FREE/BARGAIN — Mystery, Suspense & Thrillers

[sufue]

The Surrogate Thief is the fifteenth in Archer Mayor's Joe Gunther series. It's $1.99 right now in the US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001E7IE1A
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-surrogate-thief

Spoiler:

Brattleboro is the epitome of scenic Vermont. Quaint in its architecture and plainspoken in its politics, it dominates the state's southeast corner as both an employment hub and an election year powerhouse-all while looking like a genteel, postindustrial New England mill town. And yet there is darkness here, too, and nobody knows it better than Joe Gunther. Over the years he has battled drug pushers and corporate swindlers, grappled with environmental conspirators, and foiled gangs and home invaders. But while usually successful in his fight for the town's future, Gunther hasn't always come out on top... Thirty years earlier store owner Klaus Ober-feldt was robbed and beaten senseless. When Klaus died six months later, a case of assault and battery became first degree murder. The guilty man eventually appeared to be a well-known, small-time crook, but enough time had elapsed for him to vanish. Gunther, distracted by his wife's losing struggle with cancer in the same hospital where Klaus was slipping from life, did something that would plague him for the rest of his career: He let the case go cold, burying it in the past along with his private sorrows. Now serendipitously reopened, the Ober-feldt investigation forces Gunther to revisit ancient history and open old wounds. Torn between righting the past and confronting his demons, the veteran cop faces the most personal and dangerous case of his career. For somewhere on the idyllic Brattleboro streets stalks a long-lost murderer who never quite disappeared-and with Joe's renewed interest, now has good reason to kill again...

[SomeSteve]

Titan Books, under their Hard Case Crime imprint, has some noir graphic novels (or comics) from a series called Gun Honey on sale at Amazon in various countries. I haven't read any of them, mind you. In fact, I've never heard of them, and I didn't know they existed until today, but Ed Brubaker assures us on the covers that they are "the finest kind of pulp noir." 'Nuff said.

People warn not to judge a book by its cover, but I suspect that these covers will give you a fairly accurate idea of what you're getting into before you buy, thereby sparing you any rude awakenings, and a gander at the previews couldn't hurt, either.

I'll only give a couple of US links.

There are two collections for around $6 or €7 each:

Gun Honey Vol. 1 (Collects Gun Honey #1-4.)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09HV8T4CL

and

Gun Honey Vol.2: Blood for Blood (Collects Gun Honey: Blood for Blood #1-4.)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BCH23GX6

These are also available as individual issues at around $1 or €1 per issue, so purchasing them as individual issues is actually a little cheaper.

A third installment, Gun Honey: Heat Seeker, only came out as a collection in January, and isn't reduced as much, so buying this series as individual issues at around $1 or €1 each is a far better deal. Here's the link to issue #1 (of 4).

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BXBC1GVN

[ZodWallop]

A Rage in Harlem by Chester Himes is $2 at Amazon, B&N and Kobo US.

I'm posting with my phone. Hopefully this comes out okay.

A rip-roaring introduction to Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones, patrolling New York City’s roughest streets in the groundbreaking Harlem Detectives series.

“[This] Harlem saga vies with the novels of David Goodis and Jim Thompson as the inescapable achievement of postwar American crime fiction.” —**The New York Times

For the love of fine, wily Imabelle, hapless Jackson surrenders his life savings to a con man who knows the secret of turning ten-dollar bills into hundreds—and then he steals from his boss, only to lose the stolen money at a craps table. Luckily for him, he can turn to his savvy twin brother, Goldy, who earns a living—disguised as a Sister of Mercy—by selling tickets to Heaven in Harlem. With Goldy on his side, Jackson is ready for payback.

[sufue]

The Dying Season is £0.99 again at Kindle UK. The link below is still good. APA The Patriarch...

Originally Posted by sufue

A bunch of price drops at Kindle UK, to £0.99 unless otherwise indicated. Probably most/all due to the new monthly sale, although I haven't had time to check for sure...

{edited other books}

[*]The Dying Season, Bruno/Dordogne #8, by Martin Walker: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00TIKY5IG

{edited other books}

[sufue]

Steven F Havill's books don't go on sale that often in the UK, but here's Final Payment, the fifteenth in the Posadas County series, on sale for £1.59 at Kindle UK, and £1.99 (but discountable) at Kobo UK:

Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07VQN5NCR
Kobo UK: https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/final-payment-5

Spoiler:

The rugged Cat Mesa country north of the village of Posadas is hosting the first annual Posadas 100, a cycle-cross bicycle race that promises to attract more than 140 competitors. Despite enough injuries during the pre-race practice to promise a spectacular and dangerous race, Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman has even more pressing concerns on her mind. Someone has been using Jerry Turner's big Cessna 206 and then returning it to its hangar at the Posadas airport. Did the airplane end up in Mexico?

Estelle has worries at home as well. Facing his first public piano recital, her prodigiously talented seven-year-old son is stubbornly refusing to tell anyone what he plans to play, and it's making everyone, including his music teacher, very nervous. The day of the big race brings a tragedy that doesn't look like an accident, and as the investigation continues, puzzling connections surface deep in Mexico.

I really like this police procedural series set in New Mexico...

[ZodWallop]

Both of Bruce Holinger's John Gower historical thrillers are on sale for $3 each.

A Burnable Book - Amazon, B&N and Kobo

In Chaucer's London, betrayal, murder, royal intrigue, mystery, and dangerous politics swirl around the existence of a prophetic book that foretells the deaths of England's kings. Bruce Holsinger's A Burnable Book is an irresistible historical thriller reminiscent of the classics An Instance of the Fingerpost, The Name of the Rose, and The Crimson Petal and the White.

London, 1385. Surrounded by ruthless courtiers--including his powerful uncle, John of Gaunt, and Gaunt's artful mistress, Katherine Swynford--England's young, still untested king, Richard II, is in mortal peril, and the danger is only beginning. Songs are heard across London--catchy verses said to originate from an ancient book that prophesies the end of England's kings--and among the book's predictions is Richard's assassination. Only a few powerful men know that the cryptic lines derive from a "burnable book," a seditious work that threatens the stability of the realm. To find the manuscript, wily bureaucrat Geoffrey Chaucer turns to fellow poet John Gower, a professional trader in information with connections high and low. Gower discovers that the book and incriminating evidence about its author have fallen into the unwitting hands of innocents, who will be drawn into a labyrinthine conspiracy that reaches from the king's court to London's slums and stews--and potentially implicates his own son. As the intrigue deepens, it becomes clear that Gower, a man with secrets of his own, may be the last hope to save a king from a terrible fate.
Medieval scholar Bruce Holsinger draws on his vast knowledge of the period to add colorful, authentic detail--on everything from poetry and bookbinding to court intrigues and brothels--to this highly entertaining and brilliantly constructed epic literary mystery that brings medieval England gloriously to life.

The Invention of Fire - Amazon, B&N and Kobo

The author of the acclaimed historical thriller A Burnable Book once again brings medieval London alive in all its color and detail in a riveting novel that imagines the beginnings of gun violence in the Western world.

London, 1386: A mass murder has taken place within the city walls. Sixteen corpses have been dumped where they are sure to be found, bearing wounds like none seen before. John Gower, middling poet and expert trader in secrets, is summoned to investigate the killings even as the ruthless mayor of London seeks to thwart an open inquiry for reasons unknown. Gower learns that the men have fallen victim to handgonnes, new and terrifying weapons that threaten to change the future of war. Challenged by deception and treachery on all sides, Gower struggles against his failing vision even as his inquiries take him from the City's labyrinthine slums to the port of Calais to the forests of Kent, where his friend Geoffrey Chaucer serves as justice of the peace. As Gower strives to discover the source of the new guns and the identity of those who wielded them, he must risk everything to reveal the truth - and prevent a more devastating massacre on London's crowded streets ...

[issybird]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Both of Bruce Holinger's John Gower historical thrillers are on sale for $3 each.

I really, really liked these books; I was sorry that Holinger dropped the series. I wasn't able to get into his subsequent novels, either. These are still worth reading as a twofer.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by issybird

...I was sorry that Holinger dropped the series. I wasn't able to get into his subsequent novels, either...

I just went and looked at his other books. I've seen that Gifted School cover several times, but thought it was one of the romance novels my teenager has been reading. I made zero association with the author of the John Gower books.

Laziness on my part? Or bad cover design?

[GA Russell]

Brighton Rock

by Graham Greene

$1.99

https://www.amazon.com/Brighton-Rock...dp/B07CMKJQ6H/

[sufue]

Crisis is on sale in the UK right now for £0.99: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0787CS58D

Originally Posted by sufue

Crisis is one of Felix Francis' continuations of his father's (Dick Francis) horse themed mysteries. I've read a lot of the Felix one and enjoyed most of them, including this one. Crisis is on sale right now for $1.99, which is the first time I've noticed it on sale in the US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079R6QW8P
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B079R6QW8P
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/crisis-31

[salty-horse]

The Honjin Murders (Detective Kosuke Kindaichi #1) is £1 in the UK (Kobo, Amazon)
Mentioned in this thread in the past.

Japan's greatest classic murder mystery, translated into English for the first time

In the winter of 1937, the village of Okamura is abuzz with excitement over the forthcoming wedding of a son of the grand Ichiyanagi family. But amid the gossip over the approaching festivities, there is also a worrying rumour – it seems a sinister masked man has been asking questions about the Ichiyanagis around the village.

Then, on the night of the wedding, the Ichiyanagi family are woken by a terrible scream, followed by the sound of eerie music – death has come to Okamura, leaving no trace but a bloody samurai sword, thrust into the pristine snow outside the house. The murder seems impossible, but amateur detective Kosuke Kindaichi is determined to get to the bottom of it.

[sufue]

Rounding the Mark is the seventh in the excellent IMO Inspector Montalbano mystery series by Andrea Camilleri. It's on sale right now for £0.99 at Kindle UK.

Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001M0BUHO

Spoiler:

From the maestro of suspense, comes a spellbinding mystery that will transport you to the sun-soaked streets of Sicily. Rounding the Mark takes you on a gripping journey with Detective Montalbano as he unravels the enigmatic deaths of two individuals. As he delves deeper into the investigation, Montalbano confronts a clandestine underworld of human trafficking. With each twist and turn, the detective's physical and moral limits are tested. Disillusioned and no longer believing in the institution he serves, will he withdraw or delve deeper into his work?

Andrea Camilleri's masterful storytelling, infused with dry wit and vivid local color, will keep you on the edge of your seat until the shocking conclusion. Long live Camilleri, and long live Montalbano, the detective unlike any other in crime fiction.

[Martinoptic]

Well that price didn’t last long. It’s £8.49 now.

[sufue]

Yeah, the £0.99 prices are often one-day only, and I'm in the US, so often when I'm posting, it's already afternoon/evening in the UK. Sorry...

Originally Posted by Martinoptic

Well that price didn’t last long. It’s £8.49 now.