FREE/BARGAIN — Mystery, Suspense & Thrillers

[sufue]

Two titles by Robert Wilson, who won a Gold Dagger for A Small Death in Lisbon, have dropped to $2.99 at Kindle US and, only one of them, at Kobo US (couponable/VIPable). At least one of these has multiple "editions", so check carefully before you buy...

A Company of Strangers, non-series
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Company-Stran...dp/B07BR5G8GD/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the...of-strangers-5

Spoiler:

A poignant, “top rank” espionage thriller spanning from WWII to the Cold War from the award-winning author of A Small Death in Lisbon (The Guardian).

Portugal, 1944. Recruited by British intelligence to help uncover Nazi secrets of atomic warfare, math prodigy Andrea Aspinall soon disappears into the crowds of Lisbon, hiding behind a new identity. Karl Voss, an attaché for German intelligence, arrives in the city under the purported agenda of helping the Reich, all the while secretly working to save his beloved home country from annihilation under their reign.

Two lost souls meet in a city filled with haunting secrets and deadly lies, desperately trying to find love amid assassination attempts, shifting loyalties, and heartbreaking betrayals. And when tragedy strikes, the repercussions last for decades, leading one of them on a quest, twenty-four years later, back into a sinister world of espionage long thought left behind.

Hailed as both “a heartrending tale, unfolded with loving patience and rising tension” (Kirkus Reviews) and “an evocative and compelling thriller” (Publishers Weekly), The Company of Strangers is a provocative and moving take on the classic espionage narrative, exploring what happens when the allegiances of heart and head oppose each other.

Blood Is Dirt, Bruce Medway #3
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Dirt-Br...dp/B07BRFLSFG/

Spoiler:

In this “fine mystery . . . British expat/private investigator in West Africa, Medway is as fully realized as Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe” (Publishers Weekly).

In West Africa’s underworld, nothing is sacred and no one is safe. Even its most experienced denizens can get caught off guard, as fixer-for-hire Bruce Medway discovers when a case gone wrong entangles him in toxic-waste scams, mafia money, and—worst of all—a quest for vengeance.

After Napier Briggs hires Medway to help recover money he lost in a scam, he winds up dead. And the police show little interest in solving the crime. But Brigg’s daughter, Selina, isn’t interested in justice—she’s out for revenge. And she’s willing to do whatever it takes to get Medway on her side. Between the lies, deceit, seduction, and murder, Medway might finally have met a job that’s too dangerous even for him.

“Scintillatingly evokes a world where the scam is a way of life . . . For once, a novelist influenced by Raymond Chandler is not shown up by the comparison.” —The Sunday Times

“A compelling mixture of brutal violence and deadpan wit.” —Kirkus Reviews

[GA Russell]

Dead Man's Hand - Otto Penzler, ed. - $2.99
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B6B3YGQ

[cromag]

Free Fall (The John Ceepak Mysteries Book 3), by Chris Grabenstein, is currently $1.99 at Amazon, Kobo, etc. It's an Open Road Media sale, so it's good for today only -- sorry for the late notice! The regular Kindle price is $9.99, so this is a good deal.

https://www.amazon.com/Free-Fall-Joh...dp/B07B68R52N/

Spoiler:

“I didn’t do it!” is something cops hear all the time. But when the plea comes from a close friend who’s fallen on hard times, it’s tougher to ignore, especially for young Officer Danny Boyle. It’s the start of another action-packed summer for the wise cracking Boyle and straight-arrow cop (now Chief of Detectives) John Ceepak down the Jersey Shore as they do their best to help Danny’s friend, a young nurse who claims she has been falsely accused of aggravated assault by a prestigious Sea Haven doctor. Ceepak’s unshakable code of honor is tested when he trusts that the nurse is telling the truth. It’s stretched to the limit when one of the nurse’s home health care patients turns up dead. Now Ceepak and Danny must answer the hard and horrible question: “Did we just help a friend get away with murder?” Get ready for another fun and fast-paced page-turner from Anthony and Agatha award–winner Chris Grabenstein.

I've read and enjoyed all of the books in this series.

The first book in the series, Tilt-a-Whirl, appears to be permanently priced at $0.99. I think it would be better to start with the first book to have the characters introduced, but it's less necessary to read the rest of the books in order.

[kg3]

Three FREE Dean Wesley Smith Titles - Cross-Genre &/or Different Genres:

1)Kill Game: A Cold Poker Gang Mystery

2)Thunder Mountain

3)The Poker Chip: A Ghost of a Chance Novel

Amazon US Link to the 3

*Cross-Posted in Mystery & Western & Science Fiction Threads, etc.

[Little.Egret]

Free

My Psychic Life, Mostly by Alanna Knight

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...68#post3685068

[sufue]

The Last Detective is the 9th in the Elvis Cole series by Robert Crais. It has dropped to $2.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Last-Detectiv...dp/B000FBFN24/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-last-detective-2

Spoiler:

Elvis Cole is back...

With his acclaimed bestsellers, Hostage (a New York Times Notable Book) and Demolition Angel, Robert Crais drew raves for his unstoppable pacing, edgy characterizations, and cinematic prose. Now, in The Last Detective, Crais returns to his signature character, Los Angeles private investigator Elvis Cole, in a masterful page-turner that probes the meaning of family and the burdens of the past.

Elvis Cole's relationship with attorney Lucy Chenier is strained. When she moved from Louisiana to join Elvis in Los Angeles, she never dreamed that violence would so easily touch her life -- but then the unthinkable happens. While Lucy is away on business and her ten-year-old son, Ben, is staying with Elvis, Ben disappears without a trace. Desperate to believe that the boy has run away, evidence soon mounts to suggest a much darker scenario.

Joining forces with his enigmatic partner, Joe Pike, Elvis frantically searches for Ben with the help of LAPD Detective Carol Starkey, as Lucy's wealthy, oil-industry ex-husband attempts to wrest control of the investigation. Amid the maelstrom of personal conflicts, Elvis and Joe are forced to consider a more troubling lead -- one indicating that Ben's disappearance is connected to a terrible, long-held secret from Elvis Cole's past.

Venturing deep inside a complex psyche, Crais explores Elvis's need for family - the military that embraced him during a troubled adolescence, his rock-solid partnership with Pike, and his floundering relationship with Lucy - as they race the clock in their search for Ben. The Last Detective is Robert Crais' richest, most intense tale of suspense yet.

[sufue]

Paper Doll is the 20th in the Spenser series by Robert B. Parker. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Paper-Doll-Sp...dp/B005F4CCY8/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/paper-doll-1

Spoiler:

Boston PI Spenser investigates the perfect murder in this New York Times bestselling mystery in Robert B. Parker’s acclaimed series.

She was a model wife and mother, bludgeoned with a hammer on the streets of Beacon Hill. Spenser's searching for a motive and a murderer—and finding more secrets than meet the eye...

[GA Russell]

The Complete Ellery Queen Jr. Mysteries (box of 11) - $3.99
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B65RF96

*****

The Crossword Mysteries Volume One (box of 3) - $2.99

Two Down, The Crossword Connection, and The Crossword Murder

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B65XW1M

[sufue]

In that funny way where once you hear an unusual word, you seem to hear it again really soon...

Another title by Philip Kerr has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US. Dark Matter: The Private Life of Sir Isaac Newton is a non-series title that is actually set more in the sort of time period that I tend to read historicals from, and looks sort of interesting, although sort of meh reviews.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Matter-P...dp/B003FCVEY6/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/dark-matter-11

Spoiler:

I swore not to tell this story while Newton was still alive.

1696, young Christopher Ellis is sent to the Tower of London, but not as a prisoner. Though Ellis is notoriously hotheaded and was caught fighting an illegal duel, he arrives at the Tower as assistant to the renowned scientist Sir Isaac Newton. Newton is Warden of the Royal Mint, which resides within the Tower walls, and he has accepted an appointment from the King of England and Parliament to investigate and prosecute counterfeiters whose false coins threaten to bring down the shaky, war-weakened economy. Ellis may lack Newton’s scholarly mind, but he is quick with a pistol and proves himself to be an invaluable sidekick and devoted apprentice to Newton as they zealously pursue these criminals.

While Newton and Ellis investigate a counterfeiting ring, they come upon a mysterious coded message on the body of a man killed in the Lion Tower, as well as alchemical symbols that indicate this was more than just a random murder. Despite Newton’s formidable intellect, he is unable to decipher the cryptic message or any of the others he and Ellis find as the body count increases within the Tower complex. As they are drawn into a wild pursuit of the counterfeiters that takes them from the madhouse of Bedlam to the squalid confines of Newgate prison and back to the Tower itself, Newton and Ellis discover that the counterfeiting is only a small part of a larger, more dangerous plot, one that reaches to the highest echelons of power and nobility and threatens much more than the collapse of the economy.

Originally Posted by sufue

I like historical mysteries, but have never run into Philip Kerr, perhaps because I tend to like really old historicals, or perhaps because these look a teeny bit thriller-ish, but in any case, the first title in Kerr's much nominated/awarded Bernie Gunther series, March Violets, has dropped to £0.99, and it looks pretty interesting, so I'm going to give it a try.

link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/March-Viole...dp/B01CD2AN72/

{edited}

[sufue]

Prelude to Terror by Helen MacInnes has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Prelude-Terro...dp/B00F1W07XM/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/prelude-to-terror-1

Spoiler:

New York art expert Colin Grant is sent to Vienna and bid on a priceless Old Master on behalf of a Texan millionaire. No sooner has Grant landed in Austria than his seemingly simple assignment turns into a nightmare, as he finds himself at the centre of a conspiracy to unleash a wave of international terrorism.

[sufue]

The Dead Cat Bounce is the first in the Home Repair is Homicide series by Sarah Graves. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US. This one is on my list of best book titles, along with The Cannibal Who Overate and others of that ilk. Oh yeah, I read it and liked it pretty well in DTB days...

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Cat-Boun...dp/B002RLBKSG/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-dead-cat-bounce

Spoiler:

dead cat bounce n. Stock market jargon for a small, temporary rise in a stock's trading price after a sharp drop.

Since she bought her rambling old fixer-upper of a house, Jacobia Tiptree has gotten used to finding things broken. But her latest problem isn't so easily repaired. Along with the rotting floor joists and sagging support beams, there's the little matter of the dead man in Jake's storeroom, an ice pick firmly planted in his cranium.

Not much happens in her tiny Maine town, but that's about to change. Jake's unknown guest turns out to be a world-famous corporate raider, local boy turned billionaire Threnody McIlwaine. When Jake's best friend, quiet and dependable Ellie White, readily confesses to the murder, cops and journalists swarm into snowbound Eastport.

Jake smells a cover-up, and begins poking into past history between McIlwaine and Ellie's family. But someone doesn't like nosy neighbors...and Jake's rustic refuge may become her final resting place.

[sufue]

Where There's a Will is the 8th in the Nero Wolfe series by Rex Stout. It has dropped to $2.99 at Kindle and Kobo US. Titles in this series don't go on sale very often, in the US at least, so grab it if you want it.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Where-Theres-...dp/B003M68TIE/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/whe...re-s-a-will-24

Spoiler:

Why did the late multimillionaire Noel Hawthorne leave his sisters, April, May, and June, a peach, a pear, and an apple? Why did he will the bulk of his considerable estate to a woman who was most definitely not his wife? Now Nero Wolfe, able, astute, and unscrupulous detective that he is, must get to the bottom of a will that’s left a whirlpool of menace . . . and a legacy of murder that’s about to be fulfilled.

[Little.Egret]

Golden Age, free

The Dark Garden: A Bobby Owen Mystery by E.R. Punshon

The Conqueror Inn: A Bobby Owen Mystery by E.R. Punshon

Night's Cloak: A Bobby Owen Mystery by E.R. Punshon

And also Bewildering Cares by Winifred Peck


https://www.amazon.com/s/?url=search...r=dean+street*

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?url=sear...r=dean+street*

https://www.amazon.ca/s/?url=search-...r=dean+street*

[sufue]

Several titles in the Michael Shayne series by Brett Halliday have dropped to $2.99 at Kindle US. (I sadly think the days of $1.99 Open Road sale pricing are mostly gone...sigh!)

Titles include:

• Murder Wears a Mummer's Mask
• The Corpse Came Calling
• Heads You Lose
• Tickets for Death
• Murder and the Married Virgin
• Michael Shayne's Long Chance
• A Taste for Violence
• Murder Takes No Holiday

link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/search/?se...price-asc-rank

[sufue]

Four titles in the Brady Coyne series by William Tapply have dropped to $2.99 at Kindle US.

Titles include:

• Dead Meat
• The Seventh Enemy
• The Spotted Cats
• Follow the Sharks

link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/search/?se...price-asc-rank