Review: Death as a Fine Art by Gwendolyn Southin

A Mysterious Review of …

Death as a Fine Art by Gwendolyn Southin. A Margaret Spencer Mystery.

Review summary: This is an entertaining mystery, centered on the strong, compassionate character of a female private investigator in 1960s Vancouver. There's a nice balance of her professional investigation into a suicide that wasn't, and a personal subplot involving her daughter's upcoming wedding. (Click here for text of full review.)

Our rating:

Death as a Fine Art
Gwendolyn Southin
A Margaret Spencer Mystery
TouchWood Editions (September 2012)

Publisher synopsis: Journey into the fashionable art world of 1960s Vancouver as Margaret Spencer and Nat Southby return in Death as a Fine Art, the fifth book in the Margaret Spencer mystery series. The owner of the Silver Unicorn Art Gallery is dead, and Southby and Spencer, Private Investigators are back at work in search of the killer. With plenty of suspects and twists and turns along the way, Maggie and Nat have their work cut out for them.

The cast of memorable characters are no match for the investigators. Maggie trusts her instincts as they take her from the streets of Vancouver to Victoria, Galiano Island, and Mission. Meanwhile, her estranged husband continues his efforts to win her back, but even with plans for her daughter's wedding taking up all her spare time, Maggie knows there is no returning to her old life.

      

Telemystery: NBC to Air Mockingbird Lane Pilot as Halloween Special

Just about a year ago NBC ordered a pilot for a remake — or reimagining — of the 1960s CBS comedy The Munsters. Titled Mockingbird Lane, the series was intended to explore the origin and early days of the family.

The network has elected not to move forward with a series order, but has decided to repurpose the already produced pilot, airing it as a Halloween special on Friday, October 26th.

Watch a preview for the episode below.

Today's Bestselling Free Kindle MystereBooks (121013)

Here is today's list of the Bestselling Free Kindle Crime Fiction: the top nine mysteries, novels of suspense, and thrillers.

We're using a script to embed an RSS feed from Amazon.com, which is updated hourly, but if you cannot see the box below — or have scripts blocked — you can click on the image to the right or use this link to see the relevant page on Amazon.com, which includes a list of both the Top 100 Paid and Top 100 Free Kindle Mysteries and Thrillers.

MystereBooks: This Week's Update of Kindle Crime Fiction Priced $2.99 or Less (121013)

Every month Amazon publishes a list of 100 Kindle books priced $3.99 or less. We thought we'd take that idea and improve on it, publishing a list of 100 Kindle mystery books priced $2.99 or less and updating it every week!

Here is our general criteria for selecting titles to include: books from major or specialty publishers of crime fiction and those written by authors familiar to us. There are far more than 100 to choose from, so we use our best judgment to narrow it down.

And just a reminder … as we add new titles, older ones are removed from the list. These books aren't likely to be repeated, so we encourage you to check in frequently!

Just a couple of notes before we get to today's list …

• Bloomsbury has discounted the first three mysteries by H. R. F. Keating. The covers aren't much to look at, but the books are terrific.

• Poisoned Pen Press probably has the largest selection of mysteries priced $2.99 or less, but since many of them were discounted earlier this year, they don't appear on our list. (Our "oldest" title is from mid-August.) If you haven't read any of their authors, we encourage you to do so.

And now on to our update! Below are listed the new $2.99 or less titles we added today; click on the cover or title for more information or to purchase the Kindle edition.

Important Note: Prices can and do change without prior notice! We strongly urge you to confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of purchase is the price of the book.

— ♦ —

Stakeout at the Vampire Circus by Kevin J. Anderson. A Dan Shamble, Zombie PI Mystery (2nd). This is a pre-order title.

Kill Two Birds and Get Stoned by Kinky Friedman.

The Assassin Trilogy by Derek Haas.

Zen There was Murder by H. R. F. Keating.

Death and the Visiting Fireman by H. R. F. Keating.

Murder Must Appetize by H. R. F. Keating.

Shatter by Michael Robotham. A Joe O'Loughlin Mystery (3rd).

Frostline by Justin Scott. A Ben Abbott Mystery (3rd).

Deal to Die For by Les Standiford. A John Deal Mystery (3rd).

Live to Tell by Wendy Corsi Staub.

Deadly Perfume by Gordon Thomas. A David Morton Mystery.

— ♦ —

Important Note: Prices can and do change without prior notice! We strongly urge you to confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of purchase is the price of the book.

Key Lime Blues by Mike Jastrzebski is Today's Third Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Key Lime Blues by Mike Jastrzebski 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.

— ♦ —

Key Lime Blues
Mike Jastrzebski
A Wes Darling Mystery
Publisher: CreateSpace

For some people working in the family business means suits, power lunches, and afternoon meetings. For Wes Darling it was guns, lies, and dead bodies.

The Darling Detective Agency was founded in 1876 by Aaron "Dusty" Darling. Now Wes's chain smoking, stressed out mother is grooming Wes to take over. How does he handle his mother's demands? He heads to Key West, moves onto a sailboat, and takes a job tending bar at a little joint called Dirty Alvin's.

Life is carefree until his mother's lover, a man who mentored Wes for years, is murdered on a Key West Beach. Reluctantly, Wes is drawn into a spinning web of murder, sex and deceit.

First there are his mother's pleas for help. Throw in a six-foot-tall red-headed stripper, a retired mobster who acts like it's the 1940's, a pair of dim-witted hit men, a phobic psychic named Elvis, a small fortune in stolen diamonds, and what do you have? Mayhem in Key West.

  

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.

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

Jigsaw Soul by Scott Middlemist is Today's Second Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Jigsaw Soul by Scott Middlemist 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.

— ♦ —

Jigsaw Soul
Scott Middlemist
Publisher: CreateSpace

In a black ops unit, Arthur Logan calls bullets and bombs from the sky over Iraq. The corpses created by his lethal rain send ghosts after Arthur's soul, but he avoids their revenge … until returning home.

Civilian life seems perfect, but the echoes of war slowly dissolve his sanity, and Arthur causes a disaster that kills hundreds of people.

While imprisoned for his actions, Arthur discovers his shattered soul is scattered between life and death in a slipstream called The Scale. On a quest for redemption, Arthur hunts for his soul in supernatural versions of San Francisco, New York, Camelot, Valhalla, and even into hell.

    

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.

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

Time to Time by Don Pendleton is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Time to Time by Don Pendleton 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.

— ♦ —

Time to Time
Don Pendleton
An Ashton Ford, Psychic Detective Mystery
Publisher: Pendleton Artists

This is the sixth book in this series.

Private Investigator Ashton Ford has special powers, powers that some call supernatural. A former naval intelligence officer, highly knowledgeable in cryptology and philosophy, Ford will shatter your ideas of reality and take you into a mystical world of vision, intuition, and psychic truth. A phenomenal psychic, unparalleled lover, and a true Renaissance man, Ashton Ford can see into the future and even into the distant past using his psychic powers to assist special clients who are in crisis.

The husband of an aging though still beautiful Hollywood movie star is concerned with his wife's unnatural compulsions and obsessions with UFOs, dolphins, and the paranormal. The actress is convinced that someone, somewhere in space is calling her. This case leads Ashton Ford into the world of the dolphin, extraterrestrials, and space-traveling UFOs. It is an awe-inspiring journey through the farthest reaches of time and space, mysteries of the unknown, and a look into the ancient population of our very own planet Earth.

  

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.

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

Project Update: Angel of Death, the Sequel to The Woman in Black

There is no cast (yet), but Angel of Death, the sequel to The Woman in Black, has a director: Tom Harper. The film's screenplay has been written by Jon Croker from an original idea by Susan Hill, who wrote the book from which the first film was adapted.

When we first reported on the project back in April, we noted that the storyline is set 40 years after the events of the first film, and centers on a young couple and the experiences they have in Eel House.

— ♦ —

The Woman in Black

Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe), a widowed lawyer, is sent to a remote village to sort out the affairs of a recently deceased eccentric. But upon his arrival, it soon becomes clear that the house belonging to his client is haunted by the ghost of a woman out to seek vengeance.

Adapted from the novel The Woman in Black by Susan Hill.

        

New Trailer for Gangster Squad

Earlier this week we featured the noir poster for Gangster Squad. Today we have a newly edited trailer released by the studio (embedded below). (The first trailer featured a scene of a shooting in a theater, which has now been cut.)

In 1946, the LAPD launched the Gangster Squad with eight men who met covertly on street corners and slept with Tommy guns under their beds. But for two cops, all that mattered was nailing the strutting gangster Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn). Sgt. Jack O'Mara (Josh Brolin) was a square-jawed church usher, Sgt. Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling) a cynical maverick. About all they had in common was their obsession. So O'Mara set a trap to prove Mickey was a killer. And Wooters formed an alliance with Mickey's budding rival, Jack "The Enforcer" Whalen. Two cops — two hoodlums.

Their fates collided in the closing days of the 1950s, when late one night "The Enforcer" confronted Mickey and his crew. The aftermath would shake both LA's mob and police department, and signal the end of a defining era in the city's history.

Directed by Ruben Fleischer from an adapted screenplay by Will Beall, based on the book by Paul Lieberman, Gangster Squad opens in theaters January 11th, 2013.

— ♦ —

Today's Bestselling Free Kindle MystereBooks (121012)

Here is today's list of the Bestselling Free Kindle Crime Fiction: the top nine mysteries, novels of suspense, and thrillers.

We're using a script to embed an RSS feed from Amazon.com, which is updated hourly, but if you cannot see the box below — or have scripts blocked — you can click on the image to the right or use this link to see the relevant page on Amazon.com, which includes a list of both the Top 100 Paid and Top 100 Free Kindle Mysteries and Thrillers.

Gone the Next by Ben Rehder is Today's Third Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Gone the Next by Ben Rehder 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.

— ♦ —

Gone the Next
Ben Rehder
Publisher: Ben Rehder

Meet Roy Ballard, freelance videographer with a knack for catching insurance cheats. He's working a routine case, complete with hours of tedious surveillance, when he sees something that shakes him to the core. There, with the subject, is a little blond girl wearing a pink top and denim shorts—the same outfit worn by Tracy Turner, a six-year-old abducted the day before. When the police are skeptical of Ballard's report — and with his history, who can blame them? — it's the beginning of the most important case of his life.

  

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.

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

The Sourdough Wars by Julie Smith is Today's Second Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature The Sourdough Wars by Julie Smith 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.

— ♦ —

The Sourdough Wars
Julie Smith
A Rebecca Schwartz Mystery
Publisher: booksBnimble

This is the second mystery in this series, first published in 1984 by Walker.

It's just a frozen lump of dough … but to some, it's life and death.

Especially to handsome Peter Martinelli, who wants to auction off the fabled sourdough starter from his family's famous bakery. But who'd buy a frozen hunk of flour and water? Only, it turns out, every bakery in San Francisco, a national food conglomerate, and an upstart ringer with a mysterious backer.

Someone would even kill for it. And does.

Enter lawyer sleuth Rebecca Schwartz, whose client is her own partner, glamorous Chris Nicholson, Martinelli's main squeeze before the ill-starred auction.

Rebecca noshes her way through the case in hilariously unorthodox style, tasting some great bread long the way, but also uncovering so many ancient jealousies, long-simmering feuds, and seething resentments that she barely escapes death by doughball.

  

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.

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

Twice Bitten by Joe Perrone Jr. is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Twice Bitten by Joe Perrone Jr. 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.

— ♦ —

Twice Bitten
Joe Perrone Jr.
A Matt Davis Mystery
Publisher: CreateSpace

This is the third mystery in this series.

While in prison, Ron Trentweiler, a petty thief, is befriended by an itinerant preacher and gets "religion." Upon his release, he founds a small, storefront Pentecostal-style church in his native, rural Alabama.

Enter Winona Stepp, a visitor at one of his services who seems to know all about "Brother Ron," as he has taken to calling himself, yet insists upon keeping her past to herself. Things go smoothly for the pair, that is until Winona suggests using venomous snakes in their "act" and all hell breaks loose. Eventually, they make their way north into Matt's "backyard," where things take a murderous twist. What secrets are hiding in Winona's closet? Is Brother Ron exactly who he appears to be? Is he a religious convert or just a con man?

  

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.

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

The Spy Lover by Kiana Davenport is Today's Kindle Daily Deal

MystereBooks is pleased to feature The Spy Lover by Kiana Davenport as today's Amazon Kindle Daily Deal.

The deal price of $1.99 is valid only for today, Friday, October 12, 2012.

— ♦ —

The Spy Lover
Kiana Davenport
Thomas & Mercer

Fleeing drought and famine in China, Johnny Tom arrives in America with dreams of becoming a citizen. Having survived vigilantes hunting "yellow dogs" and slave auction-blocks, Johnny is kidnapped from his Mississippi village by Confederate soldiers, taken from his wife and daughter, and forced to fight for the South. Eventually defecting to the Union side, he is promised American citizenship in exchange for his loyal services. But first Johnny must survive the butchery of battles and the cruelties inflicted on non-white soldiers.

Desperate to find Johnny, his daughter, Era, is enlisted as a spy. She agrees to work as a nurse at Confederate camps while scouting for the North. Amidst the unspeakable carnage of wounded soldiers, she finds solace in Warren Petticomb, a cavalryman who lost an arm at Shiloh. As devastation mounts in both armies, Era must choose where her loyalties lie — with her beloved father in the North, or with the man who passionately sustains her in the South.

Important Note: This book was listed at the price mentioned above 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.