FREE Book Alert: Exiles: An Outsider Anthology is FREE!

FREE Book Alert: Exiles: An Outsider Anthology is FREE!

Toe Six Press: Literature® & More: Online Issue 11

Toe Six Press: Literature® & More: Online Issue 11

Mystery Fanfare: Janet Dawson's Jeri Howard Anthology Free May 29-3...

Mystery Fanfare: Janet Dawson's Jeri Howard Anthology Free May 29-3...: Janet Dawson announced the publication of an e-anthology featuring the fi rst nine books in the Jeri Howard serie s . The ebook will be ...

FREE BOOK ALERT: BUT NOT FORGOTTEN by BJ Bourg

BUT NOT FORGOTTEN by BJ Bourg is again currently available as a FREE read over at Amazon. I first told you about this one back in April 2016 in my review. This is the first book in the Clint Wolf series and well worth your time. Just go get it!

Amazon Synopsis:

Embattled former detective Clint Wolf is the newly appointed police chief for Mechant Loup, a small swampy town in southeast Louisiana. Usually a quiet town, the tranquility of the place is shattered when a human arm is found in the jowls of an alligator. Once it’s determined the arm belongs to a reputable business owner, the race is on to find the man and figure out what happened to him. Little does Clint know that solving the case could unearth a plot so evil it would go down as the worst event in Louisiana history . . . and he might not live to see it.

(Author's Note: While this book ends on a cliffhanger, the mystery is 100% resolved at the end, and it is a complete novel. The cliffhanger relates to peril--not plot. Book 2 contains a new and separate mystery that is also resolved at the end, and Book 3 wraps up the trilogy with another new and separate mystery.)

(NOTE: Originally published on December 6, 2015 by Amber Quill Press, LLC)

Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine: Free for Kindle for a Limited Time for Today Only

Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine: Free for Kindle for a Limited Time for Today Only: The Shallows - Kindle edition by Nigel Bird. Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.   Lieutenant Bradley Heap has gone...

FREE Book Alert: "THE SEVENTH TAKING: A Mountain Mystery" by BJ Bourg

Author BJ Bourg has announced that, in honor of Mother's Day and all mothers everywhere, he has made THE SEVENTH TAKING: A Mountain Mystery free for the week.

Amazon Synopsis:

"THE SEVENTH TAKING is the chilling tale of a young man’s journey through harsh mountain country in his search for the girl he loves, and the two friends who dare to brave the dangerous elements—both human and natural—to support a friend.

When Joy Vincent disappears in the Blue Summit Mountains of Tennessee while vacationing with her family, park rangers begin an intensive search for the Louisiana high school junior. Seven weeks later, the search is abandoned and authorities conclude that Joy voluntarily ran away because of a fight with her father.

Unwilling to believe it, Abraham Wilson makes the long drive to the mountains and sets off on a journey that will change his life--and the lives of his friends, Brett Lester and Charlie Rickman--forever. Will they discover the secret behind Joy's disappearance, or will they meet with the same fate?

(NOTE: Originally published on April 5, 2015 by Amber Quill Press, LLC)"

FREE Book Alert--"Tussinland" by Mike Monson

Also published by All Due Respect Books and currently free on Amazon in the eBook format is  Tussinland by Mike Monson. My review is here.

Amazon Synopsis:

"Addicted to cough syrup, television and Sugar Frosted Flakes, Paul Dunn is living in a state of torpor while staying at his mother's house after the humiliating ending of his third marriage. His inertia is broken when he becomes the chief suspect in the murders of his soon-to-be ex-wife and her new lover. Set in the town of Modesto, deep in California's Central Valley, Tussinland is about sex drugs, addiction, smart phones, Facebook and the internet, digital cable, anti-government militias, reality TV, fundamentalist homophobic Christians, families, 12-step groups, pornography, marriage, death, disease, and love. So noir it hurts."

FREE Book Alert-- "Selena" by Greg Barth

Selena by Greg Barth is currently FREE in the eBook format over on Amazon. If you buy a book published by All Due Respect Books you know going in violence and graphic language will be on full display.  All Due Respect publishes graphic crime filled books where cozy style tales have no place. The cover alone should make it clear what you are getting so don't complain later.

Having read this-- working on my review--- and enjoyed it a lot I can tell you it is one heck of a ride. 

Amazon synopsis:


Scatter shot revenge.

Selena is living the dream on her terms – carefree and sloppy and all in the pursuit of pleasure. When a careless act of petty theft puts her in the crosshairs of a violent crime syndicate, her choices are clear – either curl up and die, or tear down the whole damned organization one bloody shotgun blast at a time.

Nothing will satisfy her but savage retribution. Nothing can stop her. Get ready.

Cover design by Dyer Wilk. Edited by Chris Rhatigan and Rob Pierce. Published by Mike Monson and Chris Rhatigan.

FREE Book Alert---The Southwest Armchair Traveler: #Free Romantic Suspense in the Southwest

The Southwest Armchair Traveler: #Free Romantic Suspense in the Southwest: Whispers in the Dark  is romantic suspense with archaeology and intrigue among ancient Southwest ruins.  Reviewers give it a 4.3 star...

FREE Book Alert--- Cirsova: Heroic Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine Kindle Edition

Poking around this morning I came across the Planetary Defense Command  where they are "Defending the planet from bad science fiction." There was an announcement of Free: Cirsova issue #1  which is an e-mag of heroic fantasy and science fiction. It is free through Saturday. The synopsis on Amazon says:

Issue 1 of the new Heroic Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine Cirsova. Featuring:

Novelette
A Hill of Stars by Misha Burnett

Short Stories
The Gift of the Ob-Men by Schuyler Hernstrom
This Day, At Tilbury by Kat Otis
At the Feet of Neptune's Queen by Abraham Strongjohn
Rose by Any Other Name by Brian K. Lowe
Late Bloom by Melanie Rees
The Hour of the Rat by Donald Jacob Uitvlugt

Poetry
My Name is John Carter (Part 1) by James Hutchings

Essay
Retrospective: Toyman by E.C. Tubb by Jeffro Johnson


For those who prefer a print version, it is available for $7.50.  I have no idea about this new deal, but I picked up the free e-book version today to check it out.

FREE Book Alert-- "The Lizard's Ardent Uniform (Veridical Dreams Book 1)" Edited by David Cranmer

The excellent book  The Lizard's Ardent Uniform is currently free in e-book format from Amazon. My review from August 2014 is here. Amazon synopsis:

 "All that we see or seem, is but a dream within a dream." --Edgar Allan Poe

The Lizard's Ardent Uniform and Other Stories (Veridical Dreams Vol. I) takes you on several voyages into every day nightmares, bizarre detours, and hellish worlds. Enlisting the talents of authors Chris F. Holm (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine), Terrie Farley Moran (Well Read, Then Dead), Patti Abbott (Home Invasion), Evan V. Corder, Steve Weddle (Needle: A Magazine of Noir), Hilary Davidson (The Damage Done), and Garnett Elliott (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine), thought-provoking fragments from the dream journals of Kyle J. Knapp (writer and poet of Pluvial Gardens and Celebrations in the Ossuary, who passed away in 2013 at the age of twenty-three) are fleshed out into seven stirring tales of crime, science fiction, literary, and fantasy. Edited and with an introduction by BEAT to a PULP's David Cranmer.

Stories:
The Lizard's Ardent Uniform -- Chris F. Holm
Dust to Dust -- Terrie Farley Moran
Twin Talk -- Patti Abbott
The Malignant Reality -- Evan V. Corder (including "The Needles" poem by Kyle J. Knapp)
Ghosts in the Fog -- Steve Weddle
The Debt -- Hilary Davidson
The Zygma Gambit -- Garnett Elliott

A portion of the proceeds from this collection will go to higher education.

FREE Book Alert-- "Eight Mystery Writers You Should be Reading Now"

Bill Crider mentioned this a week ago when it came up free for one day only. I missed out that day. It is free again today for one day only. I got mine. Hope you get your copy. By the way, in the post I linked to yesterday, Robert Lopresti mentioned one of the stories as his best read of the week.  Amazon synopsis:

"It’s easy to find a book; it’s hard to find the book, that new author who sets your life on fire.

That’s why we put this collection together. This book gives you an easy way to sample a group of eight up-and-coming mystery writers who you may not have heard of, but who critics and award committees have noticed. We’ve assembled eight very different styles to let you sample a wide array of stories and find new voices you might have trouble finding on your own.

We have hard-boiled detectives, and we have crime-solving animals. We have deeply flawed characters, and we have cute youngsters. We have damaged women, kick-ass women, noble women and mean women, sometimes in the same character. We have tough guys in spades, and we have funny in spades.

Each writer contributed a story, a sample chapter from a book, and an interview. Because of our variety, there’s sure to be something here you’ll love, and maybe love for life.

So come on in for a taste. Here’s our menu:

Lisa Alber – Mystery with a smattering of psychological suspense and tons of atmosphere. Beautifully written, complex stories set in the Irish countryside. Reminiscent of Erin Hart, Julia Spencer-Fleming, and Susan Hill. Rosebud Award and Pushcart Prize Nominee.

Kathleen Cosgrove –Florida weird with a middle-aged woman returning home. Kick-ass funny.

Michael Guillebeau –Broken war hero has to navigate the oddballs and save the girl to get back to the bar he’s been hiding in. Reminiscent of Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen. Silver Falchion Finalist, and Library Journal Mystery Debut of the Month.

Chris Knopf –Hardboiled in the Hamptons. Ex-boxer Sam Acquillo is a noir descendent of Travis McGee and Spencer, and one of my favorite characters. Nero award winner.

Jessie Bishop Powell— Cozy noir mysteries that embrace the genre’s extremes. In The Marriage at the Rue Morgue, police suspect an orangutan of murder. Primatologists Noel Rue and Lance Lakeland have to save the ape and still find time to get married. Sounds light, but Powell’s stuff is as intense as it is funny.

Larissa Reinhart—If you like Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum, you need to read Reinhart’s Cherry Tucker. A damaged artist with twice the depth, twice the funny of Plum and set in small-town Georgia. I dare you to put this down. Daphne du Maurier Finalist

Jaden Terrell—Hardboiled PI with a Soft Heart. Nashville PI Jared McKean has enough emotional issues to carry a book by himself, and then Terrell throws him into big issues like human trafficking. Shamus Award Finalist.

Lisa Wysocky—Multiple awards for Lisa’s books about a horse trainer with a smart horse who helps her solve crimes. One of the most realistic and loving use of animals in mystery. Winner of American Horse Publication Awards, and the National Indie Excellence Awards.

We invite you to see what looks good, and take a bite for yourself. If you find something you like, our chefs will be happy to give you a full meal.

And we all deliver."

FREE Book Alert-- "The Lawyer: Six Guns at Sundown" by Eric Beetner

As linked to here yesterday,  The Lawyer: Six Guns at Sundown by  Eric Beetner is the latest one in this awesome Western series. For today only it is also available for free. Amazon synopsis:

"Seething hatred spurs The Lawyer forward, with a burning vengeance for his family slaughtered by seven hardened gunslingers. He’s tracking them down, one by one, until every killer is in the ground. His next target, Big Jim Kimbrough, left tracks to the small town of Sundown, Arkansas, where The Lawyer learns his prey has already moved on.

But he can’t leave after he witnesses a black man named Josiah being dragged behind a horse, the man’s only crime is allegedly taking food from a white man’s table, and is about to be lynched. The Lawyer takes up arms to save Josiah, realizing Kimbrough is slipping from his grasp with every minute he spends in Sundown. None of that will matter, though, if The Lawyer doesn’t survive the next twelve hours in the wake of a racially charged mob, fueled by the town’s tyrant and cheap liquor.

Eric Beetner (The Year I Died Seven Times) is no stranger to writing terse, action-packed storylines. He shifts his gifted prose from modern crime tales to the gritty world of the Old West without missing a beat. SIX GUNS AT SUNDOWN is a riveting Western that continually tightens its grip to the last provocative page."

While you are at it, pick up the western novellas The Lawyer: Stay of Execution and  The Lawyer: The Retributioners.

FREE Book Alert: "QUICK (A Hunter Kincaid Series Book 1)" by Billy Kring

Last summer I reviewed the short story The Devil’s Footprints: A HunterKincaid Short Story by Billy Kring. I also picked up this first novel of the Hunter Kincaid series and have it in my e-book tbr pile. 

Currently QUICK  is free at Amazon. The synopsis:

“A sadistic killer roams the shadow world of undocumented aliens, and the first glimpse law enforcement has of him is when tough, dedicated female Border Patrol Agent Hunter Kincaid watches through binoculars as the killer shoots his own partner for being too slow, then crosses the Rio Grande into Mexico.

Two thousand miles away, South Florida Homicide Detectives John Quick and Randall Ishtee investigate the machete murder of an undocumented female, and a slender thread of evidence stretches all the way to West Texas.

John and Randall join forces with Hunter to track down the monster. What they don't know is that the killer is aware, and his focus is now on them, like a Great White as it speeds toward three unsuspecting swimmers.”

FREE Book Alert-- Further Adventures of Cash Laramie and Gideon Miles (Cash Laramie & Gideon Miles Series Book 9)

Previously reviewed here, the very good Further Adventures of Cash Laramie and Gideon Miles (Cash Laramie & Gideon Miles Series Book 9) is once again available as a free book. Amazon synopsis:

Nine rousing, noir Western tales with a hardboiled edge are collected in this third volume of short stories, Further Adventures of Cash Laramie and Gideon Miles.

Their story begins once again in the 1880s Wyoming Territory, then thunders through to 1930s New Orleans. The two Deputy U.S. Marshals continue to find themselves on the outside of societal norms.

Cash Laramie is known as The Outlaw Marshal for his unorthodox conduct toward criminals and his cavalier approach to life.

Gideon Miles, one of the first African Americans in the marshal service, is honorable, fearless, and unrivaled in his skills with guns, knives, and tracking.

These independent, resourceful lawmen develop a bond, establishing a formidable defense in a wayward land where good and wicked are often hard to distinguish and life is as cheap as a two-bit game of poker.

FREE Book Alert--- After the First Death (The Classic Crime Library Book 1) by Lawrence Block

Author Lawrence Block is once again making several books free over the next five days as announced in his newsletter. Each book is free for 24 hours until midnight. His offering today is After the First Death (The Classic Crime Library Book 1). Amazon synopsis:

Alex Penn wakes up in a squalid Times Square hotel room. This is what he sees when he finally opens his eyes:

“The floor was a sea of blood. A body floated upon this ocean. A girl—black hair, staring blue eyes, bloodless lips. Naked. Dead. Her throat slashed deeply.

“It had to be a dream. It had to, had to be a dream. It was not a dream. It was not a dream at all.

“I’ve done it again, I thought. Sweet Jesus, I’ve done it again.”

Years before, Alex Penn woke up in similar circumstances, called the police, went to prison. A technicality freed him—and now there’s been another drunken blackout, another dead streetwalker.

But something nags at his memory, and he begins to suspect some other hand wielded the knife. And if he didn’t murder this woman, maybe he didn’t kill the other one, either.

So he runs, adrift in an urban jungle, hoping to steer clear of the police long enough to solve the crime.

AFTER THE FIRST DEATH is sure to appeal to fans of David Goodis and Cornell Woolrich. And, with its gritty New York setting and its undercurrent of alcoholism, it can be considered a precursor to Lawrence Block’s iconic Matthew Scudder series.

THE CLASSIC CRIME LIBRARY brings together Lawrence Block's early crime novels, reformatted and with new uniform cover art. This first volume in the series contains as a bonus the first chapter of DEADLY HONEYMOON.

FREE Book Alert-- "Live Free or Tri: A collection of three short mystery stories" by Judy Penz Sheluk

Last month Live Free or Tri: A collection of three short mystery stories by Judy Penz Sheluk was free and I grabbed a copy to read and review. That resulted in my review of the highly entertaining book here.

The book is FREE again and you should pick it up today.

Amazon synopsis:

"A collection of three short mystery stories by Judy Penz Sheluk, author of the critically acclaimed debut mystery novel, THE HANGED MAN’S NOOSE: A GLASS DOLPHIN MYSTERY (Barking Rain Press, July 2015).

Death and Deception

Appearances are often deceiving and that is the underlying premise in this collection of short crime fiction:

In “Live Free or Die,” naive 21-year-old Emmy falls hard for 31-year-old Jack, an efficiency expert from New Hampshire who is not all that he seems.

In “Murder in the Marsh,” cyclist Carrie Anne Camack discovers more than she bargained for in the fertile farmlands of Ontario’s Holland Marsh.

In the final story, “The Cycopaths,” a triathlon team’s open-water swim training in Collingwood, Ontario, has deadly consequences.

Judy's short crime fiction has appeared in THE WHOLE SHE-BANG 2 (Toronto Sisters in Crime, Nov. 2014), WORLD ENOUGH AND CRIME (Carrick Publishing, Oct. 2014), and FLASH AND BANG: the first anthology by members of the Short Mystery Fiction Society (Untreed Reads, Nov. 2015). Her literary fiction has been published in THEMA, a New Orleans-based literary journal, on three occasions. LIVE FREE OR TRI is Judy's first independently published collection."

 

FREE Book Alert-- "Urban Decay" by Aidan Thorn

Short story collection Urban Decay by Aidan Thorn is currently free. I don't know a thing about this one, but have added it to the tbr pile.

Amazon synopsis:

"Urban Decay is an apt description for this collection of crime tales. Brought to you by Gritfiction – the guys behind the Near to the Knuckle fiction site.

Following on from his 2013 release Criminal Thoughts Urban Decay will satisfy those who wanted more. Aidan Thorn is very much at the top of his game and we are proud to bring you this outstanding collection of crime fiction."

FREE Book Alert--- "Carnosaur Weekend" by Garnett Elliott

One of my favorite all time reads ever is once again free for your Kindle. Carnosaur Weekend by Garnett Elliott is one heck of a read. I reviewed it here. Amazon synopisis: 

"It’s a dirty job ...

Policing the timelines has always been dangerous, but the brave agents of Continuity Inc. have arguably the most important job in human history. Protecting human history.

Newly promoted agent Kyler Knightly teams up with his uncle, Damon Cole, to stop unscrupulous developers from exploiting the Late Cretaceous. A luxury subdivision smack-dab in the middle of dinosaur country threatens not only the present, but super-rich homeowners looking for the ultimate getaway.

CARNOSAUR WEEKEND includes the original Kyler Knightly story “The Zygma Gambit,” inspired by the dream journals of Kyle J. Knapp, and a sci-fi short story “The Worms of Terpsichore,” all together totaling nearly 16K words."

Trust me....just go get it. Pick up RED VENUS while you are at and pretty much anything else the man has ever done. You won't be disappointed.

Mystery Free Book Alert-- "If You Can't Stand the Heat (Kit Tolliver #1) (The Kit Tolliver Stories)" by Lawrence Block

Free for a limited time in e-book format is If You Can't Stand the Heat by Lawrence Block. As explained by the author on Amazon:

"In 2005, Johnny Temple of Akashic Books chose me to edit an anthology of new dark stories set in Manhattan. Manhattan Noir was duly published the following year. Besides soliciting and selecting stories, my duties included writing both an overall introduction to the volume and an original story of my own.

The story I wrote, set in the same Hell's Kitchen neighborhood that's home to my detective hero, Matthew Scudder, was If You Can't Stand the Heat. (And in fact the bar where the story begins bears a definite resemblance to Grogan's Open House, where Matt's friend Mick Ballou holds court.)

I didn't know very much about the young woman who stars in If You Can't Stand the Heat, not even her name. I learned more as I found myself moved to record further adventures for her. Her name kept changing, as did her base of operations; her life style rather compelled her to be peripatetic, and to change identities along the way

At one point it became evident that I was writing a novel on the installment plan, and Hard Case Crime published Getting Off in the fall of 2011. I've since realized that several of its episodes, originally written as short stories, stand up fine on their own—and have decided to make them available in that form.

If You Can't Stand the Heat is the first of these. If you want to read more about Kit, #2 is Rude Awakening, set in the Riverdale section of the Bronx."





My review from June 2013 can be found here.