This week's roundup of Kindle book bargains for a buck or less. All books are
99 cents unless otherwise noted, book descriptions, in italics, courtesy of Amazon.
Suspense / Thriller / Mystery
If you enjoyed
Afraid
by Jack Kilborn (
$1.99), you will also want to check out his work under the name
J.A. Konrath 
. His Jack Daniels series starts off with
Whiskey Sour
, which is bargain priced at
$3.96. However, you can get it in
PDF format free on the author's web site.
Lieutenant Jacqueline Daniels, or Jack, as she's known, has just broken up with her boyfriend and is having one of her bouts of insomnia, so she's not in the best of moods anyway. Then a frightening serial killer who calls himself the Gingerbread Man starts murdering women all over Chicago and dumping their violated bodies in garbage cans. With her binge-eating partner Herb, Jack begins to piece together the mystery of the maniac who's terrorizing the entire city. Unfortunately the FBI (or Feebs) send two officers who look like the Bobbsey Twins, and who have inordinate faith in their profiling computer. WHISKEY SOUR is full of hilarious moments in Jack Daniels' life, mingled with incredibly suspenseful scenes as she gets closer to discovering the killer--but not before he threatens her own life as well. There are a number of other
freebies on the web site, including
55 Proof, a collection of 55 short stories, 13 of them featuring Jack Daniels.
A Lifetime of Vengeance
, by P. J. Grondin, is the first in the McKinney Brothers Murder Mystery Series (
A Lifetime of Deception
is also on Kindle and currently marked down to
$3.03).
While still in their teens the McKinney brothers enter the world of illicit drug trade. Just as their business appears to be running on auto-pilot, events turn their charmed lives into a living hell. Their friends turn against them and commit an act so heinous that the brothers are forced to leave their home in central Florida. They vow to come back and exact revenge on their friends-turned-enemies. After 6 years of military training they return to Florida to carry out their plan but their plan takes on a life of its own. But their enemies have a new, powerful friend. He’s a big player in the central Florida drug trade and he has help from inside the sheriff’s vice squad. Will the brothers survive this new threat? Will they carry out their plan and succeed in eliminating their adversaries, or will they forever harbor A Lifetime of Vengeance?Fantasy / Science Fiction
The Second Ship (The Rho Agenda : Book One)
by Richard Phillips. This one is marked down until May 1, when the paperback will be released. The second in the series is also available for Kindle,
Immune (The Rho Agenda : Book Two)
and at
$6.99, you get both books for under $8.
Top-Secret Los Alamos, New Mexico. In 1945 its scientists unlocked the secrets of the atomic bomb. Now they've cracked the very lock on hell itself. Once again the quiet scientific community spawned by the Manhattan Project comes face to face with a technological breakthrough for which the world is completely unprepared. Now, as a special team of operatives struggles to stop the project codenamed Rho while containment is still possible, what it means to be human is about to change -- forever. In this heart pounding new series, acclaimed author Richard Phillips gives us a terrifying glimpse into what lies just around the future's corner.Sports
Advantage Disadvantage
by Yale R. Jaffe.
A neighborhood bookie peddles athletes to college coaches and develops a sport betting operation centered on high school games. He recruits an accomplice to execute his last bet, one that could set them up financially for life but is fraught with danger. The Chicago Police investigate the greedy gamblers who might try to manipulate a high school basketball playoff game. A chance meeting between the father of a mediocre student-athlete and the bookie puts in motion a sequence of events transforming the player into a Division 1 prospect using unorthodox basketball training methods. Corrupt adults, who selfishly engage in risky and exploitive behaviors, surround the athlete: gangland profiteers, win-at-all-cost coaches, greedy street agents, shoe company representatives, college recruiters, disloyal lovers, and others. Advantage Disadvantage examines the motivations that drive the surrounding adults to corruption, betrayal, and greed. Advantage Disadvantage is a nail-biting, behind-the-scenes pass into the world of high school sports and the people who make and break it. Set in Chicago, its innately urban backdrop is full of distinctly Windy City landmarks. This is the perfect read for sports fans that love an insider's view...an insightful and deliciously-sinful plot full of twists and turns. You'll find the perfect blend of bravery, betrayal and who-done-it adventure in this vividly penned thriller.Romance / Suspense (Gay)
Turning Idolater
by Edward C. Patterson, the author of
Bobby's Trace
, which is still on sale for 99 cents (but is scheduled to go back to $3.99). This one isn't for everyone, but the premise is intriguing and definitely worth checking out if you are interested in the genre and enjoyed his earlier bargain book.
Philip Flaxen, who strips past his jockstrap on the Internet for manluv.com, acquires a rare gift - a book that transforms his life. With it, he sparks with a famous author, whittles away at a new craft, swims with an odd circle of new acquaintances and is swept up in mayhem. Philip leaves the world of the Porn Nazi and enters the realm of crisp possibilities - great expectations and dark secrets that unravel over deep waters. Follow this whodunit as Philip Flaxen "turns idolater" and never looks back - a tale of Internet strippers, back street murders, Provincetown glitz, New York City nightlife and a love story for the ages. If you liked "No Irish Need Apply" and loved "Bobby's Trace", you will absolutely adore "Turning Idolater". Life is filled with serendipity, pleasurable and bracing, but on the fringes and in the heart, life can be a very bloody business.
From Dead to Worse [Southern Vampire Series Book 8]
by Charlaine Harris (Kindle $4.39) is currently available for free from Fictionwise in both Secure EReader and Secure Mobipocket formats (these do not work on the Kindle or Sony Readers, due to DRM).
, which is available free this month. I also purchased Soul Identity twice, but the second copy was only a penny (and was so I could see if there was a difference in the versions: there is not). Quite a few that I would not have purchased, normally, but might read since I have them (most of those Harlequins, for example), but at least a couple of the freebies were on my wish list to purchase later.