New Trailer for Shutter Island, Based on the Novel by Dennis Lehane

FirstShowing.net is reporting the first official trailer for Martin Scorsese's upcoming film Shutter Island has been released. Based on the novel Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane, the film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, and Ben Kingsley.

Shutter Island takes place in the year 1954. U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio) and his new partner, Chuck Aule (Ruffalo), have come to Shutter Island, home of Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane, to investigate the disappearance of a patient. Multiple murderess Rachel Solando is loose somewhere on this remote and barren island, despite having been kept in a locked cell under constant surveillance. As a killer hurricane bears relentlessly down on them, a strange case takes on even darker, more sinister shades -- with hints of radical experimentation, horrifying surgeries, and lethal countermoves made in the cause of a covert shadow war. No one is going to escape Shutter Island unscathed, because nothing at Ashecliffe Hospital is what it seems. But then neither is Teddy Daniels.

Shutter Island is the third of Lehane's novels to be filmed. Mystic River (2003) won Academy Awards for Sean Penn and Tim Robbins, and in 2007 Gone Baby Gone with Casey Afleck and Morgan Freeman was released.

Watch the trailer for Shutter Island below; the film is scheduled for release October 02, 2009:

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First Clues Review: The Sword Thief by Peter Lerangis

First Clues: Mysteries for Kids is delighted to introduce a new feature for our website, book reviews written by students. These students offer their unique perspective on the book in their review and provide a valuable resource to parents looking for new mystery adventures for their kids to read.

The Sword Thief by Peter Lerangis
The 39 Clues Series

Scholastic (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-545-06043-5 (0545060435)
ISBN-13: 978-0-545-06043-1 (9780545060431)
Publication Date: March 2009
List Price: $12.99

Review written by Asheena, Age 12, Grade 6. Date of review: June 2009.

Review: The Sword Thief is the third book in the sublime series, The 39 Clues. It was written by Peter Lerangis. Amy and Dan Cahill are the two main characters and it is the siblings’ job to find all 39 clues in a race. In this resplendent book they have to track the life of fearsome Japanese warrior, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and to see if he was related in any way with the Cahill family and to solve if he had a clue in his possession. But there is one problem. Figuring out these problems may just easily become lethal. The plot thickens as they get closer and closer to finding the clue.

Amy and Dan are in deep search for the third clue but as always there are plenty of obstacles and difficulties in their way. The book starts at an airport in Venice. Once they arrive there, they find a nasty little surprise waiting for them. Ian and Natalie Kabra, the siblings' arch enemy. The Kabra’s are a branch to the main family branch, the Cahill family. Unfortunately enough, Amy and Dan don’t know their branch since their parents are dead and never had the chance to tell them. So they are forced to take upon the last name Cahill since it seemed most suitable. Once they are face to face with the Kabra’s they find them self running. When they think all is safe and well they settle down only to find their tickets missing, and they know the Kabra’s must have nicked the tickets. Desperate they are forced to make an alliance with Alistair Oh, their unreliable uncle. They take his private plane to Japan. As a team they find things they would have never been able to find alone. Just as they are close to triumph they are captured by the Holts, another branch of the Cahill family. The Holts force Amy, Dan and Alistair to take them to the place where they believe the clue might be. The Subway station where they believe the clue is turns out to become an almost life-taking incident. In the tunnels of the station they hear a train coming and Amy, Dan, Alistair and they Holts flee for their life. Most unfortunately, Amy’s shoe gets stuck and is unable to get out. Dan and Alistair stay back to help her. Just before the train slams into her foot she breaks free. They find a haiku on the wall that tells them to use geometry the find the clue, and sure enough they do … but no, it could ever be that easy? Sure enough they are chased by the Yakuza. Mysteriously they are saved by Ian and Natalie Kabra. They agree on an alliance, but only for this one clue. Dan isn’t so sure about agreeing though. They study the clue together scrupulously, and find they need to get to Korea. In Korea they go to Alistair’s home and study some old books. Amy and Dan find a bigger clue they find unnecessary to share with the Kabra’s … through studying they find they must go to a mountain called Pukhansan. There they find a secret entrance. Once they enter they find the third clue along with Hideyoshi’s treasure. The Kabra’s betray them once they figure out the clue. But what they don’t know is that they haven’t actually figured out the clue. They are covered with falling rocks, Amy and Dan make it out but Alistair … they think he is dead. Once they return to Alistair’s estate they find Alistair has already been there before them and is living. They are shocked. Now Amy and Dan know the next clue is in Egypt …

The Sword Thief was a super-thrilling read. The plot was exciting, with suspense lingering on every word. The book was filled with plenty of imagery so you actually felt you were right there right then and actually watching all the action take place. The suspense built up as you read on and despite it being a short read everything is thoroughly explained and nothing is confusing or difficult to understand. I have never read any other book that such well developed characters and a well developed plot. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves reading books filled with action, suspense, humor and an unpredictable ending.

If you are interested in purchasing The Sword Thief from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right.

First Clue Mysteries is pleased to provide information on over 100 mystery series for children and young adults. Each series is conveniently listed under four different age categories (New Sleuth, ages 4 to 6; Future Sleuth, ages 7 to 9; Sleuth in Training, ages 10 to 12, and Apprentice Sleuth, ages 13 and older). If you have a favorite mystery series you'd like to see added to our site, please contact us.

All student book reviews are protected by copyright and may not be reproduced in any manner, print or electronic, without the express written consent of the copyright owner. Reviews are published here with permission of the copyright owner.

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First Clues Review: The Secret of Robber's Cave by Kristiana Gregory

First Clues: Mysteries for Kids is delighted to introduce a new feature for our website, book reviews written by students. These students offer their unique perspective on the book in their review and provide a valuable resource to parents looking for new mystery adventures for their kids to read.

The Secret of Robber's Cave by Kristiana Gregory
The Cabin Creek Mysteries

Scholastic (Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-439-92950-4 (0439929504)
ISBN-13: 978-0-439-92950-9 (9780439929509)
Publication Date: March 2008
List Price: $4.99

Review written by Tiffany, Age 12, Grade 6. Date of review: June 2009.

Review: The Secret of Robber’s Cave is written by Kristiana Gregory. This is the first book in the Cabin Creek Mysteries series. This book has you join the lives of three young children and all of their acquaintances. David is one of these children; he is 10 years of age, 2 years younger than his older brother Jeff. David loves to draw and is very outgoing but can prove to be unprepared at crucial moments. Jeff is the older brother of 10 year old youngster David. Jeff is always prepared and always has his father’s wishes for him and his brother in mind when doing any activity that is reminiscent to their father who passed away in a fatal avalanche. The third member of this small group of children is David and Jeff’s intelligent cousin Claire. Claire is always prepared and has a great sense of right and wrong. Claire will do her best to be polite and prove very useful and even life saving in this story.

You are walking through the forest on an afternoon that once seemed cheerful but is now filled with gloom as clouds fill the sky. You stumble over something and you soon realize it is a human foot. You gasp in disgust and poke at the foot with a stick. You decide to wander around the island some more. In future days you find a cave and discover a human skeleton that is missing a foot. You remember stories of the Silver Spur Bandit and wonder if the newspapers had been mistaken, after all the Silver Spur Bandit was said to have escaped to this precise island and he was missing a hand. This is not an uncommon thing for Jeff, David, and Claire to encounter. They risk their life to try and solve the mystery of the Silver Spur Bandit day after day. Will they ever find the treasure or will they just doom themselves to a gruesome death?

Overall this book was fantastic! It had the perfect amount of suspense: being trapped in caves, avoiding a dangerous storm, finding human body parts and so on. It holds you in its grasp, keeping you there reading for hours. The emotions in this book were very well stated and accurate for the ages of each character: 10 and 12 year olds becoming easily frightened, at times abbreviating words in ways adults would not and elders saying things like “that’s ding-dong for sure.” Any location the group went to was always described very well, from the rocks underfoot to the clouds above. The characters fit perfectly into this story and were often quite entertaining in their behavior and method of comedy. I think this book would not be appropriate for very young children to read due to some gruesome findings and scenes; for example human remains and skeletons. Although there was one more thing that I did not like about this book -- some things were hard to grasp or understand like how a foot could be shot clear off. Naturally anyone who loves mysteries and a good book to read every once in a while would love this book!

If you are interested in purchasing The Secret of Robber's Cave from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right.

First Clue Mysteries is pleased to provide information on over 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.

All student book reviews are protected by copyright and may not be reproduced in any manner, print or electronic, without the express written consent of the copyright owner. Reviews are published here with permission of the copyright owner.

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First Clues, Mysteries for Kids: Joe Dumpty and The 13th Reality

First Clues: Mysteries for Kids is your source for information on over 100 mystery series for children and young adults where each series is conveniently listed under four different age categories (New Sleuths, ages 4 to 6; Future Sleuths, ages 7 to 9; Sleuths in Training, ages 10 to 12, and Apprentice Sleuths, ages 13 and older).

This morning we added two new series to our website.

What Really Happened to Humpty? by Jeanie Franz Ransom
1st book in The Joe Dumpty Series

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. Humpty Dumpty was pushed. At least that’s what Joe Dumpty thinks. He’s a private detective determined to find out what really happened to his brother, even though Police Chief Mother Goose doesn’t take Joe seriously – or believe that Humpty’s fall was anything more than an accident. What Really Happened to Humpty? is a hard-boiled mystery with all the elements (and the clichés) of the classic detective story, along with as many egg puns as possible.

What Really Happened to Humpty? was published in February. The Joe Dumpty Series books are recommended for readers aged 4 to 6.

The Hunt for Dark Infinity by James Dashner
2nd book in The 13th Reality Series

It's been a quiet summer for Tick, Paul, and Sofia, but the latest message from Master George changes everything. The Realities are in danger and from something more terrible than Mistress Jane and the mutated Chi Karda of the 13th Reality. People from all Realities are unexplainably going insane. Worse, some Realities are fragmenting, disintegrating into nothingness. Master George has learned that Mr. Chu from the Fourth Reality is working on a mysterious new weapon called Dark Infinity. But no one has any idea how to stop the weapon or even if it can be stopped. To make matters worse, Tick and his friends have been kidnapped, forced to wink from Reality to Reality, solving impossible riddles in order to survive the deadly traps surrounding them. Mistress Jane and Tick find themselves in a race to reach the weapon first but who will destroy it and who will become its master?

The Hunt for Dark Infinity was published in March. The first book in the series is The Journal of Curious Letters. The 13th Reality Series books are recommended for readers aged 10 and older. For more information about the books, visit The13thReality.com.

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Games of Mystery: Mystery Stories, Berlin Nights, New at PlayFirst Games

Games of Mystery, your source for mystery-themed electronic and board games, parties for kids and adults, and mystery getaway vacations, is pleased to announce a new mystery game available from PlayFirst Games. You can find out more about these games from our Mystery Games: PlayFirst Download Games page or by clicking on the links provided below.

In Mystery Stories: Berlin Nights, New York star journalist Michelle Deanfield has learned of a spectacular find in Berlin's underworld: a machine from World War II that could solve the global energy problem in one fell swoop! But a mysterious sect and ruthless ex-secret agents from former communist East Germany are also after the marvel. While Michelle is trying to uncover the conspiracy together with handsome Daniel, an adventure of lies, deceit and treason is turning into a story of love in this fascinating hidden object game.

Mystery Stories: Berlin Nights is available to purchase for $9.95 with the PlayPass program. A trial version is available to download for 60 minutes of play (Windows PC, 104.9 MB).

See also the first game in this series, Mystery Stories: Island of Hope, in which Michelle attempts to solve the secret of the ancient Caribbean dream island!

Other popular games on our download PlayFirst Mystery Games page include the Mystery PI series of casual games, Mystery P.I.: The Vegas Heist and Mystery P.I.: The Lottery Ticket, James Patterson's Women's Murder Club: Death in Scarlet, and Private Eye.

And don't forget to visit Games of Mystery for all kinds of mysterious fun!

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Mysteries on TV: Perry Mason and The Shield, New on DVD This Week

Mysteries on TV, your source for the most complete selection of detective, amateur sleuth, private investigator, and suspense television mystery series now available or coming soon to DVD, is profiling two series that have season DVDs being released this week.

Raymond Burr starred as Perry Mason, a Los Angeles defense attorney who specialized in taking on seemingly indefensible cases. With the aid of his secretary Della Street and investigator Paul Drake, he often found that by digging deeply into the facts, startling facts could be revealed. Often relying on his outstanding courtroom skills, he often tricked or trapped people into unwittingly admitting their guilt.

Perry Mason aired on CBS for 9 seasons from the mid-1950s through the mid-1960s. Thirty made-for-television movies based on the series, also starring Raymond Burr, aired from 1985 through 1995.

The Perry Mason: Season Four (V1) DVD set of 4 discs contain the first 14 episodes of the 4th season that aired from September 1960.

Michael Chiklis starred as Detective Vic Mackay, the leader of an elite strike team in The Shield, a series that debuted on FX in 2002 and aired for 7 seasons.

In the final season of this gritty, hard-hitting, award-winning cop drama,Vic's relationship with Shane is put to the test as they work against each other to bring down the Armenian mob; Dutch plays hardball to get a homicide witness to come forward; the Strike Team tries to rescue a drug kingpin's daughter; and Vic is pressured to take down Pezuela, leading him to seek an immunity deal for him and Ronnie in exchange for them helping ICE take down Beltran.

The The Shield: Season Seven DVD set of 4 discs contains the 13 episodes of the 7th and final season of the series that aired from September 2008 through November 2008.

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

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Mystery Godoku Puzzle for June 08, 2009

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

C E I J N R S T W

She edited the paranormal mystery anthology Deadknots (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!

   

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Mystery Book Review: Dial Emmy for Murder by Eileen Davidson

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of Dial Emmy for Murder by Eileen Davidson. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

Dial Emmy for Murder by Eileen Davidson
A Soap Opera Mystery with Alexis Peterson

Signet (Mass Market Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-451-22825-1 (0451228251)
ISBN-13: 978-0-451-22825-3 (9780451228253)
Publication Date: June 2009
List Price: $6.99

Review: Soap opera star Alexis Peterson is a presenter at the daytime Emmy Awards when she discovers an actor hanging from the rafters over her head in Dial Emmy for Murder, the second mystery in this series by Eileen Davidson.

Alexis has left a starring role in the top daytime drama The Yearning Tide for the opportunity to play two parts in The Bare and the Brazen. Her popularity ensures she'll be a presenter at the Emmys, but when it's time for her to give out the award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series, Jackson Mathews, a young newcomer on the soap opera scene, is found hanging from the rafters above the stage. Detective Frank Jakes, in charge of the investigation, asks Alexis to help out. Her knowledge of the cast and crew would be invaluable. She is, of course, thrilled to exercise her amateur sleuth skills once again. But who would want to kill a relative nobody in the industry? It isn't long after that a hair stylist is killed and Alexis feels her life is in danger. Can she and Jakes find the killer before anyone else, especially someone near and dear to Alexis (i.e. Alexis herself), is a target?

Dial Emmy for Murder is a fast-paced, fun-reading novel. Soap opera fans will take pleasure in the behind-the-scenes look from the perspective of someone deeply embedded in the industry; those who don't follow the daytime shows will still enjoy the entertaining characters and the delightful, if undemanding, murder mystery plot. The engaging interplay between Alexis and Jakes is an added bonus. This is a winning series that makes for a perfect companion to the beach this summer.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Dial Emmy for Murder and to Penguin Group for providing a copy of the book for this review.

Review Copyright © 2009 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved

If you are interested in purchasing Dial Emmy for Murder from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right.

Synopsis (from the publisher): Soap operas can get so dirty ...

Tabloids and fans are stunned when daytime soap opera star Alexis Peterson leaves her show. She’s too busy with her new job as presenter at the Daytime Emmy® Awards to even notice. But when a co-presenter goes missing on award night, Alexis is determined to find who is killing Hollywood’s biggest and brightest before another burns out ...

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Games of Mystery: Miami Law, New for Nintendo DS

Games of Mystery, your source for mystery-themed electronic and board games, parties for kids and adults, and getaway vacations including murder mystery weekends, is pleased to announce the availability of a new mystery game for the Nintendo DS. More mystery games for this platform are available on our recently updated Games of Mystery: Nintendo DS webpage.

Miami Law is an action-adventure game worthy of its own prime-time TV show. It's got all the ingredients: a storyline with a shadowy terrorist conspiracy, furious shoot-outs in abandoned warehouses, challenging crime-scene detective work, and more! You can switch between two main characters: the intense Law Martin from the Miami PD or the brainy Sara Starling from the FBI. Events will unfold differently, depending on who you pick. If you can't foil the conspiracy and save Miami, the nation, and the world, nobody can.

Miami Law Nintendo DS is currently scheduled for release on June 9th, 2009.

Don't forget to visit Games of Mystery for all types of mysterious fun!

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CWA Announces Shortlists for 2009 Dagger Awards

The Crime Writers' Association announced the shortlist for some of this year's Daggers, awards given to celebrate the best in crime and thriller writing.

All shortlisted books had a UK publication date of between June 1st, 2008 and May 31st, 2009. The winners will be announced on July 15th at which time the shortlist for two other categories will be announced.

We confess, though the CWA Daggers are among the most prestigious awards given to authors of mystery and crime fiction, we find the whole process by which the awards are given out unnecessarily confusing.

Several months ago, the Diamond Dagger was awarded to Andrew Taylor for sustained excellence in crime writing. Daggers for International Novels Translated into English, Short Stories, Debut (unpublished) Novels, and the Dagger in the Library (for an author's body of work, which sounds suspiciously similar to the Diamond Dagger) will be given out in July. Then the Gold (Best Novel), New Blood (Best New Novel), and Ian Fleming Steel (Best Thriller) Daggers will be awarded in the fall. In yet another separate presentation, the Ellis Peters Historical Award, with its own separate rules and technically not a Dagger since the winner can be considered for one of its categories, is given out to the best historical crime novel, also in the fall. Finally, there's the Dagger for Non-Fiction, also awarded separately and now awarded biannually.

To make things even more confusing, the awards are periodically renamed to reflect the wishes of corporate sponsor providing the cash prize that accompanies the award.

On our own CWA Dagger Award page, we only list the winners of the Best Novel and Best New Novel Daggers though we have it on our to-do list to go back and try to reconstruct a more complete history of the award.

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