James Gray to Direct Film Adaptation of Mark Greaney's The Gray Man

Deadline|New York is reporting that James Gray (We Own the Night) will direct the film adaptation of Mark Greaney's debut thriller, The Gray Man. Adam Cozad wrote the screenplay.

In the book, 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.

Read the first chapter from The Gray Man below:

Two More Prime Time Crime Pilots Announced

Two more potential prime time crime series are moving forward to the pilot stage.

At ABC, the network has ordered a pilot for Partners, featuring two female homicide detectives who are secretly sisters. (via THR)

And at SyFy, the British series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) is getting an Americanized pilot. The storyline here is private investigator Hopkirk, who was murdered while working a case, has returned as a ghost, which can only seen by his ex-partner Randall. (via THR)

Plot Details Emerge for Sherlock Holmes 2

The Los Angeles Times Hero Complex blog has some new information on the plotline of the sequel to 2009's film Sherlock Holmes.

"Set in 1891 — a year after the last film's events — the sequel shows Holmes continuing his pursuit of Professor Moriarty, who, if the investigator's instincts are correct, might be the world's first supervillain. Watson, meanwhile, is still trying to be a good partner to his love, Mary Morstan, while keeping Sherlock alive."

Sherlock Holmes 2 (for lack of a better title; it is currently untitled at this point) stars Robert Downey Jr. as the famous consulting detective and Jude Law as his sidekick Dr. John Watson. The film also stars Noomi Rapace as a gypsy woman, Sim, Stephen Fry as Holmes's brother Mycroft, and Jared Harris as Professor Moriarty.

"Unlike last time, where Holmes kept getting Watson into trouble," says Downey, "this time Watson is getting Holmes out of trouble, and they're both in deeper trouble than I think the audience could have imagined we could go … All manner of nastiness has just occurred."

Directed by Guy Ritchie, who also directed the original, Sherlock Holmes 2 opens in theaters December 16, 2011.

Telemystery: Prime Time Crime Series at Risk for Renewal

Inside TV takes a look as all the major network shows on television, and gives us a list of those that are sure to be renewed for next season, and speculates on those that may not. (Cable series are not mentioned here.)

We'll look at the latter here (it's a much shorter list) and focus exclusively (and not surprisingly) on "Prime Time Crime", excluding those that have already been canceled. If any of the shows below are among your favorites, now is the time to start campaigning for their return in the fall.

ABC: Detroit 1-8-7.

CBS: None; all are expected to be renewed.

Fox: Fringe, Human Target, Lie To Me.

NBC: Law & Order LA, The Cape (it just started!), Chase, The Event.

Stop a Mysterious Curse in Haunted Legends: The Queen of Spades, 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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Once upon a time, a countess, having lost a fortune playing cards, made a deal with a great magician and illusionist. She received a set of magical cards that allowed her to win, regaining her wealth and incurring the wrath of the local people. But now Lieutenant Pierre Disparu has disappeared searching for a missing young lady, and Captain Gerard Froussard has reached out to you for help. It is up to you to search a haunted mansion to discover the secret behind the cards, and put a stop to the curse before it claims another victim.

For a more in-depth playing experience, check out the Haunted Legends: The Queen of Spades (Collector's Edition), which is full of exclusive features you won't find in the standard version, including bonus gameplay, an integrated strategy guide, wallpapers and screensavers, and more!

Haunted Legends: The Queen of Spades may be downloaded and purchased for $6.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. A demonstration version (433.40 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 January 14, 2011

A list of the top 15 mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending January 14, 2011 has been posted on the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books website.

It looks like we're starting to see some shake-up in our list this week, though The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson remains solidly at the top. Two new titles enter the top 15 this week.

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Debuting high on the list in the 7th position is The Sentry, the third mystery featuring former LAPD detective Joe Pike by Robert Crais.

Dru Rayne and her uncle fled to L.A. after Hurricane Katrina; but now, five years later, they face a different danger. When Joe Pike witnesses Dru's uncle beaten by a protection gang, he offers his help, but neither of them want it — and neither do the federal agents mysteriously watching them.

As the level of violence escalates, and Pike himself becomes a target, he and Elvis Cole learn that Dru and her uncle are not who they seem — and that everything he thought he knew about them has been a lie. A vengeful and murderous force from their past is now catching up to them ... and only Pike and Cole stand in the way.

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Coming in at number 14 is A Lonely Death, the 13th mystery in the Ian Rutledge series by Charles Todd.

Scotland Yard detective inspector Ian Rutledge, a veteran of the Great War, understands all too well the darkness that lies within men's souls.

Now three men have been murdered in a Sussex village, and Scotland Yard has been called in. It's a baffling case. The victims are soldiers who survived the horrors of World War I only to meet a ghastly end in the quiet English countryside two years later. Each had been garroted, with small ID discs left in their mouths.

But even Scotland Yard's presence doesn't deter this vicious and clever killer. Shortly after Inspector Ian Rutledge arrives, a fourth soldier is found dead. With few clues to go on and the pressure building, Rutledge must gamble everything — his job, his reputation, and even his life — to find answers.

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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.

John Goodman to Star in Fourth Season of Damages

USA Today reported a couple of days ago that John Goodman has joined the cast of Damages for its fourth season, to air exclusively this summer on DirecTV.

Last week, DirecTV began airing episodes from the first season of the critically acclaimed series, which stars Glenn Close as high-stakes attorney Patricia Hewes and Rose Byrne as her sometime ally, sometime foe Ellen Parsons. Weekly airings of previous season's episodes will continue throughout the spring.

According to the article, John Goodman will play the CEO of a military contractor who becomes a defendant in a wrongful death suit over an incident in a war zone.

The fourth season of Damages will premiere on July 13th, 2011.

The Fury by Jason Pinter is eHarlequin's Friday Freebie

It doesn't happen often, but tomorrow's Freebie Friday at eHarlequin features a suspense novel as the free book.

The fourth mystery in the Henry Parker series by Jason Pinter, The Fury, is free with the purchase of any two or more other books tomorrow, Friday January 14th. It will automatically be added to your shopping cart.

Click on the banner above to start shopping!

About The Fury (from the publisher):

Am I my brother's keeper?

If I'd known I had a brother, I might have been. But he's dead—shot point-blank in a rat-hole apartment, wasted by hunger and heroin. Stephen Gaines, a man with whom I shared nothing … except a father.

For some reason this stranger who shared my blood came to me for help … and I blew him off thinking he was just some junkie. Now I'm forced to question everything I ever knew … and figure out why this man was murdered in cold blood.

All I can do for Stephen Gaines now is find his killer—and with the help of Amanda Davies uncover the whole, hard truth. If it means tracking down a vicious drug kingpin—who may or may not exist—then so be it …

ABC Orders (Another?) Pilot for Updated Charlie's Angels

Yesterday we cheered the news that a remake of The Rockford Files had been shelved by NBC.

Today we're learning (via Inside TV) that ABC is moving forward with a remake of Charlie's Angels. A pilot has been approved and casting is underway. (Note: a pilot was announced last October with a different set of producers, with filming to begin this month, so we're not sure if this is the same "announcement" ... but suspect it is not.)

Now Charlie's Angels is certainly not in the same category as The Rockford Files, but still, do we really need another reimagined 1970s-era series? To be sure, a pilot doesn't mean a series (after all, last year NBC ordered a pilot for the new The Rockford Files as well) so we'll just have to wait and see how this latest project (or maybe it's more than one) progresses.

(Added later: Deadline|Hollywood is also reporting this information, but seems to confirm that it is the same pilot previously announced last October by ABC.)

Shane Black to Direct Live-Action Film Adaptation of Death Note Manga Series

Deadline|New York is reporting that Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Last Action Hero, Lethal Weapon) will direct a live-action film adaptation of the manga Death Note, written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata.

The series, which was first serialized in 2003, features Light Yagami, a brilliant high school student with great prospects -- but who is also bored out of his mind. But that changes when he discovers a supernatural notebook, the "Death Note", dropped on Earth by a rogue Shinigami death god named Ryuk. The Death Note grants its holder the ability to kill anyone whose name they know, by writing the name in the notebook while picturing their face.

The overall plot centers around Light's vow to create and rule a world cleansed of evil using the notebook. But there are those who want to stop him, notably a detective known as L, and later his successors, Near and Mello.

Death Note has previously been made into several live-action films as well as a television anime series in Japan.