After a scheduled two month break, the fifth season of Psych resumes with new episodes tomorrow, Wednesday November 10th, on USA Network at 10 PM (ET/PT).
In an episode titled "Extradition II: The Actual Extradiction Part", Shawn (James Roday) and Gus (Dulé Hill) return to Vancouver to visit their old nemesis Pierre Despereaux (Cary Elwes) in prison at the felon's request, who then uses them to escape and pull one last job before he is extradited to the United States. Only while he is out, he is framed for the murder of a Crown Attorney and now asks the guys for help clearing his name of this most recent — and frankly unseemly — charge.
USA Network has renewed the series for a 16 episode sixth season to start Summer 2011. Previous seasons are available on DVD from Telemystery: Psych.
Tuesday, November 09, 2010
Psych Season Five Resumes Wednesday, November 10th on USA Network
Budget DVD Re-Releases of Film Adaptations Presumed Innocent and Coma
Cinemystery, your source for information on TV series, made-for-television movies, and films adapted from novels of mystery and suspense, which are now available on DVD or Blu-ray disc, is profiling two new budget re-releases scheduled for this week.
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Adapted from the legal thriller Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow. Directed by Alan J. Pakula.
Originally released in theaters in July 1990, the film stars Harrison Ford as district attorney Rusty Sabich, who finds himself accused of the murder of a lawyer with whom he's been secretly having an affair, a case he's also been assigned to prosecute. His career is destroyed when his superior, Raymond Horgan (Brian Dennehy), who is also a credible suspect, sets him up for the fall.
Presumed Innocent runs 125 minutes and is rated R.
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Adapted and directed by Michael Crichton from the medical thriller Coma by Robin Cook.
Originally released in theaters in January 1978, the film stars Genevieve Bujold as Dr. Susan Wheeler, whose friend goes in for some minor surgery but never comes out of anesthesia, slipping instead into a coma. Her investigation reveals a surprisingly large number of similar cases, comatose patients who have been shipped off to an institute that cares for them -- but is really a front for black market body parts.
Coma runs 113 minutes and is rated PG.
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Visit the Cinemystery website to discover more TV and film adaptations currently available on DVD and Blu-ray disc.
Authors on Tour: Sheldon Russell Visits In Reference to Murder and Wendy's Minding Spot
Please join Sheldon Russell as he visits several blog sites this week during his online book tour for the second mystery in his Hook Runyon series, The Insane Train (Minotaur Books, Hardcover, November 2010, 978-0-312-56671-5), which is published this month.
Today, Tuesday November 9th, Sheldon is visiting two sites:
• In Reference to Murder: Author Interview
• Wendy's Minding Spot: Book Review
You'll also have a chance to win a copy of The Insane Train, courtesy of the author. Simply visit each site on the tour, pick up a PIN code, and enter that code with your name and e-mail address on the Sheldon Russell tour page for a chance to win!
OMN Welcomes Kent Westmoreland, Author of Baronne Street
Omnimystery News is delighted to welcome Kent Westmoreland as our guest blogger. Kent's debut mystery, Baronne Street (CreateSpace, Trade Paperback, September 2010, 978-1-4537-0271-0), introduces Burleigh Drummond, a New Orleans "fixer".
Today, Kent writes about what influences led him to create the character of Burleigh Drummond.
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Photo provided courtesy of Kent Westmoreland
After a recent reading some members of the audience suggested we continue the discussion of Baronne Street over a cup of coffee. My wife says I love to pontificate. She must be correct because I accepted the offer without hesitation.
For those who aren’t familiar with Baronne Street, the protagonist is Burleigh Drummond. Twenty-eight year old Drummond is the fixer New Orleans bluebloods and politicians run to when their problems become too complicated for their titanium-hearted lawyers.
In Baronne Street Drummond must employ his Machiavellian skills to solve and avenge the brutal rape and murder of Coco Robicheaux, an ex-girlfriend. As Drummond investigates he discovers Coco lived a clandestine existence in the city’s netherworld and had been drafted as an unwitting pawn in a plot to disrupt the upcoming mayoral election. As often happens with pawns, she was sacrificed.
During the discussion the most interesting question posed was “What were the influences that led you to create the character of Burleigh Drummond?”
I have lived with Burleigh Drummond through four short stories, a novel, and outlines for several more of each. His biography, his life events, his motivations are what I think about. It had been quite some time since I had given any thought to how the character was developed.
Even before fleshing out the character I knew the key ingredient was setting. I wanted the series to be set in a small city with an insular society. A city controlled by the old money crowd who fears progress may disrupt their lives; for that reason they will thwart progress by any means necessary.
Initially I had planned to base the series in Palm Beach, but Lawrence Sanders beat me to that locale with his Archie McNally series. In retrospect Palm Beach would have been the wrong choice. Palm Beach is less of a city and more of a winter vacation community for the ultra-wealthy; they only stay for “The Season”. And then there is all that beautiful sunshine, white sand, and crystal-blue ocean. Burleigh Drummond needed to operate in a dark city with darker secrets.
Then I discovered New Orleans. A city filled with secret societies whose members don masks once a year and toss trinkets to the masses. The bluebloods make backroom deals to restrain new business and influence politicians. The politicians bleed every dime from the city coffers and do nothing for the city. Then the bluebloods and politicians dance together at formal balls while the city decays.
New Orleans was the perfect location for Burleigh Drummond to set up shop.
An early decision was to create a character who went against type for the hard boiled genre. He wouldn’t carry a gun or get involved with fisticuffs. His primary weapons would be brains, charm, and aplomb. Occasionally trickery, blackmail, and bribery would be used; I never intended for Drummond to be a choir boy.
For irony I chose to call the character Burleigh Drummond because it sounds like a tough guy’s name.
During the discussion I remembered three fictional detectives are in Drummond’s DNA: James West from the TV series The Wild, Wild West, Sherlock Holmes, and Phillip Marlowe.
What I always loved about James West is wherever he went people said “There’s James West, secret agent for the Secret Service.” It was so absurd. But I realized this would happen to Burleigh Drummond since he operates in a small city which only has three degrees of separation as opposed to the standard six. So I worked that concept into the stories. He seldom engages anyone who doesn’t know him or know of him. In one of the short stories a police detective mentions Drummond’s clients consider it a status symbol to say “Burleigh Drummond is fixing the situation for me.”
Many people think Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are middle-aged or older; probably because older actors have primarily been cast in those roles. (At forty-five Robert Downey Jr. is middle-aged.) Holmes began his career as a consulting detective after graduation from college; he was twenty-three. He was twenty seven or twenty-eight when he met Dr. Watson and Watson began chronicling their adventures. Watson was few years older; in addition to being a physician Watson was an ex-military man who missed the excitement of war.
Also more often than not Holmes’ clients were wealthy blokes and government officials asking him to fix a situation for them (italics mine).
Baronne Street begins when Drummond is twenty-eight and has been working as a fixer for three years. His best friend and occasional partner, Morgan Cross, is obviously ex-intelligence, though it is never explicitly stated. Like Watson, Cross knows his way around guns and death.
Phillip Marlowe – How could he not be an influence? Marlowe is the platinum standard for the hard-boiled genre. He is cool, hip, a great wisecracker, and obsessed with the truth while seeming not to care. Still he is haunted by his inability to make things right in an imperfect world. Just like Burleigh Drummond.
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Kent Westmoreland drifted into New Orleans several years ago and immediately immersed himself in the dark underbelly of the city. He has been known to hang out with neo-Mafia types, cops, political flunkies, and the occasional blueblood. His associations with these unsavory types are the basis for his Burleigh Drummond fiction.
His award winning Burleigh Drummond short stories have appeared in the magazines Blue Murder, Tangled Web, Thrilling Detective, and Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. Baronne Street is his first novel. The follow up is in progress.
You're welcome to continue the discussion with Kent about his book or character at Kent@KentWestmoreland.com. Or simply visit his website at KentWestmoreland.com for more information.
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About Baronne Street: Love means sometimes having to solve your ex-girlfriend's murder.
Burleigh Drummond, a fixer, ignores a voice-mail plea for help from his ex-girlfriend Coco Robicheaux. She broke his heart when she dumped him, so why should he care? He goes about his job of manipulating the imbroglios of bluebloods and politicos. Still, Drummond misses Coco and regrets not answering her call. The next morning he is rousted from bed by two extremely unpleasant homicide detectives with the news that Coco has been raped and bludgeoned to death. The detectives also share they have been instructed to do nothing about the case, but should he provide them with evidence ...
As Drummond investigates he discovers Coco lived a clandestine existence in the city's netherworld and had been drafted as an unwitting pawn in a plot to disrupt the upcoming mayoral election. As often happens with pawns, she was sacrificed. When threats cloaked as friendly warnings escalate to an old-fashioned beating, Drummond enlists a reputed mercenary, a black-separatist reporter, and a computer hacker to assist in his investigation and, eventually, revenge.
As Drummond negotiates through the maze of deception and he finds himself at odds with his blueblood clients, the police chief, the mayor, and a gay crime syndicate.
Monday, November 08, 2010
Fox Releases New Trailer for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
20th Century Fox has released a new theatrical trailer for the third installment of its film adaptations of the C. S. Lewis books, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Directed by Michael Apted, the film opens December 10th, 2010. (A re-release of the book, pictured right, was published last month.)
The story opens with Lucy and Edmund Pevensie visiting their cousin, Eustace Scrubb, when they encounter a magical painting that transports them back into the land of Narnia. Once there, they reunite with King Caspian aboard the "Dawn Treader," the first ship to exist in Narnia for hundreds of years. King Caspian takes them on a perilous journey to find seven banished lords. Along the way they reunite with the lion Aslan, undertake a series of enchanting and terrifying adventures, and once again face the White Witch.
Watch the trailer (via Yahoo! movies) below:
Christmas at The Mysterious Bookshop edited by Otto Penzler (Book Review)
Christmas at The Mysterious Bookshop by Otto Penzler, editor. A Short Story Collection. Vanguard Press Hardcover, October 2010.
An annual tradition, begun in 1993 and continuing to the present, of an author contributing to Otto Penzler a short story set during the holiday season and set at The Mysterious Bookshop in Manhattan, has resulted in an outstanding collection of short stories that is a must have for any mystery reader.
Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: Christmas at The Mysterious Bookshop by Otto Penzler, editor.
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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.
I-play Announces Collaboration with Mystery Writer Charlaine Harris
In a press release e-mailed to us today, I-play, Oberon Media's publishing division and the world's leading multi-platform casual games publisher, announced an upcoming collaboration with Charlaine Harris, bestselling author of the Sookie Stackhouse mysteries that inspired HBO's hit show True Blood. The game, titled Dying For Daylight and set to release in early 2011, brings Harris's supernatural storytelling to interactive life for the very first time. The all-new original storyline features her popular character Dahlia Lynley-Chivers, a vampire heroine featured in many short stories by Harris.
"Taking a character into the world of games is great fun and allows us to tell stories and bring characters to life in a whole new way," says Harris. "Just like Sookie, Dahlia is a unique and multi-faceted character. Working with I-play to present her in this new way has been an amazing experience, and I can't wait to hear what fans think of the results."
"Charlaine's stories and characters are a huge contributor to the phenomenon surrounding all things supernatural right now," says Tony Leamer, VP Marketing at I-play. "Her writing is so vivid and her characters so interesting that they are a natural fit for a game. Dahlia is already beloved by a legion of fans and we hope they will love this new story and the way we're telling it."
Dahlia Lynley-Chivers most recently made an appearance in the short story "Dahlia Underground", which was published in the 2010 anthology Crimes by Moonlight: Mysteries from the Dark Side, edited by Charlaine Harris.
Watch a short preview to the game Dying for Daylight below:
AMC Renews The Walking Dead for a Second Season
In a press release today (Deadline|Hollywood has a copy), AMC TV announced the network has renewed its hit series The Walking Dead for a second season of 13 episodes. (There are 6 episodes this season.)
“The Dead has spread!” said Charlie Collier, President, AMC. “No other cable series has ever attracted as many Adults 18-49 as The Walking Dead. This reaffirms viewers’ hunger for premium television on basic cable. We are so proud to be bringing back The Walking Dead again, across the globe.”
The Walking Dead is based on Robert Kirkman's comic book series, in which a County Sheriff wakes up from a coma to find the world as he knows it gone, ravaged by a zombie epidemic. The series airs on Sundays at 10 PM (ET/PT) on AMC.
The Siren by Alison Bruce (Book Review)
The Siren by Alison Bruce. A Gary Goodhew Mystery. Soho Constable Hardcover, October 2010.
The murder mystery plot in this stylish, if dark, novel of suspense seems to revel in its complexity, with many characters and multiple twists and turns, yet it remains approachable to the reader.
Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: The Siren by Alison Bruce.
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Read the first chapters of The Siren below.
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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.
Sheldon Russell, Author of the Hook Runyon Mysteries, is On Tour This Week
Omnimystery News is delighted to be coordinating the online book tour of Sheldon Russell, whose second mystery in the Hook Runyon series, The Insane Train (Minotaur Books, Hardcover, November 2010, 978-0-312-56671-5), is published this month.
This week Sheldon will be visiting 10 blog sites; his schedule is below. He is also giving away a copy of his new book to one lucky reader! Simply visit each of the sites, pick up a PIN code, and enter that code with your name and e-mail address on the Sheldon Russell tour page for a chance to win!
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Tuesday, November 09, 2010
• In Reference to Murder: Author Interview
• Wendy's Minding Spot: Book Review
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
• Book Bird Dog: Book Review
• Lori's Reading Corner: Author Guest Post
Thursday, November 11, 2010
• Novel Works: Author Interview
• CMash Loves to Read: Author Guest Post
Friday, November 12, 2010
• Wordsmithonia: Book Review
• Sharon's Garden of Book Reviews: Author Guest Post
Saturday, November 13, 2010
• My Book Views: Book Review
• Drey's Library: Author Interview
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About The Insane Train: The Baldwin Insane Asylum in Barstow, California, has recently burned to the gound in an inferno that cost many inmates their lives and injured scores. Now, Hook Runyon has been put in charge of security for a train that is to transport the survivors, alongside the head of the asylum, Dr. Baldwin, the attending doctor, taciturn Dr. Helms, and a self-sacrificing nurse named Andrea, to a new location in Oklahoma.
Hook hires a motley crew of WW II veterans to help, and they set out for the new destination. But things go awry on the Insane Train, as several inmates and attendants are found dead, and Dr.Baldwin seems increasingly disoriented and incapable of running operations.
With Andrea's help, Hook begins investigating the suspicious deaths, and uncovers a trail of revenge that has been a long time in the planning ... by a person as mentally disturbed as her charges.
