Two Mysteries from Oceanview are Today's Fifth Set of Featured Free MystereBooks

MystereBooks is pleased to feature two mysteries from Oceanview Publishing as today's fifth set of free mystery ebooks.

These titles were listed as free as of the date and time of this post. Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the prices of the books before completing your transaction.

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Frame Up by John F. Dobbyn
A Michael Knight and Lex Devlin Mystery
Publisher: Oceanview Publishing

We called this second mystery in the series an "electrifying thriller", adding that it will appeal to those readers "who appreciate an exciting, gripping story with well-drawn characters."

About Frame Up (from the publisher): After graduating from Harvard Law with his closest friend John McKedrick, Michael Knight takes a job with his mentor, legendary trial attorney Lex Devlin, while John becomes sole associate of a notorious mob lawyer.

Michael never lost hope that John McKedrick would escape to "cleaner pastures" — until John is murdered in a car bombing bearing the signature of his questionable clientele. How could two friends who were so close have taken such wildly divergent paths?

In the wake of McKedrick's murder, three men who took their own deviating paths will meet for the first time in forty years. Matt Ryan, a priest, Dominic Santangelo, a mafia don, and Lex Devlin put the past aside to focus on a present concern: Dominic's son has been charged with John McKedrick's murder.
At Lex's urging, Michael Knight reluctantly agrees to represent the alleged bomber. In building a defense, Michael is drawn into a high-stakes art fraud that leads him from the seediest parts of Boston to the sophisticated Amsterdam inner sanctum of international crime.

Read our review of Frame Up by John F. Dobbyn.

Important Note: This book was listed for free on the date and time of this post. Prices can and do change without prior notice. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Download Link(s):

Amazon Free Kindle Edition Download Link.

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In Their Blood by Sharon Potts
Publisher: Oceanview Publishing

We said this stand-alone thriller "offers the reader plenty of twists and turns, solid clues to follow and red herrings to distract, and a well-written and developed storyline that is sure to please."

About In Their Blood (from the publisher): Born into a life of privilege, Jeremy Stroeb loves freedom, loathes responsibility and drops out of college to start backpacking across Europe. But this free-spirited drifter crashes back to brutal reality when his parents, Rachel and Daniel Stroeb, are murdered in their home on Miami Beach.

When he returns to Miami, Jeremy assumes guardianship of his teenage sister, Elise, who is traumatized and convinced the killer will be back for her.

With steely, urgent resolve, Jeremy vows to find out what really happened to Rachel Stroeb, the respected CPA and Daniel Stroeb, the controversial professor. Determined to get on the inside of his parents' lives, Jeremy takes a job at the accounting firm where his mother worked, and enrolls at the university where his father taught.

But too many details don't add up. With mounting certainty that his parents were anything but the people he thought they were, Jeremy must face the toughest questions of all. Who were Rachel and Daniel Stroeb? And when will the killer be back for the next of kin?

Read our review of In Their Blood by Sharon Potts.

Important Note: This book was listed for free on the date and time of this post. Prices can and do change without prior notice. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Download Link(s):

Amazon Free Kindle Edition Download Link.

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For more free mystery ebooks, visit our Free MystereBooks page.

Wake Up Little Susie by Ed Gorman is Today's Fourth Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Wake Up Little Susie by Ed Gorman as today's fourth free mystery ebook.

This title was listed as free as of the date and time of this post. Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your transaction.

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Wake Up Little Susie by Ed Gorman
A Sam McCain Mystery
Publisher: Genius Publishing

This is the second mystery to feature Sam McCain, a young lawyer and part time private investigator in the small Iowa town of Black River Falls, who uses humor and a keen eye for the truth to look past the obvious suspects — particularly the ones the local sheriff insists are guilty — to find the real perpetrators.

About Wake Up Little Susie (from the publisher): Set in the late summer of 1957 … on the day that Ford introduced its new "revolutionary" Edsel automobile to America. When the dead body of the District Attorney's wife is found in the trunk of one of the new Edsels, Sam is tapped to find the real killer while the sheriff makes plans to hang the most obvious suspect.

Important Note: This book was listed for free on the date and time of this post. Prices can and do change without prior notice. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Download Link(s):

Amazon Free Kindle Edition Download Link.

For more free mystery ebooks, visit our Free MystereBooks page.

Murder on the Rocks by Karen MacInerney is Today's Third Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Murder on the Rocks by Karen MacInerney as today's third free mystery ebook.

This title was listed as free as of the date and time of this post. Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your transaction.

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Murder on the Rocks by Karen MacInerney
A Natalie Barnes Mystery
Publisher: Midnight Ink

This first mystery (of four to date) in the series, nominated for an Agatha Award, introduces Gray Whale Inn owner Natalie Barnes.

About Murder on the Rocks (from the publisher): Trading in Texas heat for Maine's tangy salt air, Natalie Barnes risked it all to buy the Gray Whale Inn, a quaint bed and breakfast on Cranberry Island. She adores whipping up buttery muffins and other rich breakfast treats for her guests … until Bernard Katz checks in. The overbearing land developer plans to build a resort next door where an endangered colony of black-chinned terns is nesting.

Worried about the birds, the inevitable transformation of the sleepy fishing community, and her livelihood, Natalie takes a public stand against the project. But the town board sides with Katz. Just when it seems like things can't get any worse, Natalie finds Katz dead. Now the police and much of the town think she's guilty. Can Natalie track down the true killer before she's hauled off to jail … or becomes the next victim?

Important Note: This book was listed for free on the date and time of this post. Prices can and do change without prior notice. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Download Link(s):

Amazon Free Kindle Edition Download Link.

B&N Free Nook Book Download Link.

For more free mystery ebooks, visit our Free MystereBooks page.

Monarch by Michelle Davidson Argyle is Today's Second Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Monarch by Michelle Davidson Argyle as today's second free mystery ebook.

This title was listed as free as of the date and time of this post. Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your transaction.

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Monarch by Michelle Davidson Argyle
Publisher: Rhemelda Publishing

About Monarch (from the publisher): Nick's life as a CIA spy should be fulfilling, but it has only given him unhappiness, a wife who committed suicide, and two daughters who resent everything he has become. Now, stuck in the Amazon on the last mission of his career, he must track down Matheus Ferreira, a drug lord and terrorist the United States has tried to bring down for years. If he succeeds, he'll have the chance to start his life over again. Just when he's on the brink of catching Ferreira, he's framed for a murder that turns his world upside down. His only chance of survival lies in West Virginia, where Lilian Love, a woman from his past, owns the secluded Monarch Inn. He's safe … but not for long.

Important Note: This book was listed for free on the date and time of this post. Prices can and do change without prior notice. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Download Link(s):

Amazon Free Kindle Edition Download Link.

For more free mystery ebooks, visit our Free MystereBooks page.

Whose Hand? by Judith Yates Borger is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Whose Hand? by Judith Yates Borger as today's free mystery ebook.

This title was listed as free as of the date and time of this post. Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your transaction.

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Whose Hand? by Judith Yates Borger
A Skeeter Hughes Mystery
Publisher: Nodin Press

This is the second mystery (of two to date) in this series featuring the Minneapolis newspaper reporter.

About Whose Hand? (from the publisher): When a flustered fisherman pulls a hand from Minneapolis' Lake Harriet, then loses it back to the depths, newspaper reporter Skeeter Hughes finds herself caught in a swirl of mystery and adventure in her search for the deceased owner.

Is it the eighteen-year-old runaway with a college scholarship waiting for her? Or the Nazi holocaust survivor turned successful furrier? Could it be the thirty-something research director for a manufacturer of medical devices? Or, none of the above?

Despite the pressures from a career always in jeopardy, a husband on the lam and the twenty-four/seven job of mother, Hughes' finds the solution lies in the answer to the question, Whose Hand?

Important Note: This book was listed for free on the date and time of this post. Prices can and do change without prior notice. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Download Link(s):

Amazon Free Kindle Edition Download Link.

For more free mystery ebooks, visit our Free MystereBooks page.

Winners of 2012 Left Coast Crime Awards Announced

The winners of several literary mystery awards were announced last night at Left Coast Crime, an annual convention sponsored by mystery fans for mystery fans. This year's event was held in Sacramento (CA).

The winners of the "Lefty" award as well as other special awards given out this year are:

• Lefty (for best humorous novel): The Real Macaw by Donna Andrews (Minotaur Books)

• Golden Nugget (for best mystery set in California): City of Secrets by Kelli Stanley (Minotaur Books)

• Eureka! (for best first mystery): Nazareth Child by Darrell James (Midnight Ink)

Other winners announced are:

• Bruce Alexander Memorial Historical Mystery Award: Mercury's Rise by Ann Parker (Poisoned Pen Press)

• Dilys Award (for a mystery booksellers most enjoyed selling): Ghost Hero by S. J. Rozan (Minotaur Books)

Special thanks to Janet Rudolph, who attended the convention and announced the results.

Telemystery: The Killing, Season Two, Premieres Sunday April 1st on AMC

Tomorrow, Sunday April 1st, the second season of The Killing premieres on AMC with a two-hour episode starting at 8 PM (ET/PT).

Of course we all know that last season ended without a resolution to the only question asked by everyone all season, Who Killed Rosie Larson? And we all know based on all the pre-season publicity that the answer won't be coming until the final episode of this second season. Which almost begs the question, why bother tuning in until the season finale?

Still, for those who may be interested, in the aftermath of the shooting at City Hall and Linden's discovery that the photo leading to Councilman Darren Richmond's arrest was forged, Sarah returns to Seattle to investigate a possible cover up and wonders if she can trust her partner.

Get a 3-plus minute summary of the first season and a brief preview of this season below.

Review: Paradise Falls by Jonnie Jacobs

We've just published our Review of Paradise Falls by Jonnie Jacobs. Five Star Hardcover, March 2012.

Available to purchase from …

Scorpion House by Maria Hudgins is Today's Second Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Scorpion House by Maria Hudgins as today's second free mystery ebook.

This title was listed as free as of the date and time of this post. Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your transaction.

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Scorpion House by Maria Hudgins
A Lacy Glass Mystery
Publisher: Maria Hudgins

This stand-alone, possibly the first in a new series, is by the author of the Dotsy Lamb Travel mysteries.

About Scorpion House (from the publisher): It sounds like the chance of a lifetime, to explore the tomb of an ancient Egyptian nobleman and live in an expedition house with other scientists. All expenses paid, and her name on a paper sure to be published in a prestigious journal. But when her housemates start turning up dead, all under unpleasant circumstances, Lacy Glass has reason to suspect she’s next.

Lacy is a botanist, a pigment specialist, recruited to analyze the paint on the walls and the dyes in the linen found in the tomb. Altogether, nine specialists share the house on the west bank of the Nile in Luxor, but Lacy isn't sure she can trust any of them. The first to die is her best friend, her mentor, and the only housemate she knows well enough to trust.

These housemates include a cook who believes she's the pharaoh Hatshepsut's daughter, an ex-pat American botanist, an overbearing team leader, and a surfeit of scorpions.

Important Note: This book was listed for free on the date and time of this post. Prices can and do change without prior notice. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Download Link(s):

Amazon Free Kindle Edition Download Link.

For more free mystery ebooks, visit our Free MystereBooks page.

Last Dance in Redondo Beach by Michael J. Katz is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Last Dance in Redondo Beach by Michael J. Katz as today's free mystery ebook.

This title was listed as free as of the date and time of this post. Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your transaction.

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Last Dance in Redondo Beach by Michael J. Katz
An Andy Sussman Mystery
Original Publisher: Putnam

The is the second sports mystery (of three in the series) to feature radio personality Andy Sussman.

About Last Dance in Redondo Beach (from the publisher): Sportscaster Andy, now a network reporter, is assigned to anchor the Celebrity Network Superteams. When the masked wrestler Dr. Double X mysteriously drowns in a rowboat race, Andy intrepidly digs up more facts than he’d wished for. He soon calls in his girlfriend/lawyer, Susie Ettinger and his pal Murray Glick, who has taken a break from his shopping mall office to run Mystery Cruises.

The world of pro wrestling provides a raunchy and hilarious backdrop for the story, including Shakespearean actor Lennie Weintraub, aka The Renaissance Man, and Dr. XX’s manager, Wireless.

Important Note: This book was listed for free on the date and time of this post. Prices can and do change without prior notice. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Download Link(s):

Amazon Free Kindle Edition Download Link.

For more free mystery ebooks, visit our Free MystereBooks page.

Production Underway for Film Adaptation of A Single Shot by Matthew F. Jones

Here's some news that surprised us a bit. Production has begun on the film adaptation of Matthew F. Jones's thriller A Single Shot. The news itself isn't surprising, just the timing.

We first heard about the adaptation in 2010, and then there was a news items from mid-2011 that production had begun in Vancouver. But apparently that was a false start.

Jones has adapted his own book for the film screenplay, which is being directed by David M. Rosenthal. A Single Shot was originally published in 1996 by Farrar Straus & Giroux and recently reissued by Mulholland Books. Here's the synopsis from the book:

After the loss of his family farm, John Moon is a desperate man. A master hunter, his ability to poach game in-season or out is the only thing that stands between him and the soup kitchen line. Until Moon trespasses on the wrong land, hears a rustle in the brush, and fires a single fateful shot.

Following the bloody trail, he comes upon a shocking scene: an illegal, deep woods campground filled with drugs, bundles of cash and the body of a dead young woman, killed by Moon's stray bullet.

Faced with an ultimate dilemma, Moon has to make a choice: does he take the money and ignore his responsibility for the girl's death? Or confess?

But before he has a chance to decide, Moon finds himself on the run, pursued by those who think the money is theirs. Men who don't care about right and wrong and who want only one thing from John Moon: his body, face down in a ditch.

Starring Sam Rockwell as John Moon and co-starring Jason Isaacs and Willilam H. Macy, the film is expected to be released during 2013.

(Related article: Deadline.)

Anathem by Neal Stephenson is This Week's Amazon Deal Vote Winner

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Anathem by Neal Stephenson as this week's Amazon Deal Vote Winner. The deal price of $1.99 is valid this weekend only.

Visit the deal page to see this week's winners in all four categories — Instant Video, MP3 Album, Kindle Book, and Game Download — and to vole for next week's winner.

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Anathem by Neal Stephenson
Publisher: HarperCollins

This long — very long at almost 1000 pages — novel defies simple categorization, but is possibly best described as a near-future thriller.

About Anathem (from the publisher): Fraa Erasmas is a young avout living in the Concent of Saunt Edhar, a sanctuary for mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers, protected from the corrupting influences of the outside "saecular" world by ancient stone, honored traditions, and complex rituals. Over the centuries, cities and governments have risen and fallen beyond the concent's walls. Three times during history's darkest epochs violence born of superstition and ignorance has invaded and devastated the cloistered mathic community. Yet the avout have always managed to adapt in the wake of catastrophe, becoming out of necessity even more austere and less dependent on technology and material things. And Erasmas has no fear of the outside — the Extramuros — for the last of the terrible times was long, long ago.

Now, in celebration of the week-long, once-in-a-decade rite of Apert, the fraas and suurs prepare to venture beyond the concent's gates — at the same time opening them wide to welcome the curious "extras" in. During his first Apert as a fraa, Erasmas eagerly anticipates reconnecting with the landmarks and family he hasn't seen since he was "collected." But before the week is out, both the existence he abandoned and the one he embraced will stand poised on the brink of cataclysmic change.

Powerful unforeseen forces jeopardize the peaceful stability of mathic life and the established ennui of the Extramuros — a threat that only an unsteady alliance of saecular and avout can oppose — as, one by one, Erasmas and his colleagues, teachers, and friends are summoned forth from the safety of the concent in hopes of warding off global disaster. Suddenly burdened with a staggering responsibility, Erasmas finds himself a major player in a drama that will determine the future of his world — as he sets out on an extraordinary odyssey that will carry him to the most dangerous, inhospitable corners of the planet … and beyond.

Important Note: Amazon.com updates its weekly deal vote winners every Friday. The title referenced above is available at a discounted price of $1.99 from Friday, March 30, 2012 through Sunday, April 01, 2012 only.

Download Link(s):

Amazon Weekly Deal Vote Winner.

Paramount Options Film Rights to French Thriller Syndrome E by Franck Thilliez

Paramount has acquired the film rights to the French thriller Syndrome E by Franck Thilliez. This first in a series was originally published in late 2010 in France, and has its US debut in August — the first of the crime novelist's works to be translated into English.

The story is of beleaguered detective Lucie Hennebelle, whose old friend has developed a case of spontaneous blindness after watching an extremely rare — and violent — film from the 1950s. Embedded in the film are subliminal images so unspeakably heinous that Lucie realizes she must get to the bottom of it — especially when nearly everyone who comes into contact with the film starts turning up dead.

Enlisting the help of Inspector Franck Sharko — a brooding, broken analyst for the Paris police who is exploring the film's connection to five murdered men left in the woods — Lucie begins to strip away the layers of what is perhaps the most disturbing and powerful film ever made. Soon Sharko and Lucie find themselves mired in a darkness that spreads across politics, religion, science, and art while stretching from France to Canada, Egypt to Rwanda, and beyond. And just who is responsible for this darkness will blow readers minds, as Syndrome E forces them to consider: what if the earliest and most brilliant advances and discoveries of neuroscience were not used for good — but for evil.

(Related article: Deadline.)

New Book Trailer for Unholy Night by Seth Grahame-Smith

Seth Grahame-Smith has been in the news a lot lately, what with two movies coming out for which he wrote the screenplays — Dark Shadows and an adaptation of his own novel Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter — and he has a new book, a biblical thriller, being published in April, Unholy Night. The publisher, Hachette Book Group, has now uploaded a trailer, which we've embedded below. Word of caution: it's not for the faint of heart.

They're an iconic part of history's most celebrated birth. But what do we really know about the Three Kings of the Nativity, besides the fact that they followed a star to Bethlehem bearing strange gifts? The Bible has little to say about this enigmatic trio.

In this new telling of the story, the so-called "Three Wise Men" are infamous thieves, led by the dark, murderous Balthazar. After a daring escape from Herod's prison, they stumble upon the famous manger and its newborn king. The last thing Balthazar needs is to be slowed down by young Joseph, Mary and their infant. But when Herod's men begin to slaughter the first born in Judea, he has no choice but to help them escape to Egypt.

It's the beginning of an adventure that will see them fight the last magical creatures of the Old Testament; cross paths with biblical figures like Pontius Pilate and John the Baptist; and finally deliver them to Egypt. It may just be the greatest story never told.

Skin by Patricia Rosemoor is Today's Second Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Skin by Patricia Rosemoor as today's second free mystery ebook.

This title was listed as free as of the date and time of this post. Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your transaction.

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Skin by Patricia Rosemoor
Publisher: CreateSpace

This stand-alone indie thriller is by an author with more than 7 million books in print, one fascinated with "dangerous love", combining romance with danger.

About Skin (from the publisher): She'd do anything to save her sister …

After a decade of searching for her runaway sister, Lilith Mitchell finds her dancing at a gentleman's club. They barely reconnect when a killer kidnaps Hannah. Keeping his victims prisoner for days, he then hunts and kills them in a forest preserve. Determined to identify the killer and find her sister, Lilith transforms herself into Hannah’s double and gets a job at the club to lure the killer into coming after her. The killer savors the idea of doing the sisters together but first takes up Lilith’s challenge by terrorizing her. In a world of deception, where everyone seems guilty, who can Lilith trust?

Important Note: This book was listed for free on the date and time of this post. Prices can and do change without prior notice. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Download Link(s):

Amazon Free Kindle Edition Download Link.

For more free mystery ebooks, visit our Free MystereBooks page.