A New Trailer for True Blood's 4th Season

HBO has released a new trailer for the fourth season of True Blood, which can be summed up in a single phrase (spoken by series lead Sookie Stackhouse): "Oh great, now I have to deal with witches?"

Adapted from the Southern Vampire mysteries by Charlaine Harris, True Blood stars Anna Paquin as telepathic barmaid Sookie Stackhouse, who is "cursed" with the ability to listen in on people's thoughts.

The fourth season of True Blood premieres on June 26th. Watch the new trailer below.

CBS and Simon Spotlight to Publish Tween CSI Mysteries

CBS has announced that it has partnered with Simon Spotlight, a children's imprint of Simon & Schuster, to publish a series of tween mysteries based on the popular television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. The books will explore forensic science in a middle school setting.

The first book in the series, Mystery Meatloaf by David Lewman, is scheduled to be published in January 2012.

Mr. E. Reviews Flawless

Available on

A thoughtful, nicely crafted film with a well-developed plot that takes a couple of unexpected turns along the way. Demi Moore is very good as a 1960-era female corporate executive, reserved and tightly wound yet just a little bit fragile. The role of custodian Hobbs seems as if it were written for Michael Caine; it fits him like a glove.

Read the full text of our review at Mr. E. Reviews Flawless.

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

Mystery and Suspense Films, New This Week on DVD (110524)

Checking through our list of films currently scheduled for release this week on DVD and/or Blu-ray disc, shown below are those that fall into the mystery, suspense, thriller and adventure categories.

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Purchase/Rental Options

I Am Number Four (2011)

After nine aliens flee their home planet to find a peaceful life on Earth, their plans are shattered by pursuers who must kill them in number order. Three are dead. Number Four is a an extraordinary teen masking his true identity named John (Alex Pettyfer), who uses his extraordinary abilities to battle his enemies. Living in the small town he now calls home with his guardian Henri (Timothy Olyphant), aids him in his deadly fight while he tries to protect his human girlfriend, Sarah (Dianna Agron), and connect with the others who share his powers.

Adapted from the young adult thriller I Am Number Four by the pseudonymous Pittacus Lore (James Frey and Jobie Hughes). Also available: I Am Number Four (Three-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo plus Digital Copy). (PG-13; 109 minutes)

HarperCollins to Publish New Michael Crichton Novel

HarperCollins announced yesterday that it will posthumously publish a new Michael Crichton novel this November.

Before his death in 2008, Crichton was working on a high-concept, technological thriller about a biotech company in Hawaii and a group graduate students who become stranded in a rainforest.

Now, bestselling author Richard Preston -- whose fiction books include The Cobra Event, and whose non-fiction books include The Hot Zone, which was the basis for the film Outbreak, and a trio of books about viruses collectively known as "Dark Biology" -- has finished the book, which will be published as Micro.

"Michael was writing at the top of his game, with a grand sense of adventure, into an eerie world that seems almost beyond imagining," Preston says in a statement. "For me, it was an irresistible challenge to finish the novel, and I was driven by a desire to honor the work and imagination of one of our time's most visionary and creative authors."

Writer, screenwriter, and director Michael Crichton is possibly best known for his "Jurassic Park" novels but he is also wrote many other thrillers, some of which have been adapted for film, including Rising Sun, Sphere, and Congo.

Mystery Godoku Puzzle for May 23, 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 D F I L R S T Y

Nancy Pickard edited a collection of short stories centered around this American personage (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!

BAFTA Winners Include Sherlock and The Killing

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards for television were handed out earlier today, and a couple of crime dramas took home honors.

The Best Drama Series award went to Sherlock, a contemporary adaptation of the character Sherlock Holmes.

The Best Supporting Actor award was won by Martin Freeman for his performance as Dr. John Watson in Sherlock.

The Best International program award was given to the Danish series Forbrydelsen, airing in the UK as The Killing. The series also serves as the inspiration for AMC's The Killing, current airing here in the US.

Casting News for Cable Series Adaptation of Transporter Films

Earlier this year Cinemax announced it was developing a 12-episode crime drama based on "The Transporter" series of theatrical thrillers.

Now we're learning that the two primary roles for the new series have been cast. Chris Vance (Mental; recurring roles on Prison Break, Burn Notice, Dexter) will play expert driver and professional transporter Frank Martin -- played by Jason Statham in the three "Transporter" films -- who has only three rules: never change the deal, no names, and never open the package. Andrea Osvárt will play his handler, an ex-CIA operative who organizes his missions.

Production is expected to begin this summer.

(Source: Deadline|Hollywood.)

Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost, Premieres Sunday May 22nd on CBS

The seventh made-for-television film featuring Robert B. Parker's Jesse Stone airs this Sunday, May 22nd, on CBS at 9 PM (ET/PT).

Titled Innocents Lost, the movie is not based on any of Parker's books, but is an original screenplay co-written by Tom Selleck, who plays Jesse Stone, the police chief of the small coastal town of Paradise, Massachusetts.

In Innocents Lost, Jesse Stone, once again on overload after being reinstated as Paradise police chief, looks into the death of a teenaged girl and is unofficially involved in the case of a convicted murderer who he thinks may be innocent. (Omnimystery News note added following the airing of the movie: Jesse Stone is not reinstated as Paradise's chief of police, despite the synopsis provided by, and still available on, the CBS website.)

Innocents Lost completed filming in late 2009, not long before Selleck agreed to star as Commissioner of the NYPD in the CBS series Blue Bloods. Selleck said in an interview that an eighth Jesse Stone movie was being written and that he had hoped to film it following production of Blue Bloods' first season, but we have heard nothing more about it since then.

We are huge fans of this series of movies, and hope that CBS (and Selleck) continue to produce them. The first six films in the Jesse Stone series are available on DVD from Telemystery: Jesse Stone.

Watch the television commercial for Innocents Lost below.

Review: Show Me Good Land by Shonna Milliken Humphrey

Show Me Good Land by Shonna Milliken Humphrey. Non-series. Down East Books Hardcover, April 2011.

Far more of a character study -- or possibly more accurately, a way-of-life study -- than a mystery, this novel of suspense is a fascinating snapshot into the life experiences of a random ensemble of very interesting people, with a common connection to a town but not necessarily to each other.

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: Show Me Good Land by Shonna Milliken Humphrey.

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