An Excerpt from Truth Be Told, a Jane Ryland Mystery by Hank Phillippi Ryan

Truth Be Told
by Hank Phillippi Ryan

We are delighted to welcome author Hank Phillippi Ryan to Omnimystery News today.

Hank's new Jane Ryland mystery, Truth Be Told (Forge Books; October 2014 hardcover, audiobook and ebook formats) begins with tragedy: a middle-class family evicted from their suburban home. In digging up the facts on this heartbreaking story — and on other foreclosures — reporter Ryland soon learns the truth behind a big-bucks scheme and the surprising players who will stop at nothing, including murder, to keep their goal a secret. Turns out, there's more than one way to rob a bank.

We are pleased to introduce you to Truth Be Told with an excerpt from the first chapter.

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I KNOW IT'S LEGAL.  BUT IT'S terrible." Jane Ryland winced as the Sandovals' wooden bed frame hit the tall grass in the overgrown front yard and shattered into three jagged pieces. "The cops throwing someone's stuff out the window. Might as well be Dickens, you know? Eviction? There's got to be a better way."
  Terrible facts. Great pictures. A perfect newspaper story. She turned to TJ. "You getting this?"
  TJ didn't take his eye from the viewfinder. "Rolling and recording," he said.
  A blue-shirted Suffolk County sheriff's deputy — sleeves rolled up, buzz cut — appeared at the open window, took a swig from a plastic bottle. He shaded his eyes with one hand.
  "First floor, all clear," he called. Two uniforms comparing paperwork on the gravel driveway gave him a thumbs-up. The Boston cops were detailed in, they'd explained to Jane, in case there were protesters. But no pickets or housing activists had appeared. Not even a curious neighbor. The deputy twisted the cap on the bottle, tossed away the empty with a flip of his gloved hand. The clear plastic bounced on top of a brittle hedge, then disappeared into the browning grass.
  "Oops," he said. "I'm headed for the back."
  "That's harsh," TJ muttered.
  "You got it, though, right?" Jane knew it was a "moment" for her story, revealing the deputy's cavalier behavior while the Sandovals — she looked around, making sure the family hadn't shown up — were off searching for a new place to live. The feds kept reporting the housing crisis was over. Tell that to the now-homeless Sandovals, crammed — temporarily, they hoped — into a relative's spare bedroom. Their modest ranch home in this cookie-cutter neighborhood was now an REO — "real estate owned" by Atlantic & Anchor Bank. The metal sign on the scrabby lawn said FORECLOSED in yellow block letters. Under the provisions of the Massachusetts Housing Court, the deputies were now in charge.
  "Hey! Television! You can't shoot here. It's private property."
  Jane felt a hand clamp onto her bare arm. She twisted away, annoyed. Of course they could shoot.
  "Excuse me?" She eyed the guy's three-piece pinstripe suit, ridiculous on a day like today. He must be melting. Still, being hot didn't give him the right to be wrong. "We're on the public sidewalk. We can shoot whatever we can see and hear."
  Jane stashed her notebook into her tote bag, then held out a hand, conciliatory. Maybe he knew something. "And not television. Newspaper. The new online edition. I'm Jane Ryland, from the Register."
  She paused. Lawyer, banker, bean counter, she predicted. For A&A Bank? Or the Sandovals? The Sandovals had already told her, on camera, how Elliot Sandoval had lost his construction job, and they were struggling on pregnant MaryLou's day care salary. Struggling and failing.
  "I don't care who you are." The man crossed his arms over his chest, a chunky watch glinting, tortoiseshell sunglasses hiding his expression. "This is none of your business. You don't tell your friend to shut off that camera, I'm telling the cops to stop you."
  You kidding me? "Feel free, Mr. — ?" Jane took her hand away. Felt a trickle of sweat down her back. Boston was baking in the throes of an unexpected May heat wave. Everyone was cranky. It was almost too hot to argue. "You'll find we're within our rights."
  The guy pulled out a phone. All she needed. And stupid, because the cops were right there. TJ kept shooting, good for him. Brand new at the Boston Register, videographer TJ Foy was hire number one in the paper's fledgling online video news department. Jane was the first — and so far, only — reporter assigned.
  "It's a chance to show off your years of TV experience," the Register's new city editor had explained. Pretending Jane had a choice. "Make it work."
  Pleasing the new boss was never a bad thing, and truth be told, Jane could use a little employment security. She still suffered pangs from her unfair firing from Channel 11 last year, but at least it didn't haunt her every day. This was her new normal, especially now that newspapering was more like TV. "Multimedia," her new editor called it.
  "We're doing a story on the housing crisis." Jane smiled, trying again. "Remember the teenager who got killed last week on Springvale Street? Emily-Sue Ordway? Fell from a window, trying to get back into her parents' foreclosed home? We're trying to show — it's not about the houses so much as it is the people."
  "'The people' should pay their mortgage." The man pointed to the clapboard two-story with his cell phone. "Then 'the cops' wouldn't have to 'remove' their possessions."
  Okay, so not a lawyer for the Sandovals. But at least this jerk wasn't dialing.
  "Are you with A&A? With the bank?" Might as well be direct.
  "That's not any of — "
  "Vitucci! Callum!" The deputy appeared in the open front door, one hand on each side of the doorjamb as if to keep himself upright. He held the screen door open with his foot. His smirk had vanished. The two cops on the driveway alerted, inquiring.
  "Huh? What's up?" one asked.
  "You getting this?" Jane whispered. She didn't want to ruin TJ's audio with her voice, but something was happening. Something the eviction squad hadn't expected.
  "Second floor." The deputy pulled a radio from his belt pouch. Looked at it. Looked back at the cops. His shoulders sagged. "Better get in here."

Copyright © 2014 by Hank Phillippi Ryan. Reprinted with permission.

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Photo provided courtesy of
Hank Phillippi Ryan

Hank Phillippi Ryan is the on-air investigative reporter for Boston's NBC affiliate. She has won 32 EMMYs, 12 Edward R. Murrow awards and dozens of other honors for her ground-breaking journalism. For her mystery novels, she has won multiple awards, including three Agathas, the Anthony, Daphne, Macavity, and for the Mary Higgins Clark Award. Hank is also on the national board of Mystery Writers of America and served as 2013 president of national Sisters in Crime.

For more information about the author, please visit her website at HankPhillippiRyan.com and her author page on Goodreads, or find her on Facebook and Twitter.

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Truth Be Told
Hank Phillippi Ryan
A Jane Ryland Mystery

Boston police detective Jake Brogan has a liar on his hands. A man has just confessed to the famous twenty-year-old Lilac Sunday killing, and while Jake's colleagues take him at his word, Jake is not so sure. But he has personal reasons for hoping they've finally solved the cold case.

Financial manipulation, the terror of foreclosures, the power of numbers, the primal need for home and family and love. What happens when what you believe is true turns out to be a lie?

        

Please Welcome Crime Novelist Nichole Christoff

with Nichole Christoff

We are delighted to welcome author Nichole Christoff to Omnimystery News, courtesy of TLC Book Tours, which is coordinating her current book tour. We encourage you to visit all of the participating host sites; you can find her schedule here.

Nichole's debut thriller is The Kill List (Alibi; December 2014 ebook formats), which introduces a savvy private investigator with nerves of steel — and a shattered heart.

We asked her to tell us a little more about her characters, and that is the subject of her guest post for us today.

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Photo provided courtesy of
Nichole Christoff

New acquaintances and old pals often ask me the same question. Are the characters in my books based on real people? Well, it's funny you should ask … Each and every character is a figment of my own overactive imagination. But that doesn't mean my brain box hasn't had help. Certain real-life situations have been grist for my mind's mill. And two events in particular helped me create Jamie Sinclair, the private eye-turned-security specialist who stars in The Kill List. I'd love to tell you about them. First, let's go back a few years. Before I was an author, I was a broadcaster. I worked on-air and behind the scenes creating content for radio, television news, and the PR industry in both the United States and Canada. And all the while, I was a military spouse.

As a military spouse, when my husband got assigned to work alongside our neighbors to the north, I went with him to live in Canada's capital. I spent my days on studio floors and in sound booths. And I spent my nights at diplomatic functions, ambassadors' dinners, and embassy parties.

On any given evening, you could find me in velvet and pearls, sipping champagne, and nibbling canapés while the folks around me hashed out trade agreements or exchanged boarding-school stories in at least three languages. And I loved every minute of it. But not everyone at these events had fun. That's because some of the tuxedoed men and perfectly coiffed women were on the job. In other words, they were security specialists.

And this got me thinking.

What kind of person wants to wear a tux while taking-on trouble? That question stayed with me as my husband and I returned to the States where I went to work for a news organization. I loved the electricity of covering breaking news and the camaraderie of joining my colleagues for Rueben sandwiches to celebrate a job well done. One of my colleagues — my favorite anchorwoman — and I had a lot in common. We were about the same age, we had the same look, and we had similar taste so sometimes we accidentally dressed in the same colors and styles. But she had one thing I didn't have. My anchorwoman had a stalker. During our news broadcast, the stalker would phone my desk in the hopes of speaking to my anchorwoman on-air. Though they'd never met, this man was convinced they had a connection. But my anchorwoman didn't think so — and neither did the police. One day, as I left the station, I spotted a man loitering against the cinderblock wall that marked the perimeter of the parking lot. And as I made my way to my car, he became much too interested in me. He left his spot and crossed the lot before I could drive away. Because he'd been waiting for my anchorwoman. And he mistook me for her. All's well that ends well and that guy won't be bothering anyone for awhile. But the situation made me wonder. What motivates a stalker to get close to a person he or she has never met?

These ideas about security specialists and stalkers collided when I moved to Washington, DC, and my protagonist, Jamie Sinclair, was born. So while my characters are fictional through and through, real life gets me thinking. And sometimes it finds its way into my imagination.

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Nichole Christoff is a writer, broadcaster, and military spouse who has worked on air and behind the scenes producing and promoting content for radio, television news, and the public relations industry across the United States and Canada. When she isn't penning her latest novel, Nic teaches Creative Writing at a small, private university.

For more information about the author, please visit her website at NicholeChristoff.com and her author page on Goodreads, or find her on Facebook and Twitter.

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The Kill List
Nichole Christoff
A Jamie Sinclair Mystery

As a top private eye turned security specialist, Jamie Sinclair has worked hard to put her broken marriage behind her. But when her lying, cheating ex-husband, army colonel Tim Thorp, calls with the news that his three-year-old daughter has been kidnapped, he begs Jamie to come find her. For the sake of the child, Jamie knows she can't refuse. Now, despite the past, she'll do everything in her power to bring little Brooke Thorp home alive.

Soon Jamie is back at Fort Leeds — the army base in New Jersey's Pine Barrens where she grew up, the only child of a two-star general — chasing down leads and forging an uneasy alliance with the stern military police commander and the exacting FBI agent working Brooke's case. But because Jamie's father is now a U.S. senator, her recent run-in with a disturbed stalker is all over the news, and when she starts receiving gruesome threats echoing the stalker's last words, she can't shake the feeling that her investigation may be about more than a missing girl — and that someone very powerful is hiding something very significant … and very sinister.

        

Doggone Christmas by Liz Dodwell is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

Omnimystery News is pleased to feature …

Doggone Christmas by Liz Dodwell

A Polly Parrett, Pet-Sitter Mystery

Publisher: Liz Dodwell

… as today's free mystery ebook.

  

This title was listed for free as of December 03, 2014 at 7:00 AM ET. Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of the 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.

More on today's free book, below.

Polly is juggling the care of her wheelchair-bound mother, her pet-sitting business and the sale of the family home. On top of that she finds herself having to deal with an arrogant but really sexy realtor, and Christmas is coming! None of that seems important, though, when she finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation and must find the real killer before an innocent homeless man and his dog are wrongly convicted.

Nothing much happens in the small town of Mallowapple, Maine, but with the Christmas holidays coming it's a busy time for Polly Parrett and her pet-sitting crew. Temperatures are plummeting, snow is falling …

— Doggone Christmas by Liz Dodwell

Two Historical Thrillers by Linda Lafferty is Today's Kindle Daily Deal

Omnimystery News is pleased to feature Two Historical Thrillers by Linda Lafferty as today's Kindle Daily Deal.

The deal price of $1.99 each is valid only for today, Wednesday, December 03, 2014. We're highlighting one of the titles in this post.

The Drowning Guard by Linda Lafferty

A Novel of the Ottoman Empire

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

Price: $1.99 (as of 12/03/2014 at 6:10 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.

Each morning in the hour before dawn, a silent boat launches on the Bosphorous, moving swiftly into the deepest part of the waters halfway between Europe and Asia, where a man will die …

The Ottoman princess Esma Sultan seduces a different Christian lover each night, only to have him drowned in the morning. The Sultaness's true passion burns only for the Christian-born soldier charged with carrying out the brutal nightly death sentence: her drowning guard, Ivan Postivich.

— The Drowning Guard by Linda Lafferty

Today's Mystery and Suspense Update from Big Fish Games (141203)

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

• The New Release is Dreamscapes: Nightmare's Heir.

• The current Catch of the Week is Azada: Elementa, just $2.99 through Sunday, December 07, 2014 only.

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

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The New Release is Dreamscapes: Nightmare's Heir

It has been two years since Laura has awoken from a coma but she is still haunted by the promise of the Sandman's revenge. To distract Laura from her heavy thoughts, Tim decides to take them to a ski resort.There, on the edge of the world, misfortune befalls Laura. In a fit of lunacy, Tim runs out of the house and falls off a cliff. He survives the fall but is now in a coma. It is not hard to guess that the fall off the cliff and coma was caused by the Sandman's doing. Laura has two choices now: watch her beloved slowly die in the hospital, or enlist in the help of an old friend who once helped her when she was in a coma. The Sandman continues to operate under his old schemes: by sending nightmares, he suppresses the will of the victim to resist. Can you help save Tim before the Sandman turns him into his heir?

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 Azada: Elementa

Journey to amazing worlds as this whimsical saga continues! After its precious elements are stolen, Azada chooses you to find the elemental mages who can save this special world. But bad-guy Panoptes is waiting around every corner to stop you at any cost — or is he? Nothing in Azada is as it seems …

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

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.

Review: The Haunting Ballad by Michael Nethercott

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

Review summary: The storyline in this second in series mystery is fairly complex, though straight-forward to follow. The Sherlockian process of deduction is put into play here as the delightful pair of investigators conduct their investigation. This is definitely a series worth watching and following. (Click here for text of full review.)

Our rating:

The Haunting Ballad
Michael Nethercott
A Lee Plunkett and Mr. O'Nelligan Mystery
Minotaur Books (September 2014)

Publisher synopsis: It's the spring of 1957, and O'Nelligan and Plunkett are summoned to New York to investigate the death of a controversial folk song collector. The trail leads the pair to a diverse group of suspects including an eccentric Beat coffee house owner, a family of Irish balladeers (who may be IRA), a bluesy ex-con, a hundred-and-five-year-old Civil War drummer boy, and a self-proclaimed "ghost chanter" who sings songs that she receives from the dead. To complicate matters, there's a handsome, smooth-talking young folk singer who Lee's fiancée Audrey is enthralled by. And somewhere in the Bohemian swirl of the Village, a killer waits …

        

New This Week: Blood Gold, A Jack Ferrell Adventure by William Nikkel

Omnimystery News is pleased to present 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 December 2014 and priced $4.99 or less …

Blood Gold by William Nikkel

A Jack Ferrell Adventure (5th in series)

Publisher: Suspense Publishing

Price: $3.99 (as of 12/02/2014 at 5:30 PM ET).

  

Find more newly released mystery, suspense and thriller titles on the Omnimystery News Facebook page.

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.

Marine biologist Jack Ferrell is in Guyana, South America conducting research into an increase in shark attacks when he witnesses a man violently assault a beautiful woman. He rushes to her rescue and afterwards discovers the woman is a part of an international research team analyzing water samples at the request of the government.

The only explanation for the woman's attempted murder is that the person behind the attack doesn't want the research team to expose the source of the deadly toxins killing the Mazaruni River.

Jack is quick to discover the shark attacks and the water pollution are connected. And when his two close friends join him expecting a leisure holiday, the three of them are immediately drawn into a deadly cat-and-mouse game as they race against time to stop the man behind the poisonous tide. A pursuit that takes them deep into the Guyanese jungle where a modern-day gold rush is destroying the rainforest and men kill for the riches buried there.

— Blood Gold by William Nikkel

The Traveler, A Novel of Suspense by John Katzenbach, 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 present the following title, now available at a special price courtesy of the publisher, Mysterious Press …

The Traveler by John Katzenbach

A Novel of Suspense

Publisher: Mysterious Press

Price: $1.99 (as of 12/02/2014 at 5:00 PM ET).

  

Find more discounted mystery, suspense and thriller titles on the Omnimystery News Facebook page.

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.

Miami detective Mercedes Barren, recovering from a traumatic shooting, has transferred to the relative quiet of the forensics department to get her life back on track. Yet this peace is put on hold when she gets a wrenching phone call: her niece has been brutally murdered. Soon she uncovers the shocking truth: the killer — a professional photographer — is engaging in "copycat" murders across the country, while forcing a young student to document every horrific crime. The woman — he calls her "Boswell" — is his stenographer of cruelty. And if she drops her pen, she'll end up being his next "subject."

As her already fragile life begins to fall to pieces, Mercedes makes it her mission to track down this cold-blooded killer — even if it means enlisting the help of his brother, a psychiatrist specializing in sex offenders. But can they catch him before his camera flashes next and snuffs out another life?

— The Traveler by John Katzenbach

New This Week: Paws for Death, A Randi Sterling Mystery by Susan Union

Omnimystery News is pleased to present 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 December 2014 and priced $4.99 or less …

Paws for Death by Susan Union

A Randi Sterling Mystery (2nd in series)

Publisher: Koehler Books

Price: $2.99 (as of 12/02/2014 at 4:30 PM ET).

  

Find more newly released mystery, suspense and thriller titles on the Omnimystery News Facebook page.

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 cusp of turning thirty, San Diego vet-tech Randi Sterling yearns to heal her wounded family relationships, but when her mother barges into her life unannounced, bringing her yappy, spoiled little dog with her, and forcing her new-found passion for dog agility upon her, Randi finds herself biting her tongue and keeping her feelings leashed. Things get worse when her mother's best friend drops dead competing on course for an important agility championship, and her mother pressures Randi to investigate her death. Randi agrees, but soon finds out all is not what it seems with her mother and her motives.

While struggling to mend fences and repair broken hearts, Randi becomes enmeshed in an ordeal with far more obstacles than one normally finds in the agility ring — a love triangle, a lesbian lover, jealous competitors, and a fight over a beloved Border Collie. Everything takes a turn for the worse when the police come looking for her mother as a suspect in what they believe to be the murder of her best friend. Randi has a hunch her mother is being framed and fights to prove the accusations against her are unfounded.

With the help of her hunky, yet unavailable, veterinarian boss, Randi attains a breakthrough on the killer's identity, but as soon as the possibility of clearing her mother and healing their relationship could become reality, her mother and her little dog vanish without a trace. Will Randi find her mother before she falls prey to a ruthless killer, or will Randi become the next murder victim?

— Paws for Death by Susan Union

What Strange Creatures, A Novel of Suspense by Emily Arsenault, 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 present the following title, now available at a special price courtesy of the publisher, William Morrow …

What Strange Creatures by Emily Arsenault

A Novel of Suspense

Publisher: William Morrow

Price: $1.99 (as of 12/02/2014 at 4:00 PM ET).

  

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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.

The Battle siblings are used to disappointment. Seven years, one marriage and divorce, three cats, and a dog later, Theresa still hasn't finished her dissertation. Instead of a degree, she's got a houseful of adoring pets and a dead-end copywriting job for a local candle company.

Jeff, her so-called genius older brother, doesn't have it together, either. Creative, and loyal, he's also aimless in work and love. But his new girlfriend, Kim, a pretty waitress in her twenties, appears smitten.

When Theresa agrees to dog-sit Kim's puggle for a weekend, she has no idea that it is the beginning of a terrifying nightmare that will shatter her quiet world. Soon, Kim's body will be found in the woods, and Jeff will become the prime suspect.

Though the evidence is overwhelming, Theresa knows that her brother is not a cold-blooded murderer. But to clear him she must find out more about Kim. Investigating the dead woman's past, Theresa uncovers a treacherous secret involving politics, murder, and scandal — and becomes entangled in a potentially dangerous romance. But the deeper she falls into this troubling case, the more it becomes clear that, in trying to save her brother's life, she may be sacrificing her own.

— What Strange Creatures by Emily Arsenault

Geared for the Grave by Duffy Brown, a New 1st in Series Mystery Introducing Evie Bloomfield

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

Geared for the Grave by Duffy Brown

An Evie Bloomfield, Cycle Path Mystery (1st in series)

Publisher: Berkley

  

What we know about the character: Evue Bloomfield works in a bike shop on Mackinac Island. For more information about her first murder, see a synopsis of the book, below.

Mackinac Island is a peaceful summer resort town where everyone coasts through the streets on bicycles. But after someone sends a prominent local on her final ride, it's up to one resourceful visitor to get things running again …

Hoping to shift her chances of a promotion in her favor, Evie Bloomfield heads to Mackinac Island to assist her boss's father. Rudy Randolph has broken his leg and operating his bike shop, Rudy's Rides, is too much to handle by himself. But Evie's good turn only leads to more trouble …

After Evie's arrival, wealthy resident Bunny Harrington dies in what looks like a freak bike accident. Upon closer inspection, Bunny's brakes were tampered with, and now the prime suspect in her murder is also Bunny's number one enemy: Rudy. So if Evie hopes to stay on her boss's good side, she'll need to steer Rudy clear of jail. Now she must quickly solve this mystery so she can put the brakes on the real killer's plan …

— Geared for the Grave by Duffy Brown

Aunty Lee's Deadly Specials, A Rosie "Aunty" Lee, Singaporean Mystery by Ovidia Yu, 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 present the following title, now available at a special price courtesy of the publisher, William Morrow …

Aunty Lee's Deadly Specials by Ovidia Yu

A Rosie "Aunty" Lee, Singaporean Mystery (2nd in series)

Publisher: William Morrow

Price: $1.99 (as of 12/02/2014 at 3:00 PM ET).

  

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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.

Few know more about what goes on in Singapore than Aunty Lee. When a scandal over illegal organ donation involving prominent citizens makes news, she already has a list of suspects. There's no time to snoop, though — Aunty Lee's Delights is catering a brunch for local socialites Henry and Mabel Sung at their opulent house.

Rumor has it that the Sung's fortune is in trouble, and Aunty Lee wonders if the gossip is true. But soon after arriving at the Sung's house, her curiosity turns to suspicion. Why is a storage house she discovers locked? What is the couple arguing about behind closed doors? Where is the guest of honor who never showed up?

Then, Mabel Sung and her son Leonard are found dead. The authorities blame it on Aunty Lee's special stewed chicken with buah keluak, a local black nut that can be poisonous if cooked improperly. Aunty Lee has never carelessly prepared a dish. She's certain the deaths are murder — and that they're somehow linked to the organ donor scandal.

To save her business and her reputation, she's got to prove it — and unmask a dangerous killer whose next victim may just be Aunty Lee.

— Aunty Lee's Deadly Specials by Ovidia Yu

Murder at the Chase by Eric Brown, New in Bookstores during December 2014

Today's featured new hardcover mystery, suspense, or thriller title scheduled to be published during December 2014 is …

Murder at the Chase by Eric Brown, a Langham and Dupre Mystery (2nd in series)

Publisher: Severn House

      

For a list of more new hardcover titles to be published this month, visit our New Mysteries page for December 2014. For new paperback mysteries, visit The Mystery Bookshelf where a selection of December 2014 mysteries, novels of suspense, and thrillers are shelved.

More about our featured title, below …

July, 1955. Donald Langham has interrupted his romantic break in rural Suffolk with the delectable Maria Dupre to assist a fellow writer. Alastair Endicott has requested Langham's help in discovering what's happened to his father, Edward, who seems to have disappeared without trace from inside his locked study.

Before he vanished, the elder Endicott had been researching a book on the notorious Satanist Vivian Stafford. Could the proposed biography have something to do with his disappearance? Does local resident Stafford really possess supernatural powers, as some believe?

As Langham and Dupre question those around them, it becomes clear that there have been strange goings-on in the sleepy village of Humble Barton. But is the village really haunted — or does someone merely want it to look that way? With a further shocking discovery, the case takes a disturbing new twist.

— Murder at the Chase by Eric Brown

Telemystery: Justified, New This Week on DVD

Telemystery, your source for one of the most comprehensive listings of crime drama, amateur sleuth, private investigator, mystery and suspense television series, mini-series and made-for-television movies, now available on or coming soon to DVD, Blu-ray disc, or Video-on-Demand, is profiling one series from our site being released this week.

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Justified
Season Five

Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) confronts the Crowes, a deadly, lawless family from Florida intent on settling in Harlan with new criminal enterprises in mind in this fifth season of the FX Networks crime drama, based on a character created by Elmore Leonard and featured in his short story "Fire in the Hole".

Meanwhile, Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins) struggles to free his imprisoned fiancée Ava (Joelle Carter) as he partners with the Dixie Mafia’s Wynn Duffy (Jere Burns).

The sixth and final season of the series premieres January 20th, 2015.

        

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Visit the Telemystery website to discover more television mystery series currently available on and coming soon to DVD, Blu-ray disc, or video on demand.