FREE/BARGAIN — Mystery, Suspense & Thrillers

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Thief is $1.99 at Amazon as well.

I didn't check up on the others. Dr. Drib's praise of Nakamura pushed me into buying it to tide me over while waiting on the further adventures of Scardlorgh Regneigh and his short Burerd sword

[Mort1997]

Free today on Amazon UK - Cold Granite by Stuart MacBride


https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cold-Granit...MZB1E2FPX25EC6

[Mort1997]

Free today on Amazon UK -Rain on the Dead by Jack Higgins


https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rain-Dead-S...JCW0ZQJFH08YB6

[GA Russell]

Quiz Show - free short story
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01K2UV16Y

[sufue]

The Colour of Violence is a non-series title by Roderic Jeffries. It is free right now on Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/Colour-Violen...dp/B01N5XZF0B/

Spoiler:

1974, England.

George Armitage is an author who is trying to break out into the mainstream consciousness.

His books sell reasonably well, but he can’t piece together why they aren’t flying off the shelves.

Perhaps he hasn’t experienced enough of what he writes about?

He lives a modest, yet comfortable lifestyle, but his wife, Gwen has become disillusioned with their lack of wealth.

It doesn’t help that their lifestyle is one of glitzy parties and glamourous people, as she becomes jealous and wants for more from George.

As their marriage begins to fall apart more and more, George meets Patricia Broadbent, the wife of a wealthy, much older lawyer that George is friendly with.

They instantly hit it off.

Meanwhile, two particularly intimidating mobsters, Farnes and Weir are due for release in jail. Through the timid Brian Healey, they hear about a potential bank job worth at least a million.

However, on close inspection, the bank jobs appear near impossible, but who can turn down a million pounds?

As Farnes and Weir collect together the items they’ll need and a team for the job, George and Patricia’s relationship blossoms.

Soon, the love story becomes embroiled in the colour of violence when the gang of mobsters finally put their plan into action.

As everyone becomes involved, from police detectives, to Patricia’s worried husband, George must protect her in the only way he can…

Can he take the pain? The pressure? The legal implications?

He has no other choice if he is to save Patricia, as well as himself.

The Colour of Violence is an engaging tale of romance set against a gritty backdrop of tension that will keep you gripped until the very last page.

[sufue]

Blood Oath is the 11th in the John Jordan series by Michael Lister. It is free right now at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Oath-Jo...dp/B01J6E0NMU/

Spoiler:

From New York Times Bestselling author Michael Lister

John Jordan is once again carrying a gun and a badge—and he’s going to need them. Balancing family life with being a cop and a prison chaplain takes grit and grace—and John has plenty of both. Working two cases that may or may not be connected, John is investigating the disappearance of a young army ranger home on leave and one of the most sadistic serial killers he’s ever encountered.

BLOOD OATH -- the 11th crime novel in the popular, award-winning, and critically-acclaimed John Jordan mystery series.

INCLUDES A SPECIAL NOTE FROM MICHAEL CONNELLY

“Michael Lister is a giant talent with a unique vision. His landmark John Jordan Mystery series is a treasure of contemporary literature.” Florida Weekly

Publisher's Weekly Starred Review: "Lister gives fair clues for the surprise solution, thus combining a compelling account of his hero’s spiritual struggle with a top-notch whodunit."

"Another great ride with a very assured driver behind the wheel." Michael Connelly

For a limited time, get the next John Jordan mystery thriller, BLOOD WORK, for a special reduced rate.

And join Michael's Readers' Group at his website: www.MichaelLister.com and receive the free series companion book, IN THE BLOOD.

Also, at the bottom of the blurb, it indicates that the next in the series is on sale (but not free) as well. When I checked, Blood Work is $2.99, as compared to $4.99, which seems to be more common for titles in this series, although it has been as low as $0.99 before.
link: https://www.amazon.com/BLOOD-WORK-Jo...dp/B01MPW54ZT/

And finally, I'll note that Power in the Blood is the first in the series, and is free a lot, including right now.
link: https://www.amazon.com/Power-Blood-J...dp/B004GEAMV8/

[sufue]

Martians in Maggody is the 8th in the Arly Hanks/Maggody series by Joan Hess. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US (couponable/VIPable).

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Martians-Magg...dp/B01ENRHK3A/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/martians-in-maggody

Spoiler:

Police chief Arly Hanks tries to keep her head when the people of Maggody get UFO fever in this uproarious cozy mystery.

Life is so boring in Maggody, Arkansas, population 755, the locals have resorted to reading supermarket tabloids, gobbling up every rumor of wolf men, zombies, and creatures from outer space they can get their hands on. And as the only sane woman in town, Chief of Police Arly Hanks just smiles and nods whenever her neighbors rave about the latest conspiracy theories. But to Arly’s eternal horror, it looks like Maggody is about to become ground zero for an extraterrestrial invasion. The aliens will never know what hit ’em.

It starts when strange circles appear in Raz Buchanon’s cornfields, drawing reporters, newscasters, and every nut west of the Mississippi. But as supernatural fever hits Maggody, Arly is confronted with a very terrestrial murder. There may be aliens on Main Street, but in a town this strange, how could anybody tell the difference?

Life has always been nutty in Maggody, but the madness is about to go paranormal. Master of cozies Joan Hess knows better than anyone how to push a mystery to the brink of madness—and then push it a whole lot farther.

Martians in Maggody is the 8th book in the Arly Hanks Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

[sufue]

The Beast Must Die is the fourth in the Nigel Strangeways series by Nicholas Blake. It is free right now at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/Beast-Must-Ni...dp/B00CMR3HFY/

Spoiler:

I am going to kill a man. I don't know his name, I don’t know where he lives, I have no idea what he looks like. But I am going to find him and kill him...

What do you do when you plan a murder then, inexplicably, your victim turns up dead, and not by your hand?

Respected crime writer Frank Cairns is plotting the perfect murder of George Rattery, the hit-and-run driver who killed his young son, but when his intended victim is found dead and Cairns becomes the prime suspect, the author insists he has been framed.

Pleading his innocence, an old friend calls in private detective Nigel Strangeways to help prove that Cairns has been framed. Strangeways must unravel a fiendishly plotted mystery if he is to discover what really happened to George Rattery.

[sufue]

Purple Cane Road is the 11th in the Dave Robicheaux series by James Lee Burke. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/Purple-Cane-R...dp/B005KDDURC/

Spoiler:

Dave Robicheaux has spent his life confronting the age-old adage that the sins of the father pass onto the son. But what has his mother’s legacy left him? Dead to him since youth, Mae Guillory has been shuttered away in the deep recesses of Dave’s mind. He’s lived with the fact that he would never really know what happened to the woman who left him to the devices of his whiskey-driven father. But deep down, he still feels the loss of his mother and knows the infinite series of disappointments in her life could not have come to a good end.

While helping out an old friend, Dave is stunned when a pimp looks at him sideways and asks him if he is Mae Guillory’s boy, the whore a bunch of cops murdered 30 years ago. The pimp goes on to insinuate that the cops who dumped her body in the bayou were on the take and continue to thrive in the New Orleans area.

Dave’s search for his mother’s killers leads him to the darker places in his past and solving this case teaches him what it means to be his mother’s son. Purple Cane Road has the dimensions of a classic-passion, murder, and nearly heartbreaking poignancy-wrapped in a wonderfully executed plot that surprises from start to finish.

[ATDrake]

Bargain @ £0.99-£2.99 in the UK from Hodder & Stoughton (non-couponable, price should be the same at all the regular UK retailers):

Nearly the entire catalogue of mystery/suspense thrillers (minus the very latest) by Icelandic author Yrsa Sigurðardóttir (SYKM, Wikipedia; known as “Queen of Icelandic Crime”). I quite enjoyed her Thóra Gudmundsdóttir series starring a lawyer in Reykjavik (traveling to places throughout the Nordic regions) when I read the lot last year, and I also read two of her standalone psychological suspense thrillers which were generally pretty decent, though not as good as the Thora series, IMHO. I should probably mention that it's best to read the Thora series in order, as there are significant ongoing personal developments in the characters' lives, which sometimes affect the sleuthing, though the actual casework is all self-contained and can be read standalone if you don't mind reading the family drama out of order.

@ £0.99:

Last Rituals, My Soul to Take, Someone to Watch Over Me. These are #1, #2, and #5 in the Thora series, respectively. #1 has been offered as a freebie in the past, #2 was a finalist for the Shamus Award, according to SYKM. These are all quite good cases, although not the very best in the series, IMHO.

@ £1.99:

• Ashes to Dust, #3 in the Thora series, and one of the best cases in it; nicely twisty, and fitting, and has interesting bits of Icelandic recent history in it (based on the Heimaey volcanic eruptions in the 1970s).
• The Undesired, standalone psychological suspense thriller involving a dual mystery of what happened in the past that affects the present day, and something else disturbing going on in the present day. I've read this one and thought that the story was mildly interesting for its depiction of institutional life and a few surprising revelations, but just a competently-done suspense rather than an outstanding one. YMMV, and this is a decent price to get it at.
• Why Did You Lie?, another standalone, which appears to be one of those stories of apparently not-so-strangers being targeted for as-yet-unknown reasons.

@ £2.99 each (pricier, but down from about £5.99 or more which seems to be the regular price):

• The Day is Dark & The Silence of the Sea, #4 & #6 in the Thora series. #4 is set in Greenland and has a rather nifty explanation for what was really going on with a certain aspect of the case; #6 is probably the best (and saddest) story of the lot, with significant psychological suspense elements as well as the whodunnit case.
• I Remember You, another one of her standalone psychological suspense thrillers with mild supernatural elements, involving something in the past affecting something in the present day. IMHO, this had a better case than The Undesired (or at least I liked it a lot more when I read it), and the suspense build-up for the other stuff was nicely done.

[sufue]

Constable Around the Green is the 14th in the Constable Nick series by Nicholas Rhea. It is free right now at Kindle US.

link: https://www.amazon.com/Constable-Aro...dp/B06WD454RW/

Spoiler:

Looking back on his life at a rural policeman in the quiet North Yorkshire countryside, PC Nicholas Rhea has a tale or two to tell…

From stories of unusual theft – such as the incident of the stolen maypole – to romantic con artists and the case of a missing child.

As Constable Nick remembers the then big changes sweeping through the rural police force, he also remembers the comical mishaps of his old colleagues.

While the old-fashioned Sergeant Blaketon is a serious chap about police-work, when it comes to football he’s rather keen to overlook even his own duties…

Meanwhile, the villagers get on with their quiet – and often eccentric – lives.

From the lovable rogue that is Claude Jeremiah Greengrass and his wily dog, Alfred, to the mysterious spinster Adelaide Bowes.

Even some of the newcomers seem to be odd yet – thankfully for Rhea – mostly law-abiding characters.

Besides, as Constable Nick knows to well, sometimes it’s the locals that can be the most troublesome.

Particularly when old divisions between villages, old gangs and even religion still exist.

But Constable Nick always tried to keep the peace for his beloved beat – and for many, he was once the voice of reason for many in a fight.

Written with wit and humour, Constable Around The Green looks into the eccentric and funny life of a Yorkshire bobby.

[HarryT]

Thank you - worth a try at that price. Bought the lot .

[sufue]

Thanks! I have read and quite liked all six of Sigurðardóttir's series titles, but not any of the non-series ones. Nice to get a chance to try a couple at reasonable prices...

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Bargain @ £0.99-£2.99 in the UK from Hodder & Stoughton (non-couponable, price should be the same at all the regular UK retailers):

Nearly the entire catalogue of mystery/suspense thrillers (minus the very latest) by Icelandic author Yrsa Sigurðardóttir (SYKM, Wikipedia; known as “Queen of Icelandic Crime”). I quite enjoyed her Thóra Gudmundsdóttir series starring a lawyer in Reykjavik (traveling to places throughout the Nordic regions) when I read the lot last year, and I also read two of her standalone psychological suspense thrillers which were generally pretty decent, though not as good as the Thora series, IMHO. I should probably mention that it's best to read the Thora series in order, as there are significant ongoing personal developments in the characters' lives, which sometimes affect the sleuthing, though the actual casework is all self-contained and can be read standalone if you don't mind reading the family drama out of order.

Spoiler:

[sufue]

P Is for Peril is the P-th in the Kinsey Millhone series by Sue Grafton. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Peril-Kinsey-...dp/B001D9T7ZQ/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/p-is-for-peril-2

Spoiler:

Kinsey Millhone ventures into the darker side of the human soul in this gripping novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Sue Grafton.

Kinsey Millhone never sees it coming. She is mired in the case of a doctor who disappeared, his angry ex-wife, and beautiful current one—a case that is full of unfinished business, unfinished homes, and people drifting in and out of their own lives. Then Kinsey gets a shock. A man she finds attractive is hiding a fatal secret—and now a whole lot of beauty, money, and lies are proving to be a fatal distraction from what Kinsey should have seen all along: a killer standing right before her eyes...

[ATDrake]

Bargain @ 99 cents from assorted HarperCollins imprints in Canada & presumably the US (should be the same price at all the usual retailers):

• The Swede (aka My Name is N in the UK release) by Swedish author Robert Karjel (SYKM, Wikipedia), 1st in his Ernst Grip series of action/political suspense thrillers starring a Swedish security agent who works with assorted US government operations (apparently a case of “write what you know”, since Wikipedia says that the author is the only Swedish Air Force pilot to have trained with the U.S. Marines). This has been optioned for a TV series in development, and was shortlisted for the Lambda Literary Award and made Booklist's Best Crime Novels of 2016.
  
  Apparently there was some kerfuffle in the Amazon customer reviews when it was released in English translation due to having a unwarned-for bisexual hero in it . The author wrote an interesting piece about that for The Guardian, about how he'd been advised to rewrite the hero as straight for American publication, and considered but decided against, since the character was part-based on a real-life US homicide detective whom the author had met and he felt he needed to stay true to both the character and his inspiration. ETA: the author has a brief page on his website about the detective (contains spoilers), and some of the other RL references in his novel, if you're interested.
• I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason by Susan Kandel (SYKM, Wikipedia), 1st in her CeCe Caruso cozy mystery series starring a biographer of mystery writers. SYKM says this one was a finalist for the Agatha Award for Best First Novel.
• Twelve Days of Winter: Crime at Christmas by Scottish author Stuart MacBride (SYKM, Wikipedia), a collection of festive linked crime shorts.
• Call to Duty by Richard Herman (Fantastic Fiction), a standalone military action suspense thriller apparently involving some stuff that happened decades ago and some other stuff involving international drug smuggling, originally published in 1993 according to FFic.