Film Adaptation of the Supernatural Thriller The Keep by Jennifer Egan Gets Swedish Director

Bloody Disgusting is reporting that Swedish filmmaker Niels Arden Oplev (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) is attached to direct the screen adaptation of the supernatural thriller The Keep by Jennifer Egan. Ehren Kruger (Arlington Road, The Ring, The Skeleton Key, The Brothers Grimm) wrote the screenplay for Rogue Pictures, which acquired the project in 2008.

Neither the book nor its adaptation should be confused with Michael Mann's 1983 film The Keep, which was based on the novel by F. Paul Wilson.

About The Keep (from the publisher): Two cousins, irreversibly damaged by a childhood prank, reunite twenty years later to renovate a medieval castle in Eastern Europe. In an environment of extreme paranoia, cut off from the outside world, the men reenact the signal event of their youth, with even more catastrophic results. And as the full horror of their predicament unfolds, a prisoner, in jail for an unnamed crime, recounts an unforgettable story that seamlessly brings the crimes of the past and present into piercing relation.

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Mystery Book Review: 212 by Alafair Burke

Review of 212 by Alafair Burke

Alafair Burke crafts an intricate story with intersecting plotlines as her third murder investigation for NYPD homicide detective Ellie Hatcher in 212.

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews.

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212
Alafair Burke
An Ellie Hatcher Mystery

Harper (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-06-156122-3 (0061561223)
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-156122-1 (9780061561221)
Publication Date: April 2010
List Price: $24.99

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Mysterious Reviews is your source for the latest mystery, suspense, thriller, and crime novel reviews, edited by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books.

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FX Networks Renews Justified and NBC Picks Up Undercovers

Two news items appeared today in The Hollywood Reporter of interest to viewers of crime and suspense dramas.

First, FX has renewed Justified for a second season of 13 episodes. Justified stars Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, a character created by crime novelist Elmore Leonard. "This pickup speaks volumes to the quality and collaboration on the series, and our unparalleled partnership with FX," said Jamie Erlicht, president of programming for Sony Pictures Television. "The viewer response to Justified has been as enthusiastic as ours was when we first heard the pitch."

Second, NBC has jumped the gun by pre-announcing its first new series for the Fall 2010 season, Undercovers, co-written, produced and directed by J. J. Abrams. "We have tremendous confidence in this promising series and feel this is a great way to kick off our upcoming upfront development announcements," said Jeff Gaspin, Chairman, NBC Universal Television Entertainment. "J. J. has delivered another signature series along with our partners at Warner Bros and we couldn't be happier." The pilot for the series stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Boris Kodjoe as a married couple who are re-activated as CIA agents after years of retirement.

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New Trailer for Winter's Bone, based on the novel by Daniel Woodrell

Earlier this year, we reported that the film adaptation of Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell had won the 2010 Sundance Grand Jury Prize. Now a trailer for the film, which is scheduled to be in select theaters this June, has been released and can be seen below.

About Winter's Bone (from the publisher): Ree Dolly's father has skipped bail on charges that he ran a crystal meth lab, and the Dollys will lose their house if he doesn't show up for his next court date. With two young brothers depending on her, 16-year-old Ree knows she has to bring her father back, dead or alive. Living in the harsh poverty of the Ozarks, Ree learns quickly that asking questions of the rough Dolly clan can be a fatal mistake. But, as an unsettling revelation lurks, Ree discovers unforeseen depths in herself and in a family network that protects its own at any cost.

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Mysteries on TV: The Murdoch Mysteries, New This Week on DVD

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 or Blu-ray disc, is profiling one series being released this week.

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Cutting-edge Victorian science meets cunningly plotted mystery in the sassy-smart The Murdoch Mysteries, an award-winning Canadian TV drama.

Set in 1895, Yannick Bisson stars as Detective William Murdoch, a police investigator who employs emerging science to solve Toronto’s most dreadful murders. He experiments with ballistics, psychological profiling, and other newly developed techniques, despite the doubts of his tradition-bound boss (Thomas Craig). Together with a beautiful pathologist (Hélène Joy) and an able protégé (Jonny Harris), Murdoch encounters some of the era’s most famous -- and infamous -- figures, from Buffalo Bill Cody to Jack the Ripper.

The series is based on characters created by Maureen Jennings, who featured William Murdoch in seven mysteries that were published between 1997 and 2007.

The The Murdoch Mysteries: Season Two DVD set of 4 discs contain the 13 episodes that originally aired on Canadian television from February through May 2009.

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Visit the Mysteries on TV website to discover more television mystery series currently available on DVD and Blu-ray disc.

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New Regency Pictures to Adapt Thriller The Gray Man by Mark Greaney

The Hollywood Reporter's "Risky Business" column is reporting that Adam Cozad is on board to write a screen adaptation of The Gray Man, Mark Greaney's debut thriller, for New Regency Pictures. Cozad is also writing the script for the new Jack Ryan film, based on a character created by Tom Clancy (though reportedly not based on any book from the series), for Paramount.

About The Gray Man (from the publisher): Court Gentry is known as The Gray Man -- a legend in the covert realm, moving silently from job to job, accomplishing the impossible, and then fading away. And he always hits his target. But there are forces more lethal than Gentry in the world. And in their eyes, Gentry has just outlived his usefulness.

Now, he is going to prove that for him, there's no gray area between killing for a living -- and killing to stay alive.

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Mystery Godoku Puzzle for May 03, 2010

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 G H I K N R T

In the title of the 6th Hawkenlye mystery by Alys Clare, this is hidden (with “A”, 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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Mr. E. Reviews: The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes Set 2

Review of The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes Set 2

The tagline for this series reads, "Sherlock Holmes wasn’t the only fictional detective in Victorian London. Inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, other writers of the time created a colorful cast of sleuths", many of which are unknown to casual readers of detective fiction. The great appeal of this series lies in the introduction to some of these characters, which will no doubt inspire viewers to track down some of the stories in which they originally appeared.

Read the full text of our review at Mr. E. Reviews.

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The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes Set 2
Director: Various

Original air date(s): 01/23/1973 to 04/16/1973.
DVD release: 03/30/2010.
Studio: Acorn Media.

Recurring character(s): This anthology series does not feature a cast of recurring characters.

Rating: Not Rated.
Running time: 659 minutes.

All of the episodes in this series were adapted from short stories or novels written by contemporaries of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. See specific information about the authors and their characters under the episode synopses.

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Mr. E. Reviews is your source for mystery, suspense, thriller, and crime drama reviews of television and film.

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Winners of the Agatha Awards Announced

The Agatha Awards, honoring the books best typified by the works of Agatha Christie and published during 2009, were given out last night by Malice Domestic during its annual convention.

The winners are:

◊ Best Mystery Novel: A Brutal Telling by Louise Penny (St. Martin's Minotaur)
◊ Best First Mystery Novel: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley   (Delacorte Press)
◊ Best Children's/Young Adult: The Hanging Hill by Chris Grabenstein (Random House)
◊ Best Short Story: "On the House" by Hank Phillippi Ryan (which appeared in Quarry: Crime Stories by New England Writers)
◊ Best Non-Fiction: Dame Agatha's Shorts by Elena Santangelo (Bella Rosa Books)

 indicates a review by Mysterious Reviews.

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Finalists Announced for the 2010 Benjamin Franklin Awards

The finalists for the 2010 Benjamin Franklin Awards were announced today by the Independent Book Publishers Association in several categories. These awards recognize excellence in independent publishing. Publications, grouped by genre, are judged on editorial and design merit by top practitioners in each field.

The finalists in the Mystery/Suspense category are:

◊ The Bone Chamber by Robin Burcell  (Poisoned Pen Press)
◊ Jump by Tim Maleeny  (Poisoned Pen Press)
◊ In Their Blood by Sharon Potts  (Oceanview Publishing)

The Benjamin Franklin 2010 Awards presentation ceremony will be held at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City on May 24, 2010.

 indicates a review by Mysterious Reviews.

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