Saturday, October 29, 2011

Review: A Double Death on the Black Isle by A. D. Scott

Reviews of Mystery and Suspense Books for Kids, New This Week on Book Trends (111029)

Book Trends: Reviews of Young Adult and Children Books

Book Trends, a review site for young adult and children books, published several new book reviews this past week. We're presenting here a summary of those in the mystery/suspense/thriller category.

The Black Heart Crypt by Chris Grabenstein. The 4th book in the "Haunted Mystery" series. Lexile measure: N/A. Reviewed by a 6th grade student, who writes, "[This book] is so good I did not want to put it down. When I finished I was left wanting to read more! I had never read a book written by Chris Grabenstein, but now I am compelled to read more of his books. If you like mystery, suspense, and a little bit of humor, then I would highly recommend this book." (Read the full review here.)

For more reviews of children and young adult books of all genres, visit Book Trends; their reviews will amaze you! You can also follow Book Trends on Twitter.

Friday, October 28, 2011

Review: The Concert Killer by R. J. McDonnell

Review: Deadly Pursuit by Irene Hannon

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: Deadly Pursuit by Irene Hannon.

Fortunes of War by Gordon Zuckerman is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks: Mystery, Suspense, and Thriller eBooks

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Fortunes of War by Gordon Zuckerman as today's free mystery ebook. We don't know how long it will be offered at this special price (typically only until a certain number of downloads have been completed), so we urge you to download it while it is still available for free.

— ◊ —

Fortunes of War by Gordon Zuckerman

Fortunes of War by Gordon Zuckerman
Non-Series
Greenleaf

About Fortunes of War (from the publisher): In the financial devastation of the 1930s, a greedy, power-hungry group of German industrialists plot to usher in the National Socialist Party in order to rearm Germany and reap the financial rewards. Thus rises Hitler. With Hitler in power, the Six Sentinels, graduates of an elite American doctoral program, uncover the industrialists' plan to hoard hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal war profits. Using their financial and familial connections around the globe, they work to foil the machinations of the financiers of the Third Reich. In a daring strategy of Robin Hood style thievery, the sentinels put their lives on the line to serve justice — and thus become embroiled in a dangerous and violent international conspiracy.

Important Note: Prices can and do change without prior notice, so please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Download Link(s):

Amazon Free Kindle Book Amazon Free Kindle Edition Download Link.

Barnes&Noble Free Nook Book B&N Free Nook Book Download Link.

Apple Free iBook Apple Free iBook Download Link (via iTunes).

For more free mystery ebooks, visit our Free MystereBooks page.

Winner of the 2011 T. Jefferson Parker Mystery Award Announced

Mystery Book Awards

Earlier this week the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association (SCIBA) awards were handed out, with Savages by Don Winslow winning the 2011 T. Jefferson Parker Mystery Award, named in honor of the crime novelist, a lifelong resident of the area.

Winslow has previously been honored with a Shamus Award for Best PI Hardcover in 2000 and two Falcon Awards.

(Hat tip to The Rap Sheet for alerting us to the winner.)

Mystery Bestsellers for the Week Ending October 28th, 2011

Bestselling Hardcover Mystery Books

A list of the top 15 mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending October 28th, 2011 has been posted by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books.

No change among the top five this past week, with the latest Jack Reacher thriller, The Affair by Lee Child retaining the top spot. One new title debuts this week.

— ◊ —

The Litigators by John Grisham

John Grisham's new legal thriller The Litigators enters the list at number 12.

The partners at Finley & Figg—all two of them—often refer to themselves as “a boutique law firm.” Boutique, as in chic, selective, and prosperous. They are, of course, none of these things. What they are is a two-bit operation always in search of their big break, ambulance chasers who’ve been in the trenches much too long making way too little. Their specialties, so to speak, are quickie divorces and DUIs, with the occasional jackpot of an actual car wreck thrown in. After twenty plus years together, Oscar Finley and Wally Figg bicker like an old married couple but somehow continue to scratch out a half-decent living from their seedy bungalow offices in southwest Chicago.

And then change comes their way. More accurately, it stumbles in. David Zinc, a young but already burned-out attorney, walks away from his fast-track career at a fancy downtown firm, goes on a serious bender, and finds himself literally at the doorstep of our boutique firm. Once David sobers up and comes to grips with the fact that he’s suddenly unemployed, any job—even one with Finley & Figg—looks okay to him.

With their new associate on board, F&F is ready to tackle a really big case, a case that could make the partners rich without requiring them to actually practice much law. An extremely popular drug, Krayoxx, the number one cholesterol reducer for the dangerously overweight, produced by Varrick Labs, a giant pharmaceutical company with annual sales of $25 billion, has recently come under fire after several patients taking it have suffered heart attacks. Wally smells money.

A little online research confirms Wally’s suspicions—a huge plaintiffs’ firm in Florida is putting together a class action suit against Varrick. All Finley & Figg has to do is find a handful of people who have had heart attacks while taking Krayoxx, convince them to become clients, join the class action, and ride along to fame and fortune. With any luck, they won’t even have to enter a courtroom!

It almost seems too good to be true.

And it is.

Purchase Options: Amazon.com Print/Kindle EditionBarnes&Noble Print/Nookbook EditionApple iBookstore eBookGoogle eBookKobo eBookIndie Bound: Independent BooksellersThe Book Depository: Free Worldwide Shipping

— ◊ —

For more mystery books news, please visit the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, where we are committed to providing readers and collectors of mystery books with the best and most current information about their favorite authors, titles, and series.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Thomas Perry's Crime Novel Strip to be Adapted for Film

Strip by Thomas Perry

Thomas Perry's 2010 crime novel Strip is being adapted for film. Aaron Stockard (Gone Baby Gone, The Town) will write the screenplay.

Strip opens with aging but formidable club owner Claudiu "Manco" Kapak robbed by a masked gunman as he places his cash receipts in a bank's night-deposit box. Enraged, he sends out half a dozen security men to find the witless culprit. Their search leads them to Joe Carver, an innocent but hardly defenseless newcomer who evades capture and sets out to make Kapak wish he'd targeted someone else. Meanwhile, the real burglar, Jefferson Davis Falkins, and his new girlfriend Carrie seem to believe they've found a whole new profession: robbing Manco Kapak. Lieutenant Nick Slosser, the police detective in charge of the puzzling and increasingly violent case, has his own troubles, including worries about how he's going to afford to send the oldest child of each of his two bigamous marriages to college without making their mothers suspicious. As this strange series of events explodes into a triple killing, Carver finds himself in the middle of a brewing gang war over Kapak's little empire, while Falkins and Carrie journey into territory more dangerous than they could have ever imagined.

(Source: Deadline.)

The Double Opens in Limited Release this Friday, October 28th, 2011

The Double (2011)

The murder mystery The Double opens in limited release this Friday, October 28th, 2011.

Based on an original story by crime novelist Derek Haas and his writing partner Michael Brandt (who also directed), the film stars Richard Gere as retired CIA operative Paul Shepherdson, who teams with rookie FBI agent Ben Geary (Topher Grace) to solve the mysterious murder of a US senator that bears the distinctive trademark of the legendary Soviet assassin "Cassius".

Having spent his career chasing Cassius, Shepherdson is convinced his nemesis is long dead, but is pushed to take on the case by his former supervisor, Tom Highland (Martin Sheen). Meanwhile, Geary, who wrote his Master's thesis on Shepherdson's pursuit of the Soviet killer, is certain that Cassius has resurfaced. As Shepherdson and Geary work their way through crimes both past and present, they discover that Cassius may not be the person they always thought him to be, forcing both to re-examine everything and everyone around them.

Watch a trailer for The Double below.

Film Trailer for Thai Noir Thriller Headshot

Headshot (2011)

We recently stumbled upon a film trailer for the Thai film Headshot, adapted from the noir thriller Fon Tok Kuen Fa ("Rain Falling Up the Sky") by Win Leowarin.

The film is set in present day Thailand, a country rife with corruption. Tul, a straight-laced cop, is blackmailed by a powerful politician and framed for a crime he did not commit. Disillusioned and vengeful, he is soon recruited to become a hitman for a shadowy group aimed at eliminating those who are above the law.

Then one day Tul is shot in the head during an assignment. He wakes up after a three-month coma to find that he sees everything upside down — literally. Unaware of whether the condition is medical or a result of karmic retribution, Tul begins to have second thoughts about his profession.

But when he tries to quit, roles are reversed and the hunter becomes the hunted. Then he meets a girl that turns his world even more upside down. Can Tul find redemption from the violence that continues to haunt him?

Kino Lorber picked up the US distribution rights following the film's showing at the Toronto International Film Festival, but we are unaware of any specific release dates.

Watch the trailer below, in Thai with English subtitles, which includes several short NSFW scenes.

Eight Character Posters from The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games: Katniss (2012)

Eight character posters from The Hunger Games have surfaced at various websites. We're showing Katniss (right), but you can see all of them via the links below.

The Hunger Games is adapted from the first novel in the young adult trilogy of thrillers by Suzanne Collins. It opens in US theaters March 23rd, 2012.

Character posters:

Katniss (via Yahoo Movies)
Gale (via moviefone)
Peeta (via Hollywood Crush)
Rue (via Teen.com)
Cato (via MSN Entertainment)
Haymitch (via IGN)
Effie (via Entertainment Weekly)
Cinna (via Fandango)

Clues to Christie: The Definitive Guide eBook from HarperCollins

Clues to Christie (HarperCollins)

Next month, HarperCollins is publishing an ebook titled Clues to Christie: The Definitive Guide to Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot, Tommy & Tuppence, and all of Agatha Christie's Mysteries.

This fully authorized and comprehensive guide to the Queen of Mystery includes an introduction by award-winning Agatha Christie expert John Curran with features on each of her classic detectives including Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot and Tommy & Tuppence; guides to reading each of her series and her stand-alone novels; and an A to Z of Agatha Christie. Interspersed throughout are quotes from Christie, a list of the Christie novels that were her personal favorites and three of her classic short stories: "The Affair at the Victory Ball", "Greenshaw's Folly" and "A Fairy in the Flat".

We're not sure what the price will be when published, but you can currently pre-order it from Amazon.com for free.

Note: Prices can and do change without prior notice, so please confirm the price of your book purchase before checking out.

We Hold These Truths by Skip Coryell is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks: Mystery, Suspense, and Thriller eBooks

MystereBooks is pleased to feature We Hold These Truths by Skip Coryell as today's free mystery ebook. We don't know how long it will be offered at this special price (typically only until a certain number of downloads have been completed), so we urge you to download it while it is still available for free.

— ◊ —

We Hold These Truths by Skip Coryell

We Hold These Truths by Skip Coryell
Non-Series
Whitefeather Press

About We Hold These Truths (from the publisher): After Hank Simmons caught his wife cheating with his Editor, he fled the hustle and bustle of the big city, and moved away with his four children to a small one-horse town in Northern Michigan. All he wanted was a little peace and quiet, and a safe and happy place to raise his children. Hank bought the local newspaper, and all was well … until … 9/11. And then the peace and tranquility of small-town America is suddenly shattered when a terrorist cell group from Detroit is infiltrated by FBI Special Agent Richard Resnik.

Agent Resnik, hot on their trail, follows the terrorists to Grand Rapids, but he underestimates the leader, Momin Islam, who attempts to detonate one of two nuclear suitcase bombs, and then flees north, with Agent Resnik in pursuit. Everything comes to a head when Momin stops in Freidham Ridge for gasoline and a simple bite to eat. Agent Resnik is compelled to join forces with Hank and the townspeople as they fight to capture the terrorist and prevent him from exploding the second nuclear suitcase bomb.

Through the course of conflict, Hank and the other townspeople are forced out of their small, secure worlds, and now must look at things in a global way, where black and white no longer seems cut and dried.

Important Note: Prices can and do change without prior notice, so please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Download Link(s):

Amazon Free Kindle Book Amazon Free Kindle Edition Download Link.

Barnes&Noble Free Nook Book B&N Free Nook Book Download Link.

Apple Free iBook Apple Free iBook Download Link (via iTunes).

Smashwords Free eBook Smashwords Free Book Download Link.

For more free mystery ebooks, visit our Free MystereBooks page.

The Bourne Betrayal by Eric Van Lustbader is Today's Amazon Kindle Daily Deal

MystereBooks: Mystery, Suspense, and Thriller eBooks

MystereBooks is pleased to feature The Bourne Betrayal by Eric Van Lustbader as today's Amazon Kindle Daily Deal. The deal price of $2.99 is valid only for today, Thursday, October 27, 2011.

— ◊ —

The Bourne Betrayal by Eric Van Lustbader

The Bourne Betrayal by Eric Van Lustbader
A Jason Bourne Thriller
Grand Central

This is the fifth book in the series, the second written by Lustbader following the death of Robert Ludlum in 2001.

About The Bourne Betrayal (from the publisher): Already devastated by loss, Bourne is shattered by a report that his last friend in the world, Martin Lindros has gone missing. A CI deputy director, Lindros was in Ethiopia tracking suspicious shipments of yellowcake uranium and atomic bomb weaponry. His last lifeline to humanity, Bourne will not let Lindros go. Despite his hatred for CI, Bourne sets out to rescue his friend and finish the job: dismantling a terrorist network determined to build nuclear armaments by cutting off their source of money. But Bourne doesn't realize that these men, Islamic supremacists, are leaders of an incredibly dangerous, technologically savvy group with ties from Africa, across the Middle East, and into Eastern Europe and Russia. They have predicted Bourne's every move, and are counting on his unwitting help in their plans to destroy America.

Important Note: Prices can and do change without prior notice, so please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Download Link(s):

Amazon Kindle Daily Deal Amazon Kindle Daily Deal 10/27/2011 Download Link.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

The Dead Man Thrillers by Lee Goldberg and William Rabkin

The Eleventh Victim by Nancy Grace

Earlier this year, crime novelists Lee Goldberg and William Rabkin created a new series of adventure thrillers featuring Matthew Cahill, a man resurrected from death.

After writing (and publishing) the first book, Face of Evil, they recruited other writers to continue the series, which eventually numbered five before the authors signed a new deal with 47North to manage the publication of future books in the series. Goldberg and Rabkin will continue to be responsible for the books' content.

As part of this new deal, 47North is reissuing all five books in the series as ebooks, and they are currently priced at 99 cents each (though we suspect this is some sort of introductory offer and not an on-going price).

The books in the series are:

Face of Evil by Lee Goldberg and William Rabkin;
Ring of Knives by James Daniels;
Hell in Heaven by Lee Goldberg and William Rabkin;
The Dead Woman by David McAfee; and
The Blood Mesa by James Reasoner.

The sixth book in the series, Kill Them All by Harry Shannon, which will be published in November, is also currently available to pre-order for 99 cents.

Important note: Prices can and do change without prior notice. Please confirm the price of your book before you checkout.

Omnimystery Blog Archive

Total Pageviews (last 30 days)

Omnimystery News
Original Content Copyright © 2022 — Omnimystery, a Family of Mystery Websites — All Rights Reserved
Guest Post Content (if present) Copyright © 2022 — Contributing Author — All Rights Reserved