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.

Alex Glauberman Mysteries Vol 1-3 (The Alex Glauberman Series)

by Dick Cluster

All three volumes in the critically-acclaimed Alex Glauberman Mystery Series! Pretty much a steal, too!

Meet reluctant detective Alex Glauberman—just a guy who practices tai-chi and fixes foreign cars, a 41-year-old divorced father with a brilliant British girl friend. But he’s got a complication right now—he’s trying to survive chemo.

Alex is one of those dependable detectives all too rare in crime fiction—a private investigator you actually like to be with. Not too smart-mouthed, not too close-mouthed, just…kind of a mensch.

WHO WILL LIKE IT: Fans of Jewish detectives like Rabbi Small, Jake Samson, Rebecca Schwartz, Peter Decker, and Rina Lazarus will find themselves adding another series to their favorites. But it’s a great P.I. story for all mystery fans, in the vein of vintage male sleuths who are neither cozy nor hard-boiled—just regular detective guys, like Ellery Queen, Father Brown, Gideon Oliver, Charles Paris, and Tubby Dubonnet.

Vol. 1: RETURN TO SENDER

On a routine trip to the post office, Alex meets Gerald Meyer, a stranger who asks Alex to mail a package to his daughter in Berlin. Easily done, but Meyer changes his mind-- too late.

And turns up dead.

Now the package is gone, and clearly dangerous! Will Meyer’s daughter be the next victim? Worse, is Alex about to be arrested for murder? Out of those fears is born Alex’s career as an international detective. Too intrigued to let it go (and also because he’s a mensch), Alex sets off on an adventure that takes him to London and Berlin in the last years of the Wall, in a search for package, perpetrators, and to prove his own innocence.

Great scenes in Berlin make this a must-read for fans of international mysteries and thrillers, and World War II buffs will appreciate the historical aspects.

Vol. 2: REPULSE MONKEY

A year following Alex’s first brush with murder, mystery, and the life of an amateur detective, he’s recovered from cancer and chemotherapy; he’s studying tai chi for its pleasures and therapeutic effects; and he’s getting on with his life. Then, in the space of a two-minute phone call, he’s ensnared in another mystery.

His anniversary dinner with girlfriend Meredith comes to an abrupt halt when a quick check-in with the babysitter yields the news from Alex’s sleepy nine-year-old that the babysitter has left: “She said it was an emergency. She said the emergency was that somebody was dead.”

More worrisome still, the babysitter, college student Suzanne Lutrello, cannot be found, and then her ex-boyfriend is savagely killed.

Vol. 3: OBLIGATIONS OF THE BONE

“Your bone-marrow,” thinks Alex Glauberman at the outset of this intricate, fast-moving medical thriller, “is the place you store the stuff that makes you who you are.” He is feeling queasy about the prospect of anyone living temporarily without it. This “anyone” is not him, not yet, but after a successful first bout with a lymphoma that he expects to come back someday, for a rematch, he wants to know more about marrow transplant treatments, so he is pleased to be summoned for a consult by Dr. Jay Harrison, a pioneer in the field. What Harrison wants, though, is to hire to Alex as an investigator in something less scientific -- a blackmail letter.

Some other shoe, Alex’s marrow tells him, is going to drop. For medical thriller fans, as well as devotees of Patricia Cornwell, Kathy Reichs, and Tess Gerritsen, but also anyone who loves a traditional mystery starring an easygoing amateur detective.

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Death Stalks Kettle Street

by John Bowen

Some accidents are no accident...

Someone is murdering Greg Unsworth's neighbours and staging the deaths to look like accidents.

Greg knows the truth, but when he's grappling with OCD and simply closing his front door and crossing the road are a battle, how is he supposed to catch a serial killer?

From the internationally bestselling author of Where the Dead Walk, Vessel and Cold Sweats & Vignettes comes a cosy murder mystery with a difference...

Meet Greg Unsworth, afflicted with OCD, who begins to realize that a series of fatal accidents on his street are in fact a series of murders. After encountering Beth Grue at the scene of one such crime, the two bond over their shared fears and suspicions, and struggles: Beth has cerebral palsy. When the police repeatedly dismiss their concerns, they take matters into their own hands and attempt to discover the killer's identity and expose him...

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Steele Resolve (The Jasmine Steele Mystery Series Book 1)

by Kimberly Amato

"Don't think you're untouchable…you or your son." Then a dial tone..

Shrewd, hardened New York homicide detective Jasmine (“Jazz") Steele’s just come back from a grisly crime scene involving the body of a brutally-beaten young girl, the second she's investigated this week. That was horrendous, but with these eight words, ending ominously in “your son,” Jazz’s immediate fear is for her vulnerable nephew, Chase, who’s already been through hell in his seven short years. In Kimberly Amato’s hard-boiled yet deeply emotional police procedural, no one is spared tough breaks and turbulent anguish. A lesser cop than Jazz would barely be able to cope.

A year ago, a gruesome car accident claimed the lives of her only brother and his wife, making her the de facto mother of 7-year-old Chase. The sudden household change ended in the loss of her life partner and still best friend, chic police psychologist Frankie, not to mention the dashing of Jazz's lifelong dreams of becoming a successful mystery novelist. Now every day is a battle against Chase’s demons—and her own.

Quick reconnaissance reveals the call wasn't a clever joke courtesy of Hadley, Frankie's droll actress roommate, nor was it Victor, the wry police department coroner who happens to be Jazz's confidante. Further detective work shows the caller wanted Jazz to find him—along with the fresh dead body he left for her in a Harlem warehouse.

With a shadow on Chase and the aid of Frankie's grace-under-fire, not to mention Victor's brandy-fueled heart-to-hearts, Jazz--who has more 'tude than even the toughest investigator, male or female--navigates the cruel streets of New York City while struggling to keep custody of the only family she has left, doggedly in search of the elusive, psychopathic murderer who seems to be summarily killing off women who look suspiciously like someone close to Jazz... and she's not willing to lose yet another person she loves.

Fans of the exciting new wave of hard-boiled women sleuths created by writers like Megan Abbott, Laura Lippmann, Lisa Lutz, and Vicki Hendricks will be attracted to the author’s take-no-prisoners style, and her unflinching attention to harrowing detail.

Yet lovers of traditional mysteries will appreciate the web of fierce loyalty tempered with fearful caution that links Jazz’s tiny but hardy support system—Victor, Frankie, and Hadley, not to mention Chase himself. Somehow or other, Amato manages to mix all the excitement of an action thriller with the swirling emotions of a mainstream psychological novel.

Those with a weakness for badass female cops like Mary Shannon of In Plain Sight and Olivia Benson of Law & Order SVU will revel in Jasmine Steele's gritty determination laced with compassion. Readers of lesbian mysteries will be reminded of  Sandra Scoppettone’s Lauren Laurano and Laurie R. King’s Kate Martinelli.

And it's also a great read for fans of resilient heroines of psychological thrillers like Liz Keen of The Blacklist and Carrie Mathison of Homeland, who will love Jasmine Steele's fearlessness, tinged with the very real emotional roller coaster of love turned to grief.

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Curse of the Cobra (Raff Rafferty Mystery Series Book 6)

by Robert Joseph

Fr. "Raff" Rafferty, a former NYPD cop, has been assigned by his bishop to an orphanage in India from which young girls have been mysteriously disappearing. Complications arise at a sacred Hindu ceremony in which a statue of the god Shiva, whose third eye is the world's largest ruby, is ritually bathed in the sacred lake by a revered holy man. When the holy man is murdered and the ruby stolen during the ceremony, Raff promises the beleaguered Maharajah that he will search for the holy man's killer, recover the ruby and find the missing girls. CURSE OF THE COBRA is crammed with foreign intrigue, colorful characters and hair-raising adventure.

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Justice Box Set Books 1 & 2: Fast paced thrillers

by M A Comley

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author M A Comley presents the Justice series.

The Justice series in order are:
 
 
Cruel Justice
The headless body of a wealthy widow is discovered decomposing in Chelling Forest. Then a second victim is found. Detective Inspector Lorne Simpkins and her partner, DS Pete Childs are assigned the case.

Before they can discover the identity of the killer they must make a connection between the two victims.

After a third murder, Lorne receives a grisly surprise. Clearly, a vicious serial killer is on a rampage...and Lorne has become the killer's fixation.

Lorne can't allow her failing marriage or her new boss--a man with whom she shares a sensuous secret--keep her from focusing on her job. She must catch the macabre murderer, or risk becoming the next victim.

And Impeding Justice
For eight long years, Detective Inspector Lorne Simpkins has tracked the vicious criminal known as The Unicorn. But the killer has frustrated MI6 at every turn and remained successful at Impeding Justice.

When Lorne is targeted in a trap that results in the death of her partner, the tragedy shakes her confidence to the core. Before she has time to recoup, her teenage daughter is kidnapped. More than Lorne's professional reputation rests on her bringing The Unicorn to justice.

 

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The Nocnista Agenda: A Political Financial Thriller (Sam Jardine Crime Thrillers Book 2)

by Christopher Hepworth

Imagine if a careless social media posting could not only cost your career and reputation, it could cost you your life “The Nocnista Agenda is an intriguing adventure that is action packed with deadly political agendas, past abuses, vengeance, and a strong lust for power.”
When sociopathic media tycoon, Leo Wulff acquires elite British social media company, Smart Lifestyle, he creates a secret database known as Nocnista to manipulate his victims’ Internet profiles to the extent it costs them their job, reputation, or even their life.
When Smart Lifestyle runs into commercial trouble, Wulff sends in a brilliant negotiator, Sam Jardine to war torn Ukraine where he collaborates with some dangerous characters to secure the largest data centre in the world. But Sam finds himself in direct competition with the Russians, who need the data centre to fuel their next generation spy programme.
Wulff becomes the ‘Keeper’, extends his zealous campaign of assassination into Russian elite society, and destabilises an already volatile region, plunging the world into crisis. His murderous social algorithm uncovers a conspiracy by a group of Ukrainian monks, intent on restoring the Tsarist Rurikid regime personified by the notorious Ivan the Terrible.
As Sam falls for a stunning local politician, Natalya Alexandrova, he becomes a pawn in her ambitious plans for the rebel Donetsk People’s Republic. Only his extraordinary negotiation skills and his beautiful, but volatile Cossack protégé, Xenia stand in the way of the new ultra-nationalist regime seeking to reconstruct the Russian empire.

Tags: financial thrillers, thrillers, suspense, thrillers suspense, political thrillers, medical thrillers

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DANCER'S RAIN (Frank Stallings Book 1)

by Doug Sutherland

‘Even with all the pulpiness, suspense and thriller elements that exist in ‘Dancer’s Rain’, Sutherland writes some insightful, thought provoking, and beautiful prose bordering on the poetic… the novel transcends its genre at times, causing the sexual encounters and violence to clash against its conservative rural setting. Is it unsettling? Absolutely. It blurs the lines between right & wrong, reality & fantasy, and life & death. This is a serious bit of writing hidden within an exploitation genre.’ – Tim Rayne, CHSR-FM


There was a time when Frank Stallings was as good a homicide detective as anyone on the planet – but not now. Now he’s come home, settled in as police chief in the small town where he grew up. He’s lost his edge, become too comfortable - at least until his comfort zone is shattered by two stunning newcomers.

Frank isn’t the only one who notices. Their arrival brings a monster to the surface – an apex predator who’s survived this long by exercising an icy control over the terrifying urges that drive him. Now he’s headed for meltdown – and Frank may not have what it takes to stop him.

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Blue Baby (Brandon Fisher FBI Series Book 4)

by Carolyn Arnold

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue…

At the heart of every human being is the need—and the desire—to be happy. For many, happiness is elusive, but for one killer, it’s something to be created. But it’s not as easy as it seems at first, and this “creator” is determined to get it right at least one more time, no matter how many tries it takes…

It’s been exactly a year since Cheryl Bradley was found dead in her bathtub, dressed in a wedding gown with her ring finger severed. With no leads and no more evidence, the case had gone cold. That is, until another young woman is found murdered and posed in the same fashion.

Now, FBI agent Brandon Fisher and his team have been called in to catch the killer before another innocent life is taken. As Brandon begins to pull at every possible loose thread, the idea that the killer’s method of operation is all that connects the women begins to unravel. This serial killer isn’t just out for blood; this is a murderer on a mission.

But the closer Brandon thinks he’s getting to a resolution, the more evident it is that the killer is losing control and slipping up, making the trail even more difficult for the FBI to follow. And unless Brandon and his team can catch up to the killer, the bloodbath will continue to overflow.

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Death Comes to Happy Acres

by JT Moss

At sixty-three, former jazz musician Wade Lovett finds himself something of a trailer park Lothario carrying on affairs with three different women. But when circumstances prompt Carol Smitzky to make a compelling case for a marriage arrangement, he agrees. The next morning he visits girlfriend number two, Peggy MacCallister, to tell her the news—and finds her lying dead on her kitchen floor. Shortly after Peggy’s death, Wade is surprised to learn that she left him guardianship of her prized cat, Prince Albert. Even more surprising, she named Wade as beneficiary of her life insurance, which provokes her son to demand an autopsy. As a natural death seems less and less likely, Wade becomes the prime suspect in her murder forcing him to investigate the crime himself. Was Peggy killed by one of her two children, the park manager, a mystery second boyfriend, or was it Wade’s third paramour, Sue Mullen?

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Witch Cake Murders (A Cozy Mystery Book): Sweetland Witch

by Zoe Arden

Witches and humans have always existed peacefully in Sweetland Cove... until now. 

 
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Someone is killing humans and drawing unwanted attention to the supernatural residents of Sweetland Cove.

Ava Rose just turned twenty-one, and with her birthday came a few surprises.
One: she's a witch.
Two: she's part owner of a magical bakery she never knew existed.
Three: Someone wants her dead. 
 
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The day Ava arrives in Sweetland Cove, murders begin occurring...
Witches and wizards are quick to blame her, but Ava's aunts won't let the town they love turn against her.

But murders follow Ava everywhere. 
 
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Soon, she finds herself on the receiving end of the killer's mad spree. With a crazy wizarding sheriff who wants to lock her up, and an even crazier wizarding detective who wants to lock her whole family up, Ava must solve this case alone.

But as the days pass and the only clues point to her, Ava starts to wonder if maybe the sheriff is right.

Maybe she really is the killer. 
 
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The only thing Ava knows for sure is that the witches of Sweetland are not happy with her. Especially those witches who have something to hide.
And they all have something to hide. 
 
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Can Ava stop the killer before they strike again... even if that killer is her?

GRAB YOUR COPY NOW ...

 

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Deviations: A Detectives Seagate and Miner Mystery

by Mike Markel

Former police detective Karen Seagate is drinking herself to oblivion and having dangerous sex with losers from the bar when the new police chief tracks her down. The brutal rape and murder of a state senator by a lone-wolf extremist gives Seagate a chance to return to the department, but the new chief has set down some rules, and Seagate is not good with rules. At this point, she is just trying to stay alive. With nothing left to lose and nobody left to trust—not even her partner, Ryan—Seagate goes off the grid to find the killer. She doesn’t care that she will be fired again. She has much bigger problems, now that she has been captured inside the neo-Nazi compound.

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Murder Before Retirement (A Detective Bass Mystery)

by Stephen Randorf

Detective Bass leaves the city for vacation and becomes entangled in the gossip and murders of a rural community. Between disposing of collectable plates for his aunt and the mysterious Mrs. Nibs, he is recruited to help the local sheriff. After several murders, the sheriff proves to be less than competent and is of no help when Detective Bass must save his own life.

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Covert Dreams: An International Suspense Thriller

by Michael Meyer

It's as if she never existed--and neither Saudi Arabia nor the United States government will investigate...

A simple trip to the Middle East for Stan and Valerie Halsey ends in chilling confusion and despair as Valerie seemingly falls off the face of the earth, leaving no trace of her existence behind.

Back in the States, B.J. wakes up night after night in a cold sweat from the exact same torturous nightmare that takes place in a country he has never been to. Both B.J. and Stan suspect that they have been sucked into a conspiracy that threatens to consume them and everyone they love.

With time running out fast before they can get answers, they have unwittingly entered into a very dangerous game...one that they may not survive.

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The Fixer: The Naked Man (The Fixer - Katerina Mills Book 1)

by Jill Amy Rosenblatt

It’s an offer NYC college student Katerina Mills should refuse. But how can she?

A desperate situation....

After ditching her cheating lover (and boss), she’s stuck in dead end temp jobs. Her dad just ditched her mom and his promise to pay Kat's college tuition bill.

She has two weeks to come up with $14,000 or she's out of her apartment, out of school, and out of luck.

A dangerous world....

Katerina falls into a job as a "fixer” for New York City's wealthy and privileged men. They have problems they need “fixed,” quick and on the QT, and they’re willing to pay.

The rules are simple: collect the money, use your contacts, fix the problem.

Kat's first job is easy: tail a shopaholic socialite wife. But who’s tailing Kat?

Kat’s second job is not so easy: steal a VHS tape hidden in an antique chest. She can’t do it alone. To be a thief, she needs a thief: handsome, reclusive Alexander Winter to be exact.

Kat soon learns the real rules for a fixer: there are no rules, there are no refunds. Get in. Get results. Get gone.

As every step brings her closer to her goal and closer to danger, there’s one rule left for Katerina Mills to learn: once you’re in, there’s no getting out.
 

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Murder & The Movie Star: A Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery - Book 12

by Dianne Harman

The last thing Mike Reynolds needed in the final weeks leading up to his run for re-election as sheriff of Beaver County, Oregon, was to have his wife, Kelly, discover the body of a famous movie actress. It didn't help that she'd died under mysterious circumstances from a fall off the cliff behind her home.

Did she accidentally fall over it or was it murder? And if she was murdered, who did it? Was it her daughter who wanted her mother's money, so she could give it to the yoga guru she was studying with at his spartan retreat center located in the nearby forest? Or was it her gardener, who desperately needed money to deal with the terminal diagnosis his wife had been given by her doctor? Or could it have been the director of The Triangle, the movie she was about to film, because he was afraid she'd ruin his chances for an Oscar? What about the supporting actress who'd wanted to have the lead role in the movie? Or the screenwriter, who didn't understand why the movie star refused to read the changes he made to the script? Or even the star's ex-husband, furious with what she'd told a reporter about his acting ability?

Join Kelly, Mike, their dogs, and a helpful neighbor by the name of Roger Babowal, as they try to find out what really happened on the cliff that night.

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Lethal Legacy (Raff Rafferty Mystery Series Book 5)

by Robert Joseph

Fati, recently married to Arch Lindor, a charming but mysterious man she met on a trip to Spain after resigning from the Los Angeles Police Department, learns that she has inherited ‘Florestal’, her Mexican-born, murdered great aunt’s sprawling estate in San Marino, California. Forced to travel alone to the west coast from the home in Florida she shares with her new husband because of his business commitments, Fati finds herself increasingly dependent on her elderly great aunt’s former ‘walker’ (escort), Walter Mulday, who is only too willing to aid her in vital decisions pertaining to the settlement of the deceased relative’s legally contested fortune, which includes many priceless pre-Columbian Mexican art works, an area in which he claims to be an expert. As Walter forces himself into her life against her wishes and other wealthy, elderly women with whom he has been associated are subsequently murdered, Fati pleads with Arch to abandon his business obligations in Florida and join her in California. However, when Arch arrives, Fati is dismayed to discover that Walter is as equally adept at deceiving and manipulating him as he is with her, although employing entirely different means. She quickly realizes that if Walter has selected her as a future victim, which she strongly suspects, she will be forced to rely on her police training and herself alone.

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Missing: The Lady Said No: A Chandler County Novel

by Jacquie Biggar

The Race is on to find a Killer in the heart of Kentucky horse country

Detective Augustus Grant is faced with his most baffling case to date. Well-respected race horse breeder John Jorgenson is murdered in his den days before the Kentucky Derby and the list of suspects is growing.
Complicating matters, Gus' ex-girlfriend is the last person to have seen the victim alive.
Rebecca Hayes owes the Jorgenson family her loyalty. They gave her a new life after a disastrous affair leaves her alone and pregnant.
With all the evidence pointing in Becky's direction, will Gus do his duty?
Or follow his heart?
 

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A Haunted Murder (A Lin Coffin Mystery Book 1)

by J A Whiting

After the death of her grandfather, Lin Coffin returns to the island of her birth, Nantucket, Massachusetts, to make a new start in life, but things don't begin smoothly. After not seeing one for twenty years, a ghost appears in her back yard and her cousin, Viv, becomes a suspect in a murder. Lin and Viv, with the help of several others, work to solve the crime before the killer strikes again.
This story has ghosts and some mild paranormal elements.
About 190 pages in length in paperback format.

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Getting Thin is Murder

by Al Moe

A year ago, baseball player Blair Saxon was enjoying his Major League Debut. Today, he’s wasting away on a west coast beach, the victim of a 95-mile per hour fastball to the head. He’s direct, abrasive, and speaks without filters, so it’s understandable that the police don’t want his help with a deadly case.

When the killer gets too close, Saxon turns to his one remaining friend, Megan, the only one who will tolerate his strange ideas and even stranger plans. Together as amateur detectives, they do what the police detectives can't, they find suspects.

But can they keep themselves alive?

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Before he Kills (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 1)

by Blake Pierce

From #1 bestselling author Blake Pierce comes a heart-pounding new mystery series.

In the cornfields of Nebraska a woman is found murdered, strung up on a pole, the victim of a deranged killer. It doesn’t take long for the police to realize a serial killer is on the loose—and that his spree has just begun.

Detective Mackenzie White, young, tough, smarter than the aging, chauvinistic men on her local force, finds herself called in grudgingly to help solve it. As much as the other officers hate to admit it, they need her young, brilliant mind, which has already helped crack cold cases that had left them stumped. Yet even for Mackenzie this new case proves an impossible riddle, something the likes of which she—and the local force—have ever seen.

With the FBI called in, together, an intense manhunt ensues. Mackenzie, reeling from her own dark past, her failed relationships, and her undeniable attraction to the new FBI agent, finds herself battling her own demons as her hunt for the killer takes her to the darkest places of her mind. As she delves into the killer’s mind, obsessing over his twisted psychology, she finds that evil truly does exist. She only hopes it will not be too late to extricate herself from it, as her entire life collapses around her.

As more bodies turn up dead and a frantic race against time ensues, there is no way out but to find him before he kills again.

A dark psychological thriller with heart-pounding suspense, BEFORE HE KILLS marks the debut of a riveting new series—and a beloved new character—that will leave you turning pages late into the night.

Book #2 in the Mackenzie White Mystery series will be available soon.

Also available by Blake Pierce is ONCE GONE (A Riley Paige mystery—Book #1), a #1 bestseller with over 350 five star reviews on Amazon—and a free download!

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