Free and Bargain Mystery/Suspense/Thriller Ebooks October 2012

[NightBird]

Anyone interested can post their finds here. Please do a search before posting to avoid duplication, and please try not to post self-pubs. Thanks.

Books listed in my posts are from Amazon US unless otherwise indicated.

[NightBird]

More Robert W. Walker freebies:

PSI:Blue

PEOPLE ARE DISAPPEARING IN PHOENIX

Psychic detective Rae Hiyakawa is the FBI's secret weapon. As she thwarts horrendous crimes, she struggles to keep ahead of her estranged ex and her child's rebellious nature--not to mention an IRS write-off turned nightmare.

Unable to reconcile with either he bank books or her dead father's ghost, Rae is one hundred percent ON when she makes "blue sense hits" for the Bureau's PSU Unti.

However, Rae's powers have never been used in the field. Until now. She must push herself to the limit in order to save helpless vicitms from a maniac who has an eerie sense that someone can see him...

Primal Instinct

While vacationing in Hawaii, forensic pathologist Dr. Jessica Coran is ordered to assist in the urgent investigation of a local serial killer.

They call him the Trade Winds Killer. His prey are young, beautiful Hawaiian women. His weapon is a long, razor-sharp blade used to cut sugar cane. His work is slow, precise, ritualistic. almost religious.

Jessica knows about serial killers. She's been close enough to feel their breath in her ear. And this one is luring her deeper into the underworld of Hawaii, to places she'd never dreamed existed. Where her FBI badge alone cannot protect her...

(This book is third in Robert W. Walker's Instinct series. It was originally published in paperback.)

Free Designed to Kill by Chester D. Campbell from Durban House. This is the second in his Greg MacKenzie series, after Secret of the Scroll, about "retired Air Force Office of Special Investigations agent Greg McKenzie and his wife Jill."

Fantastic Fiction

It's no vacation that brings Greg McKenzie and his wife, Jill, to the glistening white sand beaches at Perdido Key, FL. Architect Tim Gannon, son of the McKenzies' closest friends, is fouind dead of a gunshot wound. Self-inflicted, says the deputy who investigated, a clear case of remorse over a design flaw in a beachfront condo that caused a balcony collapse, killing two people. It looks otherwise to Greg and Jill, who find plans missing, an obstinate contractor, a too-slick developer, and an inspector angry over a disrupted love affair. After two hoods work him over, Greg realizes Jill is in danger, too, and if this is a murder case, he had better solve it without delay.

The other books in the series are $2.99 each.

Geraldine Evans has been publishing her backlist in ebook format (previously published in paper by Severn House). Bad Blood is free from 10/1 to 10/5, according to her website. Also free on Amazon UK.

ABOUT THE SERIES

DI Joe Rafferty, working-class lapsed Catholic, is cursed by coming from a family who think - if he must be a copper - he might at least have the decency to be a bent one. When you add the middle-class, moralistic intellectual DS Dafyd Llewellyn to the brew the result is murder with plenty of laughs.

BOOK BLURB

Investigating the murder of wealthy widow Clara Mortimer, estranged from her family and living alone in an upmarket sheltered apartment, Rafferty t fears his own family estrangement. Because when Abra, his girlfriend, said she might be pregnant, his reaction wasn’t exactly New Man…

Between the grudges of Clara’s estranged family and those of her adoptive ‘family’ – the other apartment residents – Rafferty has suspects and questions in plenty. Why had the sensible Clara Mortimer chosen to open her door to a burglar, for instance? When he considers the awful lies her family tells, how can he not conclude they have something to hide?

[Dr. Drib]

ACK! Not another Walker! --- Then, when I checked, I found I already had it! -- The horror! The horror!

I was really interested Chester D. Campbell's book and was ready to download it, until I saw this plug:

"A thoroughly enjoyable mystery with an intelligent plot, clever clues, and characters like people you know." -- Philip Margolin, New York Times Bestselling Author

I was looking for a book that was dumb as a doorknob, with clues all over the place like ink spilled on a white carpet. And God help me if there are characters like people I know, since all my friends - both male and female - are currently enrolled in a crochet class! --

Well, I guess it's back to Michael Avallone and the wonderfully inept Ed Noon - super stud private eye.



Don

[NightBird]

LOL - You are really cracking me up. Especially since I found this:

Robert W. Walker mystery freebies on Amazon.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by NightBird

LOL - You are really cracking me up. Especially since I found this:

Robert W. Walker mystery freebies on Amazon.

Yes, I admit I have a whole truckload of Walker titles - except for the infamous one that garnered such horrible reviews. I refuse to download that one.



Don

[NightBird]

From the new crop of 100 Kindle Books for $3.99 or less:

What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman for $1.99. Also $1.99 at Kobo and B&N.

I highly recommend this. The book contains many what seem like annoying side trips along the way, but they all come together as relevant in the end.

Thirty years ago two sisters disappeared from a shopping mall. Their bodies were never found and those familiar with the case have always been tortured by these questions: How do you kidnap two girls? Who—or what—could have lured the two sisters away from a busy mall on a Saturday afternoon without leaving behind a single clue or witness?

Now a clearly disoriented woman involved in a rush-hour hit-and-run claims to be the younger of the long-gone Bethany sisters. But her involuntary admission and subsequent attempt to stonewall investigators only deepens the mystery. Where has she been? Why has she waited so long to come forward? Could her abductor truly be a beloved Baltimore cop? There isn't a shred of evidence to support her story, and every lead she gives the police seems to be another dead end—a dying, incoherent man, a razed house, a missing grave, and a family that disintegrated long ago, torn apart not only by the crime but by the fissures the tragedy revealed in what appeared to be the perfect household.

In a story that moves back and forth across the decades, there is only one person who dares to be skeptical of a woman who wants to claim the identity of one Bethany sister without revealing the fate of the other. Will he be able to discover the truth?

Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates. (Despite the title, not really about zombies - lol). $1.99. Also $1.99 at Kobo and B&N

Meet Quentin P.

He is a problem for his professor father and his loving mother, though of course they do not believe the charge (sexual molestation of a minor) that got him in that bit of trouble.

He is a challenge for his court-appointed psychiatrist, who nonetheless is encouraged by the increasingly affirmative quality of his dreams and his openness in discussing them.

He is a thoroughly sweet young man for his wealthy grandmother, who gives him more and more, and can deny him less and less.

He is the most believable and thoroughly terrifying sexual psychopath and killer ever to be brought to life in fiction, as Joyce Carol Oates achieves her boldest and most brilliant triumph yet—a dazzling work of art that extends the borders of the novel into the darkest heart of truth.

Wonder Audio/Ebooks has some interesting new noir out at Fictionwise. There is a compendium of 7 authors with 3 stories and/or novellas each for $4.24, or $3.60 for Buywise members this week with the 15% discount. With the 45% off coupon available now, code 092812, that brings the prices down to $2.33 or $1.98. These are all multiformat.


Noir Masters Triple Threat Treasury.

The authors:

EDWARD D. HOCH
FRANK KANE
HAL ELLSON
ED LACY
ART CROCKETT
BRYCE WALTON
RICHARD S. PRATHER

TOC:

Spoiler:

EDWARD D. HOCH

INTRODUCTION

LAYOUT FOR MURDER

LOVELY LADY OF LUST

DRIVE MY HEARST, DARLING!


HAL ELLSON

INTRODUCTION

BIG TROUBLE
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

PROTECTION
DANGEROUS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.


ART CROCKETT

INTRODUCTION

T.N.T. TEMPTRESS!

REQUIEM FOR A HOOD

CARNIVAL OF LUST


ED LACY

INTRODUCTION

MASK OF TERROR

DEATH BY THE NUMBERS

THE DEATH OF EL INDIO
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V

FRANK KANE

INTRODUCTION

THE KILLING
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
FINISH THE JOB
KEY WITNESS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.


BRYCE WALTON

INTRODUCTION

WHO KILLED HELEN?

SHORTCUT

TIME TO KILL


RICHARD S. PRATHER

INTRODUCTION

THE BEST MOTIVE

THE SPIRIT OF THE CONVENTION

SQUEEZE PLAY

The individual authors with their 3 stories are also available at $.99 or $.84, with coupon $.54 or $.46. These are the same stories as in the Treasury.


See the rest here https://store.fictionwise.com/servlet/mw#booklist

[NightBird]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Yes, I admit I have a whole truckload of Walker titles - except for the infamous one that garnered such horrible reviews. I refuse to download that one.



Don

Ah - I just thought your memory was as bad as mine as to what books I had.

[NightBird]

Shatter by Michael Robotham is $2.99 at Amazon, B&N, and Kobo. This is the third book in his Joseph O'Loughlin clinical psychologist series and is from Hachette.

Joe O'Loughlin is in familiar territory-standing on a bridge high above a flooded gorge, trying to stop a distraught woman from jumping. "You don't understand," she whispers, and lets go. Joe is haunted by his failure to save the woman, until her teenage daughter finds him and reveals that her mother would never have committed suicide-not like that. She was terrified of heights.

What could have driven her to commit such a desperate act? Whose voice? What evil?

Having devoted his career to repairing damaged minds, Joe must now confront an adversary who tears them apart. With pitch-perfect dialogue, believable characters, and astonishingly unpredictable plot twists, Shatter is guaranteed to keep even the most avid thriller readers riveted long into the night.

[NightBird]

Cold Vengeance by Preston and Child is $2.99 at Amazon and B&N (down from $12.99). This is #11 in the Agent Pendergast series.

B&N

Devastated by the discovery that his wife, Helen, was murdered, Special Agent Pendergast must have retribution. But revenge is not simple. As he stalks his wife's betrayers-a chase that takes him from the wild moors of Scotland to the bustling streets of New York City and the darkest bayous of Louisiana-he is also forced to dig further into Helen's past. And he is stunned to learn that Helen may have been a collaborator in her own murder.

Peeling back the layers of deception, Pendergast realizes that the conspiracy is deeper, goes back generations, and is more monstrous than he could have ever imagined-and everything he's believed, everything he's trusted, everything he's understood . . . may be a horrific lie.

[Critteranne]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

ACK! Not another Walker! --- Then, when I checked, I found I already had it! -- The horror! The horror!

Oh noooo! You're going to get into soooo much trouble for saying that.


I bought Walker's first novel, Dr. O, a bizarre serial killer novel. My review on Amazon said it was either a parody or a blatant rip-off of Silence of the Lambs. Walker responded to my review and said I was smarter than his publisher and the book's multiple editors. Yes, it was meant to be a parody, and when he realized the editors weren't paying attention, he started throwing in more and more bizarre things. Like two female FBI agents hopping into bed together, and a weird penis scene in a bar. I've forgotten the penis scene. Luckil mit's available for the Kindle...

I often get annoyed when authors respond to negative reviews, but Walker's post was informative and self-deprecating. OTOH I haven't succumbed to his book on writing now available in the Kindle store. (He tells budding authors to proofread their work, but he has typos in the sample. Maybe that was to make sure I was paying attention... )

[NightBird]

Trunk Music by Michael Connnelly is $2.99 (down from $7.99). This is #5 in the Harry Bosch series.

B&N

Kobo

Back on the job after an involuntary leave of absence, LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch is ready for a challenge. But his first case is a little more than he bargained for.


It starts with the body of a Hollywood producer in the trunk of a Rolls-Royce, shot twice in the head at close range - what looks like "trunk music," a Mafia hit. But the LAPD's organized crime unit is curiously uninterested, and when Harry follows a trail of gambling debts to Las Vegas, the case suddenly becomes more complex - and much more personal.


A rekindled romance with an old girlfriend opens new perspectives on the murder, and he begins to glimpse a shocking triangle of corruption and collusion. Yanked off the case, Harry himself is soon the one being investigated. But only a bullet can stop Harry when he's searching for the truth . . .

[melmac]

Wow Nightbird so many good bargains today you are sooo tempting me but I have so much already to read !

[NightBird]

Originally Posted by melmac

Wow Nightbird so many good bargains today you are sooo tempting me but I have so much already to read !

LOL - I'm in the same spot!

The Butcher's Granddaughter by Michael Lion is free from New Pulp Press.

They call him Bird. He makes his living by understanding how Los Angeles operates after the sun goes down. When a French-Vietnamese transplant named Li Nguyen approaches Bird and asks him to protect her sister Song from a jealous boyfriend, Bird reluctantly agrees. But it doesn’t take long for Bird to realize that Song’s troubles go much deeper than a little domestic dispute.

As the bodies start to pile up, Bird finds himself entrenched in a labyrinth of familial rivalries and resentments. From the mean streets of Los Angeles to the slums of Honolulu, it will take all of Bird’s cunning to avoid meeting his own bloody fate.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Critteranne

Oh noooo! You're going to get into soooo much trouble for saying that.


I bought Walker's first novel, Dr. O, a bizarre serial killer novel. My review on Amazon said it was either a parody or a blatant rip-off of Silence of the Lambs. Walker responded to my review and said I was smarter than his publisher and the book's multiple editors. Yes, it was meant to be a parody, and when he realized the editors weren't paying attention, he started throwing in more and more bizarre things. Like two female FBI agents hopping into bed together, and a weird penis scene in a bar. I've forgotten the penis scene. Luckil mit's available for the Kindle...

I often get annoyed when authors respond to negative reviews, but Walker's post was informative and self-deprecating. OTOH I haven't succumbed to his book on writing now available in the Kindle store. (He tells budding authors to proofread their work, but he has typos in the sample. Maybe that was to make sure I was paying attention... )

I enjoyed your Tales of the Walker [above] - fun reading

I don't believe I have 'Dr. O,' which sounds intriguing. I'll have to pick it up when it's free. All of his books are going to be free at some time or another. Hey! He's an Indie writer, isn't he!?

Perhaps his book on writing (which I do have) is a parody on writing - but no one is yet smart enough to realize that...hmmmmm.

Well, back to resorting my thousands of Indie books, this time by the third letter of each title.




Don

[apesmom]

Amazon has Two Graves by Preston & Child as a $2.99 pre-order.
Release date is 12-11-12.
This is the next Agent Pendergast novel.

After his wife, Helen, is brazenly abducted before his eyes, Special Agent Pendergast furiously pursues the kidnappers, chasing them across the country and into Mexico. But then, things go terribly, tragically wrong; the kidnappers escape; and a shattered Pendergast retreats to his New York apartment and shuts out the world.
But when a string of bizarre murders erupts across several Manhattan hotels--perpetrated by a boy who seems to have an almost psychic ability to elude capture--NYPD Lieutenant D'Agosta asks his friend Pendergast for help. Reluctant at first, Pendergast soon discovers that the killings are a message from his wife's kidnappers. But why a message? And what does it mean?
When the kidnappers strike again at those closest to Pendergast, the FBI agent, filled anew with vengeful fury, sets out to track down and destroy those responsible. His journey takes him deep into the trackless forests of South America, where he ultimately finds himself face to face with an old evil that-rather than having been eradicated-is stirring anew... and with potentially world-altering consequences.
Confucius once said: "Before you embark on a journey of revenge, first dig two graves." Pendergast is about to learn the hard way just how true those words still ring.

Edited: Also at B&N