FREE/BARGAIN - Mystery, Suspense, Thriller - 2016

[Froide]

Originally Posted by Mort1997

Free Today on Amazon UK - The Draycott Murder Mystery: A Golden Age Mystery by Molly Thynne

Spoiler:

There was something about those hands, with their strangely crisped fingers, as though they had been arrested in the very act of closing, that somehow gave the lie to the woman’s attitude of sleep.

A howling gale … A lonely farmhouse … the tread of a mysterious stranger … and then the corpse of a beautiful blonde, seemingly stopped in the act of writing.

This is all a bit much for local bobby PC Gunnet, especially when it seems the dead – and aristocratic – woman shouldn’t even have been there in the first place. But nonetheless the owner of the farm, John Leslie, is convicted, and his guilt looks certain. Certain, that is, until the eccentric Allen “Hatter” Fayre, an old India hand, begins to look more deeply into the case and discovers more than one rival suspect in this classic and satisfying puzzler.

UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Draycott-Murder-Mystery-Golden-Age-ebook/dp/B01KQ0ZIEQ/ref=pd_sim_sbs_351_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=R4V6YW54 QMW5VH2ZQWCY


Au
https://www.amazon.com.au/Draycott-Murder-Mystery-Golden-Age-ebook/dp/B01KQ0ZIEQ/ref=pd_sim_sbs_351_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=R4V6YW54 QMW5VH2ZQWCY

Can
https://www.amazon.ca/Draycott-Murder-Mystery-Golden-Age-ebook/dp/B01KQ0ZIEQ/ref=pd_sim_sbs_351_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=R4V6YW54 QMW5VH2ZQWCY

US
https://www.amazon.com/Draycott-Murd...nne#nav-subnav

[Mort1997]

Originally Posted by Froide

US
https://www.amazon.com/Draycott-Murd...nne#nav-subnav

Excellent! - not always easy for me to see the US freebies - The Patricia Wentworth is a different publisher in the US I believe - I assumed this was the case for Molly Thynne

[sufue]

Dishing the Dirt is the currently most recent (although with a new one due out later this month) title in the Agatha Raisin series by MC Beaton. It has dropped to $2.99 at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UFPY4N4

Spoiler:

When therapist Jill Davent moved to the village of Carsely, Agatha Raisin was not a fan. Not only was this therapist romancing Agatha's ex-husband but she dug up details of Agatha's not-too-glamorous origins. Jill also counsels a woman, Gwen Simple, that Agatha firmly believes assisted her son in some grisly murders, although there is no proof. Not one to keep her feelings to herself, Agatha tells anyone that would listen that Jill is a charlatan and better off dead. Agatha could only sigh with relief when the therapist took an office in Mircester.

When Agatha learns that Jill had hired a private detective to investigate her background, she barges into Jill's office and gives her a piece of her mind, yelling "I could kill you!" So when Jill is found strangled to death in her office two days later, Agatha becomes the prime suspect. But Agatha, along with her team of private detectives, is determined to prove her innocence and find the real culprit. This time Agatha must use her skills to save her own skin.

With Dishing the Dirt, MC Beaton proves that "once you meet Agatha Raisin, you'll keep coming back." (New York Journal of Books)

[sufue]

The Widow's Club is the second in the Ellie Haskell series by Dorothy Cannell. Per SYKM, it was a finalist for a couple of awards. It has recently dropped to $1.99 at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007IM1660

Spoiler:

Stylish, amusing, and deliciously wicked, the Misses Hyacinth and Primrose Tramwell are hired to investigate a woman's organization whose members choose widowhood over divorce. With the help of a newlywed friend, the spinster sleuths stalk the mastermind of matrimonial murder.

[pendragginp]

Originally Posted by Mort1997

Free Today on Amazon UK - The Draycott Murder Mystery: A Golden Age Mystery by Molly Thynne

Spoiler:

There was something about those hands, with their strangely crisped fingers, as though they had been arrested in the very act of closing, that somehow gave the lie to the woman’s attitude of sleep.

A howling gale … A lonely farmhouse … the tread of a mysterious stranger … and then the corpse of a beautiful blonde, seemingly stopped in the act of writing.

This is all a bit much for local bobby PC Gunnet, especially when it seems the dead – and aristocratic – woman shouldn’t even have been there in the first place. But nonetheless the owner of the farm, John Leslie, is convicted, and his guilt looks certain. Certain, that is, until the eccentric Allen “Hatter” Fayre, an old India hand, begins to look more deeply into the case and discovers more than one rival suspect in this classic and satisfying puzzler.

UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Draycott-Mu...54QMW5VH2ZQWCY


Au
https://www.amazon.com.au/Draycott-M...54QMW5VH2ZQWCY

Can
https://www.amazon.ca/Draycott-Murde...54QMW5VH2ZQWCY

Grabbed it! It was also free at Amazon US.

[sufue]

I find it hard to believe that there is one of Julie Smith's titles that I haven't picked up free at some point in the past - especially given that once upon a time there was an entire thread in this forum dedicated just to her freebies. However, Private Chick is actually just a short story, that, per the blurb, was originally a radio play, and I've apparently never noticed it to be free before or I would have had it. In any case, it is free now at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007NN98MI

Spoiler:

A SHORT STORY WITH FASHION SENSE! BY AN EDGAR WINNER
"If you haven't discovered Smith yet, now is the time to do so... Move over, Sara Paretsky!" --KPFA-FM

"Smith has researched the Big Easy exhaustively. . . . Her plot careens with as many twists and turns as a car chase through the French Quarter. ... [A] rich, tightly structured narrative." --Publishers Weekly

“Julie Smith writes like jazz should sound—cool, complex, and penetrating right to the heart.”
--Val McDermid, best-selling author of the Tony Hill series

Once you read the opening line: “Don’s the name, Diva’s the game,” you know you’re in for a careen through the hood. And not just any hood. This is the Big Easy’s Faubourg Marigny, dawlin,’ where Diva Delish, the world’s most glamorous drag queen detective, presides nightly as bartender at the Marigny Palace. Never one to miss a bet, Diva’s got a little P.I. office set up in the back. When a neighborhood gutterpunk walks into the Palace (what? a gutterpunk with money to hire a P.I.?) Diva’s intrigued enough to take the case, accompanied by her faithful dog, Barkus—who knows a clue when he smells one. Her alter ego comes along too, an unprepossessing chap who goes by the name of “Don.”

Originally a radio play, PRIVATE CHICK is a symphony of the sounds and dialects of New Orleans, and pretty much a laugh a line. As the author said in an interview, “If you’re going to write about a drag queen, there’s just no way to slack off on the one-liners.”

Julie Smith is the author of the Skip Langdon and Talba Wallis mystery series, also set in New Orleans.

[Mort1997]

Storybundle has launched a political thriller collection

For the very limited time of 64days as of today

'The initial titles in the Political Thriller Bundle (minimum $5 to purchase) are:

ENDGAME by Nick Harlow
AssassinWare by Michael D. Britton
Latent Image by Joshua Graham
Winter Dragon by Henry Martin
Advise & Consent by Allen Drury

If you pay more than the bonus price of just $15, you get all five of the regular titles, plus five more:

The Brokered Convention by Nick Harlow
Swap Out! by M. L. Buchman
The Enemy Within by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Sara X by Donald A. Shinn
Decision by Allen Drury

The bundle is available only for a limited time via http://www.storybundle.com/politics. It allows easy reading on computers, smartphones, and tablets as well as Kindle and other ereaders via file transfer, email, and other methods. You get multiple DRM-free formats (.epub and .mobi) for all books!'

[murg]

Originally Posted by Mort1997

Storybundle has launched a political thriller collection

For the very limited time of 64days as of today

It ends about the time the US election ends...

[sufue]

Among the Mad is the 6th in the Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear. It is a US Kindle daily deal at $2.99 for today only.

link: https://www.amazon.com/Among-Mad-Mai.../dp/B002GUK7N2

Spoiler:

In the thrilling new novel by the New York Times bestselling author of An Incomplete Revenge, Maisie Dobbs must catch a madman before he commits murder on an unimaginable scale

It's Christmas Eve 1931. On the way to see a client, Maisie Dobbs witnesses a man commit suicide on a busy London street. The following day, the prime minister's office receives a letter threatening a massive loss of life if certain demands are not met--and the writer mentions Maisie by name. After being questioned and cleared by Detective Chief Superintendent Robert MacFarlane of Scotland Yard's elite Special Branch, she is drawn into MacFarlane's personal fiefdom as a special adviser on the case. Meanwhile, Billy Beale, Maisie's trusted assistant, is once again facing tragedy as his wife, who has never recovered from the death of their young daughter, slips further into melancholia's abyss. Soon Maisie becomes involved in a race against time to find a man who proves he has the knowledge and will to inflict death and destruction on thousands of innocent people. And before this harrowing case is over, Maisie must navigate a darkness not encountered since she was a nurse in wards filled with shell-shocked men.

In Among the Mad, Jacqueline Winspear combines a heart-stopping story with a rich evocation of a fascinating period to create her most compelling and satisfying novel yet.

[sufue]

Love Bites is the second in the Vampyres of Hollywood series by Adrienne Barbeau. It was part of the Five Fun Female Sleuths box set that was on US Kindle Countdown a while back, but if you missed the box set, and just want this title, it is now on US Kindle Countdown by itself at $0.99 for about three more days.

link: https://www.amazon.com/Love-Bites-Ha.../dp/B00BDXADE6

Spoiler:

L.A. TIMES BEST-SELLING AUTHOR!
"The fast and furious final pages will leave fans hoping for a third installment.” -Publishers Weekly
NOT YOUR MAMA’S POLICE PROCEDURAL--A COP STORY WITH BITE…AND ROMANCE

Not to mention sharp, cutting wit. Detective Peter King and movie star Ovsanna Moore are the sexiest tongue-in-cheek crime-solving duo since MOONLIGHTING hit the air waves in the ‘80s. But they may remind you more of TRUE BLOOD’s Sookie and Eric than Maddie and David—because one of them’s a vampyre. And like Sookie’s Bon Temps, their Los Angeles has its fair share of shapeshifting sometime-humans.

Ovsanna’s the successful owner of her own Hollywood film studio and the star of 17 blockbuster horror films, plus three, sadly, that went straight to video. But even vampyres have bad days. Though never fat days or bad hair days—she looks pretty great for 450. And in those four and a half centuries she’s pretty much seen everything, formed an opinion about it, and developed the kind of worldly-wise wit the late Joan Rivers only dreamed of.

Peter, on the other hand, is a Beverly Hills cop firmly rooted in human affairs, from the domestic issues of his lively Italian family to the romantic ones of his neighbor, snake dancer Suzie Q. Though Ovsanna’s had flings with everyone from Genghis Khan to Errol Flynn, Peter’s got what it takes to catch her eye and hold her interest. And he’s one hell of a detective. He's also a consummate master of spin, concealing what he knows about the world of vampyres, werewolves, and shapeshifters while solving the crimes they commit.

Barbeau, a beloved actress much like Ovsanna herself, is a skilled satirist possessed of a sharp eye for the absurdity of Hollywood, with its petty jealousies, vain ambitions, over-the-top visuals, and twisted values. The result of all these delicious elements? An action-packed mystery, a sly satire, and a lush love story, spiced and seasoned with paranormal characters that the author manages to turn into metaphors for the monsters we all encounter on a daily basis.

"An engaging, sinister romp.” -Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, creator of the Saint-Germain vampire series

"Love Bites is pure fun from beginning to end." -David Morrell, New York Times bestselling author of Creepers

[sufue]

Death of a Musketeer is the first in the Musketeers series by Sarah D'Almeida. You'd never guess from the title that this is a historical series featuring d'Artagnan and crew.

It was free a few months back, and got some positive comments in this thread at the time (and I've read and quite enjoyed it too). If you missed it while it was free, it is now a US Kindle Countdown deal at $0.99 for the 4 3/4 days.

Info in this previous post: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho....php?p=3326137

[cromag]

Originally Posted by sufue

Death of a Musketeer is the first in the Musketeers series by Sarah D'Almeida. You'd never guess from the title that this is a historical series featuring d'Artagnan and crew.

It was free a few months back, and got some positive comments in this thread at the time (and I've read and quite enjoyed it too). If you missed it while it was free, it is now a US Kindle Countdown deal at $0.99 for the 4 3/4 days.

Info in this previous post: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho....php?p=3326137

And the second book in the series, The Musketeer's Seamstress, is free at Amazon right now.

It has mixed, but overall good, reviews at Amazon.

[sufue]

Wow - the first one being free didn't last long - although it's now just $0.99, which is still a reasonable price. Glad you spotted the second one for free - I didn't have it and grabbed it.

Originally Posted by cromag

And the second book in the series, The Musketeer's Seamstress, is free at Amazon right now.

It has mixed, but overall good, reviews at Amazon.

[sufue]

Cradling Death (orig pub as Peckover Holds the Baby) is the fifth in the Henry Peckover series by Michael Kenyon. It is a US Kindle Countdown deal at $0.99 for about six more days.

link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D8JXEAM

Spoiler:

Detective Chief Inspector Henry Peckover, full-time policeman and part-time poet, also known as Our 'Enry and The Bard of the Yard, has been more irascible than usual.

Just as well, then, that he is sent off to the jungles of Belize to track down a man with a nickname of his own, The Honourable Vivian White, full-time cocaine king and all-round criminal.

Because as it turns out, drugs aren't the only mess that the very dishonourable Honourable Viv has got himself entangled with. Wherever Viv goes, it seems, there go murder, kidnapping, deception and an unsavoury mix of bad behaviours. With his partner in crime already lying dead in a London flat, it seems that the time has finally come to put an end to Viv's activities.

What's more, Viv is not the only member of his family raising eyebrows at Scotland Yard. His father also seems to have some sort of agenda... but what, exactly, is going on between father and son? With bodies and threats piling up in London, it's high time the police found out.

Thus Detective Chief Inspector Peckover heads out of his London comfort zone, to the steamy jungles of Belize, accompanied by the fashion-conscious Constable Jason Twitty. Once there, the pair is joined by undercover agent Peachy O'Day, of the Los Angeles Police Narcotics Division. With Peckover's laconic wit and intelligence, Twitty's sharp insight and O'Day's ability with a gun, surely they cannot fail?

And when the Honourable Viv kidnaps his own baby, it seems there is no longer any room at all for failure.

Yet as bullets fly and the body count rises, Peckover begins to see that almost nothing in Belize is quite what it seems.

And as love, loyalties and long-held grudges begin to unravel the White family, their lethal machinations ramp up until they envelop even the youngest member.

But as he is left (quite literally) holding the baby, can Peckover save the child from its own murderous family?

[sufue]

A Dead Man in Athens is the third title in Michael Pearce's Sandor Pelczynski Seymour series. Pearce is my second/third favorite mystery author (after Sarah Caudwell, tied with David Wishart). An alternate version of Athens, pub by Hachette rather than Penguin, has showed up at Amazon US, priced at $1.99, and a bunch of others in the series are listed as coming soon at $5.99. $5.99 is still a bunch more than I like to pay for backlist titles, but it's way better than the $9-ish or $10-ish of the Penguin versions, and Pearce IS one of my top three authors, so I may be tempted at some point in the future. In any case, Athens is $1.99 and I'm grabbing it!

link: https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Man-Athe.../dp/B019NFEMK6

Spoiler:

Athens, 1913, the capital of a country on the brink of war. The new Greek prime minister, Venizelos, tired of the Ottoman overlords, has what he calls the Great Idea - a vision of a new Greece that unites all the Greek people scattered around the Mediterranean. Not such a great idea, in the view of other countries, among them Britain, which believes in letting sleeping dogs lie. And cats. Including the one recently poisoned in Athens and which belonged to the exiled former Sultan.

Unfortunately, as is the way with the Balkans, rumours start flying around; one being that this was a sighting shot for the ex-Sultan himself. This, in the Balkans, could start a war and so Britain has to sit up and take notice. Something has to be done. Fast. And - please, urge the diplomats - low-key. The lowest key of all is to send out a police officer from Scotland Yard to investigate, and, as it happens, the Foreign Office has a person in mind: Seymour, of the CID, who has had some experience of this sort of thing before . . .

Praise for Michael Pearce's A Dead Man in . . . series

'The steady pace, atmospheric design, and detailed description re-create a complicated city. A recommended historical series' Library Journal

'Sheer fun' The Times

'His sympathetic portrayal of an unfamiliar culture, impeccable historical detail and entertaining dialogue make enjoyable reading' Sunday Telegraph