Saturday’s Mystery eBooks
Body from the Sky Murder
by Stephanie Parker McKean
Rating: 4.4 #ad
This mystery is funny, lighthearted, and intense, as sixty-something Rik Patience – who has no patience – is pressed into solving the mystery of why a body fell out of an ultra light plane and crashed into her friend’s house awning.
When she discovers the accident victim was the father of the man who helped her and her friends solve their last mystery, she is even more resolute in her quest for truth. Comedy tags along behind tragedy as she visits a hot air balloon business to plan her wedding to her fiancée – and returns home engaged to someone else.
Something like that could only happen to Rik, who keeps wild animals as roommates and who never wants anyone to get hurt – which means taking the blows herself. But this time, some of the injuries she sustains through her kindness could be fatal.
The Consequences of Fear
by Jacqueline Winspear
Rating: 4.7 #ad
October 1941. While on a delivery, young Freddie Hackett, a message runner for a government office, witnesses an argument that ends in murder. Crouching in the doorway of a bombed-out house, Freddie waits until the coast is clear. But when he arrives at the delivery address, he’s shocked to come face to face with the killer.
Dismissed by the police when he attempts to report the crime, Freddie goes in search of a woman he once met when delivering a message: Maisie Dobbs. While Maisie believes the boy and wants to help, she must maintain extreme caution: she’s working secretly for the Special Operations Executive, assessing candidates for crucial work with the French resistance.
Check out:
(Maisie Dobbs Mysteries)
Hogfather
by Terry Pratchett
Rating: 4.7 #ad
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, Hogswatchnight, when the Hogfather himself dons his red suit and climbs in his sleigh pulled by—of course—eight hogs, to shower gifts across Discworld. But when the fat man goes missing, someone has to sit in. It’s up to Death to take up the reigns—otherwise the sun won’t shine tomorrow . . . or ever again.
Who would want to harm Discworld’s most beloved icon? Very few things are held sacred in this twisted, corrupt, heartless—and oddly familiar—universe, but the Hogfather is one of them. Yet here it is, Hogswatchnight, that most joyous and acquisitive of times, and the jolly, old, red-suited gift-giver has vanished without a trace…
Check out:
(Discworld Mysteries)
Fallen Angels
by Gunnar Staalesen
Rating: 3.9 #ad
Exploring his own dark memories may be the only way to find a killer…
When Bergen PI Varg Veum finds himself at the funeral of a former classmate on a sleet-grey December afternoon, he’s unexpectedly reunited with his old friend Jakob – guitarist of the once-famous 1960s rock band The Harpers – and his estranged wife, Rebecca, Veum’s first love.
Their rekindled friendship is thrown into jeopardy by the discovery of a horrific murder, and Veum is forced to dig deep into his own adolescence and his darkest memories, to find a motive … and a killer.
Check out:
(Varg Veum Mysteries)
I Am Dust
by Louise Beech
Rating: 4.1 #ad
A haunted theatre. A murdered actress. Three cursed teenagers. A secret that devastates them all…
The Dean Wilson Theatre is believed to be haunted by a long-dead actress, singing her last song, waiting for her final cue, looking for her killer…
Now Dust, the iconic musical, is returning after twenty years. But who will be brave enough to take on the role of ghostly goddess Esme Black, last played by Morgan Miller, who was murdered in her dressing room?
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(Varg Veum Mysteries)
Tangled Truths
by Lindsay Buroker
Rating: 4.7 #ad
Dealing with dragons is hard. Dealing with a teenage daughter is even harder.
My new mission involves both. Weird things are happening in Northern Idaho, and my boss is sending me to investigate. Unfortunately, my daughter and ex-husband are vacationing in the town that’s at the center of the trouble. Coincidence? Or is someone targeting them to get at me?
I’m a wanted woman right now. Not only by the criminal werewolves, orcs, and trolls that I’m often hired to kill. But by the Dragon Justice Court.
Check out:
(Death Before Dragons Mysteries)
Murder in Park Lane
by Karen Charlton
Rating: 4.6 #ad
London, 1812. At a fashionable address in leafy Mayfair, a far cry from Detective Stephen Lavender’s usual haunts, a man is found dead in his room. He has been brutally stabbed, but the door is locked from the inside and the weapon is missing.
The deceased is David MacAdam, an Essex businessman with expensive tastes. As Lavender and Constable Ned Woods travel between London and Chelmsford seeking to understand MacAdam’s final hours and unearth the grisly truth, they uncover a tangled web of deceit behind his stylish facade.
Check out:
(The Detective Lavender Mysteries)
The Dark
by Sharon Bolton
Rating: 4.4 #ad
ONCE, SHE SAVED HIS LIFE… NOW, HE’LL TAKE HERS.
When a baby is snatched from its pram and cast into the river Thames, off-duty police officer Lacey Flint is there to prevent disaster. But who would want to hurt a child?
DCI Mark Joesbury has been expecting this. Monitoring a complex network of dark web sites, Joesbury and his team have spotted a new terrorist threat from the extremist, women-hating, group known as ‘incels’ or ‘involuntary celibates.’ Joesbury’s team are trying to infiltrate the ring of power at its core, but the dark web is built for anonymity, and the incel army is vast.
Wild Dragons Series Bundle
by Anastasia Wilde
Rating: 5.0 #ad
Dragon’s Rogue Zane Greystone has one mission: help his brother dragons find three magical items to seal the tomb of the evil dragon Vyrkos, and keep him from rising in a devastating volcanic eruption that will destroy the city of Portland and everything around it. His mission leads him to Blaze McKenna, a rogue witch whose fate is entwined with their mission—and the woman he and his dragon have seen in their dreams for nearly a century.
Dragon’s Rebel Rebel Smith is no fairy-tale princess. She’s the best retrieval specialist in the Pacific Northwest, which is a fancy way of saying “expensive thief-for-hire.”
Friday’s Mystery eBooks
Cinnamon Roll Murder
by Joanne Fluke
Rating: 4.5 #ad
When bakery owner Hannah Swensen hears that the Cinnamon Roll Six jazz band will be playing at Lake Eden, Minnesota’s Weekend Jazz Festival, she’s more than happy to bake up a generous supply of their namesake confections to welcome them to town.
Before the festival even begins, tragedy strikes when the tour bus overturns. Among those injured is Buddy Neiman, the band’s beloved keyboard player. His injuries appear minor, until his condition suddenly takes a turn for the worse – as in dead. Hannah’s no doctor, but she suspects that the surgical scissors someone plunged into Buddy’s chest may have something to do with it.
Check out:
(Hannah Swensen Mysteries)
Night Shadows
by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Icelandic detective Elma faces mortal danger as she investigates the death of a young man in a mysterious Akranes house fire, and a Dutch au pair’s perfect placement turns deadly … The breathtaking third instalment in the award-winning Forbidden Iceland series.
WINNER of the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger
The small community of Akranes is devastated when a young man dies in a mysterious house fire, and when Detective Elma and her colleagues from West Iceland CID discover the fire was arson, they become embroiled in an increasingly perplexing case involving multiple suspects. What’s more, the dead man’s final online search raises fears that they could be investigating not one murder, but two.
Check out:
(Forbidden Iceland Mysteries)
A New Place, Another Murder
by Christa Nardi
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Starting over in a new town has its challenges, even murder.
A murder isn’t the best way for Sheridan Hendley to start her new life as wife and step-mom. When her step-daughter and friend are framed for theft and murder, Sheridan is determined to prove the teens’ innocence. New to the community, she’s at a disadvantage as she learns about the powerful Buchanan family. Sheridan must uncover the truth before the person calling the shots takes her and her step-daughter out of the picture. Only Sheridan asks too many questions and is in danger.
Check out:
(A Sheridan Hendley Mysteries)
Going Rogue
by Janet Evanovich
Rating: 4.7 #ad
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)
Ghost Shadow
by Heather Graham
Rating: 4.6 #ad
There are those who walk among us who are no longer alive, but not yet crossed over. They seek retribution…vengeance…to warn. Among the living, few intuit their presence.
Katie O’Hara is one who can.
As she’s drawn deeper and deeper into a gruesome years-old murder, whispered warnings from a spectral friend become more and more insistent. But Katie must uncover the truth: could David Beckett really be guilty of his fiancée’s murder?
Check out:
(The Bone Island Trilogy)
Mortal Danger
by Ann Rule
Rating: 4.5 #ad
The author of The Stranger Beside Me brings her brilliantly informed understanding of the sociopath to this riveting true crime collection. Featured here is the case of a Southern California family man who lured a beautiful flight attendant into a passionate and dangerous relationship. Other cases include that of the woman who masterminded her husband’s murder to gain his inheritance…the monstrous sadist whose prison release damaged a presidential candidate’s campaign and ended in a bitter double tragedy in a quiet neighborhood three thousand miles away…
Check out:
(Ann Rule’s Crime Files Mysteries)
In the Dark Places
by Peter Robinson
Rating: 4.3 #ad
Louise Penny calls In the Dark Places “brilliant.” Tess Gerritsen says it’s “thrilling.” And Michael Connelly describes Peter Robinson as “amazing.” One of the world’s greatest suspense writers returns with this sensational new novel featuring Inspector Alan Banks, hailed by Michael Connelly as “a man for all seasons.”
It’s a double mystery: Two young men have vanished, and the investigation leads to two troubling clues in two different locations.
Check out:
(Inspector Bank Mysteries)
Corrupted Obsession
by Kiana Hettinger
Rating: 4.8 #ad
I’m on a mission. My paths cross with the dark and dangerous Dante Luca. And here I am, his captive. For the past six months, I’ve spent every waking minute looking for my lost sister, Camilla.
I’ll stop at nothing to find her, my own freedom wouldn’t make me think twice. My recklessness incites a devastating turn of events that collides my world with Dante Luca. The rumored vigilante hero. My best friend’s brother-in-law.
The closer I get to him, the more we’re forced to face each other—our obsessions. His eyes are an intoxicating blue, and he is all hardened muscle. He is my enemy, but he is also my best ally.
The Munich Girl
by Phyllis Edgerly Ring
Rating: 4.7 #ad
Anna Dahlberg grew up eating dinner under her father’s war-trophy portrait of Eva Braun.
Fifty years after the war, she discovers what he never did—that her mother and Hitler’s mistress were friends.
The secret surfaces with a mysterious monogrammed handkerchief, and a man, Hannes Ritter, whose Third Reich family history is entwined with Anna’s.
Plunged into the world of the “ordinary” Munich girl who was her mother’s confidante – and a tyrant’s lover – Anna finds her every belief about right and wrong challenged. With Hannes’s help, she retraces the path of two women who met as teenagers, shared a friendship that spanned the years that Eva Braun was Hitler’s mistress, yet never knew that the men they loved had opposing ambitions.