FREE/BARGAIN — Mystery, Suspense & Thrillers

[Mort1997]

Free on Amazon UK today - Constable at the Gate (A Constable Nick Mystery Book 20) by Nicholas Rhea

Spoiler:

Rural Yorskhire.

Dealing with the local population of this rural village shouldn’t provide too much crime.

Yet the days are never boring for Constable Nick…

Settled into his family life, he is now a popular resident of Aidensfield.

Regularly approached when he’s off-duty to help his neighbours with their current emergencies.

Rhea often finds himself in a situation where he must decipher the fact from the gossip.

Rumours are rampant and scandalous, but he must remain objective to carry out his job.

Easier said than done when you are living in a tight-knit community.

Returning the wandering elderly villagers to their family and ensuring the local pubs close on time are part of his normal routine.

Throw in a dramatic rescue of a much-loved pet and his work becomes exciting.

But the exposing of a small burglary ring whilst searching for a truant child hunting for a mythical bird really makes his job unique.

UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XC8MC...ess+free+books

US
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XC8MCVP...ess+free+books

Au
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B06XC8M...ess+free+books

Can
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B06XC8MCVP/...ess+free+books

[Mort1997]

Free on Amazon UK today - Sorcerer's House (Simon Gale Series Book 2) by Gerald Price

Spoiler:

Violent death—that is the message of Threshold House.

Events in the village of Ferncross have given the inhabitants good reason to respect the legend surrounding this sinister and derelict building—for, whenever a light appears in the window of the Long Room, they know from experience that a corpse will be found the next day.

Who is the mysterious killer, striking so suddenly and so wantonly?

For two years, the mystery has remained unsolved.

But Alan Boyce, a young American on holiday in Britain, is thoroughly enjoying his stay in Ferncross.

The village of Ferncross has everything he’d imagined, but when a light is seen in the window of the derelict manor, Alan decides to investigate and discovers the owner, Paul Meriton’s, corpse…

The police arrive and begin to investigate, but the queer story doesn’t avoid the attention of larger-than-life Simon Gale.

He senses a budding detective in Alan, and senses a pattern to the murder of Paul Meriton.

Something links this death with the murder of an unidentified man the last time that window lit up two years ago.

There are too many secrets in the village and one of them must explain the deaths at Threshold House.

With the help of Alan, Simon Gale intends to uncover them all…

UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XCK8Y...ess+free+books

US
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XCK8YV7...ess+free+books

Au
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B06XCK8...ess+free+books

Can
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B06XCK8YV7/...ess+free+books

[Mort1997]

Free on Amazon UK today - Bloody Ten (Davey Goldman Series Book 3) by William F Love

Spoiler:

An unlikely alliance between a cynical New York private eye, Davey Goldman, and a Catholic Bishop, Regan, cannot go unnoticed…

But the two seem to have an unwritten agreement; when one of Goldman’s cases gets too tough, he turns to the genius Bishop Regan, who is all too eager to help.

When Jim Kearney’s long-lost brother, Nick, shows up demanding money from his estranged father, Jim goes to Davey for help.

But before Davey can earn his money, Nick is dead.

And Davey has committed the slightly illegal act of shielding the number-one suspect: his client.

Davey is convinced that Jim is innocent and goes to all lengths to prove that he is.

With the police unimpressed with Davey’s attempts to protect Jim, it’s left to Davey and Bishop Regan to prove Jim’s innocence once and for all whilst working out who the real suspect is.

And with new suspects turning up everywhere they turn, Davey and Bishop Regan soon start to wonder if they will ever unravel the truth…

UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XC8PT...ess+free+books

US
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XC8PTT3...ess+free+books

Au
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B06XC8P...ess+free+books

Can
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B06XC8PTT3/...ess+free+books

[Mort1997]

Free on Amazon UK today - Little White Lies by Elizabeth McGregor

Spoiler:

Any other year, summer arrived with the swallows. But this year, the broken body of a bird, left on the porch, serves as an omen of deception, a shadow cast over the days to come…

Beth March’s life seems unexceptional: she and her husband, David, have a conventional, quiet marriage.

The opening morning of the nightmare seems like just another day, aside from the unexpected body of the bird…but while Beth showers and prepares for the day, David drives his car at full speed into the path of a lorry. He is killed instantly.

From the moment that Beth learns of his fate, her world begins to shatter around her. Nothing in her life can ever be the same again.

No one can be trusted. No one is telling her the truth.

Was David having an affair?

Why did he go behind her back to sell his shares and take out another mortgage — and where is that money now?

What dark secrets lie beneath the picture-perfect image of the family down the lane?

As she unravels the chain of tragic events that preceded her husband’s death, Beth finds herself tossed from side to side on a sea of continually shifting information, never sure what is true and what is not.

What seem like little white lies gradually begin to build and build until Beth truly begins to realise the horror of devastating betrayal experienced by everyone involved…

UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XCGQR...ess+free+books

US
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XCGQRT1...ess+free+books

Au
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B06XCGQ...ess+free+books

Can
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B06XCGQRT1/...ess+free+books

[Wearever]

Thank's Mort I picked up a few.

[Little.Egret]

The Odyssey Press (Endeavour imprint) free

At Dusk All Cats are Grey by Jerrard Tickell

Twenty-two-year-old Joanna Shirley is the only daughter and child of Lady and Sir Robert Shirley and has a great affinity for languages and accents.
In fact, while skiing once in Austria, her German was so good that she was arrested by the Gestapo on suspicion of being a spy...
But what once seemed a funny story, is now made very much more alarming with rumours that Hitler is edging his way to the Polish border and, feeling that now she must earn her own keep, Joanna moves to London.
She soon gets a job at an advertisement firm, which, like London as a whole, is full of strange characters.
Joanna soon makes a particular impression on a certain Colonel Seymour – especially with her proficiency in French and German.
The colonel wants to know if she’s interested in something a little more profitable and discreet than a receptionist.
All she has to do is report back about a group of Austrian refugees…
But a sinister darkness is creeping over Europe, and Joanna finds herself unable to recognise the world she once knew so well…

First published 1940 by Chapman & Hall

Jerrard Tickell's books, a number of which have been made into successful movies, include Moon Squadron, Appointment with Venus aka Island Rescue and Hussar Honeymoon.


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XWYC5JV/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XWYC5JV/

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B06XWYC5JV/

[Mort1997]

Free on Amazon UK today -Dead man's hand by Mark Lock

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dead-Mans-H...PPV8EHVGQ8M7DA

[Mort1997]

Originally Posted by Wearever

Thank's Mort I picked up a few.

Great! Thanks for the Karma

[badgoodDeb]

Ditto the Thanks, Mort -- and I love your posting format. You go to a lot of work to get 4 links for us, but it makes it so easy for me to go look at the book. Thank you!!!

[Mort1997]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

Ditto the Thanks, Mort -- and I love your posting format. You go to a lot of work to get 4 links for us, but it makes it so easy for me to go look at the book. Thank you!!!

It is easier for the endeavour press books because the links are reliable and are free across the 4 sites ( the majority of the time) but for some books the US price looks free to me in the UK and then I'll find out it is not available/free when someone in the states checks - very annoying.

[Wearever]

Originally Posted by Mort1997

Great! Thanks for the Karma

Your welcome

[ATDrake]

Bargain @ $2.99 from HarperCollins' William Morrow imprint in Canada and presumably also the US (linkage goes to Kobo, should be matched at all the usual stores):

The Darkest Hour by British author Tony Schumacher (ISFDB, Wikipedia), 1st in a series of mystery/suspense/espionage thrillers set in an alternate history where the Nazis were successful in their invasion of Britain, and as of 1946 a British detective has to work with the SS, similar to Len Deighton's excellent and recommended SS-GB, which is also incidentally still on sale for $1.99 as part of Kobo's Killer Crime Club promotion on mystery/thrillers mostly from the Big 5 publishers at $4.99 or under, which incidentally ends today (so perhaps the prices will be going up shortly afterwards).

I really liked SS-GB, so while this is a little pricier than I normally like to spend on a totally unknown-to-me newbie author who's not already wishlisted to try (and not from a small specialty press where I'm willing to go a bit higher to support their endeavours) and doesn't have any award noms or previously-established rep, it's down from $12 CAD and Wikipedia says the series (now up to book #3) was generally well-received. So hopefully it works out, and will be interesting to compare to other such WWII alternate history mystery/thrillers such as Robert Harris' Fatherland and Jo Walton's Small Change trilogy.

A crackling, highly imaginative thriller debut in the vein of W.E.B. Griffin and Philip Kerr, set in German-occupied London at the close of World War II, in which a hardened British detective jeopardizes his own life to save an innocent soul and achieve the impossible—redemption.

London, 1946. The Nazis have conquered the British, and now occupy Great Britain, using brutality and fear to control its citizens. John Henry Rossett, a decorated British war hero and former police sergeant, has been reassigned to the Office of Jewish Affairs. He now answers to the SS, one of the most powerful and terrifying organizations in the Third Reich.

Rossett is a man accustomed to obeying commands, but he’s now assigned a job he did not ask for—and cannot refuse: rounding up Jews for deportation, including men and women he’s known his whole life. But they are not the only victims, for the war took Rossett’s wife and son, and shattered his own humanity.

Then he finds Jacob, a young Jewish child, hiding in an abandoned building, who touches something in Rossett that he thought was long dead.

Determined to save the innocent boy, Rossett takes him on the run, with the Nazis in pursuit. But they are not the only hunters following his trail. The Royalist Resistance and the Communists want him, too. Each faction has its own agenda, and Rossett will soon learn that none of them can be trusted . . . and all of them are deadly.

[sufue]

Paragon Walk is the third in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series by Anne Perry. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US (couponable/VIPable).

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Paragon-Walk-...dp/B0052ZDW8A/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/paragon-walk

Spoiler:

The stylish gentlemen of London’s Paragon Walk are suspects in a novel that “combines murder with a profile of the morals and manners of Victorian society” (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution).

When innocent Fanny Nash of exclusive Paragon Walk dies in the arms of her exquisite sister-in-law, Jessamyn, Inspector Pitt is assigned to investigate her rape and murder. Every man of Paragon Walk is under suspicion, even Pitt’s brother-in-law, Lord George Ashworth, who was the last to have seen her. Could it be the charming, enigmatic Frenchman? Fanny’s cruel brother? Wealthy Dilbridge, who hosts wild, decadent parties? As Pitt digs deeper into the mystery, Paragon Walk’s aristocratic haughtiness gives way to fear, its calm to hatred.

To keep her sister Emily, Lady Ashworth, company in this difficult time, inquisitive Charlotte once again finds herself in the midst of a deadly mystery. In the drawing rooms of her sister’s neighbors, Charlotte engages in witty and sharp-edged conversations that reveal unsavory intrigues and bitter rivalries. On Paragon Walk, Charlotte’s probing despite Thomas’s warnings may prove fatal.

[ATDrake]

X-link to the Kobo discounts thread which has a couple of weekend sales in Canada with a generous selection of mystery/thrillers, with some prices matched elsewhere, and others not.

Also, bargains @ £0.99-£2.99 in the UK from Hachette's acquisition Little, Brown, and Company's Sphere imprint (not couponable, and IIRC most of these authors are out from different publishers overseas):

• Assorted titles from British author Peter Lovesey (SYKM, Wikipedia; published by Soho in North America), recipient of a Diamond Dagger and Agatha Lifetime Achievement Award. I counted 3 £0.99 novels, and at least 8 £1.99 ones on the first page alone.
• All the available volumes of Charles Finch's (SYKM, Wikipedia) Charles Lenox series starring a Victorian gentleman sleuth. 1st-in-series is £0.99 and an Agatha Best First Novel finalist, 2 more at £1.99, rest of them at £2.99
• Assorted titles by Rick Riordan (SYKM, Wikipedia), best known for the Percy Jackson YA fantasy series. These are in his Tres Navarre series starring a tai chi master PI in Texas, which have a lot of award noms on SYKM. 5 novels at £0.99, and at least 2 at £1.99 (it looks like this might be the entire series), and his Percy Jackson books are also on sale.
• Assorted titles in the late Warren Murphy (SYKM, Wikipedia) & Richard Sapir's (SYKM, Wikipedia) popular The Destroyer series of action thrillers. 6 @ £0.99, plus at least 2 1/2 more pages' worth at £1.99. Also the 1st novel in his separate Trace series from a different publisher is a long-term freebie (and DRM-free as well).
• Pseudonymous British academic Susanna Gregory (SYKM, Wikipedia) has only 1 book each at the £0.99 (1st-in-series for 14th century England) and £1.99 mark (6th for 17th century spy). The rest are considerably pricier.
• Canadian author Louise Penny (SYKM, Wikipedia) has just the £0.99 1st-in-series Still Life for her multiple award-winning Armand Ganache series set in Quebec. This won 5 awards (3 Best First Novel), and was a finalist for the Best Novel of the Decade Barry, according to SYKM.
• For £1.99, award-winning Danish author Sara Blædel's (SYKM, Wikipedia) Louise Rick 2nd-in-series Blue Blood (aka Call Me Princess in other markets; the 1st has not been translated yet) starring a detective inspector and her journalist friend in Copenhagen. This was on my wishlist to try after having picked up a further-in-series volume during another sale, especially since this one doesn't appear to be available as an e-book in North America, although my library is pretty good about getting in paper copies of UK releases. For comparison purposes, the next-available title is £4.99.

[sufue]

The Silver Pigs is the first in the excellent (IMO) Falco series by Lindsey Davis. It has dropped to £1.99 at Kindle UK.

link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silver-Pigs...dp/B004NBZFT8/

Spoiler:

One of the Roman novels from the bestselling historical fiction Falco series.

Discover one of the world's favourite detectives, as his first case leads him into conspiracy, murder and adventure ...

In 1989 THE SILVER PIGS introduced the world to laid-back first-century detective Marcus Didius Falco, his partner Helena Justina, his law and order pal Petronius, and his indomitable Mother - who became some of the most celebrated characters in historical fiction.

Now reissued in a special new edition to celebrate publication of Falco's twentieth investigation, THE SILVER PIGS sees Falco cynically eyeing up the new Roman emperor, Vespasian. Our hero, a private informer, rescues a young girl in trouble and is catapulted into a dangerous game involving stolen imperial ingots, a dark political plot and, most hazardous of all, a senator's daughter connected to the traitors Falco has sworn to expose ...