Legless Clown Puppets, Corn Maze Thieves, and a Spokane Killer: Free Thrillers for Early October

by Travis Casey

Tyler Chambers sleeps with the wrong woman in Hawaii and soon feels watched from every angle, which is a fun setup for a suspense novel. Heads up that one reviewer calls this the second book of a trilogy, so you may want to check where you're jumping in. It sits at just over 4.0 with 130 ratings, and one reader admits a friend struggled to get through it, so I'd call it a good fit for people who like slow-burn personal drama over breakneck pacing.

“To be honest, I started reading this book because of a friend of mine was telling me that he was having difficulty getting through the story and asked if I would read it to see if I could better grasp the story. I do have to say though after reading this book, and I did push myself to read the whole”

by Holly Knightley

Caz Graves is a tattoo artist who buys a creepy legless clown puppet as his son's birthday present. Yes, that goes badly. It's a short, fast novella with a 4.47 from 78 readers, and the reviews are the best part: one reader sends the author a bill for twelve night lights, another wants the genre changed to love story. Grab it if you want a quick scare, but maybe not right before bed.

“Dear Holly Knightley, Enclosed is a bill for 12 night lights. One for every room in my house. I can no longer sleep in the dark for fear a inanimate object will come to life. Giggles the clown is purchased by Caz, who thinks it's the perfect gift for his son (already this is terrifying- WHY would a ”

by Judy Haar

Retired detective John Crase gets pulled back into the Spokane PD to hunt a killer who removes the hands and feet of young girls. That's very dark, and it won't be for everyone. Still, it holds a 4.25 from 24 readers, and the lone review says it hooked them from page one and kept the twists coming right up to the end. Good for hardcore serial killer fans who don't mind the gruesome details.

“Wow, was hooked after the first page. Loved the writing style and characters. Plenty of twists and turns until the end when it all comes together. Recommended read.”

by C.S. Cowan

Criminologist Maeve Rosetti comes home to find her missing niece and runs into off-the-grid neighbors, a shifty brother-in-law and a sister who won't talk about the past. The setting is a small town on British Columbia's Sunshine Coast, and readers specifically praise the atmosphere and the main character. At 4.26 with 19 ratings, it looks like a solid pick for anyone who likes a family-secrets mystery, and it sounds like the start of something.

“Well-written mystery set in a small town on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. I loved the atmospere and characters in this book and hope for more books by this author - especially if they feature Criminologist Maeve Rosetti. “Ah, guilt,” he said, raising his glass, swishing it around before ta”

by Christy Webb

This one is a gentle kids' mystery. Hannah and her gang of detectives, plus Harley, get a call from Officer Grant about thieves hitting corn mazes, and they happily pull out the detective hats again. It's a 4.29 from only seven ratings, so the sample is tiny, but it's an easy pick if you have a young reader who wants something spooky without the nightmares. Adult thriller fans can skip it.

by Wayne Clark

New York PI Humph Barstal is dropped into the McCarthy-era Red Scare, where a wealthy businessman may have Soviet ties. This is book seven in a series, and both reviewers are longtime followers who say it exceeded expectations. The 4.8 comes from just five ratings, so take it with a grain of salt, but if you like vintage PI stories with real historical paranoia, it could be a fun place to start digging into the series.

“This is the seventh book in the NY PI series. This one focuses on America after the Cold War. As it begins, it has seemingly been well established that Senator Joe McCarthy’s fears about communism were mainly paranoid delusions. However, New York’s Humph Barstal, a private investigator, comes to rea”