Monday’s Mystery eBooks
The Mysterious Case of the Missing Motive
by Michele PW (Pariza Wacek)
Kindle $0.99 Rating: 4.4 #ad
Emily Hildebrandt has run into a bit of a rough patch. She’s lost her job, her fiance and her apartment. Still, she never expected to be desperate enough to accept an invitation to live with her eccentric Aunt Tilde in Redemption, Wisconsin.
But, beggars can’t be choosers. Even if part of the deal is she has to pretend to work at her aunt’s latest hair-brained scheme, The Redemption Detective Agency. Seriously, the woman is a retired nurse. Why does she think she’s remotely qualified to run a detective agency, especially in a creepy little town like Redemption?
Fat Tuesday
by Sandra Brown
Kindle $1.99 Rating: 4.4 #ad
Burke Basile is a cop with nothing left to lose. Haunted by his partner’s death, the end of his marriage, and the destruction of his career, he targets his nemesis, a flamboyant attorney who helps killers evade justice. Burke’s shocking revenge centers around kidnapping Remy, the lawyer’s trophy wife.
But Burke hasn’t planned on the scorching desire he’ll feel for this desperate woman, who rose from the slums of New Orleans to marry a man she can never love.
The Back Bedroom
by Gregg Olsen
Kindle $1.99 Rating: 3.8 #ad
In 1976, in the sealed back bedroom of a home in Washington state, authorities found the decomposing body of three-year-old Davey Weilbacher, beaten to death nearly two months prior.
Beyond that bedroom door was self-proclaimed prophet Leon Cunningham, who convinced his sheltered cult of family and friends—including Davey’s lost young mother—that the boy was possessed by the Devil. Exorcism was the only way to save him, leading to a ritualistic campaign of abuse, control, unimaginable violence, and murder.
Under Cover of Chaos
by Liz Wanic and Rebekah Wanic
Kindle $0.99 Rating: 4.7 #ad
When young women are found dead in the capital of the Central African Republic, United Nations official Stella Fairmont is reminded of the unsolved disappearance of a friend. As she investigates, she uncovers what may be a chilling pattern-similar deaths in another UN location.
The deeper she digs, the more twisted the view becomes, and Stella finds herself up against a system built on compromise where accountability is often an illusion. When the truth gets blurred and personal histories can be hidden, the only way to survive is to trust her instincts.
When the Bough Breaks
by Jonathan Kellerman
Kindle $1.99 Rating: 4.2 #ad
Dr. Morton Handler practiced a strange brand of psychiatry. Among his specialties were fraud, extortion, and sexual manipulation. Handler paid for his sins when he was brutally murdered in his luxurious Pacific Palisades apartment. The police have no leads, but they do have one possible witness: seven-year-old Melody Quinn.
It’s child psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware’s job to try to unlock the terrible secret buried in Melody’s memory. But as the sinister shadows in the girl’s mind begin to take shape, Alex discovers that the mystery touches a shocking incident in his own past.
The Wizards of Wall Street
by John Brooks
Kindle $0.50 Rating: 4.0 #ad
For decades, author and New Yorker staff writer John Brooks was renowned for his keen intelligence, in-depth knowledge, and uniquely engaging approach to the dramas and personalities of the financial and business worlds. With a style of prose that “turns potentially eye-glazing topics . . . into rollicking narratives,” Brooks proved that even the bottom line can be moving, hilarious, and infuriating all at once (Slate).
Here are three of his most fascinating works, which still resonate today.
Fire Weather
by John Vaillant
Kindle $1.99 Rating: 4.6 #ad
In May 2016, Fort McMurray, the hub of Canada’s oil industry and America’s biggest foreign supplier, was overrun by wildfire. The multi-billion-dollar disaster melted vehicles, turned entire neighborhoods into firebombs, and drove 88,000 people from their homes in a single afternoon. Through the lens of this apocalyptic conflagration—the wildfire equivalent of Hurricane Katrina—John Vaillant warns that this was not a unique event, but a shocking preview of what we must prepare for in a hotter, more flammable world.
Fire has been a partner in our evolution for hundreds of millennia, shaping culture, civilization, and, very likely, our brains.
The Painting
by Sheila Myers
Kindle $0.99 Rating: 4.1 #ad
When Petula Kerslake returns to her childhood home in the Catskill Mountains, she discovers that the family painting hanging above the library mantel-long suspected to be valuable-is actually worth a staggering fortune. But the Fleming Foundation, which inherited the historic mansion and its contents, immediately moves to auction off the Sarah Cole masterpiece, citing fiduciary responsibility.
Determined to keep the painting in the family and community where it belongs, Petula and her siblings must navigate a web of family secrets, legal battles, and small-town politics.
48 Hours
by William R. Forstchen
Kindle $2.99 Rating: 4.5 #ad
In 48 hours, the Earth will be hit by a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) from the Sun, a “Carrington Event” that has the power to shut down and possibly destroy the world’s electrical infrastructure. To try and prevent permanent damage, everything goes dark prior to the hit: global communications are shut down; hospital emergency generators are disconnected; the entire internet, media broadcasting, and cell phone systems are turned off.
Will the world’s population successfully defend itself in the wake of the CME, or will mass panic lead to the breakdown of society as we know it?