Thursday’s Mystery eBooks
Thanksgiving
by Janet Evanovich
Rating: 4.2 #ad
When Megan Murphy discovers a floppy-eared rabbit gnawing on the hem of her skirt, she means to give its careless owner a piece of her mind, but Dr. Patrick Hunter is too attractive to stay mad at for long.
As for Patrick, he wants nothing more than to play house with Maggie—and make Thanksgiving dinner for their families.
But Megan has wept over one failed love, and she’s afraid to risk her heart again. Can the good doctor help heal her heart?
Escaping Budapest
by Eitan Posner HaLevy
Rating: 4.7 #ad
Budapest, winter 1944: As chaos and anarchy run rampant throughout Hungary, one family must endure impossible evils to escape Budapest with their lives.
When a drunken neighbor brings the ruthless Arrow Cross gendarme straight to their front door, the Levy family realizes their days in the city they once called home are numbered. After years of loyalty and community, a Christian neighbor’s kindness saves their lives. Yet even simple kindness does not last long in Budapest.
To increase their chances of survival, the stronghearted Miriam Levy and her husband Istvan decide to split from their daughter, 17-year-old Magda – who attempts to save her newly wedded husband from certain death…
Presumption of Guilt
by Terri Blackstock
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Just one person can save the children from a terrifying future. But to do so, she must master her past. Beth Wright, a newspaper reporter, is hot on the trail of a story that could expose something very ugly at the St. Clair Children’s Home. Someone else is hot on Beth Wright’s trail—someone who wants to make sure her story never sees the press. Between them stands Nick Hutchins, a social worker who finds his own gut hunches about the children’s home increasingly confirmed, first by Beth’s investigation . . . then by a high-speed attempt on her life . . . and finally, by an intruder’s startling confession. As the drama unfolds, a horrifying picture emerges of helpless children under the sway of a modern-day Fagin.
Something to Hide
by Elizabeth George
Rating: 4.4 #ad
When a police detective is taken off life support after falling into a coma, only an autopsy reveals the murderous act that precipitated her death. She’d been working on a special task force within North London’s Nigerian community, and Acting Detective Superintendent Thomas Lynley is assigned to the case, which has far-reaching cultural associations that have nothing to do with life as he knows it. In his pursuit of a killer determined to remain hidden, he’s assisted by Detective Sergeants Barbara Havers and Winston Nkata.
Aliens: Phalanx
by Scott Sigler
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Ataegina was an isolated world of medieval castles, varied cultures, and conquests, vibrant until the demons rose and spread relentless destruction. Swarms of lethal creatures with black husks, murderous claws, barbed tails and dreaded “tooth-tongues” raged through the lowlands, killing ninety percent of the planet’s population. Terrified survivors fled to hidden mountain keeps where they eke out a meager existence. When a trio of young warriors discovers a new weapon, they see a chance to end this curse. To save humanity, the trio must fight their way to the tunnels of Black Smoke Mountain–the lair of the mythical Demon Mother.
A Cajun Christmas Killing
by Ellen Byron
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Louisiana B&B owner Maggie Crozat joins forces with her longtime enemy to prevent a murderous Grinch from ruining Christmas.
Maggie Crozat is back home in bayou country during the most magical time of the year. In Pelican, Louisiana, Christmastime is a season of giant bonfires on the levee, zydeco carols, and pots of gumbo. Except, this year, the Grinch has come to stay at the family-run Crozat Plantation B&B. When he floods travel websites with vicious reviews, Maggie thinks she’s identified him as rival businessman Donald Baxter.
There Before the Chaos
by K. B. Wagers
Rating: 4.1 #ad
Hail Bristol: former runaway princess, interplanetary gunrunner, Empress of Indrana.
When the Empire’s closest ally asks her to intervene in a galactic military crisis, she embarks on the highest stakes diplomatic mission Indrana has ever faced.
Caught between two powerful alien civilizations at each other’s throats, Hail has one chance to make peace, before all of humanity becomes collateral damage in a full-blown galactic war.
The Marshal
by James Leonard
Rating: 5.0 #ad
Not all criminals are obvious.
Marshal Mason Somers has always done things his way, but not everyone in Brittle Bone appreciates his abrasive tactics. When things get out of control, the town is left in a shambles, and Somers is left with two choices.
1- He can leave town and never come back.
2- Or appoint the judge’s nephew, Riley, his new deputy marshal.
Riley has no experience with the ways of the West, but he’s eager to learn. As their first task, they must fulfill the blood warrants issued by Judge Williams.
Wednesday’s Mystery eBooks
A Christmas Deliverance
by Anne Perry
Rating: 4.4 #ad
A courageous doctor and his apprentice fight to save London’s poor—and discover that the hearts of men can be colder than a winter chill—in this gripping holiday mystery from New York Times bestselling author Anne Perry.
Scuff has come a long way from his time as a penniless orphan scraping together a living on the banks of the Thames. Now he’s studying medicine at a free clinic run by Dr. Crowe, a thoughtful if stoic mentor. But lately Crowe has been distracted, having witnessed an altercation between a wealthy former patient of his named Ellie—a woman that he not only treated but developed unacknowledged feelings for—and her controlling fiancé.
Nemesis
by Wilbur Smith
Rating: 4.4 #ad
A brand-new historical epic from the Master of Adventure, in which three strands of the Courtney family converge in a bloodthirsty bid for revenge.
Paris, 1794. Revolutionary fervour has erupted into the Reign of Terror. A young man, Paul Courtney, hides in a crowd watching as the condemned are brought to the guillotine. Among them is Constance Courtney, Paul’s mother. As he watches her brutal execution, he knows he must avoid the same fate and fulfil his promise to her – to survive, no matter what. He joins Napoleon’s army and is taken to Egypt, but with the world at war and traitors in every corner, just how far will Paul go to ensure his own survival?
Fire & Blood
by George R. R. Martin
Rating: 4.5 #ad
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The history of the Targaryens comes to life in this masterly work, the inspiration for HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon
Centuries before the events of A Game of Thrones, House Targaryen—the only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria—took up residence on Dragonstone. Fire & Blood begins their tale with the legendary Aegon the Conqueror, creator of the Iron Throne, and goes on to recount the generations of Targaryens who fought to hold that iconic seat, all the way up to the civil war that nearly tore their dynasty apart.
Tempting Fate
by Carla Neggers
Rating: 4.3 #ad
A woman may find the truth to an unsolved mystery if a killer doesn’t stop her in this romantic suspense novel by a New York Times–bestselling author.
Despite her success as a young entrepreneur, Dani Pembroke is a haunted woman. Long ago her mother vanished without a trace, leaving Dani to live with her wealthy relatives, who have their own questionable pasts. Although the residents of Saratoga, New York, gossip that Lilli Pembroke’s disappearance will never be solved, Dani is confident that she will find the truth one day.
The Children’s Nurse
by Ehud Regev
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Warsaw, 1939. Merie watches as the flames of war engulf the place she and her husband once called home. As bombs fall and the sound of gunfire fills the once-peaceful streets, Rafal urges his wife to flee with him to Russia. But Merie’s thoughts are on her patients. A pediatric nurse at the city’s only Jewish hospital, Merie dutifully tends to Warsaw’s injured and orphaned children.
When the occupation of Warsaw is complete, the plans the Nazis have for the Jews of the city become clear. Knowing that staying in Warsaw would spell her death, Merie has no choice but to follow her husband east on a long and arduous journey toward the Russian border. But with every step she takes, the war follows close behind.
Tuf Voyaging
by George R. R. Martin
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Long before A Game of Thrones became an international phenomenon, #1 New York Times bestselling author George R. R. Martin had taken his loyal readers across the cosmos. Now back in print after almost ten years, Tuf Voyaging is the story of quirky and endearing Haviland Tuf, an unlikely hero just trying to do right by the galaxy, one planet at a time.
Haviland Tuf is an honest space-trader who likes cats. So how is it that, in competition with the worst villains the universe has to offer, he’s become the proud owner of a seedship, the last remnant of Earth’s legendary Ecological Engineering Corps? Never mind; just be thankful that the most powerful weapon in human space is in good hands—hands which now have the godlike ability to control the genetic material of thousands of outlandish creatures.
Cole and Clare
by William Black
Rating: 4.7 #ad
Young ranch hand Cole Tyler’s best friend, Martin, has been captured while on a cattle drive through Indian Territory. And if Cole doesn’t get there fast, Martin will be a dead man.
Martin has been forcibly taken hostage by an outlaw. One named Bones Foster. A violent robber on a crazed mission for a Spanish Treasure. If the treasure is found and presented to him, he’ll let Martin live…
But nobody knows where the treasure is. And Clare Whitley, Martin’s sister, doesn’t care if the treasure is real or a myth.
Ax
by Ed McBain
Rating: 4.2 #ad
Eighty-six-year-old George Lasser was the superintendent of a building in the 87th Precinct until just recently. Unfortunately his tenure ended in the building’s basement with a sharp, heavy blade of an ax in his head…
There are no witnesses, no suspects, and no clues. The wife and son? They’re both a little off-kilter, but they have alibis. Just when Carella and Hawes are about to put the case on the shelf, the killer strikes again. Now the detectives are hot on the trail of a man crazy enough to murder with an ax.
Night’s Kiss
by Mary Hughes
Rating: 4.5 #ad
As a human who hunts vampires, I risk death each night I take to the streets. Bloodsuckers are stupidly fast. I have only my wits, my practice, and my weapons.
Oh yeah, and my rage.
Vampires killed my parents before my eyes when I was young. My revenge? I’ll destroy every last one of the evil bastards, starting with their king.
Tuesday’s Mystery eBooks
Claws for Alarm
by Rita Mae Brown
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Pharamond “Fair” Haristeen is known throughout Crozet, Virginia, as a good horse vet and a better man. So when Benjamin Wagner, a new vet in town, is found dead in his unopened clinic, local police turn to Fair for help getting to the bottom of things. Fair quickly realizes Ben’s clinic has been robbed of ketamine, used by doctors as a horse tranquilizer but also a popular recreational drug. Then Fair’s own ketamine goes missing from the back of his truck. Was Ben killed for his supply? Or was he mixed up in something bigger?
The Last Lumenian
by S.G. Blaise
Rating: 4.1 #ad
MOST PRINCESSES NEED SAVING. THIS ONE WILL SAVE YOU.
She is a rebel. Lilla is fighting for the refugees’s freedom from oppression. The king, her father, lost touch with reality ever since Lilla’s mother died. Now everyone else is paying the price.
The arrival of Callum, a powerful Teryn general, complicates Lilla’s life. His presence leads to conflicted feelings and friction with Arrov, a handsome pilot and fellow rebel.
Her life is not what she imagined it to be.
Brink of Death
by Brandilyn Collins
Rating: 4.3 #ad
Annie Kingston moves to Grove Landing for safety and quiet—and comes face to face with evil.
When neighbor Lisa Willet is killed by an intruder in her home, Sheriff’s detectives are left with little evidence. Lisa’s daughter, Erin, saw the killer, but she’s too traumatized to give a description. The detectives grow desperate.
Because of her background in art, Annie is asked to question Erin and draw a composite. But Annie knows little about forensic art or the sensitive interview process. A nonbeliever, she finds herself begging God for help. What if her lack of experience leads Erin astray? The detectives could end up searching for a face that doesn’t exist.
The Monster of Silver Creek
by Belinda G. Buchanan
Rating: 4.3 #ad
TERROR HAS COME…
This small town in Prairie County, Montana has been rocked to its very core with the brutal murders of four women. A serial killer, whose calling card is as unusual as it is twisted, is on the loose – and troubled Police Chief Nathan Sommers is bent on stopping him at all costs.
As the body count continues to rise, an embittered Nathan must also battle his own demons as he struggles to come to terms with the death of his wife; he feels her dying was a direct result of his actions and is consumed with guilt. Complicating matters even more for him is an arrogant mayor, a wronged reporter out for revenge…and Katie Winstead, the pretty new owner of the bakery.
Autopsy
by Patricia Cornwell
Rating: 4.4 #ad
In this relaunch of the electrifying, landmark #1 bestselling thriller series, chief medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta hunts those responsible for two wildly divergent and chilling murders.
Forensic pathologist Dr. Kay Scarpetta has come almost full circle, returning to Virginia, the state where she launched her storied career, as the chief medical examiner. Finding herself the new girl in town once again after being away for many years, she’s inherited both an overbearing secretary and a legacy of neglect and potential corruption.
THE U.S.S. CUNNINGHAM SERIES
by James H. Cobb
Rating: 4.5 #ad
If you like TOM CLANCY, DALE BROWN, CLIVE CUSSLER or BLAKE BANNER, you’ll love JAMES H. COBB’S U.S.S. CUNNINGHAM SERIES.
‘A BLOCKBUSTER… EXCELLENT’ Dale Brown
‘THE BEST NAVAL HERO SINCE TOM CLANCY’S JACK RYAN’ Murder Ink
‘A DIRECT HIT! ‘ Eric Van Lustbader
This specially priced box set includes all five books in the U.S.S. CUNNINGHAM series
Mated By Two
by Tammy Walsh
Rating: 4.5 #ad
I’ve heard of two-for-one deals… but two-for-one alien males?!
After human females are no longer capable of becoming pregnant, I enter a program to be seeded by an alien male. But when one of the other females pulls out, I’m left with two options: no mates or two mates. And since I’m determined to be seeded, I guess I’ll go for two…
They’re from ancient warring species and stop at nothing to claim me first. And when they finally learn to share, they show me their passionate, protective, and possessive sides, each trying to outdo the other.
Check out:
(Claimed By Two)
Clive Barker’s Hellraiser
by Multiple Authors
Rating: 4.3 #ad
HELLRAISER: BESTIARY will pick up where classic horror comics anthologies like Tales From The Crypt, Vault of Horror, and the more recent Flinch left off. And not only will some of comics’ rising stars, such as Ed Brisson (Sheltered), and Michael Moreci (CURSE), get a chance to open the puzzle box in this series, but the first issue features the comics debut of award-winning novelist Victor LaValle (The Devil in Silver, Big Machine). WHAT IT’S ABOUT: Step into the Bestiary for all-new tales of the LeMarchand Device and its guardians!
A Long Time Dead
by J M Dalgliesh
Rating: 4.5 #ad
You can’t stay dead forever…
A group of high school students gather on the Isle of Skye’s remote Coral Beach for a hedonistic night of partying to celebrate the passing of their final exams. The new millennium is on the horizon and the future beckons, promising new hope and a fresh wind of optimism. In the coming days, many will leave the island for work or to study on the mainland, whereas others will remain on Skye and forge a more traditional path much as their families have done for centuries before them.
That is… all but one…
Monday’s Mystery eBooks
A Double-Pointed Murder
by Ann Yost
Rating: 4.4 #ad
When Cricket Koski, a barmaid from the Black Fly, is stabbed to death with a double-pointed knitting needle on New Year’s Eve and deposited in the bed of Lars Teljo, it’s up to Hatti Lehtinen to exonerate her ex-brother-in-law. It’s not that Hatti, who runs a fishing-slash-knitting supply shop, is a trained detective. It’s just that Sheriff Clump considers his collar a slam dunk because an affair between Lars and Cricket three years earlier has made him vulnerable to blackmail.
But there’s a problem…
Seven Shades of Evil
by Robert McCammon
Rating: 5.0 #ad
From his first appearance in Speaks the Nightbird to his latest adventure in The King of Shadows, Matthew Corbett has faced enemies of all kinds, from serial killers to sorcerers. Now author Robert McCammon presents eight gripping stories featuring the professional problem solver and his associates that take place between the popular novels.
Seven Shades of Evil includes four original stories, including “Wandering Mary,” and four additional tales that previously appeared in limited form and are no longer available elsewhere. Ranging from twisting murder plots to ominous portents of the paranormal, these stories are an intriguing blend of everything that has drawn readers to the Matthew Corbett series for more than twenty years.
Special Agent Hunter
by Mimi Barbour
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Detective Cora Taylor isn’t expecting the cop who’d haunted her dreams for ten years to return and find her drunk, wearing a torn wedding dress, and surrounded by tiny, white puppies. Go figure her rotten luck. The last time they’d met, she’d been a sweet-looking rookie too fearful to shoot a killer who ended up later murdering a family of four. Guilt from that night changed her into a speed demon, a hardened detective with colorful language… in fact a whole new persona. One who wears too much makeup, bleaches her short messy hair, and has developed many professional skills that earn everyone’s respect.
Agent Kal Hunter remains flummoxed by the altered vision of the pony-tailed rookie he remembers as the sexy woman he sees today. Being OCD about most things in his world this unconventional female rings his bell constantly…
Check out:
(Undercover FBI Mysteries)
Backteria: & Other Improbable Tales
by Richard Matheson
Rating: 3.6 #ad
A researcher encounters an exotic new strain of “Backteria” that causes the infected person to vanish – leading the doctor on a path of discovery deep into a past he should have left buried.
A simple “Haircut” that starts off as a routine trim becomes a dark and terrifying experience when a barber is confronted with a sick customer who seems otherworldly.
A case of mistaken identity leads to a darkly farcical story of marriage, murder, and a love that knows no bounds in “Getting Together.”
Hollow Moon
by Shawn Luther
Rating: 4.4 #ad
There’s a dark side to every story.
Famed author William Edward Penn might be the most talked-about writer in America. He’s written a novel. A terrifying novel. The images are hauntingly vivid, and the details seem all too real, as if they’d been plucked from memory. Each page transports him to a life he once knew, a world he’d rather leave behind. He still wakes up in the middle of the night, drenched in sweat. He can still picture their faces, even in his nightmares. After years of replaying the events in his head, past recollections begin to merge with fantasy. Even now, he struggles to piece it all together. And time is running out. Today marks his first television appearance. He will have to look his audience in the eye. He will have to answer for what he’s done.
Ghost Target
by Andy McDermott
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Alex Reeve – known as OPERATIVE 66 – is a former special-ops soldier and one of the UK’s most lethal weapons. Previously a member of SC9, an elite covert unit with a remit to assassinate the country’s enemies, Reeve was framed for treason and now lives a nomadic existence – as the merciless killers he once trained alongside hunt him down.
For a chance of a normal life, Reeve must expose and dismantle the sinister SC9. So when a series of brutal killings in Germany have all the hallmarks of an SC9 tactic – the murder of ‘ghost targets’, decoys to camouflage the true intended victim – Reeve finally sees opportunity for revenge.
The Red House
by Roz Watkins
Rating: 4.2 #ad
Only the killer holds the key. . . A Sunday Times Book of the Summer
IT WAS THE CRIME THAT SHOCKED A NATION. The Flowers were the perfect family. Until the day fifteen-year-old Joseph shot dead his parents and baby brother whilst his younger sister Eve hid. The family home became known as ‘The Red House’, the place where the walls were covered in blood.
THEY THOUGHT THEY HAD THE KILLER. No one knows why Joseph murdered his family: the following day he crashed his car and has been in a coma for two decades. Eve’s always known he did it; she saw the crime, after all.
WHAT IF THEY WERE WRONG?
Dragon Gems: Winter 2023
by Multiple Authors
Rating: 5.0 #ad
Tales to warm your imagination during the cold winter months
Featuring stories by Christina Ardizzone, Matt Bliss, Gustavo Bondoni, Micah Castle, Nestor Delfino, C. M. Fields, Andrew Giffin, Emma Kathryn, Michelle Ann King, Jason Lairamore, Eve Morton, Lena Ng, S. Park, Arlo Sharp, Mar Vincent, and Richard Zwicker