New US Trailer for The Ghost Writer, based on a novel by Robert Harris

Summit Entertainment has released the first US trailer for its upcoming film The Ghost Writer, a thriller based on the 2007 novel The Ghost by Robert Harris. Directed by Roman Polanski, the screenplay was co-written by Polanski and Harris.

The Ghost Writer synopsis (from the studio): When a successful British ghostwriter, The Ghost (Ewan McGregor), agrees to complete the memoirs of former British Prime Minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan), his agent assures him it’s the opportunity of a lifetime. But the project seems doomed from the start -- not least because his predecessor on the project, Lang’s long-term aide, died in an unfortunate accident.

The Ghost flies out to work on the project, in the middle of winter, to an oceanfront house on an island off the U.S. Eastern seaboard. But the day after he arrives, a former British cabinet minister accuses Lang of authorizing the illegal seizure of suspected terrorists and handing them over for torture by the CIA -- a war crime. The controversy brings reporters and protesters swarming to the island mansion where Lang is staying with his wife, Ruth (Olivia Williams), and his personal assistant (and mistress), Amelia (Kim Cattrall). As The Ghost works, he begins to uncover clues suggesting his predecessor may have stumbled on a dark secret linking Lang to the CIA -- and that somehow this information is hidden in the manuscript he left behind. Was Lang in the service of the American intelligence agency while he was prime minister? And was The Ghost’s predecessor murdered because of the appalling truth he uncovered?

Resonating with topical themes, this atmospheric and suspenseful political thriller is a story of deceit and betrayal on every level -- sexual, political and literary. In a world in which nothing, and no one, is as it seems, The Ghost quickly discovers that the past can be deadly -- and that history is decided by whoever stays alive to write it.

The film also stars Tom Wilkinson, Timothy Hutton, and Eli Wallach.

Watch the US trailer for The Ghost Writer (courtesy of FirstShowing.net) below:

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Games of Mystery: Nick Chase and the Deadly Diamond, New from Big Fish Games

Games of Mystery, your source for mystery-themed board, electronic and video games, parties for kids and adults, and murder mystery weekends and mystery getaway vacations, is pleased to announce the availability of a new mystery casual game from Big Fish Games released today. You can find out more about these games by visiting our Mystery Games: Big Fish Download Games page or by clicking on the links provided below.

Nick Chase is back in an all-new adventure and is ready for action! After a mysterious package arrives at his favorite bar, Nick has a new case. Discover who delivered the ancient artifact, and what exactly the curse of the Deadly Diamond is, as you explore gorgeous hidden object scenes, solve perplexing puzzles to track down valuable clues, and crack the case.

Also available: Nick Chase and the Deadly Diamond Strategy Guide and Nick Chase and the Deadly Diamond Game Walkthrough.

See also the first game in the series, Nick Chase: A Detective Story and our review of Nick Chase: A Detective Story.

Nick Chase and the Deadly Diamond, a BFG exclusive, may be downloaded and purchased for $6.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. A demonstration version (134.71 MB) may be downloaded and played for free for one hour.

Watch a preview video below:

Get any standard game for $6.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. Other benefits include the $2.99 Daily Deal, Tomorrow's Game Today, and special member rewards. And if you purchase any 6 games within a single month, you earn a free game with the Big Fish Game Club Monthly Punch Card!

Read our new game reviews by Ms. Terri: Midnight Mysteries: The Edgar Allan Poe Conspiracy (Review), Nancy Drew Dossier: Lights, Camera, Curses! (Review), The Hardy Boys: The Perfect Crime (Review), Enlightenus (Review), and Nick Chase: A Detective Story (Review).

Big Fish Games: Bestsellers

Big Fish Games: New releases

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

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Mystery Bestsellers for January 29, 2010

A list of the top 15 mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending January 29, 2010 has been posted on the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books website.

No change in the top five titles this week (though Robert Crais' second Joe Pike mystery, The First Rule, moves into the top four), but two new titles enter the top 15.

Moving up from 18 to 6 is Kisser, the 16th legal thriller by Stuart Woods featuring New York City attorney Stone Barrington.

After a rather harrowing sojourn in Key West, Stone Barrington is back in New York and looking forward to some downtime working cases for Woodman & Weld that the prestigious law firm does not wish to be seen to be associated with. But when he crosses paths with a fetching Broadway actress—and sometime lip model—Stone gets a little more deeply involved with show business than he’d expected.

Then the fleecing of a wealthy art dealer’s daughter leads him into the worlds of financial fraud, Big Art, and Manhattan’s Upper East Side, where opulent co-op apartments are hung with multimillion-dollar paintings, and where family scandals never remain hidden for long. No stranger to high society or the foibles of the rich, Stone soon realizes he must uncover the truth in a world where wealth and beauty may come at an unusually high price.

New this week at number 14 is Blood Ties, the third and final entry in this paranormal trilogy by Kay Hooper featuring members of the FBI's Special Crimes Unit.

The elite Special Crimes Unit, the FBI’s most controversial and effective team, is a group of mavericks and misfits trained to use their unique psychic abilities to hunt the worst monsters imaginable—human ones. Led by the enigmatic Noah Bishop, the SCU has earned a reputation for pitting their skills and cunning against killers that other cops fear. But this time Bishop and his agents face an enemy who has them in his sights, a trained sniper with a deadly plan—and more than one ace up his sleeve.

It starts with an unspeakable series of grisly murders across three states, a trail of blood leading, finally, to the small Tennessee town of Serenade. There, two more brutal killings lure the SCU into what may be the ultimate trap.

One of the first investigators on the scene, Special Agent Hollis Templeton, is willing to push herself as hard and as far as necessary. Risking more than her life to help and protect her SCU colleagues, Hollis must cope with her own psychic abilities, which are evolving in unprecedented ways, an attraction to the most complex man she’s ever known, and a serial murder investigation that turns very, very personal.

In her time with the SCU, Hollis has shown an uncanny ability to survive even the deadliest attacks. But what she can’t know is that this killer intends to destroy the team from within.

The clock is ticking. The body count is rising. And as Bishop and his agents race to uncover the true identity of their enemy, not even their special senses can warn them just how bloody, and how terrifyingly close, the truth will be.

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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Edge of Darkness, a Remake of the BBC Miniseries, Opens in Theaters Friday January 29th

Tomorrow, Friday January 29th, Edge of Darkness starring Mel Gibson opens in theaters nationwide. The film is a remake of the BBC 6-part miniseries of the same name that starred Bob Peck as Ronnie Craven who investigates the death of his own environmental activist daughter and becomes embroiled in a vast conspiracy. Though the overall plotline remains the same, the 2010 film takes place in and around Boston and some of the characters have been renamed.

About Edge of Darkness (2010): Thomas Craven (Mel Gibson) is a veteran homicide detective for the Boston Police Department and a single father. When his only child, 24-year-old Emma (Bojana Novakovic), is murdered on the steps of his home, everyone assumes that he was the target. But he soon suspects otherwise, and embarks on a mission to find out about his daughter’s secret life and her killing. His investigation leads him into a dangerous looking-glass world of corporate cover-ups, government collusion and murder — and to shadowy government operative Darius Jedburgh (Ray Winstone) who has been sent in to clean up the evidence. Craven’s solitary search for answers about his daughter’s death transforms into an odyssey of emotional discovery and redemption.

Somewhat coincidentally, the production company behind the film, Warner Bros., also released a film with the same title in 1943, though the two movies have nothing in common.

The original BBC production is available on DVD from Mysteries on TV: Edge of Darkness.

Watch a trailer for the film below:

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Mystery Book Review: High Anxiety by Charlotte Hughes

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of High Anxiety by Charlotte Hughes. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

High Anxiety by Charlotte Hughes
A Kate Holly Mystery

Jove (Mass Market Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-515-14740-0 (0515147400)
ISBN-13: 978-0-515-14740-7 (9780515147407)
Publication Date: January 2010
List Price: $7.99

Review: Psychologist Kate Holly continues to juggle a career, her family and friends all the while dealing with a temporary receptionist who seems to have issues of her own to deal with in High Anxiety, the third mystery in this series by Charlotte Hughes.

After Kate's best friend and regular receptionist, Mona, takes a leave of absence to recover from a sudden outbreak of hives, her mother steps in to fill the void. But it soon becomes clear that families that stay together don't work together, so Kate contacts a temp agency for a replacement. Abigail Davis is about the same age as Kate, is personable, and most importantly, agrees not to offer advice to Kate's patients behind her back, something Kate's mother was keen on doing. still, there's something a bit peculiar about Abigail, which becomes more apparent as she takes on a new appearance and becomes more involved in Kate's personal life.

High Anxiety is a pleasant mystery, with a minimum of violence that will appeal to readers who prefer their cozies more gentle than harsh. But it lacks the light, humorous touch that the premise seems to imply. The book opens with, "My name is Kate Holly. I'm a clinical psychologist. My patients think I'm normal. If I've told them once, I've told them a thousand times: There is no such thing as normal." The author surrounds Kate with an eclectic cast of characters, certainly not an average bunch but not so quirky to be outlandish either. Most are rather compelling, and in some ways more interesting (in a clinical psychological way) than Kate herself. Still, little humor is extracted from them or the situations in which they find themselves ... and a little humor would have gone a long way towards making the predictably plotted story a lot more enjoyable.

Special thanks to Penguin Group for providing an ARC of High Anxiety for this review.

Review Copyright © 2010 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved

If you are interested in purchasing High Anxiety from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right. High Anxiety (Kindle edition) is also available. Learn more about the Kindle, Amazon's Wireless Reading Device.

Synopsis (from the publisher): After nursing her hunky firefighter ex-husband Jay Rush back to health, Kate Holly is ready for a little fun, only to get stuck with an anger management group that turns dangerous when a gun-toting granny loses her temper. Kate’s hopes for some frisky business are further put on hold when a monster forest fire erupts several hours south of Atlanta, drawing firefighters by the droves, including Jay.

Kate’s professional life isn’t faring any better. Her patients seem to be getting kookier, her junk-dealing mother and aunt more outrageous, and her secretary is convinced her peculiar rash is something akin to leprosy! Kate is forced to hire oddball temp employee Abigail Davis who becomes fixated with her. If Kate thinks it strange when Abigail’s “makeover” leaves them looking frighteningly identical, she soon has to wonder just how far the troubled young woman will go to in order to win Kate’s affection.

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New Hardcover Mysteries for February 2010

The Hidden Staircase Mystery Books has updated its list of new hardcover mysteries with books scheduled for publication in February 2010. Please note that some titles may publish early (and may already be available) and some may be delayed, published at a later date.

Below we're listing those authors with returning series characters, new series characters, and non-series or stand-alone mysteries in separate sections. All titles are available on our February mystery books page.

• Authors with mysteries featuring returning series characters (in parentheses) this month:

Marty Ambrose (Mallie Monroe, 2nd), Nancy Atherton (Aunt Dimity, 15th), Sandi Ault (Jamaica Wild, 4th), Alex Berenson (John Wells, 4th), P. J. Brooke (Max Romero, 2nd), Caroline Carver (Jay McCaulay, 2nd), Alys Clare (Aelf Fen, 2nd), L. F. Crawford (Art Murry, 3rd), Scarlett Dean (Lindsay Frost, 2nd), P. C. Doherty (Amerotke, 7th), Tim Dorsey (Serge Storms, 12th), Martin Edwards (Lake District, 4th), Steven M. Forman (Eddie Perlmutter, 2nd), J. G. Goodhind (Honey Driver, 5th), Tim Green (Casey Jordan, 3rd), Elizabeth Gunn (Jake Hines, 8th), Parnell Hall (Puzzle Lady, 11th), Michael Kurland (Sherlock Holmes Anthology, 3rd), Eric Van Lustbader (Jack McClure, 2nd), Peter May (Li Yan and Margaret Campbell, 5th), Craig McDonald (Hector Lassiter, 3rd), G. A. McKevett (Savannah Reid, 15th), Ian Morson (Medieval Oxford, 7th), Jonathan Nasaw (E. L. Pender, 5th), Charlie Owen (Handstead New Town, 4th), Michael Palmer (Medical Thriller, 15th), Robert B. Parker (Jesse Stone, 9th), Sandra Parshall (Rachel Goddard, 3rd), James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge (Michael Bennett, 3rd), Misa Ramirez (Lola Cruz, 2nd), Matt Beynon Rees (Omar Yussef, 4th), J. D. Robb (Eve Dallas, In Death, 37th), John Maddox Roberts (SPQR, 13th), David Rollins (Vin Cooper, 3rd), Fay Sampson (Suzie Fewings, 2nd), Dana Stabenow (Kate Shugak, 17th), Ronald Tierney (Carly Paladino and Noah Lang, 2nd), Peter Tonkin (Richard Mariner, 21st)

• Authors with mysteries introducing new series characters (in parentheses) this month:

Noah Boyd (Steve Vail), Anna Dean (Miss Dido Kent), Ken Mercer (Will Magowan), Kelli Stanley (Miranda Corbie)

• Authors with non-series or stand-alone mysteries this month:

Ben Bova, Julie Compton, Marjorie Eccles, Joy Fielding, Alan Glynn, Bill Guttentag, Dana Hand, Robert Harris, Gar Anthony Haywood, Chuck Hogan, Al Lamanda, Robert S. Levinson, Henning Mankell, Nigel McCrery, John McFetridge, Mark Mills, Rosemarie Naramore, S. J. Parris, David Peace, Henry Porter, Michael Shea, Roger Smith, Peter Straub, Paul Theroux, Najem Wali, Kenneth Wishnia

For more information on any of these titles, please visit the New Mysteries page on our website. If you're interested in new paperbacks, visit The Mystery Bookshelf where you can discover a library of new mysteries, also updated with February 2010 releases.

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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Josephine Cox's Blood Brothers to be a Tesco Film Adaptation

Yesterday we reported on supermarket giant Tesco's new film venture, and that an adaptation of a quartet of Jackie Collin's novels was already filming in France. Now theBookseller.com is reporting that an adaptation of Josephine Cox's latest novel, Blood Brothers, is expected to go into production later this year.

About Blood Brothers: Alice Jacobs has finally found the family she always wanted! With her shy smile and kind nature, Alice wins the hearts of the Arnold family. A decent and well respected couple,Tom and Nancy Arnold have raised two very different sons, Frank and Joe. Frank is a devious, brutal man. Seeing Alice as the key to his fortune, he is determined to have her for himself. However, his younger brother Joe has fallen in love with Alice, so when she and Frank become engaged to marry, Joe leaves home, determined to put a distance between himself and temptation. He reluctantly returns when Frank summons him to be his best man. Alice finds herself inexplicably drawn to Joe, but feeling it to be her duty, she goes ahead and marries Frank, not wishing to hurt him. On their wedding night Frank shows his true colours and when he forces Alice to reveal a devastating secret, his evil nature reaps a shocking revenge. In his blind hatred, intent on punishing those who have crossed him, Frank plans the final, ultimate retribution. An act that could tear apart not only the Arnold family, but shatter the lives of those around them forever. Unless someone can stop him!

Blood Brothers goes on sale next week in the UK; a US publication date is unknown at this time.

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Zac Efron To Star in Film Adaptation of Graphic Crime Novel Fire by Brian Michael Bendis

THR's Heat Vision blog is reporting that Zac Efron is set to star in a film adaptation of the graphic crime novel Fire by Brian Michael Bendis. Universal Studios will produce the Bendis-written screenplay.

About Fire: Imagine that you are a shy, quiet college student. Just an average guy trying to get through each day as best he can. Then your government contacts you. They want you to be part of an experiment in the art of human covert operations. Instead of creating an agent from someone within their own ranks, they want to create an agent from nobody -- from scratch -- you!

Originally published in 1993 and the first of the author's series of noir comics, the story is loosely based on events in the American intelligence community during the Reagan administration.

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Mystery Book Review: The Murdered House by Pierre Magnan

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of The Murdered House by Pierre Magnan. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

The Murdered House by Pierre Magnan
A Seraphin Monge Mystery

St. Martin's Minotaur (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-312-36720-1 (0312367201)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-36720-6 (9780312367206)
Publication Date: November 2009
List Price: $24.99

Review: The Murdered House, written by Pierre Magnan in 1984 and winner of France's Best Novel of the Year Award that year, received an English translation 1999. Minotaur Books is now re-releasing the translated book as a hardcover.

Seraphin Monge was just 18 days old when his parents, brothers, and grandfather were brutally murdered. Raised in orphanages, he returns to his ancestral home in Provence 23 years later and is told that his family's killers were soon identified and subsequently executed. But torn by visions of death around him, he begins to dismantle the house he was born in, discovering a box with a large number of gold coins hidden within its walls. He then learns that the wrong men were accused of his family's murders, that the real killers are still alive. Believing the motive behind the murders is connected to the hidden gold, Seraphin is determined to mete out justice at last.

Translated novels can sometimes be difficult to review from a stylistic perspective; one never knows how much of the translation is literal and how much interpretative. And something here seems to be lost in translation, as it were. Despite an atmospheric and moody setting, the narrative, especially when Seraphin is present, feels rather flat, generating little suspense. Early in the book, for example, Seraphin goes about the destruction of his house in a methodical manner, robotic and indifferent, a man striking back the only way he knows how at those who killed his family but not really feeling any joy or sorrow from his acts. Even when he discovers the gold and realizes his family's killers are alive, he's oddly emotionless. Whether this is the author's intent or not is unknown. The house, named La Burliere and referred to as if a character in the story, is often a stronger presence than Seraphin, as illustrated by the following passage: "Life was ebbing away from the building with every stone that hit the ground and every piece of lime that quietly disintegrated. Its lamentation could be heard in the voice of the tall holly-oaks moaning in the wind."

The plot becomes more animated during the second half of the book but also seems less original, more derivative. Still, The Murdered House is an interesting novel overall, and one worth experiencing.

Special thanks to St. Martin's Minotaur for providing a copy of The Murdered House for this review.

Review Copyright © 2010 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved

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

Synopsis (from the publisher): At the turn of the century in Upper Provence, a family is violently massacred. The sole survivor of the tragedy is a three-week-old baby.

Twenty years later, the orphaned survivor returns home to avenge his family’s killers. But for each murder he plots, another hand silently executes it in his place. He wins the hearts of two women, Marie and rose, and romantic complications ensue. But then unexpected secrets set in motion a dreadful unveiling of the past ...

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Tesco To Offer Exclusive DVD Film Adaptations of Best Selling Authors

BBC News is reporting that supermarket giant Tesco has formed a joint venture with Amber Entertainment to make direct-to-DVD films that will be exclusive to the retailer. First up is Paris Connections, an adaptation of the Jackie Collins quartet of thrillers Power, Obsession, Murder, and Revenge, and collectively published as L. A. Connections. It is currently being filmed in France, and is expected to be the first of four planned movies in the "Connections" series.

Other best-selling authors reportedly in talks with Tesco for film adaptations include Philip Pullman, Judy Blume, Dick and Felix Francis, Karin Slaughter, Jacqueline Wilson, and Anne Perry.

(See also the Tesco press release for more information.)

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