Recently Published Indie Mysteries (110727)

We're always on the lookout for new mystery, suspense and thriller books, and with this series of recurring posts, we're looking at Indie Mysteries, books published by small, independent publishers, or self-published, that recently caught our eye ... and may be of interest to you too. Most of these titles, selected primarily from the Smashwords website, are ebook only, though some may also be available in a print format.

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Jersey Heat
by Joseph D'Agnese
Non-Series
NutGraf Productions (Ebook)
July 2011

It’s a hazy, hot, and humid summer in New Jersey, circa 1993.

No mobile phones. No Internet. No Caller ID. No DVDs. No terrorists. And the environment isn’t cool.

Luke Mulcek calls himself a businessman. He’s actually a thug in a suit, a former Brooklyn kid, ex-boxer, and mechanic who made good. Luke’s got an in at the water company in a piece of shit town, where he’s concocted a $200 million land deal to build condos on the reservoir. Ramming the plan through the town’s planning board is the tricky part. Shadow Lakes isn’t Brooklyn, and even before page one Mulcek has decided to cut through the red tape the way he would have done in the old neighborhood.

With payoffs, threats, blackmail — and murder.

A retired cop and a young slacker are all that stand between Mulcek and his violent grasp at the good life.

Also available in a Kindle edition.

Homewrecker
by Gina Drew
A Koniotis Mystery
6th (and final) in series
Cyberworld Publishing (Ebook)
July 2011

UN undersecretary general for security Takis Koniotis and his estranged archaeologist wife, Caitlyn Spenser Koniotis, struggle to come back together through family endangerment and to counter the forces of evil in the eastern Mediterranean.

As the cast of surviving characters of the Koniotis mystery series strolls across the stage for the last time in some surprising and interesting combinations and diminishing numbers, once again Cyprus is both the center of Mideast upheaval and the budding hope for regional peace. Takis Koniotis, in his UN security chief role is preparing another Cyprus-based peace conference while also becoming embroiled in a series of explosions on the island that threaten to reopen old Greek versus Turk separatist wounds, and that have deadly repercussions beyond Cyprus. As has happened before, the Koniotis’s face challenges on both the regional and family security fronts. But this time they are not facing the dangers in a united front nor are all of those they once counted on for support either on their side or free enough of their own devils to be of much assistance.

Also available in a Kindle edition.

The Mayan Mask of Death
by Loretta Jackson and Vicki Britton
Non-Series
Solstice Publishing (Ebook)
July 2011

When Arla Vaughn accepts the role of temporary Dean of Archaeology, the museum’s purchase of an elaborate Mayan mask seems an evil portent. The dual face, one side a handsome Mayan nobleman, the other side a skull-like visage with a glimmering obsidian eye represents the good and evil of mankind.

Three years ago Jordan Lund’s wife was strangled on campus and he has devoted his life to finding her killer. When a second woman from Arla’s department is murdered in the same way, the police believe this is the work of a mysterious serial killer known as The Scarlet Strangler. But Arla soon links the brutal murders to the dig in Copan. Her investigation takes her to where the mystery has its roots, the Copan ruins in the jungles of Honduras. There, to uncover the truth, Arla must match wits with a killer as duplicitous as the Mayan Mask of Death.

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For more recently published Indie Mysteries, visit the Smashwords Mystery and Detective category page or the Thriller and Suspense category page.