Wednesday’s Mystery eBooks
The Accurate Accounts of Agent Jinni the Cat
by Clara Szalai
Rating: 4.9 #ad
Don’t be fooled by her fluffy, lovable exterior – Jinni the Cat is far more interested in solving the mysteries of the universe than making nice or catching mice.
Jinni’s mission could not have been any simpler – study all she can about the human condition, and report back to her superiors so they can determine once and for all what is the state of human existence. But Jinni isn’t exactly the best agent Homeworld has to offer – she’s a wisecracking troublemaker, too smart for her own good. So, when she finally does reach Earth, she shapes into the most appropriate, elegant form imaginable.
Which is why she is currently stuck looking like a cat.
Dead Lions
by Mick Herron
Rating: 4.4 #ad
The CWA Gold Dagger Award-winning British espionage novel about disgraced MI5 agents who inadvertently uncover a deadly Cold War-era legacy of sleeper cells and mythic super spies.
The disgruntled agents of Slough House, the MI5 branch where washed-up spies are sent to finish their failed careers on desk duty, are called into action to protect a visiting Russian oligarch whom MI5 hopes to recruit to British intelligence. While two agents are dispatched on that babysitting job, though, an old Cold War-era spy named Dickie Bow is found dead, ostensibly of a heart attack, on a bus outside of Oxford, far from his usual haunts.
Berserker of Gambria
by pdmac
Rating: 5.0 #ad
With their spaceship destroyed, the remaining two survivors of a failed colonization mission jettison down to a planet with the hope they can survive. Duncan, a bookish linguist, and Alexis, a beautiful gladiator in the prime of her career, suddenly find themselves drawn into the struggles between two warring kingdoms. Their fortunes improve when Alexis’ combat skills are discovered, and she is challenged by the nation’s berserker who underestimates his opponent and pays dearly for it. Yet no sooner is she awarded his position, title, and wealth when she is called upon to lead the nation’s warriors in the first full scale battle she has ever experienced, against an enemy who take no prisoners.
With the very real possibility that Alexis might not survive the battle, Duncan is left alone to fend for himself. Calling himself a Wizard of the Universe, he is brought before the Council of Prelates to explain his obvious heresy.
Blackout
by Simon Scarrow
Rating: 4.5 #ad
As the Nazis tighten their chokehold on the capital, panic and paranoia fester as blackout is rigidly enforced. Every night the city is plunged into an oppressive, suffocating darkness—pitch-perfect conditions for unspeakable acts.
When a young woman is found brutally murdered, it’s up to Criminal Inspector Horst Schenke to solve the case quickly. His reputation is already on the line for his failure to join the Nazi Party. If he doesn’t solve the case, the consequences could be fatal.
The House of Thunder
by Dean Koontz
Rating: 4.1 #ad
Susan Thornton watched in terror as her lover died a brutal death in a college hazing. And in the four years that followed, the four young men who participated in that grim fraternity ritual also died violently – or so she thought.
Twelve years later, Susan wakes in a hospital bed. Apparently involved in a fatal accident, she can’t remember who she is or why she is there. All she knows is that her life is unfolding into a menacing nightmare – and that the faces that surround her, are those of the four men involved in that murder years ago.
The Messy Man Trilogy
by Chris Sorensen
Rating: 5.0 #ad
THE NIGHTMARE ROOM, THE HUNGRY ONES, and THE MESSY MAN…
From the bestselling author of SUCKERVILLE and BEE TORNADO comes the trilogy that started it all. Three unique haunted tales that intertwine in ways that will frighten and surprise you. With enough ghosts, demons, and hauntings to keep you up all night, THE MESSY MAN TRILOGY is filled with horror and heart. Originally released as three separate books, the entire ghostly tale is available for the first time as one haunted tome.
The Nature of Fragile Things
by Susan Meissner
Rating: 4.5 #ad
April 18, 1906: A massive earthquake rocks San Francisco just before daybreak, igniting a devouring inferno. Lives are lost, lives are shattered, but some rise from the ashes forever changed.
Sophie Whalen is a young Irish immigrant so desperate to get out of a New York tenement that she answers a mail-order bride ad and agrees to marry a man she knows nothing about. San Francisco widower Martin Hocking proves to be as aloof as he is mesmerizingly handsome. Sophie quickly develops deep affection for Kat, Martin’s silent five-year-old daughter, but Martin’s odd behavior leaves her with the uneasy feeling that something about her newfound situation isn’t right.
Redshirts
by John Scalzi
Rating: 4.2 #ad
Redshirts is John Scalzi’s Hugo Award-winning novel of the starship ensigns who were expendable…until they started comparing notes.
Tor Essentials presents new editions of science fiction and fantasy titles of proven merit and lasting value, each volume introduced by an appropriate literary figure.
Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. It’s a prestige posting, with the chance to serve on “Away Missions” alongside the starship’s famous senior officers.