Telemystery: Midsomer Murders and New Tricks, New This Week on DVD

Telemystery, your source for one of the most comprehensive selections of detective, amateur sleuth, private investigator, and suspense television mystery series, mini-series and made-for-television movies, now available on or coming soon to DVD or Blu-ray disc, is profiling two British series being released this week.

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John Nettles stars as Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby in Midsomer Murders, based on characters created by crime novelist Caroline Graham.

The Midsomer Murders: Set Seventeen DVD set of 4 discs contain the episodes that originally aired in the UK in March and July, 2009.

In "The Dogleg Murders", a peaceful afternoon on the links turns fatal when a man is bludgeoned at the notoriously difficult 13th hole. "The Black Book" is a complicated case, in which a brutal murderer begins targeting the Midsomer art world. Something is killing sheep in Midsomer Parva, and whispers abound that it’s the mysterious beast of Midsomer in "Secrets and Spies". And in "The Glitch", software magnate Clinton Finn funds the construction of a new building for a local school, but not everyone is impressed with his generosity.

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Amanda Redman stars as Detective Chief Superintendent Sandra Pullman, who leads the office of the Unsolved Crime and Open Case Squad, consisting of three retired police officers whose police skills and intuition she relies on, in New Tricks.

The three retired detectives are played by Dennis Waterman, James Bolam and Alun Armstrong, a trio of crime busters capable of learning new tricks to crack tough crimes.

The New Tricks: Season Three DVD set of 3 discs contain the 8 episodes that originally aired on BBC from April through June 2006.

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Visit the Telemystery website to discover more television mystery series currently available on and coming soon to DVD and Blu-ray disc.

Find Your Missing Father in Relics of Fate: A Penny Macey Mystery, 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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Jack Macey, Newtown's local PI, is kidnapped while investigating a series of robberies linked to a mysterious set of relics discovered in the town. You take on the role of Penny, his daughter, who discovers he's missing after finding a letter addressed to her at his office. Explore the town, talk to its inhabitants and solve intriguing puzzles in this exciting hidden object adventure game!

Relics of Fate: A Penny Macey Mystery may be downloaded and purchased for $6.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. A demonstration version (376.67 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 Godoku Puzzle for February 21, 2011

A new Mystery Godoku Puzzle has been created by the editors of the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books and is now available on our website.

Godoku is similar to Sudoku, but uses letters instead of numbers. To give you a headstart, we provide you a mystery clue to fill in a complete row or column (if you choose to use it!).

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This week's letters and mystery clue:

A C E M O R S U Y

There is no one to hear this in the title of a 2010 thriller by K. J. Dahlen (9 letters).

We now have two weeks of our puzzles on one page in PDF format for easier printing. Print this week's puzzle here.

Previous puzzles are stored in the Mystery Godoku Archives.

Enjoy the weekly Mystery Godoku Puzzle from the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, and Thanks for visiting our website!

The Impaler by Gregory Funaro (Mystery Book Review)

The Impaler by Gregory Funaro. A Sam Markham Mystery. Pinnacle Mass Market Paperback, February 2011.

This is an exceptionally detailed, well-thought out intellectual thriller that demands close attention; fast-reading it is not. Still, though it is creative and clever, and there are plenty of shocking, even horrific scenes, it seems to be missing something to make it exciting or, for lack of a better word, thrilling.

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: The Impaler by Gregory Funaro.

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Read the first chapter(s) of The Impaler below. Use the Aa settings button to adjust text size, line spacing, and word density.

New Edition of Cowboys & Aliens Graphic Novel to be Published on February 22nd

This coming Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011, HarperCollins is reissuing the graphic novel Cowboys & Aliens in hardcover. A trade paperback will be published in May, a few weeks prior to the release of the film adapted from the book. This new edition of the book includes all-new tie-in art to the film.

Written by Andrew Foley and Fred Van Lente with artwork by Dennis Calero and Luciano Lima, from a concept by Scott Rosenberg, Cowboys & Aliens is the story of what happens when an alien invasion interrupts the ultimate showdown between cowboys and Indians in the Old West.

Originally published in 2006 by Image Comics, the graphic novel is being adapted into the film Cowboys & Aliens starring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford, which is scheduled to open in theaters July 29th, 2011; a preview of the film aired during the Super Bowl.

ABC Family Expected to Order Series Adapted from The Lying Game by Sara Shepard

ABC Family is expected to order a series based on the young adult thriller The Lying Game by Sara Shepard, according to a report by Deadline|Hollywood. A pilot was filmed last fall starring Alexandra Chando playing the roles of twin teenaged girls separated at birth. Shepard is also the author of the "Pretty Little Liars" series of books, which are the basis for the television series Pretty Little Liars, also on ABC Family.

In The Lying Game, what would you do if you had a long-lost twin? What if she disappeared the day you were supposed to meet? How far would you go to find out what went wrong? Emma Paxton travels to Arizona to start a new life with her long-lost sister—but the life she's about to begin is the one her sister left behind ...

You can read the first chapter(s) of The Lying Game below. Use the Aa settings button to adjust text size, line spacing, and word density.

Summit Adapting Houdini Biography for Action/Adventure Film

Film and television projects featuring Harry Houdini seem to be coming from all directions!

A week or so ago we reported on a film project in which Houdini and Arthur Conan Doyle team up with a psychic to solve a series of murders in 1920s New York City. Separately there were reports that SyFy was developing a television series centered on the two men solving mysteries, based on the graphic novel Among the Spirits by Steve Valentine and Paul Chart.

And now The Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision blog is reporting that Summit Entertainment has hired Noah Oppenheim to adapt the biography The Secret Life of Houdini, The Making of America's First Superhero by William Kalush and Larry Sloman, creating a fictional action/adventure story to feature the master magician.

None may make it into production, but the all seem to have merits.

You can read the first chapter(s) of The Secret Life of Houdini below. Use the Aa settings button to adjust text size, line spacing, and word density.

Teaser Trailer Released for Jurassic Park: The Game

Telltale Games has released a teaser trailer for the first episode in its upcoming series Jurassic Park: The Game.

We don't know much about the gameplay, other than the events take place immediately following the close of the first Jurassic Park film and players will portray supporting characters in the film.

Jurassic Park: The Game will be available for PC and Mac, and is currently scheduled for release in April 2011. Watch the trailer below.

A Gift for Murder by Karen McCullough (Mystery Book Review)

A Gift for Murder by Karen McCullough. A Heather McNeil Mystery. Five Star Hardcover, January 2011.

This delightful murder mystery introducing a new amateur sleuth includes some laughs, a touch of romance, and an abundance of red herrings. Heather is an engaging lead, and her supporting cast offers both contrast and balance to her role.

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: A Gift for Murder by Karen McCullough.

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Paramount Options Film Rights to Forgotten, a YA Mystery by Cat Patrick

Paramount has optioned the soon to be published young adult mystery Forgotten by Cat Patrick, and has Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) lined up to star (via Deadline|New York).

In the book, each night at precisely 4:33 am, while sixteen-year-old London Lane is asleep, her memory of that day is erased. In the morning, all she can "remember" are events from her future. London is used to relying on reminder notes and a trusted friend to get through the day, but things get complicated when a new boy at school enters the picture. Luke Henry is not someone you'd easily forget, yet try as she might, London can't find him in her memories of things to come.

When London starts experiencing disturbing flashbacks, or flash-forwards, as the case may be, she realizes it's time to learn about the past she keeps forgetting -- before it destroys her future.

Forgotten is scheduled to be published by Little, Brown in June, 2011.