Thursday’s Mystery eBooks
Christmas Cupcake Murder
by Joanne Fluke
Rating: 4.4 #ad
While Hannah speeds through a lengthy holiday checklist, drama in town grows like Santa’s waistline on Christmas Eve. Her sister Andrea wants to stave off the blues by helping out at The Cookie Jar, Michelle’s love life is becoming complicated, Lisa needs Hannah’s advice, and Delores has a Christmas secret she’s not willing to share. But nothing dampens the holiday mood more than the chilling mystery surrounding the man found near death in an abandoned storefront two doors down from Hannah’s bakery . . .
Check out:
(A Hannah Swensen Mysteries)
The Secrets We Keep
by A J Wills
Rating: 4.1 #ad
With every passing minute, hopes of finding Annie Warren alive are fading fast. The ten-year-old should have been home from school hours ago and her parents, Cathy and Kit, are frantic with worry.
The police seem completely clueless while the Warrens’ house is besieged by a news-hungry press pack.
Among them is Yannick Kellor, an ambitious TV reporter who’s spotted an opportunity to make name for himself. But that’s not his only reason for wanting to solve the mystery of Annie’s disappearance.
Vampire Librarian
by Kristin Kova
Rating: 4.2 #ad
Save London from an impending vampire apocalypse? Sorry, my week is all booked.
That’s a book pun—I’m a librarian. Specifically, the arcane archivist at the Witching Library in the heart of London.
Humans don’t know about the secret magical world of witches, shifters, and seers like me. So when vampires steal a dark codex from the library, no police come to save me when I’m caught in the crossfire. I’m left in a pool of blood, with a searing scratch on my arm.
When I transition and lose control of my new thirst, a dangerously powerful—and hot as hell—vampire pulls me back from the edge.
The Usual Santas Collection
by Multiple Authors
Rating: 3.9 #ad
Finally: the perfect stocking stuffer for the crime fiction lover in your life! With a foreword by CWA Diamond Award-winner Peter Lovesey, these eighteen delightful holiday stories by your favorite Soho Crime authors contain laughs, murders, and plenty more.
This captivating collection, which features bestselling and award-winning authors, contains laughs aplenty, the most hardboiled of holiday noir, and heartwarming reminders of the spirit of the season.
New Castle’s Kadunce Murders
by Dale Richard Perelman
Rating: 4.3 #ad
Author Dale Richard Perelman tells the tragic story of the 1978 murders and the mystery surrounding them.
In the summer of 1978, a mother and her four-year-old were stabbed to death in the quiet town of New Castle. Police suspected the husband, Lou Kadunce, but were unable to find either a weapon or a motive. Sitting in a Lawrence County jail in 1981, convicted serial killer Michael Atkinson accused Frank Costal – a carny, petty thief and Satanist – of having an affair with the Kadunce husband and participating in the murder. A series of intense trials ensued as Costal was convicted of the homicides and a jury found the husband not guilty. Questions surrounding the case gripped the region and grabbed headlines in the Pittsburgh Press.
Dory Returns
by William Black
Rating: 4.3 #ad
It’s 1869 in the New Mexico Territory and the frontier legend of Dory McLee is only growing. The farm girl is as skilled at riding, shooting and chasing criminals as much as her male counterparts.
Back east, thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, know about Dory thanks to the sensationalized dime books and pamphlets, yelling out her western moxie. Their stories, including the taming of a grizzly bear, may be exaggerated. Yet people have become enchanted with the young woman.
Funeral for a Friend
by Brian Freeman
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Jonathan Stride’s best friend, Steve Garske, makes a shocking deathbed confession: he protected Stride by covering up a murder. Hours later, the police dig up Steve’s yard and find a body with a bullet hole in its skull.
Stride is pretty sure he knows who it is. Seven years ago, an out-of-town reporter disappeared while investigating anonymous allegations of rape against a prominent politician. Back then, the police believed that the reporter drowned at a dangerous swimming hole called the Deeps … but the discovery of the body changes everything. Now Stride’s partner, Maggie Bei, is forced to ask Stride an uncomfortable question: Did you kill him?
Check out:
(The Jonathan Stride Mysteries)
Niergel Chronicles – Quest
by D. I. Hennessey
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Niergel Chronicles – Quest continues the fantastic adventures of Jeff Sutherland, a brilliant young scientist who encounters a closely guarded secret that topples everything he has believed about reality.
Dangerous enemies are stepping up their attacks as dark forces grow increasingly threatened by our hero’s discoveries. He is, meanwhile, drawn more deeply into his search for the truth about his heritage and the earth’s past.
Book Two, Quest is the story of Jeff’s soul-stirring pursuit of truth. Not just the truth about his lost family but also the most extraordinary reality of all. One that upends everything he ever believed, as he realizes that it is the only defense against the dark forces who now threaten the entire world.