Mystery Godoku Puzzle for December 30, 2013

A new Mystery Godoku Puzzle has been created by the editors of the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books and is now available on our website.

Godoku is similar to Sudoku, but uses letters instead of numbers. To give you a headstart, we provide you a mystery clue to fill in a complete row or column (if you choose to use it!).

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This week's letters and mystery clue:

C D F G H I L N O

This literary thriller by Donna Tartt was published in late 2013 (with "The") (9 letters).

We now have two weeks of our puzzles on one page in PDF format for easier printing. Print this week's puzzle here.

Previous puzzles are stored in the Mystery Godoku Archives.

Enjoy the weekly Mystery Godoku Puzzle from the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, and Thanks for visiting our website!

Today's Mystery and Suspense Update from Big Fish Games (131230)

Here is today's mystery and suspense update from Big Fish Games …

• The New Release is Death at Cape Porto: A Dana Knightstone Novel.

• The current Catch of the Week is Margrave: The Blacksmith's Daughter, just $2.99 through Sunday, January 05, 2014 only.

• Today's Special Deal — BFG 2013 Customer Favorites Awards! 60 Award Winners for only $4.99 each!. Choose any, or all, of these 60 standard edition games — including three in the Best Mystery Game category — and use coupon code WINNER at checkout. This promotion is valid through January 3rd, 2014 only until 11:59 PM PT.

Visit the Omnimystery Entertainment Network for more games of mystery and suspense!

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The New Release today is Death at Cape Porto: A Dana Knightstone Novel

Return to Europe in a brand new adventure as Dana Knightstone, the best-selling novelist with a gift for clairvoyance. A tragic legend attracts you to Portugal, where you were planning to set the backdrop of your latest love story. But upon checking into a mysterious hotel, you discover that your abilities are not just limited to interacting with ghosts. Delve into a past obscured by untruths that have imprisoned an innocent soul who, without your help, will never have the chance to clear his name. Find clues buried in old newspaper clippings and collect useful items as you explore the romantic locales of Portugal.

A sample version is available to download and play for free for one hour.

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The current Catch of the Week is Margrave: The Blacksmith's Daughter

The town of the Cyclops appears for a single day once every three hundred years, on an island lost to cartographers. On this Day of Alignment, the town rises and sets with the midsummer sun. As the Margrave saga nears its devastating conclusion, Edwina Margrave embarks on a rescue mission into the town. Her only chance of escape is to return life to the arcane machines, and hope to the sole survivor of an ancient war. Prepare yourself for the adventure of a lifetime: the legacy of an entire civilization depends upon your cunning and compassion.

A sample version is available to download and play for free for one hour. You can purchase this game at the special price of $2.99 through Sunday, January 05, 2014.

The Ghosts of Belfast, A Crime Thriller by Stuart Neville, Now at a Special Price

MystereBooks is pleased to feature The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville, now available at a special price, courtesy of the publisher, Soho Crime.

The ebook format of this title was priced at $2.99 from the listed vendors (below) as of the date and time of this post (12/29/2013 at 4:00 PM ET). 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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The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville
A Crime Thriller
Publisher: Soho Crime

Read our review of The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville

Winner of the 2009 Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

Fegan has been a "hard man", an IRA killer in northern Ireland. Now that peace has come, he is being haunted day and night by twelve ghosts: a mother and infant, a schoolboy, a butcher, an RUC constable, and seven other of his innocent victims. In order to appease them, he's going to have to kill the men who gave him orders.

As he's working his way down the list he encounters a woman who may offer him redemption; she has borne a child to an RUC officer and is an outsider too. Now he has given Fate — and his quarry — a hostage. Is this Fegan's ultimate mistake?

  

Click on the Amazon button to see also the special Whispersync offer associated with this title.

Important Note: This book was listed at the above mentioned price 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.

A Kindle Countdown Deal: Double Take by J. P. David

Amazon Kindle Countdown Deals, limited-time discounts on Kindle-exclusive books.

MystereBooks is pleased to present you with one of today's titles … but take advantage of this deal now as the price will go up to its digital list price soon! (See the countdown clock on the book product page to see how much time remains on this deal.)

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Double Take by J. P. David
A Hank Hammond Mystery
Publisher: J. P. David
Price: $0.99 (as of 12/29/13 03:30 PM ET)

One dead body? That's almost expected when you're in the private eye biz. But when a second one pops up in even more bizarre circumstances it's enough to make even Hank Hammond, P.I. do a double take …

As the newest private investigator in Kingston Beach, Hank Hammond has all the signs of success that he could possibly ask for: the latest detective gear, a shiny red Corvette, an office within a successful attorney's building, and — most importantly — the professional services of Lori Reed, a brilliant and beautiful executive assistant.

If only Hank had a client.

Enter a cantankerous millionaire. And enter a collection of murderers, thieves, embezzlers, and other assailants including body-building twins and the local police department, all wanting a piece — or preferably pieces — of Hank.

  

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

Wish You Were Here, A Mrs. Murphy Mystery by Rita Mae Brown, Now at a Special Price

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Wish You Were Here by Rita Mae Brown, now available at a special price, courtesy of the publisher, Bantam.

The ebook format of this title was priced at $1.99 from the listed vendors (below) as of the date and time of this post (12/29/2013 at 3:00 PM ET). 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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Wish You Were Here by Rita Mae Brown
A Mrs. Murphy Mystery (1st in series)
Publisher: Bantam

Curiosity just might be the death of Mrs. Murphy — and her human companion, Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen.

Small towns are like families: Everyone lives very close together … and everyone keeps secrets. Crozet, Virginia, is a typical small town-until its secrets explode into murder.

Crozet's thirty-something post-mistress, Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen, has a tiger cat (Mrs. Murphy) and a Welsh Corgi (Tucker), a pending divorce, and a bad habit of reading postcards not addressed to her. When Crozet's citizens start turning up murdered, Harry remembers that each received a card with a tombstone on the front and the message "Wish you were here" on the back. Intent on protecting their human friend, Mrs. Murphy and Tucker begin to scent out clues.

Meanwhile, Harry is conducting her own investigation, unaware her pets are one step ahead of her. If only Mrs. Murphy could alert her somehow, Harry could uncover the culprit before the murder occurs — and before Harry finds herself on the killer's mailing list.

    

Click on the Amazon button to see also the special Whispersync offer associated with this title.

Important Note: This book was listed at the above mentioned price 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.

Easy Day for the Dead by Howard E. Wasdin and Stephen Templin, New in Bookstores This Month

Today's new hardcover mystery title, scheduled to be published this month by Gallery Books, is Easy Day for the Dead by Howard E. Wasdin and Stephen Templin.

For a list of more new hardcover mysteries published this month, visit our New Mysteries page for December 2013. For new paperback mysteries, visit The Mystery Bookshelf where a selection of December 2013 mysteries, novels of suspense, and thrillers are shelved.

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Easy Day for the Dead
Howard E. Wasdin and Stephen Templin
Series: SEAL Team Six Outcasts (2nd)

Drawn from the elite SEAL Team Six, these men and women are working deep in a program called Bitter Ash: taking on the kind of missions that, if they were exposed, will always be denied. For these warriors, every op is the highest possible risk and any moment could be the last. So they deal with it. And then wait for the next call.

Now the call has them parachuting into a harsh desert on the border with Afghanistan, meeting a beautiful agent who will lead them to a top-secret Iranian site that must be totally destroyed. For Alex Brandenberg and his fellow SEALs, this mission is like most others: Nothing goes according to plan. And when they're done, they've only just begun.

Going back into Iran for a second time brings Brandenberg and his team face-to-face with a maniacal Revolutionary Guard officer who knows Alex's identity and is hot on his trail. The SEALs must free a hostage in Lebanon. Then the fight takes them halfway around the world — in a frantic battle of courage and fighting skill that America cannot afford to lose.

      

Visitation Street, A Literary Mystery by Ivy Pochoda, Now at a Special Price

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Visitation Street by Ivy Pochoda, now available at a special price, courtesy of the publisher, Ecco.

The ebook format of this title was priced at $1.99 from the listed vendors (below) as of the date and time of this post (12/29/2013 at 2:00 PM ET). 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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Visitation Street by Ivy Pochoda
A Literary Mystery
Publisher: Ecco

It's summertime in Red Hook, Brooklyn, a blue-collar dockside neighborhood. June and Val, two fifteen-year-olds, take a raft out onto the bay at night to see what they can see.

And then they disappear. Only Val will survive, washed ashore; semi-conscious in the weeds.

This shocking event will echo through the lives of a diverse cast of Red Hook residents. Fadi, the Lebanese bodega owner, hopes that his shop will be the place to share neighborhood news and troll for information about June's disappearance. Cree, just beginning to pull it together after his father's murder, unwittingly makes himself the chief suspect, but an enigmatic and elusive guardian is determined to keep him safe.

Val contends with the shadow of her missing friend and a truth she buries deep inside. Her teacher Jonathan, a Julliard School dropout and barfly, wrestles with dashed dreams and a past riddled with tragic sins.

  

Click on the Amazon button to see also the special Whispersync offer associated with this title.

Important Note: This book was listed at the above mentioned price 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.

A New MystereBook: The Suicide Squad by T. J. Waters

Here is a mystery, suspense, or thriller ebook that we recently found by sleuthing (as it were) through new or recently reissued titles from independent publishers during December 2013 priced $4.99 or less …

The Suicide Squad by T. J. Waters is the third in the author's series of CIA spy thrillers.

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The Suicide Squad by T. J. Waters
A CIA Mystery
Publisher: T. J. Waters
Publication Date: December 27, 2013
Price: $0.99 (as of 12/29/13 01:30 PM ET)

Reece McNair, Carter Stephens, Brian Godfrey, Amir Farajian, and Kristen Hayes become close friends while at the Farm, the CIA's legendary training facility where they were taught the tradecraft of spies.

While they are deployed in Iraq, insurgents kidnap Reece. Anticipating she would be executed for propaganda purposes, her friends conduct an unsanctioned rescue operation, facing serious repercussions.

Threatened by termination and federal charges, an unlikely savior appears. The head of the CIA's reviled counterintelligence division convinces the rogue team to work for her as an alternative to criminal prosecution.

Each of them hides a secret worthy of immediate termination and is rightly delighted to avoid a federal investigation. The entrapped ensemble soon specializes in finding and forestalling spies targeting U.S. interests.

  

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

Bloodied by B. C. Chrestians is Today's Fifth Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Bloodied by B. C. Chrestians as today's fifth free mystery ebook (A Jon Rio Thriller; Kindle format only).

This title was listed for free as of the date and time of this post, December 29, 2013 at 7:50 AM ET. 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.

For a summary of all of today's featured titles, plus any that may have appeared before and are repeat freebies, visit our Free MystereBooks page. This page is updated daily, typically by 8 AM ET.

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Bloodied
B. C. Chrestians
A Jon Rio Thriller
Publisher: GangleBot Publishers

Everyone tells Detective Jon Rio that he killed a man he swears is still alive. Not only is he still alive, but he's killing again. Jon Rio, with the help of his partner, two rookie cops and an FBI agent, must find the Chameleon before he reenacts one of history's most horrendous unsolved crimes.

The breadcrumbs lead Jon and his team to an autistic man with buried clues, a cross-dressing hooker with a knowledge of the streets, a drug dealer who has seen the killer's face, a reporter with an ax to grind with Jon Rio, an uncooperative wife of a dead serial killer, and they stare into the darkness that is Leroy Douglas an ex-con who fits the bill of these killings too well.

A hero falls, a protégé emerges, and Jon Rio is a reluctant idol. Why shouldn't he be? All those he comes in contact with wind up just as damaged as he is or dead. These killings seem to have no reason, but Jon Rio will find out that the actions of his past are the reasons for all the violence.

Will Jon Rio continue to be the poison in the lives of so many, or will he finally do the right thing?

Everyone has a reason to hate Detective Jon Rio.

  

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.

Death Cart by Susan Parry is Today's Fourth Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Death Cart by Susan Parry as today's fourth free mystery ebook (A Yorkshire Dales Mystery; Kindle format only).

This title was listed for free as of the date and time of this post, December 29, 2013 at 7:40 AM ET. 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.

For a summary of all of today's featured titles, plus any that may have appeared before and are repeat freebies, visit our Free MystereBooks page. This page is updated daily, typically by 8 AM ET.

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Death Cart
Susan Parry
A Yorkshire Dales Mystery
Publisher: Viridian Publishing

Student archaeologist Millie Sanderson is hoping to uncover an ancient chariot burial site in Wensleydale but work is interrupted when her housemate, Vrishti Bhatt, disappears. Inspector Ernie Brown is not concerned and dismisses a hit-and-run accident that involves her lecturer as an "unfortunate coincidence".

But even Inspector Brown cannot ignore the next incident in the Archaeology Department. Baffled, he turns to DS Mitch Turner for support, ignoring Nina, a new young constable, who is working systematically through the evidence.

Meanwhile Millie and her friends are pursuing their own investigations …

  

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.

A Lamb in Wolfe's Clothing by S. L. Shelton is Today's Third Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature A Lamb in Wolfe's Clothing by S. L. Shelton as today's third free mystery ebook (A Scott Wolfe Mystery; Kindle format only).

This title was listed for free as of the date and time of this post, December 29, 2013 at 7:30 AM ET. 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.

For a summary of all of today's featured titles, plus any that may have appeared before and are repeat freebies, visit our Free MystereBooks page. This page is updated daily, typically by 8 AM ET.

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A Lamb in Wolfe's Clothing
S. L. Shelton
A Scott Wolfe Mystery
Publisher: S. L. Shelton

Meet Scott Wolfe. He is a talented computer and security specialist and an avid rock climber. Scott always had a secret edge in his profession — a secret which comes in handy when he is introduced to the world of international terrorism. Sadly, the gift doesn't seem to extend to helping him in his relationships.

How much responsibility does a man have for the life of an ex-girlfriend? That's the question Scott had to ask himself when Barb Whitney, her father (a State Department Attorney) and twenty eight other diplomats and their families, were supposedly killed in a terrorist attack in Amsterdam.

When Scott gets a text message from Barb's phone AFTER the explosion, he is propelled into an adrenaline charged operation, worthy of the intelligence agencies he is trying to avoid. Dodging killers, organized crime, mercenaries and the CIA, he struggles against a clock which even he doesn't know is ticking.

  

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.

Urge To Kill by J. J. Franklin is Today's Second Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Urge To Kill by J. J. Franklin as today's second free mystery ebook (A Matt Turrell Mystery; Kindle format only).

This title was listed for free as of the date and time of this post, December 29, 2013 at 7:20 AM ET. 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.

For a summary of all of today's featured titles, plus any that may have appeared before and are repeat freebies, visit our Free MystereBooks page. This page is updated daily, typically by 8 AM ET.

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Urge To Kill
J. J. Franklin
A Matt Turrell Mystery
Publisher: Earth Tiger

Detective Inspector Matt Turrell returns from honeymoon to face the most bizarre and dangerous case of his career after the body of a woman is found at a luxury spa near Stratford-upon-Avon. However, struggling within the confines of his new marriage, and haunted by a past mistake, Matt finds it difficult to concentrate.

Killer Clive Draper is a clever, ambiguous character whose motives and personality is not beyond empathy. Empowered by his first kill, Clive uses his charm to draw further victims into his net. Seeing Matt as his mortal enemy, he uses his charisma to lure Matt's new wife into his snare.

With the danger coming ever closer to home, Matt finds himself drawn into a deadly duel, where he must put his own life on the line and where the stakes have never been higher.

  

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.

Concrete Evidence by Rachel Grant is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Concrete Evidence by Rachel Grant as today's free mystery ebook (The Evidence Series; Kindle format only).

This title was listed for free as of the date and time of this post, December 29, 2013 at 7:10 AM ET. 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.

For a summary of all of today's featured titles, plus any that may have appeared before and are repeat freebies, visit our Free MystereBooks page. This page is updated daily, typically by 8 AM ET.

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Concrete Evidence
Rachel Grant
The Evidence Series
Publisher: Janus Publishing

A year ago she lost everything. Now she wants revenge.

Accused of stealing artifacts from a five-hundred-year-old shipwreck, underwater archaeologist Erica Kesling is determined to clear her name. She's concealed her past and taken a job certain to give her access to the buyer of the missing antiquities. She's finally closing in on her goal when she's distracted by a sexy, charismatic intern who makes her want something other than revenge.

But Lee Scott is no intern. He's looking for the lead conspirator in an international artifact smuggling scheme, and Erica is his prime suspect. He'll do whatever it takes to win her trust and get her to reveal her secrets, even seduce her.

As Erica and Lee struggle to conceal their real agendas, the one thing they can't hide is the attraction that burns hot between them. When Erica's quest puts her life in jeopardy, Lee must choose between old loyalties and a woman he never expected to fall for.

  

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.

Popular Mysteries and Thrillers is Today's Kindle Daily Deal

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Popular Mysteries and Thrillers as today's Amazon Kindle Daily Deal. We're highlighting just one of the titles, The Redbreast by Jo Nesbø, below.

The deal price of $1.99 each is valid only for today, Sunday, December 29, 2013.

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The Redbreast
Jo Nesbø
A Harry Hole Mystery
Harper

Detective Harry Hole embarrassed the force, and for his sins he's been reassigned to mundane surveillance tasks. But while monitoring neo-Nazi activities in Oslo, Hole is inadvertently drawn into a mystery with deep roots in Norway's dark past — when members of the nation's government willingly collaborated with Nazi Germany.

More than sixty years later, this black mark won't wash away, and disgraced old soldiers who once survived a brutal Russian winter are being murdered, one by one.

Now, with only a stained and guilty conscience to guide him, an angry, alcoholic, error-prone policeman must make his way safely past the traps and mirrors of a twisted criminal mind. For a hideous conspiracy is rapidly taking shape around Hole — and Norway's darkest hour may still be to come.

Click on the Amazon button to see also the special Whispersync offer associated with this title.

Important Note: This book was listed at the price mentioned above 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.

Today's Mystery and Suspense Update from Big Fish Games (131229)

Here is today's mystery and suspense update from Big Fish Games …

• The New Release is The Emerald Maiden: Symphony of Dreams Collector's Edition.

• The Daily Deal is Break the Curse: The Crimson Gems, just $2.99 today only!

• The current Catch of the Week is Haunted Halls: Revenge of Doctor Blackmore, just $2.99 through Sunday, December 29, 2013 only.

• Today's Special Deal — Collector's Edition Sale! For each Collector's Edition you buy this weekend you can get another Collector's Edition for only $1.99! Just apply coupon code PLAY when you have at least one Collector's Edition in your cart to get the second Collector's Edition in your cart for $1.99. Offer valid through December 29th, 2013 only until 11:59 PM PT.

Visit the Omnimystery Entertainment Network for more games of mystery and suspense!

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The New Release today is The Emerald Maiden: Symphony of Dreams Collector's Edition

After being abandoned at an orphanage 25 years prior, you've received an invitation to meet your biological mother aboard an underwater dream facility, a playground for the rich and elite, designed to simulate dreams. Powered by an ancient technology, the machine holds many dark secrets and surprises. Set off on a quest to free your family, challenge the evil spirit, and escape the Emerald Maiden before it self-destructs!

This is a special Collector's Edition release full of exclusive extras you won't find in the standard version, including: Uncover Dream Corporation's plans in the bonus chapter; Find all of the hidden collectables; Wallpapers, concept art, movies and biographies; and an Integrated Strategy Guide.

A sample version is available to download and play for free for one hour.

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Today's Daily Deal is Break the Curse: The Crimson Gems

Once upon a midnight dreary, as Lorenzo slept, weak and weary, the carnival master's star performers, Harold and Eliza, went missing! It's up to you, an expert in the arcane and supernatural, to track them down. From the lair of a powerful alchemist to the mythological creatures of the Zephyr carnival, embark on an adventure through a world of magic and mystery. Will you save Harry and his wife, or will they be Nevermore?

A sample version is available to download and play for free for one hour. You can purchase this game today only — Sunday, December 29, 2013 — for $2.99.

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The current Catch of the Week is Haunted Halls: Revenge of Doctor Blackmore

When you wake up in the lair of the notorious Dr. Blackmore, you know it's going to be a bad day. But to make matters worse, he's also holding your fiancé and a handful of other people hostage in various locations throughout the building. To save them all, you'll have to use your wits and your will to survive a series of nightmarish experiments Blackmore has concocted especially for you. Prepare for a mind-bending journey into the realm of the weird and brace yourself for the unexpected in this exciting Hidden Object adventure!

A sample version is available to download and play for free for one hour. You can purchase this game at the special price of $2.99 through Sunday, December 29, 2013.