Free eBooks: 01/15/2012

At the start of every month, you can usually snag some pretty good books as free e-books from Amazon.com (for Kindle) and Barnes & Noble (for nook). The University of Chicago offers a free e-book each month as well. Read on to see the 32 freebies I've snagged so far this month, with book descriptions from the sites and links to purchase them.

Please Note: While all of these books were free at the time of my purchase, that does not guarantee that they are still free or that they will remain free. Make sure you check the price listed before purchasing any books.

Barnes & Noble / Amazon.com (nook & Kindle)

Don't Know Much About Mythology
by Kenneth C. Davis
BN.com | Amazon.com

In this latest installment of the New York Times bestselling Don’t Know Much About® series, Kenneth C. Davis introduces and explains the great myths of the world using his engaging and delightfully irreverent question-and-answer style. He tackles the epic of Gilgamesh; Achilles and the Trojan War; Stonehenge and the Druids; Odin, Thor, and the entire Norse pantheon; Native American myths, and much more, including the dramatic life and times of the man who would be Buddha. From Mount Olympus to Machu Picchu, here is an insightful, lively look at the greatest stories ever told.


I Used to Know That: Stuff You Forgot From School
by Caroline Taggart
BN.com | Amazon.com

• Figures of Speech (and other devices for spicing up your writing)
• Notable British Authors 
• International Authors
• Arithmetic
• Biology
• Explorers
• Geography

Organized Simplicity
by Tsh Oxenreider
BN.com | Amazon.com

Simplicity isn't about what you give up. It's about what you gain. When you remove the things that don't matter to you, you are free to focus on only the things that are meaningful to you. Imagine your home, your time, your finances, and your belongings all filling you with positive energy and helping you achieve your dreams. It can happen, and Organized Simplicity can show you how.

Saving for Retirement
by Gail MarksJarvis
BN.com | Amazon.com

Over the years, Chicago Tribune financial columnist Gail MarksJarvis has taken the time to listen and respond to thousands of her readers about the issues, questions, and concerns that are most important to them. Saving and investing for retirement has never been more important...and with this book, it’s never been clearer what you need to do and how to do it.


20 Retirement Decisions You Need to Make Right Now
by Ray E. LeVitre
BN.com | Amazon.com

Inside are twenty major financial decisions which could profoundly impact your lifestyle over the next forty years. For many retirees, these decisions come as a surprise and must be made hastily without proper consultation. But by reading the expert, commission-free advice in this book, you'll learn how to manage your assets and prepare for the best possible retirement.


Buy and Hedge
by Jay Pestrichelli & Wayne Ferbert
BN.com | Amazon.com

In Buy and Hedge, two leading investment experts show how to apply hedging as part of a long-term program for growing and preserving your assets. CNBC Fast Money guest Jay Pestrichelli and seasoned financial industry veteran Wayne Ferbert show how to systematically protect yourself against violent downward moves while giving your portfolio maximum room to run in upward markets. The authors' techniques are easy to use, can be applied to most investment vehicles, and require surprisingly little "care and feeding."

The Secret Holocaust Diaries
by Nonna Bannister
BN.com | Amazon.com

Nonna Bannister carried a secret almost to her Tennessee grave: the diaries she kept as a young girl experiencing the horrors of the Holocaust while learning compassion and love for her fellow human beings. Nonna's writings tell the remarkable tale of how a Russian girl, born into a family that had known wealth and privileges, was exposed to the concentration camps and learned the value of human life and the importance of forgiveness.

Death Tidies Up
(#2 in the Charlotte LaRue mystery series)
by Barbara Colley
BN.com | Amazon.com

Between running her maid service (the successful Maid-for-a-Day) and fretting about her upcoming birthday (the dreaded 6-0), Charlotte LaRue doesn't have much time for gossip. But New Orleans's latest dust-up is hard to ignore--especially since it involves Marian Hebert, one of Charlotte's new clients. Charlotte's trying her best to forget all the rumors--she has more important things to worry about these days. Should be easy enough, Charlotte thinks--until she finds a barely-cold corpse in one of the closets.

The Witness
by Dee Henderson
BN.com | Amazon.com

Police Chief Luke Granger's witness to a murder, Amy Griffin, has been on the run for years. Her family thinks she was murdered eight years ago, but Amy chose to accept a life in the shadows in order to protect her sisters' lives. Now unveiled secrets about their father have thrust the sisters into the public spotlight. The man who wants Amy dead now sees her sisters as the way to locate her. Luke and two of his homicide detectives are determined to stand in the way. They are each falling in love with a different sister, and it's become a personal mission to keep them safe. But chances are that at least one of them will fail, and facing the future will take a faith deeper than any of them currently knows.

Hostile Witness
(#1 in The Witness thriller series)
by Rebecca Forster
BN.com | Amazon.com

When sixteen-year-old Hannah Sheraton is arrested for the murder of her step-grandfather, a California Supreme Court justice, her distraught mother turns to once infamous defense attorney, Josie Bates. Now a small town lawyer in Hermosa Beach, Josie wants nothing to do with the case since the gruesome evidence points to Hannah's guilt. When the girl is charged as an adult, Josie can't turn her back.

Dangerous Angels [with bonus material]
(the Weetzie Bat series)
by Francesca Lia Block
BN.com | Amazon.com

Dangerous Angels brings together in one volume all five of Francesca Lia Block's celebrated novels about Weetzie Bat and her nontraditional L.A. family of musicians and filmmakers. Includes Weetzie Bat (1989), Witch Baby (1991), Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys (1992), Missing Angel Juan (1993), and Baby Be-Bop (1995). This "with bonus materials" edition also includes excerpts from Pink Smog, Pretty Dead, and The Frenzy.


Simon & Schuster 2012 Fiction Sampler
from Simon & Schuster
BN.com | Amazon.com

This free sampler features extended excerpts from six novels coming in 2012 from Simon & Schuster. The books and authors presented in this sampler include In One Person, the first new novel in three years from John Irving; Carry the One by Carol Anshaw; Gold by Chris Cleave, author of Little Bee; In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner; The Twelve Rooms of the Nile by Enid Shomer; and The Green Shore by Natalie Bakopoulos. In addition to these exclusive previews, the sampler includes interviews with the writers and commentary from the books’ editors.

Amazon.com: Kindle

Three Girls and a Baby
(#1 in the Three Girls series)
by Rachel Schurig

Ginny McKensie's life is spiraling out of control. She's back in her hometown, unwillingly single, and stuck in a dead-end job. When she discovers she's pregnant, Ginny is convinced her life is ending. Instead of planning a future with her ex, she's learning the truth about morning sickness, juggling bills, and seeing just how far designer jeans can stretch. With the help of her best friends, Annie and Jen, Ginny must try to re-imagine—and rebuild—a life she never wanted.

Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun
(#1 in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting mystery series)
by Lois Winston

When Anastasia Pollack's husband permanently cashes in his chips at a roulette table in Vegas, her comfortable middle-class life is suddenly kaput. She's left with two teenage sons, a mountain of debt, and her hateful, cane-wielding, Communist mother-in-law. Not to mention stunned disbelief over her late husband's secret gambling addiction and the loan shark who's demanding fifty thousand dollars.

Anastasia's job as crafts editor for a magazine proves no respite when she discovers a dead body glued to her office chair. The victim, fashion editor Marlys Vandenburg, collected enemies and ex-lovers like Jimmy Choos on her ruthless climb to editor-in-chief. But when evidence surfaces of an illicit affair between Marlys and Anastasia's husband, Anastasia becomes the number one suspect.

Death of an Obnoxious Tourist
(#1 in the Dotsy Lamb Travel mystery series)
by Maria Hudgins

Dotsy Lamb, history professor and recently divorced empty-nester, and her friend Lettie are on a group tour of Italy when an obnoxious woman traveling with her two sisters is murdered in her Florence hotel room. Dotsy enlists the aid of the scatty but observant Lettie and hooks up with the attractive carabinieri captain in charge of the investigation. The killer may be a member of their tour group, a gypsy from a nearby camp, or any of four other people they've met since their arrival, and there are motives galore.

Dance of the Winnebagos
(#1 in the Jackrabbit Junction mystery series)
by Ann Charles

When Claire's grandfather and his army buddies converge in the Arizona desert to find new wives, it's her thankless job to keep them out of trouble with the opposite sex. But when she finds a human leg bone and partners with a reluctant geotechnician to dig up secrets from the past, trouble finds her. If she doesn't stop digging, she could end up dead.

Cankered Roots
(#1 in the Alex & Briggie mystery series)
by G.G. Vandagriff

When Alexandra Campbell, a spunky young widow, and Brighamina Poulson, an even spunkier, rifle-toting grandmother, begin a genealogy business, Alexandra figures it's high time she finds out her family secret. It's been fifteen years since she has seen her parents, and she intends to lay to rest the ghost that has separated her family. After an acrimonious fight with her once beloved father, she leaves with only a wallet-sized photograph of a woman she knows nothing about. That night, Alex’s father is killed. Bewildered and grieved that her family can never be whole again, she soon finds out that she is the chief suspect in the murder. With the unflappable Briggie at her side, she uses all her new genealogical skills, and (with the help of Briggie’s deer rifle) discovers a secret so bizarre that she finally understands why her parents wanted her far away and safe.

The Covert Element
(#3 in the James Becker suspense series)
by John L. Betcher

Former military intelligence operative James “Beck” Becker and his CIA code-cracking wife, Beth, have retired to Beck’s hometown of Red Wing, Minnesota. Their retirement has already proven more exhilarating than they’d expected.

But they could never have anticipated the new source of crime and intrigue in their small community: a Mexican drug cartel has set up shop a few miles down the road. And they’re not just selling. The new meth production facility is the largest north of the Rio Grande. The Beckers’ challenge? To dismantle cartel operations before a full-blown drug war breaks out in Red Wing.

Dolled Up for Murder
(#1 in the Gretchen Birch mystery series)
by Deb Baker

"Caroline Birch. Put her away." The message was clutched in the fist of a destitute former doll collector found dead at the bottom of a cliff with a valuable French doll’s parasol in her pocket. And the person seen fleeing the crime scene fits Caroline’s description. But Gretchen Birch knows her mother is innocent. The problem is, Caroline has disappeared – and she’s left an urgent warning that Gretchen is in danger, too.

Watch Me Die
by Lee Goldberg

Harvey Mapes is a 26-year-old security guard who spends his nights in a guard shack outside a gated community in Southern California, reading detective novels, watching reruns, and waiting for his life to finally start... which happens when Cyril Parkus, one of the wealthy residents, asks Harvey to follow his beautiful wife Lauren.

The lowly security guard jumps at the opportunity to fulfill his private eye fantasies and use everything he’s learned from Spenser, Magnum, and Mannix. But things don’t exactly go according to the books...or the reruns.

My Gun Has Bullets
(#1 in the Charlie Willis mystery series)
by Lee Goldberg

Beverly Hills cop Charlie Willis trades in his real badge for a fake one... and so begins an uproarious but deadly romp through the wonderful world of TV make-believe...with real bullets. To make it to sweeps week, Charlie will have to survive two homicidal stuntmen, a rabid celebrity dog, a hit man-turned-producer, a psychotic old lady, a sex-crazed blackmailer, and vicious ratings.


Hollywood Scandals
(#1 in the Hollywood Headlines mystery series)
by Gemma Halliday

Tina Bender is the gossip columnist at the infamous L.A. Informer tabloid. She knows everything about everyone who's anyone. And she's not afraid to print it. That is, until she receives a threatening note, promising, "If you don't stop writing about me, you're dead." Now her managing editor, Felix Dunn (from the High Heels Mysteries series), has her teaming with a built bodyguard, a bubbly blonde, and an alcoholic obituary writer to uncover just which juicy piece of Hollywood gossip is worth killing over. (Formerly published under the title Scandal Sheet.)

(I also got this one for free from Amazon--with a different ASIN--in August 2011.)

To Speak for the Dead
(#1 in the Jake Lassiter mystery series)
by Paul Levine

Miami trail lawyer Jake Lassiter, "ex-football player, ex-public defender, ex-a-lot-of-things," is defending Dr. Roger Salisbury, a surgeon and womanizer charged with malpractice in the death of wealth Philip Corrigan. But the dead man's daughter insists that the doctor and her sexy stepmother conspired to kill her father—and wants Lassiter to prove it. Can Lassiter really defend his client for malpractice and build a case against him for murder? Turning for help to his old friend, retired county coroner Charlie Riggs, Lassiter hopes to get the evidence he needs from the dead man himself. But outside the courtroom, he soon finds more trouble that he ever imagined possible—murder, missing persons, grave robbery, kinky sex, and deadly drugs—as he searches Florida's steamy streets and tropical swamps for a cold-blooded killer.

Sweet Ginger Poison
(#1 in the Ginger Lightley mystery series)
by Robert Burton Robinson

Virginia "Ginger" Lightley is the owner of Coreyville Coffee Cakes, a popular bakery in East Texas. Customers drive from miles away to visit the little shop for a taste of her original creations. It's a shock to the whole community when a young man drops dead across town after eating one of her famous cakes. The newly appointed police chief promises to solve the case quickly. And Ginger wants to help him---until he accuses one of her employees of murder. She rejects the crime scenario laid out by the young police chief and secretly determines to solve the crime herself.

Saddled with Trouble
(#1 in the Michaela Bancroft suspense series)
by A.K. Alexander (a.k.a. Michele Scott)

Struggling through an ugly divorce and in danger of losing her southern California ranch to creditors, Bancroft finds her already chaotic life turned upside down when her beloved uncle Lou is found murdered in a stable stall, impaled by a pitchfork. The distraught Bancroft vows to find the person or people behind the senseless homicide, but the deeper she digs into her uncle's secretive past, the more potential suspects come to the forefront. Even Bancroft's closest friends -- trusted veterinarian Ethan Slater and her fun-loving roommate, Camden -- become prime suspects. Ignoring the advice of hunky detective Jude Davis, Bancroft continues snooping around and soon finds herself the killer's next target...

Someone's Watching
by Sharon Potts

Twenty-something Robbie Ivy's life gets inextricably complicated when her estranged father shows up with a shocking revelation about two teenage girls who disappeared in South Beach: One of the missing girls is Robbie's sister Kate--a sister Robbie never knew existed. Unwilling to re-establish family ties, Robbie is hesitant to get involved--until the body of her sister's friend washes up in Indian Creek. Desperate to find her missing sister, Robbie immerses herself in the unfamiliar world to which Kate may have fallen prey: the sexy, sizzling South Beach club scene.

Dead Reckoning
by Ronie Kendig

Underwater archeologist Shiloh Blake is consumed with passion for the water and inflamed at the injustices of life, blaming her secret agent father for her mother's death. When her first large-scale dig traps her in the middle of an international nuclear arms clash, she flees for her life and is followed by an unknown man. Who is he? How is he always one step ahead?

Reece Jaxon is a former Navy SEAL, who now serves his country as a spy. His mission is threatened by the beguiling Shiloh Blake as he hunts down the sources to a nuclear dead drop in the Arabian Sea. The only way to end this nightmare and prevent a nuclear meltdown is for Shiloh to join forces with Reece. Will Shiloh violate her vow to never become a spy like her father? Will she reconcile with her father? Will her trust issues destroy her chance for love? And will she allow God to help her through this ordeal?

Too Close to Home
(#1 in the Women of Justice series)
by Lynette Eason

Samantha Cash is the FBI's secret weapon. Her methods are invisible, and she never stops until the case is closed. When missing teens begin turning up dead in a small Southern town, Samantha is assigned to help local chief Connor Wolfe find the killer. And he has two problems with that. There's her faith--in God and herself. And then there's the fact that she looks exactly like his late wife.

As they get close to an answer, the case becomes personal. The killer seems to be taking an interest in Connor's 16-year-old daughter, who thinks her dad is getting way too protective.

(I got this one free from Barnes & Noble in May 2011.)

Cassidy Jones and the Secret Formula
(#1 in the Cassidy Jones Adventure's children's series)
by Elise Stokes

Fourteen-year-old Cassidy Jones wakes up the morning after a minor accident in the laboratory of a world-renowned geneticist to discover that her body has undergone some bizarre physical changes. Her senses, strength, and speed have been radically enhanced.

After exploring her newfound abilities, Cassidy learns that the geneticist, Professor Serena Phillips, is missing and that foul play is suspected. Terrified that her physical changes and Professor Phillips' disappearance are somehow connected, Cassidy decides to keep her strange transformation a secret. That is, until she meets the professor's brilliant and mysterious fifteen-year-old son, Emery. An unlikely duo, they set out to find Emery's mother, who is key to explaining Cassidy's newly acquired superpowers.

Decadent Desserts
(a Stonyfield Organic Yogurt cookbook)
by Stonyfield Farm

Dessert just got even better. Use Stonyfield’s recipes for decadent dessert to make your favorite treats a little less sinful.

Barnes & Noble: nook

Organize for a Fresh Start
by Susan Fay West

TRANSFORM YOUR HOME AND SCHEDULE so they perfectly meet your current needs and reflect who you are and what you value now. Changes and life transitions often leave people with unbalanced schedules and homes full of obsolete items. Certified Professional Organizer® Susan Fay West shows you how to make room for your new interests and responsibilities while honoring your past.

(I got this one for free from Amazon last month.)

Johnny B. Fast: The Super Spy
by Tom Doganoglu

Johnny Clunker was an awkward and shy boy who kept mostly to himself. But when the school day ended, Johnny Clunker became Johnny B. Fast, a super spy who worked with Department X to thwart the evils of the world.

Utilizing super technology so advanced that it seems like magic, Johnny and his friends battle the United Order, a ruthless organization trying to acquire the Super Chip – a computer processor so powerful it can virtually hold the world’s technology hostage.