13 Hollywood Apes, A Layla Remington Mystery by Gil Reavill, New This Week from Alibi

Alibi is a digital-only imprint of Random House dedicated to publishing mystery and thriller books.

We've selected one of their recently published titles to feature here today …

13 Hollywood Apes by Gil Reavill

A Layla Remington Mystery (1st in series)

Publisher: Alibi

Price: $2.99 (as of 12/16/2014 at 4:30 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.

A chilling tale of murder and mayhem among humans and their closest evolutionary relatives — a primate family that may just be too close for comfort.

As a wildfire rages outside the Odalon Animal Sanctuary in the rugged Santa Monica foothills, the retired Hollywood movie chimpanzees housed there are shot and left for dead. When Malibu detective Layla Remington reaches the grisly scene the next morning, she's deeply disturbed — and even more confused. The victims are not human, so the attack cannot be classified as homicide. Yet someone clearly wanted these animals dead, and executed them with ruthless efficiency. Miraculously, there is one survivor: a juvenile male named Angle.

But as Layla reaches the veterinarian's office where Angle is recovering, a man with rock-star good looks and a laid-back Southern California attitude swoops in and removes him. And just like that, an unusual case turns truly bizarre. Soon reports surface of ferocious attacks against Odalon employees … with Angle as the prime suspect. As a wave of senseless violence reaches its apex, Layla chases a mystery man and his chimp — but everything comes back to that terrible night at the sanctuary.

— 13 Hollywood Apes by Gil Reavill

The Killing, A Novel of Suspense by David Hewson, 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, Pan …

The Killing by David Hewson

A Novel of Suspense

Publisher: Pan

Price: $2.99 (as of 12/16/2014 at 4:00 PM ET).

Based on the first season of the Danish crime drama Forbrydelsen.

  

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Through the dark wood where the dead trees give no shelter Nanna Birk Larsen runs … There is a bright monocular eye that follows, like a hunter after a wounded deer. It moves in a slow approaching zigzag, marching through the Pineseskoven wasteland, through the Pentecost Forest.

The chill water, the fear, his presence not so far away …

There is one torchlight on her now, the single blazing eye. And it is here …

Sarah Lund is looking forward to her last day as a detective with the Copenhagen police department before moving to Sweden. But everything changes when nineteen-year-old student, Nanna Birk Larsen, is found raped and brutally murdered in the woods outside the city. Lund's plans to relocate are put on hold as she leads the investigation along with fellow detective Jan Meyer.

While Nanna's family struggles to cope with their loss, local politician, Troels Hartmann, is in the middle of an election campaign to become the new mayor of Copenhagen. When links between City Hall and the murder suddenly come to light , the case takes an entirely different turn.

Over the course of twenty days, suspect upon suspect emerges as violence and political intrigue cast their shadows over the hunt for the killer.

— The Killing by David Hewson

Meow If It's Murder by T. C. LoTempio, a New 1st in Series Mystery Introducing Nora Charles

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) …

Meow If It's Murder by T. C. LoTempio

A Nick and Nora Mystery (1st in series)

Publisher: Berkley

  

What we know about the character: Nora Charles is a crime reporter in Cruz, California. Nick is her stray cat, with a talent for detection. For more information about her first murder, see a synopsis of the book, below.

Nora Charles doesn't believe in fate, even if she is a crime reporter who shares a name with a character from "The Thin Man". In fact, she's moving back to Cruz, California, to have a quieter life. But after finding an online magazine eager for material, and a stray cat named Nick with a talent for detection, Nora's not just reporting crimes again. She's uncovering them …

Back in her hometown, Nora reconnects with old friends and makes some new ones, like Nick, the charming feline who seems determined to be her cat. But not everything about Cruz is friendly. Writing for a local online magazine, Nora investigates the curious death of socialite Lola Grainger. Though it was deemed an accident, Nora suspects foul play. And it seems that her cat does too.

Apparently, Nick used to belong to a P.I. who disappeared while investigating Lola Grainger's death. The coincidence is spooky, but not as spooky as the clues Nick spells out for her with Scrabble letters — clues that lead her down an increasingly dangerous path. Whether fate put her on this case or not, solving it will take all of Nora's wits, and maybe a few of Nick's nine lives.

— Meow If It's Murder by T. C. LoTempio

Friend of the Devil, An Alan Banks Mystery by Peter Robinson, 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, HarperCollins …

Friend of the Devil by Peter Robinson

An Alan Banks Mystery (17th in series)

Publisher: HarperCollins

Price: $1.99 (as of 12/16/2014 at 3:00 PM ET).

Read our review of this book on Mysterious Reviews.

  

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Two murders … two towns …

A woman sits in a wheelchair perched on a cliff high above the sea, her throat slit from ear to ear …

In a maze of narrow alleys behind a market square, a teenaged girl has been murdered after a night of drunken revelries with her friends.

A pair of horrific crimes, the first — a seemingly senseless murder of a helpless paraplegic — falls to Inspector Annie Cabbot, on loan to a local police department. The terrible death of young Hayley Daniels becomes Chief Inspector Alan Banks's investigation.

But shattering revelations threaten to awaken the slumbering demons of earlier, darker times, and more blood is in the offing when the two cases brutally and unexpectedly collide.

— Friend of the Devil by Peter Robinson

The Wolf and the Lamb by Frederick Ramsay, New in Bookstores during December 2014

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

The Wolf and the Lamb by Frederick Ramsay, a The Jerusalem Mysteries Mystery (3rd in series)

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press

        

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 …

It's Passover. Gamaliel, and his physician friend, Loukas, are crime-solving a third time — reluctantly. Pontius Pilate has been accused of murder. He denies the crime. If convicted, he might escape death but would be removed from Judea. Those rejoicing urge the Rabban to mind his own business. But Gamaliel is a Just Man which is, as Pilate points out, "your weakness and also your strength."

Knowing that exonerating the Roman could cost him his position, possibly his life, Gamaliel, as would Sherlock Holmes centuries later, examines evidence and sorts through tangled threads, teasing out suspects who include assassins, Roman nobles, Pilate's wife, rogue legionnaires, slaves, servants, thespians, and a race horse named Pegasus. Unusually, justice triumphs over enmity. Gamaliel is satisfied, High Priest Caiphas is irate, Loukas accepts an apprentice from Tarsus, and few notice the events of what will later be known as Easter.

— The Wolf and the Lamb by Frederick Ramsay