Games of Mystery: The Heritage, New at Big Fish Games

Games of Mystery is pleased to announce the availability of a new mystery casual game from Big Fish Games released today and available to BFG Club members. 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.

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The year is 1916. To escape from Great War, and to protect her daughter, a young woman must go to her Grandfather's abandoned -- but reportedly haunted -- manor. The local inhabitants of a nearby village tell stories about the ghosts and the terrible things inside the mansion, but you have no choice. Explore the old house and collect memories of her Grandfather to discover the heritage of the woman's family and uncover incredible secrets in this fun and immersive hidden object game.

Also available: The Heritage Game Walkthrough.

The Heritage may be downloaded and purchased for $6.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. A demonstration version (120.59 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! (Collector's Editions earn 3 punches each, half-way towards your free game!)

Read Ms. Terri's reviews of the adventure and casual mystery games featured on this site, including Midnight Mysteries: The Edgar Allan Poe Conspiracy, Nancy Drew Dossier: Lights, Camera, Curses!, Enlightenus, and many more!

Big Fish Games: Bestsellers

Big Fish Games: New releases

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Games of Mystery is your source for mystery-themed video, electronic, and board games, parties for kids and adults, and murder mystery weekends and mystery getaway vacations!

Behind-the-Scenes Video for TNT's New Crime Drama Rizzoli & Isles

We received our ARC of Tess Gerritsen's next Rizzoli & Isles mystery, Ice Cold, today and coincidentally we noticed a new behind-the-scenes video of the new crime drama based on the series on the TNT website.

Angie Harmon stars as Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli, who joins forces with medical examiner Maura Isles (played by Sasha Alexander) to solve crimes. Also on hand are Jane's rookie partner (Lee Thompson), her former partner (Bruce McGill), and FBI agent Gabriel Dean (Billy Burke).

Rizzoli & Isles is scheduled to premiere Monday, July 12th at 10 PM (ET/PT) on TNT. Watch the 4 minute on-set preview below.

Mystery Book Review: In Harm's Way by Irene Hannon

Review of In Harm's Way by Irene Hannon

Irene Hannon's "Heroes of Quantico" series continues with FBI Special Agent Nick Bradley skeptical of a woman's story about a discarded Raggedy Ann doll ... until he discovers it may be a clue to the disappearance of an abducted child from Chicago in In Harm's Way.

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews.

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In Harm's Way
Irene Hannon
A Heroes of Quantico Mystery

Revell (Trade Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-8007-3312-6 (0800733126)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8007-3312-4 (9780800733124)
Publication Date: April 2010
List Price: $14.99

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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.

Film Adaptation of Noir Thriller Game Heavy Rain in Works

Deadline.com is reporting that a deal is near for Unique Features to acquire the film rights to the noir thriller game Heavy Rain, released exclusively for the PlayStation 3 earlier this year. Former New Line Cinema co-founders Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne are behind the project.

About Heavy Rain (from the developers): How far will you go to save someone you love? Each player discovers their own answer to this question as they experience a gripping psychological thriller filled with innumerable twists and turns, where choices and actions can and do result in dramatic consequences. Spanning four days of mystery and suspense, the hunt is on for a murderer known only as the Origami Killer — named after his macabre calling card of leaving behind folded paper shapes at crime scenes. Even more chilling is the fiend's well established pattern of killing his victims four days after abducting them. The public is gripped with fear as the police seem powerless to stop the carnage, and another potential victim — Shaun Mars — has gone missing. Now four characters — a father, a photographer, a FBI agent with a special skill set and a retired cop turned private detective — each following their own leads and with their own motives, must take part in a desperate attempt to prevent the killer from taking yet another life.

Each of the characters (players) have different paths, means and motives to ending the reign of terror that the Origami Killer has imposed on their city. As players follow the path laid before their character of choice, they are able to explore, interact with and view their surroundings in a variety of ways using their controller's left and right sticks. At crucial times players are given a series of choices relating to how to proceed in various situations, with the outcome of these choices revealing both benefits and consequences. Benefits can be important to progressing through the game, while possible consequences can in turn pose a very real danger to characters, including death. But unlike other games, and because Heavy Rain features four playable characters that exist independently of each other, yet simultaneously within the same the story arc, this does not end the game. Players are instead able to play as one of the other available characters, with appropriate changes to possible outcomes due to the absence of the deceased character(s).

Authors on Tour: Jeffrey Leever Visits CMash Loves to Read and Murder by 4

Mystery Books News is thrilled to be coordinating this week's online book tour for author Jeffrey Leever, whose thriller, The University (Capital Crime Press Trade Paperback, November 2009), has investigative journalist Kevin Gibson drawn into a cunning world few know exist -- a conspiracy involving facilty, students, and some well-connected people in high places on the campus of a local college.

Today, Friday May 21st, Jeffrey will be visiting two blog sites:

• CMash Loves To Read, where The University is reviewed; and
• Murder by 4, where Jeffrey is the guest author.

We're also delighted to announce that Jeffrey is giving away a signed copy of his new book to one lucky tour visitor. Visit each tour site on the day indicated and pick up a unique PIN to be used to enter the giveaway on that day. The entry form can be found on Jeffrey's tour page.

We hope you have the opportunity to stop by each of the tour sites this week to learn more about Jeffrey and the secrets that lie beneath a university's upstanding exterior.

Games of Mystery: Robinson Crusoe and The Cursed Pirates, New from Big Fish Games

Games of Mystery is pleased to announce the availability of a new mystery casual game from Big Fish Games released today and available to BFG Club members. 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.

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1679: After escaping the inhabited island, Robinson Crusoe sets sail for England. Four weeks later, however, he and his friend Friday encounter an uncharted land mass. Something strange happens with their hands, with black spots appearing over them. Voodoo magic can be smelt in the air ...

Explore a ghost island inhabited by cursed pirates as you prepare an anti-curse cure from a local root. Find your way through an underground labryinth while searching for the undead captain. And test your knowledge of pirates in IQ contests, participate in turtle races and grog competitions, complete mind-bending puzzles, and more.

Also available: Robinson Crusoe and the Cursed Pirates Strategy Guide and a Robinson Crusoe and the Cursed Pirates Game Walkthrough.

See also the first game in the series, The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe.

Robinson Crusoe and The Cursed Pirates may be downloaded and purchased for $6.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. A demonstration version (177.75 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! (Collector's Editions earn 3 punches each, half-way towards your free game!)

Read Ms. Terri's reviews of the adventure and casual mystery games featured on this site, including Midnight Mysteries: The Edgar Allan Poe Conspiracy, Nancy Drew Dossier: Lights, Camera, Curses!, Enlightenus, and many more!

Big Fish Games: Bestsellers

Big Fish Games: New releases

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Games of Mystery is your source for mystery-themed video, electronic, and board games, parties for kids and adults, and murder mystery weekends and mystery getaway vacations!

Mystery Bestsellers for May 21, 2010

A list of the top 15 mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending May 21, 2010 has been posted on the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books website.

No change in the top three bestselling mysteries this week, with the 10th mystery in the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire series, Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris retaining the top spot. Two new titles debut this week.

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In 9th position is the 14th Jack Reacher novel, 61 Hours by Lee Child.

A tour bus crashes in a savage snowstorm and lands Jack Reacher in the middle of a deadly confrontation. In nearby Bolton, South Dakota, one brave woman is standing up for justice in a small town threatened by sinister forces. If she’s going to live long enough to testify, she’ll need help. Because a killer is coming to Bolton, a coldly proficient assassin who never misses.

Reacher’s original plan was to keep on moving. But the next 61 hours will change everything. The secrets are deadlier and his enemies are stronger than he could have guessed—but so is the woman whose life he’ll risk his own to save.

Sixty-one hours. Not a minute to spare.

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Just one place lower in 10th position is the 20th Lucas Davenport mystery, Storm Prey by John Sandford.

There's a storm brewing ...

Very early, 4:45, on a bitterly cold Minnesota morning, three big men burst through the door of a hospital pharmacy, duct-tape the hands, feet, mouth, and eyes of two pharmacy workers, and clean the place out. But then things swiftly go bad, one of the workers dies, and the robbers hustle out to their truck -- and find themselves for just one second face-to-face with a blond woman in the garage: Weather Karkinnen, surgeon, wife of an investigator named Lucas Davenport.

Did she see enough? Can she identify them? Gnawing it over later, it seems to them there is only one thing they can do: Find out who she is, and eliminate the only possible witness ...

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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.

Film Adaptations of Robert Ludlum's Covert One Thrillers under Development

Pajiba is reporting that the series of Covert One thrillers by Robert Ludlum (and assorted co-authors) will be the basis of a potential franchise of films, the first of which is expected to be directed by Frank Marshall. The first book in the series, The Hades Factor, originally published in 2000, was previously adapted for the television mini-series Covert One: The Hades Factor that aired on CBS during 2006.

Captivate Entertainment has the rights to all of Ludlum's novels, and is reportedly working on several projects including adaptations of The Materese Circle, The Parsifal Mosaic, The Sigma Protocol, The Chancellor Manuscript, a remake of The Osterman Weekend, and (if it ever sees the light of day) the fourth Bourne film.

About The Hades Factor (from the publisher): Covert-One is the code name for three brave men who risk their lives to uncover the truth behind the today's most deadly power plays: bright, driven U.S. Army doctor Jon Smith; eccentric electronic genius Marty Zellerback; and fearless foreign intelligence expert Peter Howell.

A baffling virus has claimed the lives of four people across the country -- including Dr. Sophia Russell, a research scientist working to understand the disease. Bitter and broken-hearted over the death of his beautiful fiance, Jon Smith is determined to uncover the cause of the virus that killed her -- and prevent it from turning into a pandemic of epic proportions. There are two men who can help Smith -- and with their brilliance and expertise, he'll travel across the globe and into the darkest corridors of murder and greed, to find a killer who would sacrifice millions of lives for his own success ... and whose first target is Smith himself, the only man who can stop him.

eHarlequin Free Book Fridays: Nightwalker by Heather Graham

eHarlequin.com gives you another reason to love Fridays! Buy two or more books this Friday and they'll give you their weekly featured book absolutely free! That's right, every Friday, enjoy a featured free book with the purchase of two or more other titles! Your free book will automatically be added to your cart. (MBN note: Though this is a regular feature of eHarlequin.com, we typically don't highlight it here unless the free book is a mystery or suspense title.)

This Friday's free book (05/21/2010) is a Mira paranormal thriller.

Nightwalker by Heather Graham
Non-series

One night, desperate for money to support her grandfather, Jessy Sparhawk places the bet that will change her life forever. Just as she's collecting her winnings, a man stumbles through the crowd, a knife protruding from his back, and crashes into her, pinning her to the table.

Hired to investigate the murder, private detective Dillon Wolf finds himself fascinated by the gorgeous redhead who'd been trapped beneath the victim—and by the single word the dying man had whispered in her ear: Indigo.

One murder leads to another as Dillon and Jessy realize that the nightmare is only just beginning—and that the dead still have a hand left to play.

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Keep up to date by subscribing to eHarlequin.com's free newsletter that contains the latest information about their series of books as well as informing you about subscriber-only special offers and new products. Click on the banner below to subscribe for free:

Authors on Tour: Jeffrey Leever Visits Novel Works and Allie's Musings

Mystery Books News is thrilled to be coordinating this week's online book tour for author Jeffrey Leever, whose thriller, The University (Capital Crime Press Trade Paperback, November 2009), has investigative journalist Kevin Gibson drawn into a cunning world few know exist -- a conspiracy involving facilty, students, and some well-connected people in high places on the campus of a local college.

Today, Thursday May 20th, Jeffrey will be visiting two blog sites:

• Novel Works, where Jeffrey is interviewed; and
• Allie's Musings, where Jeffrey is the guest blogger.

We're also delighted to announce that Jeffrey is giving away a signed copy of his new book to one lucky tour visitor. Visit each tour site on the day indicated and pick up a unique PIN to be used to enter the giveaway on that day. The entry form can be found on Jeffrey's tour page.

We hope you have the opportunity to stop by each of the tour sites this week to learn more about Jeffrey and the secrets that lie beneath a university's upstanding exterior.