Friday’s Mystery eBooks
murder@maggody.com
by Joan Hess
Rating: 4.2 #ad
When the uproarious town of Maggody, Arkansas, plugs into the Internet, the digital age turns deadly.
Aside from the odd stolen dog or vandalized lawn ornament, there’s been no recent crime in Maggody, Arkansas, population 755, and that’s how Chief of Police Arly Hanks likes it. Things have been so quiet she’s taken to sitting in on school-board meetings, and she’s doing just this when the high school announces the new computer lab, which will be open to everybody in town. To Arly—who doesn’t trust her neighbors to handle a toaster, much less a computer—it seems like an invitation to disaster. Little does she know that when Maggody logs on, the results will be murderous.
The Year of Secrets
by Silvia Villalobos
Rating: 5.0 #ad
A mystery novel in the style of Michael Connelly’s stories set against the backdrop of Los Angeles.
After a difficult year, Zoe Sinclair seeks solace in vain. Her life takes an unexpected turn when her law mentor is found dead, and a series of disappearances grip everyone’s attention. In the midst of L.A.’s captivating but mysterious scenery, she is soon pulled into a web of secrets that have been kept hidden for too long. Unexpected encounters reveal that strangers know too much about her. Her friends become suspicious, and secrets, once whispered, ignite the flames of reckoning. She defies caution and joins forces with the LAPD.
A Stranger’s Game
by Colleen Coble
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Even though Torie Bergstrom hasn’t been back to Georgia since she was ten, she was happy to arrange a job for her best friend at one of the family properties on Jekyll Island. But when Torie learns that Lisbeth has drowned, she knows it is more than a tragic accident: Lisbeth was terrified of water and wouldn’t have gone swimming by choice.
Torie goes to the hotel under an alias, desperate to find answers. When she meets Joe Abbott and his daughter while they are rescuing baby sea turtles, she can only hope they are as trustworthy as they seem.
The Jake Grafton Collection
by Stephen Coonts
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Navy pilot Jake Grafton took the fight to the enemy in the Vietnam War, winning the Congressional Medal of Honor and becoming a legend in the military community. But now he must navigate life both in the cockpit and in the halls of power as he finds himself on the front lines of a new kind of war . . .
The Intruders: In this sequel to Flight of the Intruder, Grafton is stationed in the South Pacific on the USS Columbia, where his new mission is to educate an unruly group of Marines in the art of flying from an aircraft carrier. They better be fast learners, because they’ll have to work together to survive against an enemy unlike any they’ve ever faced.
Never Ignore Monica!
by Jim Lively
Rating: 3.8 #ad
All young Simon Steed wants is to be accepted by his peers, his teachers, and his family, and to be recognized for his special talents and superior intellect. Yet when everyone rejects and teases him instead, even accusing him of being “weird,” he hopes someday they’ll get what’s coming to them. One by one, each of them meets with sudden and dangerous accidents, some of them fatal. All the while, Simon observes in silence or learns later of their tragic outcomes. Could these coincidences be…?
After he meets a beautiful young woman named Monica in college, he’s smitten by her devoted attention and charm, but her abrupt disappearance breaks his heart. Did he ignore her? What went wrong?
The Child
by Fiona Barton
Rating: 4.2 #ad
As an old house is demolished in a gentrifying section of London, a workman discovers human remains, buried for years. For journalist Kate Waters, it’s a story that deserves attention. She cobbles together a piece for her newspaper, but at a loss for answers, she can only pose a question: Who has been found at the building site?
As Kate investigates, she unearths connections to a crime that rocked the city decades earlier: A child was stolen from the maternity ward in a local hospital and was never found. Her heartbroken parents were left devastated by the loss.
Paragon Walk
by Anne Perry
Rating: 4.2 #ad
When innocent Fanny Nash of exclusive Paragon Walk dies in the arms of her exquisite sister-in-law, Jessamyn, Inspector Pitt is assigned to investigate her rape and murder. Every man of Paragon Walk is under suspicion, even Pitt’s brother-in-law, Lord George Ashworth, who was the last to have seen her.
Could it be the charming, enigmatic Frenchman? Fanny’s cruel brother? Wealthy Dilbridge, who hosts wild, decadent parties?
The Eagle Has Landed
by Jack Higgins
Rating: 4.5 #ad
In November of 1943, an elite team of Nazi paratroopers descends on British soil with a diabolical goal: to abduct Winston Churchill and cripple the Allied war effort. The mission, ordered by Hitler himself and planned by Heinrich Himmler, is led by ace agent Kurt Steiner and aided on the ground by IRA gunman Liam Devlin.
As the deadly duo executes Hitler’s harrowing plot, only the quiet town of Studley Constable stands in their way. Its residents are the lone souls aware of the impending Nazi plan, and they must become the most unlikely of heroes as the fate of the war hangs in the balance.
The Last Hawk
by Catherine Asaro
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Reeling from a battle, pilot Kelric Valdoria crash-lands his Jag starfighter on Coba, the closest safe planet he can find after a Trader squad cripples his ship. Although the military of Kelric’s people have given Coba Restricted status, Kelric sees no reason for such draconian measures to isolate the seemingly benign world.
While recovering, the dashing Kelric becomes the target of affection for high-powered women in Coba’s matriarchal society, including Deha Dahl, an Estate Manager, and young Ixpar Karn, the chosen successor of the Minister. Distracted by their flirtations, Kelric doesn’t at first realize the Restricted status of the planet was their own choice—and that they can’t risk letting him go.
Thursday’s Mystery eBooks
Pineapple Valentine Mystery
by Amy Vansant
Rating: 4.6 #ad
USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Amy Vansant finds romance deadly in the latest installment of the fun, thrilling, twisty Pineapple Port Mysteries!
When Matchmaker Lady Venus drops dead on the Pineapple Port community center’s stage during a Valentine’s event, Charlotte and the new detective agency she’s started with her fiance Declan are called to the scene.
As danger mounts, she’ll need everyone’s help to keep Venus’ family safe, which means tapping into Declan’s giant, former employee salesman and his crazy Uncle Seamus—both of whom are falling for the ladies in their lives.
Niergel Chronicles – Last Hope
by D. I. Hennessey
Rating: 4.6 #ad
An ancient mystery… A skeptical genius… Powerful evil ancestors… A dangerous underworld Crime Syndicate… A horde of disembodied offspring of fallen angels who threaten the entire world!
A renowned scientist was orphaned at age eight and has grown to adulthood with no knowledge of his own ancestry. When he is awakened by an unusual visitor with an extremely urgent message, it leads to events that topple everything he has believed about reality.
Niergel Chronicles – Last Hope tells of a journey of discovery, danger, and extraordinary mysteries. It follows the fantastic adventure of a young man with a surprising heritage as he uncovers the astonishing truth about his family history and the earth’s past.
Ride Out the Storm
by Max Hennessy
Rating: 4.3 #ad
A gripping historical thriller set during the nine days which decided World War II—the Battle of Dunkirk – from the author of The Sea Shall Not Have Them.
26 May, 1940: The allies, faced with a shameful defeat, are trapped between the onslaught of the mighty German army and the tumult of the ocean’s waves. Those that do not die face capture and surrender to the Nazis.
Nine days later more than a quarter of a million men have been rescued, returned safely to the shores of England, and saved by an assorted flotilla of barges, tugs, rowing boats and dinghies.
The Black Widow
by Wendy Corsi Staub
Rating: 4.2 #ad
In a chilling new thriller from New York Times bestselling author Wendy Corsi Staub, one woman looking for love online is entangled in a killer’s terrifying scheme.
In the moonlight, shovelfuls of earth fall on a wooden crate at the bottom of a deep pit. Soon the hole will be filled and covered over with leaves, erasing all trace of the victim below, waking to the horror of being buried alive.
Newly divorced Gaby Duran isn’t really expecting to find her soul mate on a dating site like InTune. She just needs a distraction from pining over her ex-husband, Ben, and the happy marriage they once had.
Put a Lid on It
by Donald E. Westlake
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Meehan, a career thief staring at life without parole, is awaiting sentencing at the Manhattan Correctional Center when he is called to a meeting by someone masquerading as his lawyer.
The man, it turns out, represents the presidential re-election campaign committee — now finding itself in need of a little professional help. So they “outsource” Meehan in return for a walk from all pending criminal charges. All he has to do is steal a compromising video tape before the other side springs an “October Surprise” on the president.
The Forgotten Sister
by Nicola Cornick
Rating: 4.0 #ad
1560: Amy Robsart is trapped in a loveless marriage to Robert Dudley, a member of the court of Queen Elizabeth I. Surrounded by enemies and with nowhere left to turn, Amy hatches a desperate scheme to escape—one with devastating consequences that will echo through the centuries . . .
Present Day: When Lizzie Kingdom is forced to withdraw from the public eye in a blaze of scandal, it seems her life is over. But she’s about to encounter a young man, Johnny Robsart, whose fate will interlace with hers in the most unexpected of ways. For Johnny is certain that Lizzie is linked to a terrible secret dating back to Tudor times.
Scratch One
by Michael Crichton
Rating: 5.0 #ad
BRAND NEW RELEASE From the creator of Jurassic Park and ER
A pulp-fiction thrill ride through a deadly case of mistaken identity
Playboy Roger Carr is handsome, wealthy, and connected. As an occasional lawyer, he’s the right man to send to the French Riviera to secure a villa for an important client. It’s the perfect assignment, complete with fast cars and fast women, until strange things begin to happen and Roger realizes that someone is trying to kill him.
Gable: A Western Frontier Story
by James Leonard
Rating: 5.0 #ad
After Gable Heath’s wife is murdered by rogue Confederate soldiers, he retreats to the mountains with his young daughter to live in isolation.
But rancher Montgomery Widener doesn’t want anyone living in peace. The more trouble Widener and his outlaw gang cause, the more likely people will sell him their land for pennies on the dollar.
Once he owns everything. Once he owns everyone. He’ll divert the water to his private reservoir and charge townsfolks a fortune if they want to use it.
Pay and they can live. Don’t pay, and they can die.
The Secret Poisoner
by Linda Stratmann
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Murder by poison alarmed, enthralled, and in some ways even defined the Victorian age. Linda Stratmann’s dark and splendid social history reveals the nineteenth century as a gruesome battleground where poisoners went head-to-head with scientific and legal authorities who strove to detect poisons, control their availability, and bring the guilty to justice.
Separating fact from Hollywood fiction, Stratmann corrects many misconceptions about particular poisons and their deadly effects.