A Kindle Countdown Deal: Sleeping Dog by Dick Lochte

Amazon Kindle Countdown Deals, limited-time discounts on Kindle-exclusive books.

MystereBooks is pleased to present you with one of today's titles … but take advantage of this deal now as the price will go up to its digital list price soon! (See the countdown clock on the book product page to see how much time remains on this deal.)

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Sleeping Dog by Dick Lochte
A Leo Bloodworth and Serendipity Dahlquist Mystery
Publisher: Laughing Dog

Winner of the 1985 Nero Award for literary excellence in the mystery genre.

When teen Serendipity Dahlquist’s dog is snatched, she’s determined not to lose her hold on this one memento of her dead father. Brushing off her soap star grandmother, she skates across town to hire Leo "the Hound" Bloodworth to find Groucho. The crusty PI seems already to have stepped into some caca through his slimy partner.

Each hot in pursuit of a personal agenda, Serendipity and Leo then cruise past the girl’s appalling family, the Mexican mafia, some ancient history, some modern mayhem, and what can only be the Hollywood/Los Angeles culture, to a surprise convergence.

  

Sacrifices by Roger Smith is Today's Second Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Sacrifices by Roger Smith as today's second free mystery ebook (A Crime Thriller; Kindle format only).

This title was listed for free as of the date and time of this post, November 08, 2013 at 7:20 AM ET. 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.

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.

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Sacrifices
Roger Smith
A Crime Thriller
Publisher: Tin Town

Just another murder in a country where killing is a national pastime …

Wealth insulates Michael Lane and his family from South Africa's violent crime epidemic until trouble comes from within the high walls of their Cape Town mansion one night when his teenage son commits an act of unspeakable savagery.

Lane, joining his wife in a desperate lie to protect their boy (a lie involving the sacrifice of an innocent) encounters no opposition from cops and courts burdened by chaos and corruption, but he sets in motion a bloody train of revenge and retribution that threatens to destroy him and everything he loves.

  

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 Nostradamus File by Alex Lukeman is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature The Nostradamus File by Alex Lukeman as today's free mystery ebook (The Project Series; Kindle format only).

This title was listed for free as of the date and time of this post, November 08, 2013 at 7:10 AM ET. 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.

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.

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The Nostradamus File
Alex Lukeman
The Project Series
Publisher: Alex Lukeman

A Paris dealer in rare books discovers a lost manuscript of prophecies by Nostradamus and is murdered. The murder sends Nick Carter, Selena Connor and the Project team on a global hunt for the fabled Ark of the Covenant. The prophecies lead them to the Holy Land and deep into the secrets of the ancient Order of the Knights Templar.

The Ark is part of a plan to trigger war and a new Crusade in the Middle East. The men behind the plot will kill anyone who gets in the way, and Nick and Selena are in their crosshairs. At the same time he's trying to stay alive, Nick struggles with a bad case of PTSD. He'll lose Selena if he doesn't find a way to handle it. But how can he find time to sort out his personal life when he's caught up in one of the most dangerous missions of his career?

  

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.

Mystery Bestsellers for the Week Ending November 08, 2013

A list of the top 15 Mystery Hardcover Bestsellers for the week ending November 8th, 2013 has been posted by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books.

John Grisham's new legal thriller Sycamore Road retains atop the list this week, with just a bit of shuffling among the top nine bestsellers.

Two new titles debut this week (rank in [brackets]).

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[10]: Mirage
Clive Cussler and Jack Du Brul
— Oregon Files (9th)

In October 1943, a U.S. destroyer sailed out of Philadelphia and supposedly vanished, the result of a Navy experiment with electromagnetic radiation. The story was considered a hoax — but now Juan Cabrillo and his Oregon colleagues aren't so sure.

There is talk of a new weapon soon to be auctioned, something very dangerous to America's interests, and the rumors link it to the great inventor Nikola Tesla, who was working with the Navy when he died in 1943. Was he responsible for the experiment? Are his notes in the hands of enemies? As Cabrillo races to find the truth, he discovers there is even more at stake than he could have imagined — but by the time he realizes it, he may already be too late.

Purchase Options

          

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[14]: The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon
Alexander McCall Smith
— Precious Ramotswe, No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (14th)

Precious Ramotswe has taken on two puzzling cases. First she is approached by the lawyer Mma Sheba, who is the executor of a deceased farmer's estate. Mma Sheba has a feeling that the young man who has stepped forward may be falsely impersonating the farmer's nephew in order to claim his inheritance. Mma Ramotswe agrees to visit the farm and find out what she can about the self-professed nephew. Then the proprietor of the Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon comes to Mma Ramotswe for advice. The opening of her new salon has been shadowed by misfortune. Not only has she received a bad omen in the mail, but rumors are swirling that the salon is using dangerous products that burn people's skin. Could someone be trying to put the salon out of business?

Meanwhile, at the office, Mma Ramotswe has noticed something different about Grace Makutsi lately. Though Mma Makutsi has mentioned nothing, it has become clear that she is pregnant. But in Botswana — a land where family has always been held above all else — this may be cause for controversy as well as celebration.

Purchase Options

          

Today's Mystery and Suspense Update from Big Fish Games (131108)

Here is today's mystery and suspense update from Big Fish Games …

• Our Featured Title is Mystery Trackers: Raincliff.

• The current Catch of the Week is Theatre of Shadows: As You Wish, just $2.99 through Sunday, November 10, 2013 only.

Visit the Omnimystery Entertainment Network for more games of mystery and suspense!

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Our Featured Title today is Mystery Trackers: Raincliff

After a group of young students go missing, the Mystery Trackers are called in to search the city of Raincliff! Tackle this difficult case and unravel the strange mystery to save the students! Explore the entire town and discover who is watching your every move! Use your Hidden Object talents to carefully dissect scenes and piece together perplexing puzzles!

A sample version is available to download and play for free for one hour.

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The current Catch of the Week is Theatre of Shadows: As You Wish

Take a journey as a Hunter of Darkness, who is wandering the Earth and answering the call of distress when evil invades where it's not welcome. His ring leads him to the Theatre of Shadows. There he meets the owner of the theatre, Donna, whose husband, Nicholas, is possessed by a dark force that came from a magic shadow puppet. Save Nicholas and capture the dark force before it releases dark shadows from another dimension!

A sample version is available to download and play for free for one hour. You can purchase this game at the special price of $2.99 through Sunday, November 10, 2013.

Review: The Séance Society by Michael Nethercott

A Mysterious Review of The Séance Society by Michael Nethercott. A Lee Plunkett and Mr. O'Nelligan Mystery.

Review summary: The delightful cast of characters is the hallmark of this series debut, with myriad colorful suspects to keep it all interesting. The storyline is replete with red herrings and dead ends, a real whodunit-style mystery. Readers will most certainly be looking forward to the characters' next adventure. (Click here for text of full review.)

Our rating:

The Séance Society
Michael Nethercott
A Lee Plunkett and Mr. O'Nelligan Mystery
Minotaur Books (October 2013)

Publisher synopsis: It's 1956, and Lee Plunkett has taken over the family business as a private investigator despite his reluctance to follow in his father's footsteps. When murder intrudes on a group of ghost seekers, Lee is asked to solve the case by a cop on the verge of retirement.

At the urging of his perpetual fiancée Audrey, Lee enlists the help of Mr. O'Nelligan, a scholarly Irishman with a keen eye for solving mysteries. The duo is drawn into a murder investigation involving the "Spectricator," a machine designed to communicate with the dead.

Soon, Plunkett and O'Nelligan are knee-deep in a suspect pool that includes a surly medium, a former speakeasy queen, a mysterious Spanish widow, and a whole slew of eccentric servants.

      

Telemystery: New Poster for Lilyhammer Season 2

Yesterday we had the premiere date and trailer for the second season of Lilyhammer and now we have a new promotional poster (right; click for larger image). The tagline: "His way or Norway".

Lilyhammer follows former gangster Frank "The Fixer" Tagliano (Steven Van Zandt) as he enters the federal witness protection program trading the mean streets of New York for the icy fjords of Norway, forging a new life among the locals of Lillehammer.

Season two continues with Frank living under the alias of Johnny Henriksen, a successful nightclub owner and father of two. As if life couldn't get more complicated than balancing fatherhood with running a criminal operation, everything Frank cares for is threatened when his former mob associates find out he is still alive.

All eight episodes of the second season of Lilyhammer will be available to stream on December 13th, 2013.

A New MystereBook: Decoupage Can Be Deadly by Lois Winston

Here is a mystery, suspense, or thriller ebook that we recently found by sleuthing (as it were) through new or recently reissued titles from independent publishers during November 2013 priced $3.99 or less …

Decoupage Can Be Deadly by Lois Winston is the fourth mystery to feature woman's magazine crafting editor Anastasia Pollack.

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Decoupage Can Be Deadly by Lois Winston
An Anastasia Pollack, Crafting Mystery
Publisher: Lois Winston
Publication Date: November 05, 2013

Anastasia and her fellow American Woman editors are steaming mad when minutes before the opening of a consumer show, they discover half their booth usurped by Bling!, their publisher's newest magazine. CEO Alfred Gruenwald is sporting new arm candy — rapper-turned-entrepreneur and Bling! executive editor, the first-name-only Philomena.

During the consumer show, Gruenwald's wife serves Philomena with an alienation of affection lawsuit, but Philomena doesn't live long enough to make an appearance in court. She's found dead days later, stuffed in the shipping case that held Anastasia's decoupage crafts.

When Gruenwald makes cash-strapped Anastasia an offer she can't refuse, she wonders, does he really want to find Philomena's killer or is he harboring a hidden agenda?

  

Night Tide, A Blake Sanders Mystery by Michael W. Sherer, Now at a Special Price

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Night Tide by Michael W. Sherer, now available at a special price, courtesy of the author.

The ebook format of this title was priced at $2.99 from the listed vendors (below) as of the date and time of this post (11/07/2013 at 4:00 PM ET). 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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Night Tide by Michael W. Sherer
A Blake Sanders Mystery (2nd in series)
Publisher: Michael W. Sherer

Blake Sanders thought he left his Midwestern past behind when he went to the University of Washington on a basketball scholarship more than 20 years earlier. But Keely Radcliffe drags it back into the present when she shows up on Blake's stoop one morning to ask for his help. Back then, Keely's sister was killed in a lab explosion on a university campus in southern Illinois.

Blake's best friend Perry Langford was arrested and convicted of murder for setting the charge, but Langford always maintained his innocence, claiming someone else blew up the building. Not even Blake knows what really happened, and he was there. This is a secret he's kept all this time. Now Langford is out of prison, and he's gunning for all those he holds responsible for his 20-year stint in jail, including Blake.

A week later, Blake's cop friend Charlie invites him to a backyard barbecue at his folks' house. Masked gunmen burst in on the festivities before the two of them can even open a beer. Charlie and Blake manage to hold off the marauders, but Charlie is wounded and when the smoke clears, Charlie's parents have vanished.

Events begin to snowball, putting Blake on the run from both the shooters and Langford, his childhood friend. Blake realizes they are all related. Soon the FBI and even naval intelligence officer Reyna Chase are on his tail, too. Whoever planted the bomb 20 years ago is cleaning up loose ends, and the prize they're still seeking after all this time - a revolutionary battery design — is worth a fortune, even worth selling out one's own country … and killing for.

  

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

A New MystereBook: The Art of Death by Margarite St. John

Here is a mystery, suspense, or thriller ebook that we recently found by sleuthing (as it were) through new or recently reissued titles from independent publishers during November 2013 priced $3.99 or less …

The Art of Death by Margarite St. John is the eighth "novel of murder" by the writing team of sisters Margaret Yoder and Johnine Brown.

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The Art of Death by Margarite St. John
A Suspense Thriller
Publisher: Margarite St. John
Publication Date: November 05, 2013

The much-married Madeleine Harrod is a beautiful and talented woman obsessed with death. She sees things no one else sees. As one of the best forensic artists in the country, she visualizes the face of an unidentified skull before anyone else can. She owns Appledorn Exploratorium, which makes spooky scientific toys for a global market. Her oil paintings of dead people — haunting and expensive — sell nationally.

Despite her success, Madeleine is troubled. She hasn't been her old self since, at the age of eleven during a picnic at the Dunes, she tried to rescue a girlfriend carried away by a riptide. Her psychiatrist and old-world beau, Dr. Beltrami, is more Svengali than healer. She suffers from nightmares and sleepwalking and believes she has lived many other lives.

And then, at the peak of Madeleine's success, a strange man in yachting clothes begins following her, mysteriously appearing where he's least wanted. "Captain Ahab" threatens to reveal a secret about the accident at the Dunes. Though Madeleine carries the marks of his violence on her wrist, no one else believes he exists — until he murders another of Madeleine's childhood friends.

One by one, the people closest to Madeleine are found dead. Can the illusory Captain Ahab be stopped before he kills again?

  

Fatal Distraction, A Jess Kimball Mystery Thriller by Diane Capri, Now at a Special Price

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Fatal Distraction by Diane Capri, now available at a special price, courtesy of the publisher, AugustBooks.

The ebook format of this title was priced at $0.99 from the listed vendors (below) as of the date and time of this post (11/07/2013 at 3:00 PM ET). 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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Fatal Distraction by Diane Capri
A Jess Kimball Mystery Thriller (1st in series)
Publisher: AugustBooks

Relentless victims' rights advocate Jess Kimball and Jack Reacher both deliver justice when the legal system fails. Reacher waits until trouble finds him and then he does whatever it takes. But Jess pursues legal justice and draws lines she will not cross. How can she win against killers who refuse to follow the rules?

Three years ago, beloved Florida Governor Helen Sullivan's world shattered when her only son died in a senseless car crash, killing his best friend, too. Helen quickly discovered Eric's crash was no accident and lured the killer to her son's funeral to be caught. When the shooting ceased in the small country church, Helen believed her nightmare was over. Instead, she'd unwittingly escalated her duel with a cunning and patient assassin.

Now, investigative journalist Jess Kimball is driven to find the horrifying truth. Is the Central Florida Child Killer guilty? Or is the real killer still out there?

Helen and Jess together face the determined killer in a pitched battle of wit and nerve while Helen's husband struggles to live. Who will survive?

      

Click on the Amazon button to see also the special Whispersync offer associated with this title.

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

Southside by Michael Krikorian, New in Bookstores This Week

Today's new hardcover mystery title, scheduled to be published this week by Oceanview Publishing, is Southside by Michael Krikorian.

For a list of more new hardcover mysteries published this month, visit our New Mysteries page for November 2013. For new paperback mysteries, visit The Mystery Bookshelf where a selection of November 2013 mysteries, novels of suspense, and thrillers are shelved.

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Southside
Michael Krikorian

Los Angeles Times gang reporter Michael Lyons has just left his favorite downtown saloon when he is shot and wounded on the sidewalk two blocks from City Hall. After the initial shock, fellow reporters put together a betting pool. The bet? "Who Shot Mike?" There are a lot of contenders.

When the LAPD's investigation stalls, the Times runs editorials critical of the police. Then, when detectives uncover an audio tape of Lyons talking to a gang member about the benefits of getting shot, they release the tape. The embarrassed newspaper editor fires Lyons, who then sets out on the streets of Southside Los Angeles with a vengeance to find the shooter. When three seemingly unrelated people are murdered on the streets of L.A., Lyons connects them to his own shooting. The tie-in? An imprisoned, notorious gang shot-caller known as Big Evil, who Lyons made famous in a gang profile and whose younger brother is among the victims. But who is doing the killing?