Thursday’s Mystery eBooks
The Joy and Light Bus Company
by Alexander McCall Smith
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni attends a course hosted by the local chamber of commerce entitled “Where Is Your Business Going?” But rather than feeling energized, he comes back in low spirits, not sure if he should be satisfied with the already venerable and successful Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors. Then an old friend from school approaches him with an exciting new business venture. When it turns out he will need to mortgage the garage in order to pursue this endeavor, Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi worry about the potential repercussions for his current business – as well as for their own.
But even as she puzzles over mysteries on the domestic front, Mma Ramotswe’s professional duties must take precedence…
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(No 1. Ladies’ Detective Agency Mysteries)
Isolation
by Frank Wheeler
Rating: 4.0 #ad
“The thing about mountain families was that they liked their isolation. Only, sometimes isolation came with a cost.”
Even in the mountains you’re never really alone. And you’re never really safe. Troy Easton moved to Bighorn to protect his family. But he couldn’t keep them safe from Dixon Gray. When Troy was offered a month-long job leading a group of trappers through the Rockies, he thought it was the answer to his money problems.
If he’d known what he’d find upon his return, he never would have gone. His wife, Melinda, almost died. His son is emotionally scarred for life. All courtesy of one man.
The Ink Black Heart
by Robert Galbraith
Rating: 4.2 #ad
When frantic, disheveled Edie Ledwell appears in the office begging to speak to her, private detective Robin Ellacott doesn’t know quite what to make of the situation. The cocreator of a popular cartoon, The Ink Black Heart, Edie is being persecuted by a mysterious online figure who goes by the pseudonym of Anomie. Edie is desperate to uncover Anomie’s true identity.
Robin decides that the agency can’t help with this – and thinks nothing more of it until a few days later, when she reads the shocking news that Edie has been tasered and then murdered in Highgate Cemetery, the location of The Ink Black Heart.
The Maze
by Nelson DeMille
Rating: 4.1 #ad
Nelson DeMille introduced readers to NYPD Homicide Detective John Corey, who we first meet sitting on the back porch of his uncle’s waterfront estate on Long Island, convalescing from wounds incurred in the line of duty. A visit from the local Chief of Police results in the legendary Detective Corey becoming involved in the investigation of the murders of a married couple who were scientists at the top-secret biological research facility on Plum Island.
Fast forward through six more bestselling John Corey novels and The Maze opens with Corey on the same porch, but now in forced retirement from his last job as a Federal Agent with the Diplomatic Surveillance Group. Corey is restless and looking for action, so when his former lover, Detective Beth Penrose, appears with a job offer, Corey has to once again make some decisions about his career—and about reuniting with Beth Penrose.
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(John Corey Mysteries)
Ranger Faith
by Lynn Shannon
Rating: 4.7 #ad
It’s a deadly holiday season…
Last Christmas, profiler Emilia Sanchez barely escaped the clutches of a serial killer. All she wants is to forget the incident and move on with her life, especially since the murderer is dead. But when she receives a poinsettia along with a threatening message, it triggers Emilia’s worst fears—that she’s not safe after all.
Texas Ranger Bennett Knox has steered clear of Emilia since the day he rescued her from a killer. The beautiful profiler is smart and brave, but Bennett knows his presence brings back painful memories. The case has always haunted him too. He had concerns with the way the investigation ended…
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(Texas Ranger Heroes Mysteries)
The Burning Hollow
by Ryan Schow
Rating: 4.6 #ad
A fourth-generation farm… …tucked into the Tennessee holler.
Is this the Banks family’s best chance of surviving the EMP? In the near future, in the picturesque town of Burning Hollow, Tennessee, a century-old squabble between two families is brewing. For four generations, blood has spilled between the patriarchs, shifting the tides of power. But after each significant change, a new war begins.
It’s that time again…
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(Sunset on America Mysteries)
“A” is for Alibi
by Sue Grafton
Rating: 4.3 #ad
A IS FOR AVENGER A tough-talking former cop, private investigator Kinsey Millhone has set up a modest detective agency in a quiet corner of Santa Teresa, California. A twice-divorced loner with few personal possessions and fewer personal attachments, she’s got a soft spot for underdogs and lost causes.
A IS FOR ACCUSED That’s why she draws desperate clients like Nikki Fife. Eight years ago, she was convicted of killing her philandering husband. Now she’
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(A Kinsey Millhone Mysteries)
The Vampire of Sacramento
by Genoveva Ortiz
Rating: 4.1 #ad
Even the coldest-blooded killer was once a child.
Richard Trenton Chase started life without a hitch. Popular and well-liked, his future looked bright as the Cali sun… but those around knew nothing of the dark truths that he fostered. His parents’ marriage was rapidly falling apart, and soon he began to suffer from strange health problems. Rapidly declining, he decided there was only one solution…
… and that was blood.
Richard’s childhood fascination with death became a full-blown psychotic obsession, and the fear of losing his blood drove him to butcher and consume animals. In time, however, this wasn’t enough, and Richard turned to larger game.
The Big Dark Sky
by Dean Koontz
Rating: 4.3 #ad
A group of strangers bound by terrifying synchronicity becomes humankind’s hope of survival in an exhilarating, twist-filled novel by Dean Koontz, the #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense.
As a girl, Joanna Chase thrived on Rustling Willows Ranch in Montana until tragedy upended her life. Now thirty-four and living in Santa Fe with only misty memories of the past, she begins to receive pleas—by phone, through her TV, in her dreams: I am in a dark place, Jojo. Please come and help me. Heeding the disturbing appeals, Joanna is compelled to return to Montana, and to a strange childhood companion she had long forgotten…
Storm’s Revenge
by Mary Stone
Rating: 4.7 #ad
Revenge is sweet. But justice is sweeter.
Seven months ago, one of the FBI’s own went missing without a trace. The forensic analyst was smart and beautiful, and she had been dating Joseph Larson…the same man who’d been working with the Chicago PD to investigate the young woman’s missing persons case. The same man who’d just been forced to resign from the Bureau.
Something’s terribly wrong, FBI Special Agent Amelia Storm knows it in her gut. But knowing and proving are two very different things.
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(Amelia Storm FBI Mysteries)
Wednesday’s Mystery eBooks
Body Over Troubled Waters
by Denise Swanson
Rating: 4.7 #ad
Love is deadly. Stupid Cupid is making School psychologist Skye Denison-Boyd regret returning to work after her maternity leave. It starts with an emergency school lockdown, continues with her godfather’s arrest by the state police, and ends with a dead body!
It’s every teacher and administrator’s worst nightmare—a school shooter lockdown. And even worse for Skye because she’s trapped in a tiny room with the district’s creepy superintendent, Dr. Wraige while they wait for the all-clear.
When Dr. Wraige turns up dead in his home just a short time later, is it a coincidence, or something more?
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(Welcome Back to Scumble River Mysteries)
The Art of Betrayal
by Connie Berry
Rating: 4.6 #ad
In Connie Berry’s third Kate Hamilton mystery, American antique dealer Kate Hamilton’s spring is cut short when a body turns up at the May Fair pageant.
Spring is a magical time in England–bluebells massing along the woodland paths, primrose and wild thyme dotting the meadows. Antiques dealer Kate Hamilton is spending the month of May in the Suffolk village of Long Barston, enjoying precious time with Detective Inspector Tom Mallory. While attending the May Fair, the annual pageant based on a well-known Anglo-Saxon folktale, a body turns up in the middle of the festivities…
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(A Kate Hamilton Mysteries)
Shadow Falling
by Rebecca Zanetti
Rating: 4.5 #ad
In the New York Times bestselling author’s post-apocalyptic romantic adventure, a former FBI agent gets close to a man she can’t trust – or resist.
Before the Scorpius Syndrome tore through North America and nearly wiped out the population, Vivienne Wellington was the FBI’s best profiler. Now she’s one of the very few who survived infection. When she woke up from a drug-fueled nightmare of captivity, her trust in her fellow man had gone from shaky to nonexistent. Her mysterious rescuer wants to convince her he’s the exception. But no matter how tempting he is, with his angel’s eyes and devil’s tongue, Vinnie knows she shouldn’t trust him.
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(The Scorpius Syndrome Mysteries)
The Case of the Baited Hook
by Erle Stanley Gardner
Rating: 4.6 #ad
When a dead body is discovered soon after, Mason feels the hook – but how can one prove the innocence of a person whose identity is unknown?
Suspecting he’s been set up, but curious nonetheless, Perry sets out to solve the mystery from the ground up, beginning with the face behind the veil. The more he learns, the more complex his investigation becomes. Uncovering a convoluted case of stock fraud, divorce, and inheritance, Mason’s nearly left reeling – that is until, with the help of Della Street and Paul Drake, he pulls off one of his most daring gambits ever to finally cast light on the killer…
Surface With Daring
by Douglas Reeman
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Though one of the most important ships in the Royal Navy, she’s not much to look at; she’s only 54 feet long, with no defensive armament. But her four-man crew knows that the outcome of the war could depend on this midget submarine.
Seaton, her commander, understands what his men face. There is the boredom, the discomfort, the jealousy and bickering; already they have confronted enormous dangers on desperate raids into Norway. Now, poised for the attack on a secret Nazi rocket installation, Seaton must hold his crew together for the hell that awaits them…
The Dark Verse
by M. Amanuensis Sharkchild
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Twenty-six short stories of occult, metaphysical, and fantastical horror that will follow you to the visions of your sleep.
The Dark Verse is a multiverse of Lovecraftian horror, spanning different realms and times, that touches upon evils that transcend the knowable. Whether a galactic entity that casts flesh off the wicked, a scientist harnessing the power of metamorphosis, or a diabolical overlord that torments souls in a dimension of unrelenting pain, there is no escape from the occult horrors that await you within the innumerable folios of The Dark Verse.
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(The Dark Verse Mysteries)
The Heart of a Hussar
by Griffin Brady
Rating: 4.5 #ad
He’s determined to protect his country. But can he defend himself against the ultimate betrayal?
Muscovy, 1610. Jacek Dąbrowski yearns to be recognized for his valor. Hoping his recent promotion to lieutenant will help secure the lands he desires, the twenty-two-year-old Polish cavalry officer earns instead the enmity of his captain. And his out-of-character rescue of two innocents from slaughter sets in motion a chain of grave consequences.
Discovering the young woman and her brother are not Russian enemies and have no kin, Dąbrowski escorts them back to the castle in his homeland. But as the rivalry with his superior grows and the blossoming beauty sparks a fire in his heart, the brave horseman may find his dreams of glory lying in tatters.
Tuesday’s Mystery eBooks
Spells & Shelves
by Elle Adams
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Bookshop assistant Aurora “Rory” Hawthorn thinks reality will never be as interesting as fiction. Content to spend her time escaping into a good book to avoid her micromanaging boss, the very last thing she expects is to be cornered by a group of terrifying strangers hunting down a journal that belonged to her late father.
It turns out Dad was keeping a secret or two… most importantly, that he was a wizard, and that Rory has a hidden magical family she’s never met. When her witchy relatives invite her to live with them in their enchanted library on the south coast of England, it’s literally a dream come true.
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(A Library Witch Mysteries)
The Excursion
by T.O. Paine
Rating: 3.9 #ad
ESCAPE WAS NEVER AN OPTION
Charly Highsmith is a survivor. Abandoned by her parents, she spent her teens looking after her autistic brother on the bitter streets of Denver, Colorado, with nothing but a jacket and a backpack.
But things are better now. Charly and Jacob live in a two-bedroom apartment near a mall, and with the passing of their long-lost father, they’ve inherited a cabin high in the Rocky Mountains. Charly’s eager to go there. Relive the good times she had as a child, running through the forest with Jacob and her cousins.
Amanda the Overachiever. Cam the Recluse. But when they arrive, the cabin isn’t empty.
Barry the Millionaire. Kennedy the Social Media Magnet. Randall the Hunter.
Three Days Clueless
by Luana Ehrlich
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Mylas Grey is determined to find the person who shot a politician in broad daylight. There’s just one problem. The killer left no clues behind. Zip. Zilch. Nada.
Mylas gets involved in an intriguing case of MURDER… When Mylas arrives in his hometown to spend time with Whitney, he agrees to help his father, a local private detective, examine the files of a politician who was murdered in cold blood.
Mylas gets involved in an intriguing case of murder with NO CLUES… The wife of the slain politician believes her husband’s murder is connected to his duties as a state legislator, but the police find no clues to his murder and no evidence to support her claim.
Mylas gets involved in an intriguing case of murder with no clues BUT ONE…
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(Mylas Grey Mysteries)
Plum Lucky
by Janet Evanovich
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Looking to get lucky? Stephanie Plum is back between-the-numbers and she’s looking to get lucky in an Atlantic City hotel room, in a Winnebago, and with a brown-eyed stud who has stolen her heart.
Stephanie Plum has a way of attracting danger, lunatics, oddballs, bad luck . . . and mystery men. And no one is more mysterious than the unmentionable Diesel. He’s back and hot on the trail of a little man in green pants who’s lost a giant bag of money. Problem is, the money isn’t exactly lost. Stephanie’s Grandma Mazur has found it, and like any good Jersey senior citizen, she’s hightailed it in a Winnebago to Atlantic City and hit the slots.
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(A Stephanie Plum Mysteries)
Books of Horror Community Anthology Vol. 1-3 Omnibus
by Multiple Authors
Rating: 4.0 #ad
Books of Horror Community Anthology volumes 1-3 (Four books in total) now in one complete omnibus. With well over 150 stories that span every nook and cranny of the horror genre-from first time authors, as well as established veterans-this massive tome is sure to entertain, chill, and give you that adrenalin rush every horror reader seeks.
“There are some very, very well written stories in here. They are creepy as Hell. There are some that linger even after putting it down and one actually gave me nightmares. Read at your own risk.” by Amazon Customer
“Like with all anthologies, there’s something for everyone here – lighter, harder, spookier, and gorier. Big book of horror smorgasbord!” by Amazon Customer
Six Years
by Harlan Coben
Rating: 4.3 #ad
Six years have passed since Jake Fisher watched Natalie, the love of his life, marry another man. Six years of hiding a broken heart by throwing himself into his career as a college professor. Six years of keeping his promise to leave Natalie alone, and six years of tortured dreams of her life with her new husband, Todd.
But six years haven’t come close to extinguishing his feelings, and when Jake comes across Todd’s obituary, he can’t keep himself away from the funeral. There he gets the glimpse of Todd’s wife he’s hoping for…but she is not Natalie.
Dark King
by C.N. Crawford
Rating: 4.3 #ad
A snarky fae, a sexy king, and forbidden desire deep as the sea.
Once, I was a fae princess with sea-magic at my fingertips. Now? I’m a hunted supernatural in a squalid shop, stripped of my power. My only comforts are stale cookies, Elvis records, and my hula-hoop. Until a lethally sexy fae king arrives and rips even those away.
After the brutal king throws me in prison, I strike a bargain with him: my freedom in exchange for helping him find a magic blade. What Lyr doesn’t know is that the blade might restore my stolen magic. But as we journey, the gorgeous jerk is starting to make me feel things I’ve never felt. When Lyr touches me, desire ignites.
Echoes of the Past
by Iris Blobel
Rating: 4.5 #ad
When Connor Walsh, a business lawyer in London, receives news that his estranged father is terminally ill, he returns to Fermosa Bay, a little coastal town in Australia. With the memories of his childhood years tucked away in the back of his mind, he finds his father and kindergarten friends rallying around to remind him of the past. But he’s unprepared for the growing attraction he feels for Emily, and it doesn’t take long for Connor to feel regret that his life could have been so much different.
Emily Bradshaw has waited for over twenty years to see Connor again. And although he can’t remember her, let alone their first kiss, her childhood crush is still in full swing. Eager to pick up where they left off as children, she’s determined to enjoy the short time he is in Fermosa Bay, accepting her heart will break when he returns to his life in London.
Monday’s Mystery eBooks
Double Wide
by Gretchen Archer
Rating: 4.5 #ad
True or False: Bellissimo Resort and Casino Super Spy Davis Way Cole, her partner, Fantasy Erb, and a trivia queen named Mango Matisse are kidnapped. The answer is true. Stuffed in the storage compartment of a motorhome, the women are abducted from a golf course and abandoned on a ravaged barrier island somewhere in the Gulf.
Fill in the blank: Did the kidnapper get it wrong? Did he kidnap Davis thinking she was__________?
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(A Davis Way Crime Caper Mysteries)
STARBOARD EIGHT
by BRIAN CASEY
Rating: 4.9 #ad
When a violent incident proves the final straw for his parents, troubled teenager Jesse is sent away to join the Blue Water School. Here, youngsters in need of direction and guidance live and work aboard sailing ships in the Caribbean. Despite the exotic setting Jesse faces demanding physical, academic and personal challenges. Along with the colorful collection of fellow teens in ‘starboard eight’ he encounters The Bermuda Triangle, ‘St Elmo’s Fire’, pirate treasure, a devastating hurricane and a first real romance. His voyage culminates with the American bicentennial celebrations in New York City and an overdue reconciliation with his parents.
Based on the author’s experiences, this vital adventure offers a powerful evocation of another time and place and a compelling exploration of familial and fraternal relationships.
The Hostess with the Ghostess
by E. J. Copperman
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Solving a murder way too close to home, Alison Kerby can’t catch a break.
If Alison Kerby really wanted peace and quiet, she never should have opened the Haunted Guesthouse. The Jersey Shore lodge’s latest polter-guest is Richard Harrison, the recently murdered brother of long-time resident ghost PI Paul Harrison.
Alas, a beyond-the-grave brotherly reunion is nowhere in the foreseeable future—phantasmal Paul left the guesthouse months ago for parts unknown, and for all her ghost-whispering prowess, Alison has no idea how to find him. And she’s going to need Paul, because Richard’s isn’t the only murder still unsolved.
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(A Haunted Guesthouse Mysteries)
In Her Eyes
by Sarah Alderson
Rating: 4.3 #ad
You’re at home with your family. You think you’re safe. You’re wrong . . .
Ava’s life is the kind other people envy: loving husband; great kids; beautiful house. Until a violent home invasion turns the dream into a nightmare and leaves her daughter fighting to survive. This wasn’t a random attack and Ava is reeling from the knowledge that someone is targeting her family. Who could hate them enough to kill?
To save those she loves from even greater danger Ava must find out what really happened that night. But when everyone around her has been lying, how will she decide who to trust? And with her own secrets threatening to come to light, can she even trust herself?
Eversion
by Alastair Reynolds
Rating: 4.3 #ad
In the 1800s, a sailing ship crashes off the coast of Norway. In the 1900s, a Zepellin explores an icy canyon in Antarctica. In the far future, a spaceship sets out for an alien artifact. Each excursion goes horribly wrong. And on every journey, Dr. Silas Coade is the physician, but only Silas seems to realize that these events keep repeating themselves. And it’s up to him to figure out why and how. And how to stop it all from happening again.
The 14th Colony
by Steve Berry
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Shot down over Siberia, ex-Justice Department agent Cotton Malone is forced into a fight for survival against Aleksandr Zorin, a man whose loyalty to the former Soviet Union has festered for decades into an intense hatred of the United States.
Before escaping, Malone learns that Zorin and another ex-KGB officer, this one a sleeper still embedded in the West, are headed overseas to Washington D.C. Noon on January 20th—Inauguration Day—is only hours away. A flaw in the Constitution, and an even more flawed presidential succession act, have opened the door to disaster and Zorin intends to exploit both weaknesses to their fullest.
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(Cotton Malone Mysteries)
Looking Glass Cottage
by Hope Callaghan
Rating: 4.7 #ad
Morgan Easton Greer is forced to pick up the pieces and start over after her world is shattered by a series of tragic events including a failing marriage and losing her mother.
Shortly after her mother’s death, a mysterious letter arrives, inviting Morgan to a remote island for the reading of her mother’s will… a will she had no idea existed.
The Searcher
by Tana French
Rating: 4.3 #ad
Cal Hooper thought a fixer-upper in a bucolic Irish village would be the perfect escape. After twenty-five years in the Chicago police force and a bruising divorce, he just wants to build a new life in a pretty spot with a good pub where nothing much happens. But when a local kid whose brother has gone missing arm-twists him into investigating, Cal uncovers layers of darkness beneath his picturesque retreat, and starts to realize that even small towns shelter dangerous secrets.
Family Unbroken
by Jacie Middlemann
Rating: 4.4 #ad
The villa in Espinola reveals many of Jeremy’s carefully guarded secrets…the long forgotten centuries old paintings found in the attic are just the beginning…
Family Unbroken is the second book in the Delahass Legacy series, the continuing saga of one family’s search for answers to a mystery rooted in historical events that took place generations ago in the later years of the twenty-first century.
Ann Delahass has always wanted to visit the place that her ancestor, Jeremy Delahass, had been inspired by when he built his home, Nolbeloir House. It is one of life’s many mysteries she hoped to find an answer to. She and two of her cousins, David and Paul Delahass, have decided to finally make the trip to Espinola in the hope of visiting the old school and learning what they can from it.
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(The Delahass Legacy)