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Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Christmas Mysteries on Sale for Kindle, 12/3/14

Several of the major publishers have dropped the prices on Christmas mysteries and thrillers from popular authors.  As of today, 12/3/14, the following Christmas mysteries are on sale for Kindle:

 Let me know if there are any Christmas mystery sales that I am missing!
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Tuesday, December 2, 2014

New Mystery Release Roundup: December 1-2, 2014

There have been a bunch of terrific new mystery releases and reissues in the past 2 days, both from the indies and the major publishers. Among the interesting new titles are:

 If I have missed any, please let me know!!
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Monday, December 1, 2014

Cyber Monday Mystery Deals for Kindle

With over 600 mysteries and thrillers on sale for up to 80% off for Kindle on Cyber Monday, it was very difficult to scroll through them to see what I wanted to buy.  I figured others were having the same problem so I have tried to summarize the best of today's deals below. All prices are good through midnight PST this evening, 12/1/2014.
  • Aaron Elkins has 13 mysteries on sale for $1.99 for Kindle, including all three from his Chris Norgren series and 8 from his series with anthropology professor Gideon Oliver 

Let me know what I have missed! There was no way to get to everything.


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Wednesday, June 5, 2013

June 4th 2013 New Mystery Release Roundup

As has become our custom here on the MRM blog, here is this month's batch of "first Tuesday" new mystery releases just in case you missed one:
  • Jeffrey Allen's Father Knows Death, the third book in his Stay at Home Dad humorous cozy mystery series
  • Lauren Beukes' buzzed about time travel mystery/thriller The Shining Girls
  • Janet Bolin's Thread and Buried, the third book in her Agatha Award nominated Threadville cozy mystery series with Willow Vanderling 
  • Allison Brennan's Stolen, the sixth book in her Lucy Kincaid romantic thriller series 
  • Alafair Burke's new mystery/thriller If You Were Here
  • Kate Carlisle's A Cookbook Conspiracy, the seventh book in her Bibliophile cozy mystery series
  • Grace Carroll's Murder After a Fashion, the third book in her Accessories mystery series with fashionista Rita Jewel 
  • Anne Cleeland's Tainted Angel, a historical mystery/suspense novel set in Regency England
  • Peg Cochran's Steamed to Death, the second book in her Gourmet De-Lite cozy mystery series
  • Sheila Connolly's Monument to the Dead, the fourth book in her Museum mystery series with fundraiser Nell Pratt
  • Krista Davis' The Diva Frosts a Cupcake, the seventh book in her Agatha Award nominated Domestic Diva series
  • Jeffery Deaver's The Kill Room, the tenth book in his popular series with Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs
  • Alex Grecian's The Blue Girl, a historical mystery short story set in 1889 and featuring Scotland Yard's Murder Squad
  • Beth Groundwater's Fatal Descent, the third book in her RM Outdoor Adventures whitewater rafting mystery series
  • Craig Johnson's A Serpent's Tooth, the ninth book in his acclaimed series with Sheriff Walt Longmire that is the inspiration for the A&E show
  • Linda O Johnston's Nonstop Spaniels, an inexpensive e-book only novella in her Pet Rescue mystery series 
  • Diane Kelly's humorous mystery Death, Taxes, and Hot Pink Leg Warmers, the fourth book in her series with IRS Agent Tara Holloway
  • Stephen King's Joyland, a brand new mystery/crime novel from Hard Case Crime.  For now this one is only in print and is not available as an e-book
  • Allison Kingsley's (aka Kate Kingsbury) Trouble Vision, he third book in her Raven's Nest Bookstore paranormal cozy mystery series
  • Kylie Logan's Mayhem at the Orient Express, the first book in the League of Literary Ladies cozy myster series
  • Carol Ann Martin's Looming Murder, the first book in her new Weaving mystery series
  • Jason Matthews' debut spy thriller Red Sparrow
  • Maggie Sefton's Close Knit Killer, the eleventh book in her Agatha Award nominated Knitting mystery series
  • Taylor Stevens' The Doll, the third book in her Barry Award winning series with the informationist Vanessa Michael Munroe
  • Kate Watterson's Charred, her second book featuring Milwaukee, WI Homicide Detective Ellie MacIntosh
  • CM Wendelboe's Death on the Greasy Grass, the third in the series with tribal cop turned FBI agent Manny Tanno
Let us know if there are any that we missed!
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Thursday, May 30, 2013

Andrew Peters Guest Post: Breaking the "Fourth Wall"





Mr Must Read mysteries (or Musty, as we famous writers call him) has asked me to write a little something for you all on one of the techniques I use a lot in my brilliant books.  
                   
                           Breaking the “fourth wall”

Goodreads 5 Star review “I really like the way he involves the reader, it’s like he’s sitting in front of you talking to you”

Goodreads 2 Star review “Not really my sort of thing, he keeps addressing the reader directly”

Well, my friends, it appears that you surely can’t please everyone, and one of the things I seem to do which divides opinion on my literary masterpieces is my habit of talking to people. Yes, you. Pay attention.

Maybe it starts with the fact that I’ve never thought of myself as a writer. Before last June I’d never written a story in my life, and certainly never attended a creative writing class or read anything at all about writing technique.  I had done plenty of story-telling, in comedy clubs, folk clubs and when making a living as an entertainer, so maybe that was what influenced me most when I decided to tell some stories via the Kindle machine.

That was what I wanted to do, not write things, but tell stories, and I never really gave much thought to how I should do it. I just thought up a situation, sat down at the computer and told someone about it. You. The reader.

I suppose it’s my Blues Detective stories where the reader's most important, as Otis King the narrator takes you into his world, shares his thoughts with you, helps you along with a clue or two, and quite often expects you to guess the answer before he does.

“Well, you’ve guessed it by now, haven’t you my dears? It’s hardly worth explaining it. What? No? Well, it’s a good thing you’re not trying to make a living in the detecting business. Allow me to elucidate...”

Otis is always at pains to point  out that he’s not writing a book, he’s making a report, and the effect I want is for you to hear his voice in your head, see things through his eyes, maybe even ask the odd question if you’d care to. He’s a helpful narrator too, always happy to gloss over the dull bits, like the coffees, meals and train journeys, but he’ll put them back in if he needs to pad a story out to novel length.

Much the same thing happens in “Joe Soap”, though here the narrator is quite happy to inform you that he’s writing a book, even if it’s one that nobody will ever be allowed to read. He even refers to the clumsiness of some of the construction, since he isn’t able to send it to his editor. Again he tries to anticipate your questions and explain himself to you at critical moments.

No, I don’t always do it, and there are ways to do it without being quite so obvious. In “The Barry Island Murders” the policeman narrator is telling the whole story to a newspaper reporter, who interrupts with questions and points of his own. Not that he’s allowed to speak in the book, you have to infer his contributions from Inspector Williams’ reactions.

I like this technique. It makes the whole story-telling business  a little friendlier. It makes for informality in the narration, and you get to join in with the story a bit. The narrator can use you as a sounding-board for his own opinions.  It can be lonely telling a whole story by yourself. Maybe I should just record them and then you’d really have the voice in your head.

I don’t claim to be the inventor of this technique. I’m not the best-read man on the planet, so I have no idea to what extent other people have used it. Charlotte Bronte did for one...“Reader, I married him”.  PG Wodehouse was prone to it here and there. Damon Runyon too. Maybe most first -person narrations have a little bit of it.

It gets used far more often in film and TV. Any of you remember “It’s Gary Shandling’s Show”? He’d sit down and tell the audience what was going to happen, before walking past the cameras and onto the set. Then there’s “Blazing Saddles”, where Sheriff Bart frequently talks to you.

The important thing about it is to be consistent. Once you start, you have to keep at it, as an occasional one will jar. Remember “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”, where George Lazenby finishes the fight, stares at the camera and says, “This never happened to the other feller.”? Didn’t really work, did it? You think? I beg to differ.

Now, I’m not in a position to give you advice on writing technique, and this one has its limitations. You can really only use it with a first person narrator but then a first person narration is the only logical way to tell a story. The third-person idea is a literary invention.I can’t be doing with those telepathic people reading everyone’s thoughts. I mean, you can’t really describe anyone else’s thoughts but your own, you can only infer them from their actions. And all that dashing across to the other side of town to take a look inside the villain’s head? No, it can’t happen...only in books.

The other limitation, is, as you saw at the beginning, some people don’t like it. They much prefer everything kept impersonal. Me, I love it...to the extent that if I ever write anything else, it’ll take a mighty effort to avoid using it. Still, at least you’ll know it’s one of my books.

Andrew Peters is the author of the Blues Detective series of humorous mysteries, as well as the mystery/thriller novels Joe Soap and The Barry Island Murders.  His short story collections Solos and Monophonic are also available for Kindle.

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Wednesday, May 8, 2013

May 7 2013 New Mystery Release Roundup

As we have been doing for the past several months after "new release Tuesday", here is a recap of this month's batch of new mystery/thriller releases.  With over 30, there is probably something for everyone:
  • Ace Atkins' Robert B Parker's Wonderland, the latest authorized book in the Spenser series
  • Duffy Brown's Killer in Crinolines, the second book in her Agatha Award nominated Consignment Shop cozy mystery series
  • Emily Brightwell's Mrs Jeffries Turns the Tide, the 31st book in her Victorian British mystery series with housekeeper Mrs. Jeffries
  • Lucy Burdette's (aka Roberta Isleib) Topped Chef, the third book in her Key West Food Critic cozy mystery series with Hayley Snow
  • Alyse Carlson's The Begonia Bribe, the second book in her Garden Society cozy mystery series with Camellia Harris
  • Linda Castillo's Long Lost, an e-book exclusive short story from her Kate Burkholder Amish country series 
  • Marcia Clark's Trouble in Paradise, an e-book exclusive short story in her Rachel Knight legal mystery/thriller series
  • Ann Cleeves Silent Voices, the 4th book in her British mystery series with DI Vera Stanhope
  • Chris Culver's The Outsider, the second book in his series with Muslim detective Ash Rashid
  • Claire Donally's Cat Nap, the second book in her Maine based Sunny and Shadow cozy/cat mystery series
  • Joanne Fluke's Video Kill, a reissue of an early thriller from the author of the Hannah Swensen series
  • Sally Goldenbaum's Angora Alibi, the seventh book in her Seaside Knitting cozy mystery series with Izzy Chambers
  • Chris Grabenstein's Free Fall, the eight book in his Anthony Award winning Jersey Shore series with John Ceepak and Danny Boyle
  • Charlaine Harris' Dead Ever After, the final Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood novel
  • Carolyn Hart's Dead, White, and Blue, the 23rd book in her Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Award winning Death on Demand series with mystery bookstore owner Annie Darling
  • Tami Hoag's e-book exclusive short story The First Victim, featuring her series characters Sam Kovak and Nikki Liska 
  • Swedish author Camilla Lackberg's The Stranger
  • John Le Carre's latest suspense novel A Delicate Truth
  • John Lescroat's latest mystery/thriller The Ophelia Cut 
  • Liz Lipperman's Heard It Through the Grapevine, the first book in her Dead Sister Talking paranormal/cozy mystery series
  • Karen MacInerney's Brush with Death, the 5th book in her Gray Whale Inn cozy mystery series with Natalie Barnes
  • David Morrell's Victorian historical mystery/thriller Murder as a Fine Art
  • Liz Mugavero's Kneading to Die, the first book in her new Pawsitively Organic Gourmet Pet Food cozy mystery series
  • Kathryn O'Sullivan's Foal Play, the Malice Domestic Award winning new humorous small town cozy with Colleen McCabe, set on the Outer Banks
  • Nancy Parra's Gluten for Punishment, the first book in her Baker's Treat cozy mystery series with gluten-free baker Toni Ryder
  • Ann Purser's The Sleeping Salesman Inquiry, the 4th book in her British village mystery series with spinster Ivy Beasley
  • Linda Rodriguez's Every Broken Trust, the second book in her series with Chief of Campus Police Skeet Bannion
  • John Sandford's Silken Prey, the 23rd book in his popular Lucas Davenport series
  • Joanna Campbell Slan's Picture Perfect Corpse, the 6th book in her Agatha Award nominated Scrapbooking cozy mystery series with Kiki Lowenstein
  • Rochelle Staab's Hex on the Ex, the third book in her highly regarded Mind for Murder mystery series with psychologist Liz Cooper
  • Leann Sweeney's The Cat, the Mill, and the Murder, the 5th book in her Cats in Trouble cozy mystery series
  • Victoria Thompson's Murder in Chelsea, the 15th book in her historical Gaslight mystery series with early 1900s NYC midwife Sarah Brandt
  • Elaine Viets' Board Stiff, the 12th book in her popular Dead End Job humorous cozy mystery series with Helen Hawthorne

 Are there any that you missed?  Any that we missed?


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Wednesday, April 3, 2013

April 2nd 2013 Mystery New Release Roundup

There were a bunch of great new mysteries released on April 2nd, so once again we are consolidating them into a recap post.  Among the new releases are: 
  • Susan Wittig Albert's Widow's Tears, the twenty-first book in her long running cozy mystery series with herbalist and amateur sleuth China Bayles 
  • Laura Alden's Curse of the PTA, the 4th book in her Agatha Award nominated PTA cozy mystery series with divorced mom of two Beth Kennedy
  • Connie Archer's A Broth of Betrayal, the second book in her Soup Lover's cozy mystery series 
  • Kate Atkinson's genre bending speculative historical fiction novel Life After Life, in which Ursula Todd is born and reborn repeatedly during the first half of the 20th century.  From the author of the acclaimed Jackson Brodie mystery series
  • Jessica Fletcher's (aka Donald Bain) Murder She Wrote: Prescription for Murder, the 39th book in the long running cozy mystery series
  • Ella Barrick's (aka Laura DiSilverio) The Homicide Hustle, the third book in her Ballroom Dance cozy mystery series with Stacy Graysin 
  • Pamela Beason's Undercurrents, the third book in her amateur sleuth series with wildlife biologist and freelance writer Summer "Sam" Westin
  • Raymond Benson's The Black Stiletto: Stars & Stripes, the third book in his Black Stiletto series with costumed superhero Judy Cooper
  • Heather Blake's The Good, the Bad, and the Witchy, the third book in her Wishcraft paranormal cozy mystery series
  • Joelle Charbonneau's End Me a Tenor, the second book in her Glee Club cozy mystery series
  • R.B. Chesterton's (aka Carolyn Haines, author of the Sarah Booth Delaney series) gothic suspense novel The Darkling
  • J. J. Cook's (Joyce and Jim Lavene) That Old Flame of Mine, the first book in the new Sweet Pepper Fire Brigade paranormal cozy mystery series with Fire Chief Stella Griffin and her ghostly predecessor
  • Waverly Curtis' Chihuahua Confidential, the second book in her Barking Detective cozy mystery series 
  • Jeffery Deaver's A Textbook Case, a Kindle Single short story (65 pages) featuring Lincoln Rhymes
  • Laura DiSilverio's Malled to Death, the third book in her Mall Cop cozy mystery series with EJ Ferris 
  • Leighann Dobbs' 3 Bodies and a Biscotti, the 4th book in her Lexy Baker Bakery cozy/culinary mystery series (introductory price of 99 cents as of 4/3/13)
  • Harlan Ellison's Web of the City, reprinted by Hard Case Crime
  • Julie James' Love Irresistably, the 4th book in her FBI/US Attorney romantic suspense series
  • Donna Leon's The Golden Egg, the 22nd book in her Silver Dagger Award winning series with Venice, Italy police commissario Guido Brunetti 
  • Jenn McKinlay's Going, Going, Ganache, the fifth book in her Cupcake Bakery cozy mystery series
  • Joanna Campbell Slan's The Death of a Dowager, the second book in her Jane Eyre historical mystery series
  • Dorothy St. James' Oak and Dagger, the third book in her White House Gardener cozy mystery series with organic gardener Casey Calhoun
Let us know if we missed any!



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