New Hardcover Mysteries for December 2010

The Hidden Staircase Mystery Books has updated its list of new hardcover mysteries with books scheduled for publication in December 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 December new mystery books page (which will become the default home page for the site on December 1st).

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

Rachel Brady, Emily Locke (2nd); Don Bruns, James Lessor and Skip Moore (4th); Tom Clancy and Grant Blackwood, Jack Ryan Jr. (2nd); Alys Clare, Lassair (3rd); Edwidge Danticat, Short Story Collection; P. C. Doherty, Hugh Corbett (15th); Ruth Downie, Gaius Petreius Ruso (4th); Loren D. Estleman, Amos Walker (21st); Geraldine Evans, Rafferty and Llewellyn (13th); Monica Ferris, Betsy Devonshire, Needlecraft (14th); H. Terrell Griffin, Matt Royal (5th); W. E. B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV, Presidential Agent (6th); Ellen Hart, Jane Lawless (18th); Tami Hoag, Tony Mendez (2nd); Stephen Hunter, Bob Lee Swagger (7th); Arthur Conan Doyle and Kelley Jones, Sherlock Holmes Graphic (3rd); Colleen McCullough, Carmine Delmonico (3rd); Otto Penzler, Short Story Collection; Ann Purser, Lois Meade (10th); Frederick Ramsay, Mpoo Kgopa Sanderson (2nd); Jon Talton, David Mapstone (6th); Donald Thomas, Sherlock Holmes Collection (6th); Livia J. Washburn, Delilah Dickenson (3rd).

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

Douglas Alan, John Delaney; Adrian Magson, Harry Tate.

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

Sam Bourne, Milton T. Burton, K. J. Dahlen, Kyle Darcy, Peter Guttridge, Keith Hollihan, Dean Koontz, Graham Moore, Scott Oden, Howard Owen, Theodore W. Pietsch, Diane Sawyer, Ian Vasquez.

For more information on any of these titles, please visit the December 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 December 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.

Collusion by Stuart Neville (Book Review)

Collusion by Stuart Neville. Non-series. Soho Crime Hardcover, October 2010.

The literary quality of this work cannot be denied, it is an exceptionally well written book; but the story here is so pedestrian, and so drawn out, that it feels many times longer than it really is. Indeed, for all practical purposes, it is not a sequel to The Ghosts of Belfast, but a novel-length epilogue.

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: Collusion by Stuart Neville.

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Read the first chapters of Collusion 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.

City in Shadow by Evan Marshall (Book Review)

City in Shadow by Evan Marshall. An Anna Winthrop "Hidden Manhattan" Mystery. Severn House Hardcover, November 2010.

A multi-layered mystery populated with creatively developed characters with a storyline that is often as dark as its title implies, the innovative and fast-paced plot keeps the pages turning.

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: City in Shadow by Evan Marshall.

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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.

Serial by Jack Kilborn and Blake Crouch is Today's Featured Free Kindle Mystery

Kindle Mysteries is pleased to feature a mystery title that is currently available in Kindle eBook format for free from Amazon.com. We don't know how long it will be offered at this special price (typically only until a certain number of downloads have been completed), so download it today!

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Serial by Jack Kilborn and Blake Crouch
Non-series
Grand Central (Kindle eBook)
Download Link

About Serial (from the publisher): When two of the most twisted minds in the world of horror fiction face off, the result is Serial, a terrifying tale of hitchhiking gone terribly wrong. Beyond a thrilling piece of horrifying suspense, Serial is also a groundbreaking experiment in literary collaboration. Kilborn wrote the first part. Crouch wrote the second. And they wrote the third together over email in 100-word exchanges, not aware of each other's opening section. All bets were off, and may the best psycho win.

Note: Serial is an 8000-word short story.

Investigate Mysterious Happenings in Haunted Halls: Green Hills Sanitarium, New from BFG

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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Your boyfriend Tim, an investigative journalist, has gone missing on one of his trips. You learn he was investigating the possibility of wrong doings at the Green Hills Sanitarium. When you arrive, you find it is decrepit, as if it had been abandoned years earlier -- even though Tim's previous messages to you suggest it was operational. But now those messages have abruptly stopped coming, so you decide to do a little investigating on your own. Explore the halls of this mental asylum to find your boyfrind in this incredible hidden object adventure game!

This is the standard edition of the game. For a more in-depth gaming experience, check out the Haunted Halls: Green Hills Sanitarium (Collector's Edition) that includes bonus gameplay, a built-in strategy guide, original soundtrack, striking screensavers, and more!

Haunted Halls: Green Hills Sanitarium may be downloaded and purchased for $6.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. A demonstration version (188.95 MB) may be downloaded and played for free for one hour; the full version is 332.43 MB.

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!

Winners of the 2010 Irish Book Awards Announced

The winners of the fifth annual Irish Book Awards for 2010 were announced yesterday, recognizing the best books in ten categories, including crime fiction. Winners were selected from a shortlist by both the Irish Literary Academy and the voting public.

The Crime Fiction Book of the Year is Dark Times in the City by Gene Kerrigan (Vintage).

The fifth title in the Skulduggery Pleasant series, Mortal Coil by Derek Landy (HarperCollins), featuring the well-dressed, wise-cracking, living-dead, skeleton magician-detective, received the award for Best Young Adult Book.

Investigate Rumors of Witchcraft in Hidden Mysteries: Salem Secrets, New from BFG

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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Help Constable Hawthorne investigate the rumors of witchcraft in this fun hidden object puzzle adventure game!

Four young girls have been suffering from an outbreak of mysterious fits and bizarre tantrums. Rumors abound that the girls have been "afflicted" by local practitioners of Witchcraft, but nobody has yet been charged or tried. The Governor of Massachusetts has sent you, as Constable Hawthorne, to investigate the scenes and uncover the Hidden Mysteries!

See also the other games in this series, including Hidden Mysteries: Titantic, Secrets of the Fateful Voyage and Hidden Mysteries: Vampire Secrets.

Hidden Mysteries: Salem Secrets may be downloaded and purchased for $6.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. A demonstration version (222.13 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 November 26, 2010

A list of the top 15 mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending November 26th, 2010 has been posted on the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books website.

No change among the top three -- The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson is still atop the list -- but quite a bit of shuffling elsewhere, including two new titles this week.

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In the 12th spot is the fifth thriller to feature Cotton Malone, The Emperor's Tomb by Steve Berry.

The tomb of China’s First Emperor, guarded by an underground army of terra-cotta warriors, has remained sealed for more than 2,000 years. Though it’s regarded as one of the greatest archaeological sites in the world, the Chinese government won’t allow anyone to open it. Why?

That question is at the heart of a dilemma faced by former Justice Department operative Cotton Malone, whose life is shattered when he receives an anonymous note carrying an unfamiliar Web address. Logging on, he sees Cassiopeia Vitt, a woman who’s saved his life more than once, being tortured at the hands of a mysterious man who has a single demand: Bring me the artifact she’s asked you to keep safe. The only problem is, Malone doesn’t have a clue what the man is talking about, since Cassiopeia has left nothing with him. So begins Malone’s most harrowing adventure to date—one that offers up astounding historical revelations, pits him against a ruthless ancient brotherhood, and sends him from Denmark to Belgium to Vietnam then on to China, a vast and mysterious land where danger lurks at every turn.

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Entering the list in 14th position is The Athena Project by Brad Thor.

Just as skilled, just as fearsome, and just as deadly as their colleagues, Delta Force’s newest members have only one thing setting them apart—their gender. Part of a top-secret, all-female program codenamed The Athena Project, four of Delta’s best and brightest women are about to undertake one of the nation’s deadliest assignments.

When a terrorist attack in Rome kills more than twenty Americans, Athena Team members Gretchen Casey, Julie Ericsson, Megan Rhodes, and Alex Cooper are tasked with hunting down the Venetian arms dealer responsible for providing the explosives. But there is more to the story than anyone knows.

In the jungles of South America, a young U.S. intelligence officer has made a grisly discovery. Surrounded by monoliths covered with Runic symbols, one of America’s greatest fears appears to have come true. Simultaneously in Colorado, a foreign spy is close to penetrating the mysterious secret the U.S. government has hidden beneath Denver International Airport.

As Casey, Ericsson, Rhodes, and Cooper close in on their target, they will soon learn that another attack—one of unimaginable proportions—has already been set in motion, and the greatest threat they face may be the secrets kept by their own government.

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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.

CBS Developing Two New Crime Dramas

The Hollywood Reporter's Live Feed blog is reporting that CBS is developing two dramas that have criminal elements.

From CSI creator Anthony Zuiker comes Desperado, a Texas-based Justified-esque series about lawmen who bring cowboy-style justice to San Antonio.

And from Michael Cuesta (Dexter) comes Knife Fight, in which a female public defender becomes a prosecutor in search of the truth. It is based on a short story of the same title by mystery writer Joel Goldman that appeared in The Prosecution Rests, edited by Linda Fairstein (who's developing her own series, One Police Plaza, for ABC).

First Clues, Mysteries for Kids: New Titles for December 2010

First Clues: Mysteries for Kids is pleased to announce a selection of new mystery, suspense and thriller books (including series books) scheduled for publication during December 2010, listed in approximate order of reading level, from books for younger readers to books for teens.

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Big Boys Don't Spy 
K. E. M. Johnston
Non-series

Set in the suburbs of Washington DC, with the CIA Headquarters around the corner, 12-year-old Will Wand, Agent 003.5, has his first assignment -- to save the world, or at least to uncover the mole in his mother's advertising company. Will strongly suspects his bossy, annoying cousin Penelope, visiting from the U.K., is a double agent, and when he finds her diary written in code, he knows he's onto something ... but if you hear any more, he'll have to kill you (or at least confiscate your Star Wars walkie-talkie).

This book, which may be the start of a new series, is recommended for readers aged 10 to 12.

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Vampire Slayer: A Vampire's Kiss 
Stefan Petrucha and Sarah Kinney
Nancy Drew: The New Case Files

The Girl Detective has been locked in a large estate with Gregor, the young man whom everyone suspects of being a vampire, only to learn he has a rare disease that won’t allow him to venture outside during the day. While Nancy’s friends George and Bess and boyfriend Ned are locked outside the estate, Nancy and Gregor are trapped inside with a crazed woman who believes Gregor is a real vampire, and that she must destroy him!

Nancy Drew: The New Case Files graphic mysteries are recommended for readers aged 10 and older.

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Conspiracy 365: December 
Gabrielle Lord
The Conspiracy 365 Series

The final entry in this 12 volume series of thrillers.

On New Year's Eve, Callum Ormond is chased down the street by a crazed man with a deadly warning: They killed your father. They'll kill you. You must survive the next 365 days. Cal is fighting for his sister's life. But nobody believes the "psycho kid" and he's running out of people he can trust. He doesn't even know which of his enemies he's facing. How many hard-won treasures will he have to relinquish in return for his sister's safety?

The Conspiracy 365 Series is recommended for readers aged 13 and older.

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First Clues: Mysteries for Kids is your source for information on over 200 mystery series for children and young adults, where each series is conveniently listed under four different age categories (New Sleuths, ages 4 to 6; Future Sleuths, ages 7 to 9; Sleuths in Training, ages 10 to 12; and Apprentice Sleuths, ages 13 and older).