Mysteries
Friday’s Mystery eBooks
Date with Mystery
by Julia Chapman
Rating: 4.6 #ad
The Dales Detective Agency’s latest assignment appears to be an open and shut case. Hired by a local solicitor to find a death certificate for a young woman who died over twenty years ago, Samson O’Brien is about to find out that things in Bruncliffe are rarely that straightforward. Particularly when the solicitor insists that Delilah Metcalfe, with her wealth of local knowledge, works alongside Samson on this sensitive investigation.
Delilah is eager to help, needing to take her mind off the impending custody case for her precious dog, Tolpuddle, and problems with her dating agency.
Check out:
(The Dales Detective Mysteries)
The King of Shadows
by Robert McCammon
Rating: 4.4 #ad
In the year 1704, Matthew Corbett is about to go up against an antagonist completely different from any he has faced before. On a trip to Italy to track down Brazio Valeriani and information about the mirror created by his father, the sorcerer Ciro, Matthew and Hudson Greathouse find themselves marooned on a beautiful island known as Golgotha—a place that hides a multitude of secrets and puts both of them at terrible risk.
The islanders welcome them with a massive feast—but as the island pulls them deeper into its influence, the castaways struggle to maintain their grip on reality, even their very identity.
Check out:
(The Matthew Corbett Mysteries)
Arbitrary and Capricious
by Jim Lively
Rating: 5.0 #ad
Retired lawyer Sanders Pierce would rather spend his time painting at his art gallery, but when a former colleague, now general counsel at a major health benefits firm, asks him to investigate potential internal deceptions, he can’t resist. Mostly because the amount she offers for his contract work is too good to pass up.
He insists he will abide by the standard of law, which could expose the firm’s fiduciary conduct as arbitrary and capricious.
He gets assigned to a small office in the lower floor of corporate headquarters where he interviews various employees and studies flowcharts. At first no one reveals much of concern, until he receives an email from a mysterious source with a grim warning: Nothing is what it seems.
Sierra Six
by Mark Greaney
Rating: 4.7 #ad
It’s been years since the Gray Man’s first mission, but the trouble’s just getting started in the latest entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series.
Before he was the Gray Man, Court Gentry was Sierra Six, the junior member of a CIA action team.
In their first mission they took out a terrorist leader, at a terrible price. Years have passed. The Gray Man is on a simple mission when he sees a ghost: the long-dead terrorist, but he’s remarkably energetic for a dead man.
Check out:
(Gray Man Mysteries)
Shadow in Serenity
by Terri Blackstock
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Carny Sullivan grew up in the zany world of a traveling carnival. Quaint and peaceful Serenity, Texas, has given her a home, a life, and a child. Logan Brisco is the smoothest, slickest, handsomest man Serenity, Texas has ever seen. But Carny Sullivan knows a con artist when she sees one – and she’s seen plenty, starting with her father. As far as Carny Sullivan can tell, she’s the only one in town who has his number. Because from his Italian shoes to his movie-actor smile, Logan has the rest of the town snowed. Carny is determined to reveal Brisco’s selfish intentions before his promise to the townspeople for a cut in a giant amusement park sucks Serenity dry.
The Perfect Lawyer
by Gregg Bell
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Illinois Attorney Ike Thompson just wants to live out the rest of his days in peace.
Years ago, he was known as “the perfect lawyer” for his high-profile, pressure-packed criminal defense work in downtown Chicago. But after losing a crucial case to up-and-coming prosecutor Ursula “the merciless” Rush, his confidence was shattered, and ever since, he’s resigned himself to doing small-time real estate deals in the sleepy suburbs. He’ll never practice criminal law again. He’s lost his edge. Worse yet, he’s lost his courage.
When he’s asked to defend a sensational murder case that’s inflaming the nation, there’s no way he’s accepting.
The Woman in the Woods
by John Connolly
Rating: 4.5 #ad
In the beautiful Maine woods, a partly preserved body is discovered. Investigators realize that the young woman gave birth shortly before her death. But there is no sign of a baby.
Private detective Charlie Parker is hired by a lawyer to shadow the police investigation and find the infant but Parker is not the only one searching. Someone else is following the trail left by the woman, someone with an interest in much more than a missing child…someone prepared to leave bodies in his wake.
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(Charlie Parker Mysteries)
Where’s Chuckawalla Bill’s Cabin?
by Kevin Heaton
Rating: 4.6 #ad
“Dear God, I’ve lost the trail!” Hell, not only was there no pathway of any kind, but as far as I could see there were no more aluminum cans or punctured helium birthday balloons. Yeah, LOST! All because of a stupid overreaction to something that most likely would never have materialized.”
This recount of a horrifying ordeal takes you along on a perilous thirty-hour Hi-Desert hike that will challenge your every known human emotion; from anticipation to desperation, to the redemption one can sometimes discover in the healing waters of life’s simpler things.
Thursday’s Mystery eBooks
Murder at a Scottish Social
by Traci Hall
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Sweater shop owner Paislee Shaw puts the yarn in Nairn, but a killer has put poison in some Scottish shortbread cookies . . .
Opening her shop Cashmere Crush and making a new home for herself, her son Brody, Gramps, and their black Scottish terrier Wallace in the beautiful Scottish village of Nairn is a dream come true. So Paislee is happy to give back by donating a luxurious cashmere sweater for an auction to raise money for the Nairn Food Bank. She’s less happy to make the acquaintance of a clique of competitive moms at the charity event, who treat a baking contest like it’s life or death.
Check out:
(A Scottish Shire Mysteries)
Grave Pursuits
by Elle E. Kay
Rating: 4.7 #ad
Tension builds as the body count increases.
Emily Davis stumbles across a skull while searching for a missing hiker in Hickory Run State Park, and someone goes to great lengths to keep her away from the case.
Boulder Field’s national landmark status and its popularity makes it impossible to keep the story out of the national press, and a viral video puts Emily in the cross-hairs of a serial killer.
All Her Fault
by Andrea Mara
Rating: 4.3 #ad
ONE MISSING BOY. Marissa Irvine arrives at 14 Tudor Grove, expecting to pick up her young son Milo from his first playdate with a boy at his new school. But the woman who answers the door isn’t a mother she recognises. She isn’t the nanny. She doesn’t have Milo. And so begins every parent’s worst nightmare.
FOUR GUILTY WOMEN. As news of the disappearance filters through the quiet Dublin suburb and an unexpected suspect is named, whispers start to spread about the women most closely connected to the shocking event. Because only one of them may have taken Milo – but they could all be blamed . . .
Hidden
by Fern Michaels
Rating: 4.3 #ad
A page-turning new story from the bestselling author of No Way Out, perfect for fans of Nora Roberts and Danielle Steel! Meet a brother and sister who are drawn into a treacherous mystery through an antique with a dark past, as they race against time to help a single mother and take down a ruthless couple bent on taking control of their family’s legacy…
At first glance, few would guess that Luna and Cullen Bodman are siblings. Cullen is efficient and serious while his younger sister Luna is a free spirit. When the two launch their furniture restoration shop/café—an offshoot of the family’s longtime antique business—in an up-and-coming arts center, little do they know their unique talents may be their only defense against a dangerous betrayal.
Check out:
(A Lost and Found Mysteries)
The Impossible Dead
by Ian Rankin
Rating: 4.5 #ad
The Complaints: that’s the name given to the Internal Affairs department who seek out dirty and compromised cops, the ones who’ve made deals with the devil. And sometimes The Complaints must travel.
A major inquiry into a neighboring police force sees Malcolm Fox and his colleagues cast adrift, unsure of territory, protocol, or who they can trust. An entire station-house looks to have been compromised, but as Fox digs deeper he finds the trail leads him back in time to the suicide of a prominent politician and activist. There are secrets buried in the past, and reputations on the line.
The Eden Stories Boxset
by Terry Toler
Rating: 4.3 #ad
Award Winning Series.
What if there has been more than one Garden of Eden? What if every planet in our solar system has had intelligent life, an Adam and an Eve, and a tree of the knowledge of good and evil?
Nine planets. Nine garden of Edens. Nine Adam and Eves. Nine trees of the knowledge of good and evil. Would they all eat the fruit? Is that why the other eight planets are desolate?
Filled with biblical truths. Ripped from yesterday and today’s headlines. You won’t want to put them down until you devour every word. A great read for believers and seekers.
Book One: The Longest Day (Winner of 2020 Best Book Award for Religious Fiction)
Book Two: The Reformation of Mars
Book Three: The Late, Great Planet Jupiter (Finalist 2021 Best Book Award for Religious Fiction)
The Trespasser
by Tana French
Rating: 4.4 #ad
In bestselling author Tana French’s newest “tour de force” (The New York Times), being on the Murder Squad is nothing like Detective Antoinette Conway dreamed it would be. Her partner, Stephen Moran, is the only person who seems glad she’s there. The rest of her working life is a stream of thankless cases, vicious pranks, and harassment. Antoinette is savagely tough, but she’s getting close to the breaking point.
Their new case looks like yet another by-the-numbers lovers’ quarrel gone bad. Aislinn Murray is blond, pretty, groomed-to-a-shine, and dead in her catalog-perfect living room, next to a table set for a romantic dinner. There’s nothing unusual about her – except that Antoinette’s seen her somewhere before.
Check out:
(Dublin Murder Squad Mysteries)
Lessons
by Ian McEwan
Rating: 4.4 #ad
When the world is still counting the cost of the Second World War and the Iron Curtain has closed, eleven-year-old Roland Baines’s life is turned upside down. Two thousand miles from his mother’s protective love, stranded at an unusual boarding school, his vulnerability attracts piano teacher Miss Miriam Cornell, leaving scars as well as a memory of love that will never fade.
Now, when his wife vanishes, leaving him alone with his tiny son, Roland is forced to confront the reality of his restless existence. As the radiation from Chernobyl spreads across Europe, he begins a search for answers that looks deep into his family history and will last for the rest of his life.
Blood and Justice
by Jesse Storm
Rating: 5.0 #ad
Retired deputy Marcus Armstrong will never forget the incident where outlaw Walter Dale shot dead his brother Peter in a saloon scuffle. After Walter is sent to jail, Marcus hands in his badge to live in peace in a small ranch.
One day, Marcus’ peace is shattered when a woman named Millie Jones comes begging for his protection. It turns out that Millie is a distant cousin of Walter. Millie recounts she is no different from a maid for every man in the Walter gang, taking care of the men’s basic needs and still getting pushed around.
Wednesday’s Mystery eBooks
Christmas Dessert Murder
by Joanne Fluke
Rating: 4.4 #ad
It’s Christmas in Lake Eden, Minnesota, and there’s no better way to enjoy the holidays than by cozying up to two Hannah Swensen yuletide mysteries with a plateful of goodies from The Cookie Jar bakery . . .
CHRISTMAS CARAMEL MURDER
CHRISTMAS CAKE MURDER
Features Over a Dozen Cookie and Dessert Recipes from The Cookie Jar!
Stranger Things: Suspicious Minds
by Gwenda Bond
Rating: 4.7 #ad
It’s the summer of 1969, and the shock of conflict reverberates through the youth of America. As a student at a quiet college campus in the heartland of Indiana, Terry Ives couldn’t be farther from the front lines of Vietnam or the protests in Washington.
But the world is changing, and Terry isn’t content to watch. When word gets around about an important government experiment in the small town of Hawkins, she signs on as a test subject for the project, code-named MKULTRA. The remote lab, deep in the woods, contains a mystery Terry is determined to uncover.
Check out:
(Stranger Things Mysteries)
High Bluffs
by Sally Royer-Derr
Rating: 4.2 #ad
“This quick, entertaining series opener is well paced, and the intriguing murder mystery is balanced with sexy encounters…” – Kirkus Reviews
“I’m the one who is supposed to have her…”
Joanna Dresden lives an idyllic life in High Bluffs, Maine, running her family inn with her husband and daughter. She’s devastated when her husband is killed in a car accident, leaving her emotionally shaken and vulnerable. The inn they have spent their lives tending no longer interests her, and some unusual occurrences are happening around town.
Check out:
(Stranger Things Mysteries)
Far From Home
by John Walker
Rating: 5.0 #ad
Seth thought he had his life all planned out. After retiring from the Marines, he sought a career in the private sector. Moving up the corporate ladder proved harder than he thought, and when he suddenly loses his job, he wonders if he might be wasting his life.
Until a car accident changes it forever. Finding himself marooned on an alien prison planet, he must team up with a rebel in order to survive. But the environment isn’t the only hazard to overcome with bloodthirsty genetic anomalies and dangerous inmates on the prowl. It seems the only way to survive is to escape the planet, if he can find the necessary allies and equipment to achieve the impossible.
Hidden Bones
by Rita Herron
Rating: 4.6 #ad
The girl trips over branches, losing her footing. The darkness swallows her and she grabs thin air as she falls, her scream piercing the night. When she slams into the bottom of the pit, her heart hammers. She can’t believe what she’s seeing—a pile of perfect white bones…
In the small town of Crooked Creek, where the Appalachian Mountains climb into the clouds, nineteen-year-old Mandy’s Spring Break takes a sinister turn. Detective Ellie Reeves races straight to the scene, driving through the winding roads to the abandoned orphanage…
The Final Equinox
by Andrew Mayne
Rating: 4.3 #ad
A signal is detected at the outer edge of the solar system. Computational biologist Dr. Theo Cray and magician-turned-FBI-agent Jessica Blackwood are looking – and listening – a little closer.
The man at the center of this cosmic mystery is billionaire Thomas T. Theismann. He’s spent a lifetime – and a fortune – trying to find out if we’re alone in the universe. Highly skeptical, Theo joins the effort to find the source of the signal, and he quickly enlists Jessica to look into the suspicious death of another academic at the lab. As their investigations converge, they uncover curious connections to the otherworldly contact, including a 1970s science-fiction writer and the body of an astronaut found buried in an ancient tomb.
The Man Who Died
by Antti Tuomainen
Rating: 4.3 #ad
A successful entrepreneur in the mushroom industry, Jaakko Kaunismaa is a man in his prime. At just thirty-seven years of age, he is shocked when his doctor tells him that he’s dying. What’s more, the cause is discovered to be prolonged exposure to toxins; in other words, someone has slowly but surely been poisoning him.
Determined to find out who wants him dead, Jaakko embarks on a suspenseful rollercoaster journey full of unusual characters, bizarre situations and unexpected twists.
The Hidden
by Heather Graham
Rating: 4.7 #ad
Can the same killer strike again – a hundred and fifty years later?
Estes Park, Colorado, is a place of serenity. But it wasn’t always so serene. Shortly after the Civil War, Nathan Kendall and his wife were murdered there, leaving behind a young son. The crime was never solved.
Now…historian Scarlet Barlow is working at a small museum attached to a B and B, the same building where that murder occurred. She recently came to Colorado, reeling after her divorce from FBI agent Diego McCullough. Diego – who’s just been asked to join the Krewe of Hunters, a unit dealing with “unusual” situations…
Check out:
(Krewe of Hunters Mysteries)
Chance
by Frank Wheeler
Rating: 5.0 #ad
The stranger shook Chance’s hand. “I’m Payne Ripley. And I daresay you look just like your father.” Chance felt Payne Ripley staring into him, like he was trying to see through him. It made him uncomfortable.
Standing here now, Chance thought the man resembled something of a rat.
Payne Ripley is a railroad tycoon who’s used to getting what he wants. Unfortunately, what he wants is his ex-wife and kids.
Frightened, she took the kids and ran. That was sixteen years ago. She’s been hiding ever since. And just when she’s finally starting to feel safe, Ripley finds her.
Tuesday’s Mystery eBooks
In The Beginning, There Was a Murder
by P.C. James
Rating: 4.3 #ad
A secret liaison. A baffling murder. Can one woman solve the crime without joining the body count?
Northern England, 1953. Pauline Riddell has grand ambitions for her future at the armament factory. So, when her closest workmate reveals a salacious affair with a married man, Pauline refuses to risk her career by listening to the scandal. But she’s shaken to her core when the police arrive with news of her best friend’s homicide.
Desperate for justice, Pauline’s insistent poking into the investigation only makes her the prime suspect. And now to clear her name, she must unravel a web of deadly clues entangling her in a sinister plot.
Check out:
(Miss Riddell Cozy Mysteries)
Brett Wilson and De Soto’s Cross
by John Suter
Rating: 5.0 #ad
The hunt for Cibola continues as Brett Wilson returns home from the canyons of New Mexico ready to locate her missing father. With the information from Dr. Mies, Brett ventures into the mountains of Tennessee in search of the mystical cross of de Soto.
If she can find the cross, the doorway to Cibola can be opened. Rock Wilson’s life hangs in the balance as Brett races across Tennessee with her best friend Natalie. They will use her dad’s field book once again to uncover the clues hidden inside. Unfortunately, she isn’t the only one looking for the relic and the door to Cibola.
Mercy Rising
by DC Little
Rating: 4.7 #ad
Their survival depends on Mercy rising.
At least, that is what Mercy has been told her entire life. It has been twenty years since she has been born. Twenty years since the World Before had gone dark from a strange natural disaster. Twenty years of her family, and their small community of Zion, living off the land in a hidden ravine far away from the chaos in the cities.
Mercy fights against the role she is told she plays in the coming storm they had been preparing for most of her life. Daily training, drills, and an entire lifestyle that built a warrior community, all for a possibility that has never come.
Check out:
(Mercy Rising Mysteries)
The Witch’s Handbook to Hunting Vampires
by Amy Boyles
Rating: 4.5 #ad
All Andie Taylor wants is a normal life… Andie Taylor is your average single mom. She’s got a beautiful toddler, a great job at the local preschool, a neurotic best friend and one huge secret—she used to hunt vampires. Now retired, Andie would much rather be wiping kid snot off her clothes than stalking the undead.
But after a meteor rips through her small town, strange things start happening—like the school janitor is found dead with fang marks in his neck. Andie’s retired, it’s not her problem.
A Conflict of Interests
by Claire Gradidge
Rating: 4.5 #ad
June 1944, Romsey, England. Josephine ‘Jo’ Fox is at an impasse since the unwelcome return of her wayward husband Richard. So, when he disappears again, she is neither concerned nor surprised – until a burning car is discovered with a body inside. And there are signs that Richard is somehow involved.
Jo is determined to find both her husband and answers, yet with her friend Bram Nash in hospital suffering an infection of his old war wound, she must do so alone…
Demon Codex Complete Series Boxed Set
by Lawrence M. Schoen, Brian Thorne
Rating: 5.0 #ad
Someone has been gathering up the scattered pieces of an ancient tome of magic. If the Codex is assembled, it will unleash the power to summon daemons.
Can Professor Derrick Watson track down the pieces of the Codex before more people fall victim to its power? Should he even try?
Grab this 3-book boxed set and join Watson as he contends with a danger best left in the shadows of the past.
The Awakening
by Lorhainne Eckhart
Rating: 4.1 #ad
Young, heartbroken, and cash-strapped, single mom Laura is struggling to survive. Can wealthy rancher Andy escape the grip of his family and help her find true happiness? A poignant, heartwarming tale.
“A story that is all too often right in front of our faces.” (Reviewer Grammy)
“Such an amazing story! The despair and the kindness from others gave this story a real meaning…” Down2earth Girl
In THE AWAKENING, Laura, a young single mother is barely making ends meet working as a maid at the Friessen mansion. Until one day she is fired, the next day she is evicted, and two days later her son is taken away.
Check out:
(The Outsider Series)
Cat And Mouse
by M. J. Arlidge
Rating: 4.5 #ad
IF YOU THINK YOU’RE ALONE: THINK AGAIN
A scratching at the window. A tap on the door. What if, this time, someone is out there? A silent killer stalks the city, targeting those home alone at night, playing a deadly game of cat and mouse with the victims.
As panic spreads, Detective Inspector Helen Grace leads the investigation, but is herself a hunted woman, her every step shadowed by a ruthless psychopath bent on revenge.
As she tracks the murderer, Grace begins to suspect there is a truly shocking home truth that connects these brutal crimes.
Secrets to Parenting Without Giving a F^ck
by Sue Donnellan
Rating: 4.7 #ad
Mom’s Choice Gold Award Winner for Parenting. Are you tired of yelling, punishing, and reminding, yet experiencing no change in your child’s behavior?
What if you could learn the transformative mindset that allows parents to get results without “fixing” their child’s bad behavior?
In Secrets to Parenting Without Giving a F^ck, Sue Donnellan, parent mentor, author, mom of four (including triplets), and entrepreneur shares 20+ years of experience cultivating the effective thought process for successful parenting. She delivers a proven playbook for turning misbehaving kids into happy, respectful, well-adjusted young adults.