Retired Assassins, Redwood Killers and a Ghost-Touching Earl: This Week's Free Mysteries

by Octavia Grant

Eden Shelton built her whole identity on being a devoted wife to her college sweetheart, and the blurb opens with a pointed joke about what you can and can't spell without MEN. You can tell where that's headed. It's sitting at 4.17 with over 16,000 readers, which is a lot of people signing off on a domestic suspense story about a rosy life coming apart. Pick this up if you like your revenge with a side of marital betrayal.

by Mark Dawson

John Milton was the government's best assassin until he refused to kill again, and now the people who trained him are hunting him. Then a single mother asks for help because her son is getting pulled into a violent gang. At 3.81 with over 19,000 ratings it's not the highest-rated book here, but readers praise the strong sense of place, clean grammar and tidy formatting. That last part matters more than you'd think with free Kindle books. Good for fans of the reluctant-killer-with-a-conscience type.

“The Cleaner by Mark Dawson is a crime action adventure novel and the first book in the John Milton series. The author brought a strong sense of place, people, and events to life in the book. John Milton has been working for Group Fifteen, a covert government agency for six years. He is called when...”

by Blake Pierce

Ella Dark has studied serial killers since she could read, driven by her father's murder, and now she's chasing one who strings bodies up in the branches of Redwood trees. That image alone is going to stay with you. It's book two in a Blake Pierce series with a 3.93 from nearly 10,000 readers, so expect a fast, formulaic FBI thriller rather than anything experimental. If you want something to inhale in a weekend, this fits.

by Darcy Burke

This was my favorite pitch of the week. Hadrian Becket, Earl of Ravenhurst, scorned the supernatural until a head injury left him seeing visions when he touches people, and now he uses that curse to solve murders with Miss Matilda Wren. It's book three, so start earlier in Raven & Wren if you're a stickler, but the 4.43 from about 1,900 readers says the series earns its loyalty. Historical mystery fans who like a little romance and a little spooky should grab it.

by Brooklyn Cross

Bloody Quarter opens in a very dark place, with a narrator who had wanted to die and remembers looking at the darkness below and praying it would swallow her whole. Then comes that line, "You'll taste heaven before you walk with the dead," and it's clear this is going to be gritty and unsettling. Rated 4.22 by about 1,300 readers. Not for everyone, especially given the subject matter, but if you like your mysteries atmospheric and a bit haunted, it's worth a look.

by Kyiris Ashley

Fair warning, this one leans much more dark romance than whodunit, so adjust your expectations. Kyrie's gambling addiction leaves him a hundred thousand dollars in the hole to Banks, a hustler who collects by any means necessary, and he does something desperate to pay it off. It has a 4.4 from nearly 600 readers, which suggests it's landing well with the audience it's aimed at. If you want danger and debt with heat, go for it.