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Kindle eBook of the Day: Passion, terror, poetry and the fierce urgency of a people held down too long … it all comes alive in DL Rose’s Shepherds of Terror: A Novel – 7 straight 5-star reviews and just $2.99 on Kindle!

With narrative clarity and character development reminiscent of John LeCarre, novelist DL Rose weaves an intricate tale of love, politics and prejudice amidst the backdrop of terrorist revolutionary activity in Shepherds of Terror: A Novel.

Here’s the set-up for D.L. Rose’s Shepherds Of Terror, 7 straight 5-star reviews and just $2.99 on Kindle!:

Shepherds Of Terror takes place in the homeland of the Basque people of Spain. It follows the lives and actions of Basque terrorist ETA members and innocent folks who are affected by the daily barrage of violence.

More than just a story of terrorist acts, Shepherds Of Terror is also a character study of the people fighting for their Basque autonomy from the Spanish government and, also, the Basque people as a whole.

From the novel:

“La Guardia, who seemed less formidable with sweat saturating their once-starched shirts, piled boxes, guns, ammunition, and grenades in the yard. The butt of a machine gun slammed between Luís’ shoulder blades and he stumbled down the porch steps, trying to keep from falling. As soon as he was steady, the butt hit him again, pushing him forward across the yard. Luís would have willingly gone to wherever they wanted but he couldn’t tell which truck to head for.

Over and over, he was hit in the exact same place until the last slam to his back bent him over the front of a jeep and Luís screamed as the side of his face sizzled on the sun-scorched, engine-heated hood….”

From the reviewers:

Passion, terror, poetry and the fierce urgency of a people held down too long … it all comes alive in this stirring first novel by DL Rose. The Basque cause comes vividly to life on page after page, and each character is drawn with love and vitality. Kudos for an impressive debut by an active citizen of Kindle Nation and occasional contributor to Kindle Nation Daily: The inside scoop on all things Kindle. –Stephen Windwalker

In her first novel
Shepherds Of Terror , D. L. Rose weaves a intriquing tale about a small band of terrorists within the Basque separatist movement in 1970s Spain. With its perfect mix of mystery, romance and excitement, this highly enjoyable novel is guaranteed to keep you entertained from beginning to end.

Shepherds of Terror by DL Rose is an exciting examination of love and prejudice amidst the backdrop of terrorist revolutionary activity.

Reviewer R.D. Simonson adds:   With John Le Carre-like clarity and character development, DL Rose weaves an intricate tale of love and politics in her first book. Set during the 1970s in both London and the Basque region of Northern Spain, Rose takes the reader on a journey with a small group of young ETA terrorists seeking their identity both personally and as a group during and after the time of Franco’s brutal rule of Basque country. Interwoven with this is a poignant but shocking romance that will engross readers – a love that was even more taboo, challenging and dangerous in the 70s than today. You’ll smell the dust of the fields and the aromas of the markets in this engaging fast-paced read.

From the Author:

The writing of this novel happened spontaneously from being in northern Spain and seeing first-hand, daily, the open and in-your-face activities of ETA. If one is out and about, especially in the city of Bilbao, you experience their annoying pranks, watch them paste posters everywhere, and see their ETA propaganda.

One can’t help asking what it’s all about.  The Basque people in every northern Spanish town are more than willing to sit down on a park bench or in a bar and tell you what it’s like to be Basque today, while the older folks relate horrific tales of life during Franco’s long reign. When you visit schools, teachers will discuss the difficulty of dealing with today’s rebellious Basque teenagers and young adults.

I spoke with people every day, gathered notes, memorabilia, news articles, and personal memories. It’s amazing how these special people crave to tell their personal stories. They  motivated me to write about it.

After returning to the states, I began researching the Basque problem from an historical point of view and found that the Basque fight for autonomy has been going on for centuries…a time-period too long to tackle in a story.

On a more personal note, today I enjoy a quiet life in Montana…working, visiting family, staying connected to the world electronically, reading on my Kindle, rafting the majestic rivers, and taking an occasional vacation to somewhere with an ocean. -DLR 

And here, in the comfort of your own browser, is your free sample:

 


Would you like Kindle Nation to send you an email alert when the Kindle Tablet is announced and ready for pre-order?

It’s no surprise that there’s intense interest in the forthcoming Kindle Tablet. In fact, we’ve already had emails from readers who want to make sure that they are among the first to know when the new Kindle Tablet is available for pre-order.

Well, there may not be an app for that, but we can certainly help. If you’d like to be notified when the Kindle Tablet is announced, we’ve got your back.

Just send an email to kindlenation+KTab@gmail.com and we’ll do the rest, with an email alert that tells you all you need to know about price, features, and projected shipping date. Nuf sed.

Kindle Pricing: Listings Over $9.99 Down 5.3% in the Kindle Store! 4.5% Gain in Titles Under $3! 253,000 Kindle Books Priced Below $3, and They Account for 37% of the Top 100 Kindle Bestsellers, But Big Publishers Still Getting Top Dollar for a Handful of Big Names

The book business in 2011 is a complicated world, and there’s no single proposition that explains Kindle Store pricing. Big Six publishers and indie authors are going to opposite extremes, and our latest analysis of Kindle pricing shows a tale of two very different pricing strategies. 

Click on the pic to have posts like this sent directly to your Kindle with a free trial subscription
At the lower end of the pricing spectrum, the number of Kindle titles priced below $3 has grown by a very substantial 4.5% in the past 10 weeks, led by a doubling of both free contemporary tiles and free public domain titles. There are now over 253,000 books in the Kindle Store that are priced between 0 and $2.99, inclusive, for over a quarter of the overall selection, and these titles — the vast majority of them by indie authors publishing directly on the Kindle platform without traditional intermediaries — hold 37 of the top 100 spots on the Kindle Store paid bestseller list.
At the other end of the spectrum, the Big Six agency model publishers seem to be learning the hard way that most of their offerings will fail to thrive at prices over $9.99. The overall proportion of Kindle books priced at $10 and up continues to fall, with a steep decline of 5.33% between March 7 and May 17. However, at the same time, these same big publishers and their highest selling elite authors may be cheered by the fact that they seem to have gained a countervailing foothold with 35 books priced at $10 or more in the same Top 100 Kindle bestsellers list. 

The question that will eventually by answered — perhaps by the number of headstones in the publishers’ cemetery or by the number of authors who jump the publishers’ sinking ships for the world of direct publishing — is how quickly these publishers are losing overall marketshare due to their insistence on what are, for the vast majority of ebooks, unsustainable prices.

Perhaps most importantly, Amazon’s own pricing strategy is very clearly tilted toward offering many quality titles from its own relatively new and expanding group of publishing imprints in the price range from $1.99 to $4.99. Since Amazon knows more about its customers’ behavior on pricing matters than anyone in the world, it is clear that Amazon doesn’t think that the Big Six are hitting the sweet spot when they price books at $12.99 to $14.99.
As Kindle owners who have been known to buy and read vast quantities of ebooks, we pay attention to price. We’re savvy consumers, and when we decide that we want to read something it’s a very natural process for us to look at how its price compares both to the actual prices of other ebooks and to our theories about what we believe prices should be, and to make a purchasing decision accordingly.
So, in order to help keep our readers well informed, every few months here at Kindle Nation we conduct an analysis of Kindle ebook prices and share the results. We look both at the actual prices of all ebooks in the Kindle Store and also at the prices of the ebooks that populate the list of the Top 100 Paid Bestsellers in the Kindle Store. Our most recent survey took place on the evening of Tuesday, May 17, which allowed us to compare Kindle prices that we found in our last survey about 10 weeks ago on March 7.
Beyond the headlines above, here are the questions we always try to answer with these price breakdown posts, and here’s what we found:
Q1. What’s the overall size of the Kindle catalog and how does it compare with that of other ebook retailers?
A1. The overall count of Kindle books has been continued to grow by about 1,000 books a day over the past 10 weeks and currently stands at about 989,000, up from just above 898,000 titles on March 7. Since that figure includes only about 36,300 public domain books, that means there’s no other ebook retailer that comes close to that count for commercially offered ebooks. Barnes and Noble inflates its Nook count with over a million public domain titles, and Apple is rumored to be preparing a TV commercial with a voice-over that says “If you don’t have an iPad, then you don’t have access to the world’s smallest ebook catalog, with fewer than 150,000 commercial titles.”
Q2. How successful has Amazon been in herding prices into its preferred corral between $2.99 and $9.99, inclusive?
A2. The number of titles priced in this range is at 66.01 percent, so that it has actually fallen slightly in the past 10 weeks, from 66.13%.  But the percentage of books at $2.99 is up 17% during this period, so in keeping with the headlines above, there’s a somewhat more marked decline in the percentage of titles priced from $3 to $9.99, an entire percentage point (about 10,000 books in raw numbers) from 61.06% to 60.04%. 

As a percentage of the overall catalog, titles in the $2.99-$9.99 range are up 3.25% since we checked in December, while there are proportionally 10.2% fewer titles priced under $2.99 and 1.5% fewer titles priced at $10 and up. The growth of titles in the $2.99-$9.99 range has been supported both by the fact that Kindle pays indie authors who conform to this pricing range almost twice the royalty rate that is otherwise available to them and by the frequently stated resistance of many Kindle customers to prices above $9.99. Again, the largest area of growth has been for titles priced at exactly $2.99. After growing from 18,804 to 29,042 between September 5 and December 2, this group expanded to 45,528 in our latest look-in.

Q3. How successful have the big agency model publishers and their Black Knight, anti-reading crusader Steve Jobs, been in raising Kindle Store prices above $10?
A3. The Agency Model, if you’ve come a little late to this party, is a baldly anti-consumer price-fixing conspiracy (I wish I didn’t have to use that word, but sometimes a conspiracy is just that, a conspiracy) that was hatched at the beginning of 2010 by some combination of Steve Jobs and executives of five of the Big Six publishers, with Random House abstaining at first and finally going over to the dark side in February of this year. The stated goal was to mandate retail prices for Kindle books, and all other ebooks under the agency model publishers’ control, at levels that would be 30 to 50 percent higher than the $9.99 price that Amazon had previously set for Kindle Store new releases. The more important obvious but unstated goal was to slow the migration of readers from print books to ebooks. (Retailers had always had the freedom to discount as they saw fit from the publishers’ suggested retail prices in the past, and Amazon had in fact been selling many Kindle titles as loss leaders.) Since the Agency Model went into effect on April Fool’s Day 2010, the percentage of the Kindle Store catalog priced in agency-model heaven at $10 and up has fallen from 21.7% to 19.2% on May 22, 18.8% on June 14, 18.1% on July 18, 16% on September 5, 15.3% on December 2, 15.04% March 7, and 14.3% this week. 

How’s that goal of slowing the migration to ebooks working out for publishers? Amazon announced this week that its Kindle ebook sales had tripled over 2010 levels and had surpassed its print sales, despite the fact that Amazon’s own print sales continue to grow. How long will publishers continue to posture as if they have an adversarial relationship with a company that is marching inexorably toward having a 50 percent market share for all books sold in all formats in the United States by the end of 2012?

Q4. Has there been a significant change in the title count for Kindle books priced under $2.99 since Amazon began paying a 70 percent royalty for books in the $2.99 to $9.99 range?
A4. The proportional representation of Kindle books at every price point under $2.99 (free, 99 cents, under 99 cents, and $1.00 to $2.98) fell  dramatically from December to March, but in the past 10 months the percentage of titles at these price points as indie authors have discovered that pricing books at these levels can, in many cases, create so much attention that it more than makes up for the far lower royalties.
Q5. Overall, are ebook prices going up or down or staying about the same?
A5. Lower prices are clearly winning, for all the reasons described above.
Q6. Are there changes in the price composition of the Kindle Store’s key bestseller list, the Top 100 Paid Books?
A6. With the launch of the $114 Kindeal (the special offers Kindle) that has recently become Amazon’s #1 bestselling product with, probably, over a million units shipped to date, we’re seeing a bit of the usual post-Christmas phenomenon for the Kindle Store, with a swell of new Kindle owners rushing to fill their Kindles with the books they want. This tends to stimulate sales and downloads at both ends of the pricing spectrum, with bestseller-driven customers buying big name books and savvy consumers snatching up the best deals — and there’s nothing to say that these are not the same customers at both ends of the spectrum. The natural consequence of this surge is that the number of Top 100 bestselling titles in the middle, priced over $3 but under $10, has fallen from 40 to 33 since March 7, while the number of titles in the other categories has risen from 30 each to 32 and 35. 

One interesting phenomenon that I couldn’t help but notice is that readers already seem to have gone lukewarm on the Kindle wunderkind of late 2010 and early 2011, former indie author turned newly signed St. Martin’s Press property Amanda Hocking. Just a few months ago she had half a dozen of the top 30 titles in the Kindle Store at prices ranging from 99 cents to $2.99, but Kindle readers seem to be anticipating the likelihood that her forthcoming ebooks will have to be priced in the $9 to $15 range to please the St. Martin’s bean counters. They have kicked Hocking to the curb for John Locke and a group of Top 100 bestselling indie authors who just happen to be Kindle Nation faves and past sponsors, including Julie Ortolon, Scott Nicholson, David Lender, Elisa Lorello, Anna Mara, and Michael Wallace. Hocking’s still holding onto Top 100 status, with two titles in the 80s and 90s.

Q7. Are there any noteworthy trends with respect to free books in the Kindle Store?
A7. Don’t look now, but the number of Kindle freebies are surging. Both public domain titles and free contemporary titles have doubled, and Amazon has finally cracked open the door to allow indie authors to offer their titles free … even if it is not the front door.

KND Kindle Free Book Alert, Friday, May 20: Over THREE DOZEN BRAND NEW FREEBIES today! plus … Forget the daily grind with Beth Orsoff’s HONEYMOON FOR ONE (Today’s Sponsor)

It may be a hidden back door, but after over a year of lobbying we’re glad to see that Amazon is finally cracking open the door to allow indie authors to offer their books free to the citizens of Kindle Nation, and especially glad to see freebies from past Kindle Nation sponsors like Scott Nicholson, David McAfee and Marsha Canham near the top of today’s additions to nearly 600 Kindle Free Book Alert listings….


But first, a word from … Today’s Sponsor

Memorial Day is just days away, but your Kindle won’t be ready for your first trip to the beach until you’ve downloaded Beth Orsoff’s smart, funny, and suspenseful novel Honeymoon For One!

“This book is a perfect for a vacation or beach read, especially for when you want to forget the daily grind and just relax.”
–Dianne S. Tetro, Top 500 Reviewer


Honeymoon For One 
by  Beth Orsoff
4.2 out of 5 stars   25 Reviews
Text-to-Speech and Lending: Enabled 
Don’t have a Kindle? Get yours here.

Suspense with a sense of humor”



Here’s the set-up:

There are worse things in life than being dumped at the altar. Like being accused of killing your fake husband in a third world country where you can’t speak the language, for example.

When Lizzie Mancini booked her honeymoon to the secluded Blue Bay Beach Resort on the small Caribbean island of Camus Caye she thought it would be relaxing to spend the week at an isolated couples-only retreat. But that was before she knew she’d be honeymooning sans groom. Touring alone, dining alone, and worst of all, having to explain to the resort’s thirty other guests why she was staying in the bridal suite alone—Lizzie was dreading it. But it still beat the alternative, eight more days hibernating in her empty apartment feeling sorry for herself.

Then Lizzie meets Michael, a gold-chained antiquities dealer who offers to play her husband for the week no strings (or sex) attached. The plan works perfectly until Lizzie spends the night with scuba instructor Jack, and Michael’s body washes up on Blue Bay’s pristine shore. Lizzie becomes Polizia Nationale’s number one suspect and the only way she can prove her innocence is to solve Michael’s murder herself.


What the Reviewers Say
“Have you ever made a single spur-of-the-moment bad decision that naturally led to a cascade of ever worsening choices? In her emotionally weakened post-altar-jilting state, protagonist Lizzie Mancini does just that. Even as you’re screaming inside, NO LIZZIE, DON’T DO IT, you have to keep reading. No one can turn away from a car crash or train wreck. Lizzie is too likable and you want to see her get out of this mess before the train completely jumps the track. Does she? Read it and see..”
–BigAl, Top 500 Reviewer


” The story grabbed me from the first page with its very likeable characters, the situations they find themselves in, and not knowing who the bad guy is because there are just so many to choose from. And it seems that no one is quite what you think they are.”
–C. Thilmany, Vine Voice


“This book is a fun action packed read filled with romance, murder, mystery, thieves, and a turtle named Fred. With many intriguing questions to be answered that keep you reading to figure it all out. With a great sense of humor to tie it all together into a fun filled book”
–Kipp Poe Speicher, Vine Voice


About the Author



Beth Orsoff is the author of humorous fiction including the novels “Romantically Challenged,” “Honeymoon for One,” and “How I Learned to Love the Walrus.” She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and Elmo (yeah, the red guy from Sesame Street). For more information about Beth and her celebrity sightings (George Clooney anyone?) check out her website http://www.bethorsoff.com.


Click here to download Honeymoon For One (or a free sample) to your Kindle, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry, Android-compatible, PC or Mac and start reading within 60 seconds!

UK CUSTOMERS: Click on the title below to download
Each day’s list is sponsored by one paid title. We encourage you to support our sponsors and thank you for considering them.
Authors, Publishers, iPad Accessory Manufacturers:
Interested in learning more about sponsorship? Just click on this link for more information.

Free Contemporary Titles in the Kindle Store 
HOW TO USE OUR NEW FREE BOOK TOOL:

Just use the slider at right of your screen below to scroll through a complete, updated list of free contemporary Kindle titles, and click on an icon like this one (at right) to read a free sample right here in your browser! Titles are sorted in reverse chronological order so you can easily see new freebies.

Ashes
By: Scott Nicholson
Added: 05/19/2011 7:03:37pm
One True Love
By: Barbara Freethy
Added: 05/19/2011 6:03:28pm
Saying Goodbye to the Sun
By: David McAfee
Added: 05/19/2011 7:03:42pm
Bound By The Heart
By: Marsha Canham
Added: 05/19/2011 7:03:30pm

 2:46: Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake

By: The quakebook community
Added: 05/19/2011 7:03:34pm

Saying Goodbye: 31 stories that serve as amazing examples of people saying heartfelt goodbyes with grace, dignity, and good humor … it’s our Kindle eBook of the Day, and here’s a free sample!

You know the movie line “You had me at ‘hello.'” Here’s a book that will have you at “goodbye,” again and again, with 31 farewell stories — sometimes rich with sadness, sometimes funny, but always true and tender. Dream of Things’ Saying Goodbye has received 4.9 stars from 11 reviewers and is just $2.99 on Kindle.

Here’s the set-up: 

Saying Goodbye is a collection of true stories about saying goodbye to the people, places and things in our lives. This is a powerful book that includes a number of sad stories, as well as some very funny ones. Taken together, the stories serve as amazing examples of people saying heartfelt goodbyes with grace, dignity, and good humor.

Saying Goodbye includes stories contributed by thirty-one authors from the United States, Canada, Ireland, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere.

These stories show that there is sadness in goodbyes, but there is also irony and humor. It’s perfect for book groups that want stimulating conversations about saying goodbye, a topic that touches us all in one way or another. Saying Goodbye is the first anthology from book publisher Dream of Things in a new series intended to fill the gap between popular anthologies of stories that are “short and sweet” (sometimes so saccharine-sweet they are hard to swallow) and the Best American Essays series, which are much longer.

Dream of Things anthologies are collections of quality stories between 500 and 2,500 words. Instead of short and sweet, these stories are short and deep.

From the reviewers:

Tender perspectives helping readers with their own goodbyes. If you have ever had to deal with loss, read this book. It will make you feel better. — Christina Johns, Midwest Book Review, Oct. 18, 2010

The stories are about love, really, not sadness. Despite all the sadness and grief that come with saying goodbye, there is love and joy and comedy on the Other Side. — Gretchen Little, Squidoo.com Lens, Oct. 29, 2010

Life is full of goodbyes. Some are painful, but some are downright humorous. Saying Goodbye is an anthology of short (true) stories about people saying goodbye to a variety of people, places and things. The authors vary as much as their subjects, and this collection does a nice job of showcasing how different people have so many different experiences with saying farewell. — Book Nook Club, Nov. 5, 2010

Saying Goodbye is a great book. It’s about memories. There are heartfelt memories, humorous memories, some extremely personal memories. Some really made me smile. Others brought tears to my eyes.  — UK author Melanie Sherratt, High Heels and Book Deals, Nov. 22, 2010

And here, in the comfort of your own browser, is your free sample:

 


Kindle eBook Sales Surpass All Combined Print Book Sales For The First Time At Amazon

By Tom Dulaney, Contributing Reporter

Amazon eBook sales now exceed total sales of print books–both hardcover and paperback combined–the company announced today.

The explosion in eBook sales–up three times or 300% from the same period last year–does not come at the expense of print book sales within Amazon. Amazon says that print book sales continue to grow, and that the company’s overall book business is growing “in the fastest year-over-year growth rate for Amazon’s U.S. books business, in both units and dollars, in over 10 years.” the company said in today’s announcement.

“Customers are now choosing Kindle books more often than print books. We had high hopes that this would happen eventually, but we never imagined it would happen this quickly – we’ve been selling print books for 15 years and Kindle books for less than four years,” said Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO, Amazon.com.

Since April 1, for every 100 print books in any format sold, Amazon sells 105 eBooks in its Kindle Store.  With sales of the Kindle reading devices continuing strong, and the proliferation of other devices on which Kindle eBooks are being read, eBook sales will most likely keep increasing the ratio of ebooks to print sold.

Amazon has been quick to develop apps for the most popular gadgets:  iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, Mac, PC, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Android-based devices, and soon HP TouchPads and BlackBerry PlayBooks.

The “Buy Once, Read Everywhere” system not only lets users choose whatever ebook reader they prefer, but lets readers with multiple devices skip from one to the next as they read.  For example, readers in mid-chapter on the Kindle can pick up where they left off during a work break on their computers if corporate policy permits.  If not, they can call up the book on their smartphone.

Here’s the full text of Amazon’s press release this morning:

Amazon began selling hardcover and paperback books in July 1995. Twelve years later in November 2007, Amazon introduced the revolutionary Kindle and began selling Kindle books. By July 2010, Kindle book sales had surpassed hardcover book sales, and six months later, Kindle books overtook paperback books to become the most popular format on Amazon.com.

Today, less than four years after introducing Kindle books, Amazon.com customers are now purchasing more Kindle books than all print books – hardcover and paperback – combined.

“Customers are now choosing Kindle books more often than print books. We had high hopes that this would happen eventually, but we never imagined it would happen this quickly – we’ve been selling print books for 15 years and Kindle books for less than four years,” said Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO, Amazon.com.

“In addition, we’re excited by the response to Kindle with Special Offers for only $114, which has quickly become the bestselling member of the Kindle family. We continue to receive positive comments from customers on the low $114 price and the money-saving special offers. We’re grateful to our customers for continuing to make Kindle the bestselling e-reader in the world and the Kindle Store the most popular e-bookstore in the world.”

Recent milestones for Kindle include:

Since April 1, for every 100 print books Amazon.com has sold, it has sold 105 Kindle books. This includes sales of hardcover and paperback books by Amazon where there is no Kindle edition. Free Kindle books are excluded and if included would make the number even higher.

So far in 2011, the tremendous growth of Kindle book sales, combined with the continued growth in Amazon’s print book sales, have resulted in the fastest year-over-year growth rate for Amazon’s U.S. books business, in both units and dollars, in over 10 years. This includes books in all formats, print and digital. Free books are excluded in the calculation of growth rates.

In the five weeks since its introduction, Kindle with Special Offers for only $114 is already the bestselling member of the Kindle family in the U.S.

Amazon sold more than 3x as many Kindle books so far in 2011 as it did during the same period in 2010.

Less than one year after introducing the UK Kindle Store, Amazon.co.uk is now selling more Kindle books than hardcover books, even as hardcover sales continue to grow. Since April 1, Amazon.co.uk customers are purchasing Kindle books over hardcover books at a rate of more than 2 to 1.

Kindle offers the largest selection of the most popular books people want to read. The U.S. Kindle Store now has more than 950,000 books, including New Releases and 109 of 111 New York Times Best Sellers. Over 790,000 of these books are $9.99 or less, including 69 New York Times Best Sellers. Millions of free, out-of-copyright, pre-1923 books are also available to read on Kindle devices. More than 175,000 books have been added to the Kindle Store in just the last 5 months.

All Kindle Books let you “Buy Once, Read Everywhere” – on all generation Kindles, as well as on the largest number of devices and platforms, including iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, Mac, PC, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Android-based devices, and soon HP TouchPads and BlackBerry PlayBooks. Amazon’s Whispersync technology syncs your place across devices, so you can pick up where you left off. With Kindle Worry-Free Archive, books you purchase from the Kindle Store are automatically backed up online in your Kindle library on Amazon, where they can be re-downloaded wirelessly for free, anytime.

 

KND Kindle Free Book Alert, Thursday, May 19: Bestselling mystery writer Tess Gerritsen and a brand new Kindle word game top 550+ Freebies! plus … Bite-sized bliss with William S. Shepard’s Coffee Break Mysteries for just $2.99 (Today’s Sponsor)

A free Rizzoli & Isles short story pre-order from New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen freets us at the top of this morning’s latest additions to our 550+ Kindle Free Book Alert listings….

But first, a word from … Today’s Sponsor

Like a great mystery read — even when you’ve only got 10 or 15 minutes? Then you’ll love the 20 bite-sized stories in Bill Shepard’s Coffee Break Mysteries!

Coffee Break Mysteries 
by William S. Shepard
4.7 Stars from 4 Reviewers
Text-to-Speech: Enabled 
Don’t have a Kindle? Get yours here.

Another winner from Bill Shepard”



Here’s the set-up:

Coffee Break Mysteries is a collection of twenty short mysteries, from shoplifting to murder. The author, William S. Shepard, is a skilled mystery writer, with four novels in the Robbie Cutler diplomatic mystery series.


Each mystery is set forth for the reader to solve, with clues and several suspects. The reader solves the mystery, then turns to the next page for the solution. It’s just the right pace for something new and different as you enjoy your coffee break!


There is history here, with an unexpected dilemma for General George Washington, a nightmare about the Salem Witchcraft hysteria, and a mystery from the time of the First Thanksgiving at Plymouth. The White House Ghosts even drop by to make things interesting for the current 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue residents! And could President Ronald Reagan really solve the Geneva Summit Goldfish Mystery?


The holidays are well represented. We have a Christmas Eve visit from some beloved Dickens characters, and a spooky early morning manifestation at the grave of Edgar Allen Poe.


But the reader will surely have other favorites, perhaps from the selection of Ask Martha mysteries. But don’t tell Ask Martha’s secret – this advice for the lovelorn columnist is really a 6 foot 5 inch former football player named “Crusher” Davis, making ends meet by writing under a pseudonym for the local newspaper!


Whatever your preference, get your coffee and open your Kindle for a refreshing coffee break, with a spice of mystery. You’ve earned it!

Five Star Reviewer
“Bill Shepard comes up with another winner in his book Coffee Break mysteries. I love that this is available as an eBook. Also since I’m always on the go I was able to read one of the stories during a short period of time and then move on to other activities. The problem is that you dont want to just read one of the short mysteries, you want to read more and more of them. My only disappointment in this book of wonderful tales is when I had read them all. I’m hoping Bill Shepard will write more of them. What a value for the money! I wish all my eBook sales were as economical and enjoyable as Coffee Break mysteries.”
–Valerie T. Cortalano


About the Author



I have enjoyed writing about wine, and diplomacy. But one night, when I was on duty in the Executive Secretariat of the State Department,I wondered why there had been no diplomatic sleuths. Career diplomats see so many sources of information, that the connection of diplomacy and crime solving seemed natural. And so, on retiring after service at five diplomatic missions abroad, and a number of Washington assignments, I created a new mystery genre, the “diplomatic mystery.”


There are now four novels in the series, with Robbie Cutler, a career diplomat, as the protagonist. In “Vintage Murder,” set in Bordeaux, leaders of the Basque terrorist group ETA attempt to blackmail the great Bordeaux wine estates, as Robbie Cutler, assigned to the Bordeaux Consulate General, and his girlfriend Sylvie Marceau, race against time to uncover the terrorist plot. In “Murder On The Danube,” Robbie Cutler is transferred to our Embassy in Budapest, where an old crime, treachery during the 1956 Revolution, is the motive for current murders. In “Murder In Dordogne,” Robbie and Sylvie are on their honeymoon – while murderers attempt to crash the festivities. And now in “The Saladin Affair,” Robbie Cutler is Special Assistant to the Secretary of State, whose initial trip to European gives rise to an Al Qaeda murder plot. And that Elizabethan desk in the residence of our Ambassador in Dublin – can it really contain documents hidden since the time of Shakespeare?


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