Friday’s Mystery eBooks
Don’t Toy With Me
by Diane Kelly
Kindle $1.00 Rating: 4.4 #ad
When Ciara relocates to a quaint North Carolina mountain town shortly before Christmas and takes a job in a classic toy shop, the last thing she expects is to end up investigating a robbery. But when someone steals the rent her attractive boss Nick owes to the landlord, the two are determined to work together to bring the culprit to justice. Can they solve the crime, or will only Santa know who’s stolen the money and ended up on his naughty list?
A Murder in Disguise
by Annalisa Russo
Kindle $1.99 Rating: 4.5 #ad
A mask can hide more than just a face.
Chicago, 1928. Dulcie Nye, a writer for The Delineator Magazine, receives the opportunity of a lifetime: to write the memoir of a world-famous, beloved children’s book author. Birdie Blair plans to launch her final book at a glamorous New Year’s Eve masquerade ball—this season’s social event—a highly coveted invitation. Dulcie is eager to take on the project, but she recently learned that her former boyfriend, a Peaky Blinders gang leader, has followed her from England to the United States after she dared to end their relationship.
How can she focus on the gala with this issue? She might need to ask handsome Cameron O’Neil, the newest tenant at Archibald Lemon’s sprawling mansion, for help.
Cat & Mouse
by James Patterson
Kindle $2.99 Rating: 4.6 #ad
In this #1 New York Times bestseller from the world’s most popular storyteller, two killers-one operating in America, one in Europe, believe Alex Cross is the only worthy opponent in the deadly game each has planned. Inspiration for the heart-pounding Prime Video show, Cross. Gary Soneji, a dying prison escapee, is looking for revenge on Cross, while another insane killer is pursued by Thomas Augustine Pierce-a brilliant and relentless detective who may even be better than Cross. As the bodies pile up, and Cross is nearly murdered in his own home, the game of cat and mouse leads to one final trap. . .
“I” is for Innocent
by Sue Grafton
Kindle $1.99 Rating: 4.5 #ad
Lonnie Kingman is in a bind. He’s smack in the middle of assembling a civil suit, and the private investigator who was doing his pretrial legwork has just dropped dead of a heart attack. In a matter of weeks the court’s statute of limitations will put paid to his case. Five years ago David Barney walked when a jury acquitted him of the murder of his rich wife, Isabelle. Now Kingman, acting as attorney for the dead woman’s ex-husband and their child (and sure that the jury made a serious mistake), is trying to divest David Barney of the profits of that murder. But time is running out, and David Barney still swears he’s innocent.
Hope Valley
by Colton Lively
Kindle $0.99 Rating: 5.0 #ad
When an EMP wipes out the power grid, the world goes dark and law and order vanish overnight. With no food, no water, and no government response, Emily Fairfield must fight to protect her children. Her daughter is trapped in a crumbling city, her son caught in the chaos, and danger is closing in from all sides. Alongside a wounded paramedic and the daughter of a mob boss, Emily risks everything to reunite her family. In a world without rules, survival will come at a cost.
Roses Are Red
by James Patterson
Kindle $2.99 Rating: 4.6 #ad
In this #1 New York Times bestseller from the world’s most popular storyteller, Alex Cross is in a race against time as a series of crimes stuns Washington, D. C.—and he faces down his most brilliant enemy yet. Inspiration for the heart-pounding Prime Video show, Cross. In a series of terrifying crimes, bank robbers have been laying out precise demands when they enter the building-and then killing the bank employees and their families if those instructions are not followed to the letter. Detective Alex Cross takes on the case, certain that this is no ordinary bank robber at work; the pathological need for control and perfection is too great…
The Quiet Tenant
by Clémence Michallon
Kindle $1.99 Rating: 4.1 #ad
A PULSE-POUNDING PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER ABOUT A SERIAL KILLER NARRATED BY THOSE CLOSEST TO HIM: HIS 13-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER, HIS GIRLFRIEND—AND THE ONE VICTIM HE HAS SPARED
Aidan Thomas is a hard-working family man and a somewhat beloved figure in the small upstate New York town where he lives. He’s the kind of man who always lends a hand and has a good word for everyone. But Aidan has a dark secret he’s been keeping from everyone in town and those closest to him. He’s a kidnapper and serial killer. Aidan has murdered eight women and there’s a ninth he has earmarked for death: Rachel, imprisoned in a backyard shed, fearing for her life.
Across the Sea of Suns
by Gregory Benford
Kindle $2.99 Rating: 4.2 #ad
The second volume in the classic hard sci-fi series by the renowned physicist and Nebula Award–winning author: “So good it hurts” (Washington Post Book World).
Technology has propelled the world into a new age of enlightenment. Nigel has left Earth to explore space and search for alien life. But while on this captivating mission, humanity’s birthplace has fallen prey to attack and its seas are seeded with alien lifeforms. Now, Nigel is left to search for the only savior he knows—the one who saved him once before—the alien machine called the “Snark.”
Thursday’s Mystery eBooks
Crime and Cherry Pits
by Amanda Flower
Kindle $1.99 Rating: 4.5 #ad
A cherry festival. A shocking death. A second chance for a beloved family farm—if Shiloh Bellamy can keep her name off the suspect list.
Shiloh has poured her soul into saving her family’s Michigan orchard, so finally landing a booth at the Traverse City Cherry Farm Market feels like a dream. But as rivalries simmer and secrets threaten to burst, the festival takes a sinister turn: a respected drama professor collapses during the famed cherry pit-spitting contest, and Shiloh is drawn straight into the heart of another small-town mystery.
“F” is for Fugitive
by Sue Grafton
Kindle $1.99 Rating: 4.5 #ad
Floral Beach wasn’t much of a town: six streets long and three deep, its only notable feature a strip of sand fronting the Pacific. It was on that sandy beach seventeen years ago that the strangled body of Jean Timberlake had been found.
The people of floral Beach didn’t pay a whole lot of mind to past history, especially when Bailey Fowler, the self-confessed killer, had been properly processed and convicted. They weren’t even unduly concerned when, a year after the murder, Fowler walked away from the men’s prison at San Luis Obispo, never to be seen again. After all, everyone knew Jean had been a wild kid.
EMP Deep Freeze
by Colton Lively
Kindle $0.99 Rating: 4.6 #ad
In the aftermath of an EMP that plunges the world into darkness, Susan will do anything to protect her younger brother, Ronnie. Battling through plane wreckage and chaos, their only hope lies in reaching a remote family cabin, but danger lurks at every turn.
When they join forces with a former soldier on his own desperate search, the stakes rise as ruthless militias and a mysterious “safe haven” threaten everything. As trust fades and a dark truth comes to light, Susan must fight not just to survive, but to lead.
By the Light of the Moon
by Dean Koontz
Kindle $1.99 Rating: 4.5 #ad
Dylan O’Connor is a gifted young artist just trying to do the right thing in life. He’s on his way to an arts festival in Santa Fe when he stops to get a room for himself and his twenty-year-old autistic brother, Shep.
But in a nightmarish instant, Dylan is attacked by a mysterious “doctor,” injected with a strange substance, and told that he is now a carrier of something that will either kill him…or transform his life in the most remarkable way. Then he is told that he must flee–before the doctor’s enemies hunt him down for the secret circulating through his body. No one can help him, the doctor says, not even the police.
Pale Gray for Guilt
by John D. MacDonald, Lee Child
Kindle $1.99 Rating: 4.5 #ad
From a beloved master of crime fiction, Pale Gray for Guilt is one of many classic novels featuring Travis McGee, the hard-boiled detective who lives on a houseboat.
Travis McGee’s old football buddy Tush Bannon is resisting pressure to sell off his floundering motel and marina to a group of influential movers and shakers. Then he’s found dead. For a big man, Tush was a pussycat: devoted to his wife and three kids and always optimistic about his business – even when things were at their worst. So even though his death is ruled a suicide, McGee suspects murder . . . and a vile conspiracy.
Carousel Grift
by David Lane Williams
Kindle $5.99 Rating: 4.9 #ad
Callie Wind, single mom and owner of a quirky Texas amusement park, dreams of a carousel life, but her dead patriarch is determined to keep her on a chaotic thrill ride. He delights in their spectral arguments from beyond the grave.
Her estranged daughter Sophie—now a televangelist with a knack for pyramid schemes—wriggles her way back into Callie’s life with plans to turn the park into a shrine to her own ego. Caught between the old man’s ghostly antics and Sophie’s snake oil scams, Callie’s life is like snow cone syrup on pony droppings.
Yuletide Threat
by Margaret Daley, Valerie Hansen, Laura Scott
Kindle $1.99 Rating: 4.8 #ad
Standoff at Christmas by Margaret Daley: Anchorage K-9 officer Jake Nichols returns home for Christmas to recover from the accident that almost killed him—and find some peace. But those plans are shattered when childhood friend Rachel Hart gets caught up in a drug-smuggling ring after her aunt is murdered…
Christmas Escape by Valerie Hansen: veterinary assistant Rachel Fielding and her niece spend the holidays hiding from a killer with her boss, Kyle Roarke, and a capable K-9.
Yuletide Target by Laura Scott: someone’s gunning for Senior Airman Jacey Burke and her trusty K-9. But Staff Sergeant Sean Morris will do anything to keep her safe for Christmas.
The Spectacular
by Fiona Davis
Kindle $1.99 Rating: 4.4 #ad
New York City, 1956: Nineteen-year-old Marion Brooks knows she should be happy. Her high school sweetheart is about to propose and sweep her off to the life everyone has always expected they’d have together: a quiet house in the suburbs, Marion staying home to raise their future children. But instead, Marion finds herself feeling trapped. So when she comes across an opportunity to audition for the famous Radio City Rockettes – the glamorous precision-dancing troupe – she jumps at the chance to exchange her predictable future for the dazzling life of a performer.
The Blacksmith
by Frank Wheeler
Kindle $1.99 Rating: 5.0 #ad
A classic western novel from Frank Wheeler with non-stop epic adventure and a blend of western romance
Five years ago Tobias “TJ” Jackman shot a corrupt marshal in self-defense. He served five years for it, and now that he’s out, he’s never going back. Once, he was a blacksmith. Now, he’s a man trying to stay ahead of his own mistakes.
When he rides into San Carvo, all he wants is a fresh start and honest work. Instead, he finds Alyssa Welch. She’s sharp-minded, stubborn, and running a freight yard on the edge of ruin. Alyssa hires him out of desperation, not trust. He stays for the same reason.
The Cat Who Saved Books
by Sosuke Natsukawa, Louise Heal Kawai
Kindle $1.99 Rating: 4.2
From the #1 bestselling author in Japan comes a celebration of books, cats, and the people who love them, infused with the heartwarming spirit of The Guest Cat and The Travelling Cat Chronicles.
Bookish high school student Rintaro Natsuki is about to close the secondhand bookstore he inherited from his beloved bookworm grandfather. Then, a talking cat appears with an unusual request. The feline asks for—or rather, demands—the teenager’s help in saving books with him. The world is full of lonely books left unread and unloved, and the cat and Rintaro must liberate them from their neglectful owners.