Today's Deals 3/18

Today is the last day of Audible's 25% Off Spring Cleaning Sale (for members only) and to take advantage of this AmazonLocal deal:

• 30% Off Qualifying Kindle Accessories

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Not Norman ($1.99), by Kelly Bennett and Noah Z. Jones (Illustrator) [Candlewick]. This book features Kindle Text Pop-Up for reading text over vivid, full-color images when using Kindle Fire/HD or select Kindle Reading Apps (Kindle Cloud Reader, Kindle for iPad or Kindle for Android); unlike some other Text Popup books, this one won't work on any of the eInk Kindles.

Book Description
Norman the goldfish isn’t what this little boy had in mind. He wanted a different kind of pet — one that could run and catch, or chase string and climb trees, a soft furry pet to sleep on his bed at night. Definitely not Norman. But when he tries to trade Norman for a "good pet," things don’t go as he planned. Could it be that Norman is a better pet than he thought? With wry humor and lighthearted affection, author Kelly Bennett and illustrator Noah Z. Jones tell an unexpected — and positively fishy — tale about finding the good in something you didn’t know you wanted.

Age Range: 4 - 8 years

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is The Hot Rock ($1.99), the first novel in Donald E Westlake's Dortmunder series [Open Road], with the companion audiobook for $3.95.

Book Description
Fresh out of prison, Dortmunder plans a heist that could mean war

John Dortmunder leaves jail with ten dollars, a train ticket, and nothing to make money on but his good name. Thankfully, his reputation goes far. No one plans a caper better than Dortmunder. His friend Kelp picks him up in a stolen Cadillac and drives him away from Sing-Sing, telling a story of a $500,000 emerald that they just have to steal. Dortmunder doesn’t hesitate to agree.

The emerald is the crown jewel of a former British colony, lately granted independence and split into two nations: one for the Talabwo people, one for the Akinzi. The Akinzi have the stone, the Talabwo want it back, and their UN representative offers a fine payday to the men who can get it. It’s not a simple heist, but after a few years in stir, Dortmunder could use the challenge.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is When Strawberries Bloom ($1.99), by Linda Byler [Good Books].

Book Description
New love and even more questions enter Lizzie Glick’s life in When Strawberries Bloom, the second novel in a series by an Amish writer and based on life experiences.

Lizzie’s dream of teaching school has finally come true. She loves the brand-new school building, the sound of the children singing, and the independence she has in the classroom. Even the occasionally unruly boys can’t ruin the excitement she feels each morning when she starts the school day.

But at home things are in turmoil again. What do Dat’s sudden health problems mean for the future of their farm? And what about Lizzie’s future? Emma and Mandy are so certain that Joshua and John are their perfect matches, but Lizzie doesn’t know what to think about Stephen and how he might fit into her life.

What will Lizzie decide? Will she continue to teach school? Or will she give up that dream so that her wish for marriage and a family can come true?

Stephen says he loves her, but Lizzie isn’t sure he really understands her. Can she hope to find anyone within her Amish community who loves her bright mind, her ever-active imagination, her competitive spirit, and her stormy humor?

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is Robert Kroese’s Disenchanted ($0.99), which was initially released as a Kindle Serial.

Book Description
Robert Kroese’s Disenchanted comes fully loaded with the wit and charm of The Princess Bride and a sense of humor all its own. This clever take on the traditional fantasy includes footnotes that keep the narrator honest, a cast of characters that resembles something out of the Island of Misfit Toys, and a fantastic setting filled with words and names that test pronunciation skills.

Being assassinated doesn't have many upsides, so when King Boric is felled by a traitor, the king comforts himself with the knowledge that, like all great warriors, he will spend eternity carousing in the Hall of Avandoor. There's just one problem: to claim his heavenly reward, Boric must release the enchanted sword of Brakslaagt.

Now, to avoid being cursed to walk the land of Dis forever as an undead wraith, he must hunt down the mysterious Lord Brand who gave him the sword twenty years ago. So begins Boric's extraordinary journey across the Six Kingdoms of Dis, a walking corpse who wants nothing more than to be disenchanted and left in peace. Along the way he's advised by the Witch of Twyllic, mocked by the threfelings of New Threfelton, burned, shot at, and nearly blown to bits. But nothing can prepare him for coming face-to-face with Lord Brand. For in that moment, Boric discovers that nothing—in life, in death, or in between—is exactly what it seems.

The Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK is three books by Damon Galgut for £0.99 each (at least 80% off): The Good Doctor, The Imposter and The Quarry. The Good Doctor won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was shortlisted for both the Man Booker Prize and the Dublin/IMPAC Award. His most recent novel, In a Strange Room was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2010.

The Good Doctor (Main/UK; no US edition)

A powerful, taut and intense tale of a friendship overshadowed by betrayal, set against the tawdry hopes and disappointments of a post-apartheid South Africa. When Laurence Waters arrives at his new post at a deserted rural hospital, staff physician Frank Eloff is instantly suspicious. Laurence is everything Frank is not-young, optimistic, and full of big ideas. The whole town is beset with new arrivals and the return of old faces. Frank reestablishes a liaison with a woman, one that will have unexpected consequences. A self-made dictator from apartheid days is rumored to be active in cross-border smuggling, and a group of soldiers has moved in to track him, led by a man from Frank's own dark past. Laurence sees only possibilities-but in a world where the past is demanding restitution from the present, his ill-starred idealism cannot last.

The Imposter (Main/UK; US edition $8.80)

When Adam moves into an abandoned house on the dusty edge of town, he is hoping to recover from the loss of his job and his home in the city. But when he meets Canning - a shadowy figure from his childhooh - and Canning's enigmatic and beautiful wife, a sinister new chapter in his life begins. Canning has inherited a vast fortune and built for himself a giant folly in the veld, a magical place of fantasy and dreams that seduces Adam and transforms him absolutely, violently - and perhaps forever. Damon Galgut's magnificent novel evokes a hot and cruel and claustrophobic world, in which sex and death are never far from the surface. It is his most powerful and unforgettable novel yet.

The Quarry (Main/UK; US edition $8.69)

Damon Galgut established himself as a writer of international caliber with the publication of The Good Doctor, which was sold in sixteen countries and was a finalist for the Man Booker Prize and the winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize for the African region. The Quarry, written ten years ago but never published outside of South Africa, is another stark, intense, and crystalline novel in which human nature betrays itself against the desolate backdrop of rural South Africa. On a lonely stretch of road a man picks up a hitchhiker. The driver is a minister on his way to a new rural congregation; the passenger is a fugitive. When the minister realizes this, the fugitive kills him. He assumes his vestments and identity, only to discover that one of his first duties as the new minister is to preside over his victim's funeral. As the fugitive and the local police chief play a tense game of cat and mouse, culminating in a pursuit across the desolate veldt, Damon Galgut gives us a spare, devastating combat for man's most prized attribute: freedom.

My Brilliant Friend ($9.99 Kindle, $2.99 B&N), by Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein [Penguin], is the Nook Daily Find. This should have already dropped to match prices at Amazon, since it is an Agency model publisher, so be sure to check back later if it hasn't dropped yet when you read this post.

Book Description
A modern masterpiece from one of Italy’s most acclaimed authors, My Brilliant Friend is a rich, intense, and generous-hearted story about two friends, Elena and Lila. Ferrante’s inimitable style lends itself perfectly to a meticulous portrait of these two women that is also the story of a nation and a touching meditation on the nature of friendship.

The story begins in the 1950s, in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples. Growing up on these tough streets the two girls learn to rely on each other ahead of anyone or anything else. As they grow, as their paths repeatedly diverge and converge, Elena and Lila remain best friends whose respective destinies are reflected and refracted in the other. They are likewise the embodiments of a nation undergoing momentous change. Through the lives of these two women, Ferrante tells the story of a neighborhood, a city, and a country as it is transformed in ways that, in turn, also transform the relationship between her protagonists, the unforgettable Elena and Lila.

Ferrante is the author of three previous works of critically acclaimed fiction: The Days of Abandonment, Troubling Love, and The Lost Daughter. With this novel, the first in a trilogy, she proves herself to be one of Italy’s great storytellers. She has given her readers a masterfully plotted page-turner, abundant and generous in its narrative details and characterizations, that is also a stylish work of literary fiction destined to delight her many fans and win new readers to her fiction.

Bargain Book Trio

Philip K. Dick's books have been on sale before, but for those who missed it, quite a few are on sale again for $1.99. You've probably heard of some by the movies made from them, such as A Scanner Darkly, but there are quite a few that are worth picking up at this price, for any SF fan.

Ain't Misbehaving ($2.61 Kindle), by Molly Cannon [Hachette], has been dropping a few pennies a day in the Kindle store (along with the paperback edition), but is likely to rise back to the $6 range when Amazon's surplus of paper copies is exhausted.

Book Description
Sometimes even good girls need to be a little bad . . .

Marla Jean Bandy might be down, but she's not out. Even though her no-good ex-husband left her for another woman-a Bookmobile-driving librarian twenty years her senior-Marla Jean won't settle for another lonely night. She's not ready for Mr. Right, but why not have a little fun with Mr. Right Now? The only wrench in her plan is her childhood crush, Jake-and the memory of the one toe-curling kiss they shared on a hot summer night years ago . . .

One look at Marla Jean is enough to make any red-blooded man sit up and take notice-especially the kind of man nice girls should avoid. Jake knows he should let her make her own mistakes, but he owes it to her brother to look after her. Trouble is, the harder he tries to do the right thing, the harder it is to resist Marla Jean. She needs a man to make her believe love will last, and for once in his life, Jake wonders if that could be him.

The Reserve ($2.99 Kindle, B&N, Kobo), by Pulitzer Prize winning author Russell Banks [HarperCollins]

Book Description
Part love story, part murder mystery, set on the cusp of the Second World War, Russell Banks's sharp-witted and deeply engaging new novel raises dangerous questions about class, politics, art, love, and madness—and explores what happens when two powerful personalities, trapped at opposite ends of a social divide, begin to break the rules.

Twenty-nine-year-old Vanessa Cole is a wild, stunningly beautiful heiress, the adopted only child of a highly regarded New York brain surgeon and his socialite wife. Twice married, Vanessa has been scandalously linked to any number of rich and famous men. But on the night of July 4, 1936, at her parents' country home in a remote Adirondack Mountain enclave known as The Reserve, two events coincide to permanently alter the course of Vanessa's callow life: her father dies suddenly of a heart attack, and a mysteriously seductive local artist, Jordan Groves, blithely lands his Waco biplane in the pristine waters of the forbidden Upper Lake. . . .

Jordan's reputation has preceded him; he is internationally known as much for his exploits and conquests as for his paintings themselves, and, here in the midst of the Great Depression, his leftist loyalties seem suspiciously undercut by his wealth and elite clientele. But for all his worldly swagger, Jordan is as staggered by Vanessa's beauty and charm as she is by his defiant independence. He falls easy prey to her electrifying personality, but it is not long before he discovers that the heiress carries a dark, deeply scarring family secret. Emotionally unstable from the start, and further unhinged by her father's unexpected death, Vanessa begins to spin wildly out of control, manipulating and destroying the lives of all who cross her path.

Moving from the secluded beauty of the Adirondack wilderness to the skies above war-torn Spain and Fascist Germany, The Reserve is a clever, incisive, and passionately romantic novel of suspense that adds a new dimension to this acclaimed author's extraordinary repertoire.

Lord Gray's List ($1.99 Kindle, B&N, Kobo), by Maggie Robinson [Kensington Books]

Book Description
From duchesses to chamber maids, everybody's reading it. Each Tuesday, The London List appears, filled with gossip and scandal, offering job postings and matches for the lovelorn--and most enticing of all, telling the tales and selling the wares a more modest publication wouldn't touch. . .

The creation of Evangeline Ramsey, The London List saved her and her ailing father from destitution. But the paper has given Evie more than financial relief. As its publisher, she lives as a man, dressed in masculine garb, free to pursue and report whatever she likes--especially the latest disgraces besmirching Lord Benton Gray. It's only fair that she hang his dirty laundry, given that it was his youthful ardor that put her off marriage for good. . .

Lord Gray--Ben--isn't about to stand by while all of London laughs at his peccadilloes week after week. But once he discovers that the publisher is none other than pretty Evie Ramsey with her curls lopped short, his worries turn to desires--and not a one of them fit to print. . .

20 Kindle Books for $2 (AL)

This offer is set up via AmazonLocal and anyone (in the US) can participate.

Free Voucher to Purchase Select eBooks from the Amazon Kindle Store for $2 Each

Click to "purchase" the voucher, sign in (to Amazon) and click thru a few more pages and you'll find the voucher code you need under "Your Vouchers" (link in top/right corner of the page). Sign-up for this offer expires March 23, 2013 or when the number of vouchers set aside by Amazon have been exhausted (which is often sometime the first day).

To use the Voucher, just click back to Amazonlocal and then on View Code next to the offer title. Click to copy the code, the on the link in step #2, to apply the code to your account (make sure you see the green "Success" message after entering the code). It works like a gift card and once applied to your account, you can shop from your Kindle or desktop, picking any of the 20 qualifying titles. You should also be able to gift any of the books to someone else (I have in the past; the full price shows all the way thru, but on the invoice summary, you will see the $2 promotional price), but the total number of books you can get at this price is 20. The voucher will expire if not used toward qualifying Kindle book purchases from Amazon.com by 11:59 p.m. PST March 27, 2013.

Of the books listed for this deal, I've only read Manel Loureiro's Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End, which I thought was quite good (Apocalyptic Fiction) - I have him on my watch list, to see if a sequel is available someday.

Deal Details:

If Nuts is a virtue, then Penny Marshall's mother was a saint. This multi-talented Hollywood insider has penned her autobiography My Mother Was Nuts, and for $2, this laugh-out-loud tell-all can be yours from the Amazon Kindle Store, as can 19 other specially selected Kindle eBooks.

• Free voucher to purchase up to 20 select eBooks from the Amazon Kindle Store for $2 each
• Get inspired by Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End by Manel Loureiro, a superb tale of horror and survival in the worst possible scenario
• Cheer for the heroine Lela, the smart and believable dialogue, and the clever plot twists of Sanctum by Sarah Fine
• Enjoy other page-turners such as Too Good to be True by Benjamin Anastas, and Unraveling Anne by Laurel Saville

App Reviews - Solitaire and 3 Hidden Objects

Abhi over at 7 Dragons Inc., whom I have known for a while and run into on some of the forums, asked if I would review a few of the newly released games that his company has been optimizing for the Kindle Fire and Fire HD platforms. Since I also have the older Nook Tablets, he agreed to also send over the Nook versions for comparison (I didn't fire up the Kindle Fire to compare non-HD versions, but I have no doubt they games will look similar to the way they do on the Nook Tablet). The B&N editions of these games support all of their tablet devices, from the original Nook Color up to the HD+, while the Amazon editions support all Kindle Fire models, from the original Fire up to both HD editions (I don't have a 2nd Edition Fire to check, but since it it nearly identical to the original Fire, which I do have, I would assume that it is supported, as well). The apps in neither store are supported on generic generic Android tablets or phones

Right now, they are also having a sale on these games, which are marked down to an even $1.00 (down from $4), for a limited time. For those with a Nook, you should be able to play the games in test mode for 1/2 hour (although I haven't tried this feature for these particular games) and you can also send an app as a gift to another account. Neither feature is available for those shopping in the Amazon Appstore, so they've come out with a special free version of the first app that allows you 15 minutes of play per day. Copies of all games reviewed below were provided to me by 7 Dragons.

Solitaire, Mahjong Solitaire, Spider Solitaire, 4 Rivers, FreeCell Solitaire, Memory Solitaire HD ($1.00 Amazon, B&N; Free Test Version Amazon)

This was definitely my favorite of the two apps. I played thru at least one game of each of the six include "mini-apps", any one of which I've seen for sale for dollar or more as stand-alone apps. You can jump into the menu options in the middle of a game and immediately change the background, face format and deck backs (for card games) and the changes take effect when you return to the game. You can get hints on any screen, if you can't figure out what to do next (or just want to verify there are no playable positions) and undo worked flawless when I tested it to move back thru several plays. When you finally give in (the solitaire games won't tell you that you've lost, so you have to quit), you have a choice of replaying the same game or starting over with a new hand.

For card games, the Solitaire game is the one you've played forever, both with cards or on your computer. Spider Solitaire adds the same game that many of us became addicted to on later Windows version and FreeCell rounds out the games that many an office worker has wasted some downtime playing. In addition to that, Memory Solitaire is a basic flip-2-and-match game, with many grid sizes available, along with other play options. The difficulty of play ranges from easy, on a small grid, to mind-twistingly difficult on a 13x4 grid (not enough challenge - play the infinite mode on the Insane level).

There are two tile games included, Mahjongg and 4 Rivers, which I had not played before. It works lot like Mahjongg, but you can match two tiles in the interior of the board, but you also must be able to "connect" matching tiles with a straight line that has no more than two right angle turns. Sounds simple, but can take a little extra strategy to make sure that you don't end up with blocked tiles.

This app made it to my Favorites list, right beside Cubistry, which I try to play once a day. No doubt the Memory Solitaire is the "best" for you (and is a lot cheaper than joining Luminosity, although it only works on one type of memory), but the Solitaire standards are the ones that I ended up playing over and over. FreeCell and Spider require you to use a bit more strategy to win, but that also means you aren't entirely at the mercy of the shuffle/deal, as you are in regular Solitaire. Overall, I'd give this one a 5 out of 5 stars - it's definitely worth a buck and will be staying on my Fire to play over and over.

App Details
Solitaire gives you - Autosave, Draw 3, Draw 1, Hints, Undo, 6 Card Front Designs, 12 Card Back Designs, 10 backgrounds, Best Score, Trophies.

Mahjong Solitaire gives you - 19 Tile layouts from Easy to Very Challenging, Every Game is Unique, Autosave, Realistic Tiles with shadows, Hints, Undo, 3 Tileset Designs, 3 Tile Colors, 7 backgrounds, Best Score, Best Time, Trophies.

Spider Solitaire gives you - Three Difficulty Levels (1 Suit, 2 Suits, 4 Suits), Autosave, Hints, Undo, 2 Spider themed Card Designs, 5 additional Card Designs, 12 Card Back Designs, 6 Spider themed backgrounds, 4 more backgrounds, Best Score, Best Time, Trophies.

FreeCell Solitaire gives you - Autosave, Hints, Undo, 6 Card Designs, 10 backgrounds.

Shared Features - Background Music, Game Sounds (can be turned off), easy and intuitive Touch & Drag gameplay.

3 Hidden Objects Adventures HD ($1.00 Kindle, B&N)

I told Abhi that Hidden Object games are not my favorite, but he sent this one over anyway. I won't say this one made me a fan, but it was quite playable in story mode. I played thru several scenes in one adventure (of three) on both the Nook Tablet and my Kindle Fire HD 8.9". I could actually see the objects easier (for the most part) on the Nook, but it was easier to move the image around after zooming in on the Kindle Fire. By default, the game starts in 15 item mode, so if you want to drop back to 5 object mode (which will give you more re-playability and faster moving between story line segments), be sure to do that before you get to the first object scene. You can change it after you start, but the switch won't take effect until the next scene. In 5-object mode, you also get one hint per scene, so use it wisely. Each scene is played against both a timer and has a minimum of 4 of 5 objects found in order to progress to the next story segment.

You'll note below that the app also needs quite a bit of space to download (those HD graphics are worth it), so plan on waiting up to 1/2 hour (we have slow DSL) after first opening the game to download the necessary files. After that first download, though, the game started up quite quickly and remembered where I was when I returned to continue. I ended up using the Zoom feature quite a bit and moved the image around on the Kindle Fire in order to track down some of the more sneakily placed items. Overall, I'd give this one a 4 out of 5 stars, simply because I thought some of the items were just too difficult to see. I didn't run into any glitches, hangups or slowdowns while playing (other than the Nook kept thinking I was randomly clicking, when I was trying to move the zoomed image, which I blame on the hardware, not the game) and you should definitely get quite a bit of playtime for the money (I played quite a while and was still on the first adventure).

3 Hidden Objects Adventures gives you three beautiful Hidden Objects Adventures in one great app.

3 Adventures, 158 scenes, 2,392 hidden objects. You will have a fun, challenging, and satisfying Hidden Objects experience.

Please Note: App needs 600 MB of free space on your NOOK (TM) to download the graphics.

Please Note: These Adventures only have Hidden Objects scenes (no mini games). These are not 'Very Easy' Hidden Objects Adventures with all items out in plain view. You might need to use Hints and the Zoom feature. For young kids you should turn on 'Extra Hints' and turn off the Timer.

Today's Deals 3/17

Amazon's Android Free App of the Day is The Curse, an interesting looking puzzle and memory game.

If you are looking for some music to feed your Cloud Player, be sure to check out Classics for a Rainy Day and 100 Must-Have Love Song Classics, two albums currently marked down to 99 cents each (and timing out at approx 2 and 7 hours, respectively). If you want something with a bit more of a beat, then check out Rock'n'roll & Jukebox Hits - 60 Originals from the 50s; at $2.99, you get over 2 hours of music (and save over $50 compared to buying the songs individually).

For the Kindle Daily Deal, the four books of Oliver Pötzsch's nail-biting historical mystery series are just $0.99 each, including the upcoming release, "The Poisoned Pilgrim." Translations for the entire series are by Lee Chadeayne. You can pick up the entire series less than I paid for the second in the series.

The Hangman's Daughter (companion audiobook $1.99)

Germany, 1660: When a dying boy is pulled from the river with a mark crudely tattooed on his shoulder, hangman Jakob Kuisl is called upon to investigate whether witchcraft is at play. So begins The Hangman's Daughter--the chillingly detailed, fast-paced historical thriller from German television screenwriter Oliver Pötzsch, a descendant of the Kuisls, a famous Bavarian executioner clan.

Magdalena, the clever and headstrong daughter of Bavarian hangman Jakob Kuisl, lives with her father outside the village walls and is destined to be married off to another hangman’s son—except that the town physician’s son is hopelessly in love with her. And her father’s wisdom and empathy are as unusual as his despised profession. It is 1659, the Thirty Years’ War has finally ended, and there hasn’t been a witchcraft mania in decades. But now, a drowning and gruesomely injured boy, tattooed with the mark of a witch, is pulled from a river and the villagers suspect the local midwife, Martha Stechlin.

Jakob Kuisl is charged with extracting a confession from her and torturing her until he gets one. Convinced she is innocent, he, Magdalena, and her would-be suitor to race against the clock to find the true killer. Approaching Walpurgisnacht, when witches are believed to dance in the forest and mate with the devil, another tattooed orphan is found dead and the town becomes frenzied. More than one person has spotted what looks like the devil—a man with a hand made only of bones. The hangman, his daughter, and the doctor’s son face a terrifying and very real enemy.

Taking us back in history to a place where autopsies were blasphemous, coffee was an exotic drink, dried toads were the recommended remedy for the plague, and the devil was as real as anything, The Hangman’s Daughter brings to cinematic life the sights, sounds, and smells of seventeenth-century Bavaria, telling the engrossing story of a compassionate hangman who will live on in readers’ imaginations long after they’ve put down the novel.

The Dark Monk (companion audiobook $1.99)

1660: Winter has settled thick over a sleepy village in the Bavarian Alps, ensuring every farmer and servant is indoors on the night a parish priest discovers he's been poisoned. As numbness creeps up his body, he summons the last of his strength to scratch a cryptic sign in the frost.

Following a trail of riddles, hangman Jakob Kuisl, his headstrong daughter, Magdalena, and the town physician’s son team up with the priest’s aristocratic sister to investigate. What they uncover will lead them back to the Crusades, unlocking a troubled history of internal church politics and sending them on a chase for a treasure of the Knights Templar.

But they’re not the only ones after the legendary fortune. A team of dangerous and mysterious monks is always close behind, tracking their every move, speaking Latin in the shadows, giving off a strange, intoxicating scent. And to throw the hangman off their trail, they have ensured he is tasked with capturing a band of thieves roving the countryside attacking solitary travellers and spreading panic.

Delivering on the promise of the international bestseller The Hangman’s Daughter, Oliver Pötzsch takes us on a whirlwind tour through the occult hiding places of Bavaria’s ancient monasteries. Once again based on prodigious historical research into Pötzsch’s family tree, The Dark Monk brings to life an unforgettable, compassionate hangman and his tenacious daughter, painting a robust tableau of a seventeenth-century Bavaria and quickening our pulses with a gripping, mesmerizing mystery.

The Beggar King (companion audiobook $1.99)

The year is 1662. Alpine village hangman Jakob Kuisl receives a letter from his sister calling him to the imperial city of Regensburg, where a gruesome sight awaits him: her throat has been slit. Arrested and framed for the murder, Kuisl faces first-hand the torture he's administered himself for years.

Jakob's daughter, Magdalena, and a young medicus named Simon hasten to his aid. With the help of an underground network of beggars, a beer-brewing monk, and an Italian playboy, they discover that behind the false accusation is a plan that will endanger the entire German Empire.

Chock-full of historical detail, The Beggar King brings to vibrant life another tale of an unlikely hangman and his tough-as-nails daughter, confirming Pötzsch's mettle as a writer to watch.

The Poisoned Pilgrim

1666: Two monks at the monastery of Andechs experiment with cutting-edge technology, including a method of deflecting the lightning that has previously set the monastery ablaze. When one of the monks disappears and his lab is destroyed, foul play is suspected. Who better to investigate than the famed hangman Jakob Kuisl? But as the hangman and his family attempt to solve the mystery of the missing monk, they must deal with both the mysterious denizens of the monastery and villagers who view the monks' inventions as witchcraft that must be destroyed at all costs. The Poisoned Pilgrim is the thrilling fourth entry in the bestselling Hangman's Daughter series, which has been described as "swift and sure," "darkly atmospheric," and "a fascinating web of intrigue" by fans such as Scott Turow, Katherine Neville, and Gregory Maguire.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is Return to Willow Lake ($1.99), the ninth novel in the Lakeshore Chronicles by Susan Wiggs [Harlequin MIRA], with the companion audiobook for $3.99.

Book Description
Sonnet Romano has the ideal career, the ideal boyfriend, and has just been offered a prestigious fellowship. But when she learns her mother is unexpectedly expecting in a high-risk pregnancy, she puts everything on hold and heads home to Avalon. Once her mom is out of danger, Sonnet intends to pick up her life where she left off.

But when her mother receives a devastating diagnosis, Sonnet must decide what really matters in life, even if that means staying in Avalon and taking a job that forces her to work alongside her biggest, and maybe her sweetest, mistake—award-winning filmmaker Zach Alger.

And in a summer of laughter and tears, of old dreams and new possibilities, Sonnet may find the home of her heart.

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is Lucas ($1.99), the sixth and latest in the Vampires in America series by D. B. Reynolds.

Book Description
THE BADLANDS of SOUTH DAKOTA . . . haunting landscapes, legendary outlaws, and . . . vampires?

LUCAS DONLON, Vampire Lord, is one of the most powerful vampires in North America and beyond. Charming and irreverent to his friends and lovers, he enjoys everything about his life as a vampire. But when a neighboring lord makes the mistake of declaring war, he quickly discovers that Lucas is every bit as lethal as he is charming.

KATHRYN HUNTER doesn’t care about powerful vampires or their wars. Her baby brother is missing and she will do anything to find him, even if it means going against both her FBI bosses and the local vampire lord. But Lucas Donlon has other plans for the lovely FBI agent who’s landed on his doorstep. Waging war against their enemies and each other, Lucas and Kathryn will risk everything to keep the most deadly vampire war in hundreds of years from engulfing every vampire, and human, in North America.

The Last Mughal (£1.09 UK), by William Dalrymple, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $13.99).

Book Description
In this evocative study of the fall of the Mughal Empire and the beginning of the Raj, award-winning historian William Dalrymple uses previously undiscovered sources to investigate a pivotal moment in history.

The last Mughal emperor, Zafar, came to the throne when the political power of the Mughals was already in steep decline. Nonetheless, Zafar—a mystic, poet, and calligrapher of great accomplishment—created a court of unparalleled brilliance, and gave rise to perhaps the greatest literary renaissance in modern Indian history. All the while, the British were progressively taking over the Emperor's power. When, in May 1857, Zafar was declared the leader of an uprising against the British, he was powerless to resist though he strongly suspected that the action was doomed. Four months later, the British took Delhi, the capital, with catastrophic results. With an unsurpassed understanding of British and Indian history, Dalrymple crafts a provocative, revelatory account of one the bloodiest upheavals in history.

St. Patrick's Day Murder ($4.59 $1.99 Kindle, B&N), the fourteenth novel in the Lucy Stone mystery series by Leslie Meier, is the Nook Daily Find. This will most likely be price matched on Kindle later today. Update: Now price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
Not many people in Tinker's Cove, Maine, knew Old Dan Malone. The grizzled barkeep's social circle was limited to the rough-hewn lobstermen and other assorted toughs that frequented his bar. But when his body is found bobbing in the town's icy harbor, Lucy Stone makes getting to know more about Old Dan a priority.

Local musician Dave Reilly insists Old Dan conned a winning lottery ticket worth five grand from him. Handyman Brian Donohue claims that Old Dan stiffed him for repair work he'd done at the bar. The confusion surrounding the death is only compounded by the arrival of actor Dylan Malone, Old Dan's brother and a prominent, if fading, attraction of the Dublin stage. Dylan has come to direct the production of "Finian's Rainbow," the featured event at Our Lady of Hope's annual St. Patrick's Day extravaganza.

Was Old Dan killed by someone he'd cheated or someone he'd loved? While Lucy can't be sure, one thing is abundantly clear--the stage is set for a murder mystery with a killer ending!

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Dragon's Oath ($2.99), a novella by P. C. Cast and Kristin Cast [Macmillan], with the companion audiobook for $5.99. Frankly, I'm not even sure that this isn't the regular price, as that's about right for a novella, in my opinion, even if it's at least on the longer side (but still under 200 pages). I checked B&N and Kobo and the price is the same in both stores.

Book Description
In early 19th century England, long before he’s a professor at the Tulsa House of Night, Bryan Lankford is a troublesome yet talented human teen who thinks he can get away with anything… until his father, a wealthy nobleman, has finally had enough, and banishes him to America. When Bryan is Marked on the docks and given the choice between the London House of Night and the dragon-prowed ship to America, he chooses the Dragon – and a brand new fate.

Becoming a Fledgling may be exciting, but it opens a door to a dangerous world.... In 1830’s St. Louis, the Gateway to the West, Dragon Lankford becomes a Sword Master, and soon realizes there are both frightening challenges and beautiful perks. Like Anastasia, the captivating young Professor of Spells and Rituals at the Tower Grove House of Night, who really should have nothing to do with a fledgling…

But when a dark power threatens, Dragon is caught in its focus. Though his uncanny fighting skills make him a powerful fledgling, is he strong enough to ward off evil, while protecting Anastasia as well? Will his choices save her—or destroy them all?

Bargain Book Roundup

If you haven't already bought The Way of Kings ($2.99 Kindle, B&N, Kobo), the first title in Brandon Sanderson Stormlight Archive fantasy series, then definitely grab it now. Tor Books has it discounted, while we wait for the second title in the series (Words of Radiance), along with a contest to win a copy of the paper edition on their blog.

Book Description
Widely acclaimed for his work completing Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time saga, Brandon Sanderson now begins a grand cycle of his own, one every bit as ambitious and immersive.

Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.

It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them.

One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.

Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.

Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar’s niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan’s motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.

The result of over ten years of planning, writing, and world-building, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement of the Stormlight Archive, a bold masterpiece in the making.

Speak again the ancient oaths,

Life before death.
Strength before weakness.
Journey before Destination.

and return to men the Shards they once bore.

The Knights Radiant must stand again.

At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

Blues Highway Blues: A Crossroads Thriller ($2.00 Kindle), by Eyre Price [Thomas & Mercer]. This book also has an accompanying soundtrack, that you can pick up at Amazon, Six Feet of Peace: Songs from and Inspired by Blues Highway Blues, and a companion audiobook for $1.99.

Book Description
Winner of the Best Book of the Year awarded by Blues411

Music mogul Daniel Erickson’s life has come to a perilous crossroads. Literally. He has a ruthless pair of killers on his tail and is chasing a million dollars that he owes a Russian mobster.

Standing along the same Mississippi highway where legend claims that bluesman Robert Johnson traded his immortal soul for matchless command of the guitar, Daniel finds himself on a path that parallels the evolution of American music from the Mississippi Delta to New Orleans and on to Memphis, Nashville, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Philadelphia, the Jersey Shore, New York, and Seattle.

At every stop, Daniel’s tour gets more dangerous with the hit men closing in, an FBI agent obsessed with his capture, and a rogue motorcycle gang hunting him down. Blues Highway Blues, Eyre Price’s debut novel, is a compelling and unique combination: part edge-of-your-seat road trip across America and part examination of the music that comprises its soundtrack.

Slash and Burn ($1.99 Kindle, B&N, Kobo), the third thriller in the Joe Hunter series by Matt Hilton [HarperCollins], is joined on sale by the second in the series, Judgment and Wrath ($3.79 Kindle).

Book Description
Fans of Lee Child, Jeffery Deaver, Robert Crais, John Sandford, and Michael Connelly have a new hero to root for: author Matt Hilton’s former military Special Forces operative-turned-problem solver, Joe Hunter. Slash and Burn is the third electrifying thriller in the Hunter series, as the emotional stakes are raised to the limit when he and his new lady love set out to find her missing sister and run head-first into a maniacal Texas millionaire sadist with shady allegiances, a serious bloodlust, and his own private army. Like Dead Men’s Dust and Judgment and Wrath, Hilton’s previous Joe Hunter page-turners, Slash and Burn provides action to the nth degree, and powerfully supports the contention of California’s Contra Costa Times that, “Hunter is one of the most exciting new tough guys to come along in years.”

Dalton's Undoing ($1.99 Kindle, B&N, Kobo) and Light the Stars ($1.99 Kindle, B&N) are the first and third titles in RaeAnne Thayne's Cowboys of Cold Creek series [Harlequin Special Releases].

Dalton's Undoing

He was known as a major player who'd left a swath of broken hearts across the Teton Valley. Yet when single mother Jenny Boyer saw the tenderness in Seth Dalton's eyes when he looked at her children — not to mention her — it was impossible for her to believe it was all a game.

She was new to this small town, a school principal who needed to be respected. The last man she should be getting involved with was the Hunk of Cold Creek! But every time Seth came near, Jenny could feel herself falling...like all of the women who'd come before her. So why did she hope that her story would have a different ending — as in, happily ever after?

Light the Stars

Wade Dalton was having a very bad day.

His five-year-old had accidentally set the kitchen on fire. His daughter was surly, as usual. The baby hadn't been fed yet. And his mother--aka "The Childminder"--had eloped...with a scam artist. Could it get any worse?

Turned out it could. Because the annoyingly beautiful daughter of said scam artist was now at the door, batting her doe eyes at him and proposing that she be his temporary nanny while awaiting the newlyweds' return. Could he trust her to be under his roof? Could he trust himself with her under his roof?

Brave New World ($2.99 Kindle), by Aldous Huxley, also has a deal on the companion audiobook for $4.95 (but is $8-$10 in other stores I checked). This is a "classic" that everyone should read (if only to be able to understand some of Apple's old SuperBowl ads).

Book Description
Huxley's bleak future prophesized in Brave New World was a capitalist civilization which had been reconstituted through scientific and psychological engineering, a world in which people are genetically designed to be passive and useful to the ruling class. Satirical and disturbing, Brave New World is set some 600 years ahead, in "this year of stability, A.F. 632"--the A.F. standing for After Ford, meaning the godlike Henry Ford. "Community, Identity, Stability," is the motto. Reproduction is controlled through genetic engineering, and people are bred into a rigid class system. As they mature, they are conditioned to be happy with the roles that society has created for them. The rest of their lives are devoted to the pursuit of pleasure through sex, recreational sports, the getting and having of material possessions, and taking a drug called Soma. Concepts such as family, freedom, love, and culture are considered grotesque.

Against this backdrop, a young man known as John the Savage is brought to London from the remote desert of New Mexico. What he sees in the new civilization a "brave new world" (quoting Shakespeare’s The Tempest). However, ultimately, John challenges the basic premise of this society in an act that threatens and fascinates its citizens.

Huxley uses his entire prowess to throw the idea of utopia into reverse, presenting us what is known as the "dystopian" novel. When Brave New World was written (1931), neither Hitler nor Stalin had risen to power. Huxley saw the enduring threat to society from the dark side of scientific and social progress, and mankind's increasing appetite for simple amusement. Brave New World is a work that indicts the idea of progress for progress sake and is backed up with force and reason.

Slow Way Home ($2.99 Kindle, B&N, Kobo), by Michael Morris [HarperCollins].

Book Description
On the surface, Brandon Willard seems like your average eight-year-old boy. He loves his mama, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and G. I. Joe. But Brandon's life is anything but typical.

Wise beyond his years, Brandon understands he's the only one in this world he can count on. It's an outlook that serves him well the day his mama leaves him behind at the Raleigh bus station and sets off to Canada with "her destiny" -- the latest man that she hopes will bring her happiness. The day his mother leaves, Brandon takes the first step toward shaping his own destiny. Soon he sends himself spending pleasant days playing with his cousins on his grandparents' farm and trying to forget the past. In the safety of that place, Brandon finally is able to trust the love of an adult to help iron out the wiry places until his nerves are as steady as any other boy's.

But when Sophie Willard shows up a year later with a determined look in her eye and a new man in tow, Brandon's grandparents ignore a judge's ruling and flee the state with Brandon. Creating a new life and identity in a small Florida town, Brandon meets the people who will fill him with self-worth and self-respect. He slowly becomes involved with "God's Hospital," a church run by the gregarious Sister Delores, a woman who is committed to a life of service for all members of the community, black and white, regardless of some townsfolk's disapproval.

Resonance ($0.99 Kindle), by Chris Dolley, is currently self-published (via Book View Cafe, which does some editing services), but was at one time available from Baen Books.

Book Description
Graham Smith is a 33 year old office messenger. To the outside world he's an obsessive compulsive mute - weird but harmless. But to Graham Smith, it's the world that's weird. And far from harmless. He sees things other can't...or won't. He knows that roads can change course, people disappear, office blocks migrate across town - all at night when no one's looking.

Only by following a rigid routine can he lessen these effects. If he walks the same route to work every morning and catches the same train, and keeps himself to himself, then there's a good chance his house will still be where he left it when he returns home in the evening.

Then he meets Annalise Mercado.

Annalise Mercado hears voices. Sometimes she thinks they're spirit guides, sometimes she thinks she's crazy. But then they start telling her about Graham Smith, the danger he's in, and how only she can save him. So begins the story of two people whose lives appear fragmented across alternate realities. And how, together, they hold the key to the future of a billion planets...

Free Audiobook - The Picture of Dorian Gray

A special audiobook edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray ($24.95 list), by Oscar Wilde, narrated by Steven Crossley, is free over at Audible. For those that like to read along while listening, there are many editions in the Kindle store, ranging in price from free to a nice edition from Bantam Classics (Random House) for $6.99.

Book Description
Oscar Wilde’s classic story of a young man who sells his soul in exchange for eternal beauty and youth continues to thrill generations of readers. Written by a man who was every bit as flamboyant and unconventional as its hero, The Picture of Dorian Gray is as haunting today as when it first shocked the British public in 1891. Dorian Gray, young, intelligent, sophisticated, gazes on his freshly painted portrait. Wishfully, he murmurs, “If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! … I would give my soul for that!” From that moment, as Dorian spends his days enjoying the splendors of the world and his nights exploring its depravity and sin, his face remains untouched by life. In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde creates a metaphor that transcends a specific era to become a timeless reflection on the nature of art, morality, and beauty—and a splendid horror story. Narrator Steven Crossley’s performance highlights the interplay of innocence and corruption that weaves a dark, seductive spell on all who encounter this enigmatic work.

Get the free audiobook from Audible. Note that the edition found when searching isn't free, so use this link; this edition is also not Whispersync enabled; for that, you can buy the pay-edition for $2.99 after picking up on of the Kindle editions above (this edition is in my library, so I suspect it was, at one time, a free edition).

Today's Deals 3/16

Today's Gold Box at Amazon is with "20 MP3 Albums $1.99 Each". Today only, get 20 MP3 albums from a variety of artists for only $1.99 each. Save on music by Ed Sheeran, Pitbull, Walk the Moon, Bob Dylan, Chicago, Rod Stewart, and others. If you've still got a dollar of promo credit in your account from the Android App promo, you can get one for under a buck (I had $2 in credit in my account a couple of weeks ago and found that only $1 at a time would be used).

Amazon's Android Free App of the Day is Race Rally 3D - Racing Car Arcade Fun (reg. $4.99).

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Troubles ($1.99), by J.G. Farrell, with an introduction by John Banville [(New York Review Books Classics].

Book Description
Winner of the Lost Man Booker Prize

1919: After surviving the Great War, Major Brendan Archer makes his way to Ireland, hoping to discover whether he is indeed betrothed to Angela Spencer, whose Anglo-Irish family owns the once-aptly-named Majestic Hotel in Kilnalough. But his fiancée is strangely altered and her family's fortunes have suffered a spectacular decline. The hotel's hundreds of rooms are disintegrating on a grand scale; its few remaining guests thrive on rumors and games of whist; herds of cats have taken over the Imperial Bar and the upper stories; bamboo shoots threaten the foundations; and piglets frolic in the squash court. Meanwhile, the Major is captivated by the beautiful and bitter Sarah Devlin. As housekeeping disasters force him from room to room, outside the order of the British Empire also totters: there is unrest in the East, and in Ireland itself the mounting violence of "the troubles."

Troubles is a hilarious and heartbreaking work by a modern master of the historical novel.

Today's Kindle Romance Daily Deal is The Capture of the Earl of Glencrae ($1.99), the third novel in the Cynster Sisters series by Stephanie Laurens [HarperCollins].

Book Description
Stephanie Laurens fans simply cannot get enough of the Cynsters—the New York Times bestselling author’s wickedly seductive family of sexy rogues and headstrong young ladies. With The Capture of the Earl of Glencrae, Laurens’s enthralling historical romance miniseries featuring the Cynster Brides comes to a wild and satisfying conclusion—as lovely, determined Angelica Cynster recognizes her ideal match across a candlelit ballroom…only to find herself suddenly kidnapped by the man, spirited off to the Scottish Highlands, and engaged to be married!

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is The Sirens of Titan ($1.99), by Kurt Vonnegut [RosettaBooks].

Book Description
The Sirens of Titan (1959) is Vonnegut's second novel and was on the Hugo ballot with Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers but lost in what Harlan Ellison has called a monumental injustice. Sirens of Titan is a picaresque novel which almost defies being synposized; it is an interplanetary Candide (lacking perhaps Voltaire's utter bitterness), the book follows lead character Malachi Constant, a feckless but kind-hearted millionaire as he moves through the solar system on his quest for the meaning of all existence.

Constant is aided by another tycoon, Winston Rumfoord, who with the help of aliens has actually discovered the fundamental meaning of life (the retrieval of an alien artifact with an inscribed message of greetings). With the assistance of Salo, an alien root and overseeing the alien race, the Tralmafadorians (who also feature in Slaughterhouse-Five), Constant attempts to find some cosmic sense and order in the face of universal malevolence. Together Constant and Rumfoord deal with the metaphysics of ""chrono-synclastic infundibula"", they deal with the interference of the Tralmafadorians; the novel is pervaded by a goofy, episodic charm which barely shields the readers (or the characters) from the sense of a large and indifferent universe.

All of Vonnegut's themes and obsessions (which are further developed and/or recycled in later work) are evident here in this novel which is more hopeful than most of Vonnegut's canon. It is suggested that ultimately Constant learns that only it is impossible to learn, and that fate (and the Tralmafodorians) are impenetrable, unavoidable circumstance.

On the basis of this novel, Vonnegut was wholly claimed by the science fiction community (as witnessed by the Hugo nomination), but Vonnegut did not likewise wish to claim the community for himself and the feelings were not reciprocal. He felt from the outset that being identified as a science fiction writer could only limit his audience and trivialize his themes. His recurring character, the hack science fiction writer, Kilgore Trout (who also features in Slaughterhouse-Five), represented to Vonnegut the worst case scenario of the writer he did not wish to become.

The Architects (£0.99 UK), by Stefan Heym, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (no US edition).

Book Description
Written between 1963 and 1966, when its publication would have proved to be political dynamite - and its author's undoing - this novel of political intrigue and personal betrayal takes readers into the German Democratic Republic in the late 1950s, shortly after Khruschev's "secret speech" denouncing Stalin and his methods brought about a "thaw" in the Soviet bloc and, with it, the release of many victims of Stalinist brutality. Among these is Daniel, a Communist exile from Hitler who has been accused of treachery while in Moscow and who now returns to Germany after years of imprisonment. A brilliant architect, he is taken on by his former colleague, Arnold Sundstrom, who was in exile in Moscow as well but somehow fared better. He is now in fact the chief architect for the World Peace Road being built by the GDR. In Daniel, Arnold's young wife Julia finds the key that will unlock the dark secret of her husband's success and of her own parents' deaths in Moscow - and will undermine the very foundation on which she has built her life.

A novel of exquisite suspense, romance, and drama, The Architect is also a window on a harrowing period of history that its author experienced firsthand - and that readers would do well to remember today.

The Irish Healer ($7.99 $2.99 Kindle, B&N), by Nancy Herriman, is the Nook Daily Find. Update: Now price matched on Kindle!

Book Description
Accused of murdering a child under her care, Irish healer Rachel Dunne flees the ensuing scandal while vowing to never sit at another sickbed. She no longer trusts in her abilities—or God’s mercy. When a cholera epidemic sweeps through London, she feels compelled to nurse the dying daughter of the enigmatic physician she has come to love. James Edmunds, wearied by the deaths of too many patients, has his own doubts about God’s grace. Can they face their darkest fears? Or is it too late to learn that trust and love just might heal their hearts?

Today's Kindle Teen Daily Deal is Tree Shepherd's Daughter ($1.99), the first book in Gillian Summers' Faire Folk Trilogy [Flux]. This was free last July, so you may already have it in your library.

Book Description
When her mother dies, fifteen-year-old Keelie Heartwood is forced to leave her beloved California to live with her nomadic father at a renaissance festival in Colorado. After arriving, Keelie finds men in tights and women in trailer trash-tight bodices roaming half-drunk, calling each other lady and lord even after closing time! Playacting the Dark Ages is an L.A. girl’s worst nightmare.

Keelie has a plan to ditch this medieval geekland ASAP, but while she plots, strange things start happening—eerie, yet familiar. When Keelie starts seeing fairies and communicating with trees, she uncovers a secret that links her to a community of elves. As Keelie tries to come to grips with her elfin roots, disaster strikes, and Keelie’s identity isn’t the only thing that’s threatened.

One part human determination and one part elfin magic, Keelie Heartwood is a witty new heroine in a world where fantasy and reality mix with extraordinary results.

Bargain Book Roundup

I previously mentioned Saved by the Rancher, the first in Jennifer Ryan's The Hunted series (and which is still only $0.99); now you can pre-order the next two titles in the series, Lucky Like Us and The Right Bride for $1.99 each. There is also a pre-order for All I Want for Christmas Is a Cowboy at the same price, but it's hard to tell if it will be a single novella from Ryan or an anthology that also includes stories by Katie Lane and Emma Cane (you can always return it when delivered, if it turns out to be something you don't want and you won't be charged more than $1.99, even if the price rises later, if you lock in now).

Lucky Like Us

The Hunted series continues as Special Agent Sam Turner discovers that protecting the FBI's star witness is more difficult than he thought!

Bakery owner Elizabeth Hamilton's quiet life is filled with sweet treats, good friends, and a loving family. But all of that is about to turn sour when an odd sound draws her outside. There's a man lying unconscious in the street, a car speeding toward him. Without hesitation, she gets the man out of harm's way before they're run down.

Unwittingly, Elizabeth has put herself in the path of a serial murderer, and as the only one who can identify the FBI's Silver Fox Killer, she's ended up in the hospital with a target on her back.

All that stands between her and death is Special Agent Sam Turner. Against his better judgment, Sam gets emotionally involved, determined to take down the double threat against Elizabeth—an ex desperate to get her back, despite a restraining order, and a psychopath bent on silencing her before she can identify him.

They set a trap to catch the killer—putting Elizabeth in his hands, with Sam desperate to save her. If he's lucky, he'll get his man … and the girl.

The Right Bride

High-powered businessman Cameron Shaw doesn't believe in love—until he falls head over heels for beautiful, passionate, and intensely private Martina. She's perfect in so many ways, immediately bonding with his little girl. Martina could be his future bride and a delightful stepmother … if only Cameron weren't blinded by his belief that Shelly, the gold-digging woman he's promised to marry, is pregnant with his child.

No matter how much his friends protest his upcoming marriage to Shelly, Cameron knows he has a duty to his children, so he's determined to see it through.

Will he find out in time that Shelly's lying and Marti's the one who's actually carrying his child? It'll come down to the day of his wedding. After choosing Shelly over Marti at every turn, will he convince Marti she's his world and the only woman he wants?

Ruhlman's Twenty ($3.03 Kindle), by Michael Ruhlman and Donna Turner Ruhlman (Photographer), is a full-length cookbook from Chronicle Books. There are 20 concepts covered and over 100 recipes included in this award-winning cookbook (James Beard Foundation 2012 Book Awards winner, General Cooking category & International Association of Culinary Professionals' 2012 Cookbook Awards winner, Food and Beverage Reference/Technical category).

Book Description
Rare is the cookbook that redefines how we cook. And rare is the author who can do so with the ease and expertise of acclaimed writer and culinary authority Michael Ruhlman. Twenty distills Ruhlman's decades of cooking, writing, and working with the world's greatest chefs into twenty essential ideas from ingredients to processes to attitude that are guaranteed to make every cook more accomplished. Whether cooking a multi-course meal, the juiciest roast chicken, or just some really good scrambled eggs, Ruhlman reveals how a cooks success boils down to the same twenty concepts. With the illuminating expertise that has made him one of the most esteemed food journalists, Ruhlman explains the hows and whys of each concept and reinforces those discoveries through 100 recipes for everything from soups to desserts, all detailed in over 300 photographs. Cooks of all levels will revel in Ruhlman's game-changing Twenty.

The Surrender of Miss Fairbourne ($1.99 Kindle), by Madeline Hunter [Penguin]

Book Description
A woman running a prestigious London auction house? Preposterous! But that is exactly what Emma Fairbourne intends to do when her father dies, leaving her the reins of this fabulous enterprise. Of course, she is not addlepated enough to do this openly and scare away her wealthy collectors. So she and her friend concoct a deception, hiring a handsome and charming front man who will do her bidding...

All would have proceeded smoothly--if it weren't for the maddening interference of Darius, the arrogant Earl of Southwaite, who has been her father's "silent partner" and now shares ownership of Fairbourne's. An earl, of course, has no interest in running an auction house--and Darius is certainly not interested in allowing the lovely Miss Fairbourne to run it either, her ludicrous scheme notwithstanding. Clearly the business must be sold.

But the headstrong Emma is like no other lady he has ever encountered, refusing to follow his dictates. Holding his temper in check, Darius decides to attack on a different front. There is another way to achieve her surrender, one far more pleasurable for both of them...

Our Favorite Slow Cooker Beef & Chicken Cookbook: 2 cookbooks in one...chicken in one half, beef in the other ($3.23 Kindle) and 101 Soup, Salad & Sandwich Recipes ($1.99 Kindle), by Gooseberry Patch, are both in the medium length category for cookbooks (just over 100 pages each).

Our Favorite Slow Cooker Beef & Chicken Cookbook: 2 cookbooks in one...chicken in one half, beef in the other

2 cookbooks in one...chicken in one half, beef in the other! Over 60 delicious recipes and as many time-saving tips. Purse-friendly size makes meal-planning on the go easy.

101 Soup, Salad & Sandwich Recipes

Whether you're looking for lunch recipes, side dishes, or hearty mains, you'll love the variety in 101 Soups, Salads & Sandwiches Cookbook. Chicken & Dumplin' Soup, Spicy Sausage Chowder and Pioneer Beef Stew and BBQ Sloppy Joe Soup will all hit the spot! Tarragon Steak Dinner Salad and Pasta Taco Salad make tasty mains, while Mustard-Thyme Potato Salad and Raspberry Chicken Salad are great for toting to potlucks and picnics. Bite-sized or stacked high, friends & family will love sandwiches like Cheeseburger Roll-Ups, BBQ Chicken Calzones, Tuna Paninis and Lasagna Buns. Plus, with the "Terrific Toppings" chapter, you can sprinkle soups and salads with homemade garnishes like Zesty Pita Crisps and Bacon-Onion Croutons, and pile more flavor on sandwiches with Lemony Sage Mayonnaise or easy Refrigerator Pickles.

If you skipped out on getting individual titles in C. S. Lewis' Narnia series on the recent Daily Deal, you can now pre-order The Chronicles of Narnia Complete 7-Book Collection with Bonus Book: Boxen ($12.00 Kindle). That's both $2 less than the individual titles deal, but gives you the bonus book, as well (but doesn't get you the companion audiobook links). You will have to wait until November for delivery, but you will have the price locked in, in case of any increase (and still get any drop in price, if there is one between now and November).

Book Description
Features new introductions for each book in the series!

Narnia . . . a new world . . . where loyalty is tested . . . where anything can happen . . . where destiny awaits.

In the never-ending war between good and evil, The Chronicles of Narnia set the stage for battles of epic proportions. Some take place in vast fields, where the forces of light and darkness clash. But other battles occur within the small chambers of the heart and are equally decisive.

Journeys to the ends of the world, fantastic creatures, betrayals, heroic deeds and friendships won and lost—all come together in an unforgettable world of magic. Experience The Chronicles of Narnia in its entirety, now with special tributes by C. S. Lewis's stepson, Douglas Gresham:

• The Magician's Nephew
• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
• The Horse and His Boy
• Prince Caspian
• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
• The Silver Chair
• The Last Battle

And then, discover the world before Narnia. When C. S. Lewis was a child, he and his brother Warnie created stories about "Animal-Land," exploring hits history, geography, and the colorful exploits of its inhabitants. Boxen is a collection of all of these stories, with the authors' own delightful illustrations. For every reader who has been captivated by the magic of Narnia, Boxen will open a window on to another enchanted land.

Sean Chercover has three titles currently on sale: Big City, Bad Blood ($0.99 Kindle) and Trigger City ($1.99 Kindle), both published by HarperCollins, and The Trinity Game ($3.99 Kindle), published by Thomas & Mercer

Big City, Bad Blood

A disillusioned newspaper reporter turned private detective, Ray Dudgeon isn't trying to save the world. He just wants to do an honest job, and do it well. But when doing an honest job threatens society's most powerful and corrupt, Ray's odds for survival make for a sucker's bet. . . .

While working on a movie in Chicago, Hollywood locations manager Bob Loniski saw something he shouldn't have. Now he's a prosecution witness against a suspected member of the Chicago Outfit. Petrified, he comes to Ray for protection. Ray's mob contacts insist that they have no interest in Loniski, so he takes the bodyguard gig.

Then people start dying and everything goes to hell.

Ray's investigation leads to a stash of blackmail files involving the sex trade, Washington political corruption, and a deadly power struggle among Chicago's organized crime bosses—setting the FBI, the Chicago police, and the mob on his tail. He now holds evidence against top-ranking cops and politicians . . . but with the line between good and bad blurring, he doesn't know who he can trust.

If he does the right thing, Ray is sure to die. But if he doesn't, how can he live with himself?

From the back alleys of Chicago to the mansions of Beverly Hills to the corridors of power in Washington, D.C., Sean Chercover's Big City, Bad Blood propels readers relentlessly forward on a bullet-fast, adrenaline-pumping ride they will not soon forget.

Trigger City

The facts:
A lonely woman was murdered by her disturbed coworker.
The police have investigated. The case is closed.
But facts are not truth.

A routine investigation of an open-and-shut case is just what PI Ray Dudgeon needs to recover from the physical and emotional consequences of confronting the Chicago Outfit—until "routine" spirals out of control. The victim was no quiet, unassuming, unlucky single woman; she lived a double life in the shadowy realm of covert intelligence . . . and she died for the truth. Suddenly, Ray's ensnared in a conspiracy of darkness that weaves its way through the very fabric of the nation, and in grave danger of becoming collateral damage in America's war on terror. And his greatest enemy may be himself.

The Trinity Game

Daniel Byrne is an investigator for the Vatican’s secretive Office of the Devil’s Advocate—the department that scrutinizes miracle claims. Over ten years and 721 cases, not one miracle he tested has proved true. But case #722 is different; Daniel’s estranged uncle, a crooked TV evangelist, has started speaking in tongues—and accurately predicting the future. Daniel knows Reverend Tim Trinity is a con man. Could Trinity also be something more?

The evangelist himself is baffled by his newfound power—and the violent reaction it provokes. After years of scams, he suddenly has the ability to predict everything from natural disasters to sports scores. Now the mob wants him dead for ruining their gambling business, and the Vatican wants him debunked as a false messiah. On the run from assassins, Trinity flees with Daniel’s help through the back roads of the Bible Belt to New Orleans, where Trinity plans to deliver a final prophecy so shattering his enemies will do anything to keep him silent.

Going Organic Can Kill You: A Blossom Valley Mystery ($1.99 Kindle), by Staci McLaughlin [Kensington], is a dollar less than the last time it was on sale (which is when I picked it up).

Book Description
Welcome to Blossom Valley, CA, home of the O'Connell Organic Farm and Spa, complete with its new marketing maven, Dana Lewis, former Blossom Valley resident and unapologetic junk food connoisseur--and soon to be sleuth. . .

As Dana readjusts to life back home with her recently widowed mother, her latest career move isn't exactly a piece of cake. In fact, it's all tofu fish sticks, stuffed squash blossoms, and enough wheat grass shots to scream bloody murder--especially when Dana discovers the body of Maxwell Mendelsohn, Hollywood producer and opening weekend guest, deader than a yoga corpse pose. While Dana pens the Spa's blog and balances the attentions of the local police and reporter Jason Forrester, her escalating job duties now include finding clues, motives and suspects. One thing's for certain, she better act fast before all this healthy living kills her.

Diesel Daily Deal - Changeling Dawn (E)

Changeling Dawn ($11.99 $8.69 Kindle), by Dani Harper [Kensington], is this weekend's Deal of the "Day" at Diesel E-Books, where it's discounted to $1.60. (7 copies left).

Book Description

Run
Shadow and moonlight merge beneath her bare feet, the forest floor blurring as she flees the dogs and torches. Werewolf, monster--those are the names given her kind by the humans who hate them.

Hunt
Kenzie Macleod has spent her whole life hiding what she is, and she's not about to open up to any man, even one as powerfully attractive as wildlife expert Josh Talarkoteen. But legend says that a Changeling cannot escape the call of her true mate, even in the wilderness of backcountry Alaska.

Mate
An isolated archeological site, a terrified Changeling cub, a shadowy research facility--as Kenzie and Josh face the ultimate betrayal, his obsidian eyes promise untold pleasure and hint at dark secrets of his own. . .

Get the book from Diesel; be sure to check the sales price, as the Deal of the Day often sells out.

Free Nook App - Jellyflop!

Jellyflop! ($2.99 Amazon), by Concrete Software, Inc., is this week's Free Friday App from Barnes & Noble.

App Description
Can Jellyfish fly? Well, sort of...

As a rule, jellyfish are better at flopping than flying, but like the old saying goes, “once a jellyfish sets his mind on something he cannot be swayed,” and this jellyfish really wants to fly.

Help Jelly (a little guy in a big jam!) find enough feathers and gadgets to take to the sky in this action-packed, physics puzzler! Draw lines with a swipe of your finger and let gravity do the rest!

Use powerful fans and space-time bending teleportals to send Jelly bouncing and flopping through a world filled with predators, spikes, and other perils!

Help Jelly fulfill his dream of soaring like a bird amongst the clouds!

Jump into Jellyflop™!

Get the free App from Barnes & Noble.