Monday’s Mystery eBooks
Auction Block Bandit
by C.K. Fyfe
Rating: 4.5 #ad
As a regular auction-goer, Trixie has seen most everything up for bid, from celebrity pet hair to used rental caskets. A plethora of pieces routinely come and go, with short-lived fanfare. That is, until one winter night, when a hot ticket item disappears, and an absorbing mystery ensues. An amateur sleuth at heart, she plunges in to crack the case.
A cozy mystery short story.
Underworld
by Don DeLillo
Rating: 4.1 #ad
Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize
Finalist for the National Book Award
Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award
Winner of the Howell’s Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
Don DeLillo’s mesmerizing novel was a major bestseller when it was published in 1997 and was the most widely reviewed novel of the year. It opens with a legendary baseball game played between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants in 1951. The home run that won the game was called the Shot Heard Round the World, and was shadowed by the terrifying news that on the same day, Russia tested its first hydrogen bomb. Underworld then tells the story of Klara Sax and Nick Shay, and of a half century of American life during the Cold War and beyond.
Find Her
by Sarah A. Denzil
Rating: 4.2 #ad
Three weddings at one isolated venue. Three dead bodies. Three missing brides… And one of them is a murderer.
It’s Christmas Day at Wilder House, and three magical winter weddings are set to begin. But as the tables are arranged and the food is prepared, a perfect storm hits, cutting every guest from the rest of the world.
Most little girls dream of the perfect wedding. But this bride stumbles alone into the snow, her silk train dragging through dirt, her hands bloody from the murder she just committed…
Now there is at least one killer roaming the unforgiving landscape surrounding Wilder House. Who else will die on Christmas Day?
God Rest Ye, Royal Gentlemen
by Rhys Bowen
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Georgie is excited for her first Christmas as a married woman in her lovely new home. She suggests to her dashing husband, Darcy, that they have a little house party, but when Darcy receives a letter from his aunt Ermintrude, there is an abrupt change in plans. She has moved to a house on the edge of the Sandringham estate, near the royal family, and wants to invite Darcy and his new bride for Christmas. Aunt Ermintrude hints that the queen would like Georgie nearby. Georgie had not known that Aunt Ermintrude was a former lady-in-waiting and close confidante of her royal highness. The letter is therefore almost a royal request, so Georgie, Darcy, and their Christmas guests: Mummy, Grandad, Fig, and Binky all head to Sandringham.
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(A Royal Spyness Mysteries)
The Deception of Fear
by Kevin M. Mansoor
Rating: 5.0 #ad
Haunted by nightmares and feelings of loss, Sarah struggles to be strong for her family. She should be happy. . .
Seven years after the conclusion of Avenging Love, deep within the ocean, a familiar demon stirs, deep within Hell, a new plot is unleashed, and deep within David’s heart, the seed of fear takes root.
One question must be answered, as Satan turns up the heat of his attacks on David and his family, which David will show up for the fight?
Desert Star
by Michael Connelly
Rating: 4.7 #ad
A year has passed since LAPD detective Renée Ballard quit the force in the face of misogyny, demoralization, and endless red tape. But after the chief of police himself tells her she can write her own ticket within the department, Ballard takes back her badge, leaving “the Late Show” to rebuild and lead the cold case unit at the elite Robbery-Homicide Division.
For years, Harry Bosch has been working a case that haunts him—the murder of an entire family by a psychopath who still walks free. Ballard makes Bosch an offer: come volunteer as an investigator in her new Open-Unsolved Unit, and he can pursue his “white whale” with the resources of the LAPD behind him…
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(Renée Ballard Mysteries)
A Relative Murder
by Jude Deveraux
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Bestselling novelist Sara Medlar is skilled at sharing stories about other people, but she hoped the truth about her own family would never surface. Her home in Lachlan, Florida, is her refuge and she loves having her niece Kate and dear friend Jack Wyatt together under her roof. The Medlar Three, as they are known around town, have sworn off getting involved in any more murder investigations.
When the sheriff unexpectedly leaves on vacation, Jack is surprised to find himself appointed as deputy. So when Kate stumbles upon a dead body while visiting a friend, the Medlar Three are back in the sleuthing game. Kate also has a charming new real estate client with a mysterious past. He seems to be followed by trouble and that makes Sara and Jack uneasy.
Check out:
(A Medlar Mysteries)
Where the Drowned Girls Go
by Seanan McGuire
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Winner: 2022 Hugo Award for Best Series
In Where the Drowned Girls Go, the next addition to Seanan McGuire’s beloved Wayward Children series, students at an anti-magical school rebel against the oppressive faculty
“Welcome to the Whitethorn Institute. The first step is always admitting you need help, and you’ve already taken that step by requesting a transfer into our company.” There is another school for children who fall through doors and fall back out again. It isn’t as friendly as Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children. And it isn’t as safe.
Jack Reacher: One Shot
by Lee Child
Rating: 4.7 #ad
Six shots. Five dead. One heartland city thrown into a state of terror. But within hours the cops have it solved: a slam-dunk case. Except for one thing. The accused man says: You got the wrong guy. Then he says: Get Reacher for me.
And sure enough, ex—military investigator Jack Reacher is coming. He knows this shooter–a trained military sniper who never should have missed a shot. Reacher is certain something is not right–and soon the slam-dunk case explodes.
Sunday’s Mystery eBooks
A Matter of Murder
by Ann Granger
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Two years ago, Miff Ferguson chose to opt out of the rat race. Since then he’s been living rough and happily so. Until now. For as the first signs of winter approach, everything in his life is uprooted.
While looking for shelter, Miff stumbles across the corpse of a young woman in a dilapidated warehouse. Quickly realizing he is not alone, and has been spotted, Miff becomes embroiled in a game of cat-and-mouse with a killer that forces him to abandon his life and take refuge with his aunt and uncle in the village of Weston St Ambrose.
Check out:
(A Campbell and Carter Mysteries)
Wicked Charms
by Janet Evanovich, Phoef Sutton
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Before he was murdered and mummified nearly a century ago, notorious bootlegger Collier “Peg Leg” Dazzle discovered and re-hid a famous pirate’s treasure somewhere along the coast of New England. A vast collection of gold and silver coins and precious gems, the bounty also contains the Stone of Avarice—the very item reluctant treasure seeker Lizzy Tucker and her partner, Diesel, have been enlisted to find. While Lizzy would just like to live a quiet, semi-normal life, Diesel is all about the hunt. And this hunt is going to require a genuine treasure map and a ship worthy of sailing the seven seas . . . or at least getting them from Salem Harbor to Maine.
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(Lizzy & Diesel Mysteries)
A Christmas Grace
by Anne Perry
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Perry’s gifts are on full display in A Christmas Grace–a hope-filled tale of forgiveness that is rich with mystery and intrigue.
With Christmas just around the corner, Thomas Pitt’s sister-in-law, Emily Radley, is suddenly called from London to be with her dying aunt. Leaving her husband and two children behind, Emily makes the long journey to an all-but-forgotten town in the county of Connemara, on the western coast of Ireland. She soon discovers that a tragic legacy haunts the once closeknit community.
Violent storms ravage the coast and keep alive painful memories of an unsolved murder and unsettling fears that a killer may still live among the residents of the lonely Irish town. Determined to lighten her aunt’s heart and help the troubled community, Emily sets out to unmask the culprit.
Check out:
(The Christmas Stories)
Black Wings of Cthulhu
by S. T. Joshi
Rating: 4.3 #ad
Taking their inspiration from works by Lovecraft himself, prominent writers such as Caitlin R. Kiernan, Brian Stableford, Ramsey Campbell, Michael Shea, Darrell Schweitzer, Donald R. Burleson, and David J. Schow delve deep into the psyche, expanding on concepts H.P. Lovecraft created and taking them in new directions.
The result is stories that are wholly original, some even featuring Lovecraft himself as a character. Black Wings editor S.T. Joshi is the recognized authority on all things Lovecraftian, and is famous for his restorations of Lovecraft’s original works. He has assembled a star-studded line-up in a book that is essential for every horror library.
Varg Veum collection
by Gunnar Staalesen
Rating: 4.3 #ad
FOUR instalments of the Varg Veum series from the international, bestselling father of Nordic Noir: Gunnar Staalesen, Translated by Don Bartlett
PI Varg Veum returns to solve a series of dark, dangerous cases in his hometown of Bergen, Norway, in a series of chilling, perfectly plotted and thought-provoking thrillers…
BOOK ONE – We Shall Inherit the Wind
BOOK TWO – Where Roses Never Die
BOOK THREE – Wolves in the Dark
BOOK FOUR – Big Sister
Her Dark Lies
by J.T. Ellison
Rating: 4.1 #ad
Fast-paced and brilliantly unpredictable, J.T. Ellison’s breathtaking novel invites you to a wedding none will forget—and some won’t survive.
Jutting from sparkling turquoise waters off the Italian coast, Isle Isola is an idyllic setting for a wedding. In the majestic cliff-top villa owned by the wealthy Compton family, up-and-coming artist Claire Hunter will marry handsome, charming Jack Compton, surrounded by close family, intimate friends…and a host of dark secrets…
You Love Me
by Caroline Kepnes
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Joe Goldberg is done with the cities. He’s done with the muck and the posers, done with Love. Now he’s saying hello to nature, to simple pleasures on a cozy island in the Pacific Northwest. For the first time in a long time, he can just breathe.
He gets a job at the local library—he does know a thing or two about books—and that’s where he meets her: Mary Kay DiMarco. Librarian. Joe won’t meddle, he will not obsess. He’ll win her the old-fashioned way . . . by providing a shoulder to cry on, a helping hand. Over time, they’ll both heal their wounds and begin their happily ever after in this sleepy town.
Check out:
(You)