Wednesday, August 01, 2012

August 2012 List of Kindle Books for $3.99 or Less

Amazon Kindle eBooks $3.99 or Less

Every month Amazon releases a new selection of Kindle books priced $3.99 or less.

We've looked through the August books and listed below those in the "mystery/suspense" category, which includes a few written for young adults.

All but one are currently priced at either $1.99 or $2.99 — the "Rayne Tour" title is $3.99 — for the month of August 2012 only.

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The Black Stiletto by Raymond Benson

The Black Stiletto by Raymond Benson
A Judy Cooper, "Black Stiletto" Mystery (1st in series)

Amazon Kindle eBook

Could Martin Talbot's elderly, Alzheimer-stricken mother, Judy, really have been the Black Stiletto?

When Martin discovers several volumes of her diaries hidden by his mother, he is stunned beyond all imagination. His mother, the underground heroine of yesteryear? The famed, still unidentified woman who battled Communist spies, took on the Mafia, and preyed on common crooks? The woman who exacted punishment on evildoers without mercy?

But it is all described, in great detail, in the diaries. What caused her to begin her quest for justice. Her decision to act outside the law. Her feats as the famed and feared vigilante. How her reputation exploded. In short, how it all played out. Could it be true?

Talbot is filled with doubt and disbelief. But the reappearance of one of the Stiletto's old enemies with a thirst for merciless revenge makes the story more than real and could imperil the life of not only the Stiletto, but her son and granddaughter as well.

Eyewall by H. W.

Eyewall by H. W. "Buzz" Bernard

Amazon Kindle eBook

St. Simons Island, Georgia, has never been hit by a Category 5 hurricane. Until now. No one predicted the storm's sudden force. A crippled Air Force recon plane, trapped in the eye of a violent hurricane. An outspoken tropical weather forecaster, fired from his network TV job before he can issue a warning: the storm is changing course and intensifying. A desperate family searching for a runaway daughter on Georgia's posh St. Simons Island, cut off from escape as the hurricane roars toward them. A marriage on the rocks; an unrequited sexual attraction; a May-December romance. All will be swept up by the monster storm.

Silenced by Allison Brennan

Silenced by Allison Brennan
A Lucy Kincaid Mystery (4th in series)

Amazon Kindle eBook

It has been seven years since Lucy was attacked — and almost killed — by an online predator. Today, she is well on her way toward a new life. While waiting to begin her training at the FBI Academy, Lucy's is tireless in her fight against cyber sex crime. Her current mission: to find out who killed a high-priced call girl linked to a powerful Congressman.

A number of known prostitutes — with scores of high profile clients — are turning up dead all over D.C. Is this the work of a depraved killer? Or the result of an inside job? Lucy's investigation will take her into an underground network of prostitutes, the chambers of the country's most powerful players, and her own dark past to confront an unknown enemy who's always one step ahead of her. With the help of her P.I. boyfriend Sean Rogan, Lucy must find and protect the only witness who can identify the killer and end the conspiracy, but can the witness be trusted? Lucy will risk everything to expose the truth and ensure justice is served, even if that means putting herself in the line of fire …

Cloaks and Veils by J. C. Carleson

Cloaks and Veils by J. C. Carleson

Amazon Kindle eBook

For disgraced CIA officer Dara McIntyre, a new assignment to monitor a troubled junior agent is yet another blow to her once high-flying career. Punished for her affair with a Jordanian spy, Dara is stuck in a dreary desk job at Langley headquarters when orders come down for her to assess whether recently widowed officer Caitlin Wolff is still fit to serve in the field.

Dara soon discovers that the grieving widow has dark secrets; Caitlin and her late husband, Jonathan, were running a lurid shadow operation. Convinced that the couple's unsanctioned acts led to Jonathan's murder, Dara investigates their final operation. Her mission to track the terrorists responsible for the murder and salvage her career takes Dara to the hedonistic playground of Dubai and the chaotic streets of Barcelona. But when the investigation takes a jarring turn, she can no longer be sure who — if anyone — she can trust.

Taking a Stand by Ken Casper

Taking a Stand by Ken Casper
A Coyote Springs Mystery

Amazon Kindle eBook

Homebuilder Jesse Amorado and former Air Force Captain Tori Carr come from the same Texas town but from very different worlds. When she returns home to Coyote Springs to help her father, a real-estate developer, turn the seediest neighborhood into an exclusive resort for the wealthy, Tori and Jesse immediately clash. He'll do whatever it takes to save his heritage, and she is caught up in proving herself to her father.

As personal tensions rise and local trouble begins to brew, Jesse and Tori fall in love-despite it all. They soon find, however, that they must not only confront vested interests and prejudices, they have to fight for their very lives.

The Great Stink by Clare Clark

The Great Stink by Clare Clark

Amazon Kindle eBook

Set in 1855, this is the story of William May, an engineer who has returned home to London from the horrors of the Crimean War. When he secures a job transforming the city's sewer system, he believes that he will be able to find salvation in the subterranean world beneath the city. But the peace of the tunnels is shattered by a murder, and William is implicated as the killer. Could he truly have committed the crime? How will he bring the truth above-ground?

Final Touch by Brandilyn Collins and Amberly Collins

Final Touch by Brandilyn Collins and Amberly Collins
A Rayne Tour Mystery for Young Adults (3rd in series)

Amazon Kindle eBook

The day Shaley O'Conner has dreamed of all her life is shattered by a nightmare. On a lavish estate in California guarded from the media, Shaley's mom, rock star Rayne O'Connor, is marrying her teen sweetheart and Shaley's father, Gary Donovon. It's a dream come true for Shaley, who has always longed for the father she never knew.

But minutes before the wedding, Shaley is kidnapped. Who is this man who has taken her — and why? As Rayne and Gary race against time to find their daughter, Shaley's abductor eludes the FBI at every turn. Fearing for her life, Shaley wills herself to stay strong. But as the days pass, she realizes that no one can save her but herself.

Amos Walker: The Complete Story Collection by Loren D. Estleman

Amos Walker: The Complete Story Collection by Loren D. Estleman
An Amos Walker Short Story Collection

Amazon Kindle eBook

Thirty years ago Loren D. Estleman introduced the world to his Detroit detective Amos Walker. In celebration of this anniversary, Estleman has collected every previously published Walker short story in this massive volume, including a brand-new story never before published!

Solo by Jack Higgins

Solo by Jack Higgins

Amazon Kindle eBook

Piano virtuoso John Mikali's flair as a musician is matched only by his skill as an assassin. The trail of bodies he's left in his wake is proof. But when he kills a young woman while fleeing from a murder scene, the woman's father, a special forces soldier in the British military, vows to avenge his daughter's death.

Now, both men are locked in a deadly game, playing for the ultimate stakes.

Silence of the Grave by Arnaldur Indriðason

Silence of the Grave by Arnaldur Indriðason
A Reykjavik Murder Mystery (4th in series, though only the 2nd to be translated into English)

Amazon Kindle eBook

A corpse is found on a hill outside the city, and Detective Inspector Erlendur Sveinsson and his team think the body may have been buried for some years.

While Erlendur struggles to hold together the crumbling fragments of his own family, slowly but surely he finds out the truth about another unhappy family. Few people are still alive who can tell the tale, but even secrets taken to the grave cannot remain hidden forever.

The Dead of Summer by Mari Jungstedt

The Dead of Summer by Mari Jungstedt
An Anders Knutas Mystery (5th in series)

Amazon Kindle eBook

A husband and father of two is mysteriously murdered while on holiday, taking a morning jog. With no evidence of a motive or suspect, assistant commissioner Karin Jacobsson is assigned to her first major case to lead the investigation while her boss, Superintendent Anders Knutas is away on holiday.

Meanwhile, TV reporter Johan Berg keeps pace with the police team, while at the same time distracted in trying to win back his former love and the mother of his child, Emma Winarve, who resides on the island.

The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbøl

The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbøl
A Nina Borg Mystery (1st in series)

Amazon Kindle eBook

Nina Borg, a Red Cross nurse, wife, and mother of two, is a compulsive do-gooder who can't say no when someone asks for help — even when she knows better. When her estranged friend Karin leaves her a key to a public locker in the Copenhagen train station, Nina gets suckered into her most dangerous project yet. Inside the locker is a suitcase, and inside the suitcase is a three-year-old boy: naked and drugged, but alive.

Is the boy a victim of child trafficking? Can he be turned over to authorities, or will they only return him to whoever sold him? When Karin is discovered brutally murdered, Nina realizes that her life and the boy's are in jeopardy, too. In an increasingly desperate trek across Denmark, Nina tries to figure out who the boy is, where he belongs, and who exactly is trying to hunt him down.

Divine Inspiration by Jane Langton

Divine Inspiration by Jane Langton
A Homer Kelly Mystery (10th in series)

Amazon Kindle eBook

An infant crawls in the dark, up the cold stone steps of Boston's Church of the Commonwealth. It is a miracle that Alan Starr notices the child, so focused is he on the church's new organ, whose pipes he is about to hear for the first time. He takes the baby in his arms and goes inside to inspect the magnificent new instrument, designed to the specifications of the church's master organist, mentor to Alan and to Rosalind, the baby's mother. When Alan takes the child to his neighboring home, he finds blood on the floor and no trace of Rosalind. In what should be the church's finest hour, tragedy has struck.

With the help of Homer Kelly, Harvard professor and casual sleuth, Alan combs the city for the missing mother. Together they learn that even God's house can be a haven for the devil.

The Traitor in the Tunnel by Y. S. Lee

The Traitor in the Tunnel by Y. S. Lee
A Mary Quinn, Agency Mystery for Young Adults (3rd in series)

Amazon Kindle eBook

Queen Victoria has a little problem: there's a petty thief at work in Buckingham Palace. Charged with discretion, the Agency puts quickwitted Mary Quinn on the case, where she must pose as a domestic while fending off the attentions of a feckless Prince of Wales. But when the prince witnesses the murder of one of his friends in an opium den, the potential for scandal looms large. And Mary faces an even more unsettling possibility: the accused killer, a Chinese sailor imprisoned in the Tower of London, shares a name with her long-lost father.

Meanwhile, engineer James Easton, Mary's onetime paramour, is at work shoring up the sewers beneath the palace, where an unexpected tunnel seems to be very much in use. Can Mary and James trust each other (and put their simmering feelings aside) long enough to solve the mystery and protect the Royal Family?

Bonegrinder by John Lutz

Bonegrinder by John Lutz

Amazon Kindle eBook

When the men find him, the boy's legs look like they were run through a wood-chipper. He's bleeding heavily and near death, but he still has strength to tell them of the monster that attacked him: a dark, massive creature that emerged from the bottom of the lake. The child dies before he can say more.

Sheriff Billy Wintone has seen too much superstition, drunkenness, and rage in this small Ozarks town to believe the delirious boy's tale of a monster lurking under the lake's dark waters. Like it or not, however, Wintone must scour the woods for the man or beast who killed the child before the start of fishing season. When another body is found chewed to pieces, the Sheriff begins to wonder what evil lies at the bottom of Big Water Lake.

Dead is a Battlefield by Marlene Perez

Dead is a Battlefield by Marlene Perez
A Dead Is … Mystery for Young Adults (6th in series)

Amazon Kindle eBook

Jessica Walsh is starting her freshman year at Nightshade High and trying to forget about the tragic events surrounding her brother's graduation. She wants to have a normal high school experience. But that's easier said than done in Nightshade. There's a new guy at school who seems to be turning the girls into lovesick zombies. And Jessica has other worries—like her crush on a cute but moody lead singer, and the mysterious tattoo that appeared on her arm one day that lets her know whenever there is trouble brewing. Jessica learns she's a Virago, a woman warrior chosen to fight evil whenever it threatens her hometown. But does a lowly freshman really have what it takes to keep Nightshade safe?

Ready, Scrap, Shoot by Joanna Campbell Slan

Ready, Scrap, Shoot by Joanna Campbell Slan
A Kiki Lowenstein Mystery (5th in series)

Amazon Kindle eBook

With bills piling up and a brassy new partner at her scrapbooking shop, the last thing Kiki Lowenstein needs is a surprise visit from her browbeating mother. But when shots fired into the crowd narrowly miss Kiki at her daughter's May Day pageant, it's another mother — St. Louis's wealthiest matriarch — who winds up dead.

While creating a memorial album for the murdered beer heiress, Kiki becomes bait in a dangerous trap as threats from her old foe mount against her. With help from friends in high and low places, including hunky beau Chad Detweiler, Kiki finds herself facing a grave ultimatum: catch the killer or be cropped out of her own family album.

Deadfolk by Charlie Williams

Deadfolk by Charlie Williams
A Royston Blake Mystery (1st in series)

Amazon Kindle eBook

Royston Blake is head doorman at Hoppers Wine Bar & Bistro in the backwater English town of Mangel. He drives a Ford Capri 2.8i and can walk the streets of his town knowing he's respected by one and all — until a rumor begins to circulate that Blake's "lost his bottle".

Even his sharp-tongued girl, Sal, has overheard the talk that the formerly fearsome bloke has gone soft, lost his edge, and become a pushover in a town where he can ill afford it. To make matters worse, the violent Munton brothers are after him, and the thought of ending up in the back of their bloody Meat Wagon is almost too much to bear. Something's gotta give, but it sure as hell won't be Blake.

Following advice from his best mate, Legsy, Blake embarks on a plan to re-establish his reputation as a hard man, ensure his appeal to the women of Mangel, and seal his future with the new owner of Hoppers. The logic of the plan is sound: knock around Baz Munton a bit and regain the respect of Mangel's populace. But sound logic never really took off in Mangel, and Blake finds he's got his work cut out for him.

Important Note: Any prices mentioned above were correct as of the date and time of this post. 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.

Bharti Kirchner, Author of the Mitra Basu Mysteries

Omnimystery News: Guest Author Post
by Bharti Kirchner

We are delighted to welcome novelist Bharti Kirchner as our guest.

The author of several novels and cookbooks, Tulip Season (Booktrope Editions, May 2012 trade paperback and ebook formats) is Bharti's first mystery.

Today Bharti writes about getting intimate with your main character. And she is giving one of our readers a chance to win a copy of her book; details below.

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Mitra Basu, a young Seattle landscape designer, is the amateur sleuth in my recently released novel Tulip Season: A Mitra Basu Mystery. I must say I've known her much longer than that.

Bharti Kirchner
Photo provided courtesy of
Bharti Kirchner

Years ago, an image of a seventeen-year-old girl had flashed into my head. She'd been sent to Alaska by her mother in India. Alone? At such a young age? In such a bitter cold climate? Just the word Alaska alone is enough to make many Indians shiver.

I had no idea where the image came from and didn't dwell on it. Much later, when I began writing Tulip Season, I realized that Mitra was that young girl and Alaska was her backstory. Self-reliance is built into her bones. She somehow manages to survive in Alaska, get an education, and relocate to Seattle.

As the book opens, Mitra, a dedicated gardener, receives the news that her best friend Kareena has disappeared. Flowers are a solace for her. "(Mitra) paced frantically back and forth in front of the window, too keyed up to sit still. The plum tree in her north yard was a billowy cloud of delicate white blossoms."

Soon Mitra jumps into action, despite threat from Kareena's husband, Adi. There's a bit of irony here. Kareena is a domestic violence counselor and Mitra suspects Adi of wrong-doing. She just can't prove anything.

Neither Adi nor police would do much, so Mitra gathers friends and community members and goes in search of Kareena. "Her career focus in art and botany — the study of the physiology of new growth, the awareness of color and light, and harmony of arrangements — hadn't prepared her to confront a situation like this. She looked up to the sky, out of a gardener's propensity to check the weather. The blue infinity helped her to see beyond the immediate, and provided her with an approach."

Weeks roll by. Mitra is constantly thwarted in her attempts to find Kareena. She loses clients. Friends begin to question her. Her days are bereft of their shine. "(T)he sky resembled an unlit charcoal oven." Still, Mitra doesn't give up.

Her quest eventually leads her to India. "(S)he contemplated her arrival. Kolkata — noise and dust, twisty alleys, impossible traffic, and still with scenic beauty and friendliness. Would Kareena gasp in amazement when she saw Mitra in the midst of such chaos and beauty? Would she want to empty out the contents of her heart and say, "Let's go sit and catch up?" With warmth and only the tiniest touch of chiding, Mitra would convey her concerns: How could you leave your best friend imagining the worst for so many weeks? Don't ever go missing on me again."

Such a pleasant outcome might not be in the stars. Mitra will have many more challenges ahead of her. What I've learned from Mitra is this: If you believe in something strongly, then don't give up, even if everyone is telling you to do so, even if everything around you seems to be conspiring against you.

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Bharti Kirchner is the author of nine books and hundreds of short pieces for magazines and newspapers; her essays have appeared in ten anthologies. Bharti has won a Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellowship, a 4-Culture Literature Award, a City Artist's Project award, two Seattle Arts Commission literature grants, two Artist Trust literature grants, and has twice been a Fellow of Jack Straw Productions. She has been honored as a Living Pioneer Asian American Author.

Prior to becoming a writer, Bharti worked as a systems engineer for IBM and as a systems manager for Bank of America, San Francisco. She has also worked in Europe and other continents as a computer systems consultant. She currently calls Seattle home. Learn more about the author by visiting her website at BhartiKirchner.com.

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Tulip Season by Bharti Kirchner

Tulip Season
Bharti Kirchner
A Mitra Basu Mystery

A missing domestic-violence counselor … A wealthy and callous husband … A dangerous romance …

Kareena Sinha, an Indian-American domestic-violence counselor, disappears from her Seattle home. When the police dismiss suspicions that she herself was a victim of spousal abuse, her best friend, Mitra Basu, a young landscape designer, resolves to find her.

Mitra's search reveals glimpses of a secret life involving her friend and a Bollywood actor of ill repute. Following the trail, Mitra is lured back to India where she uncovers the actor's ties to the Mumbai underworld and his financial difficulties - landing her in a web of life-threatening intrigue where Mitra can't be sure of Kareena's safety or her own.

Amazon.com Print and/or Kindle Edition  Barnes&Noble Print Edition and/or Nook Book  Apple iTunes iBookstore  Indie Bound: Independent Bookstores

For a chance to win a copy of Tulip Season, courtesy of the author, visit Mystery Book Contests, click on the "Bharti Kirchner: Tulip Season" contest link, enter your name, e-mail address, and this code — 2872 — for a chance to win! (One entry per person; contest ends August 8th, 2012.)

Scholastic Unveils New Harry Potter Reading Club Website

Harry Potter

Scholastic unveiled a new website earlier this week, the Harry Potter Reading Club. "Your reading adventure awaits."

The site seems to be written more for teachers than anyone else, but does include a wealth of information about the series, including a couple of entertaining reference sections, such as a Glossary of Terms ("From Apparate to Zonko's"), a Pronunciation Guide ("Ever wonder how to pronounce Eeylops?"), and a comprehensive overview of the books in the series.

You have to have a free Scholastic account to get past the home splash page.

Bingo Barge Murder by Jessie Chandler is Today's Fourth Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks: Mystery, Suspense, and Thriller eBooks

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Bingo Barge Murder by Jessie Chandler as today's fourth free mystery ebook.

This title was listed as free as of the date and time of this post. 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.

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Bingo Barge Murder by Jessie Chandler

Bingo Barge Murder
Jessie Chandler
A Shay O'Hanlan Mystery
Publisher: Midnight Ink

As co-owner of The Rabbit Hole, a quirky-cool Minneapolis coffee shop, Shay O'Hanlon finds life highly caffeinated but far from dangerous. That is, until her lifelong friend Coop becomes a murder suspect. The victim was Kinky, Coop's former boss and the unsavory owner of The Bingo Barge, a sleazy gambling boat on the Mississippi. The weapon? Kinky's lucky bronzed bingo marker.

While unearthing clues to absolve Coop, Shay encounters Mafia goons hunting for some extremely valuable nuts. Looking for the murderer without help from the cops proves risky — especially with distracting sparks flying between Shay and the beautiful yet fierce Detective Bordeaux. When Shay's elderly friend and landlady is held for ransom by the mob, all bets are off. Can Shay find the killer before the stakes get any higher?

Amazon Kindle Book

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.

It's Murder, My Son by Lauren Carr is Today's Third Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks: Mystery, Suspense, and Thriller eBooks

MystereBooks is pleased to feature It's Murder, My Son by Lauren Carr as today's third free mystery ebook.

This title was listed as free as of the date and time of this post. 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.

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It's Murder, My Son by Lauren Carr

It's Murder, My Son
Lauren Carr
A Mac Faraday Mystery
Publisher: CreateSpace

What started out as the worst day of Mac Faraday's life would end up being a new beginning. After a messy divorce hearing, the last person that Mac wanted to see was another lawyer. Yet, this lawyer wore the expression of a child bursting to tell his secret. This covert would reveal Mac as heir to undreamed of fortunes, and lead him to the birthplace of America's Queen of Mystery and an investigation that will unfold like one of her famous mystery novels.

Soon after she moves to her new lakefront home in Spencer, Maryland, multi-millionaire Katrina Singleton learns that life in an exclusive community is not all good. For some unknown reason, a strange man calling himself "Pay Back" begins stalking her. When Katrina is found strangled all evidence points to her terrorist, who is nowhere to be found.

Three months later the file on her murder is still open with only vague speculations from the local police department when Mac Faraday, sole heir to his unknown birth mother's home and fortune, moves into the estate next door. Little does he know as he drives up to Spencer Manor that he is driving into a closed gate community that is hiding more suspicious deaths than his DC workload as a homicide detective. With the help of his late mother's journal, this retired cop puts all his detective skills to work to pick up where the local investigators have left off to follow the clues to Katrina's killer.

Read our review of It's Murder, My Son by Lauren Carr.

Amazon Kindle Book

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 Devil and Preston Black by Jason Jack Miller is Today's Second Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks: Mystery, Suspense, and Thriller eBooks

MystereBooks is pleased to feature The Devil and Preston Black by Jason Jack Miller as today's second free mystery ebook.

This title was listed as free as of the date and time of this post. 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.

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The Devil and Preston Black by Jason Jack Miller

The Devil and Preston Black
Jason Jack Miller
Publisher: Union City Publishing

Preston Black has a nasty habit of falling in love with the wrong type of woman. But girls who don't play nice are the least of his problems. This handsome bar band guitarist isn't washed-up, but he's about to be. He's broke, he's tired of playing covers and he's obsessed with the Curse of 27.

He's about to add "deal with the devil" to his list.

Lucky for Preston, he has help. Like the angelic beauty who picks him up when he's down. And the university professor who helps him sort through old Appalachian hexes and curses to find the song that may be his only shot at redemption. And when things get real bad, he has the ghost of John Lennon to remind him that "nothing is real."

Amazon Kindle Book

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.

Good Day in Hell by J. D. Rhoades is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks: Mystery, Suspense, and Thriller eBooks

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Good Day in Hell by J. D. Rhoades as today's free mystery ebook.

This title was listed as free as of the date and time of this post. 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.

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Good Day in Hell by J. D. Rhoades

Good Day in Hell
J. D. Rhoades
A Jack Keller Mystery
Publisher: Minotaur Books

This is the second mystery (of four) in this series.

Bail enforcement officer Jack Keller is doing a skip trace on a young woman from the right side of the tracks who somehow got involved with the wrong kind of man. But Laurel Marks's history doesn't matter to Jack — she's wanted on a parole violation, and his paycheck depends on tracking her down.

Meanwhile, Keller's girlfriend, sheriff's deputy Marie Jones, is called to the scene of a grisly murder — a gas station owner has been shot point-blank in the face, and his teenage stepson, plus the cash from the register, is missing. But something in the back of her mind tells Marie not to jump to conclusions.

When a bloody, merciless killing spree starts in a church on the other side of the county, it seems impossible that Keller's skip and Marie's murder/kidnapping case could be related. But the local media is soon involved, and the mess they make of the situation soon reveals just what Keller, Marie, and every other peace officer in the state of North Carolina doesn't want to believe: three people are viciously angry, incredibly well armed, and they're ready to strike again at any time.

Amazon Kindle Book

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.

Winner of the 2012 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction Announced

Mystery, Suspense and Thriller Book Awards

The winner of the 2012 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction has been announced on The University of Alabama School of Law website. And the winner is …

The Fifth Witness, the fourth "Mickey Haller" mystery by Michael Connelly.

The Prize, authorized by Ms. Lee, a former law student at the university, is given annually to a book-length work of fiction, published in the preceding year, that best exemplifies the role of lawyers in society.

Michael Connelly will be honored at a ceremony and panel discussion hosted by the Selection Committee on September 20, 2012. The event will take place at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., in conjunction with the National Book Festival, sponsored by the Library of Congress.

(Hat tip to The Rap Sheet for alerting us to this news.)

Novelist Gore Vidal Has Died

Gore Vidal

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Gore Vidal has died from complications of pneumonia. He was 86.

Vidal's connection to crime fiction was a brief one, writing three mysteries in the early 1950s under the pseudonym Edgar Box featuring public relations manager Peter Cutler Sargeant II. Vintage Crime reissued all three last year in both trade paperback and ebook formats and we had the pleasure of reviewing one of them, Death in the Fifth Position, saying, "[T]he real treat here is how cleverly crafted the murder mystery plot is. Though relatively short at just over 200 pages, the interrelationships between the characters are deftly woven into the story. And when the police seem to be at a loss as to how to proceed following Miles Sutton's death, Sargeant steps in and puts the pieces together for them."

The Times article concludes with a most fitting quote from the author …

"Style," Vidal once said, "is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn." By that definition, he was an emperor of style, sophisticated and cantankerous in his prophesies of America's fate and refusal to let others define him.

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