Louise Penny is one of the authors with a "free preview" up at Amazon currently. A much better way to gain new readers for an author is to drop the price of an earlier book and for this author, the publisher is doing that as well. Still Life, the first in her Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, is currently marked down to $2.99.Book Description
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surêté du Québec and his team of investigators are called in to the scene of a suspicious death in a rural village south of Montreal. Jane Neal, a local fixture in the tiny hamlet of Three Pines, just north of the U.S. border, has been found dead in the woods. The locals are certain it’s a tragic hunting accident and nothing more, but Gamache smells something foul in these remote woods, and is soon certain that Jane Neal died at the hands of someone much more sinister than a careless bowhunter.
William R. Forstchen is the co-author of another free preview title and also has a bargain book available. This time, though, it doesn't look like the publisher did it, as Arena ($2.99), the first in the Magic: The Gathering series (and the only one of the series he authored) appears to be self-published.Book Description
As the fighter-mages of the four great Houses prepare for their annual battle, a powerful stranger arrives and he is interested in the fifth House, destroyed a generation ago--but why is the Grand Master afraid of him?
The Glass Devil ($2.99), by Helene Tursten, is the third volume of her Inspector Huss series.Book Description
The principal of a high school telephones his friend, Inspector Andersson of the Göteborg Crime Police; one of his teachers failed to show up for work. To Inspector Irene Huss’ surprise, on the basis of this vague complaint her boss drives out with her to a remote cottage in snowbound southern Sweden to investigate. There they find a body, its head blasted by a rifle. Teacher Jacob Schyttelius has been murdered. When they go to break the news to his elderly parents, Pastor Sten Schyttelius and his wife, they find the couple dead in their beds, each shot between the eyes. Upside-down pentagrams have been drawn in blood on their computer screens. The only surviving member of the family is a daughter, now residing in London, but she is too distressed to be interviewed. Is the killer a member of a satanic cult? Is it the parish treasurer, rumored to have been embezzling church funds? Or one of the assistant pastors, tired of waiting for a promotion? Perhaps the attractive blonde who sings in church and practices witchcraft? Irene Huss has a hunch that the answer lies in England, and she travels there twice to discover the reason for this triple homicide.
Finding Iris Chang: Friendship, Ambition, and the Loss of an Extraordinary Mind ($1.30), by Paula KamenBook Description
Iris Chang's mysterious suicide in 2004, at age thirty-six, didn't seem to make any sense. She had more to live for than anyone, including fame, fortune, beauty, a husband, and child. Some even wondered if the controversial author of the Rape of Nanking had been murdered. Long-time friend Paula Kamen was among those left wondering what had gone so wrong. Seeking to reconcile the suicide with the image of Chang's "perfect" life, Kamen searched her own memory and scoured Chang's letters, diaries, and archival material to fill in the gaps of Chang's personal transformation-from awkward teen to homecoming princess in college, from "ex-shy person" to world-class speaker and international human rights pioneer-and later decline into mental illness and paranoia. A literary investigation of an important writer's journey, Finding Iris Chang is a tribute to a lost heroine, a portrait of the real and vulnerable woman who inspired so many around the world.
Mafia Summer ($1.17), by E. Duke VincentBook Description
One a Sicilian Hell's Kitchen gang leader, the other a sickly but brilliant Orthodox Jewish boy who lives next door, Vinny Vesta and Sidney Butcher meet on a fire escape during the blistering New York City summer of 1950. Their friendship develops over the course of a summer that will change Vinny's fortunes forever, at a cost he could never have imagined. Based on a true story, Mafia Summer brilliantly captures a pivotal moment in Mafia history and in the lives of the teenagers caught up by the Mob.
The Secret Hangman ($1.56), by Peter Lovesey, is the seventh in his Peter Diamond series.Book Description
Widowed Inspector Peter Diamond is being pursued by a secret admirer as he pursues a serial killer. Delia Williamson, a mother of two young girls who works as a waitress, is first reported missing by her own mother. She is found in a public park, hanged from the crossbar of a children’s swing set. There seems to be no reason for her to have committed suicide, and the postmortem reveals that she was murdered. Her present partner, her ex-husband, and a traveling salesman who dined at her table in the restaurant where she worked, are all suspects. Then her former husband is found in a cave, also hanged. A remorse suicide? Diamond doesn’t think so. When a well-to-do couple is found dead, both hanged, a suicide pact is suggested. Diamond is dubious; too many couples are dying by the same method. Before he can figure out what is going on, one more person will die.
Howling Dead ($2.39), by M.H. BonhamBook Description
Which earrings look best with fur? Kira Walker is a geek and UNIX systems administrator who has a bad hair day at least once a month. But when a wolf attacks Kira and her BFF in downtown Denver around the full moon, she-s devastated. Now, like it or not, Kira is unemployed, and the head of Denver-s werewolf pack is getting a little too friendly for her tastes. And, oddly, she keeps finding herself naked in front of road workers. Caught in this new world, Kira discovers there are sinister forces at work. Rogue werewolves have declared war against humans, and when Kira-s other BFF is kidnapped, it gets Kira snarling mad. Can she solve the riddle of the Enchanted Forest before the rogue werewolves kill again? Fashion-challenged Kira will learn that werewolves have a strong bite.
Blood, Smoke and Mirrors ($4.40), by Robyn Bachar, is from the publisher with the best content warnings, Samhain.Book Description
Even a bad witch deserves a second chance.
Wrongly accused of using her magic to harm, the closest Catherine Baker comes to helping others is serving their coffee. Life as an outcast is nothing new, thanks to her father-s reputation, but the injustice stings. Especially since the man she loved turned her in.
Now the man has the gall to show up and suggest she become the next Titania? She-d rather wipe that charming grin off his face with a pot of hot java to the groin.
Alexander Duquesne has never faltered in his duties as a guardian-until now. The lingering guilt over Cat-s exile and the recent death of his best friend have shaken his dedication. With the murder of the old Titania, the faerie realm teeters on the brink of chaos. His new orders: keep Cat alive at all costs.
Hunted by a powerful stranger intent on drawing her into an evil web, Cat reluctantly accepts Lex-s protection and the resurrected desire that comes along with it. Lex faces the fight of his life to keep her safe-and win her back. If they both survive.
Warning: This book contains one tough and snarky witch, one gorgeous guardian, explicit blood drinking, magician sex, gratuitous violence against vampires and troublemaking Shakespearean faeries.
Presumed Dead ($4.79) looks to be the start of a new series, Dylan Scott Mysteries, from Shirley Wells and new publisher Carina Press.Book Description
Dylan Scott has problems. Dismissed in disgrace from the police force for assaulting a suspect, he has no job, his wife has thrown him out and-worse luck-his mother has moved in. So when Holly Champion begs him to investigate the disappearance of her mother thirteen years ago, he can-t say no, even though it means taking up residence in the dreary Lancashire town of Dawson-s Clough for the duration.
Although the local police still believe Anita Champion took off for a better life, Dylan-s inquiries turn up plenty of potential suspects: the drug-dealing, muscle-bound bouncer at the club where Anita was last seen; the missing woman-s four girlfriends, out for revenge; the local landowner with rumored mob connections-the list goes on. But no one is telling Dylan all they know-and he soon finds that one sleepy Northern town can keep a lot of secrets.
