Victoria Houston tops today’s Buffet with Dead Angler, the first installment in her beloved “Loon Lake Fishing Mystery” series set in Wisconsin’s Northwoods and featuring female sleuth Lew Ferris. In her neck of the woods, fishing is a way of life — and when the muskies are biting, life couldn’t be better. But when Doc Osborne catches more than he bargained for, he winds up in the middle of a murder mystery — and only Lew Ferris can get him out of it.

victoriaThis novel first appeared as a paperback 14 years ago, and last summer Victoria published the 14th book in the series, Dead Insider. The series was featured on the front page of The Wall Street Journal in 2004 and on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation” in 2006 (both features are displayed on Victoria’s website .)

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.

Dead Angler (Loon Lake Fishing Mystery)

Mystery > Women Sleuths
Author: Victoria Houston

Dead Angler (Loon Lake Fishing Mystery)

Loon Lake, Wisconsin’s newly appointed chief of police Lewellyn Ferris is quite a woman. A single woman with an incredibly demanding career, Lew is a tough-as-nails crime fighter. She’s also a fly fishing wonder. And she’s about to get an opportunity to put all her talents to work.

Retired dentist Paul Osborne hasn’t fly fished since his wife died. He hasn’t had a woman tell him what to do since then either. But in the company of Lewellyn Ferris, he’s relearning both. And when he and his lady instructor find a well-dressed body floating in the moonlight, Paul adds deputy to his list of experiences…

Whether the death is accidental — or accidentally on purpose — Lewellyn is determined to rell in the truth. She enlists Pail and his walleye-expert buddy, Ray, to help her get to the bottom of the murky mystery. Whoever thought small-town retirement could be this dangerous?





Lila and Ethan: Forever and Always

Romance > Contemporary > Short Stories
Author: Jessica Sorensen
Lila and Ethan: Forever and Always

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Ella and Micha series comes a FREE short story of love, risks, and rewards . . .

Lila Summers just wants to know one thing for certain: that Ethan Gregory will be with her always. Once her friend, he’s become so much more, melting the pain of her past away with each kiss. Now Lila is on a road trip with Ethan, in the wilderness under the stars, and she can’t imagine her life without him. But when she talks about the future, something in Ethan changes . . .

Ethan has no doubts about his feelings for Lila. His life with her gets better every day-and that’s the scary part. How can he walk into a future where he has everything to lose? With Lila, his whole heart is on the line for the very first time. But if Ethan can’t give her the promise she needs, his greatest fear might come true: he’ll lose Lila for good.

The Trap (Trapped Book 1)

Romance > New Adult & College
Author: Beverley Kendall
The Trap (Trapped Book 1)

Paige didn’t like that I went so far away to university. But it was going to only be for two years. She’d join me after she did her two years at community college. I thought we could swing that no problem. We were solid.

But she hated the distance. She hated not seeing me every day. She complained that I didn’t come home enough. She hated that for months on end, texting and phone calls were our only form of communication. It wasn’t enough.

She’d ask about the girls on campus. She’d gotten it into her head that girls were always making a play for me. I laughed and told her, even if that were true, I’d never cheat on her. She didn’t seem completely reassured by that.

The bottom line is, Paige thought she was losing me. She wanted me home with her. But I could never imagine the level she’d sink to–the trap she’d set to make that happen.

And like an idiot I walked right into it.

Cuernavaca

Action & Adventure
Author: Richard Perhacs
Cuernavaca

Scott Flores’ life implodes overnight. All that he’s built—a promising career as a standout college professor, his reputation as a brilliant young anthropologist and a near perfect marriage to his beautiful wife—is leveled and none of his personal fortune can change what happens. Grappling with the devastating aftermath and battling his own personal demons, he finds himself on an airplane headed to southern Mexico and the city of Cuernavaca, at the desperate urging of his mentor, fellow anthropologist Jerry Dwyer.

The chance for a new start at a fascinating archeological dig turns into the ultimate test of character when he’s dragged into a shadowy underworld hidden behind the gritty charm of this new land. It’s an invisible world of good versus evil, black-market smuggling, merciless criminals and murder—all punctuated by a corrupt legal system.

Jacob’s Daughter: Book One (An Amish, Christian Romance)

Christian Fiction > Romance > Historical
Author: Samantha Jillian Bayarr
Jacob's Daughter: Book One (An Amish, Christian Romance)

When twenty-eight-year-old LIZZIE BARLOW tries to run from her past, she finds herself hiding out in the same Amish community in which she grew up. With her ten-year-old daughter, Abby, in tow, she fears her secrets will catch up to her.

When ABBY discovers her real father may be living just down the road from where they are staying, she sets off on an adventure to meet him. What she doesn’t know are the many secrets that her mother never shared with her–the same secrets that will turn her life upside down.

JACOB YODER is an Amish widower, trying to raise his ten-year-old son, when his past shows up on his doorstep unexpectedly, threatening to change his life forever.

Will life ever be the same for Lizzie and Jacob again? Or will their mistakes change everything?

Energy – The Awakening (The Energy Chronicles)

Fantasy > Epic
Author: MJ Schutte
Energy - The Awakening (The Energy Chronicles)

As teenagers, Brighton and Lilian live quiet, peaceful and uncomplicated lives in a remote mountain village called Four Mountains. They soon discover that their friendship has developed into something deeper, but before they can explore their feelings for each other, a dark secret about Lilian’s past rips their world apart. Brighton finds himself fighting for the girl he loves as well as his own life while simultaneously discovering an even bigger secret about himself.

The two young lovers simply want to live in peace but they are constantly hunted because of their special talents.

Brighton has to overcome great odds and even death itself if he is going to save himself and Lilian from the evil determined to destroy them.

The Lighter Side of Large

Fiction > African American > Women’s Fiction
Author: Becky Siame
The Lighter Side of Large

Hell hath no fury like a fat woman scorned – or deprived of caffeine. Bella is a Samoan-New Zealander who doesn’t fit in. Tiny seats, tight clothes, narrow aisles: navigating a one-size-fits-all world is a heavyweight task for a single mom who tips the scales at 278 pounds. Not even her islander family understands her. Only with her eclectic trio of friends (including a gay barrister and a homeless woman) does she find acceptance – and lots of coffee.

When her ex-husband and sister announce their upcoming wedding and the proud family matriarch insists she attend, Bella embarks on a mission: lose the weight, get a job, and find a man to prove they just can’t keep a good mother down.

After she’s kicked out of a clothing store because of her size, her crusade against weight discrimination kickstarts a writing career but sets her at odds with the adventurous new man in her life who’s got skinny issues. It also puts her in the crosshairs as her sister plots revenge when she discovers her fiancé still has the hots for Bella.

My Little Runaway (Destiny Bay Romances)

Romantic Comedy
Author: Helen Conrad
My Little Runaway (Destiny Bay Romances-Forever Yours 1)

She ran.  He wants answers.  But some secrets are just too painful to share.

Jenny jumps out of airplanes in order to block out the painful memories of what made her run away from her family.  Reid wants to fix the damage.  The only problem is, he doesn’t know how deep it is, and how impossible it will be to cover over.  Will his intoxicating love tempt her to risk it all again? Or will it end up making everything worse after all?
Includes love scenes.

How to Draw Cool Stuff

Arts & Photography > Illustration
Author: Catherine Holmes
How to Draw Cool Stuff

Shows simple step-by-step illustrations that make it easy for anyone to draw cool stuff with precision and confidence. These pages will guide you through the basic principles of illustration by concentrating on easy-to-learn shapes that build into complex drawings.

With the step-by-step guidelines provided, anything can become easy to draw. This book contains a series of fun, hands-on exercises that will help you see line, shape, space and other elements in everyday objects and turn them into detailed works of art in just a few simple steps.

The exercises in this book will help train your brain so you can visualize ordinary objects in a different manner, allowing you to see through the eyes of an artist.

From photorealistic faces to holiday themes and tattoo drawings, How to Draw Cool Stuff makes drawing easier than you would think and more fun than you ever imagined!

TODAY’S BARGAINS……………What’s this?

When I Found You

Women’s Fiction > Domestic Life
Author: Catherine Ryan Hyde
Regularly $3.99, Today $1.99
When I Found You

While duck hunting one morning, childless, middle-aged Nathan McCann finds a newborn abandoned in the woods. To his shock, the child—wrapped in a sweater and wearing a tiny knitted hat—is still alive. To his wife’s shock, Nathan wants to adopt the boy…but the child’s grandmother steps in. Nathan makes her promise, however, that one day she’ll bring the boy to meet him so he can reveal that he was the one who rescued him.

Fifteen years later, the widowered Nathan discovers the child abandoned once again—this time at his doorstep. Named Nat, the teenager has grown into a sullen delinquent whose grandmother can no longer tolerate him. Nathan agrees to care for Nat, and the two engage in a battle of wills that spans years. Still, the older man repeatedly assures the youngster that, unlike the rest of the world, he will never abandon him—not even when Nat suffers a trauma that changes both of their lives forever.

Becoming Alpha: Volume 1 (Alpha Girl)

Horror > Dark Fantasy
Author: Aileen Erin
Regularly $3.99, Today $0.99
Becoming Alpha: Volume 1 (Alpha Girl)

One stupid party. One stupid boy. One stupid kiss. And my life was virtually over.

Tessa McCaide has a unique talent for getting into trouble. Then again, it isn’t easy for a girl with visions to ignore what she sees. Luckily Tessa and her family are leaving California and moving halfway across the country, giving her the perfect opportunity to leave her reputation as “Freaky Tessa” behind.

But Tessa doesn’t realize that kissing the wrong guy in her new Texas town could land her in far more trouble than she ever imagined. Like being forced to attend St. Ailbe’s Academy, a secret boarding school for werewolves.

Even if the wrong guy did accidentally turn her into one of “them” and doom her to attending the weirdest high school ever, Tessa can’t help her growing attraction to the mysterious Dastien Laurent.

When the Game Was Ours

Sports & Outdoors > Basketball
Author: Larry Bird, Earvin Johnson, Jackie MacMullan
Regularly $13.99, Today $1.99
When the Game Was Ours

From the moment these two players took the court on opposing sides, they engaged in a fierce physical and psychological battle. Their uncommonly competitive relationship came to symbolize the most compelling rivalry in the NBA. These were the basketball epics of the 1980s — Celtics vs Lakers, East vs West, physical vs finesse, Old School vs Showtime, even white vs black. Each pushed the other to greatness — together Bird and Johnson collected eight NBA Championships, six MVP awards and helped save the floundering NBA at its most critical time. When it started they were bitter rivals, but along the way they became lifelong friends.

With intimate, fly-on-the-wall detail, When the Game Was Ours transports readers to this electric era of basketball and reveals for the first time the inner workings of two players dead set on besting one another. From the heady days of trading championships to the darker days of injury and illness, we come to understand Larry’s obsessive devotion to winning and how his demons drove him on the court. We hear him talk with candor about playing through chronic pain and its truly exacting toll. In Magic we see a young, invincible star struggle with the sting of defeat, not just as a player but as a team leader.  We are there the moment he learns he’s contracted HIV and hear in his own words how that devastating news impacted his relationships in basketball and beyond. But always, in both cases, we see them prevail.

A compelling, up-close-and-personal portrait of basketball’s most inimitable duo, When the Game Was Ours is a reevaluation of three decades in counterpoint. It is also a rollicking ride through professional basketball’s best times.

Raylan: A Novel

Mystery > Hard-Boiled
Author: Elmore Leonard
Regularly $9.99, Today $1.99
Raylan: A Novel

With more than forty novels to his credit and still going strong, the legendary Elmore Leonard has well earned the title, “America’s greatest crime writer” (Newsweek). And U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (ProntoRiding the RapFire in the Hole) is one of Leonard’s most popular creations, thanks in part to the phenomenal success of the hit TV series “Justified.” Leonard’s Raylan shines a spotlight once again on the dedicated, if somewhat trigger-happy lawman, this time in his familiar but not particularly cozy milieu of Harlan County, Kentucky, where the drug dealing Crowe brothers are branching out into the human body parts business. Suspenseful, darkly wry and riveting, and crackling with Leonard’s trademark electric dialogue, Raylan is prime Grand Master Leonard as you have always loved him and always will.

Called Again: A Story of Love and Triumph

Biographies & Memoirs > Women
Author: Jennifer Pharr Davis
Regularly $24.95, Today $1.99
Called Again: A Story of Love and Triumph

In 2011, Jennifer Pharr Davis became the overall record holder on the Appalachian Trail. By hiking 2,181 miles in 46 days — an average of 47 miles per day — she became the first female to ever set that mark. But this is not a book about records or numbers; this is a book about endurance and faith, and most of all love.

The most amazing part of this story is not found at the finish, but is discovered through the many challenges, lessons and relationships that present themselves along the trail. This is Jennifer’s story, in her own words, about how she started this journey with a love for hiking and more significantly a love for her husband Brew. Together, they were able to overcome rugged mountains and raging rivers, sleet storms and 100 degree heat, shin-splints and illnesses.

They made new friends and tested old friendships; they shared together laughter, and tears — a lot of tears. But, through it all, they fell more in love with one another and with the wilderness. By completing this extraordinary amateur feat, Jennifer rose above the culture of multi-million dollar sports contracts that is marked by shortcuts and steroids. This is the story of a real person doing something remarkable. Jennifer Pharr Davis is a modern role-model for women — and men. She is an authentic hero.

… See the rest of today’s Editor’s Picks here on page 2

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