Wednesday, July 30, 2014

The Hydra Protocol, A Jim Chapel Mission by David Wellington, Now Available at a Special Price

The Hydra Protocol by David Wellington

Omnimystery News is always searching for newly discounted mystery, suspense, thriller and crime novels for our readers to enjoy. Today, we're pleased to feature the following title, now available at a special price courtesy of the publisher, William Morrow …

The Hydra Protocol by David Wellington

A Jim Chapel Mission (2nd in series)

Publisher: William Morrow

Price: $1.99 (as of 07/30/2014 at 4:00 PM ET).

The Hydra Protocol by David Wellington, Amazon Kindle format

Important Note: Price(s) verified as of the date and time shown. Price(s) are subject to change at any time. Please confirm the price of the book before purchasing it.

To prevent nuclear annihilation, wounded Special Forces operative Jim Chapel must infiltrate a top secret Russian military base and disable an unstable supercomputer …

A routine mission in Cuban waters to retrieve a hidden key code from a sunken Soviet submarine quickly changes course when Cuban officials are tipped off. It turns out that Nadia, the beautiful stranger who saves Chapel from being discovered, is actually a Russian agent, and her intel is shocking. Hidden during the Cold War, a forgotten Russian supercomputer controls hundreds of nuclear missiles, all aimed at the United States. Just one fail-safe error and America will be obliterated. And there have been glitches in the computer's programming.

To disarm Hydra before it plunges the United States into nuclear winter, Nadia and Chapel must travel across Eastern Europe and infiltrate a secret base hidden deep in the steppes of Central Asia. But as these uneasy allies discover, not everyone wants the weapon out of commission.

Jim Chapel is out of his depth, and out of his element, but not out of the game.

The Hydra Protocol by David Wellington

Memory Maze by Gordon Korman, a New The Hypnotists Adventure

Memory Maze by Gordon Korman

Omnimystery News is pleased to present in this post a new First Clues: Mysteries for Kids series title published this month …

Memory Maze by Gordon Korman

Series: The Hypnotists

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Format(s): Hardcover, eBook

Age Range: Cadet Sleuths, Ages 10 to 12

Memory Maze by Gordon Korman, Amazon Kindle format

For more information about the book, see a synopsis, below.

The past and the present collide to build a memory maze that Jax Opus may never escape …

Jax Opus knows he's not like other kids. And it isn't his skill on the basketball court or his test scores that set him apart. No, Jax is different because he can hypnotize people. In fact, he might be the best hypnotist the world has seen in a very long time.

You would think Jax would be happy about this. But really? It's ruining his life. He and his family are hiding from a master hypnotist who wants Jax out of the picture . . . forever. And the FBI is also starting to ask questions about Jax and his abilities.

Jax thinks life might be getting a little better when a very rich, very powerful man asks him to help out with something. The reward will be great. And the price — well, the price is that Jax starts taking on the man's memories. And some of them are pretty deadly.

Memory Maze by Gordon Korman

Dead Man's Folly, A Hercule Poirot Mystery by Agatha Christie, Now Available at a Special Price

Dead Man's Folly by Agatha Christie

Omnimystery News is always searching for newly discounted mystery, suspense, thriller and crime novels for our readers to enjoy. Today, we're pleased to feature the following title, now available at a special price courtesy of the publisher, William Morrow …

Dead Man's Folly by Agatha Christie

A Hercule Poirot Mystery

Publisher: William Morrow

Price: $1.99 (as of 07/30/2014 at 3:00 PM ET).

An adaptation of this novel will air on PBS's Masterpiece Mystery! this coming Sunday, August 3rd, 2014.

Dead Man's Folly by Agatha Christie, Amazon Kindle format

Important Note: Price(s) verified as of the date and time shown. Price(s) are subject to change at any time. Please confirm the price of the book before purchasing it.

While organizing a mock murder hunt for the village fete hosted by Sir George and Lady Stubbs, a feeling of dread settles on the famous crime novelist Adriane Oliver. Call it instinct, but it's a feeling she just can't explain … or get away from.

In desperation she summons her old friend, Hercule Poirot -- and her instincts are soon proved correct when the "pretend" murder victim is discovered playing the scene for real, a rope wrapped tightly around her neck.

But it's the great detective who first discovers that in murder hunts, whether mock or real, everyone is playing a part.

Dead Man's Folly by Agatha Christie

Murder in Retribution by Anne Cleeland, New in Bookstores during July 2014

Murder in Retribution by Anne Cleeland

Today's featured new hardcover mystery, suspense, or thriller title scheduled to be published during July 2014 is …

Murder in Retribution by Anne Cleeland

The New Scotland Yard Series (2nd)

Publisher: Kensington

Murder in Retribution by Anne Cleeland, Amazon Kindle format  Murder in Retribution by Anne Cleeland, Nook format  Murder in Retribution by Anne Cleeland, iTune iBook format  Murder in Retribution by Anne Cleeland, Kobo format

For a list of more new hardcover titles to be published this month, visit our New Mysteries page for July 2014. For new paperback mysteries, visit The Mystery Bookshelf where a selection of July 2014 mysteries, novels of suspense, and thrillers are shelved.

More about our featured title, below …

Despite their investigative prowess, Chief Inspector Michael Sinclair, Lord Acton, and rookie detective Kathleen Doyle stir more than a few feathers at CID Headquarters when their relationship comes to light. But office politics quickly become trivial when a rash of underworld murders shatters London's normally austere façade. With a growing list of successfully solved cases to her name, the ever-dauntless Doyle shakes off the gossip and sets out to investigate the escalating turf war.

As the body count climbs, Doyle uncovers a seedy world where fractious members of the Russian mafia and an Irish terrorist group are fighting for control of a lucrative underground business. But their crooked deals and volleying acts of revenge are almost too much for Scotland Yard to keep up with, and when Doyle notices that Acton seems unusually troubled by the crimes, she begins to wonder what sparked the conflict in the first place.

Perhaps there's nothing more to the murders than under-the-table business dealings gone awry. Or perhaps a single act of vigilante justice fanned the flames that ignited a vicious turf war. As Doyle and Acton fight not to become the next victims, they'll find that the truth may be best left unspoken, and retribution may be best left to fate.

Murder in Retribution by Anne Cleeland

New This Week: Not a Drill, A Jack Reacher Short Story by Lee Child

Not a Drill by Lee Child

In this eBook exclusive short story from Lee Child, Jack Reacher is again on the move. But even a pleasant hike on a beautiful summer day turns into a walk on the wild side … and perhaps something far more sinister.

Not a Drill by Lee Child

A Jack Reacher Short Story

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Price: $1.99 (as of 07/30/2014 at 2:00 PM ET).

Not a Drill by Lee Child, Amazon Kindle format

Important Note: Price(s) verified as of the date and time shown. Price(s) are subject to change at any time. Please confirm the price of the book before purchasing it.

Jack Reacher is on the road, hitching a ride with some earnest young Canadians who are planning a hike through some of the last unspoiled wilderness in North America in the dense forests of Maine. They part ways after sharing a hot meal, and Reacher checks out a quiet town surrounded by countryside serene enough to cool even his raging wanderlust.

But not for long. First the trail is suddenly and inexplicably closed. Then the military police show up in force. Maybe it's a drill. Or maybe it's trouble — the kind of trouble that always finds Reacher, no matter how far he travels off the beaten path.

Not a Drill by Lee Child

Deserves to Die by Lisa Jackson, New on the Mystery Bookshelf during July 2014

Deserves to Die by Lisa Jackson

New on the Mystery Bookshelf during July 2014 …

Deserves to Die by Lisa Jackson

The Regan Pescoli and Selena Alvarez Series (6th)

Publisher: Zebra

Deserves to Die by Lisa Jackson, Amazon Kindle format

To see more new paperback titles scheduled to be published this month, visit The Mystery Bookshelf for July 2014. For new hardcover mysteries, visit New Mysteries where for a list of July 2014 mysteries, novels of suspense, and thrillers is provided.

More about our featured title, below …

As he watches, her body drifts below the water's surface, forever altered. Before he disposes of each victim, he takes a trophy. It's a sign of his power, and a warning — to the one destined to suffer most of all.

In Grizzly Falls, Montana, Detectives Selena Alvarez and Regan Pescoli are struggling with a new commander and a department in the midst of upheaval. It's the worst possible time for a homicide. A body has been found, missing a finger. Alvarez hopes this means a murderer with a personal grudge, not a madman. But then a second body turns up &helllip

As the clues begin pointing toward a suspect, Pescoli's unease grows. Even with Alvarez barely holding it together and her own personal life in chaos, she senses there's more to this case than others believe. A killer has made his way to Grizzly Falls, ready to fulfill a vengeance years in the making. And Pescoli must find the target of his wrath — or die trying.

Deserves to Die by Lisa Jackson

Gone, A Hannah Smith Mystery by Randy Wayne White, Now Available at a Special Price

Gone by Randy Wayne White

Omnimystery News is always searching for newly discounted mystery, suspense, thriller and crime novels for our readers to enjoy. Today, we're pleased to feature the following title, now available at a special price courtesy of the publisher, Putnam …

Gone by Randy Wayne White

A Hannah Smith Mystery (1st in series)

Publisher: Putnam

Price: $2.99 (as of 07/30/2014 at 1:00 PM ET).

Gone by Randy Wayne White, Amazon Kindle format

Important Note: Price(s) verified as of the date and time shown. Price(s) are subject to change at any time. Please confirm the price of the book before purchasing it.

Hannah Smith is a tall, strong, formidable Florida woman, the descendant of generations of strong Florida women. She makes her living as a fishing guide, but her friends, neighbors, and clients also know her as an uncommonly resourceful woman with a keen sense of justice, as someone who can't be bullied — and they have taken to coming to her with their problems.

Her methods can be unorthodox, though, and those on the receiving end of them often wind up very unhappy — and sometimes very violent. When a girl goes missing, and Hannah is asked to find her, that is exactly what happens …

Gone by Randy Wayne White

Blessed Are the Meek, A Gabriella Giovanni Mystery by Kristi Belcamino, New This Week from Witness Impulse

Blessed Are the Meek by Kristi Belcamino

Every week, Witness Impulse — an imprint of William Morrow — releases new suspense and thriller digital originals, typically priced at just $2.99 each.

Omnimystery News is pleased to present you with one of this week's titles …

Blessed Are the Meek by Kristi Belcamino

A Gabriella Giovanni Mystery (2nd in series)

Publisher: Witness Impulse

Price: $1.99 (as of 07/30/2014 at 12:30 PM ET).

Blessed Are the Meek by Kristi Belcamino, Amazon Kindle format

Important Note: Price(s) verified as of the date and time shown. Price(s) are subject to change at any time. Please confirm the price of the book before purchasing it.

A rash of high-profile murders all point to reporter Gabriella Giovanni's boyfriend, Detective Sean Donovan, when investigators uncover a single link in the deaths: Annalisa Cruz. A decade ago, Cruz seduced Donovan away from a life as a monk, and though their relationship soured long ago … her passion for him has not.

As the investigation continues, it becomes increasingly clear that any man who gets involved with Cruz soon ends up dead, including a dot-com millionaire, the mayor of San Francisco, and a police officer. Donovan, the only man to have dated Cruz and survived, is arrested for the murders and dubbed a jealous ex, leaving Gabriella scrambling to find the real killer without ending up as the next body headed for the morgue.

Gabriella's search ultimately unearths a dark secret that Donovan had intended to take to the grave. Faced with the knowledge of this terrible truth, Gabriella must tie the past and present together to clear Donovan's name.

Blessed Are the Meek by Kristi Belcamino

A Conversation with Mystery Author Donis Casey

Omnimystery News: Author Interview with Donis Casey
with Donis Casey

We are delighted to welcome novelist Donis Casey to Omnimystery News today.

Donis is the author of the Alafair Tucker mysteries set in Oklahoma in the 1910s, the seventh and most recent of which is Hell with the Lid Blown Off (Poisoned Pen Press; June 2014 hardcover, trade paperback, audiobook and ebook formats).

We recently had the chance to catch up with Donis to talk about her books.

— ♦ —

Omnimystery News: Tell us how the Alafair Tucker series came about.

Donis Casey
Photo provided courtesy of
Donis Casey

Donis Casey: I actually had a story arc in mind when I began this series. My plan was to write ten books, spanning a period of ten to fifteen years, with each book featuring a different one of Alafair's newly grown children. I'm essentially writing a family saga, telling the story of an important period in this woman's life as she raises her children and tries to get them successfully launched into their lives. One or two of the later books have departed from the scheme. For instance, the fifth book, Crying Blood, revolves around Alafair's husband, Shaw. But I'm still aiming for the same end.

As far as my main character, Alafair, goes, she has evolved over time, and not necessarily in the way I might have planned for her. The British novelist Graham Greene said a lot of pithy things about writing, but one quote truly resonates with me: The moment comes when a character does or says something you hadn't thought about. At that moment he's alive and you leave it to him. Greene spoke the truth when he said that. And it goes double for the recurring characters in a long-running series. I first put Alafair Tucker on the page but it didn't take long for her to stand up and walk away, and I've been following where she leads ever since. In the universe that she and I both inhabit, she lives her life the way she sees fit, and I am no more than her chronicler.

In the earliest novels, Alafair was only vaguely interested in the events of the time. To a farm wife in the middlest of the middle of the United States in 1914, the war in Europe seemed as far away as the moon. But now, I'm getting to a time period where the affairs of the mighty are intervening on her world whether she likes it or not.

For the first time in my fiction writing career, I created a character who isn't hip or svelte or rich or independent or even particularly young. Or male. She goes against all conventional wisdom. Yet I had immediate success with Alafair's first novel, The Old Buzzard Had It Coming. Why it couldn't have happened when I was young and thin and beautiful I don't know, but we come to our authentic place in our own time, I guess.

OMN: Into which mystery genre would you place the books?

DC: My books would be categorized as historical mysteries, or traditional mysteries featuring an amateur sleuth. I don't like being categorized. Call a book a "traditional mystery" and readers automatically think "women's lit". And not in a good way.

Of course, the whole idea of genre is a false construct. There are going to be genre elements in even the most literary of literary novels — mystery, romance, horror, fantasy. And, there will be romance in mysteries, and mystery in fantasy novels.

The big question is, is it good? Well written is well written, because there are badly written literary novels and spectacularly written crime novels. (Mystic River, What the Dead Know) No matter how many mystery novel conventions you use, it has to be as well written as any other sort of fiction.

These big chain bookstores have really furthered the "genre" concept. It makes it easier for them to categorize a book, even though one mystery may resemble another like a fish resembles a hat.

In my humble opinion, the Alafair Tucker series is unlike most traditional mysteries being published today. It is set during the pre-World War I, an era that is becoming increasingly popular with readers of historicals, but it takes place in eastern Oklahoma and is about a 40ish farm wife with ten children. Possibly the least-hip idea for a protagonist and setting ever thought of. But I don't care. I'm tired of urban cool. I want to write about the people who are really important. The people who create the world, the mothers and fathers and quiet providers of homes and food and education and civilization itself. That's the hard stuff, my dears. That's the stuff of heros. Transformers and cage fighters and gun-toters, spies and drag-racers, femmes fatale, that's just fluff. Ego-stroking fantasy. I want to write about air, water, and earth. The basics, and the people who are brave enough and strong enough to muscle through.

OMN: How much of your own personal or professional experience have you included in the books?

DC: Everyone in Alafair's family is based on someone I have known, and many of the situations my characters find themselves in are based on real events. And not necessarily known historical events, but small human events that happened to someone in my family or in my husband's family.

For instance, the murder in The Drop Edge of Yonder is based on an actual incident that happened to one of my great-great-grandfathers during the Civil War. He and several other men from his town in northern Arkansas were returning home on leave from the army, when they stopped on the road just outside of town to rob a bee hive. While they were involved, they were bushwhacked — by Red Legs, the tale goes. All of them were killed. My ancestor's ten year old son found them and alerted his mother and the other wives as the sun went down. The women sat with their men's bodies all night to keep the critters away, and the next morning buried them where they fell.

For Hell With the Lid Blown Off, I used some incidents from my sister's experience in the Joplin tornado and some very strange tornado experiences from other relatives and even some pretty odd ones of my own. I got chills when I heard several of the Moore tornado survivors relate experiences very similar to ones that I had just written about. But it's impossible to exaggerate reality when it comes to what a big tornado can do.

My central character, Alafair, could not be less like me. And yet she obviously is me to some extent, since she lives in my head. I consciously created Alafair out of pieces of some of the women in my past whom I loved, but didn't fully appreciate. She is funny, reflective, wise to ways of the world and the ways of kids, and a bit sad because of the losses in her life, like my own mother was. She's the center of her family, loving and giving to a fault, adored by her children, and a legendary cook, like my late mother-in-law. With the best of motives, she's all up in your business and can drive you crazy, too, like a relative of mine who shall remain nameless, lest she recognize herself (though she won't. They never do.)

Am I wish-fulfilling? I don't have the slightest desire to romanticize her lifestyle. It was tough. Alafair lives the life I never did, or never could. I couldn't abide it. However, it seems I imbue her with all the virtues and strengths I do not have. She knows what she knows and takes action. Then once she has, she doesn't second-guess herself. I agonize over every decision and sometimes take no action at all. She's kind and tolerant of human weakness. She takes care of everyone. She's patient with the follies of others. Me: not so much. She's a moderately well-adjusted mother of children, who doesn't worry about her own shortcomings nor her place in the world, instead of what I am, which we won't go into.

Every time I finish an Alafair Tucker novel I do find myself wondering what Dr. Freud would say about the story. Alafair is always much more successful at confronting her fears than I am. And she is never afraid to fail. She sticks herself out there.

OMN: Describe your writing process for us.

DC: I frankly don't know how I do it. I'm not very disciplined. I suppose I'm more of a spasmodic writer. I don't outline before I begin. Ideas come to me from the oddest places — from something I've read, or some off-hand comment someone says within earshot of me. Once or twice from a dream I've had. In any event, the idea gets in my head one way or another and wiggles around in there for a while. Eventually it begins to take shape and I think, "That might make a good story." Then I do research. I choose a narrow time period, such as April of 1917, and start reading the April 1917 newspapers from anywhere in eastern Oklahoma to see what was going on in the world and what Oklahomans were thinking about it. This usually adds layers of story to my basic idea. Then I ponder some more, make a few notes, and then start writing.

When I begin, I usually know where I want the story to go. It never ends up there. Where it does end up is as big a surprise to me as to anyone. It's usually better than I had planned, so thus far I have no reason to complain. It takes a great act of will for me to get started, but once I'm on a roll, I can really knock it out. I've had seven mysteries published, now, and every one came about in it's own unique way. Some were written in the most disciplined fashion and some grew like Topsy, in fits and starts,, and yet turned out well almost on their own. Hell With the Lid Blown Off is actually one half of a very long book I wrote several years ago. The other half is growing into Alafair book eight right now.

Most of the time, I write in the afternoons. I long ago developed the habit of doing my chores and errands in the morning, before the Arizona heat is at its worst. I routinely take a break at about 3:00 for 15 or 20 minutes, to eat an apple, stretch, and maybe read something that has nothing to do with anything. When I am on a deadline, I do set myself a goal of at least 1000 words a day — about three pages. I often can do more. Then again, sometimes eking out 1000 words is torture.

Writing a book is sort of like having a baby, I suppose. I'm so happy to have it in my hands when it's done that I tend to forget how painful it was to write. The first draft is always difficult. It's hard to figure out how to dole out the clues in a way that makes sense, plays fair with the reader, and yet doesn't reveal too much. Even more difficult than that is figuring out how Alafair is going to figure it out! She has to come up with the answer in a logical and believable way. Sometimes I just want to make her psychic and have done with it!

I never set out to deliver a message. I actually attempt to be existential when I write, and report the plain facts of the situation, the setting, the story, and the characters' reactions to them. However, after I finish writing a book, it's full of messages and meaning, whether I meant to put it in there or not. No matter what you think you're saying when you write a novel, it isn't you who puts the message in the book, I think. The reader puts it there. I'm frequently amazed by what readers see in my books. It's good for a writer to keep in mind that once her work is out of her hands, the story isn't hers any more, it's the reader's.

OMN: You mentioned researching your story. How do you go about checking the plot points of your books?

DC: Many of the details of Alafair's life on the farm, such as using kerosene-soaked corn cobs to start a fire, come from my mother, who grew up on a farm during the Depression. Many of the incidents related actually happened, both in my family and my husband's (the less savory ones, he points out). However … being as I have no children, have never lived on a farm, never cooked on a wood stove, washed in a iron tub, or sewed on a treadle sewing machine, much less shoed a horse, I do tremendous amounts of research so that I'll know what I'm talking about.

But only a very small percent of the research I do for each book finds its way onto the page. I'm not writing a history book, I'm trying to create a world, and it's amazing how little it takes to add just that perfect touch of authenticity to your story. For each book I write, I keep a notebook and file full of information that I read up on as I need it. Much of my research may not be used, for as a book advances some of the ideas I started out with fall by the wayside. Even so, when the book is finally done I will have added quite a bit to the huge amount of arcane knowledge rattling around in my head.

I spend so much time learning everything I can about the times, lives, and mores of my characters, yet I know I'm not going to write about most of it. That is because my own familiarity with the era I'm writing about is going to show without my having to make a big deal of it. The characters are going to move naturally through their world without thinking about it, just like we do in our own world.

OMN: Suppose the Alafair Tucker mysteries were to be adapted for television or film, and you were consulted on who might play her role, what you say?

DC: I made a point of not physically describing my main character, Alafair, except in generalities, even though I have a clear picture of her in my head. After seven books, a few details about her appearance have slipped out. She has dark hair that she can't do anything with. She has dark eyes and a sun-browned complexion. She's middle-sized. I didn't create Alafair or any of the other characters with actors in mind. Alafair and her family are all based on friends or relatives of mine, living and dead.

But that doesn't keep readers from casting my movie for me. One fan of the series suggested to me that Alafair should be played by Kathy Bates. Not two weeks later, another woman thought Joan Allen would be a good Alafair. That certainly runs the gamut of physical types. I'd be thrilled to have either of these actresses play Alafair. However, not to put too fine a point on it, they're both too old. Sandra Bullock is closer to Alafair's age, though considering that Alafair is a farm wife with many kids, Sandy would have to be deglamorized quite a bit. Of course, if Meryl Streep would agree to the part, that would suit me just fine, no matter how old she is.

OMN: Have any specific authors or books influenced how and what you write today?

DC: Though my Alafair series couldn't be more different when it comes to time, place, and language, it is blatantly patterned after Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael books. Just like Peters' series, I wanted mine to be centered around a warm-hearted sleuth with a lot of insight into human nature. I wanted to have a very strong sense of place and time in my books, which is something that particularly impressed me about Peters' books. I'm also very much influenced by Mark Twain's use of language.

— ♦ —

While researching her own genealogy, Donis Casey discovered so many ripping tales of settlers, soldiers, cowboys and Indians, murder, dastardly deeds, and general mayhem that she said to herself, "Donis, you have enough material here for ten books." Thus was born a series set in Oklahoma in the booming 1910s, featuring Alafair Tucker, the sleuthing mother of ten children. She has twice won the Arizona Book Award and has been a finalist for the Willa Award and a five-time finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award. Her first novel, The Old Buzzard Had It Coming, was named an Oklahoma Centennial Book.

For more information about the author, please visit her website at DonisCasey.com or find her on Facebook.

— ♦ —

Hell with the Lid Blown Off by Donis Casey

Hell with the Lid Blown Off
Donis Casey
An Alafair Tucker Mystery

In the summer of 1916, a big twister cuts a swath of destruction around Boynton, Oklahoma. Alafair Tucker's family and neighbors are not spared the ruin and grief spread by the storm. But no one is going to mourn for dead Jubal Beldon, who'd made it his business to know the ugly secrets of everyone in town. It never mattered if Jubal's insinuations were true or not since in a small town like Boynton, rumor could be as ruinous as fact. Then Mr. Lee, the undertaker, does his grim duty for the storm victims and discovers that even in death, troublemaker Jubal isn't going to leave his neighbors in peace.

Jubal was already dead when the tornado carried his body to the middle of a fallow field. Had he died in an accident or had he been murdered by someone whose secret he had threatened to expose? Dozens of people would have been happy to do the deed, some of them members of Jubal's own family like his angry, disinherited brothers. As Sheriff Scott Tucker and his deputy Trenton Calder look into Jubal's demise, it begins to look like the prime suspect may be someone very dear to the widow Beckie MacKenzie, the beloved music teacher and mentor of Alafair's daughter Ruth. Ruth fears that the secrets exposed by the investigation are going to cause more damage to Beckie's life than the tornado. Alafair, coping with injuries to her own, still has time for suspicions about how Jubal Beldon came to die. What if the truth of it hits very close to home?

Amazon.com Print/Kindle Format(s)  BN.com Print/Nook Format(s)  iTunes iBook Format  Kobo eBook Format

Wicked Words by Jean G. Goodhind is Today's Sixth Featured Free MystereBook

Wicked Words by Jean G. Goodhind

Omnimystery News is pleased to feature …

Wicked Words by Jean G. Goodhind

A Honey Driver Murder Mystery

Publisher: Accent Press

… as today's sixth free mystery ebook.

Wicked Words by Jean G. Goodhind, Amazon Kindle format

This title was listed for free as of July 30, 2014 at 7:50 AM ET. Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of the purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your transaction.

For a summary of all of today's featured titles, plus any that may have appeared before and are repeat freebies, visit our Free MystereBooks page. This page is updated daily, typically by 8 AM ET.

More on today's free book, below.

A sense of justice is felt amongst Bath hoteliers when an unpopular hotel reviewer is found dead, stuffed inside a giant teddy at the bottom of an open grave. As the Hotels' Association police liaison officer, Honey Driver is expected to help solve his murder — even though she's something of a suspect herself.

On top of that, she's lumbered with a distant friend's incontinent dog — and when it gets kidnapped, she hopes it doesn't come back …

Wicked Words by Jean G. Goodhind

Air Apparent by John Gardner is Today's Fifth Featured Free MystereBook

Air Apparent by John Gardner

Omnimystery News is pleased to feature …

Air Apparent by John Gardner

A Boysie Oakes Thriller

Publisher: Endeavour Press

… as today's fifth free mystery ebook.

Air Apparent by John Gardner, Amazon Kindle format

This title was listed for free as of July 30, 2014 at 7:40 AM ET. Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of the purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your transaction.

For a summary of all of today's featured titles, plus any that may have appeared before and are repeat freebies, visit our Free MystereBooks page. This page is updated daily, typically by 8 AM ET.

More on today's free book, below.

Boysie Oakes, ex anguished agent, ex defective private eye, and greying horrifically at the temples, is facing the wilderness of middle-age supported only by the Welfare State. At long last Boysie Oakes has reached seedy maturity — and he plans to grow old quietly without any more dangerous missions.

Until, like an evil genie, up pops his oily old boss, Mostyn, offering a life of renewed luxury. Boysie is to become the sole British Director of Air Apparent, an airline which operates from one office, has no aircraft, yet, by juggling with officialdom and illegally chartering aeroplanes, manages to transfer its customers to their destinations at half the scheduled fares and still makes a vast profit.

But when Boysie discovers that Air Apparent is being used for more nefarious purposes, such as the shipment of arms to third world nations, he is forced to call in his old shooting partner, Charlie Griffin.

Events crowd in, culminating in a hijacking, hilarity and, naturally, hectic hedonism.

Air Apparent by John Gardner

Mad Minute by Thomas Wylde is Today's Fourth Featured Free MystereBook

Mad Minute by Thomas Wylde

Omnimystery News is pleased to feature …

Mad Minute by Thomas Wylde

A Novel of Suspense

Publisher: Thomas Wylde

… as today's fourth free mystery ebook.

Mad Minute by Thomas Wylde, Amazon Kindle format

This title was listed for free as of July 30, 2014 at 7:30 AM ET. Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of the purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your transaction.

For a summary of all of today's featured titles, plus any that may have appeared before and are repeat freebies, visit our Free MystereBooks page. This page is updated daily, typically by 8 AM ET.

More on today's free book, below.

In the early 1970s, about the time New York's World Trade towers were being completed, the last of the Army's air defense missile sites closed down, their radars and missiles boxed up and hauled away. The threat from Russian bombers was on the wane.

Forty years later the new threat is from hijacked airliners, but there's no defense readily available: a fact not lost on Jeff Breen, NYC's Commander of Counterterror. Breen seeks out Frank Halbert, former FBI agent (and current federal fugitive), hoping to create an air defense missile site of his own — built with scrounged-up Army surplus hardware and manned by old-time missile vets.

Turns out it's been done before.

Along for the ride: Warner McGlaston, 78-year-old ex-Army warrant officer — the man remembers the equipment … pretty much. "Krakatoa" Jack Tilsen, a missile tracking operator of talent. (So he's a tad volatile.) Cindy Faber, a 22-year-old computer tech in cut-off jeans. She has her eye on Frank. And Gwen Goddard: ex-lingerie supermodel, whose mega-rich fiancé died in the North Tower. She's the bank. She's also Frank's sister-in-law. Sort of. Be good if he could control the drooling.

On the opposing side: CIA agent Phil Rosen, who worms his way into the Nike crew. ATF agent Joyce Kapinsky, pursuing our heroes in order to nail their source of forbidden hardware — an international gunrunner. And DEA agent Hubble Strand, who just wants to spend a little qualilty time with Joyce — if he can get her to ease off the job a little. Good luck with that, Hub.

The crew goes to work setting up an installation in Northern New Jersey, within sight of one of the old Army air defense bases (it's now a park). They scour the world for viable equipment, ending up in the highlands of Colombia in a life-or-death struggle with a local drug lord.

Their troubles are only just beginning …

Mad Minute by Thomas Wylde

Foxbat by James Barrington is Today's Third Featured Free MystereBook

Foxbat by James Barrington

Omnimystery News is pleased to feature …

Foxbat by James Barrington

An Agent Paul Richter Thriller

Publisher: Endeavour Press

… as today's third free mystery ebook.

Foxbat by James Barrington, Amazon Kindle format

This title was listed for free as of July 30, 2014 at 7:20 AM ET. Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of the purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your transaction.

For a summary of all of today's featured titles, plus any that may have appeared before and are repeat freebies, visit our Free MystereBooks page. This page is updated daily, typically by 8 AM ET.

More on today's free book, below.

The year is 1976. The Cold War is at its height. A Russian front-line pilot defects to Japan in a MiG-25 Foxbat interceptor, flying virtually at sea level to avoid the pursuing fighters and surface-to-air missiles. With about thirty seconds of fuel remaining, he lands at Hakodate Airport, bursting a tyre and skidding off the runway.

But before the aircraft was handed back to the Russians, American intelligence agencies reduced it to a pile of components and then rebuilt it. Despite the wealth of intelligence gleaned, they completely failed to realise the purpose for which the Foxbat was created.

In the present day, American satellites have detected unusual activity at several Algerian air bases, and at Aïn Oussera a large hangar has been cordoned off and armed guards posted outside. Western intelligence agencies suspect that Algeria might be preparing its forces to launch an attack on Libya or Morocco, unleashing a war across the region. They're also concerned that they might have obtained new aircraft or weapon systems, perhaps secreted in the guarded hangar at Aïn Oussera. The only way to find out is to get someone to look inside the building, and it will have to be a covert insertion.

Paul Richter is called in as "a deniable asset". But what is the connection to events almost forty years earlier? Richter must find out before it is too late.

Foxbat by James Barrington

The Cupcake Battle Royale by J. L. Sapphire is Today's Second Featured Free MystereBook

The Cupcake Battle Royale by J. L. Sapphire

Omnimystery News is pleased to feature …

The Cupcake Battle Royale by J. L. Sapphire

A Sweet Treats Cozy Mystery

Publisher: Lady Virgo Publications

… as today's second free mystery ebook.

The Cupcake Battle Royale by J. L. Sapphire, Amazon Kindle format

This title was listed for free as of July 30, 2014 at 7:10 AM ET. Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of the purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your transaction.

For a summary of all of today's featured titles, plus any that may have appeared before and are repeat freebies, visit our Free MystereBooks page. This page is updated daily, typically by 8 AM ET.

More on today's free book, below.

Candi Graham and her best friend Isis own and operate a successful bakery shop which not only earns them money, but also the title as the best bakery in the downtown Little Rock area. After successfully entering her decadent desserts in several baking competitions, Candi is ready for the Cupcake Battle Royale — the biggest bakery competition in the city which along with the recognition, will earn the girls a 20,000.00 prize if they win.

When Candi's competitor and biggest rival, Sandra Rose comes up missing after the preliminary competition during which they had a very public argument, Candi is arrested and becomes the number 1 suspect in her disappearance. But Candi is not so sure Sandra has really gone missing and instead thinks she's using deceitful tactics to delay the Cupcake Battle, so she decides to do a little detective work of her own, hoping to clear her name.

When the truth comes out, Candi will come to realize that she has more people to worry about than just Sandra, as she's not the only one trying to ruin her chances at winning and that she has more enemies than she thinks …

The Cupcake Battle Royale by J. L. Sapphire

Three Sisters by Helen Smith is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

Three Sisters by Helen Smith

Omnimystery News is pleased to feature …

Three Sisters by Helen Smith

An Emily Castles Short Mystery

Publisher: Helen Smith

… as today's free mystery ebook.

Three Sisters by Helen Smith, Amazon Kindle format

This title was listed for free as of July 30, 2014 at 7:00 AM ET. Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of the purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your transaction.

For a summary of all of today's featured titles, plus any that may have appeared before and are repeat freebies, visit our Free MystereBooks page. This page is updated daily, typically by 8 AM ET.

More on today's free book, below.

Emily receives an invitation to a party in a large house at the end of her street, hosted by a mysterious troupe of circus performers. She accepts, despite her misgivings, because her dog has died and she needs cheering up.

But when she witnesses a murder in the midst of the surreal entertainment, no one will believe what she has seen. Is Emily befuddled with grief at the loss of her pet? Or has something wicked happened in plain sight of all the party-goers?

Three Sisters by Helen Smith

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