Friday’s Mystery eBooks
Potluck and Pandemonium
by S.C. Merritt
Kindle $0.99 Rating: 4.4 #ad
Recently widowed Glory Harper needs a fresh start. After the investigation into her husband’s suspicious death in Texas stalls, she decides that the best way to begin moving forward with her life is to pull up stakes and head back home to Alabama. But when Glory stumbles over a body in the graveyard during a church picnic, she finds herself at the top of the suspect list. Which isn’t surprising since the murder weapon is engraved with her initials. Looks like this murder has her name written all over it.
Glory decides to put her mystery-solving instincts to work and “help” her brother, a detective on the local force, prove her innocence. But when his new boss, the hunky Hunt Walker, steps in and takes over, Glory can’t seem to stay out of hot water.
And it’s getting hotter by the minute!
A Wolf in the Woods
by Nancy Allen
Kindle $0.99 Rating: 4.4 #ad
McCown County assistant prosecutor Elsie Arnold is prepping an assault case when a girl is found beaten and bloodied at a roadside no-tell motel. Elsie tries to convince the teen to reveal who attacked her, but Mandy is too scared—and stubborn—to cooperate… and then she disappears. Elsie’s positive a predator is targeting the Ozark hills, yet the authorities refuse to believe their small town could be plagued by sex trafficking.
Then middle school student Desiree Wickham goes missing, but only Elsie suspects it could be connected to Mandy’s assault…
Foundation
by Isaac Asimov
Kindle $1.99 Rating: 4.4 #ad
THE EPIC SAGA THAT INSPIRED THE APPLE TV+ SERIES FOUNDATION • Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read
For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. But only Hari Seldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future—to a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years. To preserve knowledge and save humankind, Seldon gathers the best minds in the Empire—both scientists and scholars—and brings them to a bleak planet at the edge of the galaxy to serve as a beacon of hope for future generations. He calls his sanctuary the Foundation.
Truth
by Mary Mapes
Kindle $0.50 Rating: 4.2 #ad
Mary Mapes’s Truth (previously published as Truth & Duty) was made into the 2015 film Truth, starring Cate Blanchett, Robert Redford, Topher Grace and Elizabeth Moss.
A riveting play-by-play of a reporter getting and defending a story that recalls All thePresident’s Men, Truth puts readers in the center of the “60 Minutes II” story on George W. Bush’s shirking of his National Guard duty. The firestorm that followed that broadcast–a conflagration that was carefully sparked by the right and fanned by bloggers–trashed Mapes’ well-respected twenty-five year producing career, caused newsman Dan Rather to resign from his anchor chair early and led to an unprecedented “internal inquiry” into the story…chaired by former Reagan attorney general Richard Thornburgh.
Police at the Funeral
by Margery Allingham
Kindle $1.99 Rating: 4.4 #ad
Albert Campion heads to Cambridge as a favor to a friend, whose fiancée is employed by the elderly Faraday family, to investigate the disappearance of her uncle Andrew. What the self-proclaimed “Deputy-Adventurer” finds is foul play of the most heinous kind: murder.
Andrew is found floating in a river, bound and shot in the head. Needless to say, in a household of unlikable characters—presided over by an authoritarian widow—he’s not sorely missed. But fear has pervaded the dour family, bringing up decades of suppressed hatreds, petty jealousies, and nasty impulses—all of which lead to a second shocking killing.
He Who Does Not Exist
by Victoria W Thomson
Kindle $0.99 Rating: 4.7 #ad
God allows the devil to temporarily make a few demons mortal.
The devil does this to improve those demons at getting souls and to select a lead soul catcher, an elite position in Hell. The demons, while on earth are mortal, meeting on a college campus, and explaining the deadly sins. Each demon is the embodiment of a deadly sin and most want to be lead soul catcher.
An angel points out the risk of making demons mortal, even for a short time; while a demon never gets the choice, a mortal can choose salvation.
Realms of Ruin
by Nika McKinney
Kindle $0.99 Rating: 4.4 #ad
Childhood friends separated across enemy lines. A brooding rebel leader and a spy who should know better. She’s his Ruin. He’s her rebellion.
As the king’s most elite ice-wielding spy, Ruin Vespera thrives on retribution. The loss of her parents and her closest friend have forged a shield around her heart, caging her in from her deepest desires. Raised to be enemies, her singular focus is to hunt down the rebellion general, Dominus Zarek, the greatest threat to her realm.
Yet when she meets him, he’s not who they said he was. He’s protective, powerful, and alluring. The general forces her to reexamine the world she thought she knew when a drastic bargain unravels the truth behind the darkness. And the monsters she uncovers won’t let her go without a fight.
One Last Dance
by Ernesto Patino
Kindle $3.99 Rating: 4.8 #ad
Devastated by the tragic death of his fiancée, Marco Anissi sets out to find the woman who received his beloved Susan’s heart.
Marco Anissi comes out of a coma, days after his car slams into a light pole-the same pole he had crashed into exactly ten years ago, killing his fiancée, Susan.
Convinced that her spirit has reached out to him in a way he would understand, Marco embarks on a search to find the woman who had received Susan’s heart. He finds her in Tucson where she works as a dance teacher. Her name is Julia. He signs up for lessons, hoping to develop a relationship. Now, Marco must make a decision: tell the truth about himself and risk losing Julia with whom he’s falling in love, or remain silent and enjoy his new life with her.
Murder the Truth
by David Enrich
Kindle $2.99 Rating: 4.6 #ad
David Enrich, the New York Times Business Investigations Editor and the #1 bestselling author of Dark Towers, produces his most consequential and far-reaching investigation yet: an in-depth exposé of the broad campaign—orchestrated by elite Americans—to silence dissent and protect the powerful.
It was a quiet way to announce a revolution: In an obscure 2019 case that the Supreme Court refused to even hear, Justice Clarence Thomas raised the prospect of overturning the legendary New York Times v. Sullivan decision. Though hardly a household name, Sullivan is one of the most consequential free speech decisions, ever. Fundamental to the creation of the modern media as we know it, it has enabled journalists and writers all over the country—from top national publications to revered local newspapers to independent bloggers—to pursue the truth aggressively and hold the wealthy, powerful, and corrupt to account.
Thursday’s Mystery eBooks
Death of a Bacon Heiress
by Lee Hollis
Kindle $1.99 Rating: 4.5 #ad
For food and cocktails columnist Hayley Powell, becoming a local culinary celebrity opens lots of doors. Unfortunately, one leads straight to cold-blooded murder…
When Hayley is invited to do a cooking demo on one of daytime’s most popular talk shows, it’s a welcome distraction from her empty nest blues. And the newfound fame certainly has its perks–especially when Olivia Redmond, the posh bacon heiress of Redmond Meats, offers Hayley a writing gig with a juicy paycheck.
EMP Silent Grid
by William Stone
Kindle $0.99 Rating: 4.7 #ad
She was watching her grandson laugh at a baby gorilla when the call came.
“You have minutes. Not hours. Minutes.”
Lindy didn’t panic. She’d spent forty years preparing for this exact moment. But she’d never imagined it would come while she was holding a hot chocolate at a zoo with the two people she loved most in the world. When the EMP hits, there is no second chance. No rescue. No government coming to help. Just a grandmother, two kids, and eighty miles of dying America.
A Better Man
by Louise Penny
Kindle $1.99 Rating: 4.7 #ad
Catastrophic spring flooding, blistering attacks in the media, and a mysterious disappearance greet Chief Inspector Armand Gamache as he returns to the Sûreté du Québec in the latest novel by #1 New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny.
It’s Gamache’s first day back as head of the homicide department, a job he temporarily shares with his previous second-in-command, Jean-Guy Beauvoir. Flood waters are rising across the province. In the middle of the turmoil a father approaches Gamache, pleading for help in finding his daughter…
Killing the Shadows
by Val McDermid
Kindle $2.99 Rating: 4.3 #ad
Rich in atmosphere, Val McDermid’s Killing the Shadows uses the backdrops of city and country to create an air of threatening menace, culminating in a tense confrontation between hunter and hunted, a confrontation that can have only one outcome.
A killer is on the loose, blurring the line between fact and fiction. His prey—the writers of crime novels who have turned psychological profilers into the heroes of the nineties. But this killer is like no other. His bloodlust shatters all the conventional wisdom surrounding the motives and mechanics of how serial killers operate. And for one woman, the desperate hunt to uncover his identity becomes a matter of life and death.
A Perfect Flock
by Mike Bogue
Kindle $0.99 Rating: 4.9 #ad
Tuck Jameson’s brother Clay has vanished, lured into The Body—a religious cult wielding cutting-edge nanotechnology to transform members into devout automatons. With just three days until Clay’s conversion is irreversible, Tuck is desperate.
Joining forces with Adam Shimura, a former mentor turned black ops agent with ambiguous allegiances, Tuck plunges into a perilous quest to rescue his brother.
But Chief Elder Brother Moody and his zealous followers are determined to thwart Tuck at every turn. As the tension escalates, a stunning prophecy reveals that the crisis transcends personal struggle—it threatens the very soul of America and perhaps the entire world.
Pants on Fire
by Denise Diana Huddle
Kindle $0.99 Rating: 4.6 #ad
Lying to Iris Raines is like throwing a boomerang—the truth always comes back hard.
This gritty Texas private investigator mystery is relentless and razor-sharp—where sabotage, cartel money, and dark family secrets collide in a dangerous game of truth and consequences.
Iris Raines doesn’t scare easy. Sharp-tongued, relentless, and backed by her St. Bernard, Festus, she’s built a career digging the truth out of the dung heap of deception. But when sabotage turns lethal, Iris finds herself caught between powerful enemies—and a client who isn’t telling her everything she needs to know…
Hole to Hell Mystery
by Stephanie Parker McKean
Kindle $0.99 Rating: 4.3 #ad
Two sisters. One murder. A lifetime of secrets.
A deeply powerful and emotive story unlike any other cozy mystery. Two estranged sisters must confront their painful past while investigating their father’s murder—only to discover that the truth may destroy them both.
What happens when the past refuses to stay buried?
Acacia and Dinah grew up in the same house but in completely different worlds. Bound by a childhood scarred by abuse and abandonment, the sisters took opposite paths in life. Acacia is grounded and practical, holding on to stability after years of chaos. Dinah is restless and unpredictable, living as if the world owes her something more. They barely speak…
Convincing Alex
by Nora Roberts
Kindle $1.99 Rating: 4.4 #ad
Detective Alex Stanislaski thought he’d seen it all – until he mistakenly arrests the daringly bold soap opera writer Bess McNee for soliciting. Committed to understanding her characters, Bess often looks for research opportunities to help her write the best she can – and accidentally being arrested gives her the best opportunity of all. She decides to follow the sexy detective around to get ‘ideas’ for her show, but Bess will soon discover that Alex is not only perfect for research, but maybe a perfect match for herself, as well. Now all she has to do is convince him she’s right…
Stone Cross
by Marc Cameron
Kindle $2.99 Rating: 4.6 #ad
Winter comes early to the rural native community of Stone Cross, Alaska—and so does hunting season. Caribou and moose are a major source of food through the long, dark months ahead. But Arliss Cutter has come here for a very different game. A federal judge is receiving death threats and refuses protection. Cutter and his deputy Lola Teariki have been assigned to shadow him on his trip to this icy outland to make sure that he’s safe. But they quickly discover that no one is ever really safe in a place like this. And no one is above suspicion . . .
Let Justice Burns Slow
by James Leonard
Kindle $0.99 Rating: 5.0 #ad
Elwood Merrick spent five years in a Mexican prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Now he’s riding north hoping to find the woman he left behind—and the man who put him there.
But exposing the truth won’t be easy.
The real murderer is hiding in plain sight as Brenton’s most respected businessman, Pritchard Thomas. During the years Elwood was gone, Pritchard took control of the town, complete with a bought sheriff, hired killers, and a population too frightened to resist.
Elwood didn’t ride back looking for revenge.