Last week Amazon announced Kindle Serials, a "buy first installment, get the rest free"-type book. The serialized book concept was once common in publishing, today all but forgotten. We thought we'd take a closer look at the first selection of titles … and much to our delight, they are all mysteries or thrillers … or close enough for us to consider them as such!
Here's the marketing copy from Amazon: "Kindle Serials are stories published in episodes. When you buy a Kindle Serial, you will receive all existing episodes on your Kindle immediately, followed by future episodes as they are published. Enjoy reading as the author creates the story, and discuss episodes with other readers in the Kindle forums."
The first eight titles are all priced at $1.99, and though they are called "stories", they are expected to be, when complete, a minimum of novella-length, many full-length novels. Episodes will be delivered at a rate of one every two to four weeks until the book is complete. New episodes will be added to the same book on your Kindle, keeping your place and retaining your notes and highlights.
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Downward-Facing Death
Neal Pollack
Blessed with uncanny deductive skills and a blasé disregard for authority, Matt Bolster was a rising LAPD homicide detective by the age of thirty-five. He was also overworked, divorced, near-alcoholic, and miserable. Then, to impress a girl, he agreed to try yoga. And with a single savasana, everything changed.
Now Bolster has traded his badge and gun for a scraggly beard and the life of an itinerant yoga teacher, dabbling in P.I. work to make rent. He mostly handles missing-persons cases, credit-card fraud – nothing too messy. But that's before Ajoy Chaterjee, the billionaire founder of one of the world's leading yoga-business empires, is found murdered inside his West L.A. flagship studio. Bolster knows the LAPD doesn't have a prayer of cracking the secrets of the yoga world. But he does, and he really needs the dough.
Of course, sticking to the principles of the yamas and niyamas during a murder investigation isn't easy, especially with so many hot women among the suspects. But personal ethics will be the least of Bolster's problems if the killer finds him first.
Episode 1: Released on September 6th, 2012. 41 pages. Matt Bolster visits the gruesome crime scene as he joins the LAPD in their investigation into Ajoy Chatterjee's untimely demise. Bolster quickly discovers he's going to have to work hard to maintain his inner peace as he traverses the dark underbelly of the LA yoga scene.
Six episodes are planned.
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Option to Kill
Andrew Peterson
A Nathan McBride Mystery (3rd in series)
When Nathan McBride receives a text message from someone who claims she's been kidnapped, it triggers a deadly chain of events that has the potential to haunt him for the rest of his life.
Nathan will soon learn that nothing from his past could ever prepare him for the crisis he'll soon be facing. The girl's name is Lauren and she's just twelve years old. With virtually no experience with children, Nathan's patience and compassion are about to be tested to their limits.
In a violent confrontation, Nathan rescues Lauren from her kidnapper, but as he unravels Lauren's story, he realizes his troubles are only beginning. She says she's in the Witness Security Program, and doesn't trust the US Marshals because she thinks they're complicit in her abduction. Not only that, her stepdad was murdered last night.
In a desperate and unlikely alliance, Nathan and Lauren must stay one step ahead of her kidnapper and the brutal mercenaries who will kill anyone who gets in their way. Played out over the course of 36 lightning-fast hours, Nathan and Lauren must learn to trust each other or they won't survive.
Episode 1: Released on September 6th, 2012. 44 pages. Nathan McBride receives a cryptic text message containing his secret operative name from someone named "Lauren" who says she's been kidnapped. How does she know who he is? Is this for real? And if so, can he save her?
Eight episodes are planned.
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9th Circle
Carolyn McCray and Ben Hopkin
A madman terrorizes Seattle, attempting to recreate the nine circles of hell by using the blood and bodies of the innocent.
Detective Robi Darcmel, a gifted yet troubled savant, is the only man standing in the path of this pathological killer.
As the fate of the Emerald City hangs in the balance, can Darcmel overcome his failings or will Seattle burn to ash?
Episode 1: Released on September 6th, 2012. 51 pages. Detectives Robi Darcmel and Trey Keane are on the trail of the Seattle's most prolific serial killer. After rescuing a little girl from a vat of her own parent's blood, Darc realizes she is the key to the psychopath's puzzle.
Eight episodes are planned.
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Shop Til You Drop … Dead
Carol Culver
Cory Sutherland is looking forward to her last day as assistant to wealthy San Francisco socialite Missy Graybar. Cory is about to launch her own business as personal shopper to the rich and famous … as soon as she can line up some clients, that is. Her plans go terribly wrong when she discovers Missy's dead body inside the woman's Russian Hill mansion.
When it quickly becomes obvious that the handsome detective on the case thinks Cory is the murderer, Cory realizes that if she doesn't find the killer, she could end up behind bars – for life.
As Cory crisscrosses the city by the Bay in search of clues, she finds herself caught between the detective and her ex-husband, who has decided their divorce was a mistake and he wants Cory back. Can Cory find the murderer and manage the men in her life? Only time will tell, and she's quickly running out of it.
Episode 1: Released on September 6th, 2012. 40 pages. Cory Sutherland stumbles upon her boss's dead body inside the wealthy socialite's luxurious Russian Hill mansion. Suddenly, Cory is less concerned with launching her new personal shopping business and more worried about proving her innocence.
Five episodes are planned.
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The Circuit Rider
Dani Amore
In a wild land full of lawlessness and sin rides Mike Tower, a traveling preacher known as a Circuit Rider. Circuit Riders travel from town to town, offering their services to those in need. Tower is a man of mystery, utterly fearless though he carries no gun. As he sets out on this latest circuit, is he riding toward a new beginning, or running away from a former haunted life?
Bird Hitchcock, a woman known for her skill with a gun and love of the bottle, has taken the job of protecting Mike Tower on his journey to the West. Yet as she and Tower ride, they quickly find themselves on the hunt for an elusive killer who is brutally murdering women. Protecting Tower seems less and less important as Hitchcock discovers a link between her past and the murderer – will she finally get a chance to exact revenge and find redemption?
Episode 1: Released on September 6th, 2012. 48 pages. Mike Tower, a traveling preacher, and his personal guard, the infamous gunslinger Bird Hitchcock, discover a young woman beaten, tortured and left for dead.
Six episodes are planned.
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Love is Strong as Death
Carolyn Nash
Rachel Elliot is a smart and cynical investigative journalist with a passion for exposing the truth behind every story. But when her editor asks her to look into a controversial real-estate deal involving an elusive tech billionaire and a supposedly haunted house, she unexpectedly uncovers dark secrets about her own past. With a beautiful pharmaceutical heiress, a relentless colleague, and one of the world's most famous Internet innovators all staking a claim on her past and her future, it's up to Rachel to figure out what binds this group together before fate overtakes them.
Episode 1: Released on September 6th, 2012. 102 pages. When a new assignment takes Rachel Elliot into the upper reaches of power and the lower reaches of terror, it isn't clear how much of her perfectly self-contained identity will survive the shock.
Five episodes are planned.
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Hacker Mom
Austen Rachlis
Becky Taylor seems like a typical suburban stay-at-home mom with a loving husband and an adorable son, but she has a secret. In between juggling judgmental playgroup moms, an intense career-minded prosecutor of a husband, and a sister who can't stop reminding her of her old ambitions, Becky moonlights for one of the world's most controversial websites, helping to expose state and corporate secrets. To make matters worse, now the feds are on her tail.
The more complicated Becky's life becomes, the more equipped she feels to handle it. Who says you can't be one of the world's most dangerous international whistleblowers and still make a killer meatloaf?
Episode 1: Released on September 6th, 2012. 32 pages. When Becky goes to a hacker's convention to support her younger sister, what seems like a chance encounter threatens to turn into the biggest decision of her life.
Five episodes are planned.
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The Many Lives of Lilith Lane
E. V. Anderson
Seventeen-year-old Lilith Lane has a hunk of a boyfriend, a wicked tongue, and a talent for solving the mysteries that pop up in her small home town of Mirabalis. But when her little sister goes missing in the middle of the night, both Lilith's detective skills and her recall of sophomore year physics are put to the ultimate test.
To save her sister, Lilith must race against the clock with the help of Dr. Hammer, a mad scientist who pushes Lilith off the edge – literally – of his reality-bending skyscraper. Lilith's world is turned upside down by her sister's disappearance, and a skyscraper that is also a portal to a parallel universe suddenly doesn't seem that surreal. With Dr. Hammer's help, Lilith must put her girl detective skills to the test and try to save her sister.
Episode 1: Released on September 6th, 2012. 35 pages. When popular high school senior Lilith Lane's sister goes missing, Lilith thinks it's the end. It turns out, it's not even the beginning.
Five episodes are planned.
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