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 October 2015 and priced $4.99 or less …
Snowbound by Maeve Morrick
The Arctic Station Bears Series (1st in series)
Publisher: Amelile Hunt Presents
Price: 99¢ (as of 10/09/2015 at 6:30 PM ET).
Alanna MacCready likes to keep her life simple. Work, home, the comfort of an early bedtime every night. She can't abide by chaos, which is too bad … When she gets a phone call in the middle of the night, she packs her bags and heads to the coldest place on Earth for the scientific discovery of a lifetime. No comfortable routines in the Arctic …
Instead, she runs headfirst into two devastatingly handsome shifters. If Alanna were honest with herself, she wants nothing more than to let sexy scientist Liam Roy warm her during the long winter nights. The second they see each other, there is no denying the spark between them, the connection that threatens to burn them both.
As things are heating up with Liam, someone far more dangerous is eyeing Alanna from the shadows, threatening her very life. Alanna will have to choose between two lovers as she fights for her life and the possibility of happily ever after …
As long as she doesn't end up snowbound forever.
— Snowbound by Maeve Morrick
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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.
In remote pockets of the Third World, a deadly virus is quietly sweeping through impoverished farming villages and shanty towns with frightening speed and potency. Meanwhile, in Washington, a three-word message left in a safe-deposit box may be the key to stopping the crisisâ€"if, that is, Charles Mallory, a private intelligence contractor and former CIA operative, can decipher the puzzle before time runs out.
What Mallory begins to discover are the traces of a secret war, with a bold objectiveâ€"to create a new, technologically advanced society. With the help of his brother Jon, an investigative reporter, can he break the story to the world before it is too lateâ€"before a planned “humane depopulation†takes place?
As the stakes and strategies of this secret war become more evident, the Mallory brothers find themselves in a complex game of wits with an enemy they can’t see: a new sort of superpower led by a brilliant, elusive tactician who believes that ends justify means.
— Viral by James Lilliefors
A complete list of today's featured titles can be found on the Discounted MystereBooks page on Omnimystery News.
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.
Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent digital publisher, promoting and selling ebook editions of works by new authors as well as bringing out ebook editions of out of print books.
We've selected one of their recently published mystery, suspense, thriller or crime titles to feature here today …
A Murder of Crows by Margaret Duffy
A Patrick Gillard and Ingrid Clyde Mystery (1st in series)
Publisher: Endeavour Press
Price: $3.99 (as of 10/09/2015 at 5:30 PM ET).
Her husband was gunned down, and her ex-husband was the only witness. Or was he the murderer?
Famous novelist Ingrid Langley has made a fresh start following her divorce from Patrick Gillard, an SAS-trained killer in Her Majesty's secret service. Leaving a turbulent life behind, Ingrid was happy with her second husband, policeman Peter Clyde. But when Peter is murdered in suspicious circumstances her world is shattered and terrifying feelings resurface. Instinctively she knows that something is amiss and seeks out the truth, however painful it may be. But her murdered husband was only a policeman and not an agent so why is the secret service so interested in his death?
When Patrick visits her in the midst of her grief she is furious and confused but cannot bring herself to turn him away. She sees him for the expert murderer he is but also as a lover and a protector. Drafts of her new book Moonlake become more cathartic to her than ever before yet her agent Alan and her mother are concerned for her as she gets dragged slowly into a web of spies and secret agencies.
In public, Ingrid and Patrick are the perfect couple, a foil for the real work they are doing. But will their relationship become more than an act with Peter gone and Ingrid steeped in grief? Knowing every room she enters could be bugged and sensing she is being watched, Ingrid is not safe. Is she at risk from Peter's killers? Does Patrick know more than he is willing to let on? The IRA, the Russians and British agencies are now a feature of her daily working life and she believes Patrick needs her to help him.
Their trail takes them from training ground to torture to battleground — from London to the moors of Scotland — as they strive to smoke out the high-ranking Russian "mole" responsible for the bobby's death. Unfortunately, he's a ruthless double agent determined to annihilate them first …
— A Murder of Crows by Margaret Duffy
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The dearest friend of Lupe Solana's beloved "Papi," Ramón Suarez was the owner of a prosperous sugar mill back in Cuba until Castro forced him into exile. Now an unnamed Spanish source wants to purchase the confiscated property at a fraction of its true value. Suarez wants the sexy, smart, hot-tempered South Florida P.I. to find out why, but Ramon's lazy, no-good nephew Alexander just wants to take the money and run.
Then Alexander is found brutally slain in a sleazy Miami hotel — his last known visitor, Tío Ramón, accused of murder. Lupe's routine journey down a paper trail now turns into something darker and more twisted, entangling her in a mysterious web of spun sugar and blood that will bring bullets smashing through her window and death to her door.
— Bitter Sugar by Carolina Garcia-Aguilera
A complete list of today's featured titles can be found on the Discounted MystereBooks page on Omnimystery News.
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.
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 October 2015 and priced $4.99 or less …
All Detective Matt Conley ever wanted was to raise a family in Ocean Park with his stunning and ambitious wife Lisa. When a corpse is found in his church, Matt begins a journey that reveals corruption and decay in his city and deceit in his marriage. As he searches for the murderer of a local businessman, a gang war erupts for control of the city's drug trade, and the body count rises. With his reluctant new partner, Detective Lloyd Kendricks, Matt weaves his way through the puzzling connections between street gangs, politicians, bikers, and a private kink club.
Will their unlikely alliance be enough to return Matt's beloved hometown to its halcyon days? And when the day ends, will he find the faith he needs to rebuild his crumbling marriage?
— Ocean Park by Michael Walsh
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Special Agent Patrick Bowers never met a killer he couldn't catch. Until now …
Called to North Carolina to consult on the case of an area serial killer, Bowers finds himself caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse. Cunning and lethal, the killer is always one step ahead of the law, and he's about to strike again. It will take all of Bowers's instincts and training to stop the man who calls himself the Illusionist.
— The Pawn by Steven James
A complete list of today's featured titles can be found on the Discounted MystereBooks page on Omnimystery News.
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.
New on the Mystery Bookshelf during October 2015 …
Death, Taxes, and a Chocolate Cannoli by Diane Kelly, A Tara Holloway Mystery (9th in series)
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
IRS Special Agent Tara Holloway has risked her life to take down drug cartels and other dangerous tax frauds. But going after the mob is one offer she can't refuse …
He's no Tony Soprano. Still, local crime boss Giustino "Tino" Fabrizio is one shady character that Tara would love to see behind bars. He operates a security business-or so he claims on his tax forms-but his clients don't feel so secure when it's time to pay up. Problem is, no one can get close enough to nail this wiseguy for extortion. No one, that is, except Tara …
Going undercover, Tara lands a waitress job at Benedetta's Bistro-which is owned and operated by Tino's wife. Being surrounded by cream-filled cannolis could be hazardous to Tara's waistline … even though the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, right? Only thing Tara can't afford to do now is blow her cover. Because serving Tino his just desserts will surely come with a price …
— Death, Taxes, and a Chocolate Cannoli by Diane Kelly
Six corpses have appeared in the cobbled back streets of St. Andrews in recent times, all known spousal abusers who suffered the same gruesome fate: stabbed to death in the left eye. But with no new leads left to explore, detective Andy Gilchrist is forced off the case.
What is the significance of the left eye? Gilchrist can't seem to focus on anything else, and with his career and his reputation on the line, he vows to catch the killer even if it means he must do it alone.
— Eye for an Eye by T. Frank Muir
A complete list of today's featured titles can be found on the Discounted MystereBooks page on Omnimystery News.
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.
Today's featured new hardcover mystery, suspense, or thriller title scheduled to be published during October 2015 is …
The Right Wrong Thing by Ellen Kirschman, a Dot Meyerhoff Mystery (2nd in series)
Publisher: Oceanview Publishing
Officer Randy Spelling had always wanted to be a police officer, to follow in the footsteps of her brothers and her father. Not long after joining the force, she mistakenly shoots and kills Lakeisha Gibbs, a pregnant teenager. The community is outraged; Lakeisha's family is vocal and vicious in their attacks against Spelling. Suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and filled with remorse, Randy is desperate to apologize to the girl's family. Everyone, including the police chief, warns her against this, but the young police officer will not be dissuaded. Her attempt is catastrophic.
Dr. Dot Myerhoff, police psychologist, plunges herself into the investigation despite orders from the police chief to back off. Not only does the psychologist's refusal to obey orders jeopardize her career, but her life as well, as she enlists unlikely allies and unconventional undercover work to expose the tangled net of Officer Spelling's disastrous course.
The winners of the Macavity Awards were announced last night during Bouchercon in Raleigh, NC. Each year the members of Mystery Readers International nominate and vote for their favorite mysteries published in the previous year.
And the winners are …
• Best Mystery Novel: The Killer Next Door by Alex Marwood (Penguin);
• Best First Mystery Novel: Invisible City by Julia Dahl (Minotaur Books);
• Best Mystery-Related Non-Fiction: Writes of Passage: Adventures on the Writer's Journey by Hank Phillippi Ryan, editor (Henery Press);
• Best Mystery Short Story: "Honeymoon Sweet" by Craig Faustus Buck (Murder at the Beach, The Bouchercon Anthology 2014, edited by Dana Cameron; Down & Out Books); and
• Sue Feder Historical Memorial Award: A Deadly Measure of Brimstone by Catriona McPherson (Minotaur Books).
New on the Mystery Bookshelf during October 2015 …
Just Killing Time by Julianne Holmes, A Ruth Clagan, Clock Shop Mystery (1st in series)
Publisher: Berkley
Ruth Clagan may be an expert clockmaker, but she's always had a tendency to lose track of time. And when trying to solve a murder, every minute counts …
Ruth's beloved grandfather instilled in her a love of timepieces. Unfortunately after her grandmother died and he remarried, Ruth and Grandpa Thom became estranged. She's wanted to reconnect after her recent divorce, but sadly they've run out of time. Her grandfather has been found dead after a break-in at his shop — and the police believe he was murdered.
Now Ruth has been named the heir to Grandpa Thom's clock shop, the Cog & Sprocket, in the small Berkshire town of Orchard, Massachusetts. As soon as she moves into the small apartment above the shop and begins tackling the heaps of unfinished work, Ruth finds herself trying to stay on the good side of Grandpa's bossy gray cat, Bezel, while avoiding the step-grandmother she never wanted. But as old secrets and grudges start to surface, Ruth will have to kick into high gear to solve the killer case before someone else winds up dead …
One man must uncover the truth — even when others will stop at nothing to keep it buried …
While covertly investigating a controversial neurological research program, exposé filmmaker Jevin Banks is drawn into a far-reaching conspiracy involving one of the world's largest pharmaceutical firms. Jevin is seeking not only answers about the questionable mind-to-mind communication program but also answers to his own family tragedy.
— Placebo by Steven James
A complete list of today's featured titles can be found on the Discounted MystereBooks page on Omnimystery News.
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.
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 October 2015 and priced $4.99 or less …
When Jake's ex-wife moves to Minnesota, Daisy does her best to make Stella Gardner feel welcome. She puts on a smile as she helps Stella move into her new home, and she even invites her to Thanksgiving dinner, hoping for a smooth transition as they redefine their blended family.
But when Stella confides that she's receiving threats at her new job, Daisy realizes that Stella's life is being complicated by more than just sharing holidays and custody. And when those threats take a darker turn — a turn that affects Daisy and her family, too — she knows she's going to have to get involved.
Because her family's happiness — and safety — depends on it.
— You've Got Blackmail by Jeff Shelby
See all five mysteries in the Moose River Series for $4.99 or less each on Kindle. The first book in the series, The Murder Pit, is currently FREE!
Visit our New Indie MystereBooks page on Omnimystery News for a complete list of titles featured today.
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.
Omnimystery News invites you to Enter To Win a copy of The Ashtabula Hat Trick by Les Roberts, courtesy of Gray & Company.
Three (3) winners will each receive a copy of …
Title: The Ashtabula Hat Trick A Milan Jacovich Mystery Author: Les Roberts Publisher: Gray & Company Format: Hardcover List Price: $24.95
Use the form below to submit your entry. One entry per person; US residents only. Entry period ends Friday, October 16, 2015 at 11:59 AM ET. (If you cannot see the entry form, use this link.)
About The Ashtabula Hat Trick …
The people of Queenstown, Ohio, don't take kindly to strangers. But they have no choice in the matter after a man's body is found in a local park, pants unzipped and stabbed through the heart―and a second man's body turns up days later, his head bashed in. Local law enforcement needs help with the town's first-ever murder investigation.
Private investigator Milan Jacovich (pronounced MY-lan YOCK-ovitch) tags along when his main squeeze, Cleveland homicide detective Tobe Blaine, is dispatched to rural Ashtabula County to handle the case.
Word travels fast in the small town, and the mixed-race couple receives a cold welcome. The motel manager doesn't like their looks, the coroner conveniently forgets key details, and patrons at the local watering hole flaunt their disrespect for Tobe's out-of-town badge and her skin color.
Milan enlists his young assistant, Kevin "K.O." O'Bannion, to glean information from the town's teens, who tell tales of their parents' fervent devotion to their local pastor, an outspoken bigot. Did homophobia factor in the murders?
Looming over the case is nearby Conneaut prison―privately run, overcrowded, and rumored to employ some questionable methods (as well as many local residents). Inside its walls, a powerful convict known as "The Prophet" just might have the information Tobe and Milan need to solve the case―if they can get him to talk.
Queenstown might only be an hour's drive from Cleveland, but Milan, Tobe, and K.O. find themselves strangers in a strange land. They also soon find themselves neck-deep in serious trouble.
We are delighted to welcome back mystery author Lauren Carr to Omnimystery News today.
Lauren's latest mystery, Kill and Run (Acorn Book Services; September 2015 trade paperback and ebook formats), is the first in a new series and features a couple of characters that will be familiar to fans of her other series. It's been a while since we talked with the very busy author, but we did manage to catch up with Lauren recently to discuss her new book.
— ♦ —
Omnimystery News: Introduce us to the Thorny Rose Detectives.
Photo provided courtesy of Lauren Carr
Lauren Carr: The Thorny Rose Detectives are the second generation of the protagonists from my other two series, The Mac Faraday Mysteries and Joshua Thornton of my Lovers in Crime Mysteries. In Three Days to Forever, I introduced Jessica Faraday, Mac's daughter, to Murphy Thornton, Joshua's son. At the end of that Mac Faraday mystery, Murphy and Jessica got married less than a couple of days after meeting — talk about a whirlwind romance!
I am really excited about Murphy and Jessica, especially as a couple, because being younger (they are in their early to mid-twenties) they are more passionate and impulsive than their parents. Also, being so young, I'll be the first to admit that they are not perfect. In Kill and Run, Murphy, a Navy Lieutenant, is conducting his first official murder investigation and his bosses send for his father to travel to Washington to help him.
On the romantic side, as newlyweds, Murphy and Jessica are still in the discovery phase of their marriage. In Three Days to Forever, they vowed that divorce was not an option. Therefore, any differences they have, they have to work through, which creates some witty banter between the two of them that readers are telling me they love about them. For example, readers discover in Kill and Run that Murphy wants to have family right away. He comes from a large family and his parents started having children immediately. However, Jessica has plans to go to medical school. She wants to wait.
OMN: How do you expect Murphy and Jessica to develop over the course of this new series?
LC: When I started out writing my first series, the Joshua Thornton Mysteries, I did not intend for my characters to change. I wanted and expected them to remain the same from one book to the other — exactly like Hercule Poirot and Perry Mason. However, readers pointed out to me that my characters were changing as they grew — which is a good thing. I purposely do not put continuing storylines that spill from one book to the other, which forces readers to read every installment in order. I write each book as a stand-alone.
However, as the characters grow, then they do change, even though I don't intend for that to happen. With the Thorny Rose Mysteries, Murphy and Jessica will have to change at they adjust to one another while their marriage grows. There is one tender scene in Kill and Run where Murphy, upon discovering that Jessica's best childhood friend had died in a motorcycle accident, offers to sell his beloved motorcycle because she worries when he goes out riding on it.
OMN: How would you tweet a summary of Kill and Run?
LC: 5 strangers R brought together for murder in Lauren Carr's hit #newrelease KILL AND RUN #mystery #ASMSG #IARTG #bynr http://ow.ly/Q3Ffp
OMN: Have you based any of your characters on people you know?
LC: My husband is the business manager for our church and I do a lot of volunteer work for them. Since I use a pen name, there are still people who have known me for years who don't know that I write murder mysteries. One day, a young pastor who was doing an internship at our church walked up to me. After telling me that he had just found out, after knowing me for many months, that I wrote murder mysteries, he asked with a touch of fear in his voice, "Do you ever kill people you know in your books?" To which I replied, "Oh, yes! And sometimes I'll kill total strangers!"
He's still scared of me.
Just because I'm mad at someone about something, I don't put them totally into one of my books to kill them or make them a killer. My primary goal, at all times, is the story — the plotline. During the whole writing process, I'm exploring and adjusting the characters to make them the best fit for the murder mystery puzzle.
I have one extremely nasty character in Kill and Run — Hillary Koch, Murphy's boss during his day job assignment at the Pentagon. Hillary is the worst boss in the whole world. Murphy call her Crotch for a reason. In creating her character, I lifted every nasty trait and deed from every horrible boss I have ever had during my whole working life to create this Frankenstein monster of a boss.
OMN: Where do you most often find yourself writing?
LC: I have a writer's studio that my husband had built for me. It has a desk and windows that look out onto a treetop view. My needs have changed throughout the years. I used to carry my laptop around the house, curling up in one chair or sofa or even the bed. But I find that as I have more and more deadlines to meet and demands, that I actually need an office to get away from distractions — aka my family.
I'm a workaholic — meaning that when I am on a roll with a book that I will literally write all day long — which, I am surprised to learn, have caused some health issues — like migraines. So, now, on doctor's orders, I have this giant elliptical in my studio that I have to take regular breaks to use at least once a day.
Who would have thought?
OMN: You mentioned that you use a pen name. What are the advantages or disadvantages to having one?
LC: I've had my pen name longer than I've had my real name. I was using Lauren Carr before I met my husband and got married. I use a pen name because I write fiction and, simply, I don't like my real name. My husband doesn't even call me by my given name. He calls me Marilyn (that's another story).
I thought long and hard and carefully chose what I wanted to use before I settled on Lauren Carr.
I always go by Lauren Carr when I do author events or anything that has to do with writing or publishing — which is really all day long anymore. There are people who I do book business with who have no idea what my real name is. I even answer to Lauren. If I'm in a public place and someone calls out, "Lauren!" I'll answer. The other day, I was given something to sign and I had to pause to think about who I was.
As for disadvantages? Well, maybe some people think I'm strange having two identities.
OMN: What's next for you?
LC: Right now, I am working on the eleventh Mac Faraday Mystery, Cancelled Vows. In this mystery, David O'Callaghan and Chelsea Adams' wedding plans collide with one tiny little obstacle. David is already married … and didn't know it! Now, with less than a week before his wedding day, David rushes off to get his wife to sign divorce papers. When she ends up murdered, it is up to David's best man, Mac Faraday, and Gnarly, K9-in-waiting, to sort through the clues to get David to the church in time!
— ♦ —
Lauren Carr is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She also passes on what she has learned in her years of writing and publishing by conducting workshops and teaching in community education classes.
The owner of Acorn Book Services, Lauren is also a publishing manager, consultant, editor, cover and layout designer, and marketing agent for independent authors. This year, several books, over a variety of genre, written by independent authors will be released through the management of Acorn Book Services, which is currently accepting submissions. Visit the Acorn Book Services website for more information.
Lauren lives with her husband, son, and three dogs on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV.
Five women with seemingly nothing in common are found brutally murdered in a townhome outside Washington, DC. Among the many questions surrounding the massacre is what had brought these apparent strangers together only to be killed.
Taking on his first official murder case, Lieutenant Murphy Thornton, USN, believes that if he can uncover the thread connecting the victims, then he can find their murderer.
Before long, the case takes an unexpected turn when Murphy discovers that one of the victims has a connection to his stepmother, Homicide Detective Cameron Gates. One wintry night, over a dozen years before, her first husband, a Pennsylvania State trooper, had been run down while working a night shift on the turnpike.
The Thorny Rose Mysteries, the Lovers in Crime join newlyweds Lieutenant Murphy Thornton and Jessica Faraday to sift through a web of lies and cover-ups. Together, can the detectives of the Thorny Rose uncover the truth without falling victim to a cunning killer?
