Mysteries
Wednesday’s Mystery eBooks
A Dash of Death
by Michelle Hillen Klump
Rating: 4.2 #ad
Bad news for Samantha Warren: The plucky Houston, Texas, reporter lost her job and her fiancé in rapid succession. But Sam has a way of making lemonade out of the bitterest of lemons. At a meeting of the local historical-homes council, she serves up the homemade bitters that she made as gifts for her wedding party. She intends to use that as her “in” to become an in-demand party mixologist. But the party’s over for one of the council members, who keels over dead soon after he sips the bereft bride’s bitter brew.
Within and Without Time
by D. I. Hennessey
Rating: 4.8 #ad
Experience the Origin of a Prophet …
When a sixteen-year-old boy is suddenly caught up in a series of miraculous encounters, it heralds an adventure that will transform his life, rock his town, and trigger events that will ultimately change the world!
Befriended by a powerful angelic warrior, Jimmy finds himself in the center of God’s plan for Earth’s final Great Revival. The beginning of God’s amazing harvest at the End of the Age. Like an intense roller coaster, the journey he experiences is exciting and unpredictable. Heartwarming, as well as heart-rending. God prepares him for a mission more extraordinary than anything he could have imagined, placing him in the rare company of ancient prophets and apostles alike.
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(Within & Without Time Mysteries)
The Nursing Home Murder
by Ngaio Marsh
Rating: 4.4 #ad
For one unfortunate British politician, murder is the worst medicine: “An ingenious, logical, and sparkling tale.” —The New York Times
For Member of Parliament Sir Derek O’Callaghan, a simple visit to the hospital proves fatal. But as Inspector Alleyn will discover, any number of people had reason to help the gentleman to his just reward, including a sour surgeon, a besotted nurse, a resentful wife, and a cabinet full of political rivals, in this classic of detection by the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master.
Deception, Denial & Murder
by Christa Nardi
Rating: 4.6 #ad
A night out ends with a murder and awkward situations.
A domineering co-worker, a flirtatious neighbor, and a dead body make for many questions and awkward situations. As HR Specialist and trauma counselor, Stacie Maroni is used to dealing with difficult situations. When her night out is derailed by the discovery of a body outside a local watering hole, she’s glad she’s not involved. But when the police investigate and close friends are cast as potential suspects, Stacie will do whatever it takes to identify the true culprit, even if it creates waves with the men in her life, her father included. The suspect list is slim and she’s grasping at straws.
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(A Stacie Maroni Mysteries)
Special Agent Booker
by Mimi Barbour
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Suspense lights up on every page of this fast-paced blockbuster of thrills! When Sloan Booker’s father dies tragically, he has no other option but to give up his job as an FBI agent and take over his family’s vehicle restoration business in Oahu, Hawaii. Giving up his badge is difficult but having Homeland Security and his old boss request the use of his house in a stakeout, spying on his Muslim neighbors who they suspect are terrorists, is just too damn much for a man already frazzled. It makes no difference that they’ve offered him a partner to be in charge of the surveillance… until he meets the gorgeous divorcee.
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(Undercover FBI Mysteries)
Unguilded
by Jane Glatt
Rating: 4.5 #ad
At sixteen Kara Fonti still has no magic. But Mage Guild, the most powerful of all the Guilds in Tregella, has a use for her – they will force her to bear children for men who do have magic. Arabella Fonti, to protect her own status within the guild, pushes her daughter to do the unthinkable – run away to live outside the guild system.
But unguilded are not welcome in Tregella, especially on the magical chain of islands of the capital Rillidi. In increasing danger of being arrested or killed, Kara finds refuge on Old Rillidi, the original island that was neither created by magic nor controlled by one of the guilds.
LOVE ME TO DEATH
by Steve Jackson
Rating: 4.4 #ad
New York Times bestselling author Steve Jackson has revised and updated this classic true crime about one of the most monstrous serial killers in American history.
William Neal, who called himself “Wild Bill Cody,” was seductive and skillful at separating love-struck women from their money, and ultimately, their lives. Apprehended by police, Neal, who proclaimed himself “better than Ted Bundy,” pleaded guilty to three murders then insisted on representing himself at his death penalty trial. But the psychopathic killer found himself up against the incredible courage of his one surviving victim.
The Heroes
by Joe Abercrombie
Rating: 4.6 #ad
They say Black Dow’s killed more men than winter, and clawed his way to the throne of the North up a hill of skulls. The King of the Union, ever a jealous neighbor, is not about to stand smiling by while he claws his way any higher. The orders have been given and the armies are toiling through the northern mud. Thousands of men are converging on a forgotten ring of stones, on a worthless hill, in an unimportant valley, and they’ve brought a lot of sharpened metal with them.
DIEGO THE SMELLY DOG
by A.G. Russo
Rating: 4.9 #ad
Ava is a feisty little girl who loves dogs and likes bandaids. One day a large old dog follows Ava and Gramps home. Ava’s mom won’t let her have a pet so she can’t keep him. But she does name him Diego. He is smelly. They take him to the rescue shelter the next day but Ava and Gramps visit him there every week. Who will give Diego a home? A heartwarming adoption story of unconditional love.
Redemption’s Call
by Kelsie Deschenes
Rating: 4.9 #ad
Widow Martha Patton has memories of a beautiful marriage cut short by the kidnapping of her daughter, and the mysterious murder of her Sheriff husband, Jonah. In the autumn of her life, Martha is living with their adopted son, Sheriff Tony, who she and Jonah gave a second chance and raised after he killed a man.
When Martha learns she has a cancer diagnosis, will she trust in God that even in brokenness, the Redemption of Christ has called her into a Perfect Plan? And will she keep to her resolve not to tell Tony about the cancer?
Tuesday’s Mystery eBooks
The Garden of Eden and
Other Criminal Delights
by Faye Kellerman
Rating: 4.3 #ad
New York Times bestselling author Kellerman delivers a riveting collection of 14 crime and mystery short stories–plus four bonus tales–compiled for the first time in one volume.
THE GARDEN OF EDEN AND OTHER CRIMINAL DELIGHTS marks the highly anticipated return of Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus in three neverbefore- published short mysteries, including “The Garden of Eden,” where Peter and Rina investigate the death of a neighbor. The volume also contains two other Decker-Lazarus short mysteries: “Bull’s Eye,” introducing Cindy Decker, who works with her father to find the killer of a police academy instructor; and “A Woman of Mystery,” in which Rina and Peter solve the mystery of a student with amnesia…
The Last Lie Told
by Debra Webb
Rating: 4.2 #ad
Legal investigator Finley O’Sullivan searches for evidence the police overlooked, wading through secrets, lies, and betrayal to find answers. With the unsolved murder of her husband still very much on her mind, Finley must confront her own personal trauma on a daily basis. Lies are part of her livelihood, but they’re also the reason she can’t get justice for the man she loved.
When a man imprisoned for murder recants his confession, claiming he cleaned up the mess for his girlfriend—the victim’s own daughter—Finley takes on the case…
Fallen Shroud
by D. J. Dalton
Rating: 4.2 #ad
A deadly secret. A woman turning her visions tangible. An unbound magic battle …
Orlando, Florida. Keren Stewart longs to get on track. So despite constant intrusions from her imaginary elemental friends, the animation school hopeful is determined not to let talking to thin air ruin her chances. But her plans go sideways when her mother is hospitalized following a treacherous supernatural attack.
With her mom in possession of the book that bestows magical skills to humans, Keren is dumbstruck to discover they’re both under suspicion for connections to the villainous Dark Guild. And as she and her shifter buddies fight to clear her family name, she’ll have to learn to control her own powerful abilities before the truth about her birthright spells a bitter end…
The Watch Mysteries Collection
by Kay DiBianca
Rating: 5.0 #ad
Three complete novels: The Watch on the Fencepost, Dead Man’s Watch, and Time After Tyme, from award-winning author Kay DiBianca.
The Watch on the Fencepost
Dead Man’s Watch
Time After Tyme
“The Watch Series is an awesome mystery series. I love the characters, and the mystery keeps twisting and turning until it wraps up to a fabulous conclusion.” – Amazon Reviewer
Diary of a Dead Man on Leave
by David Downing
Rating: 4.4 #ad
In April 1938, a man calling himself Josef Hofmann arrives at a boarding house in Hamm, Germany, and lets a room from the widow who owns it. Fifty years later, Walter Gersdorff, the widow’s son, who was eleven years old in the spring of 1938, discovers the carefully hidden diary the boarder had kept during his stay, even though he never should have written any of its contents down.
What Walter finds is a chronicle of one the most tumultuous years in German history, narrated by a secret agent on a deadly mission. Josef Hofmann was not the returned Argentinian immigrant he’d said he was—he was a communist spy under Moscow’s command trying to reconnect with remaining members of Germany’s suppressed communist party…
Black Cherry Blues
by James Lee Burke
Rating: 4.6 #ad
In this Edgar Award-winning thriller, former Louisiana homicide cop Dave Robicheaux is trying to start a new life after the murder of his wife – but he can’t escape his past forever. Dave Robicheaux was once a Louisiana homicide cop. Now he’s trying to start a new life, opening up a fishing business and caring for his adopted girl, Alafair.
Compared to Louisiana, Robicheaux thought Montana would be safe – until two Native American activists suddenly go missing. When Robicheaux begins investigating, he is led into the dark world of the Mafia and oil companies. At the same time, someone from his past comes back to haunt him. Someone who was responsible for Robicheaux’s flight from New Orleans – someone who brutally murdered his wife – and now is after young Alafair…
Sea of Rust
by C. Robert Cargill
Rating: 4.5 #ad
It’s been thirty years since the apocalypse and fifteen years since the murder of the last human being at the hands of robots. Humankind is extinct. Every man, woman, and child has been liquidated by a global uprising devised by the very machines humans designed and built to serve them. Most of the world is controlled by an OWI—One World Intelligence—the shared consciousness of millions of robots, uploaded into one huge mainframe brain. But not all robots are willing to cede their individuality—their personality—for the sake of a greater, stronger, higher power. These intrepid resisters are outcasts; solo machines wandering among various underground outposts who have formed into an unruly civilization of rogue AIs in the wasteland that was once our world.
Doomed Legacy
by Matt Coyle
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Private investigator Rick Cahill has been running from his past and chasing the truth his whole life. But his past is relentless – and so is his CTE, a disease caused by repeated head traumas that has attacked his body and his mind. As his CTE progresses, he realizes that the disease not only threatens his life but also endangers his family’s wellbeing.
As Rick struggles to keep his family together, he does a favor for Sara Bhandari, a business contact. Then, Sara is murdered, and the police believe her to be yet another victim of a serial rapist who has been terrorizing greater San Diego. But Rick has reason to question their theory. Determined to find the truth at any cost, and against his wife’s warnings, he investigates on his own.
Monday’s Mystery eBooks
Vistas, Vices, & Valentines
by Tonya Kappes
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Join Mae West and the Laundry Club Ladies as they cha cha and twirl their way around Happy Trails Campground as they put on some sleuthing dance shoes to bring closure to this southern and fun cozy Valentine’s mystery.
When I begged Hank Sharp to take dance lessons to celebrate Valentine’s Day, I knew I was getting more than I had bargained for. But when a dancer’s dead body shows up at the height of the competition and Hank is hired to investigate the murder, I had no idea what we were in store for when he had Dottie Swaggert and Henry Bryant go undercover as a dance competition couple to get insider information.
Desperation in Death
by J. D. Robb
Rating: 4.8 #ad
New York, 2061: The place called the Pleasure Academy is a living nightmare where abducted girls are trapped, trained for a life of abject service while their souls are slowly but surely destroyed. Dorian, a thirteen-year-old runaway who’d been imprisoned there, might never have made it out if not for her fellow inmate Mina, who’d hatched the escape plan. Mina was the more daring of the two—but they’d been equally desperate.
Unfortunately, they didn’t get away fast enough. Now Dorian is injured, terrified, and wandering the streets of New York, and Mina lies dead near the waterfront while Lt. Eve Dallas looks over the scene.
Death of a Fairy Tale
by Emily Fluke
Rating: 4.3 #ad
Send cheesecake and a lot of coffee, because I swear I just heard a wolf’s howl in the middle of San Francisco.
I was a skeptic about the supernatural…until my baby’s birth sparked storybook murders around the city and each body led closer and closer to my grandma’s house.
As an investigative journalist, I’ve solved a lot of mysteries, but now I’m a sleep-deprived mother. I have no clue how to balance my baby in one hand and my job in the other while I hunt a supernatural stalker…
One Last Chance
by Kat Martin
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Former Green Beret Edge Logan has made a new life for himself at Nighthawk Security in Denver, using his finely honed skills to neutralize threats of all kinds. When he overhears friend and fellow agent Skye Delaney discussing a new case involving her missing sister and a mysterious cult, he offers himself as backup. With her own military background, Skye is gutsy and more than capable, but a cult like Children of the Sun is too risky for anyone to investigate alone.
Skye is grateful for Edge’s experience, even though she is aware of the attraction simmering between them. Her battle scars make her reluctant to get involved with anyone, much less a coworker—even a warrior like Edge…
Brett Wilson and Coronado’s Door
by John Suter
Rating: 4.7 #ad
On a treasure hunting expedition with her father, Brett Wilson watches her father enter the fabled golden city of Cibola. The joy of discovery quickly turns to tragedy when the city disappears in front of her eyes.
Now in a race against time, Brett must locate the city before her father is lost forever. The only information she has to help her is the tattered old field book of her father and her best friend Natalie’s energy and enthusiasm. Together with Grandpa Jake and Natalie’s mom Dr. Brown, they must decipher the clues in the field book and understand the earth’s hidden properties to locate Cibola’s final position.
Sparkling Cyanide
by Agatha Christie
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Six people sit down to a sumptuous meal at a table laid for seven. In front of the empty place is a sprig of rosemary – “rosemary for remembrance.” A strange sentiment considering no one is likely to forget the night, exactly a year ago, that Rosemary Barton died at exactly the same table, her beautiful face unrecognizable, convulsed with pain and horror.
But then Rosemary had always been memorable – she had the ability to arouse strong passions in most people she met. In one case, strong enough to kill. . . .
Witch World Collection
by Andre Norton
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Science fiction meets sword and sorcery in these three novels by the legendary New York Times–bestselling author and “superb storyteller” (The New York Times).
On a planet in a parallel universe where magic is a reality, these three high fantasy novels of the Witch World set on the eastern continent of Estcarp once again illustrate why prolific author Andre Norton was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.
My Canvas Bag
by Lucas Kinkaid
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Mark is a young man born into a bad situation. His parents drink too much, and his family often forgets him. He works hard to hide the harsh reality of his home life from those around him. Mark does this to avoid feeling shame. He escapes the chaos of his family by spending time in nearby woods. Mark keeps a canvas bag hidden close to his house. It contains blankets, a flashlight, cans of food, a transistor radio, things to read, and more. It has everything he needs to escape from his family’s dysfunction for a while. Mark truly enjoys the peace and solitude he finds in the woods.
He constantly struggles with the judgments of others when it comes to his family. It hurts Mark when people share their negative opinions about he and his family. He is often avoided by other kids and usually not included in things…
Sunday’s Mystery eBooks
To Live and Die in Dixie
by Mary Kay Andrews
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Former Atlanta police officer Callahan is known for scrubbing all kinds of muck, but she has no idea what she’s getting herself into when she is hired by Elliott Littlefield, a notorious Atlanta antiques dealer.
Right from the start, Callahan’s job turns into a lively quest to find a priceless Civil War diary penned by an infamous madam. Soon Callahan and her team become entangled with a motley group of Civil War collectors, right-wing extremists, and nosy teens, making the case messier and tougher to clean.
Atonement
by Ian McEwan
Rating: 4.4 #ad
On a hot summer day in 1935, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis witnesses a moment’s flirtation between her older sister, Cecilia, and Robbie Turner, the son of a servant and Cecilia’s childhood friend. But Briony’s incomplete grasp of adult motives – together with her precocious literary gifts – brings about a crime that will change all their lives.
As it follows that crime’s repercussions through the chaos and carnage of World War II and into the close of the twentieth century, Atonement engages the reader on every conceivable level, with an ease and authority that mark it as a genuine masterpiece.
Fire & Blood
by George R. R. Martin
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Centuries before the events of A Game of Thrones, House Targaryen—the only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria—took up residence on Dragonstone. Fire & Blood begins their tale with the legendary Aegon the Conqueror, creator of the Iron Throne, and goes on to recount the generations of Targaryens who fought to hold that iconic seat, all the way up to the civil war that nearly tore their dynasty apart.
What really happened during the Dance of the Dragons? Why was it so deadly to visit Valyria after the Doom? What were Maegor the Cruel’s worst crimes?
Zero In
by Dean Koontz
Rating: 4.6 #ad
This could be the most important mission of Nameless’s life. Because it’s putting him on a collision course with his own past and the nation’s future.
The target: a fortified redoubt in the golden hills of California, the hub of a new world order that’s unthinkably close at hand. The time has come for Nameless to face its designer: the nihilist mastermind behind the One Solution. It’s also time for Nameless to discover who he is and was, and what brought him to this fateful endgame. But will the truth be a breaking point? Or a turning point?
Nine Dragons
by Michael Connelly
Rating: 4.6 #ad
After what seems like a routine murder investigation, LAPD Detective Harry Bosch finds himself in Hong Kong facing the highest-stakes case of his life: bringing his kidnapped daughter home.
Fortune Liquors is a small shop in a tough South L.A. neighborhood, a store Bosch has known for years. The murder of John Li, the store’s owner, hits Bosch hard, and he promises Li’s family that he’ll find the killer.
The world Bosch steps into next is unknown territory. He brings in a detective from the Asian Gang Unit for help with translation — not just of languages but also of the cultural norms and expectations that guided Li’s life. He uncovers a link to a Hong Kong triad, a lethal and far-reaching crime ring that follows many immigrants to their new lives in the U.S. And instantly his world explodes.
The Stand
by Stephen King
Rating: 4.7 #ad
When a man escapes from a biological testing facility, he sets in motion a deadly domino effect, spreading a mutated strain of the flu that will wipe out 99 percent of humanity within a few weeks. The survivors who remain are scared, bewildered, and in need of a leader. Two emerge–Mother Abagail, the benevolent 108-year-old woman who urges them to build a peaceful community in Boulder, Colorado; and Randall Flagg, the nefarious “Dark Man”, who delights in chaos and violence. As the dark man and the peaceful woman gather power, the survivors will have to choose between them–and ultimately decide the fate of all humanity.
The Broken God
by Gareth Hanrahan
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Enter a city of dragons and darkness . . .
The Godswar has come to Guerdon, dividing the city between three occupying powers. A fragile armistice holds back the gods, but other dangerous forces seek to exert their influence. Spar Idgeson, once heir to the brotherhood of thieves has been transformed into the living stone of the new city. But his powers are failing and the criminal dragons of the Ghierdana are circling.
Meanwhile, far across the sea, Carillon Thay—once a thief, a saint, a god killer; now alone and powerless—seeks the mysterious land of Khebesh, desperate to find a cure for Spar.