FREE/BARGAIN — Mystery, Suspense & Thrillers

[sufue]

The Case of the Deadly Butter Chicken is the third in the Vish Puri series by Tarquin Hall. It's $1.99 right now in the US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0061Q6BE6
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the...tter-chicken-2

Spoiler:

Dubbed “a wonderfully engaging P.I.” (The Times, London), Tarquin Hall’s irresistible protagonist Vish Puri has become an international favorite through a series that “splendidly evokes the color and bustle of Delhi and the tang of contemporary India” (Seattle Times). Now the gormandizing, spectacularly mustachioed sleuth finds himself facing down his greatest fears in an explosive case involving the Indian and Pakistani mafias.

When the elderly father of a top Pakistani cricketer playing in a new multimillion-dollar cricket league dies frothing at the mouth during a post-match dinner, it’s not a simple case of Delhi Belly. His butter chicken has been poisoned. To solve the case, Puri must penetrate the region’s organized crime, following a trail that leads deep into Pakistan—the country in which many members of the P.I.’s family were massacred during the 1947 partition of India. The last piece of the puzzle, however, turns up closer to home when Puri learns of the one person who can identify the killer. Unfortunately it is the one person in the world with whom he has sworn never to work: his Mummy-ji.

With riotously entertaining prose, a boisterous cast of characters, and a pitch-perfect sense of place, Tarquin Hall has crafted a gripping whodunit that takes us deep into Indian history and society. He brings a hugely appealing culture to life with all its sights, sounds, smells, foods, and complexity. As the title implies, The Case of the Deadly Butter Chicken is a succulent read by a writer at the top of his game.

[sufue]

Two fairly recent Eve Dallas books by JD Robb are $2.99 each in the US today.

Leverage in Death, #47
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078X1YCM2
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/leverage-in-death

Golden in Death, #50
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QPJQ45S
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/golden-in-death

[sufue]

Three books in the latter half of Lawrence Block's Bernie Rhodenbarr/Burglar series are on sale right now in the US for $1.99 each. There were/are also some omnibuses of Burglar books available in the UK for nice prices, so if you ever travel, check carefully before you buy these individual ones.

The Burglar in the Library, #8
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000SEI1FO
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the...in-the-library

The Burglar in the Rye, #9
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000UKOMW2
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-burglar-in-the-rye

The Burglar on the Prowl, #10
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000UMN7DU
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the...r-on-the-prowl

And the omnibuses from the UK:

The Bernie Rhodenbarr Mysteries: Volume One (£1.99, a really good deal) contains the first five Burglar books: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005HVR8AM

The Bernie Rhodenbarr Mysteries: Volume Two (£4.99, still a really good deal) contains the second five Burglar titles: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00654KMGC/

[sufue]

Death Takes Passage is the fourth in Sue Henry's Jessie Arnold/Alex Jensen series based in Alaska. It's $1.99 right now in the US. I read most or all of these in DTB days, and have fond, if slightly fuzzy, memories of the series.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003V1WVVG
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/death-takes-passage

Spoiler:

History is repeating itself on hundred years later on Alaska's breathtaking Inside Passage. Re-creating the famous Voyage of 1897, the Spirit of '98 is setting sail from Skagway, Alaska, en route to Seattle, Washington, carrying two tons of Yukon gold. Alaska State Trooper Alex Jensen and his love, famous female "musher" Jessie Arnold, are among the excited participants. The Grim Reaper is a passenger as well.

Dressed in period coustoume, Gold Rush buff Alex Jensen is only too happy to be representing the Troopers on this historic journey through a giant maze of scenic straits, harbors, and inlets. But the strange disappearance -- and probable death -- of a crew member pulls Alex rudely back to the present. As the only law officer in the vicinity, it is now his duty to unravel a twisted skein of lies, greed, and lethal shipboard secrets -- before the Spirit's fateful encounter with murderers abroad a stolen ketch writes a grim new chapter in Alaska's history.

[sufue]

I remember reading The Poseidon Adventure by Paul Gallico back when I was a kid with a flashlight under the blankets. In, if I remember correctly, a Readers Digest condensed book version, since my parents subscribed to that. Now, several decades later, The Poseidon Adventure is $1.99 at Kindle US. I wonder if it would stand up to the passage of time.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H17HYYJ

It's also available via KU if you have that...

Spoiler:

The high-octane thriller that inspired the Academy Award–winning film: On a sinking cruise ship, passengers fight rising water—and each other—to survive.

On its maiden voyage, luxury ocean liner SS Poseidon is capsized by a massive undersea earthquake. A handful of survivors must fight for their lives—struggling to make it from the upper deck of the ship to the hull, the only part above water, before the ship sinks. Faced with rising water and the violence of desperate passengers and crewmembers, the group must do everything it can to survive—before time runs out. Adapted into an award-winning film by Irwin Allen, The Poseidon Adventure is a thrilling tale with timeless suspense and excitement.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by sufue

I remember reading The Poseidon Adventure by Paul Gallico back when I was a kid with a flashlight under the blankets. In, if I remember correctly, a Readers Digest condensed book version, since my parents subscribed to that. Now, several decades later, The Poseidon Adventure is $1.99 at Kindle US. I wonder if it would stand up to the passage of time.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H17HYYJ

It's also available via KU if you have that...

I cannot speak for the book, but the original movie does stand the test of time very well.

[ZodWallop]

Crossposted from horror, since the book is more a psychological thriller:

Koko by Peter Straub is $2 at Amazon (only?)

The current cover, in a word, sucks. Don't let that put you off an excellent book.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Ghost Story comes “an inspired thriller” (The Washington Post) about four Vietnam vets linked by a shattering secret and their global hunt to track down a brutal killer.

Koko. Only four men knew what it meant. Now they must stop it. They were Vietnam vets—a doctor, a lawyer, a working stiff, and a writer. Very different from each other, they are nonetheless linked by a shared history and a devastating secret. Now, they have been reunited and are about to embark on a quest that will take them from Washington, D.C., to the graveyards and fleshpots of the Far East to the human jungle of New York, searching for someone from the past who has risen from the darkness to kill and kill and kill.

A better cover:

[sufue]

Guess I'll find out some day, once it drifts to the top of my TBR pile. Which may not be until I retire

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I cannot speak for the book, but the original movie does stand the test of time very well.

[sufue]

Joffe’s Free Friday books this week include a thriller, a romance, and a Napoleonic-era historical novel. They are free today, and probably – but not certainly – through the weekend.

The thriller is The Patient, apa Beautiful Losers, which is the first in the Kim Slade series by EV Seymour.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTMNCL1P
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BTMNCL1P

Spoiler:

AN UNPUTDOWNABLE PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER WITH A BREATHTAKING TWIST.

Please note this was previously published as Beautiful Losers.

I have a scarred man who wants my help. Why won’t he take no for an answer? Now he’s sending weird gifts to my home. I don’t feel safe any more.

Some scars never heal . . .

I know I’m lucky. I have a stunning Cheltenham apartment. A charming weekend cottage in Devon. Chris, my partner, is kind and supportive. He loves me in spite of my scars — the result of a childhood incident I don’t talk about. Most of all, I love my job, helping young women with eating disorders.

But I can’t help everyone. As I tell Kyle Stannard. Kyle was once a top male model. Before he was left horrifically scarred in a random attack.

Kyle thinks we’re the same — but I can’t help him with his problems. It’s not my field.

But then creepy things start to happen. A box of chocolates shows up — but it’s not from Chris. A beautiful mirror is delivered to my home. But I didn’t order it. Silent phone calls in the dead of night.

It must be Kyle. He’s completely obsessed.

But the police don’t believe me. So I take matters into my own hands. I need to uncover Kyle’s secrets.

But the deeper I dig, the weirder it gets. What if Kyle isn’t my stalker?

What if the person who wants to destroy me lies much closer to home . . .

AN EXHILARATING BLEND OF DOMESTIC SUSPENSE AND NAIL-BITING TENSION WITH A SHATTERING FINAL TWIST.

The other two books are posted in their appropriate threads.

[sufue]

A few years later, Walking Shadows is $1.99 again in the US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078R4JCBJ
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/walking-shadows-7

Originally Posted by Tarana

{edited other books}

Walking Shadows - Faye Kellerman $1.99 Amazon, Kobo

{edited other books}

[GA Russell]

Popular Detective Magazine
September, 1951, issue

includes
Saint Overboard (novel)
by Leslie Charteris

$1.99

https://www.radioarchives.com/Popula...1_p/re1218.htm

[sufue]

Pay Dirt is the twenty-second and most recent (2024) in Sara Paretsky's VI Warshawski series. It's $1.99 right now in the US.

Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CC5X2MDR
Kobo UK: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/pay-dirt-13

Spoiler:

Legendary detective V.I. Warshawski uncovers a mystery with roots dating back to the Civil War in this edge-of-your-seat thriller from New York Times bestseller Sara Paretsky.

V .I. Warshawski is famous for her cool under fire, her intelligence, her humor, her unflinching courage, and her love of good coffee. But even the strongest people sometimes need a break to recharge, so her friends send her to Kansas for a weekend of college basketball where Angela, one of her protégées, is playing. And that’s where trouble finds V.I.

Sabrina, one of Angela’s roommates, disappears and V.I. agrees to try to find her. Finding a missing person in a city where she knows few people and doesn’t have her trusted contacts is hard, but not as hard as the brutally negative reaction to the detective from some of the locals. When V.I. finds Sabrina close to death in a remote house, she lands herself in the FBI’s crosshairs and faces a violent online backlash. The men running the county’s opioid distribution are also not happy.

Discovering a dead body in the same house a few days later, V.I. is pitched headlong into a local land-use battle with roots going back to the Civil War. She finds that today’s combatants are just as willing as opponents in the 1860s to kill to settle their differences.

V.I.’s survival depends on keeping one step ahead of players in a game she never intended to play, before the clock runs down.

[sufue]

Today's Big Deal at Kindle UK is 17 Lynda La Plante books on sale for £0.99 each. This is too many for me to list, but here's a link to the Big Deal webpage for 14 July 2024: https://www.amazon.co.uk/b/?_encodin...ode=4725112031

The books are scattered across several series, and a few non-series books as well.

[graycyn]

Originally Posted by sufue

Pay Dirt is the twenty-second and most recent (2024) in Sara Paretsky's VI Warshawski series. It's $1.99 right now in the US.

Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CC5X2MDR
Kobo UK: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/pay-dirt-13

Many thanks! I hit Kobo fast for this one. Was waiting on a library hold for the title, but at $1.99, happy to buy!

[sufue]

Another Sara Paretsky/VI Warshawski book on sale, but this time really old backlist (2005). Fire Sale is the twelfth in the series, and it's $1.99 right now in the US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000OVLILK
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/fire-sale-1

Spoiler:

A conscience can weigh a PI down more than the heaviest firearm—and get her into more trouble too. It’s that nagging conscience that makes V. I. Warshawski agree to fill in as coach for the girls’ basketball team at her South Chicago alma mater—which in turn leads her to the headquarters of By-Smart, the global retail empire where V. I. hopes to get some desperately needed funds for the struggling squad.

But conscience seems to be in short supply at By-Smart...with the exception of Billy Bysen, the earnest teenage grandson of the chain’s gruff, tightfisted founder. And when Billy disappears—along with a mysterious document much desired by By-Smart’s management team—V. I. is hurled onto a twisted, body-strewn path that runs through Chicago’s dirtiest places and reveals some of its dirtiest secrets...