Mysteries
Thursday’s Mystery eBooks
Picture Perfect Frame
by Lynn Cahoon
Rating: 4.6 #ad
As the owner of Coffee, Books, and More, Jill Gardner likes to support other Main Street businesses, so she attends a paint-and-sip event where, sadly, her brushstrokes look more like blobs. It’s still a fun night of DIY crafts and full glasses of wine though—except for a disruption by a couple doing more sipping than painting. Jill’s police-detective boyfriend is on alert, but when a designated driver volunteers to take the drunken pair back to their bed and breakfast, everything seems resolved. Until the wife’s body turns up the next morning back in the studio.
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(A Tourist Trap Mysteries)
The Secrets She Carried
by Barbara Davis
Rating: 4.6 #ad
When a young woman returns to North Carolina after a thirty-year absence, she finds that the once grand tobacco plantation she called home holds more secrets than she ever imagined.
Though Peak Plantation has been in her family for generations, Leslie Nichols can’t wait to rid herself of the farm left to her by her estranged grandmother Maggie – and with it the disturbing memories of her mother’s death, her father’s disgrace, and her unhappy childhood. But Leslie isn’t the only one with a claim to Peak…
Baggage Claim
by Cathe Swanson
Rating: 4.6 #ad
He’ll do anything to protect the family he recently discovered—and the woman charged with caring for them.
The last thing Jonah Campbell expected was a son and four grandkids to come out of the woodwork–the results of a teenage fling nearly thirty years ago. He lives isolated in the upper peninsula, and when his newly discovered son explains why his family needs to be hidden, Jonah is happy to open his home and get to know his grandkids.
Between college, his kids, and his job, Ben Taylor is already in way over his head. Piece by piece, his busy-but-comfortable life crumbles as he becomes caught up in a dangerous network of fraud and deception at his workplace…
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(Hope Again Mysteries)
Paper Money
by Ken Follett
Rating: 3.7 #ad
An explosive novel of high finance and underworld villainy from Ken Follett, the grand master of international action and suspense.
Crime, high finances, and journalism are interconnected in this early thriller by the author of On Wings of Eagles and Lie Down With Lions. In one suspenseful, action-packed day, fortunes change hands as an ambitious young reporter scrambles to crack the story. A suicidal junior minister, an avaricious tycoon, and a seasoned criminal with his team of tough guys all play their parts in a scheme that moves “paper money” around at a dizzying pace.
An Itch for Justice
by Christa Nardi
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Can a stalled murder investigation in Halcyon Springs pull Izzie Di Sante back into investigative journalism?
The mere thought of getting involved in the investigation shifts Izzie’s mind into overdrive. A former reporter turned restaurant owner, she’s determined to find out everything she can. Only the more she discovers about Drew Scanlon’s murder and his new wife’s hurried placement in a psychiatric facility, the more questions she has.
With the detective instructed to tread carefully given the social status of the family, the investigation of Drew’s murder stalls. His parents spin a story that casts his wife, Bethany, as the prime suspect.
The Last Days of Want
by Derek Shupert
Rating: 4.4 #ad
At the end of the world, who will survive the last days?
For ten years, war and famine ravaged the population. Lawlessness spread across the country. What was Dylan willing to do to keep his family together?
In Las Vegas, Nevada, Dylan, his family, and their loyal Australian Kelpie, Pepper, are like everyone else. They scrape for food and do whatever it takes, but at least they’re in one of the few remaining cities where they can keep the family together. It was hard, but everything changed the day Dylan’s daughter decided to leave.
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(Last Days Mysteries)
Loose Ends
by Amy Martinsen
Rating: 5.0 #ad
Who killed Nahla? This question haunts CIA Officer Kate Ross.
Even after collecting a box full of evidence in a secret, obsessive manhunt, Kate isn’t able to discover who killed the most valuable agent she’s ever handled. When the box goes missing, Kate must go against all her spy training to find Nahla’s killer, propelling John and the U-Tap team on a harrowing race against time.
Will Kate find the killer, or will she suffer the same fate as Nahla?
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(An Untapped Source Mysteries)
A Wicked Snow
by Gregg Olsen
Rating: 4.3 #ad
“Olsen will scare you – and you’ll love it.” – Lee Child
Hannah Griffin was a girl when tragedy struck. She still remembers the flames reflected against the newly fallen snow and the bodies the police dug up—one of them her mother’s. The killer was never found….
Twenty years later Hannah is a talented CSI investigating a case of child abuse when the past comes hurtling back. A killer with unfinished business is on the hunt.
The Funny Thing Is…
by Holly Schindler
Rating: 5.0 #ad
So a dog (part Irish Setter, part Snuffleupagus), a would-be gas station robber, and a girl with a plane ticket to the other side of grief (literally!) all walk into a bar…
Joking aside, these are characters in Holly Schindler’s funny shorts, compiled here into a single download of chuckles and smiles.
This compilation features all the short stories published in the following humorous collections: Funny Meeting You Here, Funny You Should Mention That, and Once Upon a Punchline.
Wednesday’s Mystery eBooks
Up to No Gouda
by Linda Reilly
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Back in Balsam Dell to heal after the death of her husband, Carly Hale is finally pursuing her lifelong dream – opening Carly’s Grilled Cheese Eatery. After only five months, business is booming as Vermont vacationers and townspeople alike flock to lunch on her Party Havartis and other grilled cheese concoctions. All but Lyle Bagley, Carly’s one-time high school boyfriend and now town bully who just bought the building that houses her eatery and wants Carly out. After a muenster of a fight, Carly’s forced to put her nose to the rind and find a solution to keep her business afloat.
Red-Line: The Shift
by J. T. Bishop
Rating: 4.6 #ad
After a difficult year, Sarah Randolph is living a solitary life. But after meeting a handsome stranger, she’s hopeful her luck is about to change. When their first date turns dangerous though, she’ll discover that she’s the one about to change…in more ways than she can imagine.
After that frightening encounter, John Ramsey will be forced to remove Sarah from her quiet existence. He’ll risk everything, including himself and the lives of the group he’s assembled, to keep her alive and prevent an unexpected rival from using her for his own cruel desires.
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(Red-Line Mysteries)
Strawberry Shortcake Murder
by Joanne Fluke
Rating: 4.6 #ad
When the president of Hartland Flour chooses cozy Lake Eden, Minnesota, as the spot for their first annual Dessert Bake-Off, bakery owner Hannah Swensen is thrilled to serve as the head judge. But when a fellow judge, Coach Boyd Watson, is found stone-cold dead, facedown in Hannah’s celebrated strawberry shortcake, Lake Eden’s sweet ride to fame turns very sour indeed.
While perfecting her Cheddar Cheese Apple Pie and Chocolate Crunchies, Hannah’s also snooping into the coach’s private life, which yields plenty of suspects.
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(Hannah Swensen Mysteries)
In Blood and Duty Bound
by Erin S. Bales
Rating: 5.0 #ad
When there are several paths before you, which one will you choose? Princess Renn, the youngest of six and fourth in line for the throne, is a lost young woman searching for direction. Palace Guard Getha is on the road to joining the most elite fighting force in the country, but she must battle for every step.
Lady Helenia was forced to leave her homeland in disgrace, so she travels through the shadows in the hopes of emerging back into the light.
For four hundred years, the Fallen of Ombratos have lived in safety, secure behind the wall they call the Gift. However, there are few things in the world more fragile than peace. A single bloody event will shake a nation to its core and set these women on the paths leading to their destinies.
The Hidden
by Melanie Golding
Rating: 4.1 #ad
One dark December night, in a small seaside town, a little girl is found abandoned. When her mother finally arrives, authorities release the pair, believing it to be an innocent case of a toddler running off.
Gregor, a seemingly single man, is found bludgeoned and left for dead in his apartment, but the discovery of children’s toys raises more questions than answers.
Every night, Ruby gazes into Gregor’s apartment, leading to the discovery of his secret family: his unusually silent daughter and his mentally unstable wife, Constance, who insists that she is descended from the mythological Selkies. She begs Ruby to aid in finding the sealskin that Gregor has hidden from her, making it impossible to return to her people.
Not My Mother
by Miranda Smith
Rating: 4.3 #ad
What if the person you trust most in the world is lying to you?
I’d heard of the Baby Caroline case, of course. When a baby is snatched from her mother’s arms, the whole country knows about it. I knew about the parents left lying by the swimming pool, the open window in the nursery. But I never dreamed it had anything to do with me.
Today, my beautiful daughter turned one. We were unwrapping gifts and blowing out candles when the knock came at the door, and they took my mother away.
Return to Redemption
by Jack R. Stanley
Rating: 5.0 #ad
A brand new Western adventure from Jack R. Stanley!
A Confederate officer returned to his home and ranch in Texas. He discovered his whole world was in ruin. His ranch was falling down and his young bride had become a whore. Everyone he knew has been damaged by the war and he has scars from the conflict himself. He must find a way to survive – and if he can, help those around him who have been forever altered. Is that possible?
Night Broken
by Patricia Briggs
Rating: 4.8 #ad
When her mate’s ex-wife storms back into their lives, Mercy knows something isn’t right. Christy has the furthest thing from good intentions—she wants Adam back, and she’s willing to do whatever it takes to get him, including turning the pack against Mercy.
Mercy isn’t about to step down without a fight, but there’s a more dangerous threat circling. As the bodies start piling up, she must put her personal troubles aside to face a creature with the power to tear her whole world apart.
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(Mercy Thompson Mysteries)
Tuesday’s Mystery eBooks
Murder in First Class
by Helena Dixon
Rating: 4.4 #ad
All aboard a train bound for… murder.
Kitty Underhay is looking forward to a week of long lunches and wedding planning with her husband-to-be, Captain Matthew Bryant. But the plan is derailed when he is called on to collect a former comrade-in-arms, arriving on the 15:50 from Bakerloo. As the train bearing Simon Travers pulls up to the platform, a piercing scream rises over the screech of its brakes. Travers is dead in his seat, a dagger in his heart.
Who gave this defenceless man a one-way ticket to the next life? And why? And could Matt’s close connection put him at risk? Only a few individuals had access to Travers’s compartment, and Kitty must find out which of these seemingly benign passengers is in fact a cross-country killer.
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(A Miss Underhay Mysteries)
The Resentment
by T. O. Paine
Rating: 4.4 #ad
An Emotional Thriller With a Shocking Twist
“An energetic, enthralling tale of dangerous family secrets.” – Kirkus Reviews
Lauren Kaine has everything she ever wanted — a fabulous home, a shiny Lexus, a bright sixteen-year-old son, and a loving husband with a lucrative internet career. Tonight, she walks hand-in-hand with William beneath the lustrous Seattle sky, celebrating twenty-two years of marriage.
But they’re not alone.
A mysterious black Audi comes out of nowhere and chases William onto a bridge. He shouts, “They’re here for the card,” and falls to his death. Enraged, Lauren attacks the car, but the tinted windows hide the driver’s face, and it speeds away.
Running with the Enemy
by Lloyd Lofthouse
Rating: 4.2 #ad
While serving in Vietnam, Ethan Card, a loyal U.S. Marine, is framed for a crime he didn’t commit. Labeled a traitor, he’s on the run, desperate to prove his innocence, or he’ll never go home again. Ethan has a choice to make, save the Vietnamese woman he loves from two murdering psychopaths, or prove his innocence. He can’t have both.
“Ethan Card, a Marine fighting in Vietnam, is about to become a patsy for a cruel, power hungry rogue CIA agent who only wants to cover up his own crimes…” by Amazon Customer
Dragon Teeth
by Michael Crichton
Rating: 4.2 #ad
The year is 1876. Warring Indian tribes still populate America’s western territories even as lawless gold-rush towns begin to mark the landscape. In much of the country it is still illegal to espouse evolution. Against this backdrop two monomaniacal paleontologists pillage the Wild West, hunting for dinosaur fossils, while surveilling, deceiving and sabotaging each other in a rivalry that will come to be known as the Bone Wars.
Into this treacherous territory plunges the arrogant and entitled William Johnson, a Yale student with more privilege than sense. Determined to survive a summer in the west to win a bet against his arch-rival, William has joined world-renowned paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh on his latest expedition…
Escape from Yokai Land
by Stross Charles
Rating: 4.0 #ad
Escape from Yokai Land explains what he was doing there.
Bob’s been assigned to work with the Miyamoto Group, checking the wards that lock down Japan’s warded sites—a task previously handled by his predecessor Dr. Angleton, the Eater of Souls. This mostly involves policing yokai: traditional magical beings, increasingly grown more annoying and energetic.
But then Bob’s simple trip turns into a deadly confrontation with the ultimate yokai. It’s massively powerful. It’s pink. And it says “Hello.”
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(Laundry Files Mysteries)
Servant of The Skull
by Edita A. Petrick
Rating: 4.0 #ad
History at your fingertips can be a dangerous thing…
Gia was sixteen years old when a terrifying jumble of images invaded her head. The swirl of lives lived was horrifying and fascinating at once. The former made her conceal her gift with education. She became a student of history—forensic reconstructive specialist. It was the only way she could let her talent drive her hands—to recreate images of those who lived, loved and lost their lives thousands of years ago. The latter made her accept a dangerous consulting job in Greece.
It sounded simple: Reconstruct skulls of three plane crash victims. Positive identification was needed for insurance purposes. A tragic, but seemingly routine job of identification. Except her extraordinary abilities show her it’s anything but…
Untamed
by James Leonard
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Lawman Nathan Pace was looking forward to retirement. Until the Thrasher brothers forced him back into action.
One minute, Nathan was talking to a pretty girl on the train. The next, they were off the tracks and surrounded by Brent Thrasher’s men. Or is it?
When the smoke cleared, Nathan’s mother and brother were dead…
By the time they run into each other again, Nathan’s not alone. He’s joined by Sarah Meade, a beautiful woman intent on seeking revenge against Brent Thrasher. Together, they chase the brothers down. But getting to the outlaws isn’t as easy or as straightforward as they’d hoped. The Thrashers have a gang of men ready to do their bidding.
Real Murders
by Charlaine Harris
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Author of the books that inspired True Blood on HBO and Midnight, Texas on NBC
Aurora Teagarden, small town librarian and true crime buff, is looking forward to the monthly meeting of the Real Murders Society, a group of fellow crime enthusiasts who share a unique interest in historical murders. The Society meetings are the highlight of Roe’s social life in sleepy Lawrenceville, Georgia, and she’s ready for a quiet night of discussion, coffee, and cookies. But after she finds the body of a Society member in a staged crime scene eerily similar to the one the group was supposed to discuss that very night, Roe finds herself at the center of a murderous story of her own.
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(An Aurora Teagarden Mysteries)
Monday’s Mystery eBooks
Wedding Bell Blues
by Lynn Cahoon
Rating: 4.6 #ad
In the California coastal town of South Cove, Jill Gardner, owner of Coffee, Books, and More, becomes more engaged in sleuthing than wedding preparations when there’s a murder in a dress shop . . .
Jill couldn’t love police chief Greg King more—so why does that engagement ring still feel funny on her finger? At least she’ll have a chance to show it off this Saturday at their engagement party. Just in time for the event, a new dress shop has opened in town, Exquisite Gowns for You, specializing in designer wedding gowns and other custom-fit dresses.
But Jill’s excitement turns to shock when she comes by to pick up her dress for the party and discovers a dead body in the shop.
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(A Tourist Trap Mysteries)
Vendetta in Death
by J. D. Robb
Rating: 4.8 #ad
She calls herself Lady Justice. And once she has chosen a man as her target, she turns herself into a tall blonde or a curvaceous redhead, makes herself as alluring and seductive as possible to them. Once they are in her grasp, they are powerless.
The first victim is wealthy businessman Nigel McEnroy. His company’s human resources department has already paid out settlements to a couple of his young victims—but they don’t know that his crimes go far beyond workplace harassment. Lady Justice knows. And in one shocking night of brutality, she makes him pay a much steeper price.
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(In Death Mysteries)
Dragons and Magic
by Blair Babylon
Rating: 4.3 #ad
Mathonwy, Duke Draco, absolutely, positively, definitely isn’t falling into a mating fever for the new little witch, Bethany Aura, whom his company just hired to whip a new Las Vegas casino into shape. The casino is behind schedule, over budget, and a shambling mess of construction debris and dirt. Angel investors are arriving in a month, and someone in the finance department is embezzling money.
But his eyes are changing color to flowing, molten gold, he keeps showing up to hang around Bethany, and he obsesses with buying diamonds and gold to drape all over her, as if she had been dipped in his hoard.
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(Dragon’s Den Casino)
Truth and Justice
by Fern Michaels
Rating: 4.7 #ad
The Sisterhood: a group of women from all walks of life bound by friendship and a quest for justice. Armed with vast resources, top-notch expertise, and a loyal network of allies around the globe, the Sisterhood will not rest until every wrong is made right.
When Alexis Thorn and Joe Esposito encounter a young woman sobbing alone in a restaurant, they step into action and offer their comfort and sympathy. They soon learn that the woman’s husband was recently killed in action in Afghanistan. Before he reported for duty, they took steps to preserve their chances of having children. But when Bella visits the fertility clinic, she discovers her eggs are no longer there—and the circumstances are beyond suspicious.
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(Sisterhood Series)
The Break
by Daniel Hurst
Rating: 4.1 #ad
It seems like a lovely little house. But it has dark secrets…
Karen is a busy wife and mother. Between work, her husband Peter, and their two children, Oscar and Noah, she doesn’t have a minute to herself.
So when it all begins to feel too much, Karen knows just what she needs – to get away for a little while. Nothing big. Just a short break.
Her friend, Eve, tells her about a quaint little holiday home, and Karen books herself a short stay. She’ll have time to read, take bubble baths, unwind. Perfect.
Silverhills
by Sandra Cox
Rating: 4.7 #ad
In the 1870s Brandon Wade is driving a herd of longhorns over the Chisholm Trail when a youth appears out of nowhere riding a magnificent black stallion and packing a deadly looking six-gun. In need of trail hands, Brandon hires the young man. Not until weeks later, during the middle of a terrible stampede, does Brandon learn that his young sharpshooter is a beautiful woman.
A woman full of fire and passion who he burns to possess. A woman steeped in mystery who refuses to disclose her past. Alexandria O’Malley is on the run and must be able to disappear at a moment’s notice. When she hires on to the cattle drive, she doesn’t expect the powerful attraction between herself and her trail boss or the response of her treacherous body.
Dead Silence
by S.A. Barnes
Rating: 4.2 #ad
Titanic meets The Shining in this SF horror novel in which a woman and her crew board a decades-lost luxury cruiser and find the wreckage of a nightmare that hasn’t yet ended.
Claire Kovalik is days away from being unemployed—made obsolete—when her beacon repair crew picks up a strange distress signal. With nothing to lose and no desire to return to Earth, Claire and her team decide to investigate.
What they find is shocking: the Aurora, a famous luxury spaceliner that vanished on its maiden tour of the solar system more than twenty years ago. A salvage claim like this could set Claire and her crew up for life. But a quick search of the ship reveals something isn’t right.
Love Potions
by Multiple Authors
Rating: 4.5 #ad
“Love potion is a collection of 6 stories with magic, romance, and conflicts. The books are firsts in the series to introduce you to the author and the series. Just a teaser to get you started. I enjoyed this collection, I only found one of the stories to be a slow starter but it picked up after the back story was established. This collection of stories has a bit of everything. From time travel to towns full of supernaturals and so much more. It gave me a chance to read from some new authors and a few of my favorites. I love these types of collaborations because it gives you a chance to find new authors to follow. I highly recommend this collection of stories. I found them to be entertaining and well worth reading it has something for everyone.” by Amazon Customer