Mr. E. Reviews Män Som Hatar Kvinnor (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)

Män Som Hatar Kvinnor (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) is a first-rate, beautifully filmed thriller, with a credible adapted storyline from the first book in the Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson, that will keep viewers in suspense. Michael Nyqvist is fine as investigative reporter Mikael Blomqvist but Noomi Rapace is simply outstanding as Lisbeth Salander, a complicated role that she plays at just the right level of depth and intensity.

Read the full text of our review at Mr. E. Reviews Män Som Hatar Kvinnor (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).

Available on: DVD | Blu-ray | VOD

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

J. J. Abrams Developing "Slightly Heightened Reality" Crime Drama for Television

As a follow-up to our post yesterday about new crime dramas under consideration by the television networks, TV|Line is reporting that J. J. Abrams -- who already has several projects in various stages of development, from concept to pilot -- is ready to pitch to the networks an hour-long crime drama set in a "slightly heightened reality" called Pulp.

The screenplay comes from Monica Breen and Alison Schapker, who previously worked with Abrams several of his other series, including Alias, Lost, and Fringe.

Uncover the Dark Mystery of a Sunken Town in Phantasmat (Collector's Edition), 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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After crashing your car in the middle of nowhere, you stumble upon The Drowned Dead Hotel, a lonely forgotten structure leaning from a cliff. Beneath lies a dark and cold lake that used to be a lively town. What secrets are buried at the bottom of the muddy waters? Who are the mysterious inhabitants of the hotel? Uncover the dark mystery of a sunken town in this beautifully hand-drawn adventure game, that blends multiple game modes with an engaging and stirring storyline, and get to the bottom of a long forgotten tragedy.

This is a special Collector's Edition full of exclusive extras not available in the standard game, including a bonus adventure, wallpapers, replayable levels, and more.

Phantasmat (Collector's Edition) may be downloaded and purchased for $13.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. A demonstration version (234.61 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!

The Maze Runner Adaptation Gets a New Screenwriter

A month or so ago we reported that Twilight director Caterine Hardwicke had signed on to direct the film adaptation of the young adult thriller The Maze Runner by James Dashner.

At the time, Dashner himself was reportedly writing the screenplay. Now the Los Angeles Times is reporting that Noah Oppenheim, who most recently wrote the English language screenplay for the remake of the Swedish thriller Snabba Cash, will adapt the book.

The Maze Runner is the first in what is expected to be a trilogy of novels featuring a teenager named Thomas, who in the opening chapter wakes up surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade, a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls—a maze from which escape seems impossible.

Crime Dramas (and more) in Development at the Networks

We thought we had been keeping up with all the news involving potential crime dramas being considered by the television networks for next season.

We missed a few!

Entertainment Weekly has a list of projects in early development that have at least been moved along to the script stage. We're listing those that are crime drama-ish below; we were aware of many of these (indicated by a link at the end of the brief description to one of our posts on the subject) but some are clearly new to us.

ABC:

True Lies. Based on the 1994 film, True Lies, starring Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger. (OMN post)

Baker Street Letters. Two brothers rent Sherlock Holmes’ old office space and respond to letters that still come to the dead sleuth.

CBS:

Untitled project based on the Jane Whitefield novels by Thomas Perry about a one-woman witness protection program. (post)

Untitled project starring Jason Alexander as a former TV star who works for his ex-wife’s detective agency when he’s down and out.

Desperado. A modern-day western crime drama set in Texas. (post)

Untitled project that chronicles the first female Chief of Police in Newark NJ. (post)

The Wild Wild West. Update of the series that starred Robert Conrad and Ross Martin. (post)

Treadstone. Based on Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne series of novels about a group of spies working for the Treadstone Corp. (post)

CW:

Hawkshaw. Sexy, mysterious 20-something doesn’t know his true identity but believes he is a detective and possible descendant of Sherlock Holmes who starts solving crimes. (post)

Fox:

Alcatraz. A drama about the mysteries and secrets of the most infamous prison of all time. (post)

Untitled project about a female college student who fights crimes in China. (post)

Every Bitter Thing by Leighton Gage (Book Review)

Every Bitter Thing by Leighton Gage. A Mario Silva Investigation. Soho Crime Hardcover, December 2010.

This creative and quite clever variation on the typical manor house mystery, where a group of apparent strangers come together only to have one of them start killing off the others, is highly entertaining, marred only slightly when the motive for the murders -- and hence the identity of the killer -- is revealed early on.

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: Every Bitter Thing by Leighton Gage.

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Read the first chapters of Every Bitter Thing 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.

George Clooney to Star in Film Adaptation of The Monster of Florence

Deadline|New York is reporting that Fox 2000 has acquired the film rights to the true crime book The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston and Italian crime reporter Mario Spezi.

George Clooney is on board to play Preston, who is probably best known to mystery readers as the co-author with Lincoln Child of the Pendergast series of thrillers.

The Monster of Florence describes the efforts of Preston and Spezi, who together set out to solve a series of unsolved murders that took place between 1974 and 1985 outside the Italian city. Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects, The Tourist) and Nathan Alexander (Valkyrie) will write the screenplay.

One Deadly Sister by Rod Hoisington is Today's Featured Free NookBook Mystery

MystereBooks is pleased to feature a mystery title that is currently available as a NookBook for free from Barnes&Noble. 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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One Deadly Sister by Rod Hoisington
A Raymond and Sandy Reid Mystery (1st in series)
EnteraBooks (NookBook)
Download Link

About One Deadly Sister (from the publisher): Ray Reid doesn't come looking for trouble, he simply wants to get past his Philadelphia divorce and start a new life, but woman-trouble comes looking for him.

Unfortunately, he arrives in the small Florida oceanside town just as someone decides to murder the local gubernatorial candidate. Reid doesn’t have a clue about women and gets seduced and framed—by a 70-year-old in a thong. He’s the perfect target for the local prosecutor who figures he has the ideal trial that’ll propel him to the US Senate.

Ray hasn’t bothered with his estranged sister up north for years but now, as a stranger in a hostile town, she’s his only hope. She holds an old grudge and resents having her life interrupted. After first telling him to go to hell, she reluctantly decides to at least check out her brother’s predicament.

This small step leads to an ever-increasing entanglement of deceit, double-cross, and danger, as she can’t leave well-enough alone and goes after the real killer.

Read our Review of One Deadly Sister by Rod Hoisington at Mysterious Reviews.

Mr. E. Reviews The Guilty

More drama than suspense thriller, the plot of ITV's 1992 two-part made-for-television movie The Guilty, especially during its first half, is utterly predictable, though credibly played out. The performances, however, are first rate, and Michael Kitchen, as the arrogant barrister trapped in a maelstrom of his own making, is particularly noteworthy.

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

The Guilty is new on DVD today.

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

Damages to Air on DIRECTV Starting January 5th

DIRECTV customers are in for a real treat: Starting tomorrow, Wednesday January 5th, the satellite television provider will begin airing weekly episodes from the first season of Damages. Episodes from the second season begin on April 6th, from the third season on May 25th, with new episodes from the fourth season premiering exclusively on DIRECTV this summer.

The fourth season will consist of ten new episodes and will star Glenn Close and Rose Byrne as well as other principal cast members from previous seasons.

Get more information about the series on the DIRECTV: Damages website. Watch a short promo video below: