Friday’s Mystery eBooks
Muddled Through
by Barbara Ross
Rating: 4.7 #ad
When Julia spots police cars in front of Lupine Design, she races over. Her sister Livvie works there as a potter. Livvie is unharmed but surrounded by smashed up pottery. The police find the owner Zoey Butterfield digging clay by a nearby bay, but she has no idea who would target her store. Zoey is a vocal advocate for turning four blocks of Main Street into a pedestrian mall on summer weekends. Other shop owners, including her next-door neighbor, are vehemently opposed. Could a small-town fight provoke such destruction? When a murder follows the break-in, it’s up to Julia to dig through the secrets and lies to uncover the truth . . .
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(A Maine Clambake Mysteries)
An American Conspiracy
by Alan C. Moore
Rating: 3.9 #ad
“Secrets are the fuel that keeps this city burning. I thought I could play the game better than anyone…but I was wrong.”
When Representative Madison Gladstone’s first term in Congress is interrupted by the shocking suicide of her longtime mentor, she won’t rest until she discovers the reasons behind his death. Pursuing answers, Madison partners with an enigmatic FBI agent who harbors his own agenda.
As the investigation continues a cryptic message emerges that forces Madison to put her career and life on the line. Coordinated terrorist attacks by a mysterious cabal are pushing the global economy into a downward spiral. When escalating worldwide crisis brings Madison face-to-face with a frightening operation that hits perilously close to home-will she be forced to make a disturbing choice that will alter the world order?
Paint the Hills Red
by Ron Schwab
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Greed. Land. Lawlessness.
These ingredients do not portend a peaceful life in Nebraska’s Pine Ridge country for Dan McClure. Dan’s not afraid to fire a gun, but after a lifetime of fighting, he would rather wield a paintbrush. When he’s thrust into the middle of a range war, however, he has but two options . . . and Dan’s not one to run away from a fight.
Set in 1880s Nebraska, Paint the Hills Red is a story of men – and women – who won’t back down . . . even when it looks as though they should.
Hidden Thrones:The Rise of Darkness
by Russ Scalzo
Rating: 4.5 #ad
As current as this morning’s newspaper, this series will challenge the reader’s belief system, introduce him or her to the invisible world of spiritual warfare, and ensure that the reader will never look at the world in quite the same light ever again.
The spirit world is astir as the coming of the Lord draws near. The mystery swirling around the rise in supernatural activity has attracted much attention. A powerful secret society desperately seeks to harness this mystical power.
Author and prayer warrior Jack Bennett can see evil. His unusual gift catapults him into a spiritual world of angels and demons. Jack’s unique ability makes him the FBI’s newest hire, serving as a consultant for their new Paranormal Division. With Special Agent Frank Lederman, they investigate the improbable and the unexplainable…
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(Hidden Thrones Mysteries)
Murder at Keyhaven Castle
by Clara McKenna
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Between ornate bridal gown fittings and meetings with Lyndy’s distant relatives, Stella finally feels less like an out-of-place American and more like a respected aristocrat. Everything changes as the arrival of an anonymous gift and return of her overbearing father cast a dark shadow over the festivities, conjuring difficult memories and new fears . . .
Tensions intensify when a daytrip to Southampton ends with a suspicious stranger getting trampled by a horse-drawn cab. Before anyone can explain why the victim possessed a newspaper clipping about the upcoming ceremony at Morrington Hall, tragedy strikes again, this time resulting in a murder that turns Stella’s world completely upside down while implicating one of Lyndy’s well-regarded family members . . .
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(A Stella and Lyndy Mysteries)
Heart-Shaped Box
by Joe Hill
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Judas Coyne is a collector of the macabre: a cookbook for cannibals . . . a used hangman’s noose . . . a snuff film. An aging death-metal rock god, his taste for the unnatural is as widely known to his legions of fans as the notorious excesses of his youth. But nothing he possesses is as unlikely or as dreadful as his latest discovery, an item for sale on the Internet, a thing so terribly strange, Jude can’t help but reach for his wallet.
I will “sell” my stepfather’s ghost to the highest bidder. . . .
For a thousand dollars, Jude will become the proud owner of a dead man’s suit, said to be haunted by a restless spirit. He isn’t afraid. He has spent a lifetime coping with ghosts—of an abusive father, of the lovers he callously abandoned, of the bandmates he betrayed. What’s one more?
The House Of York
by Terry Tyler
Rating: 4.0 #ad
When widowed single mother Lisa Grey meets wealthy businessman Elias York, romance blossoms. Alas, she is marrying into a complicated family. Her new sister-in-law doesn’t want to know her, middle brother Gabriel’s marriage flounders under a cloud of infidelity and gambling debts, while the youngest, Richard, keeps his dark secrets well hidden—and his wife suffers in silence.
Lisa and her mother are bonded by a powerful intuition, but on some subjects they dare not voice their fears; neither can explain the terror Lisa feels whenever she walks through the doors of the ancient, imposing York Towers.
Love and loss, abduction, incestuous desires and murderous intent form the basis of this compelling saga in which horrors float just beneath the surface, culminating in a shocking outcome.
Thursday’s Mystery eBooks
Furmidable Foes
by Rita Mae Brown
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Spring arrives in northern Virginia, and as the ground thaws and the peonies begin to bloom a bright magenta, the women of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church prepare for a Homecoming celebration like no other. Harry, Susan Tucker, and their friends are busy planting flowers and trimming hedges to get the church grounds in shape for the big day.
But a note of a menace mars the beautiful spring: The brewery owned by Janice Childs and Mags Nielsen, two members of the gardening committee, gets robbed, with hundreds of dollars in merchandise taken off their delivery trucks in the dead of night. Is this the work of a random thief? Or is something more sinister afoot?
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(Mrs. Murphy Cozy Mysteries)
Rogue State
by Steven Konkoly
Rating: 4.4 #ad
A family runs for its life across the wastelands of a future America on the brink of collapse.
Twenty years in the future, America perches on the edge of collapse, devastated by drought and dwindling resources. California, now a totalitarian surveillance state controlling the lion’s share of the nation’s economy, is on the brink of secession. And family man Nathan Fisher finds himself at the heart of a bloody conspiracy that threatens the lives of his loved ones and the future of the country itself. Pursued by Mason Flagg and the sinister Cerberus organization, Nathan and his embattled family—accompanied by tough-as-nails Marine David Quinn—make a desperate run across the blasted wastes of the western United States, seeking sanctuary in Nevada.
Sheriff Rick
by Jesse Storm
Rating: 4.6 #ad
After the murder of Teller City’s two law enforcers, Rick Walker jumps at the opportunity to be the town’s next sheriff.
Shortly after assuming the sheriff role for Teller City, a wave of crimes plague the troubled town. A notorious outlaw by the name of Leopold Lodges has been released from Colorado’s penitentiary for good behavior. But he is far from reformed. Leopold is striking back in order to get his revenge on the law for locking him up.
One peaceful night, Leopold and his gang ride through the town to look for trouble before kidnapping Jenny Bridle from her bed. Upon learning about the kidnapping, Sheriff Rick heads after the criminals to rescue the innocent woman while proving to the doubtful locals that he is the sheriff that Teller City deserved.
The Burnside Body Snatcher
by G.G. Morris
Rating: 3.9 #ad
The residents of Portland’s charming Alphabet District are horrified when the neighborhood’s favorite auntie goes missing–on the day of her funeral! Soon, other prominent citizens are meeting nasty ends and bodies are vanishing like pies on windowsills.
When the boondoggling detective fails to provide the terror-stricken community with answers, amateur sleuth Wanda Whipple steps up to the plate. But the disturbing clues quickly lead her down a sinister path involving an enigmatic cult and a frightening legend from the Alphabet District’s shadowy past. Will Wanda uncover the identity of the Burnside Body Snatcher, or will she become the killer’s next victim?
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(The Alphabet District Mysteries)
The Tywi Estuary Killings
by John Nicholl
Rating: 4.2 #ad
Is it revenge or is it justice?
DI Gravel is supposed to be on mandatory leave, but when a severed head washes up on the estuary beach his holiday is cut short. Back on the job, he’s shocked when the case leads him to the victim from an old case
Seventeen years ago, the system failed Rebecca. They let the abuser of a six-year-old girl walk free. But she’s all grown up now and taking the law into her own hands.
Is this one killer DI Gravel doesn’t want to catch?
Plymouth Undercover
by Pamela M. Kelley
Rating: 4.3 #ad
A mother and daughter inherit a PI Agency with a reputation that takes them by surprise.
Meet Emma McCarthy, a thirty-year-old failed actress that just moved home to Plymouth, MA. And her mother, Cindy, a yoga instructor in the Pinehills, an exclusive golf community in Plymouth.
They’ve just inherited Court Street Investigations, a private detective agency. And its one part-time employee, eighty-year-old Mickey, a retired police detective.
They expect typical cases like cheating spouses or workman’s comp, but quickly learn that the agency also has a reputation for solving murders when they are hired to find a local missing woman.
Boogie Beach
by Winnie Winkle
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Two bars, one magical and one human, lie in the exact same space. That should work. It’d better; I run those joints and we’re under attack.
I live a pretty weird life – as in gods in speedos, powerful witches with little patience for mere humans, and shifters whose vibrations make my guts quake. Plus, an oceanside bar and a magical book run my existence.
Beach life and eccentric are besties. The record picked me, Cleopatra O’Keefe, to be the next Keeper. I took over the book and started chronicling the intersection and occasional asininity of the human and magical worlds. That’s when eccentric plunked its butt on the deck next to mine and we careened into the world of funky oddities seasoned with occasional mayhem.
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(The Record Series)
Medical Mystery
by Richard Mabry
Rating: 3.9 #ad
When her phone rang, Diane Macklin wondered what her sister wanted now. Then, she heard that their mother was in the Emergency Room with a heart problem.
The doctor tending to her mother was Dr. Joe Adams, who was far from Diane’s idea of the family doctor. He had been alone since his first wife had died, and was apparently heaven-sent as a mate for Diane, if she could only get past the trauma of her previous near-miss at the altar.
The heart problem was hard to solve initially, the subsequent difficulty turned out to be murder, and affected the lives of both Diane and Joe.
Wednesday’s Mystery eBooks
Bake Sale Murder
by Leslie Meier
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Ever since local developer Fred Stanton and his wife, Mimi, built five modular homes next door to Lucy Stone’s farmhouse, life hasn’t been the same. With Mimi complaining about everything from the state of Lucy’s lawn to another neighbor’s lovable dog, quaint Tinker’s Cove, Maine, is now entangled in cul-de-sac politics and backstabbing. And when Mimi doesn’t show up for her shift at The Hat and Mitten Fund bake sale, the scent of burnt sugar leads Lucy to a shocking discovery: Mimi, face down on her kitchen floor—with a knife in her back.
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(A Lucy Stone Mysteries)
Dead Lake
by Miranda Kate
Rating: 4.8 #ad
After a massive shift of the tectonic plates decimated the world and its population, life on the remaining landmass has returned to simple living, with money, rulers and religion no longer tolerated.
Sometimes it pays to be tricky
Damn and blast! That rancid piece of excrement, Carter, has had her ransacked out of Clancy!
Tricky returns to her cottage to find it turned upside down. An action that means she’s got three days to leave the district or face punishment. Randolf Carter, head of the district, is spreading lies and suspicion about her kind, making life difficult. But it wasn’t just an ordinary ransacking – they were searching for something…
Silent Scream
by Lynda La Plante
Rating: 4.8 #ad
Film star Amanda Delany has the world at her feet. Never one for the quiet life, she has had a string of affairs with the hottest actors around. Then, coming home late from a night shoot, Amanda puts the key in her front door for the very last time. The next morning, Amanda’s body is found, stabbed many times, only her beautiful face left unharmed.
DI Anna Travis is ordered to the team assigned to the Delany murder, headed by Anna’s former lover, the demanding DCI James Langton. Anna is shocked by the truth behind Amanda’s public image: her addictions to drugs and starvation diets; her cold, unemotional parents; her elusive film agent; and the former lovers so quick to distance themselves. But Anna has challenges of her own to overcome too. Promotion to Chief Inspector is within her grasp, but when the time comes for her to stand before the board, she faces a shocking accusation of personal misconduct.
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(Anna Travis Mysteries)
Ski Weekend
by Rektok Ross
Rating: 4.1 #ad
Six teens, one dog, a ski trip gone wrong . . .
Sam is dreading senior ski weekend and having to watch after her brother and his best friend, Gavin, to make sure they don’t do anything stupid. Again. Gavin may be gorgeous, but he and Sam have never gotten along. Now they’re crammed into an SUV with three other classmates and Gavin’s dog, heading on a road trip that can’t go by fast enough.
Then their SUV crashes into a snowbank, and Sam and her friends find themselves stranded in the mountains with cell phone coverage long gone and temperatures dropping. When the group gets sick of waiting for rescue, they venture outside to find help—only to have a wilderness accident leave Sam’s brother with a smashed leg and, soon, a raging fever.
The Observer Effect
by Nick Jones
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Time calls the shots.
Unwitting time traveler Joseph Bridgeman is adjusting to life in the present and wondering if his traveling days are behind him. But when he’s contacted by the Continuum, an organized group of time travelers based in the future, he learns his career is just getting started.
The Continuum needs Joe’s help. One of their operatives is missing, last seen in nineteenth-century Paris and they believe Joe’s ability to see the past might be the only way to find him. Teamed up with Gabrielle Green, an acerbic, wisecracking traveler, Joe heads back to 1873 on his most dangerous mission yet, one that will take him deep inside a burning opera house.
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(The Joseph Bridgeman Mysteries)
The Collective
by Alison Gaylin
Rating: 4.2 #ad
Camille Gardener is a grieving – and angry – mother who, five years after her daughter’s death, is still obsessed with the privileged young man she believes to be responsible.
When her rash actions draw the attention of a secret group of women – the collective – Camille is drawn into a dark web where these mothers share their wildly different stories of loss as well as their desire for justice in a world where privilege denies accountability. Fueled by mutual rage, the collective members devise and act out retribution fantasies via precise, anonymous, highly coordinated revenge killings.
Love At War
by Alan Hardy
Rating: 4.3 #ad
It’s 1940. World War Two. Germany is on the rampage. The Battle of Britain is at its height. The Royal Air Force is all that stands between England and invasion. Jennie is a young woman from the Welsh valleys. Petite. Slender. Quite plain. Teeth a bit too big. Mouth too wide. She’s quite willing to admit it. She gives herself no airs or graces. She finds herself one evening in a London night-club. Who should she meet but Malcolm, looking gorgeously resplendent in his iconic RAF blue-grey uniform? She is shocked. Scared. Angry. And excited.
You see, there’s a history between the two of them, stretching back three years. He seeks her out. He asks for her help. Can she turn him down? Can she forgive him, and forget his despicable behavior? Has he changed? Or is he that same arrogant, inconsiderate man who treated her like dirt?
Tuesday’s Mystery eBooks
Fishers of Menace
by Wendy Heuvel
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Welcome to Banford, where townsfolk are family, tea is hot, and murder is inevitable. Cassie Bridgestone’s life is simple. Along with running her country décor shop, she loves to cuddle her cat, sip tea, attend church, and watch birds.
But then, things go awry. First, the handsome but mysterious Daniel opens a bookstore in her building and challenges her to face long-buried feelings about her previous relationship. Then, a friendly fishing tournament turns deadly and her friend is accused of murder, throwing Cassie’s world into a tailspin she might never recover from.
Unless she finds the real killer…
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(Faith and Foils Cozy Mysteries)
Masked Prey
by John Sandford
Rating: 4.5 #ad
The daughter of a U.S. Senator is monitoring her social media presence when she finds a picture of herself on a strange blog. And there are other pictures . . . of the children of other influential Washington politicians, walking or standing outside their schools, each identified by name. Surrounding the photos are texts of vicious political rants from a motley variety of radical groups.
It’s obviously alarming–is there an unstable extremist tracking the loved ones of powerful politicians with deadly intent? But when the FBI is called in, there isn’t much the feds can do…
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(A Prey Mysteries)
Arms of Freedom
by Kathleen Neely
Rating: 4.7 #ad
With each page of the age-old journals, Annie discovers all that unites her with a woman who once lived in her farmhouse. One lived with wealth and one with poverty, but both knew captivity. Both longed to be free.
Miriam yearns to escape her life as a super model. She drops the pseudonym and uses the name she gave up years ago—Annie Gentry. Then she alters her appearance and moves to rural South Carolina to care for her grandmother. Can she live a simple life without recognition? Can she hide a net worth valued in the millions? Love is nowhere in her plans until she meets a man who wants nothing more than Annie Gentry and the simple life he lives.
Charlotte lived in the same farmhouse in the tumultuous 1860’s. The Civil War was over, but for a bi-racial girl, freedom remained elusive. She coveted a life where she wouldn’t bring shame to her family. A life where she could make a difference. As she experiences hope, will it be wrested from her?
A Demon In My View
by Ruth Rendell
Rating: 4.1 #ad
Arthur Johnson doesn’t look like a murderous psychopath; he is a mild-mannered man who has never known how to talk to women.
Years of loneliness has warped his mind, turning his desire for a woman’s love and respect into a pathological need for carefully controlled violence. Locked in the cellar of his building is the perfect willing victim, a woman who can be murdered over and over again, a woman who waits for Arthur every night…a mannequin in the form of a female.
But when a young scholar of psychopathic personalities moves in downstairs and Arthur’s mannequin disappears, where will he turn to satisfy his urgent craving for violence?
The Graveyard Shift
by D.M. Guay
Rating: 4.4 #ad
“The Graveyard Shift, from the 24/7 Demon Mart series, is a model of what horror comedy should be. A lovable loser named Lloyd who is amusingly self-aware of his loserdom, a hot goth chick named Dee Dee, a night manager who’s a cockroach, and a host of other characters both human and supernatural battle over a gate to Hell that happens to be in the beer cave of a convenience store. This hilarious novel has a taste of Kafka, a large helping of Christopher Moore, and a whole lotta Lovecraft. Plus tons of pop-culture references. There’s non-stop action, but somehow Ms. Guay peppers every inch with jokes and satire. This book is a blast!” by Amazon Customer
Wolf Hunt
by Joseph Hagen
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Werewolves continue to terrorize. When both a witch and a teen are bitten but survive, can witchcraft stop them from succumbing to the effects of the were-serum at the next moon?
Alan lost almost everything in MOONRISE, but the witches’ magic has kept him alive and coping with his were-curse. He seems to be losing the battle until another victim – a witch named Rose – arrives at the Keep. The witches see hope for Alan as they study the magic used in Rose’s taming but become distracted when another pack of werewolves arrive hunting Alan.
Magic has existed for millennia. Will it be enough to save Alan a second time?
Check out:
(MOONRISE)
The Ceely Rose Murders at Malabar Farm
by Mark Sebastian Jordan
Rating: 4.6 #ad
This chilling true crime history reveals the story of a young woman in nineteenth century rural Ohio who poisoned her family for love.
It was a cold and rainy day in Ohio’s Pleasant Valley in the spring of 1896, one that began like any other for the Rose family. What they didn’t know was that young Ceely Rose was brooding. She’d been told to forget her obsession with handsome Guy Berry. She’d been told about the danger of Rough-on-Rats poison. She’d heard about murdering those who stand in the way of love.
By the time Ceely was done, her family would be dead and others threatened. Later, the place where these crimes took place became Malabar Farm, the estate of Pulitzer Prize–winning author and conservationist Louis Bromfield.
A Fools Quest To Moon Water
by Gary Diamond
Rating: 5.0 #ad
The year is 1865, the last few weeks of the American Civil War. A Confederate troop steal a consignment of Union gold and attempt to take it across the border to Mexico. They are stopped by the Apache and most of the people, including civilians, from a wagon train are butchered. White captives are taken and the Confederate captain is blindfolded and taken to Moon Water, along with the stolen gold. Somehow the captain escapes; the white captives are not so lucky.
Now in 1866, the American government want their gold back and Conrad Abernathy wants to rescue his daughter and her two children from the legendary Moon Water.
Conrad finances a quest to Moon Water and convinces Ethan Garrett to lead them there. Ethan is not interested in the gold. He has another reason to return to Moon Water.
Playing the Witch’s Game
by Zoe Forward
Rating: 4.2 #ad
Pleiades witch Jennifer Marcos is certain that the host of Extreme Survivor is her soulmate. All she has to do is find a fake boyfriend, get on the show, and voila! She’ll have her destiny. Unfortunately, she has to rely on ex-Russian spy Nikolai Jovec’s six-foot-something of gorgeous, infuriating hotness. To make matters worse, the electric attraction between Jen and Nikolai is hotter than ever. But the only way Nikolai can protect Jen is by hiding the identity of her true Destined…him. Even a good witch knows how to play dirty…
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(Keepers of the Veil)
Courting Danger
by Laura Ashwood
Rating: 4.5 #ad
She headed west looking for adventure. Love was never part of the plan…
Clarissa Ferguson refuses to become a socialite and marry someone just to appease her mother. She craves more out of life. So, when she sees an advertisement for female Pinkerton agents, she jumps at the chance. But nothing could’ve prepared her for her handsome new boss…or how he’d make her feel…
Noah Harding has no interest in romance or marriage. Not ever again. He’s a career man through and through, and he has a murder to investigate. It’s just his unfortunate luck that in order to do so, he must enter into a marriage of convenience with a beautiful new employee who makes him question everything…