Mysteries
Friday’s Mystery eBooks
Framed in Fire
by Iona Whishaw
Rating: 4.7 #ad
A shallow grave, a missing person, and near-fatal arson keep Lane, Darling, and the Nelson police on high alert in the latest mystery in this Globe and Mail bestselling series.
It’s early spring 1948 and Lane arrives in New Denver to find that her friend, Peter Barisoff, is not at home. Instead, in a nearby meadow, she encounters Tom, an Indigenous man in search of his ancestral lands. Lane is intrigued. Unfortunately, once Peter returns home, the day takes a gloomy turn when the trio uncovers human remains next to Peter’s garden, and Lane must tell her husband, Inspector Darling, that she’s inadvertently stumbled into his professional domain—again.
Check out:
(A Lane Winslow Mysteries)
The Watch Mysteries: Books 1 – 3
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.
In The Watch on the Fencepost, 27-year-old Kathryn Frasier is training for a marathon when she discovers a gold watch on a fencepost. Sensing that it was deliberately left for her to find, she sets out to solve the mystery behind the watch, but her orderly life is turned upside-down when it leads her to a dark family secret and a suspicion that her parents’ recent deaths may not have been an accident…
In Dead Man’s Watch, Kathryn and her half-sister, Cece Goldman, literally stumble into another mystery. When a former acquaintance of Kathryn’s is accused of murder, she and Cece go on a mission to prove his innocence by finding the real killer.
In Time After Tyme, secret codes and university intrigue combine to give Kathryn and Cece a new and puzzling mystery to solve. But things get dicey when two misguided young girls wander into the middle of the investigation and decide to solve it themselves.
Life Flight
by Lynette Eason
Rating: 4.6 #ad
EMS helicopter pilot Penny Carlton is used to high stress situations, but being forced to land on a mountain in a raging storm with a critical patient–and a serial killer on the loose–tests her skills and her nerve to the limit. She survives with FBI Special Agent Holt Satterfield’s help. But she’s not out of the woods yet.
In the ensuing days, Penny finds herself under attack. And when news reaches Holt that he may not have gotten his man after all, it will take all he and Penny have to catch a killer–before he catches one of them.
Check out:
(Extreme Measures Mysteries)
Never Look Back
by Mary Burton
Rating: 4.4 #ad
After multiple women go missing, Agent Melina Shepard of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation makes the impulsive decision to go undercover as a prostitute. While working the street, she narrowly avoids becoming a serial killer’s latest victim; as much as it pains her to admit, she needs backup.
Enter lone wolf FBI agent Jerrod Ramsey. Stonewalled by a lack of leads, he and Melina investigate a scene where a little girl has been found abandoned in a crashed vehicle. They open the trunk to reveal a horror show and quickly realize they’re dealing with two serial killers with very different MOs. The whole situation brings back memories for Melina – why does this particular case feel so connected to her painful past?
The Ghosts of Marsh House
by Amy Cross
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Marsh House stands abandoned in the heart of an English seaside town. A local ghost tour guide regularly stops in front of the house to tell its grim tale, but no-one has actually set foot in the building for more than forty years. Until now.
Desperate to get away from his troubles in London, Andrew heads to Marsh House and sets about trying to fix it up. Between rotten floorboards and bug infestations, he’s got his work cut out for him. And that’s before he even notices the strange noises in the night, and the fact that a strange presence is watching his every move…
Striking Range
by Margaret Mizushima
Rating: 4.4 #ad
He was suspect number one–the man who tried to kill Deputy Mattie Cobb and may have killed her father thirty years earlier. But when Mattie and cold case detective Jim Hauck reach the Colorado state prison where they will finally get to interview him, he’s found dead in his cell. There’s only one clue: a map leading to Timber Creek and rugged Redstone Ridge.
Though she usually works with veterinarian Cole Walker, Mattie’s K-9 partner Robo has just sired a litter of pups, who require special, time-consuming care at Cole’s clinic. Left to explore the map’s clue without him, Mattie and Robo journey into the burned forest surrounding Redstone Ridge…
Check out:
(A Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries)
The Surgeon
by Tess Gerritsen
Rating: 4.5 #ad
He slips into homes at night and walks silently into bedrooms where women lie sleeping, about to awaken to a living nightmare. The precision of his methods suggests that he is a deranged man of medicine, prompting the Boston newspapers to dub him “The Surgeon.” Led by Detectives Thomas Moore and Jane Rizzoli, the cops must consult the victim of a nearly identical crime: Two years ago, Dr. Catherine Cordell fought back and filled an attacker before he could complete his assault. Now this new killer is re-creating, with chilling accuracy, the details of Cordell’s ordeal. With every new murder he seems to be taunting her, cutting ever closer, from her hospital to her home. And neither Moore nor Rizzoli can protect Cordell from a ruthless hunter who somehow understands – and savors – the secret fears of every woman he kills.
Check out:
(A Rizzoli & Isles Mysteries)
The Man Who Died Twice
by Richard Osman
Rating: 4.6 #ad
He slips into homes at night and walks silently into bedrooms where women lie sleeping, about to awaken to a living nightmare. The precision of his methods suggests that he is a deranged man of medicine, prompting the Boston newspapers to dub him “The Surgeon.” Led by Detectives Thomas Moore and Jane Rizzoli, the cops must consult the victim of a nearly identical crime: Two years ago, Dr. Catherine Cordell fought back and filled an attacker before he could complete his assault. Now this new killer is re-creating, with chilling accuracy, the details of Cordell’s ordeal. With every new murder he seems to be taunting her, cutting ever closer, from her hospital to her home. And neither Moore nor Rizzoli can protect Cordell from a ruthless hunter who somehow understands – and savors – the secret fears of every woman he kills.
Check out:
(A Thursday Murder Club Mysteries)
Thursday’s Mystery eBooks
Garden Girls Cozy Mystery Novels Box Set
by Hope Callaghan
Rating: 4.7 #ad
Treat yourself to this deluxe box set featuring the first 10 novels from bestselling author Hope Callaghan’s “Garden Girls Mystery Series.”
Gloria Rutherford, a lonely widow finds new purpose in life when she and her senior friends help solve a murder in their small Midwestern town. “If you like clean, fun-filled mysteries that keep you guessing until the end, you’ll love the Garden Girls!”
Discover why so many fans love the Garden Girls Mystery Series with thousands of four and five star reviews!
BONUS: RECIPES INCLUDED!
Check out:
(Hope Callaghan Cozy Mystery Series)
The King’s Exile
by Andrew Swanston
Rating: 4.3 #ad
Spring, 1648. When Thomas Hill, a bookseller living in rural Hampshire, publishes a political pamphlet he has little idea of the trouble that will follow. He is quickly arrested, forced on a boat to Barbados and condemned to life as a slave to two of the island’s most notoriously violent brothers.
In England war has erupted again, with London under threat of attack. When news of the king’s execution reaches the island, political stability is threatened and a fleet commanded by Sir George Ayscue arrives to take control of the island for Cromwell. The threat of violence increases. Thomas finds himself witness to abuse, poison, rape and savage brutality.
Check out:
(Thomas Hill Mysteries)
Beyond Belief
by Jenna Miscavige Hill, Lisa Pulitzer
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Piercing the veil of secrecy that has long shrouded the world of Scientology, this insider reveals unprecedented firsthand knowledge of the religion, its obscure rituals, and its mysterious leader—David Miscavige. From her prolonged separation from her parents as a small child to being indoctrinated to serve the greater good of the Church, from her lack of personal freedoms to the organization’s emphasis on celebrity recruitment, Jenna goes behind the scenes of Scientology’s oppressive and alienating culture, detailing an environment rooted in control in which the most devoted followers often face the harshest punishments when they fall out of line.
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter
by Tom Franklin
Rating: 4.4 #ad
A powerful and resonant novel from the critically acclaimed author of Smonk and Hell at the Breech, Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter tells the riveting story of two boyhood friends, torn apart by circumstance, who are brought together again by a terrible crime in a small Mississippi town. An extraordinary novel that seamlessly blends elements of crime and Southern literary fiction, Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter is a must for readers of Larry Brown, Pete Dexter, Ron Rash, and Dennis Lehane.
In the late 1970s, Larry Ott and Silas “32” Jones were boyhood pals. Their worlds were as different as night and day: Larry, the child of lower-middle-class white parents, and Silas, the son of a poor, single black mother. Yet for a few months the boys stepped outside of their circumstances and shared a special bond. But then tragedy struck: Larry took a girl on a date to a drive-in movie, and she was never heard from again…
Prodigy of Thunder
by Sever Bronny
Rating: 4.8 #ad
The youngest warlock to ever wield lightning, fourteen-year-old Anna Atticus Stone dreams of attending the prestigious Academy of Arcane Arts.
Except her life’s a mess. She’s friendless, her older sister keeps knocking her teeth out, and her parents constantly argue.
Anna endures the chaos by studying for the coming academy entrance trials. A pass will mean friends, warlock tournaments, and exploring a thousand-year-old academy—maybe even solving a mystery or two.
Check out:
(The Arcane Artist)
Memoirs of a Space Traveler
by Stanislaw Lem
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Meet Ijon Tichy—a space age adventurer who encounters faulty time machines, intelligent washing machines, and other puzzling phenomena—in this collection from a sci-fi legend
Memoirs of a Space Traveler follows the adventures of Ijon Tichy, a Gulliver of the space age, who leads readers through strange experiments involving, among other puzzling phenomena, faulty time machines, intelligent washing machines, and suicidal potatoes. The scientists Tichy encounters make plans that are grandiose, and strike bargains that are Faustian. They pursue humanity’s greatest and most ancient obsessions: immortality, artificial intelligence, and top-of-the-line consumer items.
Mutation
by Michael McBride
Rating: 4.3 #ad
IT LIVES. In a research hangar in Virginia, a Unit 51 team studies an ancient but long-dormant virus that can transform human physiology—and turn it into something else. . .
IT MUTATES. In the Amazon rainforest, a newly evolving life form known as Subject Z acquires the ability to think conceptually, build elaborate traps, create new carriers—and spawn a new race . . .
IT SPREADS. In Mexico and Turkey, the men and women of Unit 51 race to uncover a global link between the mutations: a connection as ancient as the oldest tombs on earth—and as alien and unknowable as the universe itself. But time is running out. The infected are growing in number. And the nightmare is going viral .
The Silent Girl
by Tess Gerritsen
Rating: 4.6 #ad
In the murky shadows of Boston’s Chinatown lies a severed hand. On the tenement rooftop above is the corpse belonging to that hand, a red-haired woman dressed in black, her head nearly decapitated. Two strands of silver hair – not human – cling to her body. They are homicide cop Jane Rizzoli’s only clues, but they’re enough for her and medical examiner Maura Isles to make the startling discovery: that this violent death had a chilling prequel. Nineteen years earlier, a horrifying murder-suicide in a Chinatown restaurant left five people dead.
Check out:
(Rizzoli & Isles Mysteries)
Our Wild and Precious Lives
by A.G. Russo
Rating: 4.7 #ad
“Our Wild and Precious Lives deals with the big questions of Life, Death, Love and Loss set against the backdrop of World War II and the Korean Conflict…it also deals with the social upheaval in families and societies caused by war, on both sides…” Amazon Review
In 1960 Cold War Germany, Tom and Melly McCarron, teenage Army brats, contend with adolescence on a small American base near Bavaria, where their father, a decorated war veteran, begins a three-year tour of duty. As tensions in Berlin rise between the Allies and the Soviets, and threaten to bring about World War III, the base teenagers forge bonds of loyalty and love stronger than any of the adults understand.
Wednesday’s Mystery eBooks
Murder in a Cape Cottage
by Maddie Day
Rating: 4.6 #ad
ʼTis the day after Christmas, following a wicked-busy time of year for Mac’s bike shop. It’s just as well her Cozy Capers Book Group’s new pick is a nerve-soothing coloring book mystery, especially when she has last-minute wedding planning to do. But all pre-wedding jitters fade into the background when Mac and her fiancé, Tim, begin a cottage renovation project and open up a wall to find a skeleton – sitting on a stool, dressed in an old-fashioned bridal gown . . .
As Mac delves into the decades-old mystery with the help of librarian Flo and her book group, she discovers a story of star-crossed lovers and feuding families worthy of the bard himself.
Check out:
(A Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries)
Red Flags
by Lisa Black
Rating: 4.3 #ad
When D.C. crime scene analyst Dr. Ellie Carr is called to investigate the heartrending case of a missing baby, she’s shocked to discover that the child’s mother is her own cousin. Close during their impoverished childhoods, Ellie and Rebecca eventually drifted apart. Rebecca is now half of a Washington power couple, and she and her wealthy lobbyist husband, Hunter, have been living a charmed life in an opulent mansion—until their infant son is taken.
“Every contact leaves a trace.” That’s the basic principle of forensic science followed by pathologist Dr. Rachael Davies. A reluctant Ellie is teamed with Rachael, employed by Hunter to help with the investigation…
Friends in High Places
by Donna Leon
Rating: 4.5 #ad
In this vivid and atmospheric mystery, Commissario Brunetti is visited by a young bureaucrat investigating the lack of official approval for the construction of Brunetti’s apartment years before. What began as a red tape headache ends in murder when the bureaucrat is later found dead after a mysterious fall from a scaffold. Brunetti starts an investigation that will take him into the unfamiliar and dangerous areas of drug abuse and loan-sharking, and will reveal, once again, what a difference it makes in Venice to have friends in high places.
A Dark and Snowy Night
by Sally Goldenbaum
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Winter in Sea Harbor is a feast for the senses—crackling bonfires, the scent of snow in the salty air, carols ringing out on the village green. This year, the Seaside Knitters have a sackful of obligations in addition to their usual Christmas preparations. Izzy is so overloaded with knitting classes that she hires an extra salesperson, but the new addition has trouble fitting into the yarn shop’s holiday spirit. Cass, juggling the stresses of running her lobster fishery, has finally found a nanny for her active toddler. Molly Flanigan seems practically perfect in every way—until she suddenly disappears, taking Cass’s beloved rescue mutt with her . . .
- Includes a knitting pattern *
Check out:
(Seaside Knitters Society Mysteries)
Crimson Phoenix
by John Gilstrap
Rating: 4.4 #ad
West Virginia Congresswoman Victoria Emerson has always put the needs of her community before the power games of Washington, D.C. Then an Army officer appears on her doorstep, deploying the code words “Crimson Phoenix”—meaning this is not a drill. The United States is on the brink of nuclear disaster. The major will escort her to a secure bunker. She cannot bring her family.
A single mother, Victoria refuses to abandon her teenage sons. Denied entry to the bunker, the family somehow survives the unthinkable. In the aftermath, the nation is in chaos. The grid is gone. Food is scarce. Civility gives way to desperate survival.
Check out:
(A Victoria Emerson Thriller)
Peanut Butter Panic
by Amanda Flower
Rating: 4.7 #ad
Thanksgiving is Bailey King’s busiest holiday weekend. This year promises to be even more hectic, since Bailey’s candy shop, Swissmen Sweets, is providing desserts for Harvest, Ohio’s first village-wide Thanksgiving celebration. Yet, even with a guest list close to seven hundred people—Amish and English alike—the event’s organizer, Margot Rawlings, is unfazed . . . until she discovers her mother, former judge Zara Bevan, will be in attendance.
Zara’s reputation as a harsh critic is matched only by her infamy as a judge who has actively harmed the Amish community…
Check out:
(An Amish Candy Shop Mysteries)
The Institute
by Stephen King
Rating: 4.7 #ad
In the middle of the night, in a house on a quiet street in suburban Minneapolis, intruders silently murder Luke Ellis’s parents and load him into a black SUV. The operation takes less than two minutes. Luke will wake up at The Institute, in a room that looks just like his own, except there’s no window. And outside his door are other doors, behind which are other kids with special talents—telekinesis and telepathy—who got to this place the same way Luke did: Kalisha, Nick, George, Iris, and ten-year-old Avery Dixon. They are all in Front Half. Others, Luke learns, graduated to Back Half, “like the roach motel,” Kalisha says. “You check in, but you don’t check out.”
The Mitford Trial
by Jessica Fellowes
Rating: 4.2 #ad
It’s lady’s maid Louisa Cannon’s wedding day, but the fantasy is shattered shortly after when she is approached by a secretive man asking her to spy on Diana Mitford—who is having an affair with the infamous Oswald Mosley—and her sister Unity.
Thus as summer 1933 dawns, Louisa finds herself accompanying the Mitfords on a glitzy cruise, full of the starriest members of Society. But the waters run red when a man is found attacked.
Check out:
(The Mitford Murder Mysteries)
The Angelic Realm
by Dennis Macy
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Become inspired as this book reveals mystifying and unusual encounters outside the realm of normal existence. You will become fascinated by the way spirits try to make contact with their loved ones here on earth as I take you into the Angelic Realm with my visits, spiritual encounters, along with the messages and the signs that are being revealed to me to deliver to others. The stories and revelations are heartening and enlightening that will provide a sense of hope and healing of one’s heart, mind and soul. As my journey takes me to seek out and understand my enhanced abilities in this uplifting and powerful book that will bring joy, peace and comfort to those who seek it. My hope is that my experiences can bring reassurances to those who are seeking answers and for those individuals who have had spiritual encounters along with visions that scientifically cannot be explained.
Tuesday’s Mystery eBooks
Message for Murder
by Jerri Kay Lincoln
Rating: 4.4 #ad
After one final insult, Lorry Lockharte leaves her abusive husband stranded at the Grand Canyon. Returning home, she finds their house repossessed and her elderly employer deceased. Her cousin gets her a job at the Rutledge Historical Society after the previous employee had a fatal accident with a steep set of stairs. On her first day of work, Lorry finds a dead body at the foot of those same stairs! When she learns the dead woman is the sister of the previous victim, Lorry suspects the two deaths are related. Will she discover the killer in time or will she be the next victim? One recipe included! And now available as an audiobook!
Check out:
(A Rutledge Historical Society Cozy Mysteries)
M: Son of the Century
by Antonio Scurati
Rating: 4.4 #ad
The massive international bestseller—an epic historical novel that chronicles the birth and rise of fascism in Italy, witnessed through the eyes of its founder, the terrifyingly charismatic figure who would become one of the most notorious dictators of the twentieth century, Benito Mussolini.
It is 1919, and the Great War that has ravaged Europe is over. In Italy, the people are exhausted. Tired of the political class. Tired of vague promises, inept moderates, and the agonizing machinations of a democracy that has failed ordinary citizens.
While elite leaders have sat idly by, achieving nothing, one outsider—the director of a small opposition newspaper and a tireless political agitator—is electrifying the masses, promising hope for a demoralized nation hungry for change…
The Attic on Queen Street
by Karen White
Rating: 4.7 #ad
Return to the house on Tradd Street one last time in this hauntingly spectacular finale to the bestselling series featuring psychic medium Melanie Trenholm.
After the devastating events of the past few months, the last thing Melanie Trenholm wants is to think about the future. Why, when her husband, Jack, has asked for a separation—a separation that might have been her fault? Nevertheless, with twin toddlers, a stepdaughter leaving for college soon, a real estate career to resume and a historic home that is still being restored, Melanie doesn’t have much time to wonder where it all went wrong—but that doesn’t stop her from trying to win her husband back.
Their relationship issues are pushed aside, however, when longtime nemesis, Marc Longo, comes to them with a proposition: allow their Tradd Street house to be used as the filming location for the movie adaptation of Marc’s bestselling book, and he will help Jack re-establish his stalled writing career.
Check out:
(Tradd Street Mysteries)
Winter’s Fury
by A.E. Rayne
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Jael Furyck isn’t happy. Her father is dead, her uncle has stolen the throne, and now he wants to marry her off to the son of her arch-enemy. But Jael is a battle-hardened warrior, trained to kill since she was ten-years-old.
She doesn’t plan on being anyone’s wife.
Eadmund Skalleson is trapped. His father is threatening him with a wife again, and this time he’s given him an ultimatum: marry Jael Furyck, or he’ll find another heir. But if Eadmund was ever to choose a wife, it wouldn’t be her.
Sleeping Murde
by Agatha Christie
Rating: 4.6 #ad
In Agatha Christie’s classic, Sleeping Murder, the indomitable Miss Marple turns ghost hunter and uncovers shocking evidence of a perfect crime.
Soon after Gwenda moved into her new home, odd things started to happen. Despite her best efforts to modernize the house, she only succeeded in dredging up its past. Worse, she felt an irrational sense of terror every time she climbed the stairs.
In fear, Gwenda turned to Miss Marple to exorcise her ghosts. Between them, they were to solve a “perfect” crime committed many years before.
Check out:
(Miss Marple Mysteries)
The Coldness of Objects
by Panayotis Cacoyannis
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Named to KIRKUS REVIEWS’ BEST BOOKS OF 2021
London 2030. When a postman knocks on his door, the news he delivers will cause 70-year-old Anthony Pablo Rubens to reflect on all the sorrows and joys of the past, while he begins to prepare for the surprises of the future.
The past still revolves around the moment in the summer of 1984 when young Anthony, while navigating London’s gay scene, first realized he had fallen in love.
The present is a Kafkaesque nightmare worse than Orwell’s 1984, “a hideous world where people don’t need to be watched by Big Brother.” It’s a world that Anthony has mostly shut his eyes to, but which suddenly he is forced to confront…
Justified
by Carolyn Arnold
Rating: 4.2 #ad
She could feel her life draining from her body, but there was nothing she could do except wait until it was all over…and for the darkness to descend upon her.
The brutal murder of Claire Reeves, a successful entrepreneur, darkens Christmas Eve for Detective Madison Knight, who is assigned the case. Claire was found stabbed in her home, and her intimate attire would suggest her killer was someone close to her, but Madison knows things aren’t always as they appear…
Check out:
(Detective Madison Knight Mysteries)
A Pinch of Poison
by Alyssa Maxwell
Rating: 4.5 #ad
The Mezzogiorno (Southern Italy). Up to 85 per cent of Italian Americans have their roots in this region. The story of the Coriello family begins in the fictional fishing village of Punto Roccioso along the Amalfi Coast. Alta Italia (Northern Italy) looks down on their southern countrymen as uneducated peasants. With limited opportunities available, many southern Italians dream of escaping poverty by leaving the land they love for a better life in America. But like all dreams, hardships, sacrifices, and realities intrude.
Having lived through World War I, the Spanish Flu, the dictatorship of Benito Mussolini, and racial laws, Raffaela must raise and feed her ten children without any help from her estranged abusive husband Giuseppe, who refuses to give her money. With the support of her two oldest children, Geno, and Luisa, she struggles to survive. World War II devastates Italy and Italian Americans alike when “Il Duce” joins Hitler’s side, leaving Italians vulnerable at home and the object of hatred abroad. Young Italians are sent around the world to fight in a war they don’t believe in. At home Jewish families are under increasing threat. Yet, Italian men and women rebound to fight the Germans and Italian Fascists with a large and fervent partisan guerilla army…
The Groomer
by Jon Athan
Rating: 4.0 #ad
Andrew McCarthy grows concerned for his family after he catches a young man, Zachary Denton, photographing his daughter, Grace McCarthy, and other children at a park. To his dismay, Zachary talks his way out of trouble when he’s confronted by the police. He hopes that’s the end of it. Then he finds Zachary at a diner and then at a grocery store. He knows their encounters aren’t coincidences. And just as Andrew prepares to defend his family, Grace vanishes.
As the police search stalls and the leads dry up, Andrew decides to take matters into his own hands. He starts by searching for sex offenders in the area and researching enhanced interrogation techniques… He convinces himself he’ll do anything to rescue his daughter, unaware of the pure evil he’ll face in his journey. He’s willing to hurt—to torture—anyone to save his family.
THE SUM OF OUR SORROWS
by Lisette Brodey
Rating: 4.6 #ad
In an idyllic suburb in Northern California, tragedy strikes the Sheppard family when Abby, the mother of three daughters and wife to Dalton, is killed in a car accident. Charlotte, the middle daughter, is in the car with her mother and survives without physical injury but remains deeply scarred on the inside.
Dalton tells Lily, his eldest daughter, that she must sacrifice long-awaited college plans and put her life on hold to take care of her sisters. Lily is torn between her devotion to family and an increasing need to find her place in the world — but how can she leave, knowing her family may crumble? Will her presence eventually cause more problems than it resolves?