The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group discussion

I get most of my books from the library or book sales since I read really fast and rarely re-read mysteries and crime books. Plus, there's that space and money issue. Mostly, the books I buy are some kind of reference, or something I really loved when I started reading and I knew I would have to have on my shelves.

That said ... I got a Nook for Christmas! While I already borrow e-books from the library and get some free online, I'd like some suggestions for two things:

1) mystery/crime books that you think are worth buying

2) older mysteries, often available on free sites like Gutenberg, that are timeless good reads. I've found that most of these sites are segmented by genre but are only searchable by author or title, and they have tons of books, so I need direction :)

Thanks, and happy holidays everyone!

Vincent Zandri's The Innocent. I loved this one. Am currently reading The Dead Secret by Wilkie Collins. It wasn't free, but that might have been b/c I looked at more than one version & chose one I liked. I think I paid $2.39, but got it from Amazon for my Kindle app for iPhone. I'm sure B&N has it available for Nook. If you haven't read Collins' The Woman in White, I highly recommend it. One of the best mysteries I've ever read and it should be free.

If you have not done so already, be sure to join the nook group on goodreads. You will find lots of handy info. http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/2...

As for books, I like Spencer Quinn's Chet and Bernie series. It is one of the few series that I want to own for reading again later.

I am currently reading The Woman in White, which you can find free. It is slow at times, but I am finally getting near the end and the pace has picked up quite a bit.

I used to only borrow library books as well. However, since I bought my nook, I buy a lot more than I used to. I'm a sucker for ebook deals, especially the $2.99 variety.

Thanks for the information! I downloaded The Woman in White and another Wilkie Collins. Also signed up for the Nook group and found out about InkMesh.com, so I've been happily searching and downloading all day.

The Innocent looks great; will definitely add it to my list, and at $2.99, it's cheaper than a used book store :)

Well worth the money for The Innocent. I will be buying the hard copy for my husband. I think it's coming out in Jan.

I just got done reading Deadly Sanctuaryit is a very good book. It is currently free from barnes and noble. It is also a lendable book. It is a light read mystery book, but I really enjoyed it.

Lauren, looks like we have a lot of books in common. I was going to recommend John Hart, but you already have one of his books on your to-read list. All his books are great.

I wanted to mention that I also own a Nook and read a lot of crime fiction. I have a lending shelf set up so you can take a look. Let me know if there is anything you'd like to borrow.

Lauren, I'm writing a new mystery series that will be offered individually as ebooks. These are novellas and I plan to release one every 3-4 months. The first book in the series, Bearing False Witness, is available for the Nook. The second book in the series should be out this spring.

Let me know if you're interested and I'll get you a copy of Bearing False Witness at a great price...as in free.

Merrill wrote: "Lauren, I'm writing a new mystery series that will be offered individually as ebooks. These are novellas and I plan to release one every 3-4 months. The first book in the series, [book:Bearing Fals..."

This sounds like a very interesting novella. I can't wait to get it for my Nook.

Death After Midnight by Dean Fetzer. This book got published this year and is available in paperback as well as ebook format. It's the 2nd book in the series, something I didn't know before reading the book. But if you want to read it, there isn't much need of any back-story.

I loved the review. You can check out my review on Goodreads as well as on my blog: Kero's Book Blog.

Ienjoyed Chasing Amanda I thought it was a real stumper and I know it is lendable. I also think it is .99 I am making my way through all the books by M.J Rose SO addictive. Not sure if they are lendable I will look and see if I can find out. If they are you should be able to borrow somewhere online.The Hypnotist Is what I am onto now. Not a single book has let me down. Real thrilling .

Bubba and the Dead WomanC.L. Bevill are fun, funny and free. (if you don't like Amazon, you can find them in an Adobe Acrobate format that can be read or printed off of a PC.)

For something more serious. Plain Jane: Brunettes Bewareby C. McCrayis a good read. It's mystery, twisted wierd romance and thrilling chiller of a crime story rolled into one. It's $0.99 on Amazon for Kindle.

Kate Shugag #1 A Cold Day for Murderby Dana Stabenow is also free or cheap for kindle. It's not so much an action packed story as it is a compelling human story and a good crime/Detective story. Kate's a strong female heroine/lead.

what I do sometimes, is I go to Amazon.com bring up e-books set the "view" on "low to high" so the lowest prices come up first, then select 4 star reviews and above and it gives me all the 4 and five star reviews for what ever catagory of books I'm looking at.

Readingcureall wrote: "Ienjoyed Chasing Amanda I thought it was a real stumper and I know it is lendable. I also think it is .99 I am making my way through all the books by M.J Rose SO addictive. Not sure..."

There's a new book coming out in November by the author of . It's .

I'm currently reading The Summoner and so far it's fabulous!

Hugh suggested A Cold Day for Murder by Dana Stabenow. She has another, shorter, series which I discovered by downloading the first when it was free on Kindle: Fire and Ice in the Liam Campbell series. All four of the books are still cheap on Kindle in the UK. I think they're excellent - good mysteries with excellent characters and what feels like a real feeling for life in Alaska.

I agree. I liked the taste of life in Alaska almost more than the crime story. Kate Shugak is a wonderfully colourful character who by alrights should also be in some "action/adventure" stories.

I haven't read the Fire and Ice stories, thanks for suggesting them. I'll look them up.

My mystery, "Cool for Cats" has just been made availale in Kindle format for $4.99. I'd love to have some of the folks in this group check it out.

http://www.amazon.com/Cool-for-Cats-e...

Kero I know I have just pre-ordered it . Thank you so much for letteing me know . Did you read Megan's Way her first book. It is an emotional read but well written. I lost my mom from cancer when I was 15 years old. So I was really impressed with how she captured the emotions of someone going through that time in their lives yet weaved it through such a gripping story of good friends and finding peace from the past. I know that one is lendable as well. I have lent mine out.

With my first Kindle, I've been working my way through the 'free/cheap' list on Amazon and found one series that seems to work, a combination of my two favorite genres, mystery plus supernatural.

This is the Detective Marcella series by Dana Donovan. I read the first as a sample with somewhat mixed feelings but bought the second and liked it even better than the first. Interesting characters which the author developed more thoroughly in the second book.

It's an interesting quick read, undemanding but entertaining.

Readingcureall wrote: "Kero I know I have just pre-ordered it . Thank you so much for letteing me know . Did you read Megan's Way her first book. It is an emotional read but well written. I lost my mom from cancer when ..."

No, I haven't read Megan's Way. It sounds like that's going to make one cry. I don't remember reading such book in a long time.

If you're a fast reader, there are some good 99 cent mysteries out there. This author has been my favorite lately:

I've read a number of good mysteries and suspense books by Carina Press authors. You might want to browse the web site

I flog www.gutenberg.org a lot, don't I?

There's also manybooks: http://www.manybooks.net/categories/

and feedbooks:
http://www.feedbooks.com/store/catego...

and tons of others.

Some of the Wings ePress mystery writers are pretty good. Of course, with Kindle you can find almost anything in ebook format. Dorothy Bodoin is one of my favorites, and you could always try Marja McGraw. :)

www.fictionwise.com is all ebooks. You might take a look there.

I'm going to recommend my publisher, Midnight Ink. All of their releases come out simultaneously in both trade paperback and a variety of ebook formats. The books are usually well-reviewed, and the line has a good reputation among mystery readers. MI publishes a variety of genres, from cozies to thrillers. Their website is:
http://www.midnightinkbooks.com/

For those that use NOOK as their e-reader, I'd be happy to loan TRANSPLANTED DEATH, my latest Brad Frame Mystery. Frame is a Philadelphia-based private detective, and has been asked to investigate suspicious deaths of transplant patients at Philadelphia's Strickland Memorial Hospital. The worst winter storm of the century has stranded hospital personnel and strained their ability to deal with the crisis.

Just contact me with your e-mail address and I'll loan you the e-book.

You can sample the first chapter here:
http://www.rayflynt.com/transplanted_...


[email protected]

I recommend the Milan Jacovich series by Les Roberts, which are all available in e-book form. A new Milan novel, The Cleveland Creep," was published this year. Great read!

All the books I have on my Kindle I found for free. Some are lesser know writers but I found a couple of bigger names. Anyway here's the URL. This site is updated everyday.

http://kindlenationdaily.com/knd-free...

Hope everyone is having a good day. Happy Reading.

Penny

I liked Death of An Old Git by Andrea Frazer. It's an English village mystery with a professional sleuth but it still has a 'cozy' feel. It's the first of a series, and just 99 cents.

Let's see...you've already got Wilkie Collins, who is credited with writing some of the first "modern" mysteries. Other older authors to look up should be Josephine Tey, especially The Daughter of Time, and probably Ngaio Marsh. And of course there's a bunch of others.

As for newer mysteries, I'm currently very much enjoying the Inspector Gamache/Three Pines series by Louise Penny. I'm especially loving #3 in the series. She's a very good writer. She's written 8 novels so far, and 4 of those novels have won the Agatha award.

At the risk of sounding spammy (is that even a real word?) I've got an ebook detective novel available on Nook called Pascal's Wager. It's the story of a philosophically-inclined, poker playing detective investigating the murder of a casino owner in Las Vegas.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pasca...

Sharon, mystery plus supernatural sounds terrific. I'm looking for a good read like that, thanks!

You might want to join Pixels of Ink, it's a free daily list of current free and dirt cheap ebooks including many mystery/thrillers. You can sign up for either Nook or Kindle notifications. You can also view them online if you prefer. The Kindle books are linked to Amazon so I would assume that the Nooks are linked to B&N. I've found lots of good books though them.

One of my all-time favorites is A if for Alibi, by Sue Grafton. And you can't go wrong with Dennis Lehane's Mystic River, also one of my all-time favorites. The opening is amazing!

is the best mystery I've read this year and it's on offer at only $0.99 today. Currently sitting in the Amazon top 100. :-)

Not sure if this is a mystery but a good deal for ebooks check out Amazon daily deal.

The River Witch

Can I offer my own book? White Lies is available on Nook through Smashwords.

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/...

Hi Lauren - I know you asked for book recommendations, so I hope it is ok if I offer you a list of a few authors instead, as you can't go wrong with most of their books...

Michael Connelly (especially the Harry Bosch series)
Dennis Lehane (Patrick Kenzie/Angela Gennaro series)
Ridley Pearson (Lou Boldt series)
Michael McGarrity (Kevin Kearny series)

A bit lighter:
Sue Grafton (Kinsey Millhone/Alphabet series)
Diane Mott Davidson (Goldy Schulz series)

And actually, while I was typing, I did think of a couple of book titles:
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

Hope I've provided an author or two that will peak your interest!

~Harley

Hi Lauren,
This is more trivia than a suggestion. I was thinking of my fave noir films and the book Laura by
Vera Caspary sprang to mind. But it is not available as an eBook. Why not, I wonder.
Most of the Poe stuff should be free and you cannot go wrong there.

hi all, I'm new to Good Reads so I hope I'm following proper etiquette in responding to Lauren's original request (from 2010). Smashwords.com is a treasure trove of ebooks, many free, many more under $3.99. There are filters for narrowing down your search by genre and subgenre and an adult filter you can activate to remove erotica. I have found several new (to me) authors there, including Leslie Langtry (Bombay Family series) and Shannon Eposito (Pet Psychic mystery series).

Do we really want free or cheap books? Authors have to eat, too. Or is it all Come entertain us?

Bernie wrote: "Do we really want free or cheap books? ..."

Yes. Not saying that all should be free or cheap, but what's wrong with sales and specials? That's always been a common retail practice used to draw in customers. I do thing that the price of ebooks should be lower than hardbacks and even paperbooks because there is far less overhead and production costs.

If you are looking for inexpensive Kindle mysteries, here are two I really liked:
Another Man's Treasure
good character development, fast-paced plot, witty dialog
The Heat of the Moon
good plot, heroine is a vetinarian

Here's one you're sure to like: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00AN9Z...