Sunday’s Mystery eBooks
Twisted Twenty-Six
by Janet Evanovich
Rating: 4.7 #ad
Grandma Mazur has decided to get married again – this time to a local gangster named Jimmy Rosolli. If Stephanie has her doubts about this marriage, she doesn’t have to worry for long, because the groom drops dead of a heart attack 45 minutes after saying, “I do.”
A sad day for Grandma Mazur turns into something far more dangerous when Jimmy’s former “business partners” are convinced that his new widow is keeping the keys to a financial windfall all to herself. But the one thing these wise guys didn’t count on was the widow’s bounty hunter granddaughter, who’ll do anything to save her.
Check out:
(Stephanie Plum Mysteries)
The 6:20 Man
by David Baldacci
Rating: 4.4 #ad
A cryptic murder pulls a former soldier turned financial analyst deep into the corruption and menace that prowl beneath the opulent world of finance, in this #1 New York Times bestselling thriller from David Baldacci.
Every day without fail, Travis Devine puts on a cheap suit, grabs his faux-leather briefcase, and boards the 6:20 commuter train to Manhattan, where he works as an entry-level analyst at the city’s most prestigious investment firm. In the mornings, he gazes out the train window at the lavish homes of the uberwealthy, dreaming about joining their ranks. In the evenings, he listens to the fiscal news on his phone, already preparing for the next grueling day in the cutthroat realm of finance. Then one morning Devine’s tedious routine is shattered by an anonymous email: She is dead.
Wizard Wind
by Dee Maltby
Rating: 4.2 #ad
Commanded to the far north to capture his friend, the rebel Lar Tor, he longs instead to be in Larlingarde. There, his Forest Lady love, Laraynia, has become heir to the Grand Lar, using all her powers to thwart the evil wizard who strives to kill her uncle and take her prisoner. Beneban, his magic sword and his troops fight many foes in his quest to rejoin her, but even their combined magics may fall short. In her darkest hour, Laraynia finds a possible ally in an enemy enchantress. Can she win the aid of the mysterious vardraken queen and her winged, ice-breathing beasts?
Check out:
(The Magic of Larlion Mysteries)
The Raven Song
by Luanne G. Smith
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Forever untangling the branches of her strange family tree, Edwina Blackwood is at a turning point. Her parents’ disappearances still strike her as unaccountably odd. Her sister’s questionable life and untimely death have left her shaken. Spellfire has transformed her home and livelihood to ash. And now a devious stalker is on her trail. With supernatural detective Ian Cameron by her side, Edwina can’t get out of London fast enough.
Gaining safe passage, she finds refuge with Sir Henry Elvanfoot, famed wizard of the north, and is promised protection from ill-aimed curses. But in this unfamiliar city of fair folk and witches, where the veil between Earth and the Otherworld is about to be lifted, something is amiss. How else to explain Edwina’s sudden prophetic visions?
The Wife Before
by Shanora Williams
Rating: 4.1 #ad
Samira Wilder has never had it easy, and when her latest lousy job goes south, things only promise to get harder. Until she unexpectedly meets a man who will change her life forever. Renowned pro golfer Roland Graham is wealthy, handsome, and caring, and Samira is dazzled. Best of all, he seems to understand her better than anyone ever has. And though their relationship moves a bit fast, when Roland proposes, Samira accepts. She even agrees to relocate to his secluded Colorado mansion. After all, there’s nothing to keep her in Miami, and the mansion clearly makes him happy. Soon, they are married amid a media firestorm, and Samira can’t wait to make a fresh start—as the second Mrs. Graham . . .
Triptych
by Karin Slaughter
Rating: 4.5 #ad
“Crime fiction at its finest.” – Michael Connelly
From Atlanta’s wealthiest suburbs to its stark inner-city housing projects, a killer has crossed the boundaries of wealth and race. And the people who are chasing him must cross those boundaries, too. Among them is Michael Ormewood, a veteran detective whose marriage is hanging by a thread—and whose arrogance and explosive temper are threatening his career. And Angie Polaski, a beautiful vice cop who was once Michael’ s lover before she became his enemy. But unbeknownst to both of them, another player has entered the game: a loser ex-con who has stumbled upon the killer’s trail in the most coincidental of ways – and who may be the key to breaking the case wide open.
A Truth to Lie For
by Anne Perry
Rating: 4.5 #ad
“A novel that is at times unbearably suspenseful . . . pushes the envelope and succeeds on nearly every level.” – Bookreporter
It is the summer of 1934, and Hitler is nearing the summit of supreme power in Germany, his eyes set on European domination. When Britain’s MI6 gets word that a pair of German scientists have made breakthroughs in germ warfare, they send Elena Standish on a dangerous mission to get one of them out of Germany before he’s forced to share his knowledge and its devastating power with Hitler’s elite.
Body from the Scottish Castle Murder
by Stephanie Parker McKean
Rating: 4.0 #ad
Comedy and chaos ensue when Rik Patience—who has no patience—takes a ghost hunting trip to Scotland with her colorful friend, Hooter. Rik doesn’t believe in ghosts. Hooter probably doesn’t either—but she wants to be sure. When Rik witnesses a murder, she is stalked by the killer, who can’t take the chance that she will recognize him.
Hooter’s ghost hunting friends resent Rik and her disbelief in paranormal events. She can survive their dislike, but can she survive the constant attempts on her life? Meanwhile, Hooter – who is unaware of the animosity between Rik and her ghost hunting friends – proves that no one is too old for love when she falls for a Scottish pastor.
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.
Check out:
(Inspector Lynley Mysteries)
Fortune’s Call
by Frank Nissen
Rating: 4.5 #ad
What begins as a high-spirited jaunt west to claim easy riches becomes a grim race for survival. Pegg is only 13 when he and his father set off for the gold fields of California. But by the standards of the 1840’s, he’s on the verge of manhood. Unfortunately, the third person in their party, Fred Hoyt, is a city slicker who is of little help on the trail. Worse, he proves to be unreliable, with a dangerous habit of making rash decisions.
Even as Pegg struggles to fulfill his father’s dream of a better life for their family, Hoyt’s every move jeopardizes his chances. Can Pegg muster the courage and perseverance to not just survive, but to succeed in the lawless frontier?
Memory’s Legion Collection
by James S. A. Corey
Rating: 4.7 #ad
On Mars, a scientist experiments with a new engine that will one day become the drive that fuels humanity’s journey into the stars. On an asteroid station, a group of prisoners are oblivious to the catastrophe that awaits them. On a future Earth beset by overpopulation, pollution, and poverty, a crime boss desperately seeks to find a way off planet. On an alien world, a human family struggles to establish a colony and make a new home.
All these stories and more are featured in this unmissable collection of short fiction set in the hardscrabble world of The Expanse.
Chaos
by Tom O’Neill
Rating: 4.7 #ad
A journalist’s twenty-year fascination with the Manson murders leads to shocking new revelations about the FBI’s involvement in this riveting reassessment of an infamous case in American history.
Over two grim nights in Los Angeles, the young followers of Charles Manson murdered seven people, including the actress Sharon Tate, then eight months pregnant. With no mercy and seemingly no motive, the Manson Family followed their leader’s every order — their crimes lit a flame of paranoia across the nation, spelling the end of the sixties. Manson became one of history’s most infamous criminals, his name forever attached to an era when charlatans mixed with prodigies, free love was as possible as brainwashing, and utopia — or dystopia — was just an acid trip away.
Fingerprints of the Gods
by Graham Hancock
Rating: 4.7 #ad
“A fancy piece of historical sleuthing . . . intriguing and entertaining and sturdy enough to give a long pause for thought.”—Kirkus Reviews
In Fingerprints of the Gods, Hancock embarks on a worldwide quest to put together all the pieces of the vast and fascinating jigsaw of mankind’s hidden past. In ancient monuments as far apart as Egypt’s Great Sphinx, the strange Andean ruins of Tihuanaco, and Mexico’s awe-inspiring Temples of the Sun and Moon, he reveals not only the clear fingerprints of an as-yet-unidentified civilization of remote antiquity, but also startling evidence of its vast sophistication, technological advancement, and evolved scientific knowledge.
Saturday’s Mystery eBooks
Christmas Card Murder
by Leslie Meier
Rating: 4.6 #ad
It’s time to deck the halls – with a murder mystery . . .
In the midst of holiday home renovations, part-time reporter Lucy Stone unwraps a murder mystery decades in the making when she discovers an old Christmas card with a nasty message inside . . .
The case may be colder than a New England Christmas, but Lucy’s determined to sort it out before Santa comes to town.
House Beside the River
by David Burnett
Rating: 4.4 #ad
A coming-of-age novel with a strong heroine, a sweet love story, and a suspenseful struggle between good and evil
Running from vile rumors and merciless ridicule, thirteen-year-old Nicole Beaumont flees her home in Parsons Valley, Georgia. In the farming community where she lived, almost any transgression could be tolerated, excused, or overlooked, any transgression, save one that smacked of sex, and, according to rumor, that was exactly what she had done while lying with Chris Miller on the bank of Parsons Pond. It was a lie, the worst part at any rate, but Chris̶ refused to deny the rumor. Chris, the boy who had been her best-friend-for-life, her soul mate, the one with whom she was supposed to spend her life, he allowed everyone to believe the rumor to be true…
“This is one of those books that you never want it to end! It had me hooked right from the first page and I spent all day reading it because I just couldn’t put it down! I will definitely be reading all of this author’s books!” by Amazon Customer
The End of October
by Lawrence Wright
Rating: 4.3 #ad
At an internment camp in Indonesia, forty-seven people are pronounced dead with acute hemorrhagic fever. When epidemiologist Henry Parsons travels there on behalf of the World Health Organization to investigate, what he finds will have staggering repercussions. Halfway across the globe, the deputy director of U.S. Homeland Security scrambles to mount a response to the rapidly spreading pandemic leapfrogging around the world, which she believes may be the result of an act of biowarfare. And a rogue experimenter in man-made diseases is preparing his own terrifying solution…
The Patient’s Secret
by Loreth Anne White
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Secrets worth dying – and killing—for, in a novel of suspense inspired by a horrific true crime by Washington Post and Amazon Charts bestselling author Loreth Anne White.
When the battered body of a female jogger is found beneath the cliffs of an idyllic coastal community, these perfect neighbors suddenly don’t seem so perfect…
Lily Bradley is a respected psychotherapist married to a distinguished professor. They live in a dream house with their two children in close-knit Story Cove. Lily lives a well-ordered life. Or so it seems. As a therapist, she knows everyone keeps things hidden. Even her.
The Theodora Duology
by james Conroyd Martin
Rating: 5.0 #ad
Theodora: actress, prostitute, mistress, feminist. And Byzantine Empress of the sixth-century Roman world. Stephen: handsome Syrian boy, wizard’s apprentice, palace eunuch. And Secretary to the Empress. How does this unlikely pair become such allies that one day Empress Theodora asks Stephen to write her biography?
Fortune’s Child is “a meticulously researched historical account presented in the form of a thrilling political drama.” – Kirkus Reviews Too Soon the Night is “a gorgeous tapestry of impeccable research and intricate world-building. A must-have for any fan of ancient-world historical fiction.” –Kate Quinn, bestselling author
Conversations with Rabbi Small
by Harry Kemelman
Rating: 4.3 #ad
As he counsels a woman considering conversion to Judaism, Rabbi Small takes a break from murder mysteries to discuss the mysteries of his religion.
In Conversations with Rabbi Small, the rabbi finds himself taking a well-deserved vacation at a Jewish retreat in the mountains, where he reads, plays cards, and furthers his studies, which have been languishing for too long. When the rabbi’s wife is called back to the city to deal with an illness in the family, the rabbi meets a curious young woman in the midst of a life-changing moment.
Fire From the Sky
by N.C. Reed
Rating: 4.7 #ad
Clay Sanders and company have not had the easiest time since the lights went out. Granted, much of their troubles are self-inflicted, but a lot of them were brought straight to their door by crooks and strongarm types in equal measure.
Things are peaceful for a change around the Sanders’ Farms, however, and Clay barely knows what to do with himself. There are new trainees being brought up to standard, young women who have already been victimized once and have sworn to never have it happen again. There are gardens and greenhouses bearing fruit, which means as many hands as possible gathering that bounty and socking it away for winter. It will soon be harvest, which means gathering silage and hay from over two thousand acres of land. So while things may be peaceful at the moment, there is plenty to actually do. But nothing lasts forever.
Friday’s Mystery eBooks
Date with Mystery
by Julia Chapman
Rating: 4.6 #ad
The Dales Detective Agency’s latest assignment appears to be an open and shut case. Hired by a local solicitor to find a death certificate for a young woman who died over twenty years ago, Samson O’Brien is about to find out that things in Bruncliffe are rarely that straightforward. Particularly when the solicitor insists that Delilah Metcalfe, with her wealth of local knowledge, works alongside Samson on this sensitive investigation.
Delilah is eager to help, needing to take her mind off the impending custody case for her precious dog, Tolpuddle, and problems with her dating agency.
Check out:
(The Dales Detective Mysteries)
The King of Shadows
by Robert McCammon
Rating: 4.4 #ad
In the year 1704, Matthew Corbett is about to go up against an antagonist completely different from any he has faced before. On a trip to Italy to track down Brazio Valeriani and information about the mirror created by his father, the sorcerer Ciro, Matthew and Hudson Greathouse find themselves marooned on a beautiful island known as Golgotha—a place that hides a multitude of secrets and puts both of them at terrible risk.
The islanders welcome them with a massive feast—but as the island pulls them deeper into its influence, the castaways struggle to maintain their grip on reality, even their very identity.
Check out:
(The Matthew Corbett Mysteries)
Arbitrary and Capricious
by Jim Lively
Rating: 5.0 #ad
Retired lawyer Sanders Pierce would rather spend his time painting at his art gallery, but when a former colleague, now general counsel at a major health benefits firm, asks him to investigate potential internal deceptions, he can’t resist. Mostly because the amount she offers for his contract work is too good to pass up.
He insists he will abide by the standard of law, which could expose the firm’s fiduciary conduct as arbitrary and capricious.
He gets assigned to a small office in the lower floor of corporate headquarters where he interviews various employees and studies flowcharts. At first no one reveals much of concern, until he receives an email from a mysterious source with a grim warning: Nothing is what it seems.
Sierra Six
by Mark Greaney
Rating: 4.7 #ad
It’s been years since the Gray Man’s first mission, but the trouble’s just getting started in the latest entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series.
Before he was the Gray Man, Court Gentry was Sierra Six, the junior member of a CIA action team.
In their first mission they took out a terrorist leader, at a terrible price. Years have passed. The Gray Man is on a simple mission when he sees a ghost: the long-dead terrorist, but he’s remarkably energetic for a dead man.
Check out:
(Gray Man Mysteries)
Shadow in Serenity
by Terri Blackstock
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Carny Sullivan grew up in the zany world of a traveling carnival. Quaint and peaceful Serenity, Texas, has given her a home, a life, and a child. Logan Brisco is the smoothest, slickest, handsomest man Serenity, Texas has ever seen. But Carny Sullivan knows a con artist when she sees one – and she’s seen plenty, starting with her father. As far as Carny Sullivan can tell, she’s the only one in town who has his number. Because from his Italian shoes to his movie-actor smile, Logan has the rest of the town snowed. Carny is determined to reveal Brisco’s selfish intentions before his promise to the townspeople for a cut in a giant amusement park sucks Serenity dry.
The Perfect Lawyer
by Gregg Bell
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Illinois Attorney Ike Thompson just wants to live out the rest of his days in peace.
Years ago, he was known as “the perfect lawyer” for his high-profile, pressure-packed criminal defense work in downtown Chicago. But after losing a crucial case to up-and-coming prosecutor Ursula “the merciless” Rush, his confidence was shattered, and ever since, he’s resigned himself to doing small-time real estate deals in the sleepy suburbs. He’ll never practice criminal law again. He’s lost his edge. Worse yet, he’s lost his courage.
When he’s asked to defend a sensational murder case that’s inflaming the nation, there’s no way he’s accepting.
The Woman in the Woods
by John Connolly
Rating: 4.5 #ad
In the beautiful Maine woods, a partly preserved body is discovered. Investigators realize that the young woman gave birth shortly before her death. But there is no sign of a baby.
Private detective Charlie Parker is hired by a lawyer to shadow the police investigation and find the infant but Parker is not the only one searching. Someone else is following the trail left by the woman, someone with an interest in much more than a missing child…someone prepared to leave bodies in his wake.
Check out:
(Charlie Parker Mysteries)
Where’s Chuckawalla Bill’s Cabin?
by Kevin Heaton
Rating: 4.6 #ad
“Dear God, I’ve lost the trail!” Hell, not only was there no pathway of any kind, but as far as I could see there were no more aluminum cans or punctured helium birthday balloons. Yeah, LOST! All because of a stupid overreaction to something that most likely would never have materialized.”
This recount of a horrifying ordeal takes you along on a perilous thirty-hour Hi-Desert hike that will challenge your every known human emotion; from anticipation to desperation, to the redemption one can sometimes discover in the healing waters of life’s simpler things.
Thursday’s Mystery eBooks
Murder at a Scottish Social
by Traci Hall
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Sweater shop owner Paislee Shaw puts the yarn in Nairn, but a killer has put poison in some Scottish shortbread cookies . . .
Opening her shop Cashmere Crush and making a new home for herself, her son Brody, Gramps, and their black Scottish terrier Wallace in the beautiful Scottish village of Nairn is a dream come true. So Paislee is happy to give back by donating a luxurious cashmere sweater for an auction to raise money for the Nairn Food Bank. She’s less happy to make the acquaintance of a clique of competitive moms at the charity event, who treat a baking contest like it’s life or death.
Check out:
(A Scottish Shire Mysteries)
Grave Pursuits
by Elle E. Kay
Rating: 4.7 #ad
Tension builds as the body count increases.
Emily Davis stumbles across a skull while searching for a missing hiker in Hickory Run State Park, and someone goes to great lengths to keep her away from the case.
Boulder Field’s national landmark status and its popularity makes it impossible to keep the story out of the national press, and a viral video puts Emily in the cross-hairs of a serial killer.
All Her Fault
by Andrea Mara
Rating: 4.3 #ad
ONE MISSING BOY. Marissa Irvine arrives at 14 Tudor Grove, expecting to pick up her young son Milo from his first playdate with a boy at his new school. But the woman who answers the door isn’t a mother she recognises. She isn’t the nanny. She doesn’t have Milo. And so begins every parent’s worst nightmare.
FOUR GUILTY WOMEN. As news of the disappearance filters through the quiet Dublin suburb and an unexpected suspect is named, whispers start to spread about the women most closely connected to the shocking event. Because only one of them may have taken Milo – but they could all be blamed . . .
Hidden
by Fern Michaels
Rating: 4.3 #ad
A page-turning new story from the bestselling author of No Way Out, perfect for fans of Nora Roberts and Danielle Steel! Meet a brother and sister who are drawn into a treacherous mystery through an antique with a dark past, as they race against time to help a single mother and take down a ruthless couple bent on taking control of their family’s legacy…
At first glance, few would guess that Luna and Cullen Bodman are siblings. Cullen is efficient and serious while his younger sister Luna is a free spirit. When the two launch their furniture restoration shop/café—an offshoot of the family’s longtime antique business—in an up-and-coming arts center, little do they know their unique talents may be their only defense against a dangerous betrayal.
Check out:
(A Lost and Found Mysteries)
The Impossible Dead
by Ian Rankin
Rating: 4.5 #ad
The Complaints: that’s the name given to the Internal Affairs department who seek out dirty and compromised cops, the ones who’ve made deals with the devil. And sometimes The Complaints must travel.
A major inquiry into a neighboring police force sees Malcolm Fox and his colleagues cast adrift, unsure of territory, protocol, or who they can trust. An entire station-house looks to have been compromised, but as Fox digs deeper he finds the trail leads him back in time to the suicide of a prominent politician and activist. There are secrets buried in the past, and reputations on the line.
The Eden Stories Boxset
by Terry Toler
Rating: 4.3 #ad
Award Winning Series.
What if there has been more than one Garden of Eden? What if every planet in our solar system has had intelligent life, an Adam and an Eve, and a tree of the knowledge of good and evil?
Nine planets. Nine garden of Edens. Nine Adam and Eves. Nine trees of the knowledge of good and evil. Would they all eat the fruit? Is that why the other eight planets are desolate?
Filled with biblical truths. Ripped from yesterday and today’s headlines. You won’t want to put them down until you devour every word. A great read for believers and seekers.
Book One: The Longest Day (Winner of 2020 Best Book Award for Religious Fiction)
Book Two: The Reformation of Mars
Book Three: The Late, Great Planet Jupiter (Finalist 2021 Best Book Award for Religious Fiction)
The Trespasser
by Tana French
Rating: 4.4 #ad
In bestselling author Tana French’s newest “tour de force” (The New York Times), being on the Murder Squad is nothing like Detective Antoinette Conway dreamed it would be. Her partner, Stephen Moran, is the only person who seems glad she’s there. The rest of her working life is a stream of thankless cases, vicious pranks, and harassment. Antoinette is savagely tough, but she’s getting close to the breaking point.
Their new case looks like yet another by-the-numbers lovers’ quarrel gone bad. Aislinn Murray is blond, pretty, groomed-to-a-shine, and dead in her catalog-perfect living room, next to a table set for a romantic dinner. There’s nothing unusual about her – except that Antoinette’s seen her somewhere before.
Check out:
(Dublin Murder Squad Mysteries)
Lessons
by Ian McEwan
Rating: 4.4 #ad
When the world is still counting the cost of the Second World War and the Iron Curtain has closed, eleven-year-old Roland Baines’s life is turned upside down. Two thousand miles from his mother’s protective love, stranded at an unusual boarding school, his vulnerability attracts piano teacher Miss Miriam Cornell, leaving scars as well as a memory of love that will never fade.
Now, when his wife vanishes, leaving him alone with his tiny son, Roland is forced to confront the reality of his restless existence. As the radiation from Chernobyl spreads across Europe, he begins a search for answers that looks deep into his family history and will last for the rest of his life.
Blood and Justice
by Jesse Storm
Rating: 5.0 #ad
Retired deputy Marcus Armstrong will never forget the incident where outlaw Walter Dale shot dead his brother Peter in a saloon scuffle. After Walter is sent to jail, Marcus hands in his badge to live in peace in a small ranch.
One day, Marcus’ peace is shattered when a woman named Millie Jones comes begging for his protection. It turns out that Millie is a distant cousin of Walter. Millie recounts she is no different from a maid for every man in the Walter gang, taking care of the men’s basic needs and still getting pushed around.