FREE/BARGAIN - Mystery, Suspense, Thriller - 2015

[koland]

A thread for 2015:

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.

[ATDrake]

Free from the author via KDP Select @ Amazon:

Castle of Foxes by Alanna Knight (SYKM), a Victorian gothic suspense thriller originally out from Doubleday in 1981.

Tanya Durris, widowed after a theatre fire in Victorian London, unexpectedly inherits Devenick Castle, her late husband’s ancestral home in the ruggedly beautiful Scottish Highlands. It comes with a price - her own life. Haunted by her dead husband’s voice, Tanya struggles against ghostly horrors, while Lord Edward, Queen Victoria’s godson, and Gavin Duthie both want her love - or is it her inheritance? And which one is trying to kill her?

[Froide]

Happy 2015 everyone!

Excerpted from the Kindle for Samsung Free Selections thread:

They're here!

These are the January 2015 Samsung Book Deals selections from the Kindle store (in the order in which Amazon presented them). Click on Samsung Book Deals to learn how this works.

• My First Murder (The Maria Kallio Series Book 1)
  by Leena Lehtolainen (Author), Owen Witesman (Translator)
  
  Regular Kindle Price: $4.99
  Genres (from BN.com): Mystery & Crime, Peoples & Cultures - Fiction
  
  

  Book Description
  Publication Date: December 11, 2012
  
  Twenty-three-year-old law student Maria Kallio is recruited for a temporary position at the Helsinki police department. Sweet-faced but tough and hot-tempered, Maria faces pushback from her new squad – so when a young playboy is murdered at his family’s summer villa, the new detective is out to prove herself.
  
  Found floating facedown at the water’s edge after a night of partying, Tommi Pelatonen appears to have been murdered by one of his closest friends – but why? As Maria discovers, bitter passion and jealousy seethe under the placid surface of the group’s privileged, carefree lifestyle. As Maria uncovers the victim’s unsavory secrets, motives for all seven suspects come to light. Now it’s up to her to untangle the clues before the killer strikes again.
  
  The first book in Leena Lehtolainen’s international bestselling Nordic crime series starring Detective Maria Kallio, My First Murder serves up murder with a slice of life in the Finnish upper crust.

• Shattered Souls (A Caitlyn O'Connell Novel Book 1)
  by Delilah Devlin
  
  Regular Kindle Price $3.99
  Genres (from BN.com): Mystery & Crime, Romance, Science Fiction & Fantasy
  
  

  Book Description
  Publication Date: January 29, 2013
  
  From popular author Delilah Devlin comes the unforgettable heroine, Caitlyn O’Connell—a psychic ex-cop who’s hell-bent on redemption.
  
  Caitlyn O’Connell had it all: a career with the Memphis PD, a passionate marriage, and the satisfaction that her work made a difference in the world. But she also had a secret, a supernatural “gift” that cost her everything. Now she scrapes by as a private investigator, taking cases the cops won’t touch and counting down the minutes until happy hour.
  
  But when Sam Pierce, her former partner and estranged ex-husband, comes to her for help with a bizarre murder case, Cait can’t say no. And not just because Sam is still as irresistibly sexy as he was on the day they met. Something sinister—and demonic—is terrorizing Memphis, leaving a bloody trail of bodies and clues only Cait can read. Together she and Sam will venture into a dark world of magic and unholy terror, hunting a killer who will lead them to the brink of reality as they know it—and back into the thrall of their stormy past. Steamy and suspenseful, Shattered Souls is the pulse-quickening new offering from fan favorite romance author Delilah Devlin.

• Downard-Facing Death (A Matt Bolster Yoga Mystery Book 1)
  by Neal Pollack
  
  Regular Kindle Price: $3.99
  Genres: Mystery & Crime, Fiction
  
  

  Book Description
  Publication Date: September 6, 2012
  
  Blessed with uncanny deductive skills and a blasé disregard for authority, Matt Bolster was a rising LAPD homicide detective by the age of thirty-five. He was also overworked, divorced, near-alcoholic, and miserable. Then, to impress a girl, he agreed to try yoga. And with a single savasana, everything changed.
  
  Now Bolster has traded his badge and gun for a scraggly beard and the life of an itinerant yoga teacher, dabbling in P.I. work to make rent. He mostly handles missing-persons cases, credit-card fraud – nothing too messy. But that’s before Ajoy Chaterjee, the billionaire founder of one of the world’s leading yoga-business empires, is found murdered inside his West L.A. flagship studio. Bolster knows the LAPD doesn’t have a prayer of cracking the secrets of the yoga world. But he does, and he really needs the dough.
  
  Of course, sticking to the principles of the yamas and niyamas during a murder investigation isn’t easy, especially with so many hot women among the suspects. But personal ethics will be the least of Bolster’s problems if the killer finds him first.
  
  Episode List
  This book was initially released in episodes as a Kindle Serial. All episodes are now available for immediate download as a complete book. Learn more about Kindle Serials.

[crich70]

A Murder of Mysteries: A Twenty-Novel eBook Bundle of Mystery and Suspense

Titles included in this collection:
Too Late to Die - by Bill Crider - Book 1 of the Dan Rhodes Mysteries
Death is a Cabaret - by Deborah Morgan - Book 1 of the Antique Lover's Mysteries
A. P. B. - by Dave Pedneau - Book 1 of the Whit Pynchon Mysteries
Switch - by William Bayer - Book 1 of the Janek Series
Blood Moon - by Ed Gorman - Book 1 of the Robert Payne Mystery Series
The Turner Journals - by Robert J. Randisi - Book 1 of the Detective McQueen Series
The Hanged Man - by T.J. MacGregor - Book 1 of the Mira Morales Series
Pink Vodka Blues - by Neal Barrett, Jr. - Book 1 of the Blues Series
Dead on the Island - by Bill Crider - Book 1 of the Truman Smith Mysteries
A Hard Day's Death - by Raymond Benson - Book 1 of the Spike Berenger Rock 'N' Roll Mysteries
Prophecy Rock - by Rob MacGregor - Book 1 of the Will Lansa Mysteries
The Changing - by T.M. Wright - Book 1 of the Biergarten Series
A Minor Case of Murder - by Jeff Markowitz - Book 1 of the Cassie O'Malley Mysteries
Sins of the Flash - by David Niall Wilson
Case File - by Bill Pronzini - part of the Bill Pronzini Mystery Collection
Rough Cut - by Ed Gorman - Book 1 of the Jack Dwyer Mystery Series
Murder, Sometimes - by Patricia Lee Macomber - Book 1 of the Jason Callahan Mysteries
Tango Key - by T.J. MacGregor - Book 1 of the Tango Key Mysteries
One Dead Dean - by Bill Crider - Book 1 of the Carl Burns Mysteries
Tangier - by William Bayer - Book 1 of the Foreign Detective Series

Amazon US And it's just $2.99 for a copy.

[sufue]

Originally Posted by crich70

A Murder of Mysteries: A Twenty-Novel eBook Bundle of Mystery and Suspense

Amazon US And it's just $2.99 for a copy.

Thanks, I was going to repost this from last year's thread and now it's already done!

[sufue]

Giving this a bump to the new thread as well, since it's good for most of January as well as part of last December:

Thirty-two books from the Saint series by Leslie Charteris are on sale at Amazon US for $1.99 through January 25:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho....php?p=3012362

[sufue]

A number of good Kindle US Countdown deals this New Year's Day:

Borderlines by Archer Mayor is the 2nd in the Joe Gunther series. It's at $0.99 for about two more days, before going up to $2.99. Mayor's books have been cycling through the Kindle Countdown, but I personally haven't caught this one on sale before.
link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C3CXZ14

Spoiler:

Lt. Joe Gunther is in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom investigating a minor embezzling case. It’s a pleasant distraction, and a chance to reconnect with old friends, but when a house fire reveals itself to be arson, compounded by murder, Gunther can’t help but investigate. Suddenly, he finds himself enmeshed in a web of animosity between put-upon townspeople, the state police, angry parents and members of a reclusive sect. Murder follows murder, yet no one seems to be telling Gunther the whole truth—not even his childhood friends—and truth is what he desperately needs if he’s to stop the killings.

Borderlines is the second of Archer Mayor’s Joe Gunther mysteries.

The Secret Families is the third in the Secret Trilogy set by John Gardner. It's published by Endeavour Press and is at $0.99 for about 3 1/2 more days, before going to $3.99.
link: http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Familie.../dp/B00KR9L5UI

Spoiler:

John Gardner's ‘The Secret Generations’ was acclaimed as one of the classic works of Cold War espionage fiction.

‘The Secret Families’ is the final shattering move in the trilogy, the checkmate from a grand master of espionage.

The year is 1964.

The Cold War is at its height and Caspar Railton, the 'wounded lion' of the Railton clan, which for decades has dominated British Intelligence, is dead.

Even worse, evidence has emerged suggesting Caspar was a traitor and suspicion surrounds not only the Railtons but also the Farthings, the American family of spymasters connected by marriage to their British counterparts.

Yet Naldo refuses to accept his uncle's guilt and is determined to clear both families' names. With his cousin Arnold Farthing he embarks on a quest to uncover Caspar's past, a mission which takes both men deep into some of the most dangerous territory any agent can enter …

'The Secret Families' completes John Gardner's The Secret Generations trilogy, which is a giant work of fiction drawn from the dramatic history of Britain’s intelligence and security services. Through the story of one family, the Railtons, whose lives become caught up in some of the greatest struggles of the twentieth century, Gardner traces the birth, the early clashes, the successes and failures of the organizations now known as M15, M16 and GCHQ.

PRAISE FOR JOHN GARDNER:

'A master storyteller at the height of his powers' - Len Deighton

`The first book ever to combine a family saga with a spy story ... Keeps you turning the pages up to the last twist of treachery' - Daily Express

‘An exciting spy story’ – Yorkshire Post

‘The suspense is well-portrayed both in the accounts of World War II and in the subsequent cold-war exploits’ – Booklist

Before coming an author of fiction in the early 1960’s John Gardner was variously a stage magician, a Royal Marine officer and a journalist. In all Gardner has fifty-four novels to his credit, including Maestro, which was the New York Times book of the year. He was also invited by Ian Fleming’s literary copyright holders to write a series of continuation James Bond novels, which proved to be so successful that instead of the contracted three books he went on to publish some fourteen titles, including Licence Renewed and Icebreaker. Having lived in the Republic of Ireland, the United States and the UK, John Gardner sadly died in August of 2007 having just completed his third novel in the Moriarty trilogy, Conan Doyle’s eponymous villain of the Sherlock Holmes series.

The Seven Stars is the 12th title in the DCI Webb series by Anthea Fraser. It's a repeat Countdown deal at $0.99 for about 3 1/2 more days before going up to $3.99.
link: http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Stars-DC.../dp/B00L27EF4W

Spoiler:

After fog forces her to spend the night in a country guesthouse called The Seven Stars, Helen Campbell reads her horoscope in the local paper.

Little does she realise that by doing so she will dramatically change not only her own life, but the lives of everyone else living in the village.

Ten days later, she returns to stay at The Seven Stars while attending a local course on antiques. Slow she finds herself increasingly involved in the lives of the people living there.

As she arrived a girl was killed in a hit-and-run accident.

But was it an accident? Or was it murder?

A spate of robberies have targeted local country houses. Are they connected to the girl’s death?

And what is the significance of the phrase which recurs in the horoscope column under ‘Tomorrow’s Birthday’?

Whether or not it was written in the stars, Helen's stay at the guesthouse ensures that life will never be the same again... for any of them.

‘The Seven Stars’ is a gripping crime novel featuring Anthea Fraser's popular detective David Webb.

Praise for Anthea Fraser:

“A superbly crafted, riveting, page-turner of a read" Booklist

“Ms Fraser is her dependable elegant, guileful self withholding the killer's identity till a dying fall" Sunday Times

ANTHEA FRASER has written all her life but did not begin to take it seriously until after marriage, when she found herself at home with two small daughters and embarked on a correspondence course with the London School of Journalism. She wrote short stories before turning to novels of the supernatural, and then to crime. The Seven Stars is her twelfth crime novel.

Praise for Anthea Fraser's books.

'A well-mannered, well-plotted and well-told story' Birmingham Post

'The book is a pleasure to read and savour' Woman Journalist

'Irresistible, all-too-human story' Dread Review of Mystery

'A well-structured book, with good balance between depiction of character and development of plot' Criminologist

'Sympathetic, well-executed book, in which full attention is paid to human feelings and failings' Yorkshire Post

Touching the Dark is the 2nd in the Naomi Blake series by Jane A. Adams. It's a repeat Countdown deal at $0.99 for about 3 1/2 more days before going up to $3.99.
link: http://www.amazon.com/Touching-Dark-.../dp/B00MGJU0B2

Spoiler:

Tally Palmer is a successful international photographer, and a celebrity in her own right.

When she abruptly breaks off a relationship with Simon Emmet, no one - except for Simon himself - is very surprised.

But Simon is devastated - and increasingly obsessed with Tally.

He blames someone called 'Jack', a mysterious figure from Tally's past.

Simon's parents are so concerned about their son that they ask for help from their old friends Alec and Naomi.

As Simon's precarious mental state deteriorates, they are drawn into a volatile situation more complex - and dangerous - than they could ever expect...

'Touching The Dark' is an atmospheric, expertly-plotted crime thriller that will grip readers from the first page to the last.

PRAISE FOR JANE A. ADAMS:

“A haunting debut” - Minette Walters on The Greenway

“The Greenway hinted at promising crime-writing talent; Cast the First Stone amply confirms that view” - The Times

“Adams’ story is described with low key discretion and deliberate lack of sensationalism that make it all the more haunting...grippingly edgy” - Sunday Times on Cast the First Stone

JANE A. ADAMS first book, ‘The Greenway’, was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey Award in 1995 and for the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award. She is also the author of ‘Mourning the Little Dead’ and ‘Heat Wave’.

Death in Room Five is in the Chief Inspector Littlejohn series by George Bellairs. It's a repeat Countdown deal at $0.99 for about 1 1/2 more days before going up to $3.99.
link: http://www.amazon.com/Death-Chief-In.../dp/B00MGJU0HG

Spoiler:

When a group from the small English town of Bolchester make an excursion to Cannes, little do they expect it to end so dramatically – with the disastrous murder of one of their party, the domineering Alderman William Dawson.

Suddenly the holidaymakers find themselves murder suspects.

But, with so many grudges borne against Dawson, it becomes impossible to work out who might have been responsible for his death.

Was the fact that he had been a traitor in the maquis - the French resistance - during the war a factor?

And was his death connected to the subsequent killing of the crooked barkeeper Sammy?

When Scotland Yard call in Chief Inspector Littlejohn in to investigate, rudely interrupting his holiday in the Riviera, he comes up against a trying, taxing and peculiar case.

'Death In Room Five' is a classic detective mystery by one of the masters of the genre.

'Bellairs is up th ere with the greats of English crime fiction. Every fan of the genre should read him.' - Robert Foster, best-selling author of 'The Lunar Code'.

George Bellairs was the nom de plume of Harold Blundell (1902-1985), a crime writer and bank manager born in Heywood, near Rochdale, Lancashire, who settled in the Isle of Man on retirement. He wrote more than 50 books, most featuring the detective Inspector Littlejohn. He also wrote four novels under the alternative pseudonym Hilary Landon.

[GA Russell]

"Free Kindle books hard boiled mysteries"

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_st_re...rt=review-rank

This list changes frequently.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by Froide

My First Murder (The Maria Kallio Series Book 1)
by Leena Lehtolainen (Author), Owen Witesman (Translator)

Regular Kindle Price: $4.99
Genres (from BN.com): Mystery & Crime, Peoples & Cultures - Fiction

If this happened to be your Kindle for Samsung monthly freebie pick and it turns out you like it, #2 in the series is currently discounted as one of the January-long Kindle Deal sales, IIRC.

Bargain @ $1.99 from the exclusive AmazonCrossing imprint for translated works (price valid for Canada & US, possibly also other regional stores):

Her Enemy by Leena Lehtolainen (SYKM, Wikipedia), 2nd in her very popular Maria Kallio series of Finnish police procedurals. I bought and read this and the 3rd the last time they were on sale, and quite liked them. They're rather low-key legwork-emphasizing pieces with relatively little gore or overt violence in them (though I should mention that they're not at all on a cozy level of tameness), so they're not all that thriller-y and YMMV if you're in the mood for a more pulse-pounding sort of mystery/crime read.

Leaving the Helsinki police force to put her new law degree to use, Maria Kallio is ready for a fresh start. But when she discovers a strangled body, old habits die hard for the redheaded sleuth—especially since the accused is related to her new boyfriend.

The police rush to close the case against the victim’s fiancé, but Maria is convinced they’ve got the wrong man and soon finds herself unofficially investigating the murder, now labeled a sex crime. To crack the case, Kallio will have to pull back the curtain on the secret dealings of Finnish high society…and uncover a secret someone is willing to kill to keep hidden.

Her Enemy, the second book in Lehtolainen’s international bestselling Nordic crime series, sends intrepid Detective Kallio to the dark side of human passion.

[ATDrake]

Free again from the author via KDP Select @ Amazon:

Power Play by Larry Johns, a spy-hunting action adventure thriller originally out from UK publisher Robert Hale in 1980.

Jackie Ryderbeit, carrying a government licence to kill, is tossed into a cauldron of International intrigue with orders to find and eliminate a double agent. With the help of a booze-sodden ex-courier and an over-the-hill trigger- man he casts for a shark only to find a whale on his line.

The story reaches a shattering climax on the blue waters of the Mediterranean after a chase through the confused currents of cross and double-cross.

Free again from the author via KDP Select @ Amazon:

The Lucinda Legacy by Robert Mitchell, a treasure hunt adventure thriller originally out from Australian publisher Boolarong Press in 1991. This is the novel that got him some kind of Australian writing prize which he mentions in his bio-blurb.

The Lucinda, the pearl lugger that led the fathers of the sons to the sparkling stones. The lugger which bequeathed the legacy of that fateful day in March 1942 to those sons. A legacy kept hidden until.....

But are they still waiting in their secret place? Do they still wail for the dead and those soon to be dead?

The sons of the fathers, urged on by that legacy forty-four years further on. Mistrust fighting hate, anger curbed by greed, as the sons race across the great continent of Australia towards destiny, towards the once booming town of Broome, towards...

Eight million dollars.

[Victoria]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

"Free Kindle books hard boiled mysteries"

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_st_re...rt=review-rank

This list changes frequently.

Great - thanks very much

[crich70]

All three are just .99 at Amazon.

8 British Detective Novels: Box Set
Amazon Us

Triple Murder Boxset
Amazon US


12 Rounds: Twelve Thrilling reads
Amazon US

[GA Russell]

Originally Posted by Victoria

Great - thanks very much

You're welcome, Victoria!

[Little.Egret]

The Midnight Visitor by Alanna Knight

Mort Manor is shunned by villagers. Newcomers Bel and her TV actor partner Zach, know nothing of its evil reputation. Their dream home is a house of murders. Its terrifying ghosts change the personalities of those who dare to live within its walls and are capable of bringing the past alive, dragging them back to an untimely death.


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00F4DJJMI/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00F4DJJMI/
http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00F4DJJMI/

Alanna Knight MBE wrote more than sixty novels (including sixteen in the acclaimed Inspector Faro series and seven featuring his daughter Rose McQuinn) in an impressive writing career spanning over forty years.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Little.Egret

The Midnight Visitor by Alanna Knight

Mort Manor is shunned by villagers. Newcomers Bel and her TV actor partner Zach, know nothing of its evil reputation. Their dream home is a house of murders. Its terrifying ghosts change the personalities of those who dare to live within its walls and are capable of bringing the past alive, dragging them back to an untimely death.


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00F4DJJMI/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00F4DJJMI/
http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00F4DJJMI/

Alanna Knight MBE wrote more than sixty novels (including sixteen in the acclaimed Inspector Faro series and seven featuring his daughter Rose McQuinn) in an impressive writing career spanning over forty years.

That sounded interesting, so I got it.

Thank you.

Did you notice, on the sample, the different size text? Someone needs a lesson in formating....