Robert Ellis's Blog

FLASH Sale—CITY OF STONES, FREESat/Sun Only

US, UK, CA, EU, AU

A secret so potent itclaimed the lives of an entire family + a killer who will stop at nothing to remainhidden = Detective Matt Jones on another major case.

“Riveting. A moody,white-knuckle murder tale.” – Kirkus Reviews

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08Z23T8CQ

09/27/2025

https://www.robertellis.net

New DR Readers

This weekend’s Flash Sale for The Dead Room was a knockout!It gives me great pleasure to say that there are 911 (exactly) more DEAD ROOM Readersthan there were last Friday. And they’re not just from the US. They’re looseand walking the streets in Canada, the UK, The Netherlands, Australia, andSpain!

I'm guessing we're more than a million strong by now with our books and our lamps and our reading chairs. Welcome to the show! If you end up liking The Dead Room,I can pretty much guarantee that you’ll get a good and spooky ride out of Lena Gamble in City of Fire and what comes next!

https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Room-Robert-Ellis-ebook/dp/B0055X0OLM/

ROBERT ELLISWRITERS BLOG

09/15/2025

https://www.robertellis.net

Murder Season in the Big City

Murder Season, the third book in the Lena Gamble series,has always stood out. Maybe it’s the simplicity of the opposition, the humanityof the characters and their plights, or even the glorious depravity of thecrooks and scoundrels that make this book and series what they are.

Here are the first 166 words.

***

Chapter 1

She could smell it in the pillow as shepulled it closer. On the sheets as she rolled over in the darkness and searchedout cool spots that were not there.

Murder season.

          Shewas floating, drifting. Cruising through an open seam between sleep andconsciousness.

          Sheglanced at the clock radio but didn’t really see it, then fell back into thestream and let go. It was somewhere after midnight, sometime before dawn. Earlyspring, and the air inside the house was already deadened from the oppressiveheat. A steep, lifeless desert wave had swelled over Los Angeles two days ago,pushing the marine layer and the cool breezes out over the ocean where theycould be burned up and erased without a witness.

          Thecity that was left behind felt dusty and canned in. Vacuum-packed. The airperfumed with spent diesel fuel and gasoline.

          Murderseason would come early this year. It would roll in with the heat like theywere best friends. Lovers.

***

Popup Sale: FREE Today & Tomorrow in the US, UK, EU, AU 

https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Season-Lena-Gamble-Novel-ebook/dp/B08WWTH8D7/

09/06/2025

https://www.robertellis.net

Sept. 1 Book Contest Winners

Congratulations to Mary H. from Berwyn, PA, and Toby E. fromWilmington, NC, for winning this week’s Free BookContest. Signed copies of Murder Season, a Lena Gamblethriller and big-time reader favorite, are on their way.

https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Season-Lena-Gamble-Novel-ebook/dp/B08WWTH8D7/

09/01/2025

Thiscontest has been running on the 1st & 15th of each month since Aug 2018.If you’d like to enter, visit https://www.robertellis.net.

BookBub Featured Deal: The Girl Buried in theWoods

Thanks to BookBub for making ‘The GirlBuried in the Woods’ a Featured Deal this week in the UK, Canada and Australia,and for the next ten days (US included). What a great success for a novel inspired by a horrific true crime that has become so timely over thepast six months.

On her fifteenth birthday, SophieRamirez takes her new skateboard for a test ride in the park across the street fromher home. Days later, Detective Matt Jones finds her body buried in a shallowgrave. When Jones makes the ID, he can’t believe the girl wasn’t reportedmissing. When he locates her parents, he learns that they were afraid to comeforward because years ago they’d crossed the border without documents. Drivenby the horror of their loss and the outrage of the crime, Jones follows the evidencethrough three shades of greed: from an infamous mob figure to three cheating WallStreet traders to a gang of dirty cops trying to do Jones in. “More thriller than mystery. An impressive amount ofsuspense. A swift pace. Solid entertainment.” –Kirkus Reviews

https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Buried-Woods-Detective-Jones-ebook/dp/B07TTY18QL

08/17/2025

https://www.robertellis.net

Aug 15 Book Contest: The Girl Buried in the Woods

Congratulations to Lisa N. from Boston, MA, and David W. from SantaCruz, CA, for winning this week’s Free BookContest. Signed copies of The Girl Buried in the Woods, inspiredby a true crime and a reader favorite in the Matt Jones thriller series, are ontheir way.

https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Buried-Woods-Detective-Jones-ebook/dp/B07TTY18QL/

ROBERT ELLISWRITERS BLOG

08/15/2025

https://www.robertellis.net

A Serial Killer Falling in Love

Thanks to Amazon for featuring ‘The Love Killings’ thismonth and lowering the price until August 1.

I know this novel is sometimes called ‘Silence of the Lambs’ meets the movie ‘True Romance.’ But at its heart, ‘The Love Killings’ is all aboutfamily and an entire cast of characters exploring their pasts. That thecharacters are so outrageous is what tips the scale. Here’s a short excerpt as Andrew Penchant, a naturalborn killer in his early twenties, looks at Avery Cooper, a girl he picked up at the mall, lyingon his bed at his mother’s house.

“He could see thesweat collecting on her forehead and above her full lips. He didn’t want tomove. He didn’t want to leave her alone in the room. He was in love with her,he realized. He was in love with her being, her body, the idea of her, the factof her, the sound of her voice. But it was more than that. Way more. He lovedeverything about her. The things she was touching. The things she was lookingat.”

TheLove Killings on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Love-Killings-Detective-Matt-Jones-ebook/dp/B012W7BCVE/

ROBERT ELLISWRITERS BLOG

07/25/2025

https://www.robertellis.net

July 15 Book Contest Winners

Congratulations to Mark R. from Santa Monica, CA, and Jean C. from Portland,OR, for winning this week’s Free BookContest. Signed copies of The Love Killings, one of myfavorites in the Matt Jones thriller series, are on their way.

Specialthanks to Amazon for featuring The Love Killings this month and loweringthe price until August.

https://www.amazon.com/Love-Killings-Detective-Matt-Jones-ebook/dp/B012W7BCVE/

ROBERT ELLISWRITERS BLOG

07/17/2025

https://www.robertellis.net

Secret Garden: The Love Killings

I discovered this secret garden a few weeks ago while walkingChevy. It reminds me so much of the first crime scene in The Love Killings.Not just the garden but the house that goes with it. Before moving to Los Angeles, I found a remarkable place to live outside Philadelphia. Amansion divided into thirty apartments. My rent, with three fireplacesand a view, topped out at $270! It was an awesome place to live! And the perfectplace to stage a horrific mass killing! And why not? I knew every room in thebuilding. I had a serial killer who just escaped capture in Los Angeles andfascinated readers in City of Echoes. I had Matt Jones on medical leave recoveringfrom gunshot wounds. So why not bring everyone back together in Philly? And why not do it in the middle ofwinter? How happy I am to have found this secret garden and the wonderfulmemories that go with it!

TheLove Killings on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Love-Killings-Detective-Matt-Jones-ebook/dp/B012W7BCVE/

07/05/2025

https://www.robertellis.net

July 1 Book Contest Winners

Congratulations to Nancy W. from Baton Rouge, LA, and Dori K. from DrexelHill, PA, for winning this week’s Free BookContest. Signed copies of The Love Killings, one of my favoritesin the Matt Jones thriller series, are on their way.

Thiscontest has been running on the 1st & 15th of each month since Aug 2018.To enter, please visit https://www.robertellis.net.

The LoveKillings onAmazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Love-Killings-Detective-Matt-Jones-ebook/dp/B012W7BCVE/

07/01/2025

https://www.robertellis.net