FREE/BARGAIN — Mystery, Suspense & Thrillers

[rbruce1314]

Great selection Mort1997 - thanks.

[badgoodDeb]

Originally Posted by rbruce1314

Great selection Mort1997 - thanks.

Was going to say the same thing -- so I'll just Ditto it!

[GA Russell]

Stardust (Spenser #17) - $1.99
https://www.amazon.com/Stardust-Spen...dp/B005F4CFEK/

*****

Sunset Limited (Dave Robicheaux #10) - $1.99
https://www.amazon.com/Sunset-Limite...dp/B005JWUGY4/

*****

The Edge - Dick Francis - $1.99
https://www.amazon.com/Edge-Dick-Fra...dp/B00452V4CC/

*****

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency Box Set - $1.99
https://www.amazon.com/Dirk-Gentlys-...dp/B01KU08U2E/

[sufue]

A bunch of Open Road published titles by Dorothy Salisbury Davis have dropped to $1.99, probably for their Monday "Special Delivery" sale, although I didn't get an email about it this afternoon as I usually do. These were almost all free back in December, but I found one I hadn't gotten then - not sure if I missed it, or if it wasn't part of the sale. Anyway, if you missed the December freebie-thon, this is a chance to pick one or more up at less than their normal prices. Oh yeah, if these are part of their usual Monday sale, then the prices are good for today only.

The seven are:

• The Habit of Fear
• A Gentle Murderer
• Tales for a Stormy Night
• The Pale Betrayer
• The Clay Hand
• Enemy and Brother
• A Town of Masks

link for all seven: https://www.amazon.com/gp/search/?se...is&price=0-200

[Mort1997]

Free on Amazon UK today -Cuban Confetti by Stephen Barlay

Spoiler:

1962. The fear of sparking World War III permeates the air as the relations between Russia, Cuba, and the United States of America grow more and more strained…

Why are so many Russian freighters bound for Cuba?

What does the Russian expression porokhovyye konfety mean?

Why does it appear on a shopping list stolen from Castro’s desk?

What lures buccaneering Helm Rust away from his idle life in the Florida Keys surrounded by women and booze — and, more importantly, why?

Although prematurely retired from the CIA, Rust is still a player in the game, a compulsive risk-taker with deep-seated loyalties and ties to The Company that could prove to be an occupational hazard.

With one eye on Cuba and another on the Soviet Union, he is quick to sense there is a game in the air.

What instinct cannot tell him, however, is that those bizarre words — porokhovyye konfety, translated as ‘powdered sweets’ — have the potential to make him the hottest property in one of the hottest games ever.

Receiving word that his father is in trouble in Moscow, Rust sets out on a perilous journey that just might cost him his life — and discovers that the fate of the world hangs in the balance.

Through the fraught events of that summer and autumn, Rust discovers that patriotism and betrayal are not such strange bedfellows after all…

But there are still loyalties to be honoured and debts to be paid.

The real question: How far are the Soviet Union and the United States willing to go?

UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cuban-Confe...ndeavour+press

US
https://www.amazon.com/Cuban-Confett...ndeavour+press

Au
https://www.amazon.com.au/Cuban-Conf...ndeavour+press

Can
https://www.amazon.ca/Cuban-Confetti...ndeavour+press

[Mort1997]

Free on Amazon UK today -The Grey Shepherds by Angus MacVicar

Spoiler:

In the lonely wilderness of Scotland, a Highland shepherd finds the body of a nameless girl crushed beneath a druid stone…

At first accepted as an unfortunate accident, the details of her death soon draw questions as things don’t quite add up.

An echo of the tragedy reaches London, with freelance journalist Shamus MacDonald — ‘Fighting Mac’ to readers of the Gazette — finding himself commissioned to investigate the tragedy.

Fresh off a hot story that resulted in the conviction of a spy, MacDonald quickly becomes convinced that the two cases are related.

When he discovers that a bracelet taken from the dead girl is identical to one worn by Millicent Smith —the mistress of more than one powerful man, including the convicted spy — he sets out to prove not only that the victim is Millicent Smith, but that her death is part of a much larger cover-up.

One hiding at its core a dangerous spy ring that threatens the national security of the country.

Probing for truth in Scotland and London, MacDonald lays out a trap for the enemy with himself as bait — and realises almost too late that he may have underestimated his opponents.

Confronted at every turn by dangerous opponents who want him dead, it becomes a race to unearth the truth before he, too, is murdered…

UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Grey-Shephe...ndeavour+press

US
https://www.amazon.com/Grey-Shepherd...ndeavour+press

Au
https://www.amazon.com.au/Grey-Sheph...ndeavour+press

Can
https://www.amazon.ca/Grey-Shepherds...ndeavour+press

[Mort1997]

Free on Amazon UK today -Someone Lying, Someone Dying by John Burke

Spoiler:

When the remains of a body are found in the cellar of an abandoned house, the quiet community of Lurgate finds itself in a state of shock…

The body is identified as that of Walter Blythe, a local businessman who disappeared in 1913.

At the same time as Walter’s disappearance, a large sum of money was also taken from the business he co-owned with his partner, Victor Johnson.

Now, decades later, Victor Johnson posthumously becomes the prime suspect in Walter’s murder.

The news comes as a shock to Victor’s granddaughter, Brigid, who is planning her wedding with her fiancé Martin. But with family secrets coming to light, will the wedding still go ahead?

And when Walter Blythe’s long-lost grandson, Peter, is found dead in town shortly after his arrival, it appears that a ruthless killer is once again on the loose.

Who will be the next victim?

And what really happened to Walter Blythe?

UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Someone-Lyi...ndeavour+press

US
https://www.amazon.com/Someone-Lying...ndeavour+press

Au
https://www.amazon.com.au/Someone-Ly...ndeavour+press

Can
https://www.amazon.ca/Someone-Lying-...ndeavour+press

[sufue]

Bleeding Hearts is the 10th in the Gregor Demarkian series by Jane Haddam (pen name for Orania Papazoglou). It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US, apparently as a holiday-themed price drop for Valentine's Day. I note this is a repeat "holiday" sale - I bought my copy from Amazon on Feb 12 of last year .

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Bleeding-Hear...dp/B00BERBMAU/
Kobo US (couponable/VIPable): https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/bleeding-hearts-3

Spoiler:

Demarkian attempts a good deed on Valentine’s Day: saving a neighbor from jail

Psychiatrist Paul Hazzard was renowned for his insights into the human mind, until his wife was savagely murdered. She was stabbed to death with an ornamental dagger, a grisly crime for which Paul was tried but never convicted. Four years later, to escape his greedy family and his former mistress, Paul takes an unlikely lover: the homely, middle-aged Hannah Krekorian. Hannah’s neighbors, including former FBI agent Gregor Demarkian, are charmed by the sudden romance—until they find her holding an antique dagger over Paul’s bloody body.

The police are convinced of Hannah’s guilt, but Demarkian knows his neighbor could never stab Paul to death. Hannah’s valentine may be gone, but if Gregor works a miracle, she’ll have something even better come February 14th: her freedom.

[sufue]

Kaleidoscope is the second in the two-book Madame Karitska series by Dorothy Gilman, who is better known as the author of the Mrs. Pollifax series. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Kaleidoscope-...dp/B000XUBBY6/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/kaleidoscope-12

Spoiler:

Next to the incomparable Mrs. Pollifax, Dorothy Gilman’s best-loved character is the mysterious Madame Karitska, who is blessed with a powerful gift of clairvoyance that attracts to her a stream of men and women craving help with their misfortunes, desperate to know what the future holds. . . .

When a brilliant young violinist dies in a horrific accident, Madame Karitska has only to hold the victim’s instrument in her hands to perceive the shocking truth. But when an insecure wife asks whether her husband will abandon her to join a sinister cult, Madame Karitska–as wise as she is lovely–chooses not to reveal all that she foresees. And when an attaché case is suddenly dropped into her lap by a man fleeing a crowded subway, she knows it’s time to consult her good friend Detective-Lieutenant Pruden.

A nine-year-old accused of murder, a man dying a slow death by witchcraft– for the hunted and the haunted, Madame Karitska’s shabby downtown apartment becomes a haven, where brilliant patterns of violence, greed, passion, and strange obsessions mix and disintegrate with stunning, kaleidoscopic beauty.

Once again Dorothy Gilman exercises her own uncanny power to render readers spellbound.

[sufue]

In another presumably Valentine's Day themed price drop, Death of a Valentine, the 25th in the Hamish Macbeth series by by M. C. Beaton, has dropped to $1.99.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Death-Valenti...dp/B00329UW5O/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/death-of-a-valentine

Spoiler:

From the author of the Agatha Raisin television series...

DEATH OF A VALENTINE: A Hamish Macbeth Mystery

Amazing news has spread across the Scottish countryside. The most famous of highland bachelors, police sergeant Hamish Macbeth, will be married at last. Everyone in the village of Lochdubh adores Josie McSween, Macbeth's newest constable and blushing bride-to-be.

While locals think Josie is quite a catch, Hamish has a case of prenuptial jitters. After all, if it weren't for the recent murder of a beautiful woman in a neighbouring village, there wouldn't be a wedding at all. For it was a mysterious Valentine's Day package--delivered to the victim before her death--that initially drew Hamish and Josie together on the investigation. As they work side by side, Hamish and Josie soon discover that the woman's list of admirers was endless, confirming Hamish's suspicion that love can be blind, deaf . . . and deadly.

[GeoffR]

The Caveman by Norwegian author Jørn Lier Horst is £1.99 at UK retailers.

This is #9 in the William Wisting series, but the English translations started at #6. I've read the previous three, they are good Nordic police procedurals that seem to be getting better as the series progesses, so I'm looking forward to this one.

I'll give the Apple links here because they have it discounted in other countries as well:
UK £1.99, IE €2.49, US $2.99, AU $3.99, NZ $4.99. (Not Canada for some reason.)

[rbruce1314]

Something a little different - and free as of today:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Verney-Junc...erney+junction

https://www.amazon.com/Verney-Juncti...erney+junction

I liked it for its freshness and 'honesty' about the feelings of investigating officers - so you might (see my review for more if you dare!).

[sufue]

Several of the titles in Robert Campbell's Jimmy Flannery series have recently been on US Kindle Countdown at $0.99, however, now one is FREE!

Thinning The Turkey Herd is the fourth in the series and it is free right now at Kindle US, no idea why or for how long.

link: https://www.amazon.com/Thinning-Turk...dp/B015T56Q4E/

Spoiler:

***Edgar Award Winning Author***

When it comes to Chicago politics, Jimmy Flannery knows where the bodies are buried. Sleuthing has definitely become part of Flannery’s job, and he does it with the same tough-nosed, hard-fisted elan that he exhibits in his battles with machine-made bureaucrats down at City Hall. Now, someone is thinning the “turkey herd” – that’s modeling talk for the hundreds of pretty girls who come to Chicago every year looking to be “discovered.” Most end up quitting or going back home. But this year it looks as if somebody’s thinning the herd the hard way---by KILLING the prettiest young women in Chicago. This is more than enough to get Jimmy Flannery’s attention.

After one drop-dead gorgeous blond is suddenly missing, Flannery starts walking Chicago’s meanest streets to find her. Tragically, all he finds is her body. When a powerful political bigwig turns up with a very unlawful motive for homicide, Flannery figures it won’t be long before some innocent schnook is railroaded on a charge of MURDER ONE . . .

I should probably also note again that the first in the series, The Junkyard Dog, is a long term freebie and is still free if you want to dip your toes in that one first. Info in this previous post: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh....php?p=3459166

[sufue]

In the Heat of the Night is the first in the Virgil Tibbs series by John Ball. I really like this book, and apparently the Edgar award committee agreed with me , since it won the 1966 Edgar Award for Best First Novel. Heat has dropped to $2.99 at Kindle US, and although it has been $1.99 at times in the past, $2.99 is still a pretty good price, so I'm posting it.

link: https://www.amazon.com/Heat-Night-Vi...dp/B003XRELKM/

Spoiler:

John Ball's 1965 mystery In the Heat of the Night tells the story of a black police officer named Virgil Tibbs who happens to be passing through a southern town at a particularly inauspicious moment. An orchestra conductor has been brutally murdered and the local police, without much in the way of real evidence, arrest Tibbs. On discovering that Tibbs is not the real killer but rather a highly-skilled homicide detective, the local police enlist Tibbs to help solve the case.

Several factors made (and make) this novel so very relevant and timely. For one, the hero is a black police officer, which at the time the book was written was not a very common figure in popular culture. Tibbs's investigation leads him through the backwater town and exposes him to different forms of prejudice harbored by the townspeople. His urban sophistication and his California background also rankle the townspeople. A major accomplishment with this novel is that author John Ball refuses to discredit one stereotype by merely adopting another. He deftly manages to write a novel about prejudice and stereotype set in a region of the country where ignorance and racism cause terrible suffering, but avoids making the mistake of depicting every Southerner as ignorant or racist. Just as the portrait here of Virgil Tibb's topples some peoples' notions, portraits of some Southerners in this novel do the same.

In the Heat of the Night stands as a classic pop culture document. It is also winner of the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America as well as the Crimewriters' Association's Golden Dagger Award, and it was named one of the hundred greatest detective novels of the century by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. The book's main character, Virgil Tibbs, also appears in The Cool Cottontail and Johnny Get Your Gun as part of the Virgil Tibbs mystery series.

[Mort1997]

Price drop on Amazon UK 90p

The Few: a Leone Scamarcio thriller by Nadia Dalbuono

Spoiler:

Detective Leone Scamarcio, the son of a former leading mafioso, has turned his back on the family business, and has joined the Rome police force. He may be one of the last honest men in Italy.

But when Scamarcio is handed a file of extremely compromising photographs of a high-profile Italian politician, and told to ‘deal with it’, he knows he’s in for trouble. And when a young man is found stabbed to death in Rome, and a young American girl disappears on a beach in Elba, Scamarcio’s job gets a whole lot more complicated.

Worst of all, every lead seems to implicate the prime minister — a multi-media baron, and the most powerful man in Italy. As the case spins out of control, and his own past catches up with him, Scamarcio must navigate the darkest currents of Italian society — only to find that nothing is as it seems, and that the price of truth may be higher than he can pay.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00M9TT8...I3NVYU27MY88LW