Indie Crime Fiction of the Month for June 2017

Welcome to the second edition of “Indie Crime Fiction of the Month”.

So what is “Indie Crime Fiction of the Month”? It’s a round-up of speculative fiction by indie authors newly published this month, though some May books I missed the last time around snuck in as well. The books are arranged in alphabetical order by author. So far, most links only go to Amazon.com, though I may add other retailers for future editions.

Our new releases cover the broad spectrum of crime fiction. We have cozy mysteries, historical mysteries, small town mysteries, police procedurals, legal thrillers, crime thrillers, murder in small towns and country houses, skeletons in the closet, unpredictable events, bartering angels, Steele strangers, remorseful pickpockets, crime-solving dogs, lawyers, the Russian mob, adventures in the Caribbean and much more.

As always, I know the authors at least vaguely, but I haven’t read all of the books, so Caveat emptor.

And now on to the books without further ado:

Kicked the Bucket in Grady by Kate Bell:

Grady, Arizona is home to the desert heat and murder. Gracie Williams' friend, Frannie has been murdered and she's determined to find the killer. Her snooping enrages the killer and she stands to lose all she holds dear. With help from her faithful canine Sophie and her friends, Aggie and Bernie, can she find the killer before the killer finds her?
 
Parlour Game by Cora Buhlert

When Edgar Asheford-Browne is found dead in his palatial home, with a hole in his head and a bloody fire poker next to his body, the cause of death seems obvious. Edgar Asheford-Browne was beaten to death.

But as Detective Inspector Helen Shepherd and her team begin to unravel the case, it suddenly seems much less clear. For Helen has to deal not only with contradictory evidence, but also with an entire library full of suspects who are all accusing each other.

This is a mystery novelette of 10800 words or approximately 38 print pages.

On the Side of the Angel: A Bartering Angel Story by J. David Core:

Lina Forman has an assumed name, a vendetta, a résumé of varied skills, and the knowledge to make her a force to fear.

Known in the criminal underground as The Bartering Angel, a mysterious “fixer” whose help keeps the bad guys out of trouble, she assumes the name Lina when she arrives in the Pittsburgh area in 2005. When the son of a local drug runner murders a convenience store clerk during a botched thrill robbery, Lina must keep him out of jail to prove her worth to the local criminal underground. Despite her elaborate scheme to confound the evidence and mislead authorities, two local cops threaten to disrupt her plans and steer the FBI on a path to avoid her red herrings.

Can Lina preserve her reputation and make good on her promises before she has to abandon her vengeance, change her name, and start again? Or will a careless oversight expose her secrets?

Winter Downs by Jan Edwards:

Bunch Courtney stumbles upon the body of Jonathan Frampton in a woodland clearing. Is this a case of suicide, or is it murder? Bunch is determined to discover the truth but can she persuade the dour Chief Inspector Wright to take her seriously?

In January of 1940 a small rural community on the Sussex Downs, already preparing for invasion from across the Channel, finds itself deep in the grip of a snowy landscape, with an ice-cold killer on the loose.

Traffic by Richard C. Hale:

Family is everything.
Would you kill to protect it?

When Jaxon Jennings witnesses a woman attack a man and kill him, his only thought is to apprehend the woman and bring her to justice. But when he discovers the mysterious and deadly woman, Adi Jordan, is on a mission to save her kidnapped daughter, he can only imagine doing one thing.
He must help her.

In a race against the clock and insurmountable odds, Jaxon joins forces with Adi in a desperate battle with the Russian mob to track down her daughter and get her back before the trail grows cold and Adi’s daughter is lost to the world of human trafficking.

Adi’s dark and mysterious past only adds to the pressure as her brutal and ruthless tactics bring Jaxon to a place he’s never been before. But will her actions destroy any chance they have of finding her daughter and surviving? Jaxon must walk a thin line between what is right and wrong. Will it be enough?

From the first sentence of his latest Jaxon Jennings Thriller, Traffic, author Richard C Hale piles on the suspense and kicks it into high gear. A pulse-pounding, thrill ride that pulls you in and never lets up, Traffic will keep you on the edge until the surprising end.

Steele Stranger by Chris Lord

Cassie Steele didn’t recognize the man who came home, she was expecting her husband.

Seven years has passed since her husband had left to work in the Middle East post 9-11, and six years since the last letter. But she’s told he’s still alive and coming home.

Just before he could be declared dead she got the news. Ashley was coming home!

The news of Ashley returning caused her hands to shake and to remember how he chose duty over love. When she sees him at the airport it's his face, his body, but not his soul. She's on her own--to everyone else he's the same old Ashley.

Cause not everyone who returns is the same person and Casie she has to find out if this is her Ashley Steele. Or a Steele Stranger.

Steele Tempted by Chris Lord

Ashley's searching for An elusive beauty in a deadly paradise!

Ashley Steele’s guilty drinking catches up with him in a bar with a beautiful woman who rescues him from a man with no neck. This chance encounter gives him a reason to climb out of the shallow end of a bottle with the vision of rebuilding his life with her.

Working to get her a job as the only stewardess of the flying yacht, The Good Fortune, little does he know the strings that are attached to the woman will pull him into a family of drugs, white slavery, and terrorism.

Only after he's let his heart fall for her does he realize that this elusive beauty he’s been searching is connected in a web of crime... a web that is deadly for any who get's caught in the deadly paradise of the waters of St. Croix, in this Ashley Steele Caribbean action adventure thriller.

Unpredictable Events by Cecilia Peartree:

This is the 13th book in the Pitkirtly Mystery series, set in a fictitious small town on the Fife coast in Scotland. Not a million miles from Culross, and yet rather different from it.

Christopher finds that going away on holiday is a lot more trouble than it's worth, while a wedding in the Cultural Centre isn't without its problems. Amaryllis tries to keep a low profile as she teases out secrets from the tangled threads of everyday life, and Christopher's sister Caroline allows obsession to lead her into danger.

Injustice For All by Rachel Sinclair:

Harper must deal with two high-profile death cases. One involves her beloved friend, Stephen. The other involves an underprivileged black youth accused of murdering an undercover cop.

Harper is assigned another high-profile case, as 18-year-old Darnell Williams is accused of killing a Kansas City Police Officer. At first, this seems like just another dead dog case that Harper wouldend up pleading out. But as she gets deeper into the specifics of the case, she realizes that she has stumbled into something much, much bigger. She ends up being warned to back off, or face disciplinary charges of her own. But the more she is brushed back, the more intrigued she becomes. She becomes convinced that a true injustice is being perpetrated on her client and she must fight the system to prove his innocence.

With the fast-pace that you've come to expect with a Harper Ross LegalThriller, Injustice for All is a book that is not to be missed!

Murder at Hartigan House by Lee Strauss:

There's a skeleton in the attic!

After a weeklong passage over the Atlantic from Boston to Liverpool, Ginger Gold arrives at her childhood London home--Hartigan House--to find decade-old remains from some poor woman on the floor in the attic. Ginger's Boston terrier, Boss, noses out a missing phalange from under the bed.
It's a mystery that once again puts Ginger alongside the handsome Chief Inspector Basil Reed. Who is the victim? And how did she end up in Ginger's home?

Clues lead Ginger and her good friend Haley Higgins to a soirée hosted in 1913 by Ginger's late father, George Hartigan. A shadow of suspicion is cast on her father's legacy, and Ginger isn't so sure she wants to know the truth about the man she dearly loved.

Ginger decides to host another soirée, inviting the guest list from ten years previous. Before the night is over, another person is dead.

The Job: A Darklight Chronicle by Greg L. Turnquist:

What if a pickpocket had a change of heart?

Snitch and her partner in crime decide to knock over a pawn shop. But something goes wrong. What should she do next?

The Flapper Caper by Victoria L.K. Williams

Old Cars, Old Costumes, and an Old reason for Murder...

Megan and Aiden, along with Barney, are back to solving murders, and this one makes friends out of foes.

New characters arrive at Citrus Beach to help solve the mystery, working along with the town’s sleuths. While Megan has her hands full with one zany writer, Aiden, tries to keep the new lawman on the right path.

But its Barney that saves the day again— with the help of his sidekick-Gypsy and a pair of feathered watchmen.