The Killing Storm, A Sarah Armstrong Mystery by Kathryn Casey, Now Available at a Special Price

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, Minotaur Books …

The Killing Storm by Kathryn Casey

A Sarah Armstrong Mystery (3rd in series)

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Price: $1.99 (as of 06/26/2014 at 1:00 PM ET).

Read our review of this book on Mysterious Reviews.

  

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.

On a quiet afternoon in the park, four-year-old Joey plays in the sandbox, when a stranger approaches looking for his puppy. While Joey's mom, Crystal, talks on her cell phone, the stranger convinces the child to help search. By the time Crystal turns around, her son has disappeared. Yet her reaction is odd, not what one would expect from a distraught mother. Is Crystal somehow involved in her son's abduction?

Meanwhile, on a ranch outside Houston, Texas Ranger Sarah Armstrong assesses a symbol left on the hide of a slaughtered longhorn, a figure that dates back to a forgotten era of sugarcane plantations and slavery. Soon other prizewinning bulls are butchered on the outskirts of the city, each bearing a similar drawing. The investigations converge at the same time a catastrophic hurricane looms in the Gulf. Finally, as dangerous winds and torrential rains pummel the city, Sarah is forced to risk her life to save Joey.

— The Killing Storm by Kathryn Casey

Playing with Fire, A Sarah Fortune Mystery by Frances Fyfield, New from Witness Impulse

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

In this post, we've selected one of their recently published titles to feature here today …

Playing with Fire by Frances Fyfield

A Sarah Fortune Mystery (7th in series)

Publisher: Witness Impulse

Price: $2.99 (as of 06/26/2014 at 12:30 PM ET).

  

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.

When Sarah Fortune inherits an apartment from one of her many lovers, she moves in and begins to receive letters from someone claiming the apartment belongs to him instead. At first she believes the letters to be harmless, but as they grow more threatening, she can no longer ignore the fact that she is being hounded by a psychopath.

Then Sarah meets Henry, a timid, lonely man whose racketeering landlord is trying to force him to break his lease: litter in the shared hallway, continual noise, poison set out for his cat. Confident that they'll be able to deal with one another's problems, Sarah suggests a house swap.

But it soon becomes clear that the two acquaintances are connected by far more than shared frustration, and they will discover that "home" may not be as safe as they thought …

— Playing with Fire by Frances Fyfield

Enter to Win — Never Coming Back by Tim Weaver

Omnimystery News invites you to Enter to Win a copy of Never Coming Back by Tim Weaver, courtesy of Penguin Books.

One (1) winner will receive a copy of …

Title: Never Coming Back
Author: Tim Weaver
Series: A David Raker Thriller
Publisher: Viking
Format: Hardcover
List Price: $27.95

Use the form below to submit your entry. One entry per person; US residents only. Entry period ends Thursday, July 03, 2014. (If you cannot see the entry form, use this link.)

Synopsis of Never Coming Back: Emily Kane arrives at her sister Carrie's house to find the front door unlocked, dinner on the table, and the family nowhere to be found — Carrie, her husband, and two daughters have disappeared. When the police turn up no leads, Emily turns to her former boyfriend David Raker, a missing persons investigator, to track the family down.

As Raker pursues the case, he discovers evidence of a sinister cover-up, decades in the making and with a long trail of bodies behind it.

Please Welcome Le French Book Publisher Anne Trager

with Anne Trager

We are delighted to welcome publisher Anne Trager to Omnimystery News.

Anne is the founder and president of the mystery and thriller publishing house Le French Book … but is also a translator. She launched the Winemaker Detective series by Jean-Pierre Alaux and Noël Balen with two of her own translations — Treachery in Bordeaux and most recently Grand Cru Heist. She writes about the experience here for us today, titling her guest post "Inspiration in Translation".

— ♦ —

Photo provided courtesy of
Anne Trager

Imagine picking up a short mystery and being whisked away to one of your favorite places (French wine country in my case), discovering a world of good food and drink, and very French enjoyment of life's simple and not-so-simple pleasures, with some sleuthing on the side. Then you finish the book in one sitting and, perhaps like me, wish for a glass of fine wine. That's exactly what happened when I first discovered the Winemaker Detective series.

A friend and restaurant owner in Toulouse, France, knew my interest in food and wine and mysteries and lent me one of the series, which in French is called Le Sang de la Vigne, or Blood of the Vine, as is the TV series. I knew right away I had to start translating it into English. When I first moved to France over a quarter of a century ago, it was to train as a chef, and when I stayed on, I learned the basics of wine and wine tasting, before I started my translation and publishing career.

So this particular series spoke not only to the mystery lover in me, but also to my inner Epicurean. I love that the authors have a real passion for wine and winemaker. They themselves describe each book as being as much a wine novel as a mystery. And in each one, you learn something about the world of grand and not-so-grand crus.

The books also transport you to France. The authors are particularly adept at description, and they write about real wine estates, real restaurants, and real sites. They only change the names when some crime or evil-doing is involved. So, in addition to some armchair travel, you can actually use them as travel guides.

In fact, on a recent holiday, I went with my family to stay in the hotel in the Loire Valley where Benjamin Cooker took refuge to recover from a carjacking in Paris (Grand Cru Heist). We then set out to taste wines he mentioned, discovering some fine estates. Talk about inspiration.

Ultimately, my experience as a translator of two of these books probably parallels a reader's experience: I learned a lot about wine and winemaking, I vicariously enjoyed a lot of food and wine through the book's heroes, with all the fun of solving a mystery along the way.

— ♦ —

Grand Cru Heist
Jean-Pierre Alaux and Noël Balen
A Benjamin Cooker, Winemaker Detective Mystery
Translated by Anne Trager

One winter day in Paris, renowned wine critic Benjamin Cooker's world gets turned upside down when his car gets highjacked. He loses his treasured tasting notebook and his feeling of safety. To recover, he retreats to the region around Tours, sure that the wine and off-season calm will restore is sense of self.

There a flamboyant British dandy, a spectacular blue-eyed blond, a zealous concierge and touchy local police disturb his well-deserved rest. From the Loire Valley to Bordeaux, in between a glass of Vouvray and a bottle of Saint-Émilion, the Winemaker Detective and his assistant Virgile turn PI to solve two murders and very peculiar heist. Who stole those bottles of grand cru classé?

        

Macaron Murder by Harper Lin is Today's Second Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Macaron Murder by Harper Lin as today's second free mystery ebook (A Patisserie Mystery with Recipes; Kindle format only).

This title was listed for free as of the date and time of this post, June 26, 2014 at 6:45 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.

— ♦ —

Macaron Murder
Harper Lin
A Patisserie Mystery with Recipes
Publisher: Harper Lin

French native Clémence Damour returns to Paris after traveling around the world for two years. She's dog-sitting for her parents in the posh 16th arrondissement and overseeing the family patisserie, a famous franchise known for their delectable gourmet pastries and sweets in Paris and around the world.

To get off on the right foot with la gardienne, the caretaker of the apartment building, Clémence gives her a box of their luxury macarons. The next morning however, the half-eaten box of macarons is found near la gardienne's dead body. An incompetent inspector accuses Clémence of being the killer, which prompts her to clear her name and solve the case herself.

  

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.

Dying To Dance by Kate O'Connell is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Dying To Dance by Kate O'Connell as today's free mystery ebook (A Maddie Fitzpatrick, Dance Mystery; Kindle format only).

This title was listed for free as of the date and time of this post, June 26, 2014 at 6:30 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.

— ♦ —

Dying To Dance
Kate O'Connell
A Maddie Fitzpatrick, Dance Mystery
Publisher: Cozy Cat Press

Noted Argentine Tango choreographer Maddie Fitzpatrick returns to her hometown of Pembroke to teach at a local dance school after a televised dance fiasco upsets her career. No sooner there, but Maddie finds herself thrown into another unsettling situation when one of the school's students dies suddenly and horrifically during a dance class — apparently from an allergic reaction.

When Maddie's first love — now a local detective — arrives on the scene to investigate, she believes that her new life can't possibly get anymore complicated. Of course, she's wrong, because she soon begins to realize that the victim's demise is anything but an accident.

She decides to investigate the circumstances of the woman's life — and death — on her own, to clear the dance school and its charming director Peter of any adverse publicity. To do this, she has to figure out how eager real estate agents, eccentric dance teachers, unstable nurses, and several popular dance students fit into the mystery.

Will more people succumb before Maddie puts all the clues together and discovers why they are dying to dance?

  

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 Illusionists by Rosie Thomas is Today's Nook Daily Find

Omnimystery News is pleased to feature The Illusionists by Rosie Thomas as today's Nook Daily Find.

The deal price of $2.99 is valid only for today, Thursday, June 26, 2014.

The Illusionists by Rosie Thomas

A Novel of Suspense

Publisher: Overlook

Price: $2.99 (as of 06/26/2014 at 6:00 AM ET).

  

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.

Eliza is a young, beautiful woman of limited means. Through her work as an artist's model, she meets the magnetic and irascible Devil — a born showman whose dream is to run his own theater company. Devil's righthand man is Carlo Bonomi, an ill-tempered dwarf with an enormous talent for all things magic and illusion. And then there is Jasper Button, the enigmatic, unlikely final member of this fascinating cast of characters.

Thrown together by a twist of fate, their lives are inextricably linked. As Eliza gets sucked into their seductive and dangerous world, she risks not only her heart, but also her life, which is soon thrown into peril.

— The Illusionists by Rosie Thomas

Retribution by Jilliane Hoffman is Today's Kindle Daily Deal

Omnimystery News is pleased to feature Three C. J. Townsend Thrillers by Jilliane Hoffman as today's Kindle Daily Deal.

The deal price of $1.99 each is valid only for today, Thursday, June 26, 2014. We're hightlighting the first book in the series in this post.

Retribution by Jilliane Hoffman

A C. J. Townsend Thriller (1st in series)

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

Price: $1.99 (as of 06/26/2014 at 5:30 AM ET).

  

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.

C. J. Townsend is a brilliant prosecutor known for keeping her cool even when trying the most horrific cases. The latest: an accused serial killer who savors cruelty and considers murder an art.

But this case is different. C. J. recognizes the suspect. She knows what he's capable of. After all these years, she still has the nightmares to prove it.

Now she's walking the fine line between justice and revenge. Even C. J. isn't prepared for where it will take her.

— Retribution by Jilliane Hoffman

Today's Mystery and Suspense Update from Big Fish Games (140626)

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

• Our Featured Title is Shaolin Mystery: Revenge of the Terracotta Warriors.

• The Daily Deal is Druid Kingdom, just $2.99 today only!

• The current Catch of the Week is Haunted Legends: The Undertaker, just $2.99 through Sunday, June 29, 2014 only.

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

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Our Featured Title today is Shaolin Mystery: Revenge of the Terracotta Warriors

Save your people from an invading force in Shaolin Mystery: Revenge of the Terracotta Warriors! Travel dangerous mountain roads, visit Shaolin temples, free a mighty dragon, and save your village in this exciting Hidden Object game! Find useful items as you search beautiful locations and explore ancient China. Will you work quickly enough to stop the Terracotta Warriors?

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

Also available for this game:

• Check out the Blog Walkthrough

— ♦ —

Today's Daily Deal is Druid Kingdom

Embark on a magical journey accompanied by new characters: Jack, the young king of the Seven Hills, and his beautiful companion Etain. Your quest for the Staff of the High Druid will lead you on an incredible adventure through the mysterious lands of the Druids, the sands of Babylon, the alchemists' country, and the rocks of Alamut. You will fight against evil desert genies, rebuild the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, save the alchemists' country from destructive dragons! Accumulate resources and manage them, keep improving your workers' skills, and set new time records as you learn Etain's secret!

A sample version is available to download and play for free for one hour. You can purchase this game today only — Thursday, June 26, 2014 — for $2.99.

— ♦ —

The current Catch of the Week is Haunted Legends: The Undertaker

Unravel the mysterious undead curse! A once-ordinary fishing village has been transformed into a nightmarish landscape, as the recently buried rise from their graves! As a seasoned detective, it's up to you to find the cause of these unnatural disturbances and put an end to them for good. Take on a chilling new case in this thrilling Hidden Object adventure!

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, June 29, 2014.

Also available for this game:

• Get the Strategy Guide.
• Check out the Blog Walkthrough.
• For a more in-depth experience, see the Collector's Edition.

White Fire, A Pendergast Thriller by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, Now Available at a Special Price

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, Grand Central …

White Fire by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

A Pendergast Thriller (13th in series)

Publisher: Grand Central

Price: $2.99 (as of 06/25/2014 at 6:00 PM ET).

  

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.

Special Agent Pendergast arrives at an exclusive Colorado ski resort to rescue his protégée, Corrie Swanson, from serious trouble with the law. His sudden appearance coincides with the first attack of a murderous arsonist who — with brutal precision — begins burning down multimillion-dollar mansions with the families locked inside. After springing Corrie from jail, Pendergast learns she made a discovery while examining the bones of several miners who were killed 150 years earlier by a rogue grizzly bear. Her finding is so astonishing that it, even more than the arsonist, threatens the resort's very existence.

Drawn deeper into the investigation, Pendergast uncovers a mysterious connection between the dead miners and a fabled, long-lost Sherlock Holmes story — one that might just offer the key to the modern day killings as well.

Now, with the ski resort snowed in and under savage attack — and Corrie's life suddenly in grave danger — Pendergast must solve the enigma of the past before the town of the present goes up in flames.

— White Fire by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Review: Field of Prey by John Sandford

A Mysterious Review of Field of Prey by John Sandford. A Lucas Davenport Mystery.

Review summary: Lucas Davenport as a character and the primary storyline are probably reason enough to read this murder mystery. But there are lots of distractions here, some of which are more troublesome than others. Still, fans of the series will enjoy the complicated case and most will be surprised at the outcome. (Click here for text of full review.)

Our rating:

Field of Prey
John Sandford
A Lucas Davenport Mystery
Putnam (May 2014)

Publisher synopsis: The night after the fourth of July, Layton Carlson Jr., of Red Wing, Minnesota, finally got lucky. And unlucky.

He’d picked the perfect spot to lose his virginity to his girlfriend, an abandoned farmyard in the middle of cornfields: nice, private, and quiet. The only problem was … something smelled bad — like, really bad. He mentioned it to a county deputy he knew, and when the cop took a look, he found a body stuffed down a cistern. And then another, and another.

By the time Lucas Davenport was called in, the police were up to fifteen bodies and counting. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, when Lucas began to investigate, he made some disturbing discoveries of his own. The victims had been killed over a great many years, one every summer, regular as clockwork. How could this have happened without anybody noticing?

Because one thing was for sure: the killer had to live close by. He was probably even someone they saw every day …

        

Hardware, A Carlotta Carlyle Mystery by Linda Barnes, Now Available at a Special Price

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, Minotaur Books …

Hardware by Linda Barnes

A Carlotta Carlyle Mystery (6th in series)

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Price: $1.99 (as of 06/25/2014 at 5:00 PM ET).

  

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.

Carlotta Carlyle, the 6'1" redheaded P.I. from Boston, takes on a case that draws her into the mysterious shadova and of computer technology, where information is cheap, and privacy may be a thing of the past.

Part-time cabbie Carlotta is entering the modern age of investigation. With the help of her sometime lover, mafioso, and computer-hobbyist Sam Gianelli, she invests in her first "hardware", a cheap personal computer. And at the urging of her ex-boss, Boston Police Lt. Mooney, who decries the stopping power of her .38 S&W, she decides to upgrade her arsenal. Both types of hardware come in handy when Carlotta is hired by Gloria, owner of G&W Cab, to investigate the brutal robberies that are causing her cabbies to quit in record numbers, and the violence and unanswered questions escalate.

An explosion rocks G&W, killing Gloria's brother and seriously wounding co-owner Sam Gianelli. Is someone out to bankrupt G&W to acquire its invaluable cab medallions? Is the company a pawn in a Mafia vendetta, with Sam, the underboss's son, the target? And who put that tiny microphone near G&W's bathroom?

Aided by a mysterious databank expert, Carlotta learns far more than she thought possible about "private" transactions. And she finds herself digging into Sam's past, exposing secrets he's kept hidden for years — secrets that begin to pull them further apart. As the investigation reaches its climax, Carlotta realizes, almost too late, that the mob may be just a fall guy in a very intimate crime.

— Hardware by Linda Barnes

The Double, A Spero Lucas Mystery by George Pelecanos, Now Available at a Special Price

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, Little, Brown …

The Double by George Pelecanos

A Spero Lucas Mystery (2nd in series)

Publisher: Little, Brown

Price: $3.99 (as of 06/25/2014 at 4:30 PM ET).

  

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.

Every man has his dark side … Spero Lucas confronts his own …

The job seems simple enough: retrieve the valuable painting — "The Double" — Grace Kinkaid's ex-boyfriend stole from her. It's the sort of thing Spero Lucas specializes in: finding what's missing, and doing it quietly. But Grace wants more. She wants Lucas to find the man who humiliated her — a violent career criminal with a small gang of brutal thugs at his beck and call.

Lucas is a man who knows how to get what he wants, whether it's a thief on the run — or a married woman. In the midst of a steamy, passionate love affair that he knows can't last, in pursuit of a dangerous man who will stop at nothing to get what he wants, Lucas is forced to decide what kind of man he is — and how far he'll go to get what he wants.

— The Double by George Pelecanos

Up in Smoke, A Susan Wren Mystery by Charlene Weir, Now Available at a Special Price

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, Minotaur Books …

Up in Smoke by Charlene Weir

A Susan Wren Mystery (6th in series)

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Price: $1.99 (as of 06/25/2014 at 4:00 PM ET).

  

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.

On the heels of a severe thunderstorm, Governor Jack Garrett comes to Hampstead with his friend and constant companion Wakely Fromm. Twenty years ago they battled a forest fire that left Wakely confined to a wheelchair and made Jack a hero. Now Jack is battling for his party's nomination as presidential candidate.

Trouble brews for the campaign, however, when the business card of Sean Donovan, one of the campaign workers, and Susan's cousin, turns up at a homicide scene. Police Chief Susan Wren's investigation reveals evidence that points straight to Jack Garrett. Should Susan arrest a sitting governor or Sean Donovan?

— Up in Smoke by Charlene Weir

Land of Shadows by Rachel Howzell Hall, a New 1st in Series Mystery Introducing Lou Norton

Omnimystery News is pleased to present in this post one of this month's new 1st in Series titles, a mystery, thriller or suspense novel that introduces a recurring character (or characters) …

Land of Shadows by Rachel Howzell Hall

An Elousie "Lou" Norton Mystery

Publisher: Forge Books

  

What we know about the character: Homicide detective Elouise "Lou" Norton is a police officer in Los Angeles. For more information about her first case, see a synopsis of the book, below.

Along the ever changing border of gentrifying Los Angeles, seventeen year old Monique Darson is found dead at a condominium construction site, hanging in the closet of an unfinished unit. Homicide detective Elouise "Lou" Norton's new partner, Colin Taggert, fresh from the comparatively bucolic Colorado Springs police department, assumes it's a teenage suicide. Lou isn't buying the easy explanation.

For one thing, the condo site is owned by Napoleon Crase, a self made millionaire … and the man who may have murdered Lou's missing sister, Tori, thirty years ago. As Lou investigates the death of Monique Darson, she uncovers undeniable links between the two cases. But her department is skeptical. Lou is convinced that when she solves Monique's case she will finally bring her lost sister home. But as she gets closer to the truth, she also gets closer to a violent killer. After all this time, can he be brought to justice … before Lou becomes his next victim?

— Land of Shadows by Rachel Howzell Hall