Risk, the classic game of global domination from Parker Brothers, is being adapted into a theatrical film. Columbia Pictures is developing an action thriller based on the game and has hired John Hlavin to write the screenplay.
Risk was originally released as a board game in 1957 as La Conquête du Monde ("The Conquest of the World") in France by Albert Lamorisse -- ironically, a filmmaker himself -- reaching the US two years later. Since then multiple variations have been released, including several electronic, the most recent probably being an app for the iPad.
We've spent many an hour playing Risk in days gone by, and are most interested in how a film adaption would play out (as it were).
(Source: The Hollywood Reporter)
Friday, June 10, 2011
Risk, the Classic Board Game, being Adapted for Film
Mystery Bestsellers for the Week Ending June 10th, 2011
A list of the top 15 mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending June 10th, 2011 has been posted by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books.
Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris remains in the top spot ... and, indeed, there were actually no changes in the top 10 this week, save for some minor shuffling in the order.
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Though not a part of the top 15, our usual cut-off for featured new titles, Hell Is Empty, the 7th Walt Longmire mystery by Craig Johnson, is the highest placing new title at number 19.
Well-read and world-weary, Sheriff Walt Longmire has been maintaining order in Wyoming's Absaroka County for more than thirty years, but he is now pushed to his limits.
Raynaud Shade, an adopted Crow Indian, has just confessed to murdering a boy ten years ago and burying him deep within the Big Horn Mountains. After transporting Shade and a group of other convicted murderers through a snowstorm, Walt is informed by the FBI that the body is buried in his jurisdiction-and the victim's name is White Buffalo. Guided only by Indian mysticism and a battered paperback of Dante's Inferno, Walt pursues Shade and his fellow escapees into the icy hell of the Cloud Peak Wilderness Area, cheating death to ensure that justice-both civil and spiritual-is served.
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For more mystery books news, 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.
Thursday, June 09, 2011
Nominees for the 2011 Nero Award Announced
The nominees for the 2011 Nero Award have been announced by the Nero Wolfe Society, recognizing excellence in the mystery genre. The winner of the award will be announced at the Black Orchid Banquet, which is traditionally held on the first Saturday in December in New York City.
The nominees are ...
◊ Ice Cold by Tess Gerritsen 
◊ The Book of Spies by Gayle Lynds (St. Martin's Press)
◊ Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny (Minotaur Books)
◊ The Midnight Show Murders by Al Roker (Delacorte Press)
◊ Think of a Number by John Verdon (Crown Books)
(Hat tip to The Rap Sheet.)
Paul Levine to Donate Proceeds from Sale of Legal Thriller to Children's Cancer Fund
We were delighted to receive an e-mail from crime novelist Paul Levine letting us know that he is once again providing the royalties from the sale one of his legal thrillers to the Four Diamonds Fund, which supports cancer treatment for kids at the Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital.
For a limited time, the 7th book in his Jake Lassiter series, Flesh & Bones, is available for just 99 cents. And by purchasing and downloading it, you're helping fund pediatric cancer research and treatment.
You can use these links to purchase the book: Kindle edition from Amazon.com, Nook Book edition from Barnes & Noble, or multiple ebook formats from Smashwords.
Last year, according to Paul, thousands of dollars were raised for the fund from the sale of To Speak for the Dead, the first book in the Jake Lassiter series. We were happy to support that effort as well, and are so pleased to know that it was such a success.
About Flesh & Bones: "I was sitting at the end of the bar sipping single-malt Scotch when I spotted the tall blond woman with the large green eyes and the small gray gun."
The next thing Jake Lassiter knows, the woman pumps three bullets into the man on the next barstool.
And Jake, the linebacker-turned-lawyer, has a new client.
She's stunning model Chrissy Bernhardt, and the dead man is her wealthy father. The defense? Chrissy claims that she's recently recovered repressed memories of having been sexually abused by her father. Jake wants to believe her but suspects that the memories were either implanted by a shady psychiatrist or fabricated by Chrissy herself. Complicating the situation, Jake falls for his client, clouding his judgment.
Is she an anguished victim or a cold-blooded killer? And what about her brother, who stands to inherit a fortune if Chrissy goes to prison? Jake wades into a quagmire of dirty water deals, big money, and family corruption, all leading to an explosive finale.
Review: Hit or Missus by Gayle Carline
Hit or Missus by Gayle Carline. A Peri Minneopa Mystery. CreateSpace Trade Paperback, May 2011.
This multi-genre mystery blends a straight PI investigation with a little chick lit and a touch of cozy, and features an appealing, 50-something sleuth whose life experience provides her with an eye for detail and an edge in knowing where to find the skeletons in family closets.
Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: Hit or Missus by Gayle Carline.
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Mr. E. Reviews Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Available on
Where is the -- pardon the term -- magic here? The early films inspired a sense of awe, with their grand visuals and creative creatures and imaginative settings. In this film there is none of that. None whatsoever. The plot is little more than Harry and his friends seeking the remaining horcruxes and Lord Voldemort chasing after Harry, not at all very exciting in the least.
Read the full text of our review at Mr. E. Reviews Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.
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Mr. E. Reviews is your source for mystery, suspense, thriller, and crime drama reviews of television and film.
Disturbed Earth by Reggie Nadelson is Today's Featured Free Nook Book Mystery
MystereBooks is pleased to feature a mystery title that is currently available as a Nook Book 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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Disturbed Earth by Reggie Nadelson
An Artie Cohen Mystery (5th in series)
Walker (Nook Book)
Download Link
About Disturbed Earth (from the publisher): Winter 2003. Still reeling from 9/11, New York City is hit by the worst blizzard in years. On the verge of making peace with his own turbulent life, Artie Cohen is called to investigate a pile of blood-soaked children's clothes found on a Brooklyn beach. Artie is reluctantly drawn into a case that involves the death of one child, the strange disappearance of another, and growing anxiety about the fate of his own godson — all against the backdrop of a city already on edge.
In his increasingly obsessive search for the missing child, Artie veers from posh parties on the Lower West Side of Manhattan to the remote coastal suburbs of Brooklyn, among the Russian community he thought he had left behind, only to discover truths that will haunt him in more ways than one.
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
Josh Lucas Confirmed for NBC's The Firm
Producers confirmed today that Josh Lucas (The Lincoln Lawyer, Little Murder, Shadows and Lies) will play attorney Mitchell McDeere in the TV series adaptation of the 1991 legal thriller The Firm by John Grisham. Tom Cruise played the character in the 1993 film adaptation, also titled The Firm.
The storyline is set 10 years after the events in the book (and film). McDeere and his family emerge from isolation in the Federal Witness Protection program to reclaim their lives and their future -- only to find that past dangers are still lurking and new threats are everywhere.
The Firm is expected to be on NBC's mid-season schedule, tentatively set for Sundays at 10 PM (ET/PT).
Review: Senestre on Vacation by Z. K. Burrus
Senestre on Vacation by Z. K. Burrus. A Thomas Senestre Mystery. Livingston Press Hardcover, May 2011.
This is an unusual mystery, not so much from a plot perspective but in terms of narrative style. The sentences are choppy, the subjects of paragraphs frequently varying, almost as if the book is written as a stream of consciousness with various thoughts competing for Senestre's -- and the reader's -- attention.
Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: Senestre on Vacation by Z. K. Burrus.
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Read the first chapter(s) of Senestre on Vacation below. Use the Aa settings button to adjust text size, line spacing, and word density.
New, Uncensored Poster for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Released
Last week the first official trailer for the English-language adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was made available online. Now an uncensored NSFW poster has been released by the studio. (Click on the image to the right for a full-size version.)
We suspect that this is an international poster -- the website URL shown is the UK site for the film -- as it is unlikely to be publicly displayed in any US-based theater. No doubt its intended purpose is to add to the overall mystique of the film, not unlike the purportedly illicitly filmed red-band trailer released (by the studio?) over Memorial Day weekend, which has since been removed.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo hits US theaters on December 21st, 2011. (The US website is also now online, DragonTattoo.com, where a slightly censored, though still age-restricted, version of the poster above can be seen.)
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