Since the UK got all the deals yesterday, I'm starting off with a few US only bargains in this post (but may have one or two in there for those overseas, as well).
The logic game
Strimko, by Braintonik Games, is currently on sale for 99 cents (and should go back up on Monday). All the active content apps and games are limited to those in the US.
Book Description
Discounted to $0.99 for a limited time (offer ends May 15).
Jump into Strimko and enjoy classic Sudoku gameplay with a twist!
The object of the game is to place a set of numbers in rows or columns without repeating them in any row or column. Strimko adds a concept of "streams" that crisscross throughout the puzzle. With streams, you must consider not only the rows and columns, but also the streams, and make sure that each contains different numbers.
You can choose from four different difficulty levels. Each difficulty level increases the size of the grid you play on: "Easy" has a 4x4 grid, while the "Master" level challenges you with a 7x7 grid. Each of the four difficulty levels has 30 different puzzles, allowing for a total of 120 different puzzles to play. A hint function can also let you keep playing if you get stuck.
Challenge yourself and tease your brain as you master the logic required to solve Strimko puzzles!
The matching puzzle game
Next, by Mobigloo, is also on sale for 99 cents, but this price will last until May 26. Also limited to those in the US, this is one I'd held off on, but may go ahead and get at this price. With 128 levels, I could probably play it over and over (as I forget the solutions for ones I solved long ago, especially if I alternate with playing Strimko).
Book Description
NEXT is a matching puzzle game for Kindle that is easy to learn, but hard to master.
The objective of the game is to clear all the pieces off the game board. Game pieces disappear when they are matched with, and touch, other game pieces with the same symbol. Your job is to move the game pieces around the game board to make this happen. Clearing the board allows you to move the next level.
The challenge is that if you don't plan ahead, you might not be able get the pieces to the right location because they are blocked by other game pieces. Because sometimes there are an odd number of a certain types of game pieces, if you match them too soon, you risk leaving stray game pieces behind and then you won't be able to finish the level.
NEXT includes 128 levels of varying difficulty and is easy to learn, but hard to master -- give it a try, and you'll see what we mean!
The Bass Wore Scales (
$0.99), by AUTHOR, is the fifth in the
Liturgical MysteriesLiturgical Mysteries series. If you only picked up the first four before, be sure to get this one before it goes back up. If the only one in the series you skipped on was the last, which was $4.99, you may want to grab
The Organist Wore Pumps now, as it's been marked down to $2.99. If you haven't read any of the series, start with
The Alto Wore Tweed
Book Description
For Detective Hayden Konig, things are going well. He enjoys his two jobs, he’s independently wealthy, his girlfriend has agreed not to marry him, and no one has been killed in St. Germaine since Palm Sunday.
In spite of all this success, Hayden has one more dream to realize—he longs to be a writer. As the organist and choir director of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, he takes every opportunity to inflict his attempts at hard-boiled, musical detective stories on the choir, and, to boost his credibility, he’s even purchased Raymond Chandler’s actual typewriter. It doesn’t help.
Summers in North Carolina are usually peaceful, but when Kokomo, the world-famous signing gorilla, comes to town, suddenly there’s a dead body in the church and all the evidence points to the great ape. Can Hayden figure out the mystery in time to save Kokomo? (Well...of course he can...)
I didn't forget about those who may have already devoured the eight volumes of Mark Schweizer's series, as the ninth book is now out:
The Countertenor Wore Garlic (
$2.99). I haven't managed to get quite this far yet, but the first one was truly one of the funnier books I've read recently (laugh out loud funny).
Book Description
St. Germaine, North Carolina might be the most eccentric little town in the Appalachian Mountains ... at least that's what Hayden Konig, the Chief of Police thinks. Hayden has been the chief for nineteen years. As a detective, he's first rate. As the organist at St. Barnabas Church, he's one of the best ivory jockeys in the county. He's fabulously rich, has a beautiful wife, a cabin in the woods, a dog, a gun, and a pick-up truck. What more could any red-blooded American male want?
That's easy! What he wants is to be a hard-boiled, noir, crime writer. Undeterred by what his audience calls a "conspicuous lack of talent," Hayden Konig has purchased Raymond Chandler's typewriter in a desperate bid to channel some of the master's wordcraft. It doesn't help.
Vicar Fearghus McTavish is a Calvinist Anglican priest with strict Scottish Presbyterian leanings not exactly the perfect interim priest for St. Barnabas. So when the church participates in the town Halloween carnival, it's only a matter of time before something goes terribly wrong. Suddenly there's a dead body, and Hayden Konig has his hands full with a Congregational Enlivener, the Zombies of Easter Walk, and a town packed with adolescent vampires. "Hey," says Hayden, "what's the worst that can happen...?"
Hayden Konig's 9th mystery -- The Countertenor Wore Garlic It's not what you expect... it's even funnier!
Live to Tell (
$0.99), by Wendy Corsi Staub, has been reduced by HarperCollins to get you hooked on this author's work, before
Hell to Payl is released in September. Since that's an Agency publisher, you'll find it at the same price at
B&N and
Kobo
. Best of all, this author has several books out that are priced under $5 (self-published and with another publisher, in other series/story lines), if you do find yourself hooked and wondering what to read until September.
Book Description
Secrets can scandalize . . .
In a lovely suburban town just north of New York City, the gossip mill runs more efficiently than the commuter-train line. And in every impeccably decorated house, they're talking about Lauren Walsh. They say that nothing could be worse than being abandoned by your husband for another woman. They're wrong . . .
Secrets can shock . . .
All Lauren wants is to protect her children from the pain of her messy divorce. But when their father goes missing, a case of mistaken identity puts all their lives in danger, and a stealthy predator lurks in the shadows, watching . . . waiting . . .
Secrets can kill . . .
Lauren is about to uncover an unfathomable truth—a truth this cold-blooded mastermind would never let her live to tell . . .
If you picked up and enjoyed Naomi Kramer's
DEAD(ish) (it's currently free), you might want to take a look at the next two in the series,
(technically) DEAD and
DEAD (as a doorpost). Both are fairly short, not much more than novelette (long short story) length.
Book Description
Cooper's dead. But what's a nerd to do when Heaven doesn't believe in technology, and hell's hotter than an overclocked CPU?
This is a very short book - novelette length. Contains frequent profanity, adult themes and Aussie insults. Not suitable for children.
Staying with the 99 cent range,
H.P. Mallory is having a sale on all of her books this weekend, including
To Kill A Warlock, an Urban Fantasy / Paranormal Romance (Dulcie O'Neil Series, Book #1): thru Sunday, they are all scheduled to be 99 cents. Looks to be a good time to try this author out (I have one of her novels, already) or to grab a few more in a series you have started.
Book Description
The murder of a dark arts warlock. A shape-shifting, ravenous creature on the loose. A devilishly handsome stranger sent to investigate. Sometimes working law enforcement for the Netherworld is a real bitch.
Dulcie O’Neil is a fairy. And not the type to frolic in gardens. She’s a Regulator—a law-enforcement agent who monitors the creatures of the Netherworld to keep them from wreaking havoc in the mortal world.
When a warlock is murdered and Dulcie was the last person to see him alive, she must uncover the truth before she’s either deported back to the Netherworld, or she becomes the next victim.
Enter Knight Vander, a sinfully attractive investigator sent from the Netherworld to work the case with Dulcie.
Between battling her attraction to her self-appointed partner, keeping a sadomasochistic demon in check, and fending off the advances of a sexy and powerful vampire, Dulcie’s got her hands full.
As the body count increases, Dulcie finds herself battling dark magic, reconnoitering in S&M clubs and suffering the greatest of all betrayals.
Leaving behind both the indie author and 99 cent selection, first up is Jeffrey Archer's
As the Crow Flies (
$2.99). I have several of the author's books (both in paper and Kindle editions), so quickly added this one to my collection.
Book Description
Growing up in the slums of East End London, Charlie Trumper dreams of someday running his grandfather's fruit and vegetable barrow. That day comes suddenly when his grandfather dies leaving him the floundering business. With the help of Becky Salmon, an enterprising young woman, Charlie sets out to make a name for himself as "The Honest Trader". But the brutal onset of World War I takes Charlie far from home and into the path of a dangerous enemy whose legacy of evil follows Charlie and his family for generations.
Encompassing three continents and spanning over sixty years, As the Crow Flies brings to life a magnificent tale of one man's rise from rags to riches set against the backdrop of a changing century.
Vanished (
$2.99), by Joseph Finder, is another from an author where I have several books already in my collection (but, not this one ... yet).
Book Description
Nick Heller is tough, smart, and stubborn. And in his line of work, it's essential. Trained in the Special Forces, Nick is a high-powered intelligence investigator--exposing secrets that powerful people would rather keep hidden. He's a guy you don't want to mess with. He's also the man you call when you need a problem fixed.
Desperate, with nowhere else to run, Nick's nephew, Gabe makes that call one night. After being attacked in Georgetown, his mother, Lauren, lies in a coma, and his step-dad, Roger, Nick's brother, has vanished without a trace.
Nick and Roger have been on the outs since the arrest, trial, and conviction of their father, the notorious "fugitive financier," Victor Heller. Where Nick strayed from the path, Roger followed their father's footsteps into the corporate world. Now, as Nick searches for his brother, he's on a collision course with one of the most powerful corporations in the world--and they will stop at nothing to protect their secrets.
Android Karenina (
$4.71), by Leo Tolstoy and Ben H. Winters
Book Description
It’s been called the greatest novel ever written. Now, Tolstoy’s timeless saga of love and betrayal is transported to an awesomer version of 19th-century Russia. It is a world humming with high-powered groznium engines: where debutantes dance the 3D waltz in midair, mechanical wolves charge into battle alongside brave young soldiers, and robots—miraculous, beloved robots!—are the faithful companions of everyone who’s anyone. Restless to forge her own destiny in this fantastic modern life, the bold noblewoman Anna and her enigmatic Android Karenina abandon a loveless marriage to seize passion with the daring, handsome Count Vronsky. But when their scandalous affair gets mixed up with dangerous futuristic villainy, the ensuing chaos threatens to rip apart their lives, their families, and—just maybe—all of planet Earth.
The Meowmorphosis (
$7.52), by Franz Kafka and Cook Coleridge, is a bit above the usual price range here, but I loved the cover when I stumbled upon it. Then, I read the synopsis! I'll definitely check out the sample on this one. If you'd rather read Kafka's original, there are numerous editions out for Kindle, including
Metamorphosis and Other Stories (
$1.90). Unfortunately (at least, for me), all the free editions on Kindle are in the original German.
Book Description
“One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that he had been changed into an adorable kitten.”
Thus begins The Meowmorphosis—a bold, startling, and fuzzy-wuzzy new edition of Kafka’s classic nightmare tale, from the publishers of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies! Meet Gregor Samsa, a humble young man who works as a fabric salesman to support his parents and sister. His life goes strangely awry when he wakes up late for work and discovers that, inexplicably, he is now a man-sized baby kitten. His family freaks out: Yes, their son is OMG so cute, but what good is cute when there are bills to pay? And how can Gregor be so selfish as to devote all his attention to a scrap of ribbon? As his new feline identity threatens to eat away at his personality, Gregor desperately tries to survive this bizarre, bewhiskered ordeal by accomplishing the one thing he never could as a man: He must flee his parents’ house.
Code of the Lifemaker ($9.99 Kindle), by James Hogan, is this month's free book from Phoenix Pick. Click HERE for the free download. Enter coupon code 9992144, then once past the newsletter subscription page, download the DRM-free format of your choice.
Hogan's The Immortality Option ($7.99 Kindle) and The Multiplex Man ($9.99 Kindle) are also on sale on the download page for $5.99.
The Multiplex Man
