Mysteries
Monday’s Mystery eBooks
Cheddar Late Than Dead
by Linda Reilly
Rating: 4.5 #ad
A bridal shower gone bad quickly becomes the swiss of death, and grilled cheese shop owner Carly Hale must sniff out the suspect
Winter in Balsam Dell is a snowy affair, and to add in some cheer after the holidays Carly’s former classmate Klarissa Taddeo is hosting her extravagant bridal shower at the historic Balsam Dell inn. But when a double-booking throws some mold in the cheese, Klarissa is left scrambling. Dawn, the maid of honor and wedding planner, saves the day by moving the shower to her family’s mansion and books Carly to cater the party. It seems the group is going to pull off the shower without a hitch.
The Bad Parents
by SL Harker
Rating: 5.0 #ad
The picture-perfect neighborhood… Instead of hosting trivia nights, the parents on Madison Lane decide to play by a whole new set of rules. Anything goes. Petra, Dawn and Amy are about to indulge in their darkest fantasies, and it all goes on behind closed doors. Behind perfect picket fences and manicured lawns.
Until someone pushes those fantasies too far. When Petra’s car is stolen, she puts it down to bad luck. After a driver hops the curb and almost kills her, she knows she’s being stalked. She can’t help but wonder if someone from the group is targeting her.
The Second Sleep
by Robert Harris
Rating: 3.7 #ad
From the internationally best-selling author of Fatherland and the Cicero Trilogy–a chilling and dark new thriller unlike anything Robert Harris has done before.
1468. A young priest, Christopher Fairfax, arrives in a remote Exmoor village to conduct the funeral of his predecessor. The land around is strewn with ancient artefacts–coins, fragments of glass, human bones–which the old parson used to collect. Did his obsession with the past lead to his death?
Fairfax becomes determined to discover the truth. Over the course of the next six days, everything he believes–about himself, his faith, and the history of his world–will be tested to destruction.
OCELLICON: Future Visions
by A.G. Russo
Rating: 4.6 #ad
OCELLICON is a military science fiction story with elements of legal/detective/mystery/feminist/noir sci-fi.
Earth barely survived nuclear battles until the militaries of the world took over from authoritarians. But rebellion was agitating from within. Prosecutor Major Annalisa Farrell, Military Academy honors graduate, war hero, wounded warrior, and child abuse survivor fought to champion justice. An unexpected adversary turned out to be Judge Bennett McCrae, the “Judge Prince.” In his courtroom, the Military, and the general population, he was as popular as Annalisa was hated. Before appearing before Judge McCrae, Annalisa Farrell fought in numerous conflicts, was special ops, and had missions in space where she worked side by side with aliens.
Dungeons and Noobs
by Ryan Rimmel
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Badgelor has been patient, or at least as patient as a homicidal badger can be. With the celebration of Grebthar Day, it’s finally time to go get Charles! Nothing is going to stop Jim and his companions, not even the signs of the Dark Overlord’s return. This adventure could be Windfall’s greatest yet, or it could be its absolute downfall.
“Action, adventure and hilarious antics! I have read and enjoyed each of the first 4 books in the Noobtown series and I look forward to the next one.” by Amazon Customer
Before She Disappeared
by Lisa Gardner
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Frankie Elkin is an average middle-aged woman, a recovering alcoholic with more regrets than belongings. But she spends her life doing what no one else will–searching for missing people the world has stopped looking for. When the police have given up, when the public no longer remembers, when the media has never paid attention, Frankie starts looking.
A new case brings her to Mattapan, a Boston neighborhood with a rough reputation. She is searching for Angelique Badeau, a Haitian teenager who vanished from her high school months earlier…
Meeting The Shadow Finding Your Self
by Julie Hoyle
Rating: 4.7 #ad
Your shadow is powerful. It can trip you up, sabotage your best efforts and create obstacles. It can also house amazing creative potential you never knew you had. Discover how to make friends with this primal force. It is waiting to be unleashed.
Until you discover how to own your darkness, you only half live. You deny the fullness of your unique expression because you repress what you believe is unpalatable or unacceptable. As a consequence, you find yourself frustrated with the world, irritated with those you call friends and family, and angry with your seeming inability to express yourself fully or create lasting, positive change.
The Sisters We Were
by Ehud Palmor
Rating: 4.9 #ad
Three sisters grapple with jealousy and conflict, in a tour-de-force saga about the remarkable in the mundane and the importance of family.
November rolls in again, and Dana Epstein takes the same winding path back to her childhood home in the country where her mother and sisters wait for their annual family gathering. It’s a place of bittersweet memories that makes for the fabric of their loving relationship, but also of missed opportunities, and disquieting jealousy.
Sunday’s Mystery eBooks
Long Overdue at the Lakeside Library
by Holly Danvers
Rating: 4.2 #ad
An icy cold murder and a library patron collide in Holly Danver’s second Lakeside Library Mystery.
A glowing wood stove, a cozy log cabin, and shelves full of books are all Rain Wilmot needs to ride out the Wisconsin winter, now that she’s made her family’s Lofty Pines library her year-round home. But the warm-hearted librarian’s blood runs cold when local man, Wallace Benson, is found dead during the annual Ice Fishing Jamboree.
After Benson’s body is found in his ice shanty, Rain recalls that she recently saw the victim in her library, borrowing a few cookbooks to prepare for the fishing tournament’s communal “chili dump.”
Personal
by Lee Child
Rating: 4.2 #ad
You can leave the army, but the army doesn’t leave you. Not always. Not completely, notes Jack Reacher—and sure enough, the retired military cop is soon pulled back into service. This time, for the State Department and the CIA.
Someone has taken a shot at the president of France in the City of Light. The bullet was American. The distance between the gunman and the target was exceptional. How many snipers can shoot from three-quarters of a mile with total confidence? Very few, but John Kott—an American marksman gone bad—is one of them. And after fifteen years in prison, he’s out, unaccounted for, and likely drawing a bead on a G8 summit packed with enough world leaders to tempt any assassin.
It’s One of Us
by J.T. Ellison
Rating: 4.3 #ad
Everybody lies. Even the ones you think you know best of all . . .
Olivia Bender designs exquisite home interiors that satisfy the most demanding clients. But her own deepest desire can’t be fulfilled by marble counters or the perfect rug. She desperately wants to be a mother. Fertility treatments and IVF keep failing. And just when she feels she’s at her lowest point, the police deliver shocking news to Olivia and her husband, Park.
DNA results show that the prime suspect in a murder investigation is Park’s son. Olivia is relieved, knowing this is a mistake. Despite their desire, the Benders don’t have any children. Then comes the confession.
Swann’s War
by Michael B. Oren
Rating: 3.7 #ad
An intelligent and thrilling literary fiction whodunit for fans of Delia Owens and Jacqueline Winspear
The Second World War is raging overseas, but life remains painfully quiet on the rugged New England fishing island of Fourth Cliff—an afterthought of an island now home to only aged fishermen, drunks, and an Italian POW camp guarded by damaged and subpar American soldiers.
With her husband Archie, the island’s beloved police captain, off fighting in the Marines, Mary Beth Swann steps into his role, without the respect of Fourth Cliff’s hardscrabble residents. When a murdered POW surfaces in a fisherman’s net, and soon more bodies appear, Mary Beth’s hold on order and rule wears thin.
Saving Aziz
by Chad Robichaux, Glenn Beck
Rating: 4.8 #ad
It was the right thing to do. And someone had to do it.
Aziz was more than an interpreter for Force Recon Marine Chad Robichaux during Chad’s eight deployments to Afghanistan. He was a teammate, brother, and friend. More than once, Aziz saved Chad’s life. And then he needed Chad to save his.
When President Joe Biden announced in April 2021 that the United States would be making a hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan, Robichaux knew he had to get Aziz and his family out before Taliban forces took over the country.
Death at Dovecote Hatch
by Dorothy Cannell
Rating: 4.1 #ad
It’s November 1932, and the peaceful village of Dovecote Hatch is still reeling from the recent murder at Mullings, country estate of the wealthy Stodmarsh family. Now it’s about to be rocked by news of another violent demise. When the body of mild-mannered Kenneth Tenneson is found at the foot of the stairs in his home, the coroner’s inquest announces a verdict of accidental death. Florence Norris, however—the quietly observant housekeeper at Mullings—suspects there may be more to the story than a fall.
Florence’s suspicions of foul play would appear to be confirmed when a second will turns up revealing details of a dark secret in the Tenneson family’s past.
The Light of Reason
by Tamar Jehuda Cohen
Rating: 4.8 #ad
Her illness almost destroyed her life. It ended up giving her hope.
At the height of her professional career, groundbreaking immunologist Dr. Tamar Jehuda Cohen was diagnosed with a life-threatening brain aneurism. While doctors debated where and how they will operate, open, and remove parts of her brain, Tamar’s thoughts wander on the procedure’s effects on her mind – and her soul.
In the blink of an eye, Tamar’s professional life as a researcher, inventor, entrepreneur, lecturer, and scientist, built over twenty long years – was lost. In its place came epilepsy, severe pain, loss of speech, and other impossible obstacles imposed by complex brain surgeries.
Fair Warning
by Michael Connelly
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Veteran reporter Jack McEvoy has taken down killers before, but when a woman he had a one-night stand with is murdered in a particularly brutal way, McEvoy realizes he might be facing a criminal mind unlike any he’s ever encountered.
Jack investigates—against the warnings of the police and his own editor—and makes a shocking discovery that connects the crime to other mysterious deaths across the country. Undetected by law enforcement, a vicious killer has been hunting women, using genetic data to select and stalk his targets.
Saturday’s Mystery eBooks
Tied Up With a Bow
by Sheila Connolly
Rating: 4.2 #ad
Pub owner Maura Donovan is still learning the local customs of the Irish village she now calls home, and with the holidays approaching she’s unsure how much, or how little, to decorate. She’s also puzzled by the small construction project going on across the street, which is shrouded in secrecy and has the whole of West Cork guessing what it might be. But most troubling of all is the secretive young boy who shows up at the pub’s door, hinting that he and his mother had to leave Dublin–in a hurry.
Sensing danger, Maura becomes more alarmed when an unknown man shows up and begins lurking around the pub. With so many questions on her mind and so few answers…
The Intruders
by Brett McKay
Rating: 4.4 #ad
After an unexpected turn flushes his chosen career down the toilet, Dex Sanders is struggling to make ends meet as a used car salesman. Despite the drudgery of the job, he manages to put on a brave face for his wife, Reagan, and their two boys, until the day an unsettling encounter with a stranger coincides with a mysterious package appearing on their doorstep.
Later that night, Dex and his family are abducted by a group of armed men and taken to an underground bunker, where Dex is tortured. When Dex can’t answer any of their odd questions, the strangers conclude they’ve nabbed the wrong guy, and the entire family is marked for execution.
The Protector
by Gloria Repp
Rating: 4.7 #ad
A heart divided . . . An enemy unseen . . . A riddle of trust.
Lindsey Dumont, photographer, must defend her home in the Pine Barrens while she struggles to revive her career and salvage a long-distance romance. What is God doing? And who can she trust?
Summer Knight
by Jim Butcher
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Ever since his girlfriend left town to deal with her newly acquired taste for blood, Harry Dresden has been down and out in Chicago. He can’t pay his rent. He’s alienating his friends. He can’t even recall the last time he took a shower. The only professional wizard in the phone book has become a desperate man.
And just when it seems things can’t get any worse, in saunters the Winter Queen of Faerie. She has an offer Harry can’t refuse if he wants to free himself of the supernatural hold his faerie godmother has over him—and hopefully end his run of bad luck…
Havoc
by Carolina Mac
Rating: 4.5 #ad
With Ranger Blaine Blackmore recovering from lung surgery, Ranger Farrell Donovan takes over the reins of the new violent crime squad unit. Breaking in rookies can be challenging, especially when gang violence erupts at an alarming rate and a bizarre murder becomes their responsibility at the same time.
Follow the adventures of the new squad from the beginning as they learn to work together and bond as a unit.
Burn the Dawn
by Lisa Phillips
Rating: 4.5 #ad
A series of missing girls. Weeks after she got shot, Kenna is back. She’s living free of a past that held her in the grip of fear, determined to move on – and keep fighting. This PI isn’t going to let anything keep her from finding the lost and broken.
A town in the grip of fear. After a deadly setback, Kenna realizes the case is far more complicated than she first thought. With an elite organization in the shadows, Kenna has to solve the case while a powerful enemy dogs every step and the echoes of her past threaten to tear her apart.
Toxic Rage
by AJ Flick
Rating: 3.9 #ad
An eye-opening account of the shocking murder that has been featured on 48 Hours, Forensic Files, and Investigation Discovery’s Killing Time.
Brian Stidham fell in love with Tucson, Arizona, the minute he came to town. A young and talented eye surgeon, he accepted a job with an established eye surgeon to take over his pediatric patients.
“It’s a beautiful place,” Stidham told a friend. “I can live right there by the mountains and go hiking. It’s a great deal for me there. The partner I’ll be working with is ultracool. He’s giving me the keys to the kingdom.”
Brad Schwartz, the doctor who hired Brian, was ambitious and possessed surgical skills few others had. But he was a troubled man.
My MacArthur
by Cindy Fazzi
Rating: 4.1 #ad
The year is 1930. The place: Manila. Douglas MacArthur is the most powerful man in the Philippines, a United States colony. He’s fifty years old, divorced, and he falls in love at first sight with a ravishing young Filipino woman. He writes her a love note on the spot. Her name is Isabel Rosario Cooper, an aspiring movie actress. One glance at his note and she thinks of him as my MacArthur.
MacArthur pursues his romantic obsession even though he’s breaking numerous taboos. She reciprocates his affection because he could open doors for her financially struggling family. That MacArthur happens to be handsome compensates for the fact that he’s as old as her father…
Friday’s Mystery eBooks
Toucan Keep a Secret
by Donna Andrews
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Toucan keep a secret, if one of them is dead.
Meg Langslow is at Trinity Episcopal Church locking up after an event and checking on the toucan her friend Rev. Robyn Smith is fostering in her office. When she investigates the sound of hammering in the columbarium (the underground crypt where cremated remains are buried), Meg finds the murdered body of an elderly parishioner. Several niches have been chiseled open; several urns knocked out; and amid the spilled ashes is a gold ring with a huge red stone.
The curmudgeonly victim had become disgruntled with the church and ranted all over town about taking back his wife’s ashes. Did someone who had it in for him follow him to the columbarium?
North of the Killing Hand
by Joni M Fisher
Rating: 4.8 #ad
Years after witnessing the murder of her parents, Nefi Jenkins pursues a career in law enforcement, but later must choose between the rule of law and the temptation of revenge.
North of the Killing Hand is the second book in the Compass Crimes collection and a prequel to South of Justice. A finalist in the 2016 Royal Palm Literary Awards Competition, and a finalist in the 2017 National Indie Excellence Awards in the suspense category, this story has overlapping characters from South of Justice.
After Nefi Jenkins witnesses her parents’ murder in Brazil, she bonds with her American rescuers. They bring her to the U.S. to live with her relatives where she must adapt to a radically different lifestyle. She dedicates her life to law enforcement, in large part to impress Vincent Gunnerson, one of her rescuers. As an adult, Nefi will be forced to choose between the rule of law and the temptation of revenge.
Wizard Storm
by Dee Maltby
Rating: 4.4 #ad
A fatherless wizard is no match for royalty. So Beneban, shaken by loss, leaves his noble lady, Laraynia, for a dangerous quest. With the Grand Lar and Trog as his traveling companions, he journeys to the remote Ogdol homeland on the far western shore of Larlion. Magic sword in hand, he battles many perils along the way. It seems that the black wizard Ztavin’s evil magic is gone, but who is threatening the Ogdol throne?
Laraynia is left behind as the new Lady of the Great Shrine. Uprooted from her beloved Forest and seemingly deserted by Beneban, she struggles to defend the Shrine from danger on every side. Her wizard father Nigeran, Queen Varakin, and Vari’s fierce ice dragons fight by her side, as does the handsome Mergol king, who offers his friendship… and more. Laraynia still longs for Beneban’s return, but how long will she wait?
Five Years in Yemen
by Luana Ehrlich
Rating: 4.8 #ad
A CIA contractor goes missing in Iraq. Five years later, he turns up in Yemen. Now, it’s up to Titus to find out if he’s a traitor or a patriot.
After Titus accepts an assignment to bring rogue CIA contractor Jacob Levin back to the States, he learns the operation has been put on hold pending Presidential approval. That’s fine with him. He’s looking forward to spending time in Oklahoma with his fiancée, Nikki Saxon.
But then, his boss needs a favor. After that, everything changes.
It begins in Springfield, Missouri . . . Where he interviews a former CIA employee about the missing Jacob Levin.
It continues in Detroit, Michigan . . . Where he and Nikki spend Thanksgiving with his relatives.
It leads to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia . . . Where he encounters a killer.
It ends in Somahi, Yemen . . .
The Hunting Wives
by May Cobb
Rating: 3.8 #ad
Sophie O’Neill left behind an envy-inspiring career and the stressful, competitive life of big-city Chicago to settle down with her husband and young son in a small Texas town. It seems like the perfect life with a beautiful home in an idyllic rural community. But Sophie soon realizes that life is now too quiet, and she’s feeling bored and restless.
Then she meets Margot Banks, an alluring socialite who is part of an elite clique secretly known as the Hunting Wives. Sophie finds herself completely drawn to Margot and swept into her mysterious world of late-night target practice and dangerous partying.
So Long
by Blake Pierce
Rating: 4.5 #ad
SO LONG is Book #1 in a long-anticipated new series by #1 bestseller and USA Today bestselling author Blake Pierce, whose bestseller Once Gone (a free download) has received over 7,000 five star ratings and reviews.
FBI Special Agent Faith Bold, hospitalized and haunted by her encounter with a serial killer, is ready to retire—when Turk, a K9 German Shepherd, himself traumatized, comes into her life. When a new serial killer strikes, leaving his victims at the bottom of isolated wells, Faith, this time with Turk at her side, will stop at nothing to hunt him down and save the next victim before it is too late.