FREE | 1920s Murder Mystery | by Anna Sayburn Lane 🎭
Everyone at the party had a secret. Someone killed to keep theirs. 🔪
London, 1922. Draper’s daughter Marjorie Swallow is 24, independent, and determined to live life to the full. 💃 A secretarial post with enigmatic American detective Mrs Jameson looks just the ticket. And soon she’s in the thick of it. 🔍
When the bohemian party they attend ends in murder, there is no shortage of suspects. Half of Bloomsbury wanted Mrs Norris dead – but who wielded the knife? 😱 Was it the handsome but troubled artist? The vivacious young actress? Or even the aristocratic lady novelist? Marjorie and Mrs Jameson must find the true killer to save an innocent man from the noose. ⚖️
From the garden squares of Bloomsbury to the seedy backstreets of Soho, they navigate the glamour and peril of Jazz Age London in a thrilling story of secrets and lies. 🎷 Marjorie needs all her wit, pluck and charm in this perilous hunt for the killer. 💪
What drew me in: 1920s London! Jazz Age! Bohemian Bloomsbury parties! 🎉 Lane captures that perfect post-WWI moment when women like Marjorie Swallow (24, independent, draper’s daughter) could work as secretaries for American lady detectives. The “everyone at the party had a secret” setup is deliciously Agatha Christie, and the suspects—troubled artist, vivacious actress, aristocratic novelist—are all perfectly period. The journey from Bloomsbury garden squares to Soho’s seedy backstreets shows the class divide of the era. This is the first in the 1920s Murder Mystery series. Perfect for fans of Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs or Rhys Bowen’s Royal Spyness series. Classic murder mystery with flapper energy! FREE! 🥂
FREE | Magical Bakery Cozy Mystery | by Poppy Windham 🧁
What’s worse than inheriting a business you know nothing about? Inheriting a MAGICAL business you know nothing about. ✨
Sage Thorne’s carefully planned life just exploded. 💥 One minute she’s a burned-out corporate lawyer microwaving sad dinners in Boston, the next she’s inherited a bakery in the impossibly whimsical town of Moonbridge Hollow—complete with a talking cat who has opinions about her baking skills. 🐱
Did we mention the cat talks? Because Basil definitely talks. And he’s not impressed. 😼
Turns out Great-Aunt Rosemary left Sage more than just a business. She’s now a kitchen witch who can bake emotions into cupcakes—which would be amazing if she had any clue what she was doing. 🧙♀️ Instead, her magical muffins are about as predictable as a caffeinated squirrel. 🐿️
But when a vicious food critic drops dead after eating her “perfectly harmless” comfort cupcakes, Sage becomes the prime suspect in a very magical murder. 😱 Now she’s got 48 hours to master abilities she didn’t know she had, solve a crime she didn’t commit, and figure out why the devastatingly handsome local veterinarian keeps growling at people. 🐺
This is important because: Windham’s voice is DELIGHTFUL—”magical muffins are about as predictable as a caffeinated squirrel” is comedy gold! 😂 Sage is a burned-out corporate lawyer (relatable) who inherits a magical bakery and a talking cat named Basil who judges her baking. The concept of a “kitchen witch” who bakes emotions into food is brilliant, and when her comfort cupcakes kill a food critic, the stakes get real fast. The “devastatingly handsome veterinarian who keeps growling” is obviously a shifter, adding paranormal romance to the cozy mystery. This is the first in The Enchanted Whisk series. Perfect for fans of Bailey Cates’ Magical Bakery Mysteries or anyone who wants Practical Magic meets The Great British Baking Show! FREE! 🎂
FREE | Amateur Sleuth Mystery | by K T Bowes 🔍
Battered but not quite broken. Can a rookie investigator solve a thirty-year mystery and save her only brother? 💔
Lexi has suffered dented pride and a wounded heart because of her own poor judgement. But her job as a private investigator is the best thing left in her life and she couldn’t cope if she lost that, too. 😰 Unfortunately, that’s what will happen when the owner of Leon and Associates finds out what she did. 😱
Lexi strives to put her mistakes behind her until her brother ends up under the spotlight of local law enforcement. He’s a priest and discovered his curate’s body lying face down in a dumpster behind his church. ⛪
Armed with her shiny new investigator’s certificate and eager to please her boss, Lexi goes into battle to prove her brother’s innocence. 💪 But the cleric’s death is just another clue in a thirty-year unsolved mystery. A good man is gone, but that was only the start. Lexi discovers three historic disappearances and links to a fated summer camp in the New Zealand bush. 🏕️
Her meddling has woken a serial killer, and it’s the last person anyone expected. 😱 Lexi is unaware she’s the catalyst between past and future tragedies. As the murderer’s ligature tightens around her neck, her vision fades, and she realises just how much of a rookie she really is. 💀
You’ll love this if: You’re drawn to flawed protagonists who have to learn the hard way! 💪 Lexi is a rookie PI with “dented pride and a wounded heart” trying to prove herself, when her priest brother finds a body in the church dumpster. The personal stakes (saving her brother) collide with professional stakes (not getting fired) and a thirty-year cold case involving a summer camp in the New Zealand bush. The escalation from one dead curate to three historic disappearances to Lexi being strangled shows Bowes knows how to build tension. Set in New Zealand, which is refreshing! Perfect for fans of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum (rookie energy) or Kendra Elliot’s Mercy Kilpatrick series. FREE! 🇳🇿
The Accident
$1.99 (Regularly $3.99) | Psychological Thriller | by Natalie Barelli 🚗
If only she’d said no… 😰
Katherine knew she’d had too many drinks, but they were only going a short distance, and as Eve pointed out, it was late, there was no traffic anyway… 🍷
Now Katherine would do anything to turn back the clock. If anyone ever found out about the accident, it would ruin her life. 💔
But no one needs to know because Eve was there too, and she’s going to help make it all go away. 👯
Except something isn’t right with Eve, and by the time Katherine realizes that… it’s too late. 😱
Here’s the thing: Barelli delivers one of those “one bad decision spirals into nightmare” thrillers that makes you want to scream at the protagonist! 😤 Katherine drives drunk because her friend Eve convinces her it’s fine—then they hit something/someone. Eve promises to help cover it up, but “something isn’t right with Eve” is the understatement of the century. The “by the time Katherine realizes that… it’s too late” creates delicious dread. This is psychological manipulation at its finest—who’s really in control here? At 50% off, this is perfect for fans of Freida McFadden, Kiersten Modglin, or Samantha Downing who want their thrillers about toxic friendships and secrets that destroy. The drunk driving element makes the moral complexity even darker. Gripping! 🔪
$1.99 (Regularly $3.99) | Adventurer & Explorer Biography | by Thor Heyerdahl ⛵
This is also a major motion picture. 🎬
Kon-Tiki is Thor Heyerdahl’s account of his extraordinary three-month voyage across the Pacific Ocean from South America to the Polynesian islands on a raft made from balsa wood. 🌊
Intrigued by Polynesian folklore, biologist Thor Heyerdahl suspected that the South Sea Islands had been settled by an ancient race that traveled across the ocean thousands of miles east by drifting with the wind patterns. 🌴 He decided to prove his theory by building a boat using the materials that would have been available to those pre-Columbian sailors and duplicating their legendary voyage. ⛵
On April 28, 1947, Heyerdahl and five other adventurers sailed from Peru on a raft built from balsa wood, bamboo, and hemp. 🪵 After three months and 4,300 nautical miles on the open sea they sighted land—the Polynesian island of Puka Puka. 🏝️
Translated into sixty-five languages, Kon-Tiki is a classic, inspiring tale of daring and courage—a magnificent saga of men against the sea. 📚
This is important because: Heyerdahl literally built a balsa wood raft and sailed 4,300 miles across the Pacific to prove his theory about ancient Polynesian settlement! 🤯 In 1947 (before modern safety equipment), he and five others spent THREE MONTHS on the open ocean on a raft made from materials pre-Columbian sailors would have used. The fact that they succeeded—reaching Puka Puka—is extraordinary. Whether his theory was ultimately correct (scholars debate this), the adventure itself is legendary. Translated into 65 languages and made into an Oscar-winning documentary and later a feature film. At 50% off, this is essential reading for adventure lovers, anyone fascinated by ancient navigation, or readers who want true stories that read like impossible fiction. Inspiring! 🌊
$1.99 (Regularly $3.99) | Etymology | by Jess Zafarris 😈
‘A fiendishly good read!’ —Mignon Fogarty, Grammar Girl 📝
The English language is where words go to be tortured and mutilated into unrecognizable shadows of their former selves. 💀 It’s where Latin, Greek, and Germanic roots are shredded apart and stitched unceremoniously back together with misunderstood snippets of languages snatched from the wreckage of conquest and colonialism. It wreaks merciless havoc upon grammar and spelling. It turns clinical terms into insults and children’s tales into filthy euphemisms. 😱
With an emphasis on understanding where the foulest words in the English language came from-and the disgusting and hilarious histories behind them-this book demonstrates the true filth of our everyday words. 🤬 But this book is more than just a list of vulgar words and salacious slang. It’s a thoughtful analysis of why we deem words as being inappropriate as well as revealing ‘good words’ that have surprisingly naughty origins. 🍑
Dirty-minded word nerds and lewd linguistics lovers will derive unadulterated pleasure in leering at the origins of swear words, sexual lingo, inappropriate idioms, violent vocabulary, and terminology for bodily functions—not to mention the unexpectedly foul origins of words you thought were perfectly innocent. 😏 If it’s inappropriate, stomach-churning, uncomfortable, or offensive, this book reaches into the dark recesses of history and exposes them for all to see. 👀
What makes this essential: Zafarris writes etymology like a standup comedian—”where words go to be tortured and mutilated” is poetry! 😂 This isn’t dry academic linguistics; it’s a gleeful exploration of how English steals, mangles, and perverts words from other languages, then turns innocent terms filthy and vice versa. Grammar Girl’s endorsement (“fiendishly good read!”) confirms this is both educational AND entertaining. The “surprisingly naughty origins of innocent words” angle is fascinating—you’ll never use certain words the same way again! At 50% off, this is perfect for word nerds, comedy fans, or anyone who loves learning the dirty secrets hiding in plain sight. Language is WILD! 📖
… See the rest of today ‘s Book Picks here on page 3Page 3