Mysteries
Thursday’s Mystery eBooks
Reading Between the Crimes
by Kate Young
Rating: 4.4 #ad
What better time than Halloween to dig into a bracing discussion of a diabolical murder mystery? And what better choice for the Jane Doe Book Club than Agatha Christie’s Crooked House? Lyla Moody and her friends are soon embroiled in debate over whether the heroine’s actions are particularly believable. But not long after the meeting, sleepy Sweet Mountain, Georgia, is rocked by a murder that uncannily echoes the novel in question.
When Lyla and her grandmother arrive at the charity event that Lyla’s mother is hosting, they barely have time to hang up their fall jackets before they stumble upon a body in the library…
Carnival Blues
by Damien Boyd
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Carnival season is off to an explosive start in this thriller from the bestselling DI Nick Dixon crime series.
Detective Chief Inspector Nick Dixon arrives late for Bridgwater’s winter carnival. He’s come to see the squibbing, the traditional firework display that brings the town’s November festivities to a dramatic close. But when the squib of Avalon Carnival Club president Richard Webb is lit, it explodes, engulfing him in flames.
Dixon knows he’s just witnessed a killer making a very public statement. And he can’t help feeling it’s only the beginning.
Check out:
(DI Nick Dixon Crime Mysteries)
Ohana
by Sally Royer-Derr
Rating: 4.4 #ad
“…a twisted, fast-paced story of deception and intrigue, which proves both creative and unique.” – BookLife Prize
They’re Gone, But I’m Still Here
Mandy’s life has become a complex labyrinth following the tragic death of her husband and twin daughters. Despondent and depressed, she withers away in a drunken haze on a glorious Maui beach, longing to turn back time, plagued by strange dreams of her family.
Even with her in this state, handsome surfer, Chase, cannot stop thinking about the mystery woman he sees lying on the beach every morning, and he befriends her. A relationship is the last thing she wants, but will it light the way to finding herself again?
How It Happened
by Michael Koryta
Rating: 4.4 #ad
An FBI investigator must uncover the secrets of his hometown to solve a double murder in this twisty “page turner” that’s “perfect summer reading” (Stephen King).
“And that is how it happened. Can we stop now?”
Kimberly Crepeaux is no good, a notorious jailhouse snitch, teen mother, and heroin addict whose petty crimes are well-known to the rural Maine community where she lives. So when she confesses to her role in the brutal murders of Jackie Pelletier and Ian Kelly, the daughter of a well-known local family and her sweetheart, the locals have little reason to believe her story.
Wizen Woods
by Velvet Davis
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Warnings echo through the woods…
Born with the mark of the scribe, Raela is bound to a magical book that will help guide her people underground to escape the invasion of their homeland. As the prophecy warns, this event signals an even worse doom on the horizon.
But the book that promises to sustain her life continues to divide her heart.
Her fierce lover, Rebial, is a man of the woods. He believes the tribe’s aging seer has misconstrued the prophecy. Unfairly denied his warrior status, he vows to stay behind and protect the sacred forest they call home.
Check out:
(Immortal Roots Mysteries)
Clyde: Return to Tucson
by William Black
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Clyde “The Kid” Cunningham never planned on returning to his hometown of Tucson, Arizona. He had ran away from home for good reason, after the horrific murder of his father by a disgruntled neighbor over three acres of farmland.
After his own life was threatened, Clyde did what any fifteen-year-old would have done – he jumped on his horse and rode as far as he could.
After ten years of living in New Mexico, Clyde and the Navajo family who had taken him in came to Tucson in an effort to get a fresh start. However, Clyde quickly learns that fresh starts aren’t as simple as they should be. Upon arrival, he learns that the greedy neighbor who had killed his father is now the mayor of Tucson.
Dead Against Her
by Melinda Leigh
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Called to an isolated farm to check on an elderly widow, Sheriff Bree Taggert finds a brutal double homicide. One of the victims is Eugene Oscar, the bitter and corrupt former deputy she recently forced out of the department.
Working with criminal investigator Matt Flynn, Bree discovers that she isn’t the only one who had a troubling history with Eugene. But someone doesn’t want Bree digging up the past. She becomes the target of a stranger’s sick and devious campaign calculated to destroy her reputation, career, family, and new relationship with Matt. To make matters worse, she’s the prime suspect in Eugene’s murder.
Wednesday’s Mystery eBooks
Death of a Pumpkin Carver
by Lee Hollis
Rating: 4.5 #ad
A sleuthing food writer must cope with a visit from her ex-husband—and it gets even worse when he becomes a suspect in a homicide . . .
For Hayley Powell, food and cocktails columnist for the Island Times, Halloween is all about costumes and holiday treats – until a killer crashes the party . . .
This Halloween, Hayley can’t imagine a worse trick than her ex-husband Danny returning to Bar Harbor. Her kids may be happy to see their dad, but Hayley’s determined not to be taken in by his charms, and suspects he’s in financial trouble – again.
Check out:
(A Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mysteries)
One Day Gone
by Luana Ehrlich
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Mylas Grey is a private investigator but don’t call him a private detective.
That title belongs to his father – not to him.
Mylas is the Chief Investigator for Senator Davis Allen, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. His job is to do background investigations for the President’s judicial nominees, and that’s the only kind of investigation he’s interested in doing.
But then Lizzie, the Senator’s daughter, goes missing from her campus apartment. And suddenly, just like that, Mylas finds himself back in his hometown of Columbia, Missouri, investigating her disappearance as if he were a run-of-the-mill private detective.
Nothing about the investigation is easy. Discovering a motive isn’t easy . . .
Check out:
(Mylas Grey Mysteries)
The Vacant Lot
by Dennis Higgins
Rating: 5.0 #ad
A heart-pounding time-travel, romance mystery.
Ian had reached a higher level of love for Eunice, a love that was pure. His feelings for her were beyond that of a friend, sister, or lover. It was a love, devoid of the labels most people need to put to their feelings. That’s what he told her the last time he saw her back in 2019 or was it 1984 since Ian believed Eunice was a time-traveler. She came to him when he was eight years old in a vacant lot near his house, and when she left, he spent the rest of his days searching for her.
He solicited the help of a friend, Jill, a fragrance expert who discovered through the use of scents and the moon, they could transport to the past in search of his lost love.
Dead By Nightfall
by Beverly Barton
Rating: 4.4 #ad
To save his wife, a Southern detective is drawn into a final showdown with his sadistic nemesis in this romantic suspense series finale.
Malcolm York is a sadistic murderer. And with his endless wealth he’s funded a series of depraved human hunts. The few who survived can never forget. They can only be thankful the terror is over. Until rumors start swirling . . .
Griffin Powell knows the twisted depths of York’s madness. He’s also sure that York is dead. But then Griff’s wife, Nicole, disappears. And the phone calls begin—that familiar voice taunting him, promising to destroy everything Griff loves.
Check out:
(Griffin Powell Mysteries)
Winter’s Malice
by Belinda G. Buchanan
Rating: 4.3 #ad
Three bodies in the span of twenty-four hours…
It’s the dead of winter, and in Weeping Rock, South Dakota—a small town crippled by racism, drugs, and violence -Sheriff’s Deputy Liam Matthews has his work cut out for him when he steps in to take over the duties of sheriff from his father, who for far too long has turned a blind eye to certain crimes for what he says is the overall good of the town.
Coming under scrutiny for hiring a Lakota to fill his position as deputy, things quickly go from bad to worse for Liam when the body of retired pro-baseball player Hector Ramirez, who had recently returned home to coach ball at his high school alma mater, is found floating in Crow’s Foot Lake.
No Turning Back
by Nancy Bush
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Danger lurks in the secrets of a small town in this blistering novel of intrigue and suspense from the New York Times bestselling author of The Babysitter.
They find the body deep in the woods, lying beneath a carpet of wet leaves, eyes still open in a sightless stare. Three dark stains across his chest, and another bullet hole in his forehead.
Child psychologist Liz Havers made a mistake sixteen years ago, and she’s ready to face it. That means confronting Detective Hawthorne “Hawk” Hart, who’s come back to Woodside, Washington, after a case in LA went tragically wrong. His teenage son, Jesse, is finding it difficult to adjust, and stumbling across a dead man doesn’t help.
Ether War: The Complete Series
by John Walker
Rating: 5.0 #ad
A Resource as Precious as Life
Ether. It revolutionized human technology. Made faster than light travel possible. With this new form of energy, people expanded beyond Earth to distant stars in other galaxies across the cosmos. After years of conflicts, a rebellion, and countless skirmishes, the Human Confederacy is a thriving government, a beacon of civilization.
Until an ether facility is destroyed out of the blue with no one taking credit for the destruction. Enter the Morrigan, a state of the art ship with a brilliant but inexperienced crew. Their captain Noah Markel is no stranger to battle and he believes this may not be as simple as an act of terrorism but rather an incursion. Their first contact with an alien race. One bent on crippling human space travel in preparation for something far worse than a border dispute.
Check out:
(John Walker)
We Have Always Lived in the Castle
by Shirley Jackson
Rating: 4.3 #ad
Shirley Jackson’s beloved gothic tale of a peculiar girl named Merricat and her family’s dark secret
Taking readers deep into a labyrinth of dark neurosis, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a deliciously unsettling novel about a perverse, isolated, and possibly murderous family and the struggle that ensues when a cousin arrives at their estate. This edition features a new introduction by Jonathan Lethem.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines.
Tuesday’s Mystery eBooks
Sassy Senior Sleuths
by P.C. James
Rating: 4.7 #ad
Travel can be murder. Can Miss Riddell and Nona catch the villains before they become victims?
Travel forward from the Miss Riddell series to the twenty-first century with the demure Miss Pauline Riddell as she befriends a strangely lovable, fly by the seat of her pants amateur sleuth, named Gretta Galia aka Nona. The two sixty-five year-old travel companions visit tourist traps around the United States.
This story moves forward about twenty years from the Miss Riddell Series by P.C. James and back in time about twenty years from the Quilting Cozy Mystery series by Kathryn Mykel. Approximating the setting of these stories to be during the turn of the 21st century, between 2000-2005.
Magic Transformed
by D. J. Dalton
Rating: 5.0 #ad
When life twists out of control, can an elemental sorceress re-balance the universe before it spins into destruction?
Keren Stewart’s guilt is crushing. After accidentally unleashing a plague among the fox shifters, the young mage is willing to take deadly risks to right the wrong. With her black mood worsening under pressure from an increasingly impatient elf princess, she’s devastated when her beloved sister is kidnapped by a powerful evil.
Convinced that giving in to the royal’s demands could buy her enough breathing room to save the world, Keren struggles to deal with the mounting magical emergencies. But with foes circling, her perilous path to victory may depend on forming a dangerous pact with unlikely allies.
Close to Home
by Lisa Jackson
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Home. Along the shores of Oregon’s wild Columbia River, the Victorian mansion where Sarah McAdams grew up is as foreboding as she remembers. The moment she and her two daughters, Jade and Gracie, pull up the isolated drive, Sarah is beset by uneasy memories—of her cold, distant mother, of the half-sister who vanished without a trace, and of a long-ago night when Sarah was found on the widow’s walk, feverish and delirious.
Is Where. But Sarah has vowed to make a fresh start and renovate the old place. Between tending to her girls and the rundown property, she has little time to dwell on the past . . . Until a new, more urgent menace enters the picture.
The Fear Is
A Noise Downstairs
by Linwood Barclay
Rating: 4.3 #ad
College professor Paul Davis is a normal guy with a normal life. Until, driving along a deserted road late one night, he surprises a murderer disposing of a couple of bodies. That’s when Paul’s “normal” existence is turned upside down. After nearly losing his own life in that encounter, he finds himself battling PTSD, depression, and severe problems at work. His wife, Charlotte, desperate to cheer him up, brings home a vintage typewriter—complete with ink ribbons and heavy round keys—to encourage him to get started on that novel he’s always intended to write.
However, the typewriter itself is a problem. Paul swears it’s possessed and types by itself at night. But only Paul can hear the noise coming from downstairs; Charlotte doesn’t hear a thing. And she worries he’s going off the rails.
To Catch a Spy
by R.J. Patterson
Rating: 4.2 #ad
Maddux, the CIA’s freshly-minted civilian agent, is called upon to capture a former Nazi scientist who has gone missing in allied territory. However, when Maddux nears his target, the new operative learns that the stakes are far higher than anyone ever imagined. He also discovers that the scientist knows something about the disappearance of Maddux’s father.
With the clock ticking and the scientist scrambling to avoid capture, Maddux must slip behind enemy lines and stop powerful forces intent on reigniting a world war.
Check out:
(An Ed Maddux Cold War Spy Thriller)
An Heiress’s Guide to Deception and Desire
by Manda Collins
Rating: 4.1 #ad
England, 1867: As half of the writing duo behind England’s most infamous crime column, Miss Caroline Hardcastle has quite the scandalous reputation. It may have cost her a fiancé, but she would much rather bring attention to crimes against those ignored by society than worry about what the ton thinks of her.
After Caro’s dear friend is kidnapped, however, she has no choice but to work with Lord Valentine Thorn, the same man who broke her heart. Worse, when her actions put her father’s business at risk, a marriage of convenience may be her only solution . . . but can she trust Val to stand by her? Or will their past repeat itself?
Hidden Bones
by Vivian Barz
Rating: 4.3 #ad
Two months have passed, and the horrors of Death Farm still torment police officer Susan Marlan and college professor Eric Evans. Susan struggles to regain her zeal for fighting crime, while Eric is slowly coming to terms with his newfound “gift” of seeing the dead.
Seeking much-needed rest, Susan and Eric follow their musician friend Jake and his band to Washington State. But once they reach the cheerless town of Clancy, Eric’s murderous visions start again. Something seems wrong about the town and its aloof citizens—and suspicions turn to dread when members of Jake’s band go missing.
Check out:
(Dead Remaining Mysteries)
Monday’s Mystery eBooks
Baked to Death
by Catherine Bruns
Rating: 4.5 #ad
USA Today Bestseller!
Baker turned reluctant amateur sleuth, Sally Muccio’s, finally found the happiness that’s eluded her for years. She’s in love with a great guy, her bakery is thriving, and now she and her best friend Josie Sullivan are gearing up to appear on the popular reality baking show, Cookie Crusades. But a visit from Sal’s greedy ex-husband Colin, who’s looking to cash in on the bakery’s dough, changes everything. Within a few hours Sal’s world—like the shop’s original fortune cookies—is broken apart when Colin turns up dead, and her boyfriend’s arrested for the crime.
Check out:
(Cookies & Chance Mysteries)
Prey
by Michael Crichton
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Michael Crichton’s Prey is a terrifying page-turner that masterfully combines a heart–pounding thriller with cutting-edge technology.
Deep in the Nevada desert, the Xymos Corporation has built a state-of-the-art fabrication plant, surrounded by miles and miles of nothing but cactus and coyotes. Eight people are trapped. A self-replicating swarm of predatory molecules is rapidly evolving outside the plant. Massed together, the molecules form an intelligent organism that is anything but benign. More powerful by the hour, it has targeted the eight scientists as prey. They must stop the swarm before it is too late…
Bear Willis: Mountain Man
by Peter Alan Turner
Rating: 4.2 #ad
The seventh Mountain man adventure in a rip-roaring series from Peter Alan Turner!
After the battle with Colonel Watkins and his band of gold seekers, Bear Willis finally fulfilled his promise to himself. With his new wife, Waity, friend Josh, and a great Irish Wolf Hound, they were heading South to El Paso, Texas.
However, the party was only one day on the trail when a rider appeared with an urgent message. Eric Willis, Bear’s beloved six-foot-nine-inch grandfather. The one known as ‘The Viking’ was dead!
Check out:
(A Bear Willis: Mountain Man Series)
Wicked Witch Murder
by Leslie Meier
Rating: 4.5 #ad
With Halloween around the corner, and a mysterious murder close to home, Lucy’s Stone’s fall is off to a sinister start . . .
When the bewitching Diana Ravenscroft comes to quiet Tinker’s Cove and opens Solstice, a quaint little shop offering everything from jewelry to psychic readings, Lucy Stone writes her off as eccentric but harmless. Even after Diana gives her a disturbingly accurate reading, Lucy can’t help but befriend the newcomer. But not everyone in town is so enchanted. And when Lucy stumbles upon a dead body near her home, she can’t shake the feeling that something ominous is lurking in the crisp October air . . .
Check out:
(A Lucy Stone Mysteries)
Blind Eye
by Vanessa Luther
Rating: 4.4 #ad
After enduring years of infidelity and a painful divorce, Rachel Davis has finally reclaimed her life. Gorgeous, intelligent and now with a tenacity to survive whatever life throws at her, Rachel feels better than she has in a long time. With two wonderful children, a successful career and a newfound strength, life is good.
At least until she gets involved with Eric Sinclair, a handsome but mysterious colleague in the throes of a nasty divorce. What starts off as a harmless friendship catapults into a sensuous affair filled with sex, lies and murder.
A Divided Loyalty
by Charles Todd
Rating: 4.6 #ad
A woman has been murdered at the foot of a megalith shaped like a great shrouded figure. Chief Inspector Brian Leslie, one of the Yard’s best men, is sent to investigate the site in Avebury, a village set inside a prehistoric stone circle not far from Stonehenge. In spite of his efforts, Leslie is not able to identify her, much less discover how she got to Avebury—or why she died there. Her killer has simply left no trace.
Several weeks later, when Ian Rutledge has returned from successfully concluding a similar case with an unidentified victim, he is asked to take a second look at Leslie’s inquiry. But Rutledge suspects Chief Superintendent Markham simply wants him to fail.
Check out:
(Inspector Ian Rutledge Mysteries)
The Queen’s Poisoner
by Jeff Wheeler
Rating: 4.5 #ad
The first book in the million-copy, Wall Street Journal bestselling Kingfountain series from Jeff Wheeler.
King Severn Argentine’s fearsome reputation precedes him: usurper of the throne, killer of rightful heirs, ruthless punisher of traitors. Attempting to depose him, the Duke of Kiskaddon gambles…and loses. Now the duke must atone by handing over his young son, Owen, as the king’s hostage. And should his loyalty falter again, the boy will pay with his life.
Check out:
(Kingfountain Mysteries)