Mysteries

Mysteries

Looking to download free and discounted mystery ebooks? Well then, you sleuth, you’ve found the right place. Satisfy your crime solving needs in this category, and never pay more than what you should. We routinely feature the best authors of mystery ebooks, and they always promote their ebooks to you--for free or for a discount.

 

Definition of "Mystery Genre": Fiction in which a detective resolves a crime or series of crimes.  This genre can also be referred to as detective or crime novels.  The plot of a mystery ebook focuses on the crime that needs to be solved, and the detective that will solve it.  Typical elements include the detective being in danger, a host of suspects with their own motives, and clues, motives and alibis.  The genre can vary greatly dependent on the time in which the mystery is set, as that will drive what tools the detective has at his/her disposal.

 

Some examples of the best mysteries of all-time include Dashiell Hammett (The Maltese Falcon), Agatha Christie (Murder on the Orient Express), Caleb Carr (The Alienist), Lyndsay Faye (Dust and Shadow), James Cain (The Postman Always Rings Twice).  Of course, many of these are the best mystery ebooks of all time, as well as classics.  We try to bring you free and discounted mystery ebooks on their way to being the tops in their genre.

A Dreadful Splendor: An Edgar Award Winner

by B.R. Myers


INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER 
• WINNER OF THE MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD

“This gem of a book sparkles with wit and originality. . . . There is no shortage of tricks and feints in this excellent novel and Genevieve is a delightful character.” — The Globe and Mail

“A spooky gothic romance with impeccable vibes. I loved this!" — Erin Sterling,New York Times bestselling author of The Ex Hex and The Kiss Curse

In this wickedly whimsical Gothic murder mystery brimming with romance, betrayals, and chills, a fake spiritualist is summoned to hold a séance for a bride who died on the eve before her wedding, but as nefarious secrets are revealed, the line between hoax and haunting blurs.

Be careful what you conjure...

In Victorian London, Genevieve Timmons poses as a spiritualist to swindle wealthy mourners—until one misstep lands her in a jail cell awaiting the noose. Then a stranger arrives to make her a peculiar offer. The lord he serves, Mr. Pemberton, has been inconsolable since the tragic death of his beautiful bride-to-be. If Genevieve can perform a séance persuasive enough to bring the young lord peace, she will win her freedom.

Soothing a grieving nobleman should be easy for someone of Genevieve’s skill, but when she arrives at the grand Somerset Park estate, Mr. Pemberton is not the heartbroken lover she expected. The surly—yet exceedingly handsome—gentleman is certain that his fiancée was murdered, even though there is no evidence. Only a confession can bring justice now, and Mr. Pemberton decides Genevieve will help him get it. With his knowledge of the household and her talent for illusion, they can stage a haunting so convincing it will coax the killer into the light. However, when frightful incidents befall the manor, Genevieve realizes her tricks aren’t required after all. She may be a fake, but Somerset’s ghost could be all too real…

A Dreadful Splendor is delicious brew of mystery, spooky thrills, and intoxicating romance that makes for a ghoulishly fun and page-turning read.

"A delightful mix of gothic, mystery, and romance. I had such fun reading this book!" — Gwenda Bond, New York Times bestselling author of Not Your Average Hot Guy

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Never Forget: a gripping psychological thriller

by Robert W. Kirby


Jennifer wants her family to live happily ever after. Dream on.


Twenty-five years ago, Jennifer’s grandfather, Ernest, was convicted for the murder of his daughter, Jennifer’s mother. He’s been in prison ever since, but has always maintained his innocence.

Now he’s about to be released.

Jennifer has childhood memories of the happy times she spent with her grandad, so she is willing to give him the benefit of the doubt – maybe he didn’t kill her mother.

But it soon becomes clear that no-one else agrees. Ernest is targeted by someone in their small community – someone who wants him gone. And Jennifer comes under increasing pressure from her own family to abandon her grandfather.

And yet, something tells her he is a good man. Jennifer knows she has to get to the truth.

She begins to investigate her mother’s death, and soon realizes that someone is desperate to stop her, that she is putting her own life in grave danger as she draws ever closer to revealing a horrifying secret…


Never Forget – the gripping psychological thriller perfect for fans of Freida McFadden, Daniel Hurst, Kiersten Modglin.

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REST IN PEACE (Eva Rae Thomas FBI Mystery Book 15)

by Willow Rose


Sarah Chapman is angry at her husband. She’s also drunk… very drunk as she drives down their street, ready to face him.

When a neighbor hears the commotion and rushes to help, he finds her inside, gun still in her hand, and her husband, Steven, dead in the bed.

Sarah is arrested and taken away but claims to be innocent.

The only one who believes her is FBI profiler, Eva Rae Thomas.
She knows Sarah personally, and as she looks at the evidence in the case, she is convinced that Sarah is telling the truth, even though she was highly intoxicated when the event occurred.

But the detective on the case is determined to have her convicted for the murder.

As more bodies turn up, only Eva Rae Thomas sees the connections and soon starts a race against time to prove Sarah is innocent and to catch the real murderer before it’s too late and her own family is targeted.

Lies and secrets pile up in this chilling next installment of Willow Rose’s bestselling series about FBI profiler Eva Rae Thomas.

 

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The Reluctant Coroner (Fenway Stevenson Mysteries Book 1)

by Paul Austin Ardoin


Blood is thicker than oil--until murder is involved.


Fenway Stevenson doesn't want to return to the coastal town where her estranged father is practically king. But the death of her mother draws her back home--and the murder of the county coroner draws her into a deepening conspiracy. As the body count rises and all signs seem to point toward her father's oil company, will Fenway uncover the truth before family bonds become deadly?
 
 
 
 
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What the Night Knows (with bonus novella Darkness Under the Sun): A Novel

by Dean Koontz


#1 
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

In the late summer of a long-ago year, Alton Turner Blackwood brutally murdered four families. His savage spree ended only when he himself was killed by the last survivor of the last family, a fourteen-year-old boy.

Half a continent away and two decades later, someone is murdering families again, re-creating in detail Blackwood’s crimes. Homicide detective John Calvino is certain that his own family—his wife and three children—will be targets, just as his parents and sisters were victims on that distant night when he was fourteen and killed their slayer.

As a detective, John is a man of reason who deals in cold facts. But an extraordinary experience convinces him that sometimes death is not a one-way journey, that sometimes the dead return.


Includes the bonus novella Darkness Under the Sun and an excerpt from Dean Koontz's The City!

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Stinger: An International Thriller

by Gregory D. Lee


"A superbly written work of thriller fiction!" -Christopher Amato, author of 
Shadow Investigation

It's February 2023. An Alluring and determined CIA Case Officer, June Cohen, must flawlessly execute an unsanctioned plan of action or the U.S. will invade Iraq to search for weapons of mass destruction.

She coerces Robaire Assaly, a Los Angeles based DEA Confidential Informant, to take part in her elaborate scheme. Robaire agrees, however, in doing so, he must betray his long-time DEA Agent handler, Gary Lowery, to get what she needs. Robaire soon realizes June has tricked him into taking the blame for stealing a Stinger missile, which she pulled off right under the nose of the hapless FBI.

The duped FBI and Gary desperately want Robaire. He's now frantically on the run as an international fugitive with the FBI and Gary relentlessly pursuing him and the stolen Stinger before it is used against an unknown target. However, June finds Robaire first before he can reveal the CIA's involvement to the Feds.

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Hidden Homestead: A Small Town Post Apocalypse EMP Thriller Boxset

by Colton Lively


No phones. No computers. No Internet. Nothing.
 Three weeks without power, following a crippling EMP strike, have thrust the nation into disarray. Amid this outage, where technology is rendered useless, Martha Marshall has one mission: to help her mother reach a hidden homestead, the last beacon of hope in a world overrun by starvation and brutal gangs.

In the heart of a city swallowed by darkness, Martha Marshall is the last glimmer of hope – but can she navigate through anarchy, winter’s chill, and marauding raiders to sanctuary?

Martha Marshall is a beacon of hope in a world plunged into unyielding darkness by a catastrophic event. Through the chaos of a city lost, she fights to lead her mother to safety - a remote sanctuary where Martha's partner Roy awaits. But salvation is ephemeral. Raiders strike, winter closes in, and every day is a battle against a world spiraling into anarchy.

Seeking Shelter

The thin thread holding the civilized world together has been severed. Millions of citizens have been thrust into the unknown. As society falls into dismay, John charges headlong into the escalating chaos to protect the only thing he holds dear: his family.

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Past Transgressions: A Mason Nash Novel

by Dave Sinclair


Retired spy. Trained killing machine. Pacifist.


Retired MI6 spy Mason Nash moved to a sleepy English town so he could leave his former violent life behind.

He soon learns that past transgressions have a way of catching up with you.
When hired killers invade his peaceful new existence Nash is forced to fall back on his old ways to find out who sent assassins after him and why.

What he uncovers sends him on a globetrotting quest involving old friends, a new clandestine spy agency and a world-wide conspiracy where no one is quite who they seem.

Nash finds out how hard it is to adhere to non-violent ways when everyone is trying to kill you.

A page burner of a novel full of action and wit, 
Past Transgressions is definitely not your regular espionage thriller.

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The Last Bunker Boxset: A Small Town Post Apocalypse EMP Thriller Boxset

by Colton Lively


In a world engulfed by darkness, the courageous determination of Jennifer Smith shines as the lone beacon of hope in a landscape destroyed by bitter cold and chaos. Stripped of technology, humanity teeters on the brink of collapse. Starvation grips the land as ruthless gangs ascend, engaged in a battle for supremacy in this new, savage world.


Her sister, Genevieve, is stranded miles away in a remote cabin, compelling Jennifer to undertake a near-impossible journey through a snow-covered terrain to ensure her safety.

When an EMP decimates the world’s power grid, society falls faster than anyone could have imagined. For Connor Murray, a farm boy in New York City whose war veteran father had prepared him for such a day, the fall of the old world only means he’ll have to fight to survive in the new one. As violent militant extremists rapidly overwhelm the city, Connor is forced to fight his way out to safety, using the survival skills passed down to him by his father. But while Connor is fighting his way out, little does he know that his father and sister are fighting their way in to come and save him.

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Lincoln's Son: Lincoln's Ghetto Series Book 2

by Michael Pope


SUMMER 1982: The chase for Abraham Lincoln’s secret riches moves from South Side Chicago to corn country Illinois.

After losing his parents, Darnell Whitaker's life turns upside down. He's suddenly adopted by a white family in Lincoln, Illinois, miles away from his home in South Side Chicago. But this new start isn't what it seems.

Darnell is caught in a dangerous hunt for Abraham Lincoln's hidden treasure. With the Chicago mob, a corrupt judge, and even the Vatican on his tail, he's in over his head. Trust is scarce, and danger lurks around every corner.

Meanwhile, back in Chicago, his old neighborhood hasn't forgotten him. A group of allies is on a mission to bring Darnell back, ready to take on anyone who stands in their way.

Will Darnell find the treasure, or will the hunt cost him everything?

Dive into Lincoln’s Son, Book 2 of the Lincoln’s Ghetto series, where suspense meets heart in an urban thriller reminiscent of Robert Crais and Richard Price. A fast-paced read that will make you laugh, cry, and bite your nails in anticipation, Lincoln’s Son is a political mystery that grips you from start to finish.

 

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The Woman Beneath the Stairs: A gripping psychological thriller with a shocking twist

by Christopher Greyson


Uncovering her husband’s family 
secrets could cost her everything…

Ally’s perfect marriage to Tim Hawthorne is crumbling under the weight of one trial after another. Forced to visit Tim’s mother on her secluded island off the coast of Maine, Ally uncovers a sinister secret: years ago, a member of the family was the prime suspect in a young woman’s disappearance from the same island. Now, history is repeating itself. Another woman has vanished without a trace. Ally digs into all the dark secrets of the Hawthorne family’s past, but what she discovers may cost her more than her marriage — it may cost her life.
From multi-award-winning 
Wall Street Journal bestselling author Christopher Greyson comes a heart-pounding psychological mystery thriller that will leave you gasping for breath until the shocking conclusion.

Grab your copy and start reading this electrifying novel today!

Christopher Greyson's novels have been read by millions of readers. Look for other standalone novels by 
Wall Street Journal bestselling author Christopher Greyson featuring leading man Detective Jack Stratton. These books can be read in any order.

The Detective Jack Stratton Mystery-Thriller Series
And Then She Was Gone (Prequel)
Girl Jacked
Jack Knifed
Jacks Are Wild
Jack and the Giant Killer
Data Jack
Jack of Hearts
Jack Frost
Jack of Diamonds
Captain Jack

Jack of Spades

Also by Christopher Greyson:
The Girl Who Lived

• Best Mystery-Thriller eBook of the Year — Independent Publisher Book Awards
• Winner Best Thriller — National Indie Excellence Awards
• Winner Best Thriller — Silver Falchion Award
• Finalist eBook Fiction — Indie Book Awards
• Silver Medal Suspense — Reader’s Favorite Book Awards

One Little Lie
The Adventures of Finn & Annie
Pure of Heart

The Dark

KIKU – The Yakuza War Trilogy
A Beautiful Place to Die
Kindle the Fires of War
Dance of Death


Please visit ChristopherGreyson.com to find out more about your favorite characters, giveaways, and updates on new book releases and get a FREE copy of the 
exclusive Detective Jack Stratton short story: FIRST PATROL.

Enjoy this novel FREE as part of your Kindle Unlimited subscription. Start reading today!

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Prime Time Murder (Hollywood Whodunit Book 1)

by Brittany E. Brinegar


She's little. She's feisty. Spoiler alert, she's not the killer.

Move to Hollywood. Catch her big break. Become a movie star. Nowhere on Becky Robinson's to-do list does it say discover a dead body or become the prime suspect.

Becky's first day on set is anything but glamorous. Between coffee runs and walking the star dog, she discovers the body of a prominent actress. Not exactly how she pictured seeing her name in the papers. And they didn't even spell it right.

After finding evidence at the crime scene, the cops are on her trail and a Hollywood hunk is in the hot seat.

To clear her name and discover whodunit, Becky rubs elbows with Tinseltown insiders. With the help of her best friend and an adorable puppy, they attempt to expose the killer before he claims his next victim.

-----------------------------------

Prime Time Murder is the whimsical first installment in the Hollywood Whodunit cozy mystery series.

If you love clumsy heroines, a Hollywood backdrop, quirky suspects, and an adorable rescue puppy this series is for you!

 

Hollywood Whodunit Series Order

  • Book 0: Lake Day Shenanigans
  • Book 1: Prime Time Murder
  • Book 2: Stand-In Murder
  • Book 3: Music City Murder
  • Book 4. Trap Door Murder
  • Book 5: Fool's Gold Murder
  • Book 6: Holly Jolly Murder
  • Book 7: Blue Suede Murder
  • Book 8: Family Reunion Murder
  • Book 9: Summer Vacation Murder
  • Book 10: Sunlight Swindler Murder
  • Book 11: Castle Island Murder
  • Book 12: Fixer-Upper Murder
  • Book 13: Hometown Murder

 

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Five Card Murder: A clean-read private investigator mystery

by Bruce Hammack


An inheritance worth millions. A killer with a list… and Smiley’s on it.

Blind PI Smiley's job as executor of a large Texas estate is complicated by the rancher’s suspicious death. While the sheriff is investigating the rancher’s death, the ranch foreman is found murdered.

Smiley begins his executor duties and quickly realizes any of the four siblings could be guilty of one, or both, of the murders. There’s no love lost in the dysfunctional family. But which one wanted the land bad enough to kill for it? Or was it a conspiracy?

When Smiley is hired by the foreman’s family to find the killer, his investigation unearths a long-buried family secret that could solve the mystery, but will it also lead to more killing? Steve needs to stop the killer or the next funeral could be his.

Escape to South Texas with Smiley and McBlythe as they seek to untangle the web of intrigue, mystery and murder surrounding the last undeveloped lakefront property in the state.

Smiley and McBlythe deliver a page-turning mystery that will keep you up way past your bedtime, all with no graphic violence, sex or foul language.
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The Right Side: A Novel

by Spencer Quinn


In this "brilliant...deeply felt" (Stephen King) novel by the 
New York Times bestselling author of the Chet and Bernie mystery series, a deeply damaged female soldier home from the war in Afghanistan becomes obsessed with finding a missing girl, gains an unlikely ally in a stray dog, and encounters new perils beyond the combat zone.

LeAnne Hogan went to Afghanistan as a rising star in the military, and came back a much lesser person, mentally and physically. Now missing an eye and with half her face badly scarred, she can barely remember the disastrous desert operation that almost killed her. She is confused, angry, and suspects the fault is hers, even though nobody will come out and say it.

Shattered by one last blow—the sudden death of her hospital roommate, Marci—LeAnne finds herself on a fateful drive across the country, reflecting on her past and seeing no future. Her native land is now unfamiliar, recast in shadow by her one good eye, her damaged psyche, her weakened body. Arriving in the rain-soaked small town in Washington State that Marci called home, she makes a troubling discovery: Marci’s eight-year-old daughter has vanished. When a stray dog—a powerful, dark, unreadable creature, no one’s idea of a pet—seems to adopt LeAnne, a surprising connection is formed and something shifts inside her. As she becomes obsessed with finding Marci’s daughter, LeAnne and her inscrutable canine companion are drawn into danger as dark and menacing as her last Afghan mission. This time she has a strange but loyal fellow traveler protecting her blind side.

Enthralling, suspenseful, and psychologically nuanced, 
The Right Side introduces one of the most unforgettable protagonists in modern fiction: isolated, broken, disillusioned—yet still seeking redemption and purpose. As Harlan Coben raves, this is "a great suspense novel, and so much more. You won't forget the heroic LeAnne Hogan—and the same goes for her dog! Not to be missed."

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Something I Keep Upstairs

by Philip Crawford


"An assured mystery with an engaging narrator and a distinctive cast." -- Kirkus Reviews

Coleman Cooper is a troubled young man who can never get anything right—not even his own suicide.

When he is sent to an open-door mental health facility in a small New England village to get his life back on track, his journey darkens even further: someone starts killing the psychiatrists, one by one.

After taking a job tending bar at a local country inn—the social heart of the quirky little town where everyone knows everyone and grudges can last for decades—Coleman unwittingly finds himself at the center of the investigation, even a suspect.

Yet as villagers dread news of more victims and the police come up empty-handed, it is Coleman, and he alone, who discovers the twisted path to the killer’s identity—and the door to a new life for himself.

 

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The Bequest (Book One of The Guardians Series)

by Hope Anika


Book One of The Guardians Series

Finalist, 2016 Daphne Du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense

Cheyenne Elias has inherited a child. A boy she doesn’t know and doesn’t particularly want; a boy whose mother was once Cheyenne’s most hated person in the world. There are a million reasons to walk away: her anger, her past, her certainty that there is nothing benevolent in this act by a woman who almost killed her. But abandoning the boy to a system she barely survived is not an option.

Will Blackheart has lost everything. His SEAL team, his country, and—upon occasion—his mind. Worse, he’s lost something that has the capacity to kill thousands. Left for dead in the Afghan desert, Will has risen solely to regain that which was taken...and to punish those who dared take it.

His only lead is the son of a dead woman. Her only goal is to save a child. As they come together in a clash of anger, mistrust, and potent, unwanted desire, Will and Cheyenne must put aside their differences and navigate the endgame of a woman for whom nothing was taboo…

Don’t miss the first installment of this intense, suspenseful romance series!

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The New Son

by Iain Maitland


Nina always wanted a child of her own. Now she has one.


Nina feels trapped. Her partner Gary is controlling, his daughter hates her, and she’s recently suffered a miscarriage. Just as her life seems hopeless, Alex, the son she gave up for adoption nearly 20 years ago, shows up at her door. Somehow, he has tracked her down.

Their reunion is everything Nina has hoped for. Now she has a child of her own, someone in the family who really cares about her.

But honeymoons are brief and this one is no exception.

Far from welcoming him, Gary is hostile to Alex and as their arguments become increasingly vicious, it soon becomes clear that Nina must choose between them.

But how will the abusive Gary react if she rejects him? And can she trust Alex? Is he really the loving son he seems to be – or does he have a sinister agenda of his own?


The New Son – the gripping psychological thriller perfect for fans of Freida McFadden, Daniel Hurst, K L Slater.

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The Mazatlan Showdown (The Park and Walker Action Thriller Series Book 1)

by Patrick Weill


2023 Killer Nashville Claymore Award finalist, best action adventure
2023 Adventure Writers Competition semi-finalist


Champion surfer Jeff Walker was born into tragedy, his father’s life having been cut short before he was born, and his mother succumbing to heartache in a foreign land as she bravely raised him alone. Determined to find his father’s killer, Walker relocates to sunny San Diego and secures a job as a beach lifeguard, in which capacity a rescue mission at sea hurls him into the sticky web of an international smuggling ring.

As Walker, along with a rich cast of characters, aids the police in their investigation, the tension is ratcheted up when he discovers that the mastermind behind the criminal operation is the very man he’s been searching for since he was a teenager! In this tale of revenge, justice, and survival, only one will walk away from the showdown.

Weill’s award-winning debut novel marks the inception of The Park and Walker Action Thriller Series, taking the reader on a wild ride in an array of high-performance vehicles, racing through a variety of stunning oceanfront landscapes. If you enjoy well-crafted storytelling and explosive action, bump 
The Mazatlan Showdown up to the top spot on your to-be-read list.

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Where Fools Dare to Tread: A Monk Buttman Mystery

by David William Pearce


It’s easy to be a nobody when you’ve got nothing to lose, but with his life and potential redemption on the line, can Monk be a somebody people will remember?

A dead man’s money is just waiting to be had. A band of fools and a nobody named Monk Buttman unwittingly find themselves caught in a web of murder and revenge between two unseen factions using them as bait. After a good day ends in murder, Monk is tasked with finding the killer. Why him? He’s a nobody! Stuck between powerful forces he can neither control or understand, Monk must survive both the fools and those pulling the strings while also dealing with the affections of two very different women, the troubled Agnes and the disaffected Judith, not to mention the irritation of his erstwhile partner, Mr. Jones. A beating forces Monk to question his own motives and to confront the past that led him to hide in LA. With love and life on the line, Monk must use his wits and guile for all of them to survive.

 
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Naked Once More (Jacqueline Kirby Mysteries Book 4)

by Elizabeth Peters


She may be a bestselling author, but ex-librarian Jacqueline Kirby's views on the publishing biz aren't fit to print. In fact, she's thinking of trading celebrity for serenity and a house far away from fiendish editors and demented fans when her agent whispers the only words that could ever make her stay: 
Naked in the Ice.

Seven years ago, this blockbuster skyrocketed Kathleen Darcy to instant fame. Now the author's heirs are looking for a writer to pen the sequel. It's an opportunity no novelist in her right mind would pass up, and there's no doubting Jacqueline's sanity...until she starts digging through the missing woman's papers--and her past. Until she gets mixed up with Kathleen's enigmatic lover. Until a series of nasty accidents convince her much too late that someone wants to bring Jacqueline's story--and her life--to a premature end.

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