FREE/BARGAIN — Mystery, Suspense & Thrillers

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by rbruce1314

And another freebie from a 'current' (re-release) series:

Shard calls the Tune, Simon Shard series #6.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shard-Calls...calls+the+tune

https://www.amazon.com/Shard-Calls-T...calls+the+tune

Again, not sure what Amazon are up to - they claim it's #6/6 but Goodreads list a whole lot more . . . . . .

Curious. Yes, “Fantastic Fiction” (my “go to” site for series information) lists 12 books in the series, and it doesn’t appear to be one of the situations where the author’s died and the series has been continued by a different author.

[rbruce1314]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Curious. Yes, “Fantastic Fiction” (my “go to” site for series information) . . . .

That's my #2: goodreads always gave far better presented info until the 'improvements' a few weeks ago. Now not so sure!! But for concise info FF is still best - just depends what you want........

[sufue]

And my go-to for mysteries/thrillers is Stop You're Killing Me, which also lists 12 titles in this series. I'm traveling on business and don't have time to look, but my favorite theories when Kindle/Kobo and other websites get it differently are:

1) Sometimes when a publisher has only some titles in a series, they just start with #1 as the first title they have rights to, regardless of whether there are others. And same on the other end - maybe this publisher only has the first six, and the others aren't out in e-book, or are out from a different publisher.

2) Some folks count collections of short stories/novellas/etc. as books and some don't.

3) Sometimes there is disagreement about whether a title is actually in a series, especially when there are shared characters between series.

JMTCW...off to work...

[rbruce1314]

Originally Posted by sufue

1) Sometimes when a publisher has only some titles in a series, they just start with #1 as the first title they have rights to, regardless of whether there are others. And same on the other end - maybe this publisher only has the first six, and the others aren't out in e-book, or are out from a different publisher.

viz. George Bellairs. Copyrights held (for some unclear reason) by three (? some publisher names seem to have changed.....) different online publishers. ATM they appear to be:

1. Ipso books

2. Mysterious Press

3. Endeavour [s]Press[/s] Media

4. Amazon itself (??)

None of these three/four is prepared to acknowledge the existence of the others: indeed going back to my previous post I have FOUR different (in order, not fully) lists if you go by order.*

*For the paranoid these are Goodreads, FF, Gadetection and "BooksinOrder"

Not at all helpful to the series collector: great email recently arrived. ( 4 weeks ago from Agora books - - WHO??) "here's a free ARC of the newest Inspector Littlejohn book."

Err...Oh Yeah? .... it's actually #42 and I've read many around it on both sides up to #53! I know they are republishers from an author who died in 1982, but that's not the point!

Oh well, I suppose you can't expect Microsoft to advertise the latest offerings from Apple . . . . . . .

[disconnected]

Originally Posted by rbruce1314

viz. George Bellairs. Copyrights held (for some unclear reason) by three (? some publisher names seem to have changed.....) different online publishers. ATM they appear to be:

1. Ipso books

2. Mysterious Press

3. Endeavour [s]Press[/s] Media

4. Amazon itself (??)

None of these three/four is prepared to acknowledge the existence of the others: indeed going back to my previous post I have FOUR different (in order, not fully) lists if you go by order.*

*For the paranoid these are Goodreads, FF, Gadetection and "BooksinOrder"

Not at all helpful to the series collector: great email recently arrived. ( 4 weeks ago from Agora books - - WHO??) "here's a free ARC of the newest Inspector Littlejohn book."

Err...Oh Yeah? .... it's actually #42 and I've read many around it on both sides up to #53! I know they are republishers from an author who died in 1982, but that's not the point!

Oh well, I suppose you can't expect Microsoft to advertise the latest offerings from Apple . . . . . . .

That's the most frustrating author I've found for trying to get the series in order.

I have a Calibre column for year first published (although that's not always totally reliable either). I send that to my ereaders as part of the title. It's mostly useful for non-series books but for series like Inspector Littlejohn I've given up on series order and just set them all as number zero in the series so they sort by year instead.

[sufue]

Dragon Bones is the third in Lisa See's short three-book Liu Hulan/David Stark series. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle US as part of the Daily Deal, price-matched at Kobo.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Bones-...dp/B002YGQ3J0/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/dragon-bones-1

Spoiler:

When the body of an American archaeologist is found floating in the Yangzi River, Ministry of Public Security agent Liu Hulan and her husband, American attorney David Stark, are dispatched to Site 518 to investigate. As Hulan scrutinizes this death—or is it a murder?—David, on behalf of the National Relics Bureau, tries to discover who has stolen from the site an artifact that may prove to the world China’s claim that it is the oldest uninterrupted civilization on earth. This artifact is not only an object of great monetary value but one that is emblematic of the very soul of China. Everyone—from the Chinese government, to a religious cult, to an unscrupulous American art collector—wants this relic, and some, it seems, may be willing to kill to get it. At stake in this investigation is control of China’s history and national pride, and even stability between China and the United States.

The troubled Hulan must overcome her own fears of failure, while David tries desperately to break through the shell that has built up around his wife. As Hulan and David are enmeshed in international schemes for power and the turbulence of their own relationship, these hunters after the truth become the hunted—in a fast-driving narrative set against the backdrop of the building of the Three Gorges Dam, the largest and most expensive project China has undertaken since the Great Wall and the subject of great international debate. It is here, in the heart of the Three Gorges, that David and Hulan will battle their enemies and their own natures to see who will win China’s dragon bones.

Dragon Bones combines ancient myth with contemporary anxieties concerning religious fanaticism and terrorism to tell a story of love, betrayal, history, ecology, greed—and gory murder.

[sufue]

Now £0.98 at Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00VPPW5ES

Originally Posted by sufue

The Empire of Night is the third in the Christopher Marlowe Cobb series by Robert Olen Butler. I had never heard of this series until the first title, The Hot Country, went on sale back in 2017, and I read it mostly because it was set in such an unusual setting - the Mexico Civil War/1914. I really liked that one, so am glad to see Empire drop to $1.99 at Kindle US - probably due to a new title out this month...

link: https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Night-...dp/B00JLQ4O4C/

[Wearever]

Originally Posted by sufue

Dragon Bones is the third in Lisa See's short three-book Liu Hulan/David Stark series. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle US as part of the Daily Deal, price-matched at Kobo.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Bones-...dp/B002YGQ3J0/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/dragon-bones-1

Thank You ! I started this book last night and really enjoying it.

[sufue]

A couple of Open Road titles that haven't been on sale too much in the past, or at least I haven't noticed them on sale myself...still traveling so just titles and links....both $1.99 (and couponable/VIPable at Kobo)...

Dragon's Teeth, Lanny Budd #3, Upton Sinclair
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018V77HZ4
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/dragon-s-teeth-7

Death in the Wasteland, Insp Littlejohn, #37 (in somebody's schema), George Bellairs
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CMD3H8M
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/search?Qu...the+Wasteland+

And then if you want a bunch of Anne Perry/Charlotte and Thomas Pitt, and don't already have the individual books, here are some omnibuses at good prices:

The Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Novels Volume One: The Cater Street Hangman, Callander Square, and Paragon Walk, $2.99
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CNB8NFS
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the...els-volume-one

The Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Novels Volume Two: Resurrection Row, Rutland Place, and Bluegate Fields, $4.99
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07G7VYSR4
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the...els-volume-two

The Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Novels Volume Three: Death in the Devil's Acre, Cardington Crescent, Silence in Hanover Close, and Bethlehem Road, $4.99
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07G7RDK5P
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the...s-volume-three

[sufue]

Bluffing Mr. Churchill, apa Riptide, is the 4th in the Inspector Troy series by John Lawton. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0097D776Q

Spoiler:

Scotland Yard’s Sergeant Troy returns in a WWII thriller praised as an absorbing blend of espionage and detection” (The Denver Post).

It is 1941. Wolfgang Stahl, an American spy operating undercover as an SS officer, has just fled Germany with Hitler’s henchmen on his trail. Stahl’s man in the American embassy, the shy and sheltered Calvin M. Cormack, is teamed with a boisterous MI5 officer, Walter Stilton, to find the spy and bring him to safety. Their investigation takes them across war-torn London, and in Cormack’s case, into the arms of Kitty, his partner’s rambunctious daughter. As Cormack and Stilton close in on Stahl, bodies begin turning up—and the duo realize they may not be the only ones in pursuit of the spy.

When his partner is suddenly murdered, Cormack must turn to the ingenious devices of his lover Kitty’s old flame—Sergeant Troy of Scotland Yard. Together, they investigate the trail of murders and come to a horrifying realization: Cormack and his spy are being played by one of their own in the American embassy.

“The blend of Lawton’s fictional creations with real characters like Churchill . . . produces a rich and juicy montage that throbs with life.” —Dick Adler, Chicago Tribune

[sufue]

And now the first title in this series, Black Out, has also dropped to $1.99 at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/Black-Inspect...dp/B005BCVBOQ/

Originally Posted by sufue

Bluffing Mr. Churchill, apa Riptide, is the 4th in the Inspector Troy series by John Lawton. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0097D776Q

[sufue]

10 lb Penalty by Dick Francis has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US. A good title for the coming election season...

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/10-Penalty-Di...dp/B001RHOJSY/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/10-lb-penalty-1

Spoiler:

New York Times bestselling author Dick Francis has been hailed as “a master of understated suspense” (The San Diego Union-Tribune). With this blockbuster novel, he lives up to his dazzling reputation, delivering the compelling story of a father and son who must work together to defeat a deadly adversary...

Even though Ben Juliard had always dreamt of becoming a jockey, he couldn’t say no when his father—a prominent politician—pulled some strings and got him a job in his campaign for Parliament. Now Ben needs to do more than smile for the cameras. With each step up on the ladder of power come new dangers to the aspiring candidate. And as the mysterious attacks grow ever more lethal, Ben discovers that politics can be the most perilous horse race of all...

[sufue]

The Cat Who Saw Red is the 4th in the Cat Who... series by Lilian Jackson Braun. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Cat-Who-Saw-R...dp/B000OCXJ8O/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-cat-who-saw-red-1

Spoiler:

Jim Qwilleran and his cats Koko and Yum Yum must solve a curious caper in this mystery in the bestselling Cat Who series.

Something is amiss at Maus Haus. Not just the mystery of an unsolved “suicide” which hangs over the old mansion, but something ominous in the present-day residence. When Qwilleran moves in to work on his new gastronomical assignment, strange things begin to happen. First it's a scream in the night, then a vanishing houseboy. But when his old girlfriend disappears, something has to be done. Qwilleran, Koko and Yum Yum set out to solve the mystery—and find a murderer!

[sufue]

This Side of Murder is the first in the Verity Kent series by Anna Lee Huber. It has dropped to $2.99 at Kindle and Kobo US, probably in honor of the second in the series, Treacherous is the Night, which is due out towards the end of this month.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/This-Side-Mur...dp/B01N4JS4N4/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/this-side-of-murder

Spoiler:

The Great War is over, but in this captivating new mystery from award-winning author Anna Lee Huber, one young widow discovers the real intrigue has only just begun . . .

England, 1919. Verity Kent’s grief over the loss of her husband pierces anew when she receives a cryptic letter, suggesting her beloved Sidney may have committed treason before his untimely death. Determined to dull her pain with revelry, Verity’s first impulse is to dismiss the derogatory claim. But the mystery sender knows too much—including the fact that during the war, Verity worked for the Secret Service, something not even Sidney knew.

Lured to Umbersea Island to attend the engagement party of one of Sidney’s fellow officers, Verity mingles among the men her husband once fought beside, and discovers dark secrets—along with a murder clearly meant to conceal them. Relying on little more than a coded letter, the help of a dashing stranger, and her own sharp instincts, Verity is forced down a path she never imagined—and comes face to face with the shattering possibility that her husband may not have been the man she thought he was. It’s a truth that could set her free—or draw her ever deeper into his deception . . .

[GA Russell]

Mayday - $1.99
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FA5SS4

(Author Thomas Block was a friend of mine when I lived in Pittsburgh forty years ago.)