Mystery Godoku: Weekly Puzzle for October 01, 2007

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 D E H K O R S U. This descriptive structure is in the title of the 10th Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James mystery by Deborah Crombie (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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News: Mystery Book Awards Announced This Week

A busy week for mystery book awards! The following organizations handed out their respective awards for excellence in mystery fiction this past week; the winners of the major awards are listed below:

The Macavity Award (Mystery Readers International)

Best Mystery Novel: The Virgin of Small Plains by Nancy Pickard (Ballantine)
Best First Mystery Novel: Mr. Clarinet by Nick Stone (HarperCollins)

The Anthony Award

Best Novel: No Good Deeds by Laura Lippman
Best First Novel: Still Life by Louise Penny
Best Paperback Original: Ashes and Bones by Dana Cameron

The Shamus Award (Private Eye Writers of America)

Best P. I. Hardcover: The Dramatist by Ken Bruen (Irish PI Jack Taylor)
Best First P. I. Novel: The Wrong Kind of Blood by Declan Hughes (Irish PI Ed Loy)
Best P. I. Paperback Original: An Unquiet Grave by P. J. Parrish (Florida PI Louis Kincaid)

The Barry Award (Deadly Pleasures)

Best Novel: The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos
Best First Novel: Still Life by Louise Penny
Best British Crime Novel: Priest by Ken Bruen
Best Paperback Original: The Cleanup by Sean Doolittle
Best Thriller: The Messenger by Daniel Silva

Congratulations from Mystery Books News to all the winners!

Please visit the Mystery Book Awards website where lists of winners from over 20 different organizations that recognize excellence in mysteries, including all of the above, are presented.

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Compendium of Mystery News 070929

Today's compendium of recently published mystery news articles:

• It's a bit surprising it took this long, given the unqualified success of the Nancy Drew 3D interactive games for the PC by Her Interactive, but now The Adventure Company is bringing The Hardy Boys to adventure gaming. The first title, The Tower Treasure, is expected to be released in late 2008. Read the press release here. (MBN note: visit An Introduction to Nancy Drew for more information about the teenage sleuth, and Games of Mystery: Nancy Drew to purchase PC games in this series.)

• On the subject of mystery games, IGN Entertainment recently interviewed the project lead for the upcoming Nintendo DS game Touch Detective 2 1/2, discussing what fans can expect from the sequel. In the original Touch Detective, you become Mackenzie, a private investigator in a unique mystery adventure.

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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News: ITW Interviews Jeffery Deaver on The Chopin Manuscript

This past week, the International Thriller Writers (ITW) and Audible.com launched The Chopin Manuscript, the first audio-only original novel written by some of today's top mystery authors. (Read the press release here.)

Jeffery Deaver will write the opening and closing chapters of the story. He discussed his thoughts on why he agreed to participate in the project in an interview published on ITW's website. Listen to the first chapter of The Chopin Manuscript on the Audible.com website.

The plot is intriguing: Former war crimes investigator Harold Middleton possesses a priceless, previously-unknown manuscript by Frederic Chopin. Within the notes of this work, which was originally found and hidden by the Nazis during World War II, lies a secret that has left death in its wake – and could kill tens of thousands more. As Middleton races to unlock the mystery of the manuscript, he is accused of murder, pursued by federal agents and targeted by assassins. But the greatest threat comes from a man known only as Faust - a shadowy figure from Middleton’s past.

The Chopin Manuscript is being delivered serially with new installments available every Tuesday.

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 Bestsellers for September 28, 2007

A list of the top ten mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending September 28, 2007 has been posted on the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books website.

Two mysteries that debuted last week on the list move into the top four this week: Dead Heat by Dick Francis and his son Felix Francis, and Dexter in the Dark by Jeff Lindsay. You've Been Warned by James Patterson remains at the top.

New this week: Shoot Him if He Runs by Stuart Woods, the latest in this bestselling series featuring New York attorney Stone Barrington. Teddy Fay, a rogue agent last seen escaping an imploding building in Iron Orchid, has been considered dead for some time now. But President Will Lee thinks Teddy may still be alive. In a top-secret Oval Office meeting, Stone learns that he and his cohorts, Holly Barker and Dino Baldachetti, are being sent to the beautiful Caribbean island of St. Marks, courtesy of the CIA, to track down Teddy once and for all. St. Marks is a vacationer's paradise, but its luxurious beach clubs and secluded mountain villas are home to corrupt local politicians and more than a few American ex-pats with murky personal histories. Stone and Holly soon discover that in St. Marks, everyone is hiding something, and Teddy Fay may just be hiding in plain sight.

The third mystery in the Harper Connelly series by Charlaine Harris, An Ice Cold Grave, has the psychic detective hired to find a boy gone missing in Doraville, North Carolina. She and her brother Tolliver head there-only to discover that the boy was only one of several who had disappeared over the previous five years. All of them teenagers. All unlikely runaways, All calling for Harper. Harper soon finds them-eight victims, buried in the half-frozen ground, all come to an unspeakable end. Afterwards, what she most wants to do is collect her fee and get out of town ahead of the media storm that's soon to descend. But when she's attacked and prevented from leaving, she reluctantly becomes a part of the investigation as she learns more than she cares to about the dark mysteries and long-hidden secrets of Doraville-knowledge that makes her the next person likely to rest in an ice cold grave.

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: Boca Moon by Frank Foster

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, has written a review of Boca Moon by Frank Foster. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

Boca Moon by Frank Foster
Non-series

Hilliard & Harris (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-59133-218-4 (1591332184)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59133-218-3 (9781591332183)
Publication Date: August 2007
List Price: $28.95

Synopsis (from the publisher): Lynn Woo's former commanding officer in Naval Intelligence is vacationing on a tropical island in Southwest Florida. Retired Admiral Whit Jenkins' son-in-law chooses the wrong night to take his infrared camera to the salty back bays in search of panthers. He pays for it with his life and Lynn discovers his murdered, mutilated body strung between two mangrove trees. It's been years since she's seen the result of violent death and she hasn't missed it.

But now Lynn must tell Jenkins about the murder, and, ignoring her new back bay nature tour business, she plunges into the investigation. Along the way, Lynn deals with more murders, live alligators, seamy commercial fishermen, a fiery Seminole Indian girl, and attempts on her own life. She's helped by her best island friend, who is a mammoth, black sheriff's deputy, and her lover, who is a hand-washing germ freak. It all happens in a real place - Boca Grande - a tony tropical island on Florida's southwest coast. It's home to coconut palms and banyans, pelicans and iguanas, and rich people who mingle freely with the island folks.

When Lynn Woo closes in on a den of greed and ego which will stop at nothing, including murder, she's met with a jolting surprise ending to this twisting tale of tropical skullduggery.

Review: Frank Foster's debut mystery, Boca Moon, has as its central character the smart, street-wise, and tough Lynn Woo, a former Navy diver, and is set on the southwest Florida island of Boca Grande (about half-way between Tampa and the Everglades), shortened to just "Boca" by its residents.

Three men, who are on Boca Grande for very different reasons, are murdered within a very short time of each other. Millard Savage, the first to die, had come to Boca for a month’s vacation with his wife and his father-in-law, Ret. Admiral Whitman Jenkins IV. Next, Sammy Osceola, a full blooded Seminole Indian, had come down to Boca from Tallahassee for a few days to visit with Lynn, his friend from college, and to see his daughter studying at Florida State. Finally there was Aubry Lowe, a fisherman and guide who had lived in Boca his whole life. It is up to the local police force, with the unsolicited help of Lynn, to solve the mystery linking these crimes.

This intriguing book has a lot going for it. The unconventional characters are appealing and Boca Grande is the perfect setting for a mystery. The narrative is fast-paced and the conclusion thrilling. Late in the story, how Lynn escapes from her assailants, finding herself 18 miles off-shore in the cold waters of the Gulf of Mexico, is truly compelling.

The only downside to the book is the author's insistence in relating what each person is wearing at all hours of the day or night, whether they were about to go fishing or getting ready to dine at a fine restaurant. Not only is it distracting, it takes away from the suspense of story he's written.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Boca Moon and to Strategic Vision for providing a copy of the book for this review.

Review Copyright © 2007 — 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 Book Review: A Killer's Kiss by William Lashner

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, has written a review of A Killer's Kiss by William Lashner. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

A Killer's Kiss by William Lashner
A Victor Carl Mystery

William Morrow (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-06-114346-4 (0061143464)
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-114346-5 (9780061143465)
Publication Date: August 2007
List Price: $24.95

Synopsis (from the publisher): There's nothing easier—or more dangerous—than falling into bed with an old lover. Especially when you're Victor Carl.

Once upon a time, Victor was engaged to a woman named Julia. She was beautiful and elegant and not the kind of woman to end up with a second-rate lawyer on the edge of insolvency. Victor always assumed she'd burn him, and she did. Now she's back, trailing an expensive perfume that reeks of trouble.

Julia's husband has been murdered, her fingerprints are all over the crime scene, and $1.7 million in cash is missing. Julia is suddenly in desperate need of a fall guy. Is that why she turns up on Victor's doorstep on the night of the murder, with her lipstick fresh and her heels high? It's all enough to make Victor doubt the healing power of love.

But in Victor's world lust trumps reason seven days a week. As he reaches for his old lover, he convinces himself that Julia truly wants to make amends for the past, that they might have a future together, and that the Beatles were right—all you need is love. Until two cops troop into his apartment and start fingering Victor for the murder.

Suddenly, Victor Carl, a man who has spent a lifetime making bad decisions for the worst reasons, is no longer fighting to rekindle a lost love. He's fighting to save his life.

Review: The seventh mystery in the Victor Carl series, A Killer's Kiss by William Lashner, is one of the most entertaining novels of the year ... and a first rate mystery as well.

"Who was that?" She stood there, trim and tawny, long legs falling out of a towel wrapped tightly around her body. To see her standing in my living room was to see a future devoid of want and strife, all my dreams satisfied, all my hopes fulfilled. She was a worker's paradise in one stunning figure. I stared for a moment, I couldn't help myself. "It was the cops," I said finally. "Really, what did they want?" I looked at her for a moment longer and then turned back to the window. "They came," I said without turning around, "to tell me that your husband's been murdered."

What a terrific way to start a book. Philadelphia attorney Victor Carl finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation in which he is intimately involved. The husband of an ex-girlfriend, someone with whom he is still desperately in love, has been murdered, and if he's not the prime suspect, Julia, the victim's wife, is, and therefore he is too by association. Victor has to figure out a way to prove that not only is he innocent, but Julia as well. Only he's not quite sure Julia is innocent. Then there's the missing money. One point seven million dollars. Julia doesn't have it and apparently knows little about it. But several people are looking for it, and finding the money seems to be more important than finding the killer.

It's hard not to like Victor Carl. He's sarcastic and quick with a verbal comeback but he's also charming and witty. He's not above negotiating when he's clearly in no position to do so. He cares deeply for others but not at the expense of neglecting to look out for himself. And he's devious. His maneuvering to get all the principal parties together in the same place at the same time toward the end of the story is quite clever. Better yet, the unexpected final plot twist makes for an apt conclusion to this exceptional book.

Unfortunately, A Killer's Kiss will be the last of the Victor Carl mysteries for a while. In a postscript, the author states he and his character are going to take a break. Until he returns, Victor will be sorely missed.

Special thanks to Authors on the Web for providing a copy of A Killer's Kiss for this review.

Review Copyright © 2007 — 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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Mysteries on TV: Midsomer Murders, Numb3rs, and The Streets of San Francisco

Mystery television series being released this week on DVD:

The villages of Midsomer County reveal their most sinister secrets in Midsomer Murders Set 9. Based on characters created by Caroline Graham, the series stars John Nettles as Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby and John Hopkins as Sergeant Dan Scott.

The four mysteries included in this 4 disk DVD set were originally shown in the UK on ITV1 from October 2004 through January 2005: Things That Go Bump in the Night, Dead in the Water, Orchis Fatalis, and Bantling Boy.

Numb3rs: Season 3 stars Rob Morrow as FBI Special Agent Don Eppes who recruits his younger brother Charlie (played by David Krumholtz), a mathematical genius, to help him solve crimes in Los Angeles. The series also stars Judd Hirsch as their father.

Numb3rs first aired on CBS in January 2005 and remains in production today. This DVD set includes all 23 episodes from the third season on 6 disks.

The premiere of the 4th season of Numb3rs is scheduled for Friday, September 28, on CBS. For more information on the series, visit its website on CBS.com.

The Streets of San Francisco, Season 1 Volume 2 starred Karl Malden as Detective Lieutenant Mike Stone and Michael Douglas as his rookie partner Inspector Steve Keller. The series was filmed entirely in and around San Francisco.

The 1st season ran for 26 episodes during the 1972/1973 television season on ABC. Paramount is releasing episodes from this season on two separate DVD sets. The first set was released last April; this DVD set includes the final 13 episodes of the season on 4 disks. See the opening credits on YouTube here.

Visit the Mysteries on TV website to discover more television mystery series currently available on DVD.

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Mystery Godoku: Weekly Puzzle for September 24, 2007

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 D E H I L O S U. This is the last name of an irrepressibly curious amateur sleuth created by Alexander McCall Smith (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!

Return to Mystery Books News ...

Compendium of Mystery News 070923

Today's compendium of recently published mystery news articles:

• Marilyn Stasio reviews several new mysteries in her Crime column on The New York Times, including Dead Heat and Dexter in the Dark, both of which hit the mystery bestsellers list last week.

• News-Press.com reporter Charles Runnells interviews Jeff Lindsay, author of the Dexter series. (MBN note: The first season of the Showtime series Dexter based on Lindsay's novels is available from Mysteries on TV.) In a related article, mystery columnist Oline H. Cogdill reviews Lindsay's latest Dexter thriller, Dexter in the Dark, on the Sun-Sentinel.com.

• The Edmonton Journal is asking readers to help it write a serialized murder mystery. Edmonton author Thomas Wharton has penned the first chapter, a riveting opener about a bloody murder aboard the Edmonton Queen on the North Saskatchewan.

• The ABC affiliate in Los Angeles reports on companies designing more video games for girl gamers. They specifically cite the Nancy Drew games for the PC, which are available from our partner website Games of Mystery.

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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