# Top 25 Indie Mystery & Thriller Novels on Kindle



## Eric C (Aug 3, 2009)

Here is a list I put together today of the best-selling indie thrillers and mysteries available on Kindle. I used the search engine "Jungle-Search" to compile the list. They don't say what the criteria are for "best-selling," but it appears to be based on total sales, rather than on the more complex ranking formula Amazon uses that takes into account recent sales. (To cut down my workload a bit I assumed there weren't any indie novels selling for more than $2.99.)

If anyone finds this list useful let me know and perhaps I'll update once a month or so...

1	Serial	Jack Kilborn & Blake Crouch $0
2	Soul Identity	Dennis Batchelder $0.01 
3	The Second Ship (The Rho Agenda) Richard Phillips $0.99 
4	The List	J.A. Konrath $1.99 
5	Soul Intent	Dennis Batchelder $0.99 
6	Moonlight Keith Knapp $0.99 
7	The Walk	Lee Goldberg $1.99 
8	The Grove	John Rector $0.99 
9	Truck Stop - A Psycho Thriller	Jack Kilborn & J.A. Konrath	$1.59 
10	Twilight in the Spaces Between	David R. Williams	$0.99 
11	Origin	J.A. Konrath $1.99 
12	Perdition's Gate	James Somers	$1.00 
13	The Colorado Sequence	Stacey Cochran	$1.00 
14	Hallowed Be Thy Name James Somers	$1.00 
15	A Treasured Threat: Jeroboam's Curse	Tim K. Scott	$0.99 
16	Crack-Up	Eric Christopherson	$1.99 
17	Claws	Stacey Cochran	$1.00 
18	Shot of Tequila	J.A. Konrath	$1.99 
19	The Caliphate	Jack Stewart	$0.99 
20	Barracuda	Mike Monahan $0.99 
21	Suckers	J.A. Konrath & Jeff Strand $1.99 
22	The Beneficiary	Marshall Thornton	$0.99 
23	Death Notice	John Luciew	$0.99 
24	Stalker	Dave Dykema	$1.24 
25	Planter's Punch	J.A. Konrath & Tom Schreck	$1.99


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## Lynn McNamee (Jan 8, 2009)

Eric C said:


> To cut down my workload a bit I assumed there weren't any indie novels selling for more than $2.99.


I had to laugh at this part.  There are tons of Indie novels over that price. However, I doubt they would have made your list, anyway. Not that they are not good, but that people usually aren't willing to pay more than that for unknowns. I know that $3 is my cutoff.

Wow! Nice list!

I have either read most of these or purchased them so they can languish on my TBR list. 

There are a couple I haven't bought, yet. Gee, thanks alot! Now my TBR will get even longer!


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## Eric C (Aug 3, 2009)

Well if you can find something here you haven't read yet, Red, then I'll bet a lot of people can.

There isn't a book here above $1.99 so I doubt I missed anyone with the $2.99 cut-off.


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## ladyvolz (Dec 23, 2008)

thanks for the list and for all your hard work!  There are several books listed that I am going to check out.


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## Eric C (Aug 3, 2009)

ladyvolz said:


> thanks for the list and for all your hard work! There are several books listed that I am going to check out.


You're welcome. Wasn't too difficult really. Took maybe two hours. It wasn't always immediately clear to me what was an indie and what wasn't, what was a mystery or thriller and what wasn't, and there were all these public domain novels (e.g., Edgar Allan Poe, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) that the search filter wouldn't extract for some reason despite my having elected to exclude public domain. Some of the public domain novels and their authors were so obscure that I'd think at first they were new indie books, only to discover the work had been authored in the late 19th century or so.


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## Karen_McQ (Aug 9, 2009)

This is great--thanks!

I can tell that feeding my Kindle will be never-ending. Good thing these are bargain prices.


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## mfstewart (Jun 23, 2009)

Thanks, Eric, I certainly appreciate the mention!


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## JA Konrath (Apr 2, 2009)

Thanks, Eric!


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## JA Konrath (Apr 2, 2009)

Jack Kilborn said:


> Thanks, Eric!
> 
> And thanks to all the Kindlers who helped me get on this list seven times.


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## Eric C (Aug 3, 2009)

Kudos on that!


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## AppleHeart (Apr 10, 2009)

OMGosh!!!

I happy to say I have all 25 but have only read #1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 16, 18, 20, 21 and 25. Guess I need to push the rest up on the TBR queue. (Since I consider books some kind of 'representations' of the authors, right or wrong, books are 'people' to me, hence the use of 'queue'.)

Mr. Kilborn, I bought AFRAID because of the way you kinda "dared" us (readers) to get it and read it, IIRC. That was the very first book of yours I've read. As you can see, I have become a fan, and I am certain that I will become a fan of everyone in the list above....

Thanks to every authors who've given (or will give) me hours of relaxation and respite and escape from the daily stress encountered at the workplace, etc...


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## Eric C (Aug 3, 2009)

Here is this month's updated list of bestselling indie novels in the mystery/thriller category for the Kindle. A few new entrants here, particularly near the bottom of the list.


1.  Soul Identity Dennis Batchelder $0.01
2.  The List by J.A. Konrath $1.99
3.  Moonlight by Keith Knapp $0.99
4.  The Walk by Lee Goldberg $1.99
5.  Origin by J.A. Konrath $1.99
6.  The Second Ship by Richard Phillips $0.99
7.  Soul Intent by Dennis Batchelder $0.99
8.  Truck Stop - A Psycho Thriller by Jack Kilborn and J.A. Konrath $1.59
9.  Disturb by J.A. Konrath $1.99
10. Perdition's Gate by James Somers $1.00
11. The Grove by John Rector $1.99
12. The Colorado Sequence by Stacey Cochran $1.00
13. Twilight in the Spaces Between by David R Williams $0.99
14. The Caliphate by Jack Stewart $0.99
15. Crack-Up by Eric Christopherson $1.99
16. Shot of Tequila by J.A. Konrath $1.99
17. Hallowed Be Thy Name by James Somers $1.00
18. Death Notice by John Luciew $0.99
19. Suckers by J.A. Konrath and Jeff Strand $1.99
20. Claws by Stacey Cochran $1.00
21. Wet Desert by Gary Hansen $0.99
22. Relocating Mia by Rebecca Lerwill $0.99
23. Vicious by Brandon Massey $0.99
24. Barracuda by Mike Monahan $0.99
25. Cibola by David Wood $3.99

I changed the criteria a bit this month to exclude free books because, as I understand things, books that are in fact independently published can't be offered below one penny for the Kindle. I didn't consider books above $3.99 to cut down on the work required to update the list and because I think it's unlikely a book charging more than that would make the list.


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## Sam Landstrom (May 29, 2009)

Request to get on your cool list!

MetaGame which is at the moment at #312 and currently selling for $1.59: http://www.amazon.com/MetaGame/dp/B002L4EXB0

BTW, there are two store pages for this book. I asked Amazon to remove the other one and I disabled it through DTP so no one can buy from that page. Anyway, thought I'd mention it in case there is any confusion.

Thanks,
Sam


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## Eric C (Aug 3, 2009)

Hi, Sam. I use Jungle-Search to generate the list, and Jungle-Search uses Amazon's own sort index. I just run the search with the appropriate filters and then determine with my eyeballs and a few judgment calls which books are indie and verify they're novels instead of short stories and indeed mysteries or thrillers of some kind before finalizing the list. Metagame simply isn't showing up near the top right now, so there was no judgment on my part to exclude it. It sounds as though it qualifies as a thriller based on the product description, but did you indicate that it's a thriller when you published it?

If so, then maybe that problem you have of there currently being two different versions of your novel may be why the book wasn't on the list. (As you probably know, one version of Metagame is ranked pretty low and the other rather high.) Let me know when you've got that straightened out and I'll search for it on jungle-search again, or you can check it yourself at: http://www.jungle-search.com/US/kindle.php

Steps to identify the indie best sellers:

Select "mystery & thrillers" category
Choose to sort results by "bestselling"
Price range is $0.01 to $3.99
Exclude public domain
Run search
Ignore the books from major publishers
Ignore the public domain books (many will still show up in the results though you've elected to exclude them)
Compile list


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## Eric C (Aug 3, 2009)

Here is this month's top 25. Some new names to be found. Congratulations especially to Karen McQuestion, who not only made history recently as the first self-published Kindle author to sell film rights, but her latest release, Favorite, is number four in terms of "sales velocity," which is how Amazon describes the sort index I use to put the list together.

1. Soul Identity by Dennis Batchelder $0.01
2. The List by J.A. Konrath $1.99
3. Wet Desert by Gary Hansen $0.99
4. Favorite by Karen McQuestion $1.99
5. Origin by J.A. Konrath $1.99
6. The Second Ship by Richard Phillips $0.99
7. The Walk by Lee Goldberg $1.99
8. Moonlight by Keith Knapp $0.99
9. Truck Stop by Jack Kilborn and J.A. Konrath $1.59
10. Soul Intent by Dennis Batchelder $0.99
11. Death Notice by John Luciew $0.99
12. Disturb by J.A. Konrath $1.99
13. Perdition's Gate by James Somers $1.00
14. Suckers by J.A. Konrath and Jeff Strand $1.99
15. The Colorado Sequence by Stacey Cochran
16. Crack-Up by Eric Christopherson $1.99
17. The Grove by John Rector $1.99
18. Twilight in the Spaces Between by David R Williams $0.99
19. Hallowed Be Thy Name by James Somers $1.00
20. The White Lady Murders by Wendy Potocki $1.00
21. Shot of Tequila by J.A. Konrath $1.99
22. Vicious by Brandon Massey $0.99
23. Relocating Mia by Rebecca Lerwill $0.99
24. Identity Crisis by Debbi Mack $1.59
25. Kill The Story by John Luciew $1.99


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