Friday’s Mystery eBooks
And Death Goes To…
by Laura Bradford
Rating: 4.3 #ad
It’s an honor just to be nominated. But, let’s get real, Tobi wants to win. The St. Louis Advertising Awards are like the Oscars for her field, and Tobi is up for its most prestigious prize, Best Overall Ad Campaign. The competition is always fierce, but this year it’s killer . . .
Despite her high hopes, Tobi isn’t exactly shocked when she doesn’t win. But she is shocked when the winner, Deidre Ryan, takes the stage only to plummet to her death as a platform suddenly gives way…
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(A Tobi Tobias Mysteries)
Nearly Drowned
by TR Moore Ede
Rating: 4.2 #ad
Malissa has never known her true origins, but that’s about to change.
Malissa’s world is flipped upside down when rescuing a man from a pool that should have been empty makes her a target of those who tried to drown him. The closer they get the more she realizes that they might have been after her for foiling their plans, but not anymore. They seem to recognize her but from where?
Adopted as an infant, Malissa was left with no information about her parents or so she thought. After rummaging through some old papers she finds a note from her biological dad. On it, it says that he left her there for her safety. Unfortunately, no clues as to what sort of danger but surely the danger is gone, right?
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(Tèarmann Chronicles)
The Corpse Flower
by Anne Mette Hancock
Rating: 4.3 #ad
Danish journalist Heloise Kaldan is in the middle of a nightmare. One of her sources has been caught lying, and she could lose her job over it. Then she receives the first in a series of cryptic and unsettling letters from a woman named Anna Kiel.
Wanted in connection with the fatal stabbing of a young lawyer three years earlier, Anna hasn’t been seen by anyone since she left the crime scene covered in blood. The police think she’s fled the country until homicide detective Erik Scháfer comes up with a lead after the reporter who originally wrote about the case is found murdered in his apartment. Has Anna Kiel struck again, or is there more than one killer at large?
Northern Deception
by Laurie Wood
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Reunions can be deadly. After a savage attack in university, Kira Summers fled to the safety of northern Canada and her work as a polar bear scientist. But when her whistleblower brother dies in a mysterious car crash, she must return home to bury him and pack his belongings. Unaware she’s carrying explosive evidence someone’s willing to kill for, she has no choice but to rely on the one person she never thought she’d see again.
Lukas Tanner, a widowed single father of a special needs toddler, moved to Churchill five years ago. As the proud owner of Guiding Star Enterprises, a wilderness tour company, he and his daughter lead a simple life.
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(Heroes of the Tundra Mysteries)
Tied Up in Tinsel
by Ngaio Marsh
Rating: 4.5 #ad
The acclaimed author brings us crime at a country-house Christmas party in “one of her best and most baffling mysteries” (Daily Express).
It’s the Christmas season in 1972, and Agatha Troy is at a house party, enjoying the local holiday pageant and also painting the host’s portrait. The painting’s coming along fine, but the pageant goes a little pear-shaped when one of the players disappears. Could one of the eccentric guests have been involved? Or could the finger of blame come to rest on one of the manor-house servants, each of whom happens to be a recent prison parolee? Inspector Alleyn is on hand to wrap up the case . . .
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(Inspector Roderick Alleyn Mysteries)
A Twisted Strand
by Lynne Tagawa
Rating: 4.4 #ad
A strange new virus . . . Is it terrorism?
After dragging her heart through a divorce, Rachel Davis is ready to settle down on their South Texas country home, raise her kids, and find some peace. Can she find the secret to making her heart whole again?
William Davis, MD, would do anything to take back his horrible mistake, but infidelity is more than his wife can forgive. He goes home to an empty house in Austin every night, trying his best to be a good dad to his kids from afar.
When Rachel discovers their Jersey heifer dead from a hemorrhagic fever, she quickly realizes that the danger may spread to humans. Working for an epidemiologist, she joins the investigation. Is it natural? Or terrorism?
Denver McCoy’s Rules
by William Black
Rating: 5.0 #ad
It’s 1876 Arizona and the territory may never become a state unless it can bring its outlaw problem under control. Only recently an illegal territory wide whiskey cartel was responsible for the murder of a beautiful young innocent woman.
Governor Anson Safford believes he may have the man to turn it all around. He is Pinkerton Detective Denver McCoy on loan from the fledgling Department of Justice.
Denver will have to use all of his cunning to go up against a gang, which lingers in the shadows and remains elusive. It’s led by Herman “Birchwood” Hatcher, who has his hands involved in several evil activities.
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(Post-Civil War Western Justice Mysteries)
Forever Free
by Joe Haldeman
Rating: 4.0 #ad
It’s 1876 Arizona and the territory may never become a state unless it can bring its outlaw problem under control. Only recently an illegal territory wide whiskey cartel was responsible for the murder of a beautiful young innocent woman.
Governor Anson Safford believes he may have the man to turn it all around. He is Pinkerton Detective Denver McCoy on loan from the fledgling Department of Justice.
Denver will have to use all of his cunning to go up against a gang, which lingers in the shadows and remains elusive. It’s led by Herman “Birchwood” Hatcher, who has his hands involved in several evil activities.
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(The Forever War Mysteries)
Joanne Fluke’s Lake Eden Cookbook
by Joanne Fluke
Rating: 4.6 #ad
A collection of recipes and reminiscences from the New York Times-bestselling mystery series: “Simply superb.” – Publishers Weekly
Includes all-new recipes! It’s a picture postcard December in Minnesota, and Main Street is brimming with festive holiday decorations. Best of all, it’s time for the annual Holiday Cookie Exchange at the Community Center – catered by none other than Hannah Swensen’s bakery-café, The Cookie Jar! Gathered together for the delicious event, the Swensen clan and their friends share their favorite juicy tales of Lake Eden—and their favorite scrumptious cookie and luncheon recipes..
Thursday’s Mystery eBooks
Dangerous Creatures
by Steve Higgs
Rating: 4.8 #ad
‘I don’t know how he does it. More than twenty books in and each one is still as fresh and inventive as the first. No one else writes like this!’
A desperate call for help is more than enough to get Patricia and friends in motion, especially when the call is from Patricia’s socialite friend and zoo owner, the rather gin-soaked Lady Mary Bostihill-Swank.
Her husband, George, an acclaimed thriller writer, has gone missing from her home but there is no ransom note and no sign of foul play. With no crime to investigate, the police are doing nothing and that’s not good enough for Patricia.
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(Patricia Fisher Mysteries)
Someone Savage
by Mike McCrary
Rating: 4.6 #ad
A gripping, fast-paced thriller for fans of Harlan Coben, Karin Slaughter, and Rachel Abbott.
Last night two children knocked at his door. Someone is looking for them…
Nicholas Hooper wanted to be left alone. Looking to escape his past and his unfortunate present, the best-selling author rented a luxury house in the Poconos to finish what very well could be his very last book. But his plans change when one night he opens his front door to find two frightened children.
A young girl and boy all alone. They refuse to speak. Looking for help…
Wheels of Injustice
by Susan Louise Gabriel
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Wheels of Injustice is a curtains-pulled-back true account of the out-of-control child protection system of the 1980s and the victims who risked everything to expose its egregiously unjust acts and reform it.
Six weeks into a blissful honeymoon, life turns into a nightmare when Susan’s 9-year-old daughter is taken away and her husband is falsely accused of child sexual abuse.
Dragged under the churning wheels of the child protection system, Susan is given a choice: cooperate in prosecuting her innocent husband or lose her daughter. When the couple doesn’t give in to pressure, Susan loses custody of her daughter, and her husband is charged with a felony that carries a 16-year prison sentence.
No one wants to hear the facts. No one wants to know the truth.
Dead Man’s Song
by Jonathan Maberry
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Members of a town terrorized by a monstrous evil search for its source in this horror novel by the Bram Stoker Award–winning author of Ink.
Something evil has awakened in the town of Pine Deep. While a local newsman tries to piece together the gruesome events of a long-buried crime, others are preparing for the return of an unstoppable scourge. Bodies mutilated beyond description, innocents driven to acts of vicious madness—a monstrous legacy is preying on the living and the dead. There are those in Pine Deep who are not what they seem. Who are driven by a thirst for blood and revenge. And who are quietly building an army of the undead . . .
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(A Pine Deep Mysteries)
Zodiac Academy 6
by Caroline Peckham, Susanne Valenti
Rating: 4.7 #ad
Fate has torn us apart and sometimes I believe the stars have given up on us altogether.
Without my sister, the world seems darker than ever before and the shadows loom thicker, rising up to answer the call of the Shadow Princess and changing the face of Solaria for good.
Now Lionel Acrux has the strength to make a move for the throne, I’m not sure how much time we have left to stop him. Our only hope is to find the Imperial Star before he does. We made the sacrifice the stars called for and we’re paying the price for that decision so it can’t be for nothing.
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(Zodiac Academy)
Fleeced
by Carol Higgins Clark
Rating: 4.7 #ad
Regan Reilly is back. The smart, saucy sleuth featured in all of Carol Higgins Clark’s bestselling novels was last seen in Deck the Halls, the holiday thriller Carol wrote with her mother, Mary Higgins Clark.
Now Regan is in New York to attend a crime conference organized by her celebrity-author mother. A friend, Thomas Pilsner — the frenetic president of the Settlers’ Club on Gramercy Park — calls Regan, desperately pleading for help. Thomas is distraught over the sudden suspicious deaths of two members of the Settlers’ Club.
Noble Ultimatum
by L.T. Ryan
Rating: 4.5 #ad
JACK. IS. BACK. The highly-anticipated and explosive thirteenth novel in the Jack Noble series is here.
Following the assassination of Frank Skinner in broad daylight, Jack Noble disappeared. But every day that passes the chances of clearing his name diminish. The CIA is in full attack mode. They don’t want to bring Jack in. They want him dead.
A shadow agency is also after not only Noble, but Bear Logan, too. The reason, unknown. The players, unknown. But they’re closing fast, and Jack and Bear might just prefer the CIA find them first.
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(Jack Noble Mysteries)
I Know a Secret
by Tess Gerritsen
Rating: 4.5 #ad
“Suspense doesn’t get smarter than this.” – Lee Child
Two separate homicides, at different locations, with unrelated victims, have more in common than just being investigated by Boston PD detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles. In both cases, the bodies bear startling wounds—yet the actual cause of death is unknown. It’s a doubly challenging case for the cop and the coroner to be taking on, at a fraught time for both of them. As Jane struggles to save her mother from the crumbling marriage that threatens to bury her, Maura grapples with the imminent death of her own mother—infamous serial killer Amalthea Lank.
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(A Rizzoli & Isles Mysteries)
Wednesday’s Mystery eBooks
The Girl in the Gazebo
by P.C. James
Rating: 4.3 #ad
The coroner report says accident. Her gut tells her homicide. Can this shrewd accountant get to the root of a tragic and mysterious death?
Canadian Lakes, 1984. Miss Riddell is a strong believer in justice. So when her grieving boss calls in the forensic auditor to help investigate the accidental demise of his sixteen-year-old daughter, she quickly gets to work. But despite the authorities’ certainty that the tragedy was an unintended overdose, Miss Riddell soon suspects foul play…
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(Miss Riddell Cozy Mysteries)
Flight Of The Hawk: The River
by W. Michael Gear
Rating: 4.4 #ad
INTERNATIONAL BEST-SELLING AUTHOR W. MICHAEL GEAR TURNS HIS MASTER’S HAND TO THE FRONTIER WEST.
1812 Missouri Fur Trade – An intimate of the Burr conspiracy, the condemned and hounded John Tylor signs on as boatman with Manuel Lisa’s expedition. But the river is now contested as the British, Spanish, and other fur companies prepare to break Lisa’s hold. As the expedition battles its way up the violent river, Fenway McKeever lurks in Tylor’s shadow. Not only is the half-mad McKeever paid to kill Tylor, but he’s convinced himself that by destroying Lisa’s expedition, he can sell his services to the highest bidder.
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(Flight Of The Hawk: The Plains)
The Near-Death Experience of Justin Parks
by R.A. Williams
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Every year, thousands of people cheat death and come back to life. Many people have near-death experiences that offer a glimpse of Heaven. But none of these can compare to the remarkable near-death experience of Justin Parks.
The past three years haven’t been easy for Justin, causing him to lose faith in a loving, personal God. His fiancée gets killed by a drunk driver a week before their wedding. A year later, after enrolling in the police academy in a misguided effort to avenge his fiancée’s death, he mistakes a Black church pastor for an armed robber, shoots him in the chest, and nearly kills him. In the following months, he struggles with the backlash from the public outrage caused by negative media attention…
Pretty Girls
by Karin Slaughter
Rating: 4.3 #ad
More than twenty years ago, Claire and Lydia’s teenaged sister Julia vanished without a trace. The two women have not spoken since, and now their lives could not be more different. Claire is the glamorous trophy wife of an Atlanta millionaire. Lydia, a single mother, dates an ex-con and struggles to make ends meet. But neither has recovered from the horror and heartbreak of their shared loss—a devastating wound that’s cruelly ripped open when Claire’s husband is killed.
The disappearance of a teenage girl and the murder of a middle-aged man, almost a quarter-century apart: what could connect them?
Dark Sky
by C. J. Box
Rating: 4.7 #ad
When the governor of Wyoming gives Joe Pickett the thankless task of taking a tech baron on an elk hunting trip, Joe reluctantly treks into the wilderness with his high-profile charge. But as they venture into the woods, a man-hunter is hot on their heels, driven by a desire for revenge. Finding himself without a weapon, a horse, or a way to communicate, Joe must rely on his wits and his knowledge of the outdoors to protect himself and his companion.
Meanwhile, Joe’s closest friend, Nate Romanowski, and his own daughter Sheridan learn of the threat to Joe’s life and follow him into the woods. In a stunning final showdown, the three of them come up against the worst that nature–and man–have to offer.
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(A Joe Pickett Mysteries)
Starlight Enclave
by Salvatore R. A.
Rating: 4.7 #ad
After the settling dust of the demon uprising and two years of peace, rumblings from the Menzoberranzan drow have Jarlaxle nervous. Worried his allies may be pulled into a Civil War between the great Houses, he is eager to ensure Zaknafein is armed with weapons befitting his skill, including one in particular: Khazid’hea. A powerful artifact, the sword known as “Cutter” has started wars, corrupted its users, and spilled the blood of many, many people. Nonetheless—or maybe because of that—the rogue Jarlaxle and a small group of friends will go on an expedition looking for the weapon’s last wielder, Doum’wielle, in the freezing north, for she may be the key to unlocking the sword’s potential…and perhaps the key to preventing the bloodshed looming over the Underdark.
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(The Legend of Drizzt)
The House at Saltwater Point
by Colleen Coble
Rating: 4.7 #ad
When a house flipper’s sister vanishes and the Coast Guard suspects she faked her own death, Ellie must find her sister before they do.
Ellie Blackmore is making a name for herself as a house flipper. But when her sister Mackenzie disappears, Ellie can’t focus on anything but uncovering what happened. Her only clue is the bloodstain on the deck of Mackenzie’s boat. Ellie knows her sister isn’t on the best of terms with her ex-husband, Jason, but he wouldn’t kill her – would he?
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(A Lavender Tides Series)
Tuesday’s Mystery eBooks
Raspberry Danish Murder
by Joanne Fluke
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Hannah Swensen has been feeling as bitter as November in Minnesota since her husband, Ross, vanished without a trace and left their marriage in limbo. Still, she throws herself into a baking frenzy for the sake of pumpkin pie and Thanksgiving-themed treats while endless holiday orders pour into The Cookie Jar. Hannah even introduces a raspberry Danish pastry to the menu, and P.K., her husband’s assistant at KCOW-TV, will be one of the first to sample it. But before taking a bite, P.K.—who’s been driving Ross’s car and using his desk at work—is murdered…
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(A Hannah Swensen Mysteries)
Storm’s Ruin
by Mary Stone
Rating: 4.6 #ad
The road to ruin is paved with deception… U.S. Senator Stan Young has more skeletons in his closet than a centuries-old graveyard…and more power than a nuclear blast. When Ben Storey, the city councilman running against the incumbent senator, uncovers damning evidence against Young, he decides to take the information to the only person with the resources to pursue it—Amelia Storm.
Between looking for the case that will finally take down the Leóne mafia family, the abrupt reappearance of her troubled sister, and her search for a rat within her own agency, the military veteran turned FBI agent’s plate is full. But when Ben Storey sends Amelia an urgent request to meet him, how can she say no?
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(Amelia Storm FBI Mysteries)
The Golden Graves
by K. R. Eckert
Rating: 5.0 #ad
34 Years ago, Quincy Adams Caine was involved in one of the most daring robberies of all time, the theft of 6 million dollars in Civil War gold from its hiding place near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It would’ve been a dream come true for any gang of thieves… if someone else hadn’t gotten there first.
In today’s world, Caine is a reformed man, sort of. So when he’s asked to participate in a documentary about the crime, he can’t help but agree, since it might give him a chance to take what was once taken from him…
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(Q.A. Caine Mysteries)
Heretic
by Amy Cross
Rating: 4.4 #ad
For five years, Hannah Doggett has waited for the house at Leavenshome Farm to reveal its secrets. Now she’s ready to burn the place to the ground. But the house – and its unusual occupants – aren’t ready to go without a fight.
From the moment she sets foot on the farm again, Hannah can tell that she’s being watched. The house contains a terrible evil, a force that might very well be one step ahead of her. All this time, Hannah has thought that she’s in control, that she’s the one calling the shots.
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(Bait Mysteries)
Where Dandelions Sway
by Vanessa Luther
Rating: 4.4 #ad
My name is Paul. About a year ago, I moved my family to the country for some peace of mind and security. I love them and would do anything in my power to protect them. They think I have a temper. A bad temper. Maybe I do. Three armed men are in our home right this very moment holding us hostage. My wife and children are shaken to the core. The last thing I ever expected was intruders in my own home. The last thing they ever expected was me.
On a Friday afternoon in the small town of Glen Ridge, three armed men invade the home of Paul and Alexis Hudson. The Hudson’s find themselves in a life or death situation where tempers flare, demands soar and repercussions loom. On the surface, the invasion appears to be a simple robbery. Until one of the assailants demands a mysterious safe. Nothing is as it seems…
Deck the Halls with Fudge
by Nancy Coco
Rating: 4.5 #ad
It’s Christmas on Mackinac Island – and homicide just rode in on a horse-drawn sleigh…Includes a yummy fudge recipe!
In the cozy warmth of their new home on Michigan’s Mackinac Island, newlywed seniors Frances and Douglas Devaney savor the picture-postcard snowy scenery through their kitchen window. But when they spy a horse-drawn sleigh dashing through the snow bearing a frozen stiff, their blood runs cold. The victim is banker Warren Engle, stepson of a close friend of Frances…
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(A Candy-Coated Mysteries)
Edge of the Grave
by Robbie Morrison
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Glasgow, 1932. When the son-in-law of one of the city’s wealthiest shipbuilders is found floating in the River Clyde with his throat cut, it falls to Inspector Jimmy Dreghorn to lead the murder case – despite sharing a troubled history with the victim’s widow, Isla Lockhart.
From the flying fists and flashing blades of Glasgow’s gangland underworld, to the backstabbing upper echelons of government and big business, Dreghorn and his partner ‘Bonnie’ Archie McDaid will have to dig deep into Glasgow society to find out who wanted the man dead and why.
Mortal Fall
by Christine Carbo
Rating: 4.4 #ad
A wildlife biologist’s shocking death leads to chilling discoveries about a home for troubled teens in Christine Carbo’s haunting and compelling new crime novel set in the wilds of Glacier National Park.
Glacier National Park police officer Monty Harris knows that each summer at least one person—be it a reckless, arrogant climber or a distracted hiker—will meet tragedy in the park. But Paul “Wolfie” Sedgewick’s fatal fall from the sheer cliffs near Going-To-the-Sun Road is incomprehensible. Wolfie was an experienced and highly regarded wildlife biologist who knew all too well the perils that Glacier’s treacherous terrain presents—and how to avoid them.
The case, so close to home, has frayed park employee emotions. Yet calm and methodical lead investigator Monty senses in his gut that something isn’t right.
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(Glacier Mysteries)