Friday’s Mystery eBooks
Bad Housekeeping
by Maia Chance
Rating: 3.9 #ad
Danger mounts, deadlines loom, ancient knob-and-tube wiring is explored—and the ladies of Stagecoach Inn learn a thing or two about the awful, wonderful mistake that is going back home.
When 28-year-old Agnes Blythe, the contented bifocals-wearing half of an academic power couple, is jilted by her professor boyfriend for the town Pilates instructor, her future is suddenly less than certain. So when her glamorous, eccentric Great Aunt Effie arrives in town and offers a job helping to salvage the condemned Stagecoach Inn, what does Agnes have to lose?
OFF GRID
by J. P. Redding
Rating: 4.5 #ad
How Long Can They Hide From The Surveillance State?
From the halls of D.C. to the remote shores of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, OFF GRID is a wild ride through a dystopian near future of mass surveillance.
In the wake of a global calamity, the economy collapses. The Feds respond by wielding every power of the Welfare State to control the populace. A key tool is PivPal, an indispensable smartphone used to track citizens. As civil liberties crumble, resistance is relegated to flyover country whose residents – derided as off-gridders – cling to the time – honored virtues of freedom, self-reliance, and charity…
Desert God
by Wilbur Smith
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Game of Thrones meets Ancient Egypt in this magnificent, action-packed epic. On the gleaming banks of the Nile, the brilliant Taita—slave and advisor to the Pharaoh—finds himself at the center of a vortex of passion, intrigue, and danger. His quest to destroy the Hyksos army and form an alliance with Crete takes him on an epic journey up the Nile, through Arabia and the magical city of Babylon, and across the open seas. With the future of Egypt itself on his shoulders, Taita enters a world where the line between loyalty and betrayal shifts like the desert sands, evil enemies await in the shadows, and death lingers on the edges of darkness.
Check out:
(The Egyptian Mysteries)
Within and Without Time
by D. I. Hennessey
Rating: 4.8 #ad
When a sixteen-year-old boy is suddenly caught up in a series of miraculous encounters, it heralds an adventure that will transform his life, rock his town, and trigger events that will ultimately change the world!
Befriended by a powerful angelic warrior, Jimmy finds himself in the center of God’s plan for Earth’s final Great Revival. The beginning of God’s amazing harvest at the End of the Age. Like an intense roller coaster, the journey he experiences is exciting and unpredictable. Heartwarming, as well as heart-rending. God prepares him for a mission more extraordinary than anything he could have imagined, placing him in the rare company of ancient prophets and apostles alike.
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(Within & Without Time Mysteries)
Snakebite
by Heather Ramsay
Rating: 4.5 #ad
The Alpha Squad—an elite United Nations military unit tasked with stopping the world’s most dangerous arms dealers. Their existence is shrouded in secrecy, hidden away in the New Mexico desert.
Phoenix is their newest recruit. Where she came from, nobody knows. Not even Phoenix herself. Amnesia has left her with no past, no identity. The squad is all she has. She wants to prove she belongs there – to the other soldiers, to herself, and to her commanding officer, the formidable General Cobra. Cobra is cold, hard, ruthless. And Phoenix knows he doesn’t trust her…
Check out:
(Alpha Squad Mysteries)
“J” is for Judgment
by Sue Grafton
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Five years ago, when Jaffe’s thirty-five-foot Fuji ketch was found drifting off the Baja coast, it seemed a sure thing he’d gone overboard. The note he left behind admitted he was flat broke, his business bankrupt, his real estate gambit nothing but a huge Ponzi scheme about to collapse, with criminal indictment certain to follow. When the authorities soon after descended on his banks and his books, there was nothing left: Jaffe had stripped the lot.
Check out:
(Kinsey Millhone Mysteries)
Trials of the Century
by Mark J. Phillips
Rating: 4.9 #ad
This book tells the story of each murder case and the dramatic trial-and media coverage-that followed. Starting with the murder of famed architect Stanford White in 1906 and ending with the O.J. Simpson trial of 1994, the authors recount ten compelling tales spanning the century.
The most noteworthy cases are here – including the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, the Sam Sheppard murder trial (“The Fugitive”), the “Helter Skelter” murders of Charles Manson, and the O.J. Simpson murder trial. But some cases that today are lesser known also provide fascinating glimpses into the tenor of the time: the media sensation created by yellow journalist William Randolph Hearst around the murder trial of 1920s movie star Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle; the murder of the Scarsdale Diet guru by an elite prep-school headmistress in the 1980s; and more.
The Phantom of Crowford Theatre
by Amy Cross
Rating: 4.4 #ad
The year is 2011, and Crowford Theatre is struggling for survival. Ambitious new manager Cassie Carter is determined to turn the theatre around, but the local council has other ideas and Cassie’s health is starting to fail. Meanwhile, strange noises at night hint at a mysterious presence lurking somewhere in the building, and every production seems cursed.
Cassie soon discovers that the theatre’s past is filled with tragedy, and that one particular tragedy has started leaking into the present day. As she prepares to stage a brand new production of a classic play by a local author, Cassie finds herself forced to confront the spirit of a vengeful, long-dead author. But a sinister discovery, hidden deep within the theatre itself, hints at an even darker and more shocked secret.
Check out:
(The Ghosts of Crowford Mysteries)
Thursday’s Mystery eBooks
Renewed for Murder
by Victoria Gilbert
Rating: 4.4 #ad
August in Taylorsford, Virginia finds library director Amy Webber and her new husband, dancer Richard Muir, settling into married life–and a new project. Richard and his dance partner, Karla, are choreographing a suite based on folk music and folk tales, while Amy scours the library’s resources to supply background information on the dance’s source material. But the mellifluous music comes to a jarring halt when an unknown woman’s body turns up in Zelda Shoemaker’s backyard gazebo.
Chief Deputy Brad Tucker puts Zelda at the top of his suspect list, thanks to a blackmail letter he finds in the dead woman’s pocket. Zelda’s best friend, Amy’s aunt Lydia Talbot, begs Amy to use her research skills to clear Zelda’s name. But the task is confounded by Zelda’s very out-of-character refusal to reveal why the victim might have blackmailed her.
Check out:
(A Blue Ridge Library Mysteries)
Dying Breath
by Liz Mistry
Rating: 4.7 #ad
The killer is closing in… can she find him before he finds her?
When Detective Nikki Parekh receives a set of threatening postcards, she knows it can only mean one thing… The man who escaped arrest after murdering her mother two years ago is back.
Each postcard has a similar message: You’re next Parekh.
As the post marks on the cards gradually get closer to Bradford, Nikki must do everything she can to protect her family and catch the killer before it’s too late.
Who Slays the Wicked
by C. S. Harris
Rating: 4.6 #ad
The death of a fiendish nobleman strikes close to home as Sebastian St. Cyr is tasked with finding the killer to save his young cousin from persecution in this riveting new historical mystery from the USA Today bestselling author of Why Kill the Innocent….
When the handsome but dissolute young gentleman Lord Ashworth is found brutally murdered, Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, is called in by Bow Street magistrate Sir Henry Lovejoy to help catch the killer. Just seven months before, Sebastian had suspected Ashworth of aiding one of his longtime friends and companions in the kidnapping and murder of a string of vulnerable street children. But Sebastian was never able to prove Ashworth’s complicity. Nor was he able to prevent his troubled, headstrong young niece Stephanie from entering into a disastrous marriage with the dangerous nobleman.
Check out:
(Sebastian St. Cyr Mysteries)
Bridge to Brigadoon
by Stephanie Parker McKean
Rating: 4.7 #ad
In one of the wackiest Miz Mike adventures ever, successful writer Michal Allison Rice is packed off to Scotland by her son and daughter-in-law for a vacation. They believe the trip will heal her broken heart—and hope that it will teach her to mind her own business. Mike does not want to go to Scotland. It is COLD there. And once in Scotland, she doesn’t want to stay. Hotdogs come in cans, dill pickles are non-existent and driving on the wrong side of the road terrifies her. However, when elderly Ross Granger is killed, Mike feels responsible and sets out in search of the killer.
Nearly killed herself, Mike is faced with a dilemma: no one believes her. She is viewed as “an American stushie-maker.” But the gravest danger of all proves to be the Reverend Alan Evan Kirkland, a Scottish widower who befriends her, then demands the one thing in repayment that she is unwilling to give – her heart.
Rosemarked
by Livia Blackburne
Rating: 4.4 #ad
A terminally ill healer… Zivah was once her village’s most promising young healer, mastering potions that altered both body and mind. But when she’s conscripted to treat a battalion of grievously ill soldiers, Zivah contracts the deadly rose plague. Now she’s doomed to a slow, solitary death, cut off from everyone she loves.
A broken warrior… Dineas grew up fighting to free his people from the Amparan empire, but capture and torture have left him shattered. Though he’s now escaped from the emperor’s dungeons, he cannot outrun the lingering effects of his trauma…
Check out:
(Umbertouched)
Afraid to Die
by Lisa Jackson
Rating: 4.6 #ad
The town of Grizzly Falls, Montana, is still on edge in the wake of a serial killer’s capture. Thanks to Detectives Selena Alvarez and Regan Pescoli, the nightmare is over. But a new one is about to unfold. There are two victims so far—their bodies found frozen solid and deliberately displayed. Both are women Selena knew. And each wears a piece of her jewelry.
Selena, Regan, and the entire department are on the case, as is P.I. Dylan O’Keefe—a man Selena got too close to once before. But this killer already knows too much about Selena’s secret terror, her flaws, and the past she’s tried to outrun. And soon he’ll show her that she has every reason to be afraid.
Check out:
(An Alvarez & Pescoli Mysteries)
Wastelands
by Multiple Authors
Rating: 4.6 #ad
In WASTELANDS: THE NEW APOCALYPSE, veteran anthology editor John Joseph Adams is once again our guide through the wastelands using his genre and editorial expertise to curate his finest collection of post-apocalyptic short fiction yet. Whether the end comes via nuclear war, pandemic, climate change, or cosmological disaster, these stories explore the extraordinary trials and tribulations of those who survive.
Featuring never-before-published tales by: Veronica Roth, Hugh Howey, Jonathan Maberry, Seanan McGuire, Tananarive Due, Richard Kadrey, Scott Sigler, Elizabeth Bear, Tobias S. Buckell, Meg Elison, Greg van Eekhout, Wendy N. Wagner, Jeremiah Tolbert, and Violet Allen–plus, recent reprints by: Carmen Maria Machado, Carrie Vaughn, Ken Liu, Paolo Bacigalupi, Kami Garcia, Charlie Jane Anders, Catherynne M. Valente, Jack Skillingstead, Sofia Samatar, Maureen F. McHugh, Nisi Shawl, Adam-Troy Castro, Dale Bailey, Susan Jane Bigelow, Corinne Duyvis, Shaenon K. Garrity, Nicole Kornher-Stace, Darcie Little Badger, Timothy Mudie, and Emma Osborne.
Essential Grief
by Kathleen Flynn
Rating: 5.0 #ad
This book’s stories are focused on grieving losses from the death of humans and pets. There is a myriad of losses such as loss of: a job; dreams; aging; relationships; and many more
What Kathleen Flynn shares here can be applied toward many types of loss.
As a chaplain, minister, and grief counselor, Flynn chooses to focus on death, as it seems to be that loss, perhaps the finality of it, paralyzes us from taking action to mediate our grief. It is the finality of death, often with related trauma and with suddenness, that can immobilize us. All losses have contributed to the author’s understanding of the essentials of grief.
Wednesday’s Mystery eBooks
Puzzle at Peacock Perch
by Suzanne Rudd Hamilton
Rating: 4.0 #ad
Can a group of senior amateur detectives solve the mystery and find their missing neighbor?
Willow Wisteria disappeared, but not without a trace. Now it’s up to Madame Sleuth and the members of the Secret Senior Sleuths Society of Peacock Perch to find out what happened to her. They’ve set aside their bingo and bridge games and daily tennis and pickle ball matches to investigate “The Case of the Vanishing Vixen.” They’ll use all their cunning, life experience and the knowledge from their former occupations to follow the trail of gossip and social media posts about Willow to gather clues and find suspects with means, motive and opportunity.
Chasing Whispers
by Jennifer Youngblood
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Chasing Whispers will draw you in from the first page with its mystery and intrigue. The matters of the heart will leave a promise of hope that will stay with you long after the last page has been turned.
Not only is Talon dangerously handsome with his crooked smile and adorable dimple, but he also happens to be the oldest son of one of the wealthiest families on the East Coast. The more Effie tries to evade Talon, the harder he pursues her.
Effie is reluctant to get involved with Talon because of their work relationship and also because of the whispers of suspicion surrounding his ex-wife’s disappearance.
Check out:
(The Honeysuckle Island Mysteries)
Choppy Water
by Stuart Woods
Rating: 4.4 #ad
In this exhilarating new thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Stuart Woods, Stone Barrington must go up against an enemy with deadly intentions–and ideologies.
Stone Barrington and his friends are vacationing in Maine when their leisure is suddenly disrupted by extreme weather. To make matters worse, the inclement conditions allow for a menacing adversary to sneak in unnoticed and deliver a chilling message. Soon it becomes clear that the target of the incident is one of Stone’s closest companions, and that these enemies have a grander scheme in mind.
Check out:
(A Stone Barrington Mysteries)
“F” is for Fugitive
by Sue Grafton
Rating: 4.4 #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. “Like mother, like daughter,” some said–though never within hearing of Shana Timberlake, who, whatever her faults, still mourned her murdered child.
Check out:
(Kinsey Millhone Mysteries)
Rescue My Heart
by Lorana Hoopes
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Find out in this gripping romantic suspense by USA Today best-selling author Lorana Hoopes. Fans of Alana Terry, Susan May Warren, and Margaret Daly will love this spine-tingling ride filled with danger, intrigue, tension, and the tough topic of Human Trafficking.
Can she save her sister in a race against time? Detective Al Parker’ hasn’t spoken with her sister in weeks, but when she finds out Nicole has gone missing, she’ll do whatever it takes to find her. However, she didn’t plan on having to team up with the man she thought was out of her life forever.
Grant Dickson thought he’d left his past behind and it would never resurface, but when he’s forced to return to the place that broke his heart, will he be able to do his job?
Check out:
(The Men of Fire Beach Mysteries)
Going Rogue
by Janet Evanovich
Rating: 4.8 #ad
A BRAND NEW RELEASE
Monday mornings aren’t supposed to be fun, but they should be predictable. However, on this particular Monday, Stephanie Plum knows that something is amiss when she turns up for work at Vinnie’s Bail Bonds to find that longtime office manager Connie Rosolli, who is as reliable as the tides in Atlantic City, hasn’t shown up.
Stephanie’s worst fears are confirmed when she gets a call from Connie’s abductor. He says he will only release her in exchange for a mysterious coin that a recently murdered man left as collateral for his bail. Unfortunately, this coin, which should be in the office – just like Connie – is nowhere to be found.
Check out:
(Stephanie Plum Mysteries)
Finding Home
by Lorhainne Eckhart
Rating: 4.5 #ad
What happens when a family loses everything and has no place to go?
Terrance Mack has a wife and two young boys. Never in a million years did he expect to find his family living on the streets, with no home, no jobs, in a position where everything they owned has been taken from them in the cruelest of ways. As the family struggles to stay together, they encounter a hard and unfriendly way of life, having to move from town to town, being harassed by the police and by locals, and confronting danger each day. Living on the streets is nothing as he expected.
All Terrance wants for his family is for someone to give them a chance—a chance for a new beginning, a roof over their heads, the opportunity to once again build a life without constant fear, having to look over their shoulders, feeling as if the rug will continue to be yanked out from under them again and again.
Demystifying Enlightenment
by Dennis Macy
Rating: 4.1 #ad
Do you long to know how your loved ones are doing in Heaven? Are you curious about the afterlife? Do you miss your late family members and yearn to ask them about their heavenly existence? Intrigued by the astonishing wisdom of other celestial residents? Dennis Macy, who possesses highly sensitive enhanced abilities, has helped countless individuals by delivering messages from the other side. Now he’s here to provide you with the comfort and understanding that comes from communicating with those who have passed on. Demystifying Enlightenment is a glimpse into what angels, spirits, and our dearly departed want us to know. With answers to the most frequently asked questions entwined with accounts of his real encounters to support them, Macy offers an insight into the world we live in and the one to come. You’ll be prepared to make the right decisions to shape a better future for yourself and others.
Tuesday’s Mystery eBooks
Spelling the Tea
by Erin Johnson
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Welcome to the coziest, vampire-owned tea room in Bath! It’s steeped in magic and mystery.
You’re supposed to support your guy, right? Even if it means moving away from the watery source of your witchy magic and suffering through five years of writer’s block?
Minnie Wells thought so, until her soon-to-be-ex left her high and dry for another woman.
Now, she’s back in Bath, with the magic of the town’s enchanted springs flowing through her veins, ready to explore her newbie witch powers and pen her novel. Bath inspired her favorite writer Jane Austen, after all. Why wouldn’t it work for her?
Check out:
(The Magical Tea Room Mysteries)
Dark in Death
by J. D. Robb
Rating: 4.7 #ad
It was a stab in the dark.
On a chilly February night, during a screening of Psycho in midtown, someone sunk an ice pick into the back of Chanel Rylan’s neck, then disappeared quietly into the crowds of drunks and tourists in Times Square. To Chanel’s best friend, who had just slipped out of the theater for a moment to take a call, it felt as unreal as the ancient black-and-white movie up on the screen. But Chanel’s blood ran red, and her death was anything but fictional…
Check out:
(In Death Mysteries)
Downfall
by Angela D. Shelton
Rating: 4.5 #ad
The only thing anyone wants to talk about lately is the stupid virus that’s making people sick around the globe. But thirteen-year-old Lizzy Tilbrook has bigger things on her mind, like winning her class presidency.
It’s the first stepping-stone in her plan to get into Yale. Then she’ll capture the title of Atlanta’s top lawyer.
Lizzy doesn’t need friends to do that – she needs voters. She’ll do anything to win them over and take down her rival. The new pandemic is just a speed bump along the way. Or so she thinks.
Check out:
(Collapse Mysteries)
The Forbidden
by Heather Graham
Rating: 4.6 #ad
She is someone’s darkest desire
Playing the victim of a vampire king on an island off New Orleans is actress Avalon Morgan’s creepiest role to date. It’s also scary good fun—until the victim of a real killer is discovered on set, laid out for all to see. With production shut down, Avalon can’t stop thinking about the chilling crime scene, or Grayson Avery, the investigator working the case.
With a rising body count and zero leads, Gray can’t help but be impressed by Avalon’s amateur sleuthing, which takes her to the darkest corners of the internet, where killers confess their crimes.
Check out:
(Krewe of Hunters Mysteries)
The Fair Isle Trilogy
by Tessonja Odette
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Every young woman dreams of marrying a king. Everyone except for me. Because the king I am to wed has razor sharp fangs and a thirst for blood…
The Fair Isle Trilogy is a complete series collection, featuring three full length novels in a single volume: To Carve a Fae Heart, To Wear a Fae Crown, and To Spark a Fae War.
The Fair Isle Trilogy Complete Series Collection is an enemies-to-lovers fantasy, perfect for fans of The Cruel Prince, ACOTAR, and The Iron King. If you like snarky fae, brooding fae royals, sizzling romance, and fierce heroines, you’ll love this breathtaking fae fantasy.
Brett Wilson and Coronado’s Door
by John Suter
Rating: 5.0 #ad
On a treasure hunting expedition with her father, Brett Wilson watches her father enter the fabled golden city of Cibola. The joy of discovery quickly turns to tragedy when the city disappears in front of her eyes.
Now in a race against time, Brett must locate the city before her father is lost forever. The only information she has to help her is the tattered old field book of her father and her best friend Natalie’s energy and enthusiasm. Together with Grandpa Jake and Natalie’s mom Dr. Brown, they must decipher the clues in the field book and understand the earth’s hidden properties to locate Cibola’s final position.
“G” is for Gumshoe
by Sue Grafton
Rating: 4.6 #ad
G IS FOR GAME… When Irene Gersh asks PI Kinsey Millhone to locate her elderly mother Agnes, whom she hasn’t heard from in six months, it’s not exactly the kind of case Kinsey jumps for. But a girl’s gotta pay her bills, and this should be easy money—or so she thinks. Kinsey finds Agnes in a hospital. Aside from her occasional memory lapses, the octogenarian seems fine. And frightened.
G IS FOR GUN… Kinsey doesn’t know what to make of Agnes’s vague fears and bizarre ramblings, but she’s got her own worries. It seems Tyrone Patty, a criminal she helped put behind bars, is looking to make a hit. First, Kinsey’s car is run off the road, and then days later, she’s almost gunned down, setting in motion a harrowing cat and mouse game… G IS FOR GUMSHOE
Check out:
(Kinsey Millhone Mysteries)
A Fool For Love & Money
by John D. Ottini
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Love and Money are two important ingredients in a man’s recipe for happiness. Unfortunately, those same two ingredients under the wrong circumstances can be a man’s recipe for disaster.
Unlucky at love, unemployed and drowning in debt, Thomas Murphy is a man in need of salvation.
When an unexpected gift arrives from an unknown source, Tom is confused, yet elated about his new-found fortune. His luck continues when he runs into an old flame he hasn’t seen in years and sparks begin to fly. Strange how a man’s fate can change when he least expects it – one moment he’s miserable and struggling to make ends meet, and the next he’s back on his feet and looking forward to a bright future… or so Tom thinks.
Captive
by Iris Johansen
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Jane MacGuire is enjoying a period of domestic bliss as she focuses on her art and her partner Seth Caleb uses his unique abilities as an agent for the MI6 intelligence service. But when Seth crosses crime lord Hugh Bohdan, he incurs the wrath of one of the world’s most powerful criminal empires…one whose tentacles reach across the globe and even to the idyllic Scottish retreat where Jane is working.
Soon Jane is on the run, struggling to stay one step ahead of Bohdan’s army and his devastating high-tech weaponry. Even with the assistance of Earl John MacDuff, she finds danger at every turn. But with that peril comes an astonishing discovery: a 200-year-old secret on the brink of becoming lost to history.
Check out:
(Eve Duncan Mysteries)