Your Mystery and Thriller Book Bargains for April 8, 2020

In a future where humans and synthetics coexist in an uneasy peace, a mysterious string of murders threatens to undermine this hard-fought balance. Now, it’s up to detective Dhata Mays to find the killer before the case goes public. But can he be unbiased in a black and white world that forces him to take sides?

In the third Marc Kadella legal mystery, an adorable—and photogenic—two-year-old girl is kidnapped, and, when her remains are found, her twenty-two-year-old widowed mother Brittany is charged with her murder. But before she can even be charged she’s been tried and convicted by the media, at the center of which is Melinda Pace, a cynical, mostly-functioning alcoholic Minneapolis television personality with a “legal news” show called The Court Reporter. Not even in the alternative universe of television news could she be described as a reporter, since she makes no attempt at or pretense of presenting the truth, or even the facts. She does do a great job of producing through-the-roof ratings and whipping the public into a frenzy—with tragic consequences.

Marc is brought into the case early on, before it’s clear it will erupt into a media circus that brings out every goofball, crackpot, and member of the aluminum foil helmet club, along with a publicity-hungry state attorney general.

The prosecution feeds the media monster by painting Brittany as a neglectful mother who got rid of her child because motherhood interfered with her partying.

Marc throws himself heart and soul into saving Brittany from the maw of media justice, and all his associates rally to support him in any way they can. Gorgeous P.I. Maddy Rivers, who is on the case 24/7, reveals a different side as she becomes a sort of big sister to Brittany, providing the TLC that might have kept Brittany out of this mess if she’d gotten it from her controlling mother. Marc’s lady love Judge Margaret Tennant is, as always, sensitive to the needs of an attorney in the throes of a huge case and, as always, eager to meet those needs.

Category: Thrillers – Legal

Fans of M.C. Beaton’s Agatha Raisin series or Alexander McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency will love this new series featuring Italian-American matriarch turned small-town crime reporter Rita Calabrese. Like Agatha Raisin and Precious Rambotse, Rita is more than a strong, independent woman forging her second act–she’s a force of nature.

For most of her life, Rita has doted on her lovable but exasperating “famiglia.” She’s always fortifying her down-on-their-luck neighbors with secret deliveries of home-grown vegetables and ravioli alla zucca, sneaking cannoli into her gruff husband’s lunch, and meddling in (or, as she would say, “improving”) the lives of her three grown children.

Then Rita takes a job at the local paper, and her profiles of Acorn Hollow’s eccentric citizens, including the soft-spoken biology teacher with a secret poison garden, soon make her the toast of the town. But when the beloved football coach is murdered and Rita’s investigation uncovers not only a messy love triangle, but also rumors of her ne’er-do-well son Vinnie’s involvement, she finds her newfound journalistic zeal on a collision course with her fierce maternal instinct.

Set in New York’s bucolic Hudson Valley and sprinkled with Italian phrases and customs, “The Secret Poison Garden” includes eight mouth-watering, garden-to-table Italian-American recipes.

Category: Mystery – Cozy

Whatever you do, DON’T DRINK THE WATER!

Orphaned at a young age, Livia Karras learned to cope by shutting out everyone and everything in this cruel world. Now, all grown up, she yearns for a child to call her own. After a clumsy one-night stand leaves her pregnant, her dream of becoming a mother is finally within reach. Or is it?

Livia spontaneously falls victim to a*quagenic urticaria—*an allergy where a single drop of water against her skin could be fatal. Unable to find a physical cause, doctors determine her condition to be purely psychosomatic.

Psychologist Elliot Chiles is assigned to her case. He suspects Livia is subconsciously sabotaging her own pregnancy due to unresolved guilt over a traumatic childhood accident. But Livia believes she knows the real cause—she’s being preyed upon by a malevolent supernatural entity out for revenge.

With time running out and severe dehydration setting in, Livia must confront long-cherished delusions and reconcile with a past mistake—or risk losing her life and that of her unborn child.

Other Retailers
Apple | Nook | Kobo

Category: Thrillers – Psychological

It makes a great cover story: Elegant mom, lovely daughter, nerdy son, and a kitten. Who’d ever guess they’re a family of ace PI’s? Mom makes the rain, daughter Lee does the legwork, and her brother’s the cyber-detection wiz. The plots are intricate, the characters are loveable, and the cat’s adorable— this could be the ultimate cozy collection!

They specialize in Silicon Valley chicanery but aren’t above a more mundane domestic case for a friend.

Category: Mystery – Cozy