Science Fiction Books of the Decade".