Saturday’s Mystery eBooks
A Cup of Holiday Fear
by Ellie Alexander
Rating: 4.6 #ad
It’s Christmastime and everyone is heading to Torte, the most cheerful bakery in town. There’s no place like home for the homicide…
Ashland, Oregon, looks as pretty as a postcard this holiday season. The halls are decked, stockings hung, and eyes are all aglow—mostly thanks to the buttered rum. Jules Capshaw and her staff at Torte are busier than ever. . . still, even the town’s most in-demand bakers need to take a break. So Jules invites everyone to celebrate at the local Winchester Inn’s Dickens Feast, a six-course extravaganza with Yorkshire Pudding, Christmas goose, and all the trimmings…
Fade Away
by Harlan Coben
Rating: 4.5 #ad
The home is top-notch New Jersey suburban. The living room is Martha Stewart. The basement is Legos—and blood. The signs of a violent struggle. For Myron Bolitar, the disappearance of a man he once competed against is bringing back memories—of the sport he and Greg Downing had both played and the woman they both loved. Now, among the stars, the wannabes, the gamblers, and the groupies, Myron is embarking upon the strange ride of a sports hero gone wrong that just may lead to certain death. Namely, his own.
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(Myron Bolitar Mysteries)
Dwarf Bounty Hunter Starter Pack
by Martha Carr, Michael Anderle
Rating: 5.0 #ad
“One of the best damn bounty hunters. Period.” James Brownstone
Johnny Walker was a good bounty hunter in his day. James Brownstone good.
But everybody has a line, including Johnny, and he retreated from the world to lick his wounds. But now the bad guys are back and he’s not going to let another young woman be murdered.
Dive into the bestselling Oriceran Series with the first two books of the Dwarf Bounty Hunter series today and discover why fans love the series!
Black Notice: Scarpetta
by Patricia Cornwell
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Remains were all that was left of the stowaway. He arrived in Richmond’s Deep Water Terminal—the ghastly cargo of a ship from Belgium. The decomposed body gives Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta no clues to its identity—or the cause of death. But an odd tattoo soon leads her on an international search to Interpol’s headquarters in Lyon, France—and towards a confrontation with one of the most savage killers of her career…
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(Kay Scarpetta Mysteries)
In the Dark
by Loreth Anne White
Rating: 4.4 #ad
A secluded mountain lodge. The perfect getaway. So remote no one will ever find you.
The promise of a luxury vacation at a secluded wilderness spa has brought together eight lucky guests. But nothing is what they were led to believe. As a fierce storm barrels down and all contact with the outside is cut off, the guests fear that it’s not a getaway. It’s a trap.
Each one has a secret. Each one has something to hide. And now, as darkness closes in, they all have something to fear—including one another.
A Heart Full of Headstones
by Ian Rankin
Rating: 4.4 #ad
In a brand-new series installment, New York Times bestselling author, Ian Rankin, returns to his legendary detective—it’s not the first time Rebus has taken the law into his own hands, though it may be the last.
John Rebus stands accused: on trial for a crime that could put him behind bars for the rest of his life.
But what drove a good man to cross the line?
Detective Inspector Siobhan Clarke may well find out. Clarke is tasked with the city’s most explosive case in years, an infamous cop, at the center of decades of misconduct, has gone missing. Finding him will expose not only her superiors, but her mentor John Rebus.
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(Inspector Rebus Mysteries)
Practical Magic
by Alice Hoffman
Rating: 4.5 #ad
For more than two hundred years, the Owens women have been blamed for everything that has gone wrong in their Massachusetts town. Gillian and Sally have endured that fate as well: as children, the sisters were forever outsiders, taunted, talked about, pointed at. Their elderly aunts almost seemed to encourage the whispers of witchery, with their musty house and their exotic concoctions and their crowd of black cats. But all Gillian and Sally wanted was to escape. One will do so by marrying, the other by running away. But the bonds they share will bring them back—almost as if by magic…
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(Practical Magic Mysteries)
A Deadly Education
by Naomi Novik
Rating: 4.6 #ad
I decided that Orion Lake needed to die after the second time he saved my life.
Everyone loves Orion Lake. Everyone else, that is. Far as I’m concerned, he can keep his flashy combat magic to himself. I’m not joining his pack of adoring fans.
I don’t need help surviving the Scholomance, even if they do. Forget the hordes of monsters and cursed artifacts, I’m probably the most dangerous thing in the place. Just give me a chance and I’ll level mountains and kill untold millions, make myself the dark queen of the world.
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(The Scholomance Mysteries)
Friday’s Mystery eBooks
Don’t Let it Snow in Deadwood
by Ann Charles
Rating: 4.7 #ad
It’s Christmas Eve and Violet Parker has one request on her list for Santa—to make it home to her kids. Unfortunately, “home” is also the lair of her life-long nemesis, her sister Susan (aka the devil’s concubine).
Standing in Violet’s way is Old Man Winter, who slammed the Black Hills with a show-stopping blizzard. However, a little snow isn’t going to ground her sleigh, not with family counting on her to deliver Santa’s goods…
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(Deadwood Humorous Mysteries)
The Final Days of Magic
by J.D. Horn
Rating: 4.3 #ad
The war between witches reaches its terrifying climax in the final book in Wall Street Journal bestselling author J.D. Horn’s spellbinding trilogy.
Once caged in an illusory realm by blood relatives, Alice Marin has been freed into a world where the last remnants of magic are quickly passing away. Dissolving with them is the unity among witches…and their sanity. Grappling with the revelations of her true parentage—and her burgeoning relationship with Nathalie Boudreau, a psychic with her own demons—Alice and her allies, both living and dead, must draw on every skill they possess. It’s the only way to defeat the destructive forces borne of the horrifying history of Alice’s own family. That means unlocking the final secrets of The Book of Unwinding.
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(Witches of New Orleans Mysteries)
Steel Dragon Omnibus
by Kevin McLaughlin, Michael Anderle
Rating: 5.0 #ad
Dragons have ruled the world for millennia, but the balance is shifting. Kristen has a mage now in Amy, but she has to wear the suppression bracelet. Get the last 7 books in the best-selling Steel Dragon series to continue Kristen’s story.
The dragon murders have caused a furor among the dragons. The World Council of Dragons meets to discuss the possibility of a third war. The meeting is held in secret, but the technomages are onto the dragons.
With her newly appointed role as an investigator, can Kristen avert the execution of the most important dragons?
She is supported in her investigation by Amy, the Detroit SWAT and the Dragon SWAT. Can Kristen bring the different groups together and forge them into a new team under her leadership?
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(Steel Dragon Omnibus)
To Kill a Troubadour
by Martin Walker
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Les Troubadours, a folk music group that Bruno has long supported, go viral with their new number, “Song for Catalonia,” when the Spanish government suddenly bans the song. The songwriter, Joel Martin, is a local enthusiast for the old Occitan language of Périgord and the medieval troubadours, and he sympathizes with the Catalan bid for independence. The success of his song provokes outrage among extreme Spanish nationalists. Then, in a stolen car found on a Périgord back road, police discover a distinctive bullet for a state-of-the-art sniper’s rifle that can kill at three kilometers, and they fear that Joel might be the intended target.
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(Bruno Chief of Police Mysteries)
Cajun Kiss of Death
by Ellen Byron
Rating: 4.7 #ad
In Pelican, Louisiana, Valentine’s Day has a way of warming the heart, despite the February chill. But the air at Crozat Plantation B&B turns decidedly frigid when celebrity chef Phillippe Chanson checks in. And when the arrogant Phillippe–in town to open his newest Cajun-themed restaurant–perishes in a fiery boat crash, Maggie Crozat’s dear friend JJ lands in very cold water.
Did JJ, proprietor of Junie’s Oyster Bar and Dance Hall, murder Phillippe because he feared the competition? Might Maggie’s mother, Ninette, have bumped off the chef for stealing one of her cherished recipes? Or was the culprit a local seafood vendor, miffed because Phillippe was somehow able to sell oysters for a remarkably reasonable price, despite an oyster shortage?
Liars Anonymous
by Marissa Finch
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Welcome to Liars Anonymous, the support group for compulsive and pathological liars.
Marnie Thorpe is at Liars Anonymous for one reason, and it isn’t to make friends. Still, when beautiful, ephemeral Claire finds herself in trouble, Marnie steps in to help. Claire is being stalked, she says, so Marnie lets her crash at her house. She’s half convinced the whole thing is just another lie — until Claire turns up dead.
Claire’s murder unlocks something for Marnie. Memories of another loss, another young woman taken too soon. Her gut tells her someone from their group is responsible, and that none of them are safe. But how can she uncover the truth when she’s surrounded by lies?
Widespread Panic
by James Ellroy
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Freddy Otash was the man in the know and the man to know in ‘50s L.A. He was a rogue cop, a sleazoid private eye, a shakedown artist, a pimp—and, most notably, the head strong-arm goon for Confidential magazine.
Confidential presaged the idiot internet—and delivered the dirt, the dish, the insidious ink, and the scurrilous skank. It mauled misanthropic movie stars, sex-soiled socialites, and putzo politicians. Mattress Jack Kennedy, James Dean, Montgomery Clift, Burt Lancaster, Liz Taylor, Rock Hudson—Frantic Freddy outed them all. He was the Tattle Tyrant who held Hollywood hostage, and now he’s here to CONFESS.
Dragonfly In Amber
by Diana Gabaldon
Rating: 4.8 #ad
For twenty years, Claire Randall has kept her secrets. But now she is returning with her grown daughter to the mysteries of Scotland’s mist-shrouded Highlands.
Here Claire plans to reveal a truth as shocking as the events that gave it birth: the secret of an ancient circle of standing stones, the secret of a love that transcends centuries, and the truth of a man named Jamie Fraser—a Highland warrior whose gallantry once drew the young Claire from the security of her century to the dangers of his.
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(Outlander Mysteries)
Neighborhood Watch
by EE Isherwood
Rating: 4.5 #ad
One second was all it took to erase Frank’s dreams. New home. New car. New retirement. Stolen by the EMP. It gets worse. Frank’s neighbors failed to prepare at all, so it falls on him to keep them alive.
He starts easy: stockpile food, water, and guns. Disaster lessons he’d picked up reading books about the end of the world. But after the EMP, keeping people safe gets complicated. He has to rally the neighborhood before the streets turn to chaos.
And they will. He’s read enough to know the power might come on tomorrow…