Steven F. Havill tops today’s Buffet with Heartshot, the first installment in his “Bill Gastner” mystery series. Set in the fictional Posadas County, New Mexico, this series features septuagenerian Bill Gastner as Undersheriff, then Sheriff, of Posadas County.
Steven lives in Datil, New Mexico, with his wife Kathleen. He has written two series of police procedurals set in the fictional Posadas County, New Mexico; along with other works.
As usual, each book listed here has gone FREE within the past 24 hours (except for the “Bargain Books” at the bottom of this page). Warning: Kindle book promotions can end without notice, so before downloading click the link “See Kindle price at Amazon” to verify that the book is still free. (Prices and availability may differ outside USA.
Heartshot (Bill Gastner #1) (Bill Gastner Mysteries)
Pushing sixty, Bill has no other life than law enforcement—and doesn’t want one, even if he’s being gently nudged toward retirement. Then, trouble strikes. A car full of teens, evading a traffic stop, goes airborne into a rocky outcrop, killing all five passengers and revealing a package of cocaine stashed under the seat. Has someone brought serious crime to the county?
When a second explosion of violence fells an undercover cop, the sheriff’s department pulls together to make a formidable team, but its weak spot may be Bill. His mind is too tough to crumble but his long-mistreated body is gradually succumbing to stress. Ignoring all advice, he pilots the case to a final confrontation where the fate of the killer—and the cop—will be decided…
Sheltering Hearts
Romance > Series
Author: Robyn Carr
New York Times bestselling author Robyn Carr takes readers back to her beloved Virgin River country in this heartwarming tribute to Rhonda Clemons, founder of Zoë Institute and a winner of a Harlequin More Than Words award.
By discovering a seed of compassion and nurturing it to effect real change, the dedicated women selected as Harlequin More Than Words award recipients make our world a better place. To celebrate their accomplishments, bestselling authors have honored the winners by writing short stories inspired by their lives and work.
Foreign Deceit (David Wolf)
International Mystery & Crime
Author: Jeff Carson
As if a harrowing attempt on his life, his ex-addict wife coming back into the picture, and a looming career change weren’t enough, Colorado Sergeant David Wolf’s world is wrenched when he receives word his brother has committed suicide in the Alps of Italy.
Devastation and resentment over his only sibling’s selfish act quickly gives way to a nagging suspicion that he isn’t getting the whole truth. Conviction alone is enough to pull Wolf from pressing events in his ski resort home of Rocky Points, Colorado, to the entirely foreign land of Northern Italy, and into a more deadly situation than he could have possibly imagined.
With the help of a beautiful young officer of the Carabinieri, Wolf must piece together what happened on that last fateful night of his brother’s life without ruffling too many feathers, or paying the ultimate price.
Painted Faces
Romance > Contemporary
Author: L.H. Cosway
Come forth with an open mind, for an unconventional tale of love..
Dublin native Freda Wilson considers herself to be an acquired taste. She has a habit of making offensive jokes and speaking her mind too often. She doesn’t have the best track record with first impressions, which is why she gets a surprise when her new neighbour Nicholas takes a shine to her.
Nicholas is darkly handsome, funny and magnetic, and Freda feels like her black and white existence is plunged into a rainbow of colour when she’s around him. When he walks into a room he lights it up, with his quick wit and charisma. He is a travelling cabaret performer, but Freda doesn’t know exactly what that entails until the curtains pull back on his opening night.
She is gob-smacked and entirely intrigued to see him take to the stage in drag. Later on, Nicholas asks her if she would like to become his show assistant. Excited by the idea, she jumps at the chance. Soon she finds herself immersed in a world of wigs, make-up and high heels, surrounded by pretty men and the temptation of falling for her incredibly beautiful employer.
The Imaginary Friend
Children’s Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy
Author: Kelly Hashway
Samantha and Tracy have been best friends since kindergarten, but now that Tracy has gotten over her shyness and made new friends, Samantha is feeling left out. This is nothing compared to how she feels when a strange girl named Jessica tells Samantha that she’s actually an imaginary friend. Tracy has outgrown Samantha, and it’s time for Samantha to help another child who needs her. But will Samantha be able to move on and fulfill her duty as an imaginary friend?
The Yellow Palace (The Inner Seas Kingdom Series)
Fantasy > Epic
Author: Jeffrey Quyle
Kestrel’s adventures continue in “The Yellow Palace”, the sequel to “The Healing Spring”. His departure from Estone encounters trouble just days after his ship leaves the harbor, and Kestrel finds himself stranded on a desolate shore, hundreds of miles from safety as the novel begins. His goal has been to reach the human kingdoms of Graylee and Hydrotaz, to learn what plots the humans have to next attack the elves of the Eastern Forest, and his intention is to also track down the agents of Uniontown, the evil force that the goddesses have warned him is an even greater threat than the warring humans.
Turn It Loose
Romance > Contemporary
Author: Britni Danielle
Sometimes you just have to do something crazy…
By all accounts Jaylah Baldwin is living her dream. After graduating at the top of her class, she’s a successful journalist who interviews celebrities and attends Hollywood parties for a living. There’s only one problem: she hates her life.
Despite her seemingly charmed existence, Jaylah loathes her job, is lonely as hell, and is tired of living up to everyone else’s expectations. When she gets fired from her cushy position at the L.A. Weekly, she has two options: stay in L.A. and become a spectacular drunk or buy a ticket to London and finally live by her own rules.
She chooses the latter and heads to the Queen’s city in search of adventure, but soon finds more than she bargained for.
Homecoming (A Finn McCoy Paranormal Thriller #1)
Horror > Dark Fantasy
Author: Scott Langrel
Finn McCoy is a paranormal handler. He handles things that ordinary paranormal investigators can’t or won’t, and he often ends up cleaning up behind them.
For fifteen years, McCoy has turned his back on his hometown of Shallow Springs, Virginia, and the dark secrets the town harbors. But now an evil, unstoppable force has been unleashed on the unsuspecting residents of the town, and McCoy finds himself the only thing standing between the town and total destruction.
The Tempering (The Mackenzie Duncan Series)
Romance > Paranormal
Author: Adrianne James, Rogena Mitchell-Jones
The Mythology department at prestigious Harvard University is tiny—and Mackenzie Duncan has just been selected as one of the lucky few. Her love for myths and legends is strong, but she never thought any of it could be real.
After being attacked by a large wolf while walking home alone, Mackenzie realizes something is not right. She heals quickly, is suddenly super strong, and is experiencing mood swings that can’t possibly be normal. The myths she’s studying aren’t myths at all. Werewolves are real and she’s one of them. Fear of what she is, and who she might hurt sends Mackenzie running from the life she’s worked hard to build–and straight into the arms of a handsome Were named Geoff and into the home of his pack. Living with her new pack takes the edge off her confusion and self-loathing, but the arrival of new pack members changes the dynamic, and tests Geoff and Mackenzie’s growing relationship.
TODAY’S BARGAINS……………What’s this?
A Lesson in Secrets: A Maisie Dobbs Novel
Mystery > Women Sleuths
Author: Jacqueline Winspear
Regularly $9.99, Today $1.99
Private investigator Maisie Dobbs receives her first assignment from the British Secret Service in A Lesson in Secrets, the eighth book in Jacqueline Winspear’s award-winning mystery series. Sent to pose as a junior lecturer at a private college in Cambridge, she will monitor any activities “not in the interests of His Majesty’s government.”
When the college’s pacifist founder is murdered, Maisie finds herself in the midst of sinister web of murder, scandal, and conspiracy, activities that point towards members of the ascendant Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei—the Nazi Party—on Britain’s shores. An instant classic, and sure to captivate long-time Maisie Dobbs fans as well as readers of Agatha Christie, Elizabeth George, and Alexander McCall Smith, A Lesson in Secrets is “a powerful and complex novel, one that will linger in memory as a testament to her talent and her humanity” (Richmond Times-Dispatch).
Mint Juleps and Justice (An Adams Grove Novel)
Romance > Mystery & Suspense
Author: Nancy Naigle
Regularly $4.99, Today $1.99
Welcome to Adams Grove…where wrongs are righted with just desserts.
Luck abandoned Brooke Justice during her nasty divorce. Desperate to escape her malicious ex-husband, she relocated to the small town of Adams Grove, Virginia. When someone breaks into her new house, she suspects her ex bears the blame for the crime. With no evidence and little help from the police, she asks a private investigator to take her case—a private investigator whose sexy broad shoulders and stunning blue eyes make her question her decision to swear off relationships forever.
Mike Hartman fled Adams Grove when a devastating loss left his heart in pieces. After years overseas in the military, he’s finally returned home, determined to start anew as a private investigator. Then Brooke walks into his office, awakening something he hasn’t felt in years. Can they both move on…into each other’s arms? Or will the pain of the past—and the dangerous threat lurking in the present—destroy their new beginning?
Scourge of the Betrayer (Bloodsounder’s Arc)
Fantasy > Epic
Author: Jeff Salyards
Regularly $24.99, Today $1.99
Many tales are told of the Syldoon Empire and its fearsome soldiers, who are known throughout the world for their treachery and atrocities. Some say that the Syldoon eat virgins and babiesor perhaps their own mothers. Arkamondos, a bookish young scribe, suspects that the Syldoon’s dire reputation may have grown in the retelling, but he’s about to find out for himself.
Hired to chronicle the exploits of a band of rugged Syldoon warriors, Arki finds himself both frightened and fascinated by the men’s enigmatic leader, Captain Braylar Killcoin. A secretive, mercurial figure haunted by the memories of those he’s killed with his deadly flail, Braylar has already disposed of at least one impertinent scribe . . . and Arki might be next.
Leading the Starbucks Way: 5 Principles for Connecting with Your Customers, Your Products and Your People
Business & Money > Management & Leadership
Author: Joseph Michelli
Regularly $25.00, Today $1.99
One of the best-recognized and admired brands in the world, Starbucks singlehandedly transformed the ordinary delivery of coffee into a cultural phenomenon–a result of the company’s exemplary leadership practices.
Joseph Michelli, author of the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and BusinessWeek bestseller The Starbucks Experience, explains that the international success of Starbucks begins with a promise: To inspire and nurture the human spirit–one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time. Michelli offers a perspective on the leadership principles that drove the iconic coffee company’s resurgence from serious setbacks during the economic downturn–one of the few true turnaround stories of this time. And the company continues to grow dramatically, entering new markets and channels with fresh products and technologies.
Truman’s Spy: A Cold War Spy Story
Thrillers > Espionage
Author: Noel Hynd
Regularly $3.59, Today $0.99
Joe McCarthy is cranking up his demagoguery and Joseph Stalin had intensified the cold war. In Washington, J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI is fighting a turf war with the newly founded Central Intelligence Agency. Harry Truman is in the White House, trying to keep a lid on domestic and foreign politics, but the crises never stop. It should be a time of peace and prosperity in America, but it is anything but.
FBI agent Thomas Buchanan is assigned to investigate the father of a former fiancée, Ann Garrett, who dumped Buchanan while he was away to World War Two. And suddenly Buchanan finds himself on a worldwide search for both an active Soviet spy and the only woman he ever loved. In the process, he crosses paths with Hoover, Truman, Soviet moles and assassins, an opium kingpin from China, and a brigade of lowlife from the American film community.
… See the rest of today’s Editor’s Picks here on page 2