Free/Bargain Mystery/Suspense/Thriller January 2014

[pdurrant]

A thread for January.

We point out free and bargain Mystery/Suspense/Thriller titles to each other. Please don't post any self-published books*, and please do a search before posting to avoid duplicates.

Be aware that many freebies are only free for a day, so grab them fast!



*Unless you have read them yourself, think they are excellent, and you're not connected to the author in any way.

[Fbone]

The Constant Gardener by John le Carre [Simon & Schuster] is $1.99 at Amazon and possibly other retailers.

http://www.amazon.com/Constant-Garde...stant+gardener

Frightening, heartbreaking, and exquisitely calibrated, John le Carré's new novel opens with the gruesome murder of the young and beautiful Tessa Quayle near northern Kenya's Lake Turkana, the birthplace of mankind. Her putative African lover and traveling companion, a doctor with one of the aid agencies, has vanished from the scene of the crime. Tessa's much older husband, Justin, a career diplomat at the British High Commission in Nairobi, sets out on a personal odyssey in pursuit of the killers and their motive.

[pdurrant]

Two Judge Dee short stories by Robert van Gulik are available for free from the University of Chicago Press

"For more than fifty years, readers have enjoyed Robert van Gulik’s acclaimed detective mysteries featuring Judge Dee—magistrate, inquisitor, and public avenger—based on a famous statesman of the Tang Dynasty. Two Judge Dee mystery short stories form our free e-book for January, Murder in Ancient China."

[cromag]

Thanks! Just got the email on this myself! I've been a fan of the Judge Dee stories for years.

EDIT: The epub file from the U. Chicago link is DRM-free, and I suspect the prc file is, as well. If you prefer, it's also free at Amazon.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Two Judge Dee short stories by Robert van Gulik are available for free from the University of Chicago Press

"For more than fifty years, readers have enjoyed Robert van Gulik’s acclaimed detective mysteries featuring Judge Dee—magistrate, inquisitor, and public avenger—based on a famous statesman of the Tang Dynasty. Two Judge Dee mystery short stories form our free e-book for January, Murder in Ancient China."

Also free at Amazon UK.

[Lynx-lynx]

Kobo Aus has Conrad Allen's Murder on (various ships) series at $2.99 and discountable (various codes available in the Kobo Discounts thread).

Murder on the Lusitania
(Book 1)

September 1907. George Porter Dillman sets sail from Liverpool on the Lusitania's maiden voyage. Hired by the ship's captain to pose as a passenger, George is in fact a private detective for the Cunard Line.

In the first days of his voyage, George only has to deal with a few petty crimes. But then an expensive piece of jewelry is reported stolen and a body is found.

Working quickly to solve both crimes, George makes an unusual friend, Genevieve Masefield, and the two uncover secrets aboard the ship that prove explosive.

Apparently Conrad Allen is a pseudonym used by Keith Miles, an English author, who also writes under his own name and also historical fiction and mystery novels under the pseudonym Edward Marston.

[Lynx-lynx]

Kobo Aus has Ruth Dudley's

Corridors of Death Robert Amiss Mystery, Book 6
$1.05 and discountable

Life in a dismal bureaucratic cul-de-sac is not what Robert Amiss expects when the British civil service lends him for a year to the British Conservation Corporation. In fact, he finds himself condemned to a non-job in a backwater, managing disgruntled and demoralized time-servers who deeply resent him.

Morale is not improved by the arrival of Melissa, a radical feminist lesbian separatist. Only Amiss’s sense of humour and the joys of visiting Rachel, his new love in Paris, keep him sane.

The malice, envy and anger that burgeons among the filing cabinets is first expressed in pettiness and then in unpleasant practical jokes. Then it escalates and finally culminates in callous murder by means of boxes of poisoned chocolates sent to the bureaucrats’ wives.

With the help of Ellis Pooley, a young detective obsessed with fictional sleuths, Amiss and his friend, Superintendent Milton, search for motives in an office where marital discord and broken dreams might drive anyone to murder.

[Mort1997]

Free today on Amazon - Magic Mirror by Michaela Thompson

'SACRE BLEU! THEY KILLED A MAN FOR A MIRROR!
Florida transplant Georgia Lee Maxwell doesn't take to Paris at first, despite the fact that she's at least leaving a no-good man and a hated job as a society editor. Now she's a Paris correspondent, thank you very much—a dream come true for any journalist.
There's just a slight down side—she arrives in freezing rain, gets caught in a traffic jam caused by a bomb scare, and hates her apartment; but the real Bonjour is finding herself face down on a museum floor during a robbery. "Killed for a boring story!" she thinks. But as it happens, she isn't the one who dies. Three terrifying masked gunmen shoot the unfortunate security guard.
They could have stolen all the treasures of Monte Cristo's cave, so to speak, but it turns out they've made off with only a mirror. True, it once belonged to the French seer Nostradamus, but it may be the museum's least valuable item.

Does it have some prophetic ability? Does someone know something the gendarmes don't? Here's what Georgia Lee knows: If she finds out first, she's a journalistic hero. If she doesn't, she's dead.
Michaela Thompson's ability to bring alive a locale shines here, and when the locale is Paris, what's not to like? The writing is crisp, the protagonist witty, and the mystery is twisty. A great choice for armchair travelers! Also for fans of Cara Black, Michael Bond, and of course, the great Georges Simenon. Admirers of Hank Phillippi Ryan and the HBO show, THE NEWSROOM, will love the journalistic background.

UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Magic-Mirror...02265&sr=1-345

US
http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Mirror-P...02265&sr=1-345

[Mort1997]

Free today on Amazon - The Dangerous Truth about Mad Catwomen (Tales of ice-cream and espionage) by J M Salisbury

'How much can you ever know about the people you see every day? We all make assumptions based on a first glancing impression. If you were a killer, or a victim, or both – where would you hide? In the shadows, or in the full light of day where no-one feels a need to dig deeper to see the truth behind your public face.
Winciette Jenkins is an ice-cream lady, a middle-aged woman with a cat, polite, friendly, invisible. And that’s just how she wants to be. Because Winciette Jenkins is really Etta Bishop, ex-spy and trained assassin hiding in plain sight from the Met, from MI5, from the fear of vengeance creeping up on her in the dead of the night.
But the past is out looking for her, and when it traces her to her safe haven in Widegate Bay she must decide whether to leap to safety, or to turn and fight with out-stretched claws and teeth bared. En route she picks up unlikely allies. Danny, a teenage boy battered and abused by his drug-fuelled mother; Ted Hicks, chairman of the Beach Hut Association; Jack, a mysterious ex-soldier who runs a tea-hut on the cliffs.
Together they face the danger that threatens Widegate Bay, Winciette and the family that grows from the dysfunctional group of individuals that surround her. '


UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dangerous-Tr...02620&sr=1-208

US
http://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Trut...02620&sr=1-208

[Mort1997]

Free today on Amazon - PRETTY GIRLS MAKE GRAVES by John Yorvik

'On a wild night out Lishman seduces the beautiful Natasha Rok. Three days later, news of Natasha’s murder is splashed all over the newspapers and Lishman is the prime suspect. Lishman, unable to remember much about the drunken night of passion, makes a snap decision to run. He becomes a fugitive hiding out on the backstreets of London, hunted through underground tunnels and canal networks. With the help of Dani, an edgy female photographer friend, he ventures into the murky world of East End gangs and conspiracy theories to unravel the mystery behind Natasha’s death and try to save himself. '

UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/PRETTY-GIRLS...02871&sr=1-226

US (pricing not available)
http://www.amazon.com/PRETTY-GIRLS-G...02871&sr=1-226

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Mort1997

Free today on Amazon - PRETTY GIRLS MAKE GRAVES by John Yorvik

'On a wild night out Lishman seduces the beautiful Natasha Rok. Three days later, news of Natasha’s murder is splashed all over the newspapers and Lishman is the prime suspect. Lishman, unable to remember much about the drunken night of passion, makes a snap decision to run. He becomes a fugitive hiding out on the backstreets of London, hunted through underground tunnels and canal networks. With the help of Dani, an edgy female photographer friend, he ventures into the murky world of East End gangs and conspiracy theories to unravel the mystery behind Natasha’s death and try to save himself. '

UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/PRETTY-GIRLS...02871&sr=1-226

US (pricing not available)
http://www.amazon.com/PRETTY-GIRLS-G...02871&sr=1-226

It's free in the U.S.A.

However, according to one reviewer, he couldn't put it down. This leads to two issues:


1) Those awkward moments in the bathroom.
2) How to hold the next book, if you're still holding the earlier book.

Because of these reasons, I've decided to pass on this one.

Thank you.

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

It's free in the U.S.A.

However, according to one reviewer, he couldn't put it down. This leads to two issues:


1) Those awkward moments in the bathroom.
2) How to hold the next book, if you're still holding the earlier book.

Because of these reasons, I've decided to pass on this one.

Thank you.

Indeed .... Makes scratching quite a complicated task

[cromag]

Ummm ... you're reading on an ereader, right? I hold hundreds of books in one hand, no problem. (well, sanitary, perhaps, but no worse than reading one paper book!)

[sufue]

Originally Posted by Lynx-lynx

Kobo Aus has Ruth Dudley's

Corridors of Death Robert Amiss Mystery, Book 6
$1.05 and discountable

I think this is actually the first in the series, not the sixth, IMS. This is a wonderful series (IMO) if you like dry British humor. Ruth Dudley Edwards is also a noted journalist, including writing for the Economist, and although I don't really much agree with her politics, which do bleed through a bit into these stories, they are still hilariously awesome - especially for the send-ups of various hallowed UK and US institutions.

At least in the US, Edwards' mystery series is published by Poisoned Pen Press, which has many of the first books in many of the series they publish available either heavily discounted or free. This MR thread (link) is a little old but lists many of the Poisoned Pen Press authors and books.

[Fbone]

Bumps in the Night- Creepy Campfire Tales by Mark Leslie is still free using code STARKSHORT at Kobo [Stark Publishing].

http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebo...s-in-the-night

BUMPS IN THE NIGHT is a collection of four short stories perfect for either sharing around a campfire or reading while on a vacation or sleepover. It contains two brief tales ideal for after dark storytelling, drawing upon classic motifs captured within campfire tales for generations, as well as two longer stories which inspire similar chills but allow the reader (or listener) to get drawn deeper into the frightening circumstances that unfold.