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Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Bargain Book Roundup

The Harlequin Tea Set and Other Stories ($0.99 pre-order), by Agatha Christie, is $9.99 at B&N; Kobo has a 99 cent single story pre-order. Every indication at Amazon (file size, number of pages, description) says this is the entire collection at a bargain price (if not, it's easy enough to return after it is released).

Edit to add: The price on this one has been corrected and is now $9.99. Those who grabbed it at 99 cents will only be charged that lesser amount, which you can confirm on the Pending Deliveries tab of the Manage My Kindle page.
Book Description
A grand treasure for fans of the grande dame of mystery, The Harlequin Tea Set and Other Stories brings together nine rare and brilliant Christie tales of murder and detection that span nearly half a century of her storytelling genius.

In "The Mystery of the Spanish Chest," Hercule Poirot unravels the psychological conundrums that motivate a killer. . . . In "The Actress," a great star's shady past becomes the plaything of a blackmailer. . . . In "The Harlequin Tea Set," Mr. Harley Quin helps a man save his loved ones from the greedy hand of murder. These and six other stories of danger and detection complete this truly stellar collection.

Irish Lady ($1.99), by Jeanette Baker
Book Description
The bad boy of her past...

A successful attorney in a posh London neighborhood, Meghann McCarthy thought she'd escaped the slums of Belfast forever. Until Michael Devlin needs her help. Years before, her love for the Irish charmer had nearly torn her apart, but now he's part of a past she never wants to revisit. However, she can't leave him defenseless against a murder charge—even if uncovering the truth puts her life in danger too.

She'll risk everything to save Michael—and she's not the first of her family to put it all on the line for a man she loves. As Meghann delves further into Michael's case, further into the history that binds them so irrevocably, she slips into the unfolding drama of centuries before...of another woman's desperate fight to free her rebel husband from the clutches of Queen Elizabeth. Stakes are high, but the reward is the love of a lifetime. And the Irish never give up.

The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook ($2.51), by Sheila Lukins, Sarah Leah Chase and Julee Rosso
Book Description
The authors of the national bestseller The Silver Palate Cookbook now bring their acclaimed gourmet style to graceful entertaining at home. In The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook, Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins make the entire year a celebration of good food, good friends, and good times, as they offer menus, suggestions, and strategies. More than 450 new recipes have been developed especially for this collection.

All add to the joyfulness of the rapidly growing Silver Palate legend: there are glorious soups, savory entrees, vegetables, salads, cheese, souffles, and showstopping, just-right desserts.

As warmly inviting as the most rousing party, the pages of The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook abound with winsome line illustrations, pertinent quotations, unusual ideas—and with dishes including Cajun Chicken Morsels, Duck and Dandelion Green Salad, Pesto Fondue, Tex-Mex Stuffed Peppers, and more. The excitement begins in spring and continues right through to winter, with a lavish Christmas Goose accompanied by Scalloped Oysters and Baked Kumquats. The good times are here, with the compliments of The Silver Palate.

Silver Palate Desserts: Recipes From The Classic American Cookbooks ($3.96), by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins
Book Description
A delectable collection of more than two dozen mouth-watering desserts from the co-authors of the best-selling The Silver Palate Cookbook, The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook, and The New Basics Cookbook.

30-Minute Suppers and Make-Ahead Recipes ($4.76 each), by Editors at America's Test Kitchen are two smaller (and more affordable) cookbooks from the one of my favorite kitchen shows. Their The Cook's Illustrated How-to-Cook Library: An illustrated step-by-step guide to Foolproof Cooking was one of the first books I picked up on my original Kindle.

30-Minute Suppers
30 Minute Suppers is an invaluable kitchen tool you'll turn to night after night to create a wide range of dinners. This edition offers up dozens of great recipes for all occasions where time is of the essence: 30 minutes is all you'll need to have a wholesome, flavorful meal on the table.
Make-Ahead Recipes
Coming home to a refrigerator stocked with meals ready to heat and eat meals is everyone’s dream, but in reality make-ahead recipes often fall short: soggy breaded chicken, gluey mashed potatoes, and dry, dense casseroles are more the norm.The test cooks and editors of Cook’s Illustrated have devoted an entire double issue to dozens of make-ahead recipes that will uncover the secrets behind truly great make-ahead cooking.

Cook's Illustrated Holiday Baking, Italian Favorites and Soups & Stews 2011 ($4.76), by The Editors of Cook's Illustrated Magazine, were originally printed as special magazine issues, with a limited print run; I managed to see one of them in the bookstore, but never did see the others as they were snapped up quickly.

Cook's Illustrated Holiday Baking
Ebook format exclusively on Kindle! The Cook’s Illustrated Holiday Baking provides everything the home baker needs to create scrumptious cookies, savory tarts, and perfect pies this holiday season. And because we test and retest recipes as many as 100 times –they are guaranteed to work. The first time and every time you bake.

It also features dozens of our top picks for baking ingredients and bakeware, including hand-held mixers, loaf pans, nonstick aluminum foil, semisweet chocolate, and frozen blueberries.
Italian Favorites
Italian Favorites is dedicated to the very best Italian recipes and cooking tips from the test cooks and editors of Cook’s Illustrated magazine and the America’s Test Kitchen public television cooking show.
The 60+ recipes include everything from pasta classics like Four-Cheese Lasagna andPasta Primavera to seafood favorites like Shrimp Scampi and Mussels Steamed in White Wine to mainstays like Slow Cooker Italian Sunday Gravy, Chicken Saltimbocca, and Deep-Dish Pizza, and specialty desserts like Cannoli Ice Cream Cake and Italian Jam Tart.

Italian Favorites 2010 features a two-page illustrated spread on “Garlic Tips and Techniques” as well as dozens of Italian cooking quick tips and shortcuts including: Quicker Tomato Coring, Easier Bread Slicing, Smoothing out Polenta, Seeding Cucumbers, Keeping Pasta Dough Moist, and Drying Fresh Pasta.

Also included are our top picks for the best ingredients and cookware, including the best: bacon, black pepper, extra-virgin olive oil ,chicken broth, canned diced tomatoes, slow cooker vegetable peeler, garlic press, and salad spinner.
Soups & Stews 2011
The test cooks and editors of Cook’s Illustrated magazine have devoted a special issue to the best recipes for soups, stews, chilis, and chowder, guaranteed to please any palate, and warm any cold soul.

This 64-page special issue has more than three dozen foolproof recipes for everything from regional and family favorites like Farmhouse Chicken Chowder, White Chili, 15-Bean Vegetable Soup, New England Fish Stew, Beef Burgundy, and Great Cheddar Soup to international classics including Indian-Style Chicken Curry, Japanese Soba, Wonton Soup and many more.

The Biggest Loser Flavors of the World Cookbook: Take your taste buds on a global tour with more than 75 easy, healthy recipes for your favorite ethnic dishes ($2.02), by The Biggest Loser Experts and Cast, Melissa Roberson and Devin Alexander, is the only book in the series currently on sale (although you can borrow Biggest Loser Family Cookbook: Budget-Friendly Meals Your Whole Family Will Love from the Kindle Lending Library). If you want the convenience of the Kindle edition and prefer paper in the kitchen, you are in luck, as the paperback edition is also on sale, for only $2.15. Also a good deal in paper is The Biggest Loser Dessert Cookbook: More than 80 Healthy Treats That Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth without Breaking Your Calorie Budget for $3.54 tonight.
Book Description
Pizza. Huevos Rancheros. Pad Thai. Enchiladas. Some of America’s most-craved foods aren’t “American” in the traditional sense—they’re the international foods we love to order at restaurants or have delivered to our homes. But most renditions of these beloved ethnic dishes are full of fat and calories. How can dieters get the flavor they crave, without buying one of those reduced-calorie frozen meals that are full of salt and other preservatives?

Now, with The Biggest Loser Flavors of the World Cookbook, they can have their lasagna and eat it too! With more than 75 recipes for favorite ethnic staples as well as legendary regional American cuisine created by Chef Devin Alexander and The Biggest Loser contestants, healthy eating has never been more exciting.

Readers will discover how former contestants reinvented favorite dishes from their own cultures and regions to fit into their healthy new lifestyle, and will learn how to cut the calories and fat from America’s most-loved ethnic foods. And Chef Devin Alexander's reliably decadent creations save both money and calories, as any of these dishes can be made at home for a fraction of the cost of a restaurant or take-out meal.

The book will include recipes for meals, snacks, dinners, and desserts, and will cover a wide range of cuisines, from the down-home Southern classics to delicious Asian dishes, Mexican favorites, hearty Italian meals, and many others. The book will also include cooking tips from Chef Devin, weight loss advice from the contestants and trainers, and an overview of the Biggest Loser food plan.

The Biggest Loser Flavors of the World Cookbook will show readers how to expand their culinary horizons—without expanding their waistlines!

Eat This And Live For Kids: Simple, healthy food & restaurant choices that your kids will LOVE! ($2.02), by Don Colbert, is another one with a great deal on the paperback edition ($1.71).
Book Description
In Eat This and Live for Kids, Dr. Don Colbert provides a road map to help parents navigate the often-treacherous territory of feeding their children, from infants to toddlers, preschoolers, and elementary aged children.

About the Author
Don Colbert, MD, is board-certified in family practice and anti-aging medicine. He has also received extensive training in nutritional and preventative medicine, and he has helped millions of people to discover the joy of living in divine health. In addition to speaking at conferences, he is the author of the New York Times best-selling books Dr. Colbert’s “I Can Do This” Diet and The Seven Pillars of Health, along with best sellers Toxic Relief, the Bible Cure series, Living in Divine Health, Deadly Emotions, and What Would Jesus Eat?

Veggie Burgers Every Which Way: Fresh, Flavorful and Healthy Vegan and Vegetarian Burgers-Plus Toppings, Sides, Buns and More ($2.24), by Lukas Volger
Book Description
Tasty, Exciting, Inexpensive–Veggie Burgers Every Which Way!

Whether you already subsist on veggie burgers, enjoy them occasionally, or ardently wish there was an alternative to the rubbery, over-processed frozen burgers sold in cardboard boxes, Veggie Burgers Every Which Way is the book for you–one you will want to cook from over and over again.

Author Lukas Volger, who has been making and eating veggie burgers since he was a teenager, has assembled more than thirty unique, delicious veggie burger recipes

Top 100 Gluten Free Dessert Recipes: Our Family Favourite Home Cooked Gluten-Free Desserts! ($5.99), by Rosie Davis and Jamie Davis, is self-published and I've only looked at the sample, so far. I ran across it when reading the review for "Take 10" CHOCOLATE Gluten Free Dessert Recipes ($0.99), which is a smaller version of the book, with only Chocolate recipes. The reviewer mentioned that you don't have to mix up special gluten-free "flour" mixes, which is a major plus.

Top 100 Gluten Free Dessert Recipes: Our Family Favourite Home Cooked Gluten-Free Desserts!
Our disappointment with supermarket gluten free product was a major inspiration for this dessert e-Book. Any pre-packaged desserts were often disappointing, and always expensive. So we put this e-Book together of the most popular dessert recipes around at the moment, and a few of our personal favorites too!! There is a good introduction to gluten free living, and basic tips and conversion tables too. We hope this e-Book is far reaching for so many cooks who want to make their diet needs met, without compromise on taste and variety! Enjoy!
"Take 10" CHOCOLATE Gluten Free Dessert Recipes
Which recipes did we choose?? It was so hard, but these were the ten chocolate dessert recipes we have included in this "Take 10" e-Book Ed.1:
  • Chocolate, Hazelnut & Orange Cake
  • Flourless Chocolate Cake
  • Strawberry Jelly Chocolate Cake
  • Chocolate Cupcakes
  • Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding
  • Chocolate-Espresso Cream Cups
  • Cafe Mocha Souffles
  • Chocolate Mousse
  • Chocolate/Strawberry Tart
  • Peppermint Chocolate Slice
  • BONUSES
  • Chocolate-Chip Cookies
  • Chocolate Coconut Balls
  • Chocolate Fudge Frosting

One for Sorrow: A John, the Lord Chamberlain Mystery ($0.99), by Eric Mayer and Mary Reed, is currently free on iTunes. There is a reasonable chance Amazon will match that in a day or two (if not, though, 99 cents is a great price).
Book Description
Byzantium, capitol of the 6th century Roman Empire, simmers a rich stew of creeds, cultures, and citizens with a sprinkling of cutthroats and crimes. John the Eunuch, Emperor Justinian's Lord Chamberlain, orders a Christian court while himself observing the rites of Mithra. Thomas, a knight from Britain, Ahasuerus, a soothsayer, and two ladies from Crete stir up events and old memories for John, who must ask how the visitors link to the death of Leukos, Keeper of the Plate. An Egyptian brothel keeper and a Christian stylite know more than they are telling....

In due course, John gets his man - and a love scene....

Hyperion has several of Ridley Pearson's adult thrillers up for pre-order at $3.59 apiece. These have all previously been published (multiple times), but are are being newly released as ebooks.

The Angel Maker (Boldt / Matthews #2)
Urban legend, or frightening fact? "One of the better fictional detectives ever penned,"* Seattle's Lou Boldt, and forensic psychologist Dephne Matthews suspect illegal organ harvesting is behind recent assaults on teenage runaways. The trail leads them down dark streets and darker corners of the mind, as they find themselves pursuing a twisted surgeon with his own ideas of mortality and social justice.

Packed with action, The Angel Maker takes the reader on a joy ride from Seattle's homeless to an abandoned homesteading cabin and kennel hidden away in the forests of the Northwest. Daphne Matthews, intent on rescuing a teenage runaway from the madman's scalpel, puts her own life on the line, finding herself face to face with the Angel Maker.

Award-winning author Ridley Pearson carves out and serves up a thriller that will make you look twice at your local veterinarian.
No Witnesses (Boldt / Matthews #3)
Product tampering. Innocent lives. Nice suburban homes. A Seattle food company is victim to an ingenious extortion that has the FBI two steps behind. Seattle's veteran homicide sergeant, Lou Boldt, and police psychologist Daphne Matthews approach the case from opposite ends: one undearthing micoscopic evidence, the other putting together a chilling psychological profile of a man willing to contaminate and kill if necessary.

The cop Daphne Matthews secretly loves is being destroyed by the extortion. Boldt sees his department cracking. As the high-tech manhunt builds to a furious crescendo, Boldt and Matthews are jolted again: the madman they're hunting maynot be working alone . . .
Beyond Recognition (Boldt / Matthews #4)
There’s a homicidal arsonist loose in Seattle. Single mothers are being killed in fires that burn hotter than experts have ever seen. Somehow, the children are spared. Why?

For Seattle Police Sergeant Lou Boldt and the department’s psychologist, Daphne Matthews, the High Temperature Accelerant fires challenge their every resource. The fuel used in these deadly fires is as much a mystery as the identity of the arsonist who sets them.

A Seattle fire marshal reveals to Boldt that ominous quotations have been sent to him before each of the fires. Is the fire marshal, whose past is suddenly in question, more involved than anyone wants to believe?

Based on two years of research that included interviews with firefighters, tours of secret government labs, and the help of an Apollo astronaut, Beyond Recognition combines Ridley Pearson’s signature use of high-tech forensics with breathless pacing and complex characters to bring to the page a most compelling, challenging, and satisfying novel.
The Pied Piper (Boldt / Matthews #5)
Who’s that knocking at your door?
Do you always look?
Do you always know?

From bestselling suspense writer Ridley Pearson, “a thinking man’s Robert Ludlum” (Kirkus Reviews), comes a heart-pounding story of deceit and betrayal featuring Seattle detective Lou Boldt and forensic psychologist Daphne Matthews, who must break the brilliantly conceived network of an illegal adoption ring that has shattered lives, terrorized communities, and threatened even Lou Boldt’s own family.
Hard Fall
The tragic bombing of EuroTours Flight 1023 was big news. To FBI Agent Cam Daggett it was more than that. It was personal. His parents and son were on that plane. And for two years he's been after the killer who did it. All he has to go on is a name: Anthony Kort...and the knowledge that Kort is in the United States with a detonator no airport security can detect. HE MUST BE STOPPED. Daggett's colleagues at the Bureau and his girlfriend tell him his vendetta has become an obsession. They suggest he leave the investigation to other agents, in order to keep it objective. But having painstakingly constructed a portrait of the terrorist, Daggett believes he's now the only one with any chance of predicting Kort's next target. A novel of madness and revenge, Hard Fall begs readers to fasten their seatbelts.
Chain of Evidence
Can Detective Joe “Dart” Dartelli uncover the truth? Or, more importantly, does he dare?

Detective Joe “Dart” Dartelli made one critical mistake in his police career: He chose to ignore a piece of evidence in a case labeled a suicide that might have been a murder. The dead man was himself a vicious woman-killer who more than deserved his fate, but that ignored evidence pointed to Dart’s former mentor, the brilliant forensic specialist Walter Zeller.

Now another suicide victim turns up--the body of a wife-beater—and the evidence clearly shows that the death was self-inflicted . . . or does it? Zeller was the best at reading and understanding the forensics of a crime scene—could he have manipulated it? Worse, why has Zeller disappeared?

It terrifies Dart to suspect that Zeller is in fact on some twisted vigilante crusade, but Dart also knows that if he’s right, only he can stop it.

Chain of Evidence is the intense, heart-pounding story of student versus mentor in the playing field of forensic investigation. Ridley Pearson links computer technology, psychological intensity, and complex questions of police and human ethics to create this breathlessly paced, unputdownable thriller.

The Bridge to Never Land ($1.99), is the fifth title in the Peter and the Starcatchers children's series by Ridley Pearson and Dave Barry.
Book Description
Aidan and Sarah Cooper have no idea what they're getting into one afternoon when they discover a mysterious coded document in a secret compartment of an antique English desk their father recently bought at an auction. Something about the document seems familiar to Sarah, and that night she realizes what it is: the document seems to be referring to some books she has read-the Starcatchers series, about the origin of Peter Pan. But how could that be? The document seems far older than the books. And of course, the books are just stories. Curious, Sarah and Aidan begin to decipher the mysterious document. At first it's a game-unraveling the mystery piece by piece, each piece leading them to a new, deeper puzzle. But soon the game turns strange-and scary. Pursued by a being that can take any form and will stop at nothing to get what it wants from them, Aidan and Sarah embark on a desperate, thrilling quest for help-a quest that leads them to some unforgettable people in some unlikely places, including one that's not supposed to exist at all. A contemporary follow-up to the Starcatchers series.

Grade Level: 5 and up

Your Republic Is Calling You ($1.52), by Young-ha Kim and Chi-Young Kim (Translator)
Book Description
A foreign film importer, Gi-yeong is a family man with a wife and daughter. An aficionado of Heineken, soccer, and sushi, he is also a North Korean spy who has been living among his enemies for twenty-one years.

Suddenly he receives a mysterious email, a directive seemingly from the home office. He has one day to return to headquarters. He hasn’t heard from anyone in over ten years. Why is he being called back now? Is this message really from Pyongyang? Is he returning to receive new orders or to be executed for a lack of diligence? Has someone in the South discovered his secret identity? Is this a trap?

Spanning the course of one day, Your Republic Is Calling You is an emotionally taut, psychologically astute, haunting novel that reveals the depth of one particularly gripping family secret and the way in which we sometimes never really know the people we love. Confronting moral questions on small and large scales, it mines the political and cultural transformations that have transformed South Korea since the 1980s. A lament for the fate of a certain kind of man and a certain kind of manhood, it is ultimately a searing study of the long and insidious effects of dividing a nation in two.

Mahjong Words (Word Game Meets Mahjong on Kindle) ($0.99), by Mobigloo, is half price this week. Looks like it should run on all the eInk Kindles except the original model. You can get the same game as an Android App by Toy Studio (who also have a Mahjong Forever available for free).
Book Description
Mahjong Words is a new twist on the classic Mahjong Solitaire game. The goal is to spell words using the available tiles on the board. A tile is available if it has a side edge free and has no other tiles on top of it.

Your objective is to score as many points as possible by spelling words of 3 letters or more as you go through different layouts.

Mahjong Words is packed with useful features such as Shuffle, Hint & special Bonus Words. Mahjong Words provides 24 different game board layouts to choose from and tracks your best score for each layout finished.

Enjoy Mahjong Words on Kindle today!