I have exciting news for anyone who loves crime fiction and detective books. 20 Days of SMITHmas is a Christmas feature being run by Stewart Giles and from today (7th December) each day a kindle book in the Detective Jason Smith series will be free on Amazon for 1 day only but this is worldwide so will be open to every country in your time zone (please check it is free in your country at the time of purchasing.
Below is a bit about the book and the dates it will be free:
DS Jason Smith Series
Phobia: 5 early DS Smith cases – FREE 7th December
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Phobia is a series of five DS Jason Smith cases he worked on before we met him in the first book ‘Smith’. We get insights into what moulded him to be the Detective Sergeant we first get a glimpse of in ‘Smith’. Smith quickly realizes that police work isn’t always cut and dried. Justice is not always black and white; there are many shades of grey in between.
Smith (DS Smith Book 1) – FREE 8th December
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It is Christmas Day in York. A woman is found dead in her bed. A suicide note is found on her chest. It reads ‘I am so sorry Martin’. Hours later the police are called to a house a few miles away. A mother and her daughter have been brutally attacked; the mother is dead, and the daughter is barely alive. The father is found shaking uncontrollably in the corner of the room. He is covered in blood, but he is unharmed. His name is Martin Willow.
Boomerang (DS Smith Book 2) – FREE 9th December
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A man is killing people in York. Initially the murders appear to be the random acts of a maniac. Detective Jason Smith is put in charge of the investigation. It soon becomes clear that the murders are all connected to him in one way or another. All the killings correspond to events in Smith’s life and the murderer leaves dates at the crime scene which tie up to important dates in Smith’s history.
Ladybird (DS Smith Book 3) – FREE 10th December
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Detective Sergeant Jason Smith is days away from the end of his sick leave after a case that almost cost him his life when he gets a call from an old friend. His friend has been arrested for the murder of a student. He wants Smith to investigate the murder and prove his innocence. Smith is persuaded return to work. The student was killed with a bread knife. Ladybirds were scattered on his dead body
Occam’s Razor (DS Smith Book 4) – FREE 11th December
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A football player is shot dead in front of a packed crowd of people. DS Jason Smith is put in charge of the investigation. The murder weapon is found in a house across the road from the football ground. It is a rare Russian army issue sniper rifle. As the investigation hits dead end after dead end, two government agents arrive and take over, pushing Smith and his colleagues to the side.
Harlequin (DS Smith Book 5) – FREE 12th December
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The circus comes to town and children start to disappear. Detective Sergeant Jason Smith is persuaded to return to work after three weeks of a marijuana induced haze. Forced to endure the leadership of a new DI, the fulsome Bryony Brownhill, Smith is faced with the most difficult investigation of his colourful career. When the children who vanished are found murdered in various parts of the city, all clues lead to the circus grounds, but Smith and his team are met with a sinister silence everywhere they turn.
Selene (DS Smith Book 6) – FREE 13th December
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When a man is found tucked up in bed with his throat sliced open two days after Christmas, DS Jason Smith and his team are baffled. It appears he has been drugged, killed and carefully wrapped up in a duvet. The only evidence Smith finds are some strands of hair belonging to a woman. One month later, another man is killed in exactly the same manner but there appears to be no link whatsoever to the two men apart from the fact that they were both single, lonely and middle aged.
Horsemen (DS Smith Book 7) – FREE 14th December
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One draining murder investigation after another has left DS Jason on the brink of losing his sanity and he needs a break. A string of armed robberies at the McDonalds in the city of York are getting in the way. Smith’s DI makes him a deal; if he can get to the bottom of it, he can have two weeks off. Smith figures out who the brains behind the robberies is; the young wife of Jimmy Phoenix, the owner of all the McDonalds franchises in the city.
Unworthy (DS Jason Smith Book 8) – FREE 15th December
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DS Jason Smith is dragged away from paternity leave when a woman is killed with her baby in the next room. When more women with children are brutally murdered, Smith discovers that they all have something in common – they all share a secret. Then he finds out that the mother of his own child is on this list of ‘Unworthy’ women.
Venom (DS Jason Smith Book 9) – FREE 16th December
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Still recovering from an accident, DS Jason Smith receives a strange phone call: ‘I want to live.’ The number is unknown, and Jason puts it down to a hoax call. While doing a favour for his DCI the phone call suddenly begins to make sense and Jason is once again on the trail of a psychopath. Can Smith stop this maniac before more people die? Who is it and why does he have Smith’s number? As the team struggle to find some kind of a lead Jason realises that it may not be his own life in danger this time but he is in danger of losing someone else he cares about. This is a unique story that has a steadily increasing pace that continues to deliver all the way to the very last page.
Severed (DS Jason Smith Book 10) – FREE 17th December
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A student, who hasn’t been seen for a while is found dead in her room. Her throat has been cut but it turns out that is not the cause of death! The post-mortem reveals that she had been drained of all her blood. The killer has left behind no evidence and there are no clues. Is there a vampire loose in York? Then another body is found, and Smith and the team are struggling to find a link or a motive. Will this be the case that defeats the brilliant DS Smith? How much more heartache can Jason Smith bear? Severed will take him to hell and back.
Demons (DS Jason Smith Book 11) – FREE 18th December
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‘Forgive me father, for I have sinned.’ Someone is killing people in York. All of the victims share a secret that the murderer is somehow aware of and all of them receive an identical message after they are killed. ‘God has forgiven you your sins, but He could not rid you of your demons. So I have taken them for you.’ Detective Sergeant Jason Smith heads up the most draining investigation he’s ever come across. Coming face to face with demons of his own, will this be the case that finally sends Smith over the edge?
Deadeye (DS Jason Smith Book 12) – FREE 19th December
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When a man is shot dead in a park not far from where Detective Jason Smith lives, Smith takes it personally. The man was killed in a precise and cold manner. Then, when another victim turns up – also killed with absolute precision, Smith realizes he’s on the trail of a killer who will stop at nothing. Fighting against his team, Smith will have to dig harder than he’s ever dug before to stop the worst killer York has ever seen.
Motive (DS Jason Smith Book 13) – FREE 20th December
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In the week before Christmas, two people are brutally murdered in their homes. There is no sign of a struggle and both victims have had their throats slashed open. Detective Jason Smith is on holiday for the Christmas period, but he finds himself in the middle of the investigation before he knows it. There are no clues left at the murder scenes besides a bizarre series of numbers and letters left in random places – E.6.T.0.M. Smith and the team are baffled. What is the relevance of this ambiguous message? As the bodies start to pile up, and the tensions heat up within the team, Smith soon senses that someone in his team knows more about this than they are letting on. Is there a rat in their midst? And if so, who is it? And why is someone killing people without any obvious motive? In the most bizarre case of Smith’s career, will this be the murderer that finally beats him?
Australia (DS Jason Smith Book 14) – FREE 21st December
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When a man is shot dead in a park not far from where Detective Jason Smith lives, Smith takes it personally. The man was killed in a precise and cold manner. Then, when another victim turns up – also killed with absolute precision, Smith realizes he’s on the trail of a killer who will stop at nothing. Fighting against his team, Smith will have to dig harder than he’s ever dug before to stop the worst killer York has ever seen.
Wishbone (DS Jason Smith Book 16) – FREE 22nd December
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‘BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR.’ These seemingly innocent song lyrics are about to send Detective Jason Smith over the edge. Still traumatised after a harrowing trip back home, Smith is sent headlong into the stuff of nightmares when he returns to work. When a woman is found dead with her spinal cord severed Smith and his team are thrown into the most disturbing investigation ever. Then another body is found and when Smith realises what this woman was subjected to he knows he’s on the trail of the most sadistic killer he’s ever come across. All clues point to a Death Metal band. Wishbone are in town for a few shows and when Smith realises all the murders bear striking similarities to their song lyrics he starts to wonder if there is something more to this band than meets the eye. This is the most horrifying case of Smith’s career and one the people of York will never forget.
Ghosts (DS Jason Smith Book 17) – FREE 23rd December
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When a man is shot dead in a park not far from where Detective Jason Smith lives, Smith takes it personally. The man was killed in a precise and cold manner. Then, when another victim turns up – also killed with absolute precision, Smith realizes he’s on the trail of a killer who will stop at nothing. Fighting against his team, Smith will have to dig harder than he’s ever dug before to stop the worst killer York has ever seen.
The Scarecrow (DS Jason Smith Book 18) – FREE 24th December
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The Scarecrow. How do you stop a psychopathic killer when they’re always one step ahead of you? A new kind of murderer has caught the attention of the people of York. His attention is focused on the low-life’s and the bottom-feeders of society. He calls himself The Scarecrow. The citizens of York are calling him a hero – a killer ridding society of the undesirables, but Detective Jason Smith can’t accept this. And when he finds himself first on the scene of this maniac’s first horrific murder, and sees for himself what this self-proclaimed deterrent to crime is capable of, he takes it upon himself to stop The Scarecrow at any cost. But as the brutal murders continue, Smith finds himself wondering if this is a fight he can actually win. The Scarecrow refuses to be stopped. Is this the first killer Smith is unable to beat?
The Bluesman (DS Jason Smith Book 19) – FREE 25th December
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Smith isn’t In a good place. He’s still in shock after the worst case of his career. He has problems on the home front, and he’s just been told to take some time off. Smith thinks things couldn’t get much worse. They’re about to get much, much worse. Smith gets a phone call. When a stranger asks for his help, he doesn’t know what to do. An old friend has gone missing and the parting words of the woman on the phone chill Smith to the bone. He’s sold his soul to The Bluesman. Smith has some time off. But as he digs deeper into this mystery Bluesman he starts to wonder about everything else in his life. The Bluesman is not what he seems, and he’s going to change Smith’s life forever.
New Release – published 26th December a new addition to the DS Jason Smith series:
The Librarian (DS Jason Smith Book 20)
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Detective Jason Smith has outwitted more murderers than he cares to admit. His insight into the criminal mind is unrivaled and he’s made a career out of outsmarting the depraved and insane killers that have plagued the city of York. But it appears someone has been doing some research on Smith’s track record. Somebody knows more than they ought to, and when people are murdered in circumstances, far too familiar to be coincidence, Smith runs out of ideas. The answers to his questions come from an unexpected source. An octogenarian former Librarian who claims to remember everything that has ever happened in her waking life, will prove to be an unusual ally in Smith’s quest to bring down the most disturbing killer he’s ever come across.
