Kindle Genre Watch: New in Fantasy & Mystery Fiction (25 Apr 2010)

Spend less time searching for new genre fiction and more time reading it as I watch for newly-released genre fiction in the Kindle Store so you don't have to. Recent genre fiction releases in fantasy and mystery fiction include:

FANTASY

Try Me by Parker Blue. This is book two of the Demon Underground series that began with Bite Me. Please note that Bite Me is currently available for free download on Amazon. Bell Bridge Books. Print length: 218 p. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"This part-demon teen vampire fighter and her faithful terrier hellhound are once again patrolling the dark city streets of San Antonio, Texas. Val's hunky human partner, Detective Dan Sullivan, is giving her the cold shoulder since she beheaded his vampire ex-fiancée. Vamp leader Alejandro is struggling to keep the peace between vamps, demons and humans. The mucho powerful Encyclopedia Magicka has been stolen, someone in the Demon Underground is poisoning vamps, and Val's inner lust demon, Lola, is getting very restless since Val's now partnered with sexy Shade, the shadow demon with the blond good looks of an angel." - Amazon.

The Desert Spear by Peter V. Brett. This is book two of Brett's Demon Cycle series, following The Warded Man. Del Rey. Print length: 608 p. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"The sun is setting on humanity. The night now belongs to voracious demons that arise as the sun sets, preying upon a dwindling population forced to cower behind ancient and half-forgotten symbols of power. These wards alone can keep the demons at bay, but legends tell of a Deliverer: a general - some would say prophet - who once bound all mankind into a single force that defeated the demons. Those times, if they ever existed, are long past. The demons are back, and the return of the Deliverer is just another myth...or is it? Out of the desert rides Ahmann Jardir, who has forged the warlike desert tribes of Krasia into a demon-killing army. But the northerners claim their own Deliverer. His name was Arlen, but all know him now as the Warded Man: a dark, forbidding figure whose skin is tattooed with wards so powerful they make him a match for any demon... Yet as old allegiances are tested and fresh alliances forged, all are blissfully unaware of the appearance of a new breed of demon, more intelligent - and deadly - than any that have come before." - Amazon.
Read an in-depth interview with Brett at 42SciFi-Fantasy.

Tales of the Otherworld by Kelley Armstrong. Bantam. Print length: 400 p. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
This is a collection of seven stories featuring many of the characters from Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series.
"Have you ever wondered how lone wolf Clayton Danvers finally got bitten by the last thing he ever expected: love? Or how the hot-blooded bad-girl witch Eve Levine managed to ensnare the cold, ruthless corporate sorcerer, Kristof Nast in one of the Otherworld’s most unlikely pairings? Would you like to be a fly on the wall at the wedding of Lucas Cortez and Paige Winterbourne, as their eminently practical plans are gradually upended by their well-meaning friends? Or tag along with Lucas and Paige as they investigate a rather gruesome case that looks to be the result of a rogue vampire? Now, Otherworld readers can share these moments with some of their favorite characters - as well as catching welcome glimpses into the minds of some of the lesser-known players. But even readers new to the Otherworld universe will find much to love in these seven tales of friendship, adventure, and enduring romance." - www.kelleyarmstrong.com/

Reluctant Swordsman by Dave Duncan. Book One of the Seventh Sword trilogy. E-Reads. Print length: 326 p. Kindle edition $3.21. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
Please note that the second and third volumes in this trilogy (Coming of Wisdom and Destiny of the Sword) are also available in Kindle editions.
"Wallie Smith can feel the pain. He goes to the hospital, remembers the doctors and the commotion, but when he wakes up it all seems like a dream. However, if that was a dream how do you explain waking up in another body and in another world? Little Wallie finds himself in the physique of a barbarian swordsman, accompanied by both an eccentric priest babbling about the Goddess and a voluptuous slave girl. Is this a rude awakening or a dream come true? What in the world will Wallie do now that he's found himself stranded in a strange realm? Well it just so happens that the Goddess is in need of a swordsman. It won't be easy but if he succeeds he will have everything he wants. If he doesn't, things could get ugly." - Amazon.

Crowd of Swords by Robert Jordan. This is book seven in Jordan's epic The Wheel of Time series. Macmillan. Print length: 896 p. Kindle edition $7.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"In a richly woven post-holocaust world where magic is normally a woman's monopoly and a man who can use it is a menace, Rand al'Thor, a sheepherder, discovered that he could 'channel'; he and his companions have gone on to set their world aflame. Here, Rand is engaged in a fight for control of the weather and of the growing number of men and women who have turned out to be magic-wielders. The narrative employs elements of realism rare in high fantasy, including the sense that innocent bystanders are being mauled in an epic joust of magical giants. There's wit at work here, too, in Jordan's exploration of the possibilities created by women being the magic workers. All this comes at the price of enough characters, institutions, spells, countries and so on to intimidate any reader who hasn't followed Rand's adventures from the beginning..." - Publishers Weekly.

MYSTERY

This Body of Death by Elizabeth George. HarperCollins. Print length: 704 p. Kindle edition $14.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"On compassionate leave after the murder of his wife, Thomas Lynley is called back to Scotland Yard when the body of a woman is found stabbed and abandoned in an isolated London cemetery. His former team doesn't trust the leadership of their new department chief, Isabelle Ardery, whose management style seems to rub everyone the wrong way. In fact, Lynley may be the sole person who can see beneath his superior officer's hard-as-nails exterior to a hidden - and possibly attractive - vulnerability. While Lynley works in London, his former colleagues Barbara Havers and Winston Nkata follow the murder trail south to the New Forest. There they discover a beautiful and strange place where animals roam free, the long-lost art of thatching is very much alive, and outsiders are not entirely welcome...
" - Amazon.

The Double Comfort Safari Club by Alexander McCall Smith. Publisher. Print length: 224 p. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
This is the eleventh offering in Smith's immensely popular No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, all of which are available in the Amazon Kindle Bookstore. If you are new to the series, start with book one: The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.

"Readers will agree that this touching and dramatic new installment in Alexander McCall Smith’s beloved and best-selling series is the finest yet. In this story, Precious Ramotswe deals with issues of mistaken identity and great fortune against the beautiful backdrop of Botswana’s remote and striking Okavango Delta. Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi head to a safari camp to carry out a delicate mission on behalf of a former guest who has left one of the guides a large sum of money. But once they find their man, Precious begins to sense that something is not right. To make matters worse, shortly before their departure Mma Makutsi’s fiancé, Phuti Radiphuti, suffers a debilitating accident, and when his aunt moves in to take care of him, she also pushes Mma Makutsi out of the picture. Could she be trying to break up the relationship? Finally, a local priest and his wife independently approach Mma Ramotswe with concerns of infidelity, creating a rather unusual and tricky situation. Nevertheless, Precious is confident that with a little patience, kindness and good sense things will work out for the best, something that will delight her many fans." - Amazon.

Eight Days to Live: An Eve Duncan Forensics Thriller by Iris Johansen. St. Martin's Press. Print length: 400 p. Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Although billed as an Eve Duncan Forensics Thriller, neither Eve nor forensics plays a big part in Johansen’s latest. Instead the focus is on Eve’s adopted daughter, Jane MacGuire, who has a successful art show at a Parisian gallery. But a painting titled Guilt has drawn some unwanted attention: the religious cult Sang Noir wants Jane dead. When the cult starts going after those closest to Jane, she turns to two strong, dangerous men: Jock, a trained assassin, and Seth, a hunter with psychic powers. Friction ensues between these two strapping guys as they fight to protect the globe-trotting Jane while she travels from Paris to Switzerland to Jerusalem in an attempt to find out why Sang Noir is so determined to kill her. She’s fighting an intense attraction to Caleb, even as she disapproves of his methods of extracting information, and when Eve’s life hangs in the balance, Jane finds herself crossing lines she never thought she would." - Kristine Huntley for Booklist.

Worst Case by James Patterson. Little, Brown and Company. Print length: 368 p. Kindle edition $14.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"The son of one of New York's wealthiest families is snatched off the street and held hostage. His parents can't save him, because this kidnapper isn't demanding money. Instead, he quizzes his prisoner on the price others pay for his life of luxury. In this exam, wrong answers are fatal. Detective Michael Bennett leads the investigation. With ten kids of his own, he can't begin to understand what could lead someone to target anyone's children. As another student disappears, one powerful family after another uses their leverage and connections to turn the heat up on the mayor, the press - anyone who will listen - to stop this killer. Their reach extends all the way to the FBI, who send their top Abduction Specialist, Agent Emily Parker. Before Bennett has a chance to protest the FBI's intrusion on his case, the mastermind changes his routine. His plan leads up to the most devastating demonstration yet - one that could bring cataclysmic devastation to every inch of New York." - Amazon.

The Shadow of Your Smile by Mary Higgins Clark. Simon & Schuster. Print length: 336 p. Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Two generations after she gave away the child she bore soon after entering the convent, and one generation after her death, Sister Catherine Morrow is back in the news. An ecclesiastical court has been convened to determine whether preliminary steps should be taken to recommend her for sainthood. Certainly Sister Catherine's life was exemplary. In recompense for the child she lost, she founded seven children's hospitals, and it's possible that prayers to her banished little Michael O'Keefe's brain cancer. As the proceedings advance, however, darker currents emerge. Catherine's sister Olivia is strangled to death, a day before she was going to reveal to pediatrician Monica Farrell that Catherine was her grandmother. Olivia's old family friend and physician, cardiologist Clay Hadley, is clearly joined in a criminal conspiracy with Greg Gannon, who's been plundering the foundation started by his late uncle Alex, the love of Olivia's life, with the proceeds from the prostheses he invented. Monica's tiny patient Sally Carter is being sorely neglected by her flighty mother Renee. Scott Alterman, the Boston attorney who had the effrontery to court Monica while he was married to her best friend, has divorced and come to New York to press his suit. And someone's hired a hit man to kill Monica..." - Kirkus Reviews.

Wrecked by Carol Higgins Clark. Scribner. Print length: 272 p. Kindle edition $11.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Private Investigator Regan Reilly and her husband Jack "no relation" Reilly, head of the NYPD Major Case Squad, are about to celebrate their first wedding anniversary. They are looking forward to a quiet romantic weekend out of town. Wouldn't you know their choice of destination provides them with anything but! Regan and Jack had considered going to Bermuda, but instead they decide to spend four days at his parents beautiful beachfront home on Cape Cod, a wonderful spot where they'd never been alone. During the summer the house overflowed with Jack's family, bubbling with activity from morning until night. But to be up there for a weekend in April, just the two of them, sounded like a perfect escape.
However, the best laid plans..." - www.carolhigginsclark.com/

This is book 13 in Clark's Regan Reilly series. If you're new to this series, you may wish to start out with Decked, the book that first introduced Los Angeles PI Reilly to readers. Carol Higgins Clark is the daughter of Mary Higgins Clark. Of the difference between her writing style and her mothers, she says "my mother’s thrillers are meant to scare people, while a comic thread runs through my books. As has been said by reviewers: 'Mary goes for the jugular and Carol for the funny bone.'"

The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker. Center Street. Print length: 338 p. Kindle edition $11.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"FBI Special agent Brad Raines is facing his toughest case yet. A Denver serial killer has killed four beautiful young women, leaving a bridal veil at each crime scene, and he's picking up his pace. Unable to crack the case, Raines appeals for help from a most unusual source: residents of the Center for Wellness and Intelligence, a private psychiatric institution for mentally ill individuals whose are extraordinarily gifted. It's there that he meets Paradise, a young woman who witnessed her father murder her family and barely escaped his hand. Diagnosed with schizophrenia, Paradise may also have an extrasensory gift: the ability to experience the final moments of a person's life when she touches the dead body. In a desperate attempt to find the killer, Raines enlists Paradise's help." - Amazon.