FREE/BARGAIN - Mystery, Suspense, Thriller - 2016

[sufue]

Constable in the Dale is the fifth in the Constable Nick Series by Nicholas Rhea (pen name for Peter Walker). It is a US Kindle Countdown deal at $0.99 for about 5 1/2 more days.

link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LBEU490

Spoiler:

Yorkshire, the 1980s

In the spectacular North Yorkshire countryside, Constable Nick’s roles are as varied as the preoccupations of his often eccentric villagers.

He finds himself called upon as detective to recover lost sheep; as crime prevention officer to guard giant gooseberries; as legal adviser in the Best Kept Village competition, and sympathetic social worker to those in distress.

Constable Nick is invaluable.

His many hilarious anecdotes include a brush with some bright yellow pigs and the account of the invitation to be best man at a wedding because he had to arrest the groom's new mother-in-law.

Curious, funny and poignant, this reveals something of the rich diversity of village life and how Constable Nick continues to realise his place within it.

Constable in the Dale is a heartwarming and good-natured tale of into the relationship between a copper and his community.

[sufue]

The Dagger Before Me is the first in the Persephone Cole series by Heather Haven. SYKM indicates it was apa as Persephone Cole and the Holloween Curse. It is a US Kindle Countdown deal at $0.99 for about 5 1/2 more days.

link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C80JZLA

Spoiler:

#1 in both Amazon's Historical Mystery and General Humorous categories.

In 1942, no one had heard of a female shamus - not even in New York City -- until now. Meet Percy Cole, a newly inaugurated private investigator with a penchant for Marlene Dietrich suits, pistachio nuts, and men's fedoras.
Halloween finds her backstage, during the previews of the latest Broadway production of Shakespeare's Macbeth, where there's double, double, toil and trouble. When an actor falls from the overhead catwalk and breaks his neck, it's only the latest in a series of catastrophes fueling the lore and superstition surrounding Macbeth and its supernatural power since the play's creation in 1606.

In desperation, the producer hires the lady dick to save the show from closing. Armed only with her noodle and a WWI German Mauser pistol, Percy is not sure which is worse, having someone try to kill her or being foisted into the role of Witch Number Two. Is the centuries-old curse coming true or is a killer out to strike terror into the cast and crew of the Scottish play? Percy intends to strike back before anyone else dies.

[sufue]

Another title in this sort-of-series, The Cleaner, has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007SNTTRM

Spoiler:

Joe is in control of everything in his simple life—both his day job as a janitor for the police department and his “night work.” He isn’t bothered by the daily news reports of the Christchurch Carver, who, they say, has murdered seven women. Joe knows, though, that the Carver killed only six. He knows that for a fact, and he’s determined to find the copycat. He’ll punish him for the one, then frame him for the other six. It’s the perfect plan because he already knows he can outwit the police.

All he needs now is to take care of all the women who keep getting in his way, including his odd, overprotective mother and Sally, the maintenance worker who sees him as a replacement for her dead brother. Then there’s the mysterious Melissa, the only woman to have ever understood him, but whose fantasies of blackmail and torture don't have a place in Joe’s investigation.

Originally published in 2006 in Cleave’s native New Zealand, where it was a finalist for the prestigious Ned Kelly Award for Best Fiction, The Cleaner is a chilling and darkly funny thriller that will leave you clamoring for his next.

Originally Posted by sufue

Four "Christchurch Noir" titles by Paul Cleave have recently dropped to $1.99 at Kindle US. I've not heard of Cleave before, and I like mysteries set in foreign (to me) climes, so although they look a bit thriller-ish for me, I will probably give one a try. SYKM calls these "non-series", but then puts a footnote that the "[b]ooks share a similar timeline, with minor characters and plot lines interacting". Some of Cleave's titles have been nominated for or have won various awards.

Joe Victim
link: https://www.amazon.com/Joe-Victim-Th.../dp/B00A2872LK

The Killing Hour
link: https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Hour-.../dp/B008J48M04

Blood Men
link: https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Men-Thr.../dp/B003UBAYV6

Cemetery Lake
link: https://www.amazon.com/Cemetery-Lake.../dp/B00A2810PO

[treadlightly]

Tana French's In the Woods and The Likeness are $0.78 at amazon.com, probably because the latest in the series is out today. (I'm viewing the .com site from Canada so I don't know if they are actually $0.99 and some conversion is being done. On amazon.ca they are $0.99). I think this series is fantastic.

[Little.Egret]

Endeavour Books, free

Goldengirl by Peter Lovesey

Owner of the Dryden Merchandising Empire, Jack Dryden, is invited to a weekend at a tennis ranch, owned by one of his clients, Dick Armitage.
Figuring the chance of meeting another star tennis player in need of an agent, Dryden clears his calendar.
Instead, he meets Goldengirl.
A track runner. Daughter of Armitage's physiologist. Not what he was expecting at all.
Neither was he prepared for what was to come.
Adopted by Dr. Serafin and his wife at the age of three, Goldengirl was home-schooled and virtually segregated from children of her own age group.
Conditioned from an early age, and trained to within an inch of her life, Goldengirl's focus is on one thing and one thing only: winning at the next Olympic games in Moscow.
Unknown as an athlete, Goldengirl sets out to shock the world. Following incredibly intense training, she tries out for the Olympics.
Dryden, initially sceptical, is finally convinced that Goldengirl does have the potential to deliver. Working against the Olympic games policy, Dryden agrees to act as Goldengirl's agent, drumming up potential interest ahead of the games.
But Dryden is no fool. Convinced there's a catch, and uncertain about the reasoning behind the other committee members' interest, Dryden goes in search of the truth.

Surely there is more to Goldengirl's story than meets the eye?
The Olympic games are fast approaching. Dryden needs to ensure his reputation is not put on the line, or eliminated altogether, on the back of a risk he takes...

First published in 2002 by Severn House Publishers Ltd.


Peter Lovesey's other novels include Wobble to Death (1970; part of the Sergeant Cribb series), The Last Detective (1991; part of the Peter Diamond series), and Spidergirl (1980; written under the pen name, Peter Lear).



https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LDH2SYE/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01LDH2SYE/
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01LDH2SYE/

[sufue]

The Glass-Sided Ants' Nest is the first in the James Pibble series by Peter Dickinson. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle US and Kobo US (couponable). Per SYKM, this title and others in the series have won/been finalists for a number of awards.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00T72F3WC
Kobo US: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/eb...ided-ants-nest

Spoiler:

Winner of the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year: The murder of the leader of a pygmy tribe introduces us to James Pibble, the Scotland Yard superintendent with a knack for solving the most extraordinary of crimes

Oddball cases are James Pibble’s specialty. But the brutal bludgeoning of the revered elder of a New Guinea tribesman may be his strangest yet.

The corpse, in striped pajamas, lies in the middle of a room completely absent of furniture. Seven women squat on the floorboards. One knits. Another sits cross-legged at his feet. They all chant incantations in a strange language. The murder weapon, a wooden balustrade ornament in the shape of an owl, could have been wielded by any of the myriad suspects Pibble meets at Flagg Terrace, the London residence where the Ku family currently lives. And the only clue seems to be an Edwardian penny.

So who killed bearded, four-foot-tall Aaron Ku? Everyone seems to have an alibi, including a local real estate agent, a professional escort, and an anthropologist whose marriage into the tribe was forbidden. In a house where men and women live in separate quarters, Pibble must follow a hierarchy of primitive rituals and gender-role reversals to unmask a surprising killer.

[sufue]

Gaudy Night is the 11th (SYKM) or 12th (blurb) in the Lord Peter Wimsey series by Dorothy L. Sayers. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008JVJDVO

Spoiler:

Back at Oxford for her reunion, Harriet Vane, Lord Peter’s beloved, finds herself in mortal danger.

Since she graduated from Oxford’s Shrewsbury College, Harriet Vane has found fame by writing novels about ingenious murders. She also won infamy when she was accused of committing a murder herself. It took a timely intervention from the debonair Lord Peter Wimsey to save her from the gallows, and since then she has devoted her spare time to resisting his attempts to marry her. Putting aside her lingering shame from the trial, Harriet returns to Oxford for her college reunion with her head held high—only to find that her life is in danger once again.

The first poison-pen letter calls her a “dirty murderess,” and those that follow are no kinder. As the threats become more frightening, she calls on Lord Peter for help. Among the dons of Oxford lurks a killer, but it will take more than a superior education to match Lord Peter and the daring Harriet.

Gaudy Night is the 12th book in the Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries, but you may enjoy the series by reading the books in any order.

This ebook features an illustrated biography of Dorothy L. Sayers including rare images from the Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College.

[Mort1997]

Free on Amazon UK - Death in the Quadrangle by Eilis Dillon

Spoiler:

Since his retirement from King’s University, life has been rather quiet for Professor Daly…

In fact, a peaceful retirement, even when that retirement has been punctuated by helping the police to solve the odd crime, may be slightly over-rated: at least in Daly’s opinion.

So when he is invited back to King’s University to deliver a series of prestigious lectures, his heart leaps.

But on arrival he discovers that he has not been called back to the university on account of his literary knowledge…

On the contrary, he has been called upon purely because the retired professor has experience of solving crime.

And somebody has been sending the president of King’s threatening letters. Somebody within the university, it seems, wants him dead.

Perhaps aware of his own arrogant, materialistic and bullying nature and the effects it may produce, President Bradley seems genuinely worried for his safety.

And so Daly, assisted by Inspector Mike Kenny, sets about finding the author of the poison pen letters.

Until Bradley dies. Poisoned.

At which point, Daly and Kenny find themselves seeking a murderer among the university’s population.

And what a strange and mixed population it is; every single member seems to have their idiosyncrasies, and at least one kleptomaniac and one rat-obsessive are included in their ranks.

Virtually all, however, are united in their hatred of Bradley.

But who killed him, and why?

UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Death-Quadr...362247031_f_49

US
https://www.amazon.com/Death-Quadran...362247031_f_49

Au
https://www.amazon.com.au/Death-Quad...362247031_f_49

Can
https://www.amazon.ca/Death-Quadrang...362247031_f_49

[Mort1997]

Free on Amazon UK - Death in the Dentist's Chair: A Golden Age Mystery by Molly Thynne

Spoiler:

Constantine reflected on the various means dentists have at their disposal should they wish to silence their patients …

Mr Humphrey Davenport, society dentist, has an embarrassing problem – he has managed to get locked out of his own surgery. And to make matters worse, Mrs Charles Miller is locked inside, minus her false teeth. When the door is finally opened, the patient is found with her throat cut.

Dr. Constantine, a fellow patient at the clinic, is a witness to the gruesome discovery. He lends his chess player’s brain to solving a locked room mystery with a difference, ably assisted by Detective-Inspector Arkwright. Was the murderer the theatrical Mrs Vallon? Or little Mr Cattistick, who recognized the fortune in jewels around the dead woman's neck? Or perhaps it was Sir Richard Pomfrey, the subject of an unusually venomous look from Mrs Miller shortly before her demise?

UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Death-Denti...362247031_f_57

US
https://www.amazon.com/Death-Dentist...362247031_f_57

Au
https://www.amazon.com.au/Death-Dent...362247031_f_57

Can
https://www.amazon.ca/Death-Dentists...362247031_f_57

[Mort1997]

Free on Amazon UK - Murder with Majesty (Auguste Didier Mystery)by Amy Myers

Spoiler:

Spring of 1905.

Getrude Pennyfather, American heiress and folklore enthusiast, is set to enjoy the perfect English village wedding.

Even King Edward VII is due to attend.

What more could a society bride dream of?

For as she arrives in Frimhurst, Gertrude believes that her fiancé, Arthur Montfoy, is the lord of the manor and the joyful celebrations of the local folk seem to confirm this. Indeed, everything about Frimurst seems picture-perfect.

Perhaps a bit too perfect…

For as time goes by and her wedding approaches, Gertrude realises that not everything in Frimhurst is as it seems. Does that include her husband-to-be, and the wonderful future she has planned for them?

Meanwhile a renowned French chef, and distant relative of the King by marriage, is working hard to produce the perfect wedding banquet, at the King’s command. August Didier is a master of his craft, and his focus is such that little distracts him from his enormous task.

Until, that is, he spots a familiar face among the wedding guests. The face of a man who has sworn to murder him.

Very shortly afterwards, the body of a murder victim is discovered, but it is not Auguste – for now, at least. The death brings Scotland Yard to the scene, and Auguste is reunited with his friend, Inspector Rose.

Can they work together to find the killer?

As the men investigate, the bucolic façade that Frimhurst has produced for the wedding is stripped away to reveal lies, frustrated loves, tales of financial ruin and rampant dishonesty.

Auguste Didier and Inspector Rose have just a short time to find out the truth. For death is closing in on Auguste — will the murders be solved in time for him to outwit it?

Only time will tell…

UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Murder-Maje...362247031_f_65

US
https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Majest...362247031_f_65

Au
https://www.amazon.com.au/Murder-Maj...362247031_f_65

Can
https://www.amazon.ca/Murder-Majesty...362247031_f_65

[Mort1997]

Free on Amazon UK - The House of Godwinsson: A Bobby Owen Mystery by E R Punshon

Spoiler:

Bobby Owen stood for a time in silence, looking down thoughtfully at the dead man’s face. A small, insignificant face, lacking even that touch of repose and dignity which death, even violent death, so often gives, and one that Bobby had never seen before. Of that at least he was sure.

Yet this same man was found dead with a detailed and accurate plan of Bobby Owen’s new London flat. Why? The plot soon thickens when a man with a grievance against Bobby turns up to identify the dead man … But Bobby will need many more beads on the thread before he understands the murderous connection to an old Army Officer, and what necessitated the death of a ‘burglar’.

UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/House-Godwi...362247031_f_82

US
https://www.amazon.com/House-Godwins...362247031_f_82

Au
https://www.amazon.com.au/House-Godw...362247031_f_82

Can
https://www.amazon.ca/House-Godwinss...362247031_f_82

[Mort1997]

Free on Amazon UK - Invisible (An Ivy Malone Mystery Book #1) by Lorena McCourtney (repeat)

Spoiler:

She's not your average crime fighter!

Ivy Malone has a curiosity that sometimes gets her into trouble, and it's only aggravated by her discovery that she can easily escape the public eye. So when vandals romp through the local cemetery, she takes advantage of her newfound anonymity and its unforeseen advantages as she launches her own unofficial investigation.

Despite her oddball humor and unconventional snooping, Ivy soon becomes discouraged by her failure to turn up any solid clues. And after Ivy witnesses something ominous and unexplained, she can't resist putting her investigative powers to work again. Even the authorities' attempts to keep Ivy out of danger and her nosy neighbor's match-making schemes can't slow her down. But will the determination that fuels this persistent, quirky sleuth threaten her very safety?

UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Invisible-I...362247031_f_91

US
https://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Ivy...362247031_f_91

Au
https://www.amazon.com.au/Invisible-...362247031_f_91

Can
https://www.amazon.ca/Invisible-Ivy-...362247031_f_91

[Mort1997]

Free on Amazon UK - Dancing with Death by Ruth Wade

Spoiler:

Havana in 1925 thrills to the heartbeat of the sensuous rumba but it is also a place of corruption, state oppression, and rum...

Gangs of racketeers smuggling liquor into Prohibition America protect their operations with sprays of Tommy Gun bullets, providing political militants with the excuse they need to galvanise ordinary Cubans into fighting to regain control of their country.

Girardo Ramos, a cleaner in a racketeer-owned casino, is one such would-be hero.

An informer for the agitators, they persuade him to make himself indispensable to the rum-runners who, in turn, blackmail him into operating as one of their own spies.

The streets of Havana are dark and dangerous places and Girardo finds it impossible to know whom to trust.

Being framed for a murder he didn’t commit, a gun battle in the baking hot sugar fields, and torture at the hands of the secret police all test his resolve.

However, it is when he falls in love with Adel, the girlfriend of the racketeer boss, that Girardo faces choices that put at risk not only his own future but also that of the revolution.

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

US
https://www.amazon.com/Dancing-Death...ndeavour+press

Au
https://www.amazon.com.au/Dancing-De...ndeavour+press

Can
https://www.amazon.ca/Dancing-Death-...ndeavour+press

[Mort1997]

Free on Amazon UK - The Coldstone: A Golden Age Mystery by Patricia Wentworth

Spoiler:

She had trembled. She had laughed her shaky little laugh. And she had vanished into thin air.

And the door was locked on the inside

When young Anthony Colstone inherits Stonegate from his grandfather’s cousin, he hardly expects to be haunted by death. Why had Sir Jervis wanted him to promise never to move the ancient megalithic stones and why did no one even know how many there were? Surely old Susan Bowyer knows—she is nearly one hundred and she knows everything about the village. And perhaps her great-granddaughter, Susan, knows something, at one moment a shy village maid, the next a sophisticated young woman.

Then one night a wall in the queer old library moves and Anthony finds himself on the trail of a mystery exceeding his wildest imagining. Mystery, adventure, and romance combine in Patricia Wentworth’s most sparkling manner.

UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Coldstone-G...icia+wentworth


Au
https://www.amazon.com.au/Coldstone-...icia+wentworth

Can
https://www.amazon.ca/Coldstone-Gold...icia+wentworth

[Mort1997]

Free on Amazon UK - Kindness of Strangers (Skip Langdon Mystery #6) by Julie Smith (repeat)

Spoiler:

Politics makes the strangest bedfellows of all and in New Orleans, a psychopath’s running for mayor. Not just the usual harmless megalomaniac—a murderer and a monster. His supporters and a good proportion of would-be voters think he’s just a kindly preacher-man and handily crucify anyone who says otherwise. Enter Detective Skip Langdon, who met the Rev. Errol Jacomine on a case, finds him pretty much the personification of evil, and can point to a pile of corpses to prove it.

But Langdon’s fresh out of street cred. On administrative leave after shooting someone, she’s become the Cassandra of the police department—everything she says gets put down to paranoia. So finding the proof to discredit Jacomine becomes her obsession until he kidnaps a couple of kids she cares about—and then it turns into a mission from hell.

Langdon has to bull her way through a hurricane to find the small army of Jacomine’s thugs who’ve got 15-year-old Sheila, the closest thing she has to a niece, and Sheila’s friend, who’s having the mother of inappropriate love affairs—with someone dangerously close to Jacomine.

UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kindness-St..._341689031_f_1

US
https://www.amazon.com/Kindness-Stra..._341689031_f_1

Au
https://www.amazon.com.au/Kindness-S..._341689031_f_1

Can
https://www.amazon.ca/Kindness-Stran..._341689031_f_1