Mystery Bestsellers for April 25, 2008

A list of the top 15 mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending April 25, 2008 has been posted on the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books website.

A major reordering of the bestselling mysteries this week with The Miracle at Speedy Motors by Alexander McCall Smith assuming the top position on this list.

New this week: Coming in at number 12 is The Whole Truth, an international thriller by David Baldacci. Mathew Pender works for a shadowy organization that specializes in managing seemingly impossible situations for its clients. Sometimes, those services extend to managing--and creating--armed conflict. When Matt is asked by his client--the largest defense contractor in the world--to manipulate two nations against each other, a shocking and surprising series of events are set in motion that will possibly bring the world to the brink of World War III.

On our bestseller page, we've added an icon next to every title that is available for immediate download onto the Amazon Kindle. To learn about this wireless reading device, visit the Amazon Kindle page for more information. And don't forget to check our Pre-Order Mysteries page where you can save an additional 5% when you purchase your mystery books prior to their publication date.

The top four mystery bestsellers this week are shown below:

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.

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Mystery Book Review: The Poetry of Murder by Bernadette Steele

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, has written a review of The Poetry of Murder by Bernadette Steele. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

The Poetry of Murder by Bernadette Steele
 A Geneva Anderson Mystery

Oak Tree Press (Trade Paperback)
ISBN-10: 1-892343-08-8 (1892343088)
ISBN-13: 978-1-892343-08-6 (9781892343086)
Publication Date: January 2008
List Price: $12.95

Synopsis (from the publisher): During her time at the International House of Chicago, aspiring African American poet, Geneva Anderson has met people from around the globe, listened to debates about world issues and celebrated the arts. But with the arrival of a new year, Geneva will also discover that an inheritance can be a blessing and a curse.

After her aunt, Victoria Franklin, the director of the International House of Chicago is murdered; Geneva’s life is unraveled by a mysterious inheritance and a murder charge. With the help of her best friend, Zain Valdez, Geneva decides to investigate her aunt’s murder.

Geneva’s investigation leads her to the revelation that her beloved aunt led a secret life and that the list of suspects even includes her academically accomplished neighbors.

To clear herself, she must navigate through a web of lies, secrets, and revenge until she learns the poetry of murder.

Review: Bernadette Steele introduces poet fellowship recipient Geneva Anderson who is suspected of killing her wealthy aunt in The Poetry of Murder.

Geneva is staying at International House while composing a book of poetry as part of her studies. Her aunt, Victoria Franklin, is the director of the facility. (Note: International House at the University of Chicago is real place. Its mission is to promote cross-cultural understanding, mutual respect and friendship among students and scholars and on the part of the people of metropolitan Chicago toward individuals of all nations and backgrounds.) When Victoria is murdered in a ritualistic fashion, Geneva becomes a suspect. Her motive: she is the sole beneficiary of $10 million. When she's released on bail, Geneva is determined to clear her name and identify the person, or persons, who killed her aunt.

As the first book of a series, The Poetry of Murder has much going for it. It introduces an appealing character in Geneva Anderson, and the setting of International House that offers a multitude of scenarios around which to construct a series of mysteries. Unfortunately, and somewhat ironically, Geneva plays a subordinate role to her supporting characters that are more richly drawn and seem to have greater dimension. For example, the detective in charge of Victoria's murder, Yvonne Peterson, has a much larger profile than Geneva and is arguably more interesting.

Though the plot of the book is intricate and well-thought out, the narrative at times seems disjointed or incomplete, failing to deliver on the promise of the intrigue behind the murder. Part of the problem here is that there are too many points of view. Virtually all of the principal characters have something to say, and many (maybe most) do not contribute to the continuity of the story in any meaningful way and are simply unnecessary distractions.

The Poetry of Murder provides a good introduction to a series worth watching, but tighter and more judicious editing of subsequent books will be required to maintain readers' interest over the long term.

Special thanks to Bernadette Steele for providing a copy of The Poetry of Murder for this review.

Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.

For more mystery book reviews visit Mysterious Reviews, a partner with the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books which is committed to providing readers and collectors of mystery books with the best and most current information about their favorite authors, titles, and series.

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Mystery Godoku Puzzle for April 21, 2008

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!).

This week's letters and mystery clue: B D E G L O S U Y. This district attorney was featured in a series of novels by Erle Stanley Gardner (9 letters).

New! We now have our puzzles 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!

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Compendium of Mystery News 080420

A compendium of recently published mystery news articles:

• In a press release Lifetime has announced that it will adapt two novels by Patricia Cornwell for television. The books are At Risk, published in 2006, and The Front, a sequel scheduled for publication next month. Cornwell, who will also executive produce, said, "I am excited and honored by this new creative partnership with such an outstanding network and believe that together we can bring to life stories and characters unique to the crime-writing genre."

• In related news, The Times will be serializing The Front for 10 days over the next 2 weeks. The online edition of the newspaper also has an interview with Patricia Cornwell.

• Otto Penzler's entertaining column on NYSun.com features one of his mystery quizzes, this one titled "Did You Know?"

• A rare copy of Arthur Conan Doyle's first Sherlock Holmes adventure, A Study in Scarlet, has been found in an Oxfam store in Harrogate, reports the Knaresborough Post. Originally published in 1887 by Beeton's Christmas Annual a year before it appeared in book form, it will be sold at auction on May 20th where it is estimated to fetch £9000 (about $18,000).

• Two months ago, Mystery Books News reported that The Telegraph had compiled a list of the 50 greatest crime writers of all time. Now The Times has released its selection of the 50 greatest crime writers. The top 5 are Patricia Highsmith, Georges Simenon, Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler, and Elmore Leonard.

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Mystery Book Review: Death Walked In by Carolyn Hart

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, has written a review of Death Walked In by Carolyn Hart. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

Death Walked In by Carolyn Hart
A Death on Demand Mystery

William Morrow (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-06-072405-6 (0060724056)
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-072405-4 (9780060724054)
Publication Date: March 2008
List Price: $23.95

Synopsis (from the publisher): Annie Darling discovers the secret of the Franklin house, but death walked in ...

Max Darling hasn't been interested in crime since his brush with a seductive young woman put him in danger of losing his freedom. He even refuses to talk to a woman who calls for help and says she is afraid. The caller leaves word she's hidden something in the antebellum house Max and his wife, Annie, are restoring. When Annie finds out, she hurries to the woman's home, only to discover her shot. Annie hears her final whisper as she holds the dying woman's hand.

Evidence links the dead woman to a nearby home, where a fortune in gold coins has gone missing. The gold coins, rare Double Eagles, were stolen from a house filled with visiting family members, twentysomethings hungry for money and several with secrets they must keep. Is one of them willing to kill for a fortune in coins? Or is it the dead woman's high school dropout son? Max is there when the police arrest the son, but the boy's shock upon learning of his mother's death convinces Max of his innocence. Max and Annie plunge wholeheartedly into the investigation.

But are the coins hidden in Annie and Max's Franklin house? The intruder who shoots at Max seems to think so. And who walks in when Annie discovers the secret of that house?

Review: Carolyn Hart's 17th mystery in the Death on Demand series, Death Walked In, has mystery book store owner Annie Darling in a quest for a treasure of lost gold coins.

It is February on Broward's Rock, the resort island off the South Carolina coast, it's damp and cold and there are few visitors. When Annie is called to go to the home of Gwen Jamison who says that she is afraid of something, Annie finds her shot and dying. Without any proof, the police immediately arrest Gwen's son, Robert, for her murder. He is a high-school dropout and a rabble rouser. He has been in trouble before, but nothing violent. Though Annie's husband Max is able to obtain an alibi for Robert from the minister of the local Baptist Church, it's a mixed blessing. Much to the minister's chagrin, Robert was with his daughter during the time of the murder. This does not completely satisfy the police as some of Gwen's blood was found in his car as was the gun used to shoot her. The questions still unanswered are: if Robert is innocent, who planted the gun and blood in his car? And where is the fortune of gold coins that has gone missing from a historic house that the Darlings are restoring?

The mysteries in this series have typically been in the style of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple stories, some more so than others, and with varying degrees of success. Death Walked In is one of the better ones and deservedly so. The plot is tightly constructed, and the suspects, though numerous, are well delineated. The romantic interplay between Annie and Max is a bit overdone at times, but they make a good investigative team. When Annie figures out where the coins are and their link to Gwen's murder, it's a puzzle worthy of the grand master herself.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Death Walked In and to HarperCollins for providing a copy of the book for this review.

Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.

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Mystery Bestsellers for April 18, 2008

A list of the top 15 mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending April 18, 2008 has been posted on the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books website.

Nevada Barr's latest Anna Pigeon mystery, Winter Study, jumps into second position this week with only minor changes for the remaining top 7 from last week.

New this week: In 9th position is The Miracle at Speedy Motors, the 9th mystery in the No 1 Ladies' Detective series by Alexander McCall Smith. Precious Ramotswe is busy investigating her latest case: a woman who is looking for her family. The problem is, the woman doesn't know her real name or whether any members of her family are now living. Meanwhile, Phuti Radiphuti has bought Mma Makutsi a glorious new bed. Unfortunately, it will inadvertently cause her several sleepless nights. And life is no less complicated at Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors, where Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni—Mma Ramotswe's estimable husband—has fallen under the sway of a doctor who has promised a miracle cure for his daughter's medical condition, which Mma Ramotswe finds hard to believe. But Precious Ramotswe deals with these difficulties with her usual grace and good humor, and in the end discovers that the biggest miracles in life are often the small ones.

Also new this week: In 12th position is a non-series thriller by Harlan Coben,  Hold Tight. Tia and Mike Baye never imagined they'd become the type of overprotective parents who spy on their kids. But their sixteen-year-old son Adam has been unusually distant lately, and after the suicide of his classmate Spencer Hill—the latest in a string of issues at school—they can't help but worry. They install a sophisticated spy program on Adam's computer, and within days are jolted by a message from an unknown correspondent addressed to their son: "Just stay quiet and all safe." Meanwhile, browsing through an online memorial for Spencer put together by his classmates, Betsy Hill is struck by a photo that appears to have been taken on the night of her son's death ... and he wasn't alone. She thinks it is Adam Baye standing just outside the camera's range; but when Adam goes missing, it soon becomes clear that something deep and sinister has infected their community. For Tia and Mike Baye, the question they must answer is this: When it comes to your kids, is it possible to know too much?

On our bestseller page, we've added an icon next to every title that is available for immediate download onto the Amazon Kindle. To learn about this wireless reading device, visit the Amazon Kindle page for more information. And don't forget to check our Pre-Order Mysteries page where you can save an additional 5% when you purchase your mystery books prior to their publication date.

The top four mystery bestsellers this week are shown below:

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.

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First Clues: More Mini-Mysteries for Kids

We've updated our website First Clues: Mysteries for Kids by adding a few more mini-mystery series.

Lawrence Treat has written five books in the Crime and Puzzlement series. Each book contains 24 illustrated puzzles that will challenge your amateur sleuth!

Though all the books follow the same format (a story with a picture, both of which contain clues to the solution of the mystery), the fourth title features the author's precocious cousin Phoebe, while the fifth title is set entirely on Martha's Vineyard, an island off the Massachusetts coast, and features Sam, chief of the All-Island Regional Police Department.

The Crime and Puzzlement mini-mysteries are appropriate for kids aged 9 and older.

There are currently two books in the Detective Club: Mysteries for Young Thinkers series by Ludy Leimbach.

While appropriate for casual reading, these mini-mystery books were written to assist teachers in teaching deductive reasoning to their students. The books come with complete instructions for the teacher and answers to the puzzles. All mysteries are presented on attractive reproducible worksheets that include entertaining dialogue and clues needed to solve the mystery.

The Detective Club mini-mysteries are appropriate for young sleuths aged 7 to 10.

In addition to the 2-minute and 5-minute mysteries already available on the website, we've added One-Hour Mysteries by Mary Carr.

Each book in the One-Hour Mysteries series contains five motivating mysteries that your young armchair detective can solve using clues and logical reasoning. As with the Detective Club mini-mysteries, these books also come with teacher instructions and blackline masters that may be photocopied for educational use.

The first two books in the series contain standard solve-them-yourself mysteries. The third book is positioned as a course for private investigators and is appropriately titled The Private Eye School. All books are intended for readers aged 8 to 11.

Hy Conrad is the author of an eclectic collection of whodunit mini-mysteries that we've grouped under the category Whodunits.

Included in this collection are historical whodunits that take place around the world and at various times, from ancient Rome to 1940s Hollywood, aptly named kids whodunits featuring brainy pre-teen Jonah Bixby, two books (crime mysteries and crime puzzles) that feature Sherman Oliver Holmes, the great-great-grandson of the famous consulting detective himself, and the official puzzles of the MENSA society.

All of these whodunit mini-mysteries are fun to solve and age-appropriate for readers 9 and older.

First Clue Mysteries is pleased to provide information on nearly 100 mystery series for children and young adults. Each series is conveniently listed under three different age categories (New Sleuth, ages 4 to 7; Future Sleuth, aged 7 to 10; and Sleuth in Training, ages 10 and older). If you have a favorite mystery series you'd like to see added to our site, please contact us.

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Mystery Book Review: Roux Morgue by Claire M. Johnson

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, has written a review of Roux Morgue by Claire M. Johnson. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

Roux Morgue by Claire M. Johnson
A Mary Ryan Mystery

Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-59058-487-2 (1590584872)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-487-3 (9781590584873)
Publication Date: April 2008
List Price: $24.95

Synopsis (from the publisher): San Francisco pastry chef Mary Ryan is back at her old alma mater. Initially ecstatic to be teaching, Mary finds herself trying to straddle both worlds, caught between her original mentors and her contemporaries.

To make matters worse, Homicide Detective O’Connor has enrolled as a student, claiming to be on disability from the San Francisco Police Department.

In the middle of this turf war, Mary is confronted by the dean Robert Benson. Mary must either force Coolie Martin to leave the school or lose her job. Why would Coolie’s father, a member of the Board of Directors, allow this to happen? But when faculty and staff begin dying, Mary thinks that Coolie’s forced exit might only be part of a larger, more sinister plot.

Acting on a hint from O’Connor, Mary contacts the only person who can help her: nemesis Thom Woods. Will Mary and Thom uncover the truth before another chef bakes his last pie?

Review: Claire M. Johnson's second Mary Ryan mystery, Roux Morgue, has the San Francisco pastry chef joining the faculty of the Ecole d'Epicure (School of Cooking) and finding herself in the midst of all sorts of mischief and mayhem.

A battle royale is raging at the school between the "old" chefs who believe traditional European cooking should be taught, and the "new" chefs who want to embrace of more inventive, modern, and healthy methods of food preparation. If that weren't enough, the dean of the school gives Mary an ultimatum regarding the status of a student, one with which Mary not only doesn't understand, she doesn't agree. And what is homicide detective O'Connor doing enrolled at the school? When a student dies after eating shellfish (an item conspicuously missing from the menu), it's assumed to be a tragic accident. But when another death follows, suspicions are aroused. Is all this conflict connected in some way, and if so, how?

Roux Morgue is not a culinary mystery in the generic sense of the genre's definition. The mystery happens to be set at a school of cooking, and Mary is a pastry chef by profession, but there is very little in the way of culinary arts going on here. Mary isn't the most pleasant of characters, a sort of vulgar Nancy Drew. She seems to bounce from one mystery to another (and there are several more not covered here) and it's never quite clear how her involvement furthers the investigation of any of them. There are attempts to inject humor into the story, to lighten up the sometimes dour mood, but they generally fall flat.

Roux Morgue is all the more disappointing since the elements (ingredients, if you will) for a good mystery are all present. It's just that they never come together.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Roux Morgue and to Poisoned Pen Press for providing an ARC of the book for this review.

Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.

For more mystery book reviews visit Mysterious Reviews, a partner with the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books which is committed to providing readers and collectors of mystery books with the best and most current information about their favorite authors, titles, and series.

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Mystery Books News Welcomes Elizabeth Zelvin

Mysterious Reviews in partnership with the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books is pleased to welcome Elizabeth Zelvin on her virtual book tour.

Elizabeth Zelvin’s Death Will Get You Sober is the debut mystery of a New York City psychotherapist who has directed alcohol treatment programs, including one on the Bowery. She currently does online therapy via chat and email with clients around the world at LZCyberShrink.com. Liz has published two books of poetry, a book on gender and addictions, and a short story, “Death Will Clean Your Closet,” featuring Bruce Kohler, the protagonist of Death Will Get You Sober. Further books in the series are in the works as Bruce continues his journey of recovery in New York City and beyond. Liz is an active member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime and can be found in cyberspace on DorothyL and Crimespace as well as at her author website, ElizabethZelvin.com.

People ask me how I came to write about the Bowery, Liz says. Only the opening of the book takes place there. It’s like any other health care setting today: they don’t let you stay long. This is an amateur-sleuth mystery with a gritty beginning.

Death Will Get You Sober starts with Bruce waking up in detox on the Bowery on Christmas Day. The Bowery in lower Manhattan, along with Seattle’s Skid Row and its namesakes in Los Angeles and other cities, has long been synonymous with down-and-out chronic alcoholism. The area was famous for its bars and flophouses as well as the “Bowery bums” who came from all over the country to drink cheap Ripple or Thunderbird and sleep it off in the gutter.

I first went there in 1983 as a very green alcoholism counseling intern. My professor urged me to pass up the other choice, an expensive private clinic, and go down to the Bowery. “You’ll love it,” he said, and he was right. I caught the very end of the era before the homeless spread out all over the city. There were only a few bars and two or three genuine flophouses left. But walking down the Bowery from Astor Place, you entered another world when you crossed Fifth Street.

The program was housed in the notorious men’s shelter on Third Street, still a scary place at that time. To reach the elevator, you had to breast your way through crowds of not too sweet-smelling men who stood around in a fog of cigarette smoke. The elevator had no buzzer. To get to the program on the fourth floor, you had to pound on the scarred elevator door with your fist, and eventually Wisdom the elevator man would bring it creaking down to get you. (His name was Winston, but no one called him that.) You took your life in your hands if you used the stairs.

My first day as an intern, the last of the cops who’d formed the first “rescue team” in 1967 to bring “Bowery bums” to detox instead of just throwing them in jail took me out with him. It was Check Day, when all the guys on any kind of public assistance or veteran’s benefits got their monthly check. So nobody was lying in the gutter. The cop said we’d find them in the bars. It was 10:30 in the morning. I remember the sun slanting down across the bar, the dust, the bartender polishing a glass, and the row of heads that turned toward us in unison. They all knew the cop. They knew why we were there. The bartender sounded like an elevator man in Bloomingdale’s. He said, “Fourth floor! Fourth floor! Who wants to go?” They knew exactly what he meant. They’d all spent many nights in the shelter. Some of them had been in detox 60 times.

One elderly gentleman slid off his stool and announced, “I’ll go!” He was small and grizzled, and I remember his baggy black and white checked pants. Chatty in the police car as we drove the short distance back to Third Street, he told me he’d once been a social worker himself. Not likely, the cop told me.

I kind of telescoped the gentrification of the Bowery in Death Will Get You Sober. I wanted to convey the flavor of the old days. But I couldn’t ignore changes that had become radical by the time my book was published in 2008. The Bowery, like other recycled New York neighborhoods, has become trendy. Celebrities recently turned out for the well publicized opening of a museum of contemporary art. Chi-chi restaurants abound. Even by the time I went back in 1993 as program director of an outpatient alcohol program, the shelter had been cleaned up and turned into the heart of a model agency for social services to the homeless. I once walked up the formerly dangerous stairs in a Santa Claus hat and a red feather boa to help sing Christmas carols in the detox. By the time I left in 1999, fern bars started moving in. A block east, blue recycling garbage cans stood neatly in front of the Hell’s Angels clubhouse. Their stretch of Third Street curb was painted yellow. The city had put up a sign: “Parking reserved for Hell’s Angels motorcycles only.”

We're thrilled Elizabeth Zelvin took the time to visit with us today and look forward to having her return again soon.

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Mystery Book Review: Death Will Get You Sober by Elizabeth Zelvin

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, has written a review of Death Will Get You Sober by Elizabeth Zelvin. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

Death Will Get You Sober by Elizabeth Zelvin
A Bruce Kohler Mystery

St. Martin's Minotaur (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-312-37589-1 (0312375891)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-37589-8 (9780312375898)
Publication Date: April 2008
List Price: $23.95

Synopsis (from the publisher): On Christmas Day, Bruce Kohler wakes up in detox on the Bowery in New York City. He knows it’s time to change his life, but how can he stay sober without dying of boredom?

When homeless alcoholics start to die unexpectedly, Bruce is surprised to find he cares enough to want to find out why. Most of them had been down and out for many years, but Bruce’s friend Guff was different: a cynical aristocrat with a trust fund and some secrets.

Two old friends give Bruce a second chance and agree to help him with his investigation: his best friend, Jimmy, a computer genius and history buff who’s been in AA for years, and Jimmy’s girlfriend Barbara, a counselor who sometimes crosses the line between helping and codependency.

Barbara works a night shift at the detox and confronts a counselor who might still be dealing drugs. Bruce gets a job temping for Guff’s arrogant nephew. Between the three of them, suspects start piling up. The trail leads back to the detox. Or does it? 

Review: Elizabeth Zelvin's first full-length mystery Death Will Get You Sober features amateur sleuth Bruce Kohler, an alcoholic struggling to stay sober, a character first introduced by the author in the short story Death Will Clean Your Closet.

Bruce wakes up in detox on Christmas Day, not surprised he's there but not thrilled about it either. His roommate is Godfrey Brandon Kettleworth III, Guff for short. Guff's not the stereotypical down-and-outer resident of the ward; he has a trust fund and family connections. When Guff suddenly dies one night, Bruce is suspicious. Another alcoholic had died just a day earlier, not in a similar fashion, but still, it was too coincidental. Bruce begins an informal investigation into Guff's background and finds no shortage of people who might want him dead. Maybe his death was just a coincidence. But then another alcoholic dies, diverting Bruce's attention back to the detox ward. If Bruce can stay sober, he might just figure out what's going on.

Death Will Get You Sober is one of those appealing mysteries that starts strong then just sort of meanders along never really regaining the strength of its opening chapters. To be sure, the book has much going for it. The characters and setting are original and deftly drawn, and the wryly written narrative is entertaining. The author takes great care in portraying the environment in which these characters exist as an essential element of the story without editorial or moral judgment as to why they are there. In contrast to this, the plot seems almost clumsy with too many suspects (and consequently too many red herrings) and a convoluted pathway to its somewhat predictable conclusion.

Now that Death Will Get You Sober has properly established the characters and setting for what promises to be a most entertaining mystery series, it is hoped that future books will provide a more compelling story in which they can participate.

Special thanks to St. Martin's Minotaur for providing an ARC of Death Will Get You Sober for this review.

Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.

For more mystery book reviews visit Mysterious Reviews, a partner with the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books which is committed to providing readers and collectors of mystery books with the best and most current information about their favorite authors, titles, and series.

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Mystery Godoku Puzzle for April 14, 2008

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!).

This week's letters and mystery clue: A I L O P R S T V. Janet LaPierre’s mysteries are set in this fictional northern California town (9 letters).

New! We now have our puzzles 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!

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