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 Trace of Revenge: A Paranormal Crime Thriller

by Lyle Howard

 

A young boy is left for dead by the assassin who has just bludgeoned his parents.

Matt Walker witnesses the murder of his parents but is able to escape and remains alive. He loses his ability to hear but finds out he has a unique power called Psychometry. This power is an ability to “trace” or know an object’s history, just by touching it.

A few years later, a top-secret government armament is stolen during a deadly hijacking at sea and someone intends to sell the powerful weapon to fulfill their own twisted ambitions.

At the same time, a ruthless mob boss has a gruesome secret that he must protect no matter the cost.

All it takes is something as unassuming as a foul ball hit at a Major League baseball game, to send all of these characters and events spiraling on a collision course aboard the most unique cruise ship ever built and send Matt on the quest to find his parents’ killer.

 

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Murder in Italy: Midwest Cozy Mystery Series

by Dianne Harman

Florence, Italy, and a wedding. Sardinia, Italy, and a murder. Is there a choice?

For Kat and Blaine, there wasn't. A romantic trip to Florence to take part in a wedding becomes a search for the groom's best friend's murderer in Sardinia.

If you like a mystery with intrigue in foreign places, dogs, and good food, don't miss the latest in the Midwest Cozy Mystery Series by a two-time USA Today Bestselling Author.

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The Dead House: A Novel

by Billy O'Callaghan


Sometimes the past endures—and sometimes it never lets go.

This best-selling debut by an award-winning writer is both an eerie contemporary ghost story and a dread-inducing psychological thriller. Maggie is a successful young artist who has had bad luck with men. Her last put her in the hospital and, after she’s healed physically, left her needing to get out of London to heal mentally and find a place of quiet that will restore her creative spirit. On the rugged west coast of Ireland, perched on a wild cliff side, she spies the shell of a cottage that dates back to Great Famine and decides to buy it. When work on the house is done, she invites her dealer to come for the weekend to celebrate along with a couple of women friends, one of whom will become his wife. On the boozy last night, the other friend pulls out an Ouija board. What sinister thing they summon, once invited, will never go.

Ireland is a country haunted by its past. In Billy O'Callaghan's hands, its terrible beauty becomes a force of inescapable horror that reaches far back in time, before the Famine, before Christianity, to a pagan place where nature and superstition are bound in an endless knot.

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Murdered by Prejudice: Liz Lucas Cozy Mystery Series

by Dianne Harman

A prison guard. A postmaster. A Forest Service employee. A U.S. Department of Agriculture employee. All murdered. They worked for the federal government, but so do a lot of other people. What else did they share?

Seems like a serial killer is on the loose. And it looks like he’s targeting the sleepy community of Red Cedar. When one of the Red Cedar Spa’s guests is murdered, Liz has no choice but to team up with an FBI agent to help solve the murders.

And with a chief of police who is far more interested in catching speeders than he is in catching murderers, someone has to do his job. Maybe Liz should run for chief of police!

A page-turning murder mystery with plenty of dogs, food and recipes along with a couple of quirky characters. The latest in the Liz Lucas Cozy Mystery Series by a two-time USA Today Bestselling Author.

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The Hunting Ground (Deuce Mora Mystery Series Book 2)

by Jean Heller


DEUCE MORA DOESN’T SHY AWAY FROM FIGHTS – SHE PICKS THEM. THE BIGGER THE BETTER.

Although, to be fair, this one is brought to her by a dog with a bone in his teeth. In Jean Heller’s first Deuce Mora mystery, the scrappy female sleuth tangled with the mob; this time out she’s on the wrong side of the NSA, the FBI and the CIA. At a minimum. Fans of hard-boiled female protagonists should hang onto their fedoras-- this one’s an action-packed extravaganza!

The grisly discovery of a human bone while Deuce is out for a hike with handsome arson investigator Mark Hearst, leads to the unearthing of a vast burial field, a human trafficking ring, and international intrigue. The pulls-no-punches columnist-- and meticulous detective-- keeps turning up information, bit by bit, only to find some Fed in her face, at her door, emerging from the shadows, always guarding the edges of the story, insisting it will not be told. Yes, the Feds are aware of the trafficking ring; yes, they have a plan to move on it; no, Deuce can’t be told about the plan; and under no circumstances can she write about its existence.

This is the story of a lifetime-- bigger than the Vinnie Colangelo story, which earned Deuce and the Journal a Pulitzer, and, for once, she has the support of her editor, but the Journal’s lawyer appears daily bringing warnings about “national security.” What, Deuce seethes, could be a greater matter of national security than the safety of the city’s children who are being kidnapped and murdered?

And this story has become very personal for Deuce, as she herself admits, lamenting her loss of objectivity. The hard-hitting journalist has fallen hard for a new guy: a savvy and charming eight-year-old boy named Charles with the face of an angel and the possibility of a bright future, but at great risk due to a life in foster care. Already the street-smart kid has revealed a depth of knowledge about the failures of DCFS and the machinery meant to protect him. For Deuce, every child reported missing and every new body discovered in the hunting ground has Charles’s face. But while she’s racing to break the case wide open, her life and her career are threatened on all sides; she has to wonder where-- or if-- the Feds will stop to contain the horrific truth.

But break wide open it does, racing to an outrageous surprise ending that seems shockingly … plausible, and Deuce learns first-hand the lesson that sometimes the only way to accomplish a great good is to commit unthinkable evil, and then learn to live with the consequences. Author Heller does a masterful job of expanding the story-- and her canvas-- from a simple murder mystery to an ever-widening crime thriller, and finally to an international conspiracy.

“Good reporters do not always good novelists make, but Jean Heller is both.” -- The Boston Sunday Globe

WHO WILL LIKE IT: Fans of Chicago private investigators VI Warshawski and Libby Fischer Hellman’s Georgia Davis, get-the-story-or-die reporters like Hank Philippi Ryan’s Jane Ryland and Kelly Lange’s Maxi Poole, hard-boiled female protagonists like Marcia Muller’s Sharon McCone and Laura Lippman’s Tess Monaghan; and anyone who admires tough-minded women sleuths who’re good in a fight.

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Hunting Badger (A Leaphorn and Chee Novel Book 14)

by Tony Hillerman


Three men raid the gambling casino run by the Ute nation and then disappear into the maze of canyons on the Utah-Arizona border. When the FBI, with its helicopters and high-tech equipment, focuses on a wounded deputy sheriff as a possible suspect, Navajo Tribal Police Sergeant Jim Chee and his longtime colleague, retired Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, launch an investigation of their own. Chee sees a dangerous flaw in the federal theory; Leaphorn sees intriguing connections to the exploits of a legendary Ute bandit-hero. And together, they find themselves caught up in the most perplexing -- and deadly -- criminal manhunt of their lives.

 

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Stone of Fire (ARKANE Book 1)

by J.F. Penn


A power kept secret for 2000 years. A woman who stands to lose everything.


** From New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author J.F.Penn **


India. When a nun is burned alive on the sacred ghats of Varanasi, and the stone she carried is stolen, an international hunt is triggered for the relics of the early church.

Forged in the fire and blood of martyrs, the Pentecost stones have been handed down through generations of Keepers who kept their power and locations secret.

Until now.

The Keepers are being murdered, the stones stolen by those who would use them for evil in a world transformed by religious fundamentalism.

Oxford University psychologist Morgan Sierra is forced into the search when her sister and niece are held hostage. She is helped by Jake Timber from the mysterious ARKANE, a British government agency specializing in paranormal and religious experience. Morgan must risk her own life to save her family, but will she ultimately be betrayed?

From ancient Christian sites in Spain, Italy and Israel to the far reaches of Iran and Tunisia, Morgan and Jake must track down the stones through the myths of the early church in a race against time before a new Pentecost is summoned, this time powered by the fires of evil.

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Charmed, I'm Sure: A Witch Cozy Mystery (The Halloween LaVeau Series Book 4)

by Rose Pressey

 

Note: Book 10 now available for just $0.99, will Halloween walk down the aisle? Almost Charmed is here at amazon.com/dp/B07MPP1ZYX. Please cut/paste link. 
 

Hold on to your broom, Halloween is back!

Halloween LaVeau never intended on being the leader of the Underworld. Now the job is all hers. But that doesn't mean other witches aren't trying every trick in the book to take that title away from Hallie.

The Underworld Board has sent investigator Charlie Scott to look into all the mishaps Hallie has encountered since becoming the leader. Almost immediately upon Charlie's arrival, strange things start happening at LaVeau Manor.

Hallie has a little help handling the odd occurrences. The sexy half-brothers Nicolas Marcos and Liam Rankin are there to help Hallie navigate the ins and outs of the Underworld. Since the brothers are witches and vampires this could be to Hallie's advantage.

When Hallie's long lost uncle appears and the investigator disappears, Hallie must work a lot of magic to make things right again, or stand losing her new status as leader of the Underworld.

 

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The Scottish Connection: A Kate Benedict Paranormal Mystery (The Kate Benedict Series Book 4)

by Carrie Bedford

 

NO MATTER WHERE SHE GOES, SHE SEES THE UNINVITED HOUSEGUEST--ALSO KNOWN AS THE AURA OF DEATH...

London architect Kate Benedict is off to a glamorous weekend party in Scotland at the formerly grand castle belonging to the uncle of her boyfriend Josh. And thus is the scene set for a deliciously traditional British cozy with a touch of the paranormal thriller – complete with ghostly characters from the past; the requisite medieval weapons collection; and a creepy, ruined, closed-off wing of the castle.

There’s also a vaguely menacing assortment of servants and locals and a castleful of dodgy houseguests, all wrapped up in mysterious gloom as thick as the Scottish fog…but warmed by a cozy library fire and a nearly priceless collection of single malt scotches.

The festive occasion turns solemn when Kate notices an aura above the head of Josh’s beloved Uncle Fergus. Blessed – or cursed – with the ability to see auras that indicate that death is imminent, Kate can sometimes avert disaster – if she can discover the source of the danger. Otherwise, Josh’s favorite uncle will die in a matter of days.

Is Fergus suffering from an undiagnosed illness? Is the threat linked to the impending sale of the castle? Or is there a murderous secret buried in the past, with a deadly claim on the present?

In an attempt to sort out the nature of the threat, Kate takes a stroll to the loch and experiences a hallucination – a vision so real she feels she could touch the participants: a black-robed priest stalking a lovely young woman in 16th-century costume, as she clings protectively to a book. The woman holds the book out to Kate, as if asking Kate to protect it. Is the vision a message about the threat to Fergus?

As Kate and Josh race the clock to find the source of danger, the guests arrive, filling the house with known and unknown threats: townspeople opposed to the sale of the estate; the wealthy businessman who wants to buy it; scheming relatives with agendas of their own and tales of treasures hidden in the castle.

And as the dangers increase, so do the number of auras Kate sees. She knows who’s in danger, but she can’t do anything to help unless she knows why!


Perfect for anyone who’s ever shivered their way through a Barbara Michaels mystery; and for all lovers of both American and British cozy mysteries, especially those with just the slightest hint of the paranormal, like Michaels’ colleague Carolyn Hart (in her Bailey Ruth series), and the more contemporary ones, including Carolyn Haines, Gina LaManna, and Leighann Dobbs.

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Cold Dark Places (Cady Maddix Mystery Book 1)

by Kylie Brant

 

From the bestselling author of Pretty Girls Dancing comes a shattering serial-killer thriller about revenge, deliverance, and survival.

Cady Maddix survived a brutal upbringing—emotionally scarred but hardened—with a will for self-preservation. Hunting fugitives has given her life purpose and control. But when the Deputy US Marshal returns home to care for her Alzheimer’s-stricken mother, a new case stirs old memories.

Child killer Samuel Aldeen has broken out of a nearby facility for the criminally insane, and the authorities believe he was aided by accomplices, both inside and out. Enlisted to track him down, Cady follows an unexpected lead. Her name is Eryn Pullman, a young woman recently released from a neighboring psychiatric facility, a mentally fragile survivor of childhood abuse, and Aldeen’s next designated victim.

To save Eryn’s life, Cady must work fast to uncover the unimaginable link between predator and prey—even as it pulls her into the cold dark places of her own past.

 

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Too Close For Comfort

by Adam Croft


What if the serial killer you were investigating was someone you knew?

DS Wendy Knight's first murder case was always going to test her limits, but even she couldn't anticipate that a sadistic serial killer might be someone she knew - very well.

As her investigation unfolds, so too does a sinister plot that will turn her world upside down and make it increasingly difficult to distinguish friend from foe in her tightknit world.

By the time Wendy realises she is the killer's final intended victim, she's left fighting against her personal instincts - and for her life.

Adam Croft is the USA Today and worldwide Amazon number 1 bestseller of crime and psychological thrillers, with more than one million books sold to date.

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Living Proof: A Gripping Action Thriller

by Peter J. Thompson


Wrongfully convicted death row inmate Ramon Willis is about to die—Again.

In a top-secret complex surrounded by miles of Texas scrub land, the United States military is working on a new form of germ warfare. The subjects, like Ramon, are taken from homeless shelters and prisons, and serve their country as unwilling lab rats.

Ramon didn’t commit the murder that put him on death row. But he’s guilty of something worse—surviving the virus and escaping his captors. Ramon escapes, and begins a life on the run, a dead man hunted by would-be executioners determined to silence him. 

There’s only one person he can turn to—Lena Dryer, the reporter who covered his case and watched him die. Together, they must uncover the dark truth about the facility and its deadly secret.

A secret that could alter the course of human history.

A secret they may be too late to stop.
 

Government secrets. Biological weapons. Human subjects.
 

With the dark imaginings of Stephen King and the breakneck pacing of Robert Ludlum, fans of Vince Flynn, David Baldacci and Lee Childs will love this explosive new thriller.

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In This Grave Hour: A Maisie Dobbs Novel

by Jacqueline Winspear


"A female investigator every bit as brainy and battle-hardened as Lisbeth Salander." — Maureen Corrigan, NPR's Fresh Air, on Maisie Dobbs

Sunday September 3rd 1939.  At the moment Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain broadcasts to the nation Britain’s declaration of war with Germany, a senior Secret Service agent breaks into Maisie Dobbs' flat to await her return. Dr. Francesca Thomas has an urgent assignment for Maisie: to find the killer of a man who escaped occupied Belgium as a boy, some twenty-three years earlier during the Great War.

In a London shadowed by barrage balloons, bomb shelters and the threat of invasion, within days another former Belgian refugee is found murdered.  And as Maisie delves deeper into the killings of the dispossessed from the “last war," a new kind of refugee — an evacuee from London — appears in Maisie's life. The little girl billeted at Maisie’s home in Kent does not, or cannot, speak, and the authorities do not know who the child belongs to or who might have put her on the “Operation Pied Piper” evacuee train.  They know only that her name is Anna.

As Maisie’s search for the killer escalates, the country braces for what is to come.  Britain is approaching its gravest hour — and Maisie could be nearing a crossroads of her own.

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The Society: A Novel (Palmer, Michael)

by Michael Palmer


With every one of his ten novels a New York Times bestseller, emergency medicine physician Michael Palmer is recognized by critics and fans worldwide as a master of medical suspense. Now Palmer delivers a relentless thriller that slices to our deepest fears with surgical precision—a tale as timely as it is terrifying, as harrowing as it is plausible. Welcome to The Society.

At the headquarters of Boston’s Eastern Quality Health, the wealthy and powerful CEO is brutally murdered. She’s not the first to die—nor the last. A vicious serial killer is on the loose and the victims have one thing in common: they are all high-profile executives in the managed care industry. Dr. Will Grant is an overworked and highly dedicated surgeon. He has experienced firsthand the outrages of a system that cares more about the bottom line than about the life-and-death issues of patients. As a member of the Hippocrates Society, Will seeks to reclaim the profession of medicine from the hundreds of companies profiting wildly by controlling the decisions that affect the delivery of care. But the doctor’s determination has attracted a dangerous zealot who will stop at nothing to make Will his ally. Soon Will is both a suspect and a victim, a pawn in a deadly endgame. Then, in one horrible moment, Will’s professional and personal worlds are destroyed and his very life placed in peril.

Rookie detective Patty Moriarity is in danger of being removed from her first big case—the managed care killings. To save her career, she has no choice but to risk trusting Will, knowing he may well be the killer she is hunting. Together they have little to go on except the knowledge that the assassin is vengeful, cunning, ruthless—and may not be working alone. That—and a cryptic message that grows longer with each murder: a message Grant and Moriarity must decipher if they don’t want to be the next victims.

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A Little Shiver: A Collection of Suspenseful & Surprising Short Stories

by Barbara Pengelly

 

A deck of cards delivering disaster, a killer’s karma, a secret sister, a miscalculated murder, a hungry ghost, and a vengeful victim—all of these are but a small sample of what awaits you in A LITTLE SHIVER.
 

Here are 30 short stories full of suspense, surprises and a small touch of the supernatural. They will send a little shiver down your spine and keep you reading long into the night. 
 

Those who love mysteries, the paranormal, and even a bit of science fiction, will love reading this book.

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Losing Your Head (The Charlie Davies Mysteries Book 1)

by Clare Kauter

 

Charlie Davies has never solved a murder before - or committed one, although it might have crossed her mind. Especially when it comes to James McKenzie.

When rich boy James is accused of killing his billionaire uncle, he bets Charlie twenty grand that she can't find the real culprit, and she simply can't resist. The money, that is - she has no trouble resisting him, no matter how symmetrical his stupid face is.

What James doesn't know is that Charlie has an advantage: she's just begun working at a private investigation company. OK, so she's the receptionist, but it's a start, right?

What Charlie doesn't know is, well, a lot. But she'd better learn fast, or James will win the bet. As Charlie investigates, things get more and more dangerous. She needs to find the murderer soon, or it won't just be her money and reputation on the line...

She might lose her head.

A hilarious sleuthing series for anyone who loves to laugh out loud on their crime-solving adventures. If you enjoy chick-lit murder mysteries with a snarky heroine, give Charlie Davies a try!

Contains some swearing.

 

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Missy DeMeanor Cozy Mysteries Vol. 1-6: Missy DeMeanor Cozy Mysteries

by Brianna Bates


When she's not scrapbooking, book clubbing, or scavenging for flea markets, Missy DeMeanor solves mysteries.

Now you can get the first six mysteries all in one book!

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Dirty Little Secrets: A J.J. Graves Mystery (J.J. Graves Mysteries Book 1)

by Liliana Hart


DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS: A J.J. GRAVES MYSTERY

J.J. Graves has seen a lot of dead bodies in her line of work...

She's not only in the mortuary business, but she's also the coroner for King George County, Virginia. When a grisly murder is discovered in the small town of Bloody Mary, it's up to J.J. and her best friend, Detective Jack Lawson, to bring the victim justice.

The murders are piling up...

When a popular mystery writer shows up on J.J.'s doorstep with plans of writing his new book about the Bloody Mary Serial Killer, J.J. has to decide if he might be going above and beyond the call of duty to create the spine tinglers he's so well known for.

Passions are rising...

J.J and Jack discover each victim had a shocking secret, and the very foundation of J.J.'s life is in danger of crumbling when it turns out she’s harboring secrets of her own—secrets that make her a perfect target in a deadly game.


OTHER MYSTERY/SUSPENSE TITLES BY LILIANA HART:

WHISKEY REBELLION: AN ADDISON HOLMES MYSTERY
WHISKEY SOUR: AN ADDISON HOLMES MYSTERY
A DIRTY SHAME: A J.J. GRAVES MYSTERY
CADE: A MACKENZIE NOVEL
SECRETS AND SATIN
SHADOWS AND SILK
SINS AND SCARLET LACE
KILL SHOT
CATCH ME IF YOU CAN



What Readers Are Saying:

"Look out Janet Evanovich, here comes Liliana Hart!"

"This is my first book by Liliana Hart but not my last."

"Ms. Hart has constructed a well-developed plot with enough twists to keep me reading long past bedtime."

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Verity

by Colleen Hoover


Sexy. Twisted. Consuming. 

An Amazon charts #1 bestseller.
 
From the #1 New York Times bestselling and award winning author Colleen Hoover comes "standalone romantic thriller that is tragic, creepy, and brilliant!-Mel Reader Reviews

Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish. 

Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity's notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn't expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity's recollection of the night their family was forever altered. 

Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents would devastate the already grieving father. But as Lowen's feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife's words. After all, no matter how devoted Jeremy is to his injured wife, a truth this horrifying would make it impossible for him to continue to love her. 

Due to graphic scenes and mature content, this book is recommended for readers 18+.
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Sky High Stakes (Pacheco & Chino Mysteries Book 2)

by Ted Clifton


Murder and greed visit the high country...

Tired of spending his days fishing, Ray Pacheco takes on his second assignment with his partner Tyee Chino when the state Attorney General asks them to find out just what the hell is going on in Ruidoso, New Mexico. With the town's sheriff in hospital with a mysterious illness, acting sheriff Martin Marino is running rough-shod over everyone around him.

What seems like a simple assignment becomes more complicated when Marino is found dead, shot at close range while sitting in his patrol car on Main Street. The suspects seem to include most of the town, but Ray and Tyee narrow it to three: Dick Franklin, manager of Ruidoso Downs racetrack, bar owner Tito Annoya, and, disturbingly, police chief Larry Nelson.

At the same time, Ray has an uneasy feeling that the AG is withholding critical details about what exactly is going on in Ruidoso -- and why the state was so slow to respond.

It all comes to a surprising conclusion with the involvement of a Spanish princess, a drug lord gone mad, and a few other lowlifes... and leaves Ray wondering if maybe fishing wasn't so boring after all.

Includes a bonus "Facts in the Fiction" section, discussing some of the real-life inspirations for the locations and characters in the novel.

For fans of mysteries and crime thrillers. Sky High Stakes continues the stories of Ray, Tyee, and Big Jack from the first book in the series, Dog Gone Lies.

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