Reviews of Mystery and Suspense Books for Kids, New This Week on Book Trends

Book Trends, a review site for young adult and children books, published several new book reviews this past week. We're presenting here a summary of those in the mystery / suspense category.

Hunter Brown and the Consuming Fire by The Miller Brothers. The 2nd book in The Codebearers series. Recommended for readers aged 10 to 12. Lexile measure: N/A. Reviewed by a 6th grade student who wrote, "Some books are simply meant to be read, but other books are worth talking about," adding, "This book kept my interest by having surprises on nearly every page."

The War of the Worlds by Manly W. Wellman & Wade Wellman. The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Recommended for readers aged 12 and older. Lexile measure: N/A. Reviewed by a 6th grade student who wrote, "[I]t gives a new twist to alien stories [and] has suspense that will keep you reading."

Inspector Jacques by Darrel and Sally Odgers. The 11th book in the Jack Russell, Dog Detective series. Recommended for readers aged 7 to 9. Lexile measure: 510L. Reviewed by a 6th grade student who wrote, "Not only are the characters good, but the plot and setting is great too. It’s for younger children, but I loved it all the same."

For more reviews of children and young adult books, visit Book Trends; their reviews will amaze you!

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Mystery Book Review: Desert Lost by Betty Webb

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

Desert Lost by Betty Webb
A Lena Jones Mystery

Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-59058-681-6 (1590586816)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-681-5 (9781590586815)
Publication Date: December 2009
List Price: $24.95

Review: Scottsdale (AZ) private investigator Lena Jones looks into an unusual case of polygamy and murder in Desert Lost, the sixth mystery in this series by Betty Webb.

The life of a PI is not always as exciting as one sees on television. Lena is pulling one of her more boring jobs -- staking out a storage yard waiting for taggers to swarm over a wall and spray paint nasty things on the sides of snowbird's Winnebagos -- when a car pulls up and dumps the body of a woman on the pavement. She's dressed in the traditional manner of a sister-wife, that is, a woman who shares her husband with other women. Believing the nearest polygamist camp to be hundreds of miles away in Utah, Lena can't imagine how she came to be here. Somewhat less surprising, though, are the number of boys who, at 18 years old, are kicked out of the polygamist's families by the elder male, and become street rogues in the states neighboring Utah. Often poorly schooled, Lena has worked with them in the past, taking them to safe houses where they can learn a trade.

With the help of a former sister-wife, Lena identifies the dead woman, Celeste King. But soon afterward, one of boys Lena has helped, Jonah King, is accused of killing her, his mother. Lena isn't sure whether he's guilty or not, but he's alone and needs help, and Lena wants to be there for him ... just as someone was there for her during her own troubled youth.

The murder mystery plot in Desert Lost is often supplanted by backstories and subplots of Lena's own past and the families of polygamists. Tragic and touching at the same time, they serve as both a complement to and a backdrop for her investigation, but also are an important message in and of themselves -- albeit delivered in a somewhat heavy-handed manner. Still, the mystery itself is well-crafted, the characters interesting, compelling, and realistically drawn. Fans of the series will likely count this entry as one of the author's best.

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

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

If you are interested in purchasing Desert Lost from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right.

Synopsis (from the publisher): While running surveillance in an industrial section of Scottsdale, P.I. Lena Jones discovers the body of a woman connected to Second Zion, an infamous polygamy cult based in northern Arizona. Lena joins forces with Rosella, a former polygamist sister wife, to find the victim's killer, and soon discovers a shocking secret: in a society where one man can have ten wives, nine men will have none. Second Zion makes certain these possible rivals don't stick around.

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HBO Picks Up Mini-Series Based on James M. Cain's Mildred Pierce

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that HBO has picked up a 5-hour mini-series based on the classic 1941 noir novel Mildred Pierce by James M. Cain. Kate Winslet will star as the titular character in the series, with production to begin in April in New York.

Mildred Pierce was also made into a film in 1945 starring Joan Crawford. Several changes were made in the screenplay that made it more of a thriller and introduced a murder into the plot. Crawford won an Academy Award for her performance in that film.

It's not clear how faithful this new adaptation will be to the original novel.

Several of Cain's books have been made into films, including Double Indemnity (1944) and The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946).

About Mildred Pierce (from the publisher): Mildred Pierce had gorgeous legs, a way with a skillet, and a bone-deep core of toughness. She used those attributes to survive a divorce and poverty and to claw her way out of the lower middle class. But Mildred also had two weaknesses: a yen for shiftless men, and an unreasoning devotion to a monstrous daughter.

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Games of Mystery: Dark Fall Lights Out and The Mirror Mysteries, New from Amazon Video Games

Games of Mystery, your source for mystery-themed board, electronic and video games, parties for kids and adults, murder mystery weekends and mystery getaway vacations, and more mysterious fun, is pleased to announce this week's new mystery and suspense games available for immediate download from Amazon Video Games.

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Dark Fall: Lights Out

A thick fog rolls in from the English Channel as the faithful light of Fetch Rock Lighthouse is plunged into darkness, putting the lives of those at sea in peril. Parker may be their only hope. Armed with his compass, charts, and wits, he sets off to uncover the mystery. Along the way he discovers that Fletch Rock and its lighthouse have a very sinister history.

See also the first game in this series, Dark Fall: The Journal.

Windows Vista / XP (668 MB download).

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The Mirror Mysteries

A young family stops at a mysterious old home for a picnic. As the mother closes her eyes to enjoy the sun, she hears a horrific crash ... the kids! As she enters the house, she is confronted by a mystical mirror that has taken her kids and locked them away in a magical world. A quest is placed upon you to not only save the children, but help a unique character in very mystical places. Can you solve the Mirror Mysteries?

Windows Vista / XP (78 MB download).

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A complete list of downloadable mystery games is available on our Games of Mystery: Amazon.com Game Download page.

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Mystery Bestsellers for February 12, 2010

A list of the top 15 mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending February 12, 2010 has been posted on the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books website.

Activity is picking up with quite a bit of shuffling among the bestsellers this week.

Debuting just off the last last week but moving up sharply into 6th position is Flirt, the 18th thriller featuring vampire hunter Anita Blake by Laurell K. Hamilton.

When Anita meets with prospective client Tony Bennington, who is desperate to have her reanimate his recently deceased wife, she is full of sympathy for his loss. Anita knows something about love, and she knows everything there is to know about loss. But what she also knows, though Tony Bennington seems unwilling to be convinced, is that the thing she can do as a necromancer isn't the miracle he thinks he needs. The creature that Anita could coerce to step out of the late Mrs. Bennington's grave would not be the lovely Mrs. Bennington ...

Not really ...

And not for long.

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: Short Squeeze by Chris Knopf

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

Short Squeeze by Chris Knopf
A Jackie Swaitkowski Mystery

St. Martin's Minotaur (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-312-55123-1 (0312551231)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-55123-0 (9780312551230)
Publication Date: January 2010
List Price: $24.99

Review: Readers familiar with Chris Knopf's Sam Acquillo mysteries will recognize the character of his attorney, Jackie Swaitkowski, who is given her own series that starts with a new client who promptly turns up dead in Short Squeeze.

Sergey Pontecello hires Jackie to help him remove his sister-in-law, Eunice, from his home, who has returned following the death of his wife, Elizabeth. He tells Jackie that the house and grounds were left to Elizabeth and Eunice by their parents, but Eunice long ago signed a quitclaim deed on the property leaving it exclusively owned by Elizabeth and Sergey. Jackie quickly learns that Sergey's information is correct, but he failed to tell her -- or maybe he just didn't know -- that the property is mortgaged to the hilt against a credit line provided by Eunice. When Sergey phones later that evening to complain about Eunice locking him out of his bathroom, Jackie brushes it off as frivolous -- until she's called by the police a few hours later. Her card was in Sergey's shirt pocket, his dead body found by the side of the road outside his home. Feeling slightly guilty about brushing him off earlier, Jackie begins her own investigation, which takes an ominous turn when her truck is forced off the road. Enlisting the help of an old flame, she discovers an intricate web of family secrets -- and that someone is willing to go to any lengths to keep them that way.

The light, easy-going, at times brash, narrative style of Short Squeeze deceptively masks a plot that is filled with unforeseen turns. Not plot twists per se, but plot pathways that seem to be heading one way only to end in delightfully unexpected places. What could have been a standard, run-of-the-mill murder mystery, ends up being surprisingly refreshing as a consequence.

Given that Jackie was introduced in another series by the author, and that that other character makes an appearance in this book, it's tempting to make comparisons between the two. But Knopf has intentionally (and cleverly) written them in differing styles, reflecting the distinct personalities of his series characters, making comparisons not only difficult, but irrelevant. What trait they do share, however, is the author's inherent ability to lead the reader in one direction while subtly setting the stage for something completely different -- and unanticipated -- to occur. It's all very well done and Short Squeeze is highly recommended.

Special thanks to St. Martin's Minotaur for providing a copy of Short Squeeze for this review.

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

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

Synopsis (from the publisher): Meet Jackie Swaitowski, a smart-aleck attorney whose legal turf is supposed to be the buzzing Hamptons real-estate market. But when a new client turns up dead, things take a sudden and decidedly dangerous turn. In a client's pocket is an envelope that contains a shocking piece of evidence that suggests that the death was anything but an accident.

Jackie has bigger fish to fry -- like her old flame Harry's surprise return to town -- until a late-night car chase changes her priorities. Now she has every reason to believe that the next name on the killer's list is her own.

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Alex O'Loughlin Signed To Star as Steve McGarrett in New Hawaii Five-O

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Alex O'Loughlin (Moonlight) has signed on to play Steve McGarrett in the updated version of Hawaii Five-O, currently in development at CBS. Last week it was reported that Lost co-star Daniel Dae Kim has been cast as Detective Chin Ho Kelly.

The series writers, Alex Kurtman and Roberto Orci, have plenty on their plates. In addition to producing the Fox series Fringe, they recently acquired the film rights to the Joe Hill graphic novel series Locke & Key and are working on a sequel to the feature film Star Trek.

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Dennis Lehane to adapt his own Short Story Animal Rescue for Film

Variety is reporting that Dennis Lehane will adapt his own short story "Animal Rescue" for film. The story originally appeared in Boston Noir, an anthology of short stories edited by Lehane and published last year. Though he has previously written for the television series The Wire, this is his first screenplay.

Several of Lehane's novels have previously been adapted for film, including Mystic River and Gone, Baby, Gone. Shutter Island, based on his 2003 novel, opens in theaters next week.

"Animal Rescue" is about a bartender who finds a pit bull that is believed to have committed murder, and is set in the author's home town of Dorchester.

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Richard Matheson's Paranormal Thriller Earthbound Optioned for Film

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Richard Matheson's 1989 paranormal thriller Earthbound has been optioned by Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald, who have a first-look deal with DreamWorks Studios.

Matheson is a prolific novelist, with many of his novels and short stories having been adapted for film (notably I Am Legend, which has been filmed at least three times, Stir of Echoes, What Dreams May Come, and just last year, The Box), but has also written extensively for television, including adapting his own short story for the 1971 made-for-television film Duel, which was one of Steven Spielberg's earliest directing jobs. In his book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Stephen King credits Matheson as being "the author who influenced me most as a writer."

Matheson also used the pen name Logan Swanson for some of his early work, including the first, albeit heavily edited, edition of Earthbound, published by Playboy Press in 1982.

About Earthbound: David and Ellen Cooper came to the lonely beachside cottage in hopes of rekindling their troubled marriage. Yet they are not alone on their second honeymoon. Marianna, a beautiful and enigmatic stranger, comes to visit David whenever Ellen is away.

Who is Marianna, and where has she come from?

Even as he succumbs to her seductive charms, David realizes that Marianna is far more than a threat to his marriage, for her secrets lie deep in the past and beyond the grave. And her unholy desires endanger the life and soul of everyone she touches.

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Mystery Book Review: The Runner by Peter May

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

The Runner by Peter May
A Li Yan and Margaret Campbell Mystery

Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-59058-604-2 (1590586042)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-604-4 (9781590586044)
Publication Date: February 2010
List Price: $24.95

Review: Would you be willing to give up a job that you love for the woman that you love, who is also expecting your child? That is the choice that Li Yan has to face in Peter May ‘s The Runner, the fifth novel in the China Thriller series.

Set in Beijing, China, we learn more about the volatile relationship between Li Yan, a head investigator for the Beijing Police Department, and Dr. Margaret Campbell, a pathologist who recently left her job as the head coroner of Brown County Texas to be with Li in China. Li and Margaret are planning their wedding. However, marriage is forbidden between a Chinese law official and a non-Chinese citizen. Li will lose his job when he marries Margaret, a fact that he has not chosen to tell her. Amidst the wedding plans, Li is called on to solve the mysterious deaths of five Chinese athletes. These deaths seem unrelated at first, but is five top athletes dying in one month just a coincidence? Lily, a top female runner attempts to contact Dr. Campbell because she has something important to tell her. But Lily disappears before she has a chance to speak with her, and Margaret wonders if the information she had was related to the deaths of the Chinese athletes. Also, someone is leaking information to the press. Is someone in Li’s department out to get his job?

Add to this mix Li’s belligerent father, who blames his son for leaving him after his mother’s death. Margaret’s prejudiced mom also helps to add to the stress that Li and Margaret feel. How will these two prospective in-laws manage to get along for the wedding? Will the wedding take place before Margaret delivers their baby? Will Li sacrifice his career to marry Margaret? You will have to read The Runner to find out.

I enjoyed this book and would give it five out of five stars. The Runner gave Margaret an important role in solving the murders. I could easily empathize with the pre-wedding stress she was going through trying to keep her mother, future father-in-law, and fiancé happy. She did all of this while being eight months pregnant! The conclusion kept me guessing until the very end, and I was wrong about who Li should and should not trust. So, if you love a good mystery set in a foreign country, then The Runner is for you!

Special thanks to Ruth Miller for contributing her review of The Runner and to Poisoned Pen Press for providing an ARC of the book for this review.

Review Copyright © 2010 — Ruth Miller — All Rights Reserved — Reprinted with Permission

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

Synopsis (from the publisher): A top chinese swimmer kills himself of the eve of an international event -- shattering his country's hopes of victory against the Americans. An Olympic weightlifter dies in the arms of his Beijing mistress -- a scandal to be hushed up at the highest level. But the suicides were murder, and both men's deaths are connected to an inexplicable series of "accidents" which has taken the lives of some of China's best athletes.

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