MysteryeBooks: Poisoned Pen Press Announces Three Newly Discounted eMysteries

More good news from Poisoned Pen Press, which has just announced three more of its titles are free on iTunes, 99 cents on Amazon and Kobo. One of these books — Effigies — is the third in the "Faye Longchamp" series of mysteries by Mary Anna Evans, which we highly recommend. Indeed, we've read all the books in the series, and have enjoyed each and every one.

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Winter of Secrets
Vicki Delany
A Molly Smith Mystery (3rd in series)

Siblings Wendy and Jason Wyatt-Yarmouth and their friends are in the peaceful mountain town of Trafalgar, B.C. enjoying a two-week vacation of skiing, drinking, drugs, and sex. But tragedy strikes when two of the group crash through the ice into the frozen river.

It's Christmas Eve and the snow-storm of the decade has settled over the town. Constables Molly Smith and Dave Evans have a busy shift attending fender-benders, tumbling pedestrians, and Christmas tree fires. Then, at the stroke of midnight, they are summoned to the scene of a car accident: a vehicle has gone off the snowy road into the river. Police, coroner, and medics all agree it was an accident. But when the autopsy reveals a shocking secret, Molly and Sergeant John Winters are plunged into a world of sexual predators, recreational drugs, privilege, and high-living.

Meanwhile, stalker Charlie Bassing is out of jail and looking for revenge, a handsome Mountie is giving Molly the eye, and her mother, Lucky, is cheerfully interfering in the investigation.

And all Molly Smith wants to do is ski the powder …

      

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Effigies
Mary Anna Evans
A Faye Longchamp Mystery (3rd in series)

Faye Longchamp and Joe Wolf Mantooth have traveled to Neshoba County, Mississippi, to help excavate a site near Nanih Waiya, the sacred mound where tradition says the Choctaw nation was born.When farmer Carroll Calhoun refuses the archaeologists' request to investigate an ancient Native American mound, Faye and her colleagues are disappointed. But his next action breaks their hearts: he tries to bulldoze the huge relic to the ground.

Faye and Joe rush to protect history, with their bodies if necessary. The situation grows more dangerous as Choctaws arrive to defend the mound and the farmer's white and black neighbors come to defend his property rights. A popular young sheriff is able to defuse the situation, but tempers are short.

That night, Calhoun is found dead, his throat sliced with a handmade stone blade. Was he killed by an archaeologist angered by his wanton destruction of history? Did a Choctaw take up arms to defend an embattled heritage? Did someone decide to even the score with an old rival?

The sheriff is well-aware that Faye and Joe were near the spot where Calhoun's body was found. The whole county saw their confrontation with him over the mound. And their combined knowledge of stone tools is impressive. They had motive, means, and opportunity—but so did almost everyone in Neshoba County.

      

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Sorrow Without End
Priscilla Royal
A Prioress Eleanor Mystery (3rd in series)

In 1271, tough-minded Ralf the Crowner, who's trying to bring a brutal serial killer to justice, prevails upon Eleanor to allow the mangled corpse of a lowly foot soldier to be laid in the chapel during his investigation. The "rule of Eve" prevails in Tyndal, where pious Eleanor resists the demands of rival monks who complicate Ralf's work with their own competing agendas for the priory's future.

Eleanor faces further challenges when a knight is slain and an infirmarian (or hospital) nun is beaten and raped before the altar.

Suspense builds amid a vivid backdrop of lepers wearing "clappers", a madman who chatters warnings, venal relic sellers and the shadowy "man from Acre", haunted by guilt for his wife's death at the hands of a sadistic crusader.

      

Click on the Amazon.com button to check out the special Whispersync offer associated with this title.

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Important Note: Any prices mentioned above were correct as of the date and time of this post. Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your transaction.

Two TV Spots for Skyfall

Sony has uploaded two 30-second television spots for Skyfall, the 23rd "James Bond" film and the third starring Daniel Craig as 007.

After an operation in Istanbul ends in disaster, James Bond is missing and presumed to be dead, the identities of every active undercover MI6 agent are leaked onto the internet, and M becomes the subject of a government review over her handling of the situation. When the agency itself is attacked, Bond's sudden reappearance gives M the pretext she needs to seek out a dangerous villain claiming a personal connection to both of them — but as he follows a trail from London to the South China Sea, Bond soon finds his loyalty to M challenged over secrets from her past.

Directed by Sam Mendes from an original screenplay by Neal Purvis & Robert Wade and John Logan, Skyfall opens in US theaters on November 9th.

Cinemystery: Daniel Radcliffe in Joe Hill's Horns

Entertainment Weekly has the first photo of Daniel Radcliffe in the film adaptation of Joe Hill's Horns (right; click for larger image). We were curious how they would handle the titular effect, and have to admit, we're quite impressed with how it looks.

"It's a very, very different type of part than anything I've done before," teases Radcliffe. Today marked the first time the actor settled into a Vancouver makeup chair for several hours of prosthetics application.

Radcliffe plays Ig Perrish in the film (book synopsis below), directed by Alexandre Aja from an adapted screenplay by Keith Bunin. We do not believe Horns has a release date yet.

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Horns
Joe Hill

At first Ig thought the horns were a hallucination, the product of a mind damaged by rage and grief. He had spent the last year in a lonely, private purgatory, following the death of his beloved, Merrin Williams, who was raped and murdered under inexplicable circumstances. A mental breakdown would have been the most natural thing in the world. But there was nothing natural about the horns, which were all too real.

Once the righteous Ig had enjoyed the life of the blessed: born into privilege, the second son of a renowned musician and younger brother of a rising late-night TV star, he had security, wealth, and a place in his community. Ig had it all, and more — he had Merrin and a love founded on shared daydreams, mutual daring, and unlikely midsummer magic.

But Merrin's death damned all that. The only suspect in the crime, Ig was never charged or tried. And he was never cleared. In the court of public opinion in Gideon, New Hampshire, Ig is and always will be guilty because his rich and connected parents pulled strings to make the investigation go away. Nothing Ig can do, nothing he can say, matters. Everyone, it seems, including God, has abandoned him. Everyone, that is, but the devil inside …

Now Ig is possessed of a terrible new power to go with his terrible new look — a macabre talent he intends to use to find the monster who killed Merrin and destroyed his life. Being good and praying for the best got him nowhere. It's time for a little revenge … It's time the devil had his due …

      

Mysterious Press Releases 10 Ben Kincaid Legal Thrillers and Two Stand-Alones by William Bernhardt in eBook Format

Mysterious Press released ten books in the "Ben Kincaid" series of legal thrillers plus two stand-alones by William Bernhardt this week in ebook format.

A former attorney himself, William Bernhardt's 1991 debut novel introduced dealistic defense attorney Ben Kincaid. Seventeen thrillers in the series followed, with the most recent, Capitol Betrayal, being published in 2010. He has also written another (much fewer in number) series of mysteries featuring police psychologist Susan Pulaski and several stand-alones.

We're providing a list of the newly re-released ebooks by William Bernhardt below, with a synopsis from the first in the series, Primary Justice.

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Primary Justice
William Bernhardt

After just a few hours on the job, a new lawyer lands his first murder case …

It's Ben Kincaid's first day as an associate at corporate giant Raven, Tucker & Tubb, and he's ready to start the long climb up the ladder to partnership. But he's barely cleared the first rung when a body trips him up.

Ben's first task is to arrange an adoption for one of the firm's biggest clients—a bit of grunt work that becomes interesting when he meets the child in question. Emily suffers from Korsakov's Syndrome, a rare disorder that prevents her from forming memories, and Jonathan and Bertha Adams want nothing more than to raise her as their own. But Kincaid has just begun getting the paperwork together when he gets a chilling phone call: Jonathan has been found dead, hacked to pieces in an alleyway. Investigating the killing will take Kincaid down a fearsome path, leading him to wish that, like Emily, he had the power to forget.

      

(2nd) Blind Justice — Amazon | iTunes | Kobo

(3rd) Deadly Justice — Amazon | iTunes | Kobo

(4th) Perfect Justice — Amazon | iTunes | Kobo

(5th) Cruel Justice — Amazon | iTunes | Kobo

(6th) Naked Justice — Amazon | iTunes | Kobo

(7th) Extreme Justice — Amazon | iTunes | Kobo

(8th) Dark Justice — Amazon | iTunes | Kobo

(9th) Silent Justice — Amazon | iTunes | Kobo

(10th) Murder One — Amazon | iTunes | Kobo

Stand-alone novels of suspense …

The Midnight Before Christmas — Amazon | iTunes | Kobo

Double Jeopardy — Amazon | iTunes | Kobo

New Poster for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2

A new — and likely final — poster for the The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 has been released by the studio (right; click for larger image). The tagline: "The epic finale that will live forever."

Directed by Bill Condon from a screenplay by Melissa Rosenberg and adapted from the bestselling novel by Stephenie Meyer, the film opens in theaters November 16th, 2012.

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Breaking Dawn
Stephenie Meyer
The Twilight Saga (4th and final in series)

To be irrevocably in love with a vampire is both fantasy and nightmare woven into a dangerously heightened reality for Bella Swan. Pulled in one direction by her intense passion for Edward Cullen, and in another by her profound connection to werewolf Jacob Black, a tumultuous year of temptation, loss, and strife have led her to the ultimate turning point. Her imminent choice to either join the dark but seductive world of immortals or to pursue a fully human life has become the thread from which the fates of two tribes hangs.

Now that Bella has made her decision, a startling chain of unprecedented events is about to unfold with potentially devastating, and unfathomable, consequences. Just when the frayed strands of Bella's life-first discovered in Twilight, then scattered and torn in New Moon and Eclipse-seem ready to heal and knit together, could they be destroyed … forever?

      

Click on the Amazon.com button to check out the special Whispersync offer associated with this title.

Today's Bestselling Free Kindle MystereBooks (121002)

Here is today's list of the Bestselling Free Kindle Crime Fiction: the top nine mysteries, novels of suspense, and thrillers.

We're using a script to embed an RSS feed from Amazon.com, which is updated hourly, but if you cannot see the box below — or have scripts blocked — you can click on the image to the right or use this link to see the relevant page on Amazon.com.

The Mystery Bookshelf: Out of the Deep I Cry by Julia Spencer-Fleming, a Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Mystery

The Mystery Bookshelf, where you can discover a world of mystery and suspense, is pleased to feature a new crime novel we recently received from the publisher.

Julia Spencer-Flemining was the winner of the 2001 SMP Best Traditional Mystery Novel Contest for In the Bleak Midwinter, which introduced Anglican priest Clare Fergusson and Chief of Police Russ Van Alstryne. Published by Minotaur Books in 2002, it went on to win numerous literary mystery awards.

Earlier this year Minotaur Books began reissuing the books in this series, in order, in new trade paperback editions. This is the third, first published published in 2004.

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Out of the Deep I Cry by Julia Spencer-Fleming
A Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Mystery (3rd in series)
Minotaur Books (Trade Paperback)
Publication Date: October 2012
ISBN-13: 978-1-250-01604-1

About Out of the Deep I Cry (from the publisher): On April 1, 1930, Jonathan Ketchem's wife Jane walked from her house to the police department to ask for help in finding her husband. The men, worn out from a night of chasing bootleggers, did what they could. But no one ever saw Jonathan Ketchem again …

Now decades later, someone else is missing in Miller's Kill, NY. This time it's the physician of the clinic that bears the Ketchem name. Suspicion falls on a volatile single mother with a grudge against the doctor, but Reverend Clare Fergusson isn't convinced. As Clare and Russ investigate, they discover that the doctor's disappearance is linked to a bloody trail going all the way back to the hardscrabble Prohibition era. As they draw ever closer to the truth, their attraction for each other grows increasingly more difficult to resist. And their search threatens to uncover secrets that snake from one generation to the next-and to someone who's ready to kill.

Purchase Options for Out of the Deep I Cry:

        

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About the author: Julia Spencer-Fleming was born at Plattsburgh Air Force Base, spending most of her childhood on the move as an army brat. She studied acting and history at Ithaca College, and received her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law. She lives outside of Portland, Maine. Two of the books in this series — In the Bleak Midwinter and All Mortal Flesh — have won multiple literary mystery awards. For more information about the author and her books, visit her website at JuliaSpencerFleming.com.

Listen to a 30-Second Clip of Skyfall by Adele (via BBC Radio)

Yesterday we had news that the premiere of the theme song for Skyfall, recorded by Adele, would take place on Thursday, October 4th at 7:07 PM ET.

Today, BBC Radio is reporting the song has — no surprise — been leaked early. Though they don't have the full track available — and we haven't gone looking for it either — the article does have a 30-second clip.

The track — simply titled Skyfall — is available to pre-order today from iTunes.

Discounted Seasonal Intrigue from Poisoned Pen Press

Poisoned Pen Press is offering a "seasonal intrigue" special on two of its titles all this month, discounting the ebook editions of Mark de Castrique's Fatal Undertaking and Kerry Greenwood's Trick or Treat to just 99 cents through the month of October 2012. More information on both books is below.

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Fatal Undertaking
Mark de Castrique
A Barry Clayton Mystery (5th in series)

Funeral director and part-time sheriff Barry Clayton finds United States Junior Chamber (Jaycee) member Archie Donovan's request absurd until he learns the casket will be the centerpiece of the Jaycees' haunted house, a charity event with all proceeds going to the children's hospital.

But when the president of the Jaycees is murdered in the casket on Halloween, the national press descends upon Gainesboro to cover the bizarre crime. Sheriff Tommy Lee Wadkins assigns Barry to be the lead investigator of a case that presents no motive and no suspects. Then someone fires a shot at Archie Donovan, and Barry wonders whether the victim in the casket had even been the intended target.

Barry finds his police work and personal life on a collision course as his ex-wife Rachel comes to town with high hopes of using the story to launch her TV network career. She begins prying into the lives of Gainesboro's most distinguished citizens and creates a backlash that leaves another body in its wake. Old wounds are ripped open, family rifts exposed, and a criminal enterprise revealed that cuts to the heart of the community.

Barry Clayton must follow a trail of clues as winding as a forest path. The unexpected destination: a mountainside of Christmas trees. Somewhere behind these symbols of peace and goodwill lurks a killer. Unmasking him will be a fatal undertaking.

      

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Trick or Treat
Kerry Greenwood
A Corinna Chapman Mystery (4th in series)

When a cut-price franchise bakery opens its doors just down the street from Earthly Delights and crowds flock to purchase the bread, Corinna Chapman is understandably nervous. Meanwhile, the gorgeous Daniel's old friend Georgiana Hope has temporarily set up residence in his house, and it doesn't take Corinna long to work out that she's tall, blonde, gorgeous and up to something. Daniel is making excuses and Corinna is worried about his absences and also the strange outbreak of madness which seems to be centred on Lonsdale Street.

      

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Important Note: Any prices mentioned above were correct as of the date and time of this post. Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your transaction.

Copp for Hire by Don Pendleton is Today's Second Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Copp for Hire by Don Pendleton as today's second free mystery ebook.

This title was listed as free as of the date and time of this post. Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your transaction.

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Copp for Hire
Don Pendleton
A Joe Copp Thriller
Publisher: Pendleton Artists

This is the first of six mysteries in this series, first published by Donald I. Fine in 1987.

Tough, cagey, ex-cop turned private eye, Joe Copp descends into the labyrinth of forbidden sex, corrupt politics, and multiple murders. It is a powerful story of gray and light and shifting shadows that conceal as much as they reveal about human nature. The fast moving story takes Joe Copp to the rough and tumble, down and dirty, anything-goes underbelly of Los Angeles and on to the deadly vice pits of Honolulu's Chinatown.

  

Important Note: This book was listed for free on the date and time of this post. Prices can and do change without prior notice. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

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

Innocent Little Crime by C. S. Lakin is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Innocent Little Crime by C. S. Lakin as today's free mystery ebook.

This title was listed as free as of the date and time of this post. Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your transaction.

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Innocent Little Crime
C. S. Lakin
Publisher: Imajin Books

Six naïve guests plus revenge served cold equals a recipe for disaster …

Lila Carmichael may be a rich and famous comedienne, but she’s hidden her greatest talent from her adoring fans—her ability to simmer, spice and serve a carefully constructed tour de force at a cozy reunion on her private island in the Pacific Northwest.

Six unsuspecting guests have forgotten the innocent little crimes they committed against poor, gullible Lila fifteen years ago in college. All are teetering on the brink of ruin, hoping the famous Lila will come to their rescue. But their desperation plays them right into her hand.

One by one, Lila's guests are figuratively killed off in a vicious parlor game called Wolves. And revenge turns bittersweet when the weekend is over … and one guest is dead for real.

  

Important Note: This book was listed for free on the date and time of this post. Prices can and do change without prior notice. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

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

First Poster for Parker

The first (we believe) poster for Parker has been released by the studio (right; click for slightly larger image). The tagline: "To get away clean, you have to play dirty."

Based on a character created by Richard Stark — a pseudonym of Donald E. Westlake — Jason Statham stars as the professional thief, who adheres to a strict code of honor that involves never stealing from or harming the innocent and needy.

Though Westlake/Stark wrote some 24 or so crime novels featuring the character, we don't think this film is based on any of the books. John J. McLaughlin is credited with the screenplay.

Parker opens in theaters January 25th, 2013.

Three New, Very Different Posters for Killing Them Softly

Three new — three very different — posters for the crime thriller Killing Them Softly have been released by the studio. To the right is one from arthouse Mondo (click for larger image); below are two credited simply to the studio (click for larger images). All were first posted by Moviefone.

Adapted from the crime novel Cogan's Trade by George V. Higgins, the film follows Jackie Cogan (Brad Pitt) as an enforcer hired to track down three guys, who robbed a mob-protected card game.

Written and directed by Andrew Dominik, Killing Them Softly was originally scheduled to open in theaters this month, but has now been moved to November 30th, 2012. You can watch the trailer below.