Okay, that title is con­fus­ing, right? Total­ly does not make sense.

Let’s start over. My five-star book today is Ant Farm, a mys­tery that was, only this past week, pub­lished by the Kin­dle Scout pro­gram. The Scout pro­gram is rather new to Ama­zon. It’s a win-win for both writ­ers and read­ers. The writer who enters his or her book sub­mits a com­plete man­u­script and a cov­er design. The books accept­ed into the pro­gram are then pre­sent­ed to the voting/reading pub­lic with the cov­er illus­tra­tion and the nov­el begin­ning. Both Ama­zon and the author then await the vot­ing, or, as they call it, the nominations.

Vot­ing, you ask? What is this? Who votes? Or, nom­i­na­tions? How and why?

That’s where the read­er comes in. You read the offer­ings in a vari­ety of cat­e­gories. Let’s say that you find one begin­ning that makes you say to your­self, “Oh, I’d love to read that book!” Just click the link to nom­i­nate the book. (That’s the vot­ing.) Then sit back and wait for the best part—the e‑mail from Ama­zon telling you if the book has been cho­sen for pub­li­ca­tion. If it has? You get an advance copy of the e‑book, all for free. Of course, they hope you’ll review it.

The win for the author? Pub­li­ca­tion with an advance, a con­tract, and more author­i­ty than self-pub­li­ca­tion. For, after all, Ama­zon hopes to come out ahead as well.

I’ve nom­i­nat­ed four books so far. The first did­n’t make it. The sec­ond was Ant Farm. I received my copy long enough before the offi­cial pub­li­ca­tion to allow me to read the book. Loved it. This is what I had to say about it:

“This is a Kin­dle Scout book, and, as one who vot­ed for it, I got a free copy before pub­li­ca­tion. And, I’m sooo glad. This is a thriller, but, I’d say, also a more tra­di­tion­al mys­tery, as it is a puz­zle as well. The puz­zle part is the plot, as nuanced and devi­ous as any read­er could hope for. The thriller part is the impend­ing dan­ger involved for the hero, his son, and assort­ed oth­er char­ac­ters (not to men­tion the vic­tims). The char­ac­ters are a mix of lik­able and some you real­ly hope see their come­up­pance. Of course, first impres­sions can be deceiv­ing. Anoth­er thing—the sur­pris­es nev­er stop! (Be warned.)”

I’ve nom­i­nat­ed two oth­er books as well. The third was accept­ed, so I’m wait­ing for that free book. The fourth is still await­ing the end of the 30-day nom­i­nat­ing peri­od. (A read­er is allowed a total of three books at a time, so I can go back to look for two more.) This is the link to the Kin­dle Scout pro­gram for both read­ers and writ­ers. And, in case you want to read this five-star book, here’s the link for Ant Farm.