Murder Over Easy by Marshall Cook is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Murder Over Easy by Marshall Cook as today's free mystery ebook. We don't know how long it will be offered at this special price (typically for a limited time only or until a certain number of downloads have been completed), so we urge you to download it while it is still available for free.

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Murder Over Easy by Marshall Cook
A Monona Quinn Mystery
Publisher: Tyrus Books

Small town Wisconsin newspaper editor "Mo" Quinn is introduced in this series of four (to date) mysteries.

About Murder Over Easy (from the publisher): Monona Quinn thought moving from Chicago to rural Wisconsin would be the change of pace she was looking for. But when the popular owner of the local diner is murdered, she realizes she may not find what she was looking for.

Important Note: Prices can and do change without prior notice, so please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Download Link(s):

Amazon Free Kindle Edition Download Link.

For more free mystery ebooks, visit our Free MystereBooks page.

The Firm, based on the Legal Thriller by John Grisham, Premieres This Sunday on NBC

The Firm premieres this Sunday, January 8th, 2012 on NBC at 9 PM with a two-hour pilot episode.

Based on the legal thriller of the same title by John Grisham, The Firm continues the story of attorney Mitchell McDeere (played by Josh Lucas) and his family 10 years after the events of the book — and the 1993 film adaptation starring Tom Cruise. As a young associate, McDeere brought down the prestigious Memphis law firm of Bendini, Lambert & Locke, which operated as a front for the Chicago mob — and his life was never the same. After a difficult decade, which included a stay in the Federal Witness Protection program, Mitch and his family now emerge from isolation to reclaim their lives and their future — only to find that past dangers are still lurking and new threats are everywhere.

Watch a promo for the series below.

Review: Getting Lucky by D. C. Brod

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: Getting Lucky by D. C. Brod.

Jussi Adler-Olsen's Department Q Mysteries to be Adapted for Film and Television

Adaptations of Danish crime novelist Jussi Adler-Olsen's first four titles in his "Department Q" series are being planned for film and television.

First up will be The Keeper of Lost Causes (Danish title: Kvinden i buret), which introduces homicide detective and cold case investigator Carl Mørck. Louise Vesth will write the screenplay. Denmark's Zentropa is producing with Danish commercial channel TV2 and German public broadcaster ZDF as partners. Production is expected to begin Fall 2012 with the first film premiering about a year later.

In our review of the book, we called this police procedural a "fine start to this series". The case involves a missing woman, a politician who vanished without a trace five years earlier. The world assumes she's dead. Mørck's colleagues snicker about the time he's wasting. "The pieces of the puzzle are all in the five-year-old file, and it's a pleasure following Mørck along as he puts them together." (Mysterious Reviews, 2011.)

The Keeper of Lost Causes — which was published as Mercy in the UK — is the only book in this series translated into English to date. The other three titles are Fasandræberne, Flaskepost fra P (which won the 2010 Harald Mogensen Prisen for best thriller and the 2010 Glass Key Award for best Scandanavian crime novel), and Journal 64.

(Related article: The Hollywood Reporter.)

Sean Bean Expected to Play DI Benny Griessel in Film Adaptation of Deon Meyer's Thirteen Hours

Earlier this week South African crime novelist Deon Meyer revealed (via Twitter) that Sean Bean (Game of Thrones, "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy) is the likely choice to play Detective Inspector Benny Griessel in the film adaptation of Thirteen Hours (Afrikaans title: 13 Uur), the second book in the series to feature the police officer. Malcolm Kohll is writing the screenplay, with principal photography expected to begin in Cape Town this March.

About the book: At 05:36 the woman is running up Lion's Head. She is young, beautiful, American. And terrified. Because she is being hunted, like an animal.

At 05:37, the call wakes DI Benny Griessel. There's been a murder. A girl, her throat slit, her body lying next to St. Martini, the Lutheran Church in Long Street.

At 07:02, the hung-over, alcoholic former singing sensation Alexa Barnard discovers her philandering music mogul husband's body next to her on the floor — and a pistol just inches from her hand.

By nine o'clock, with two murders to solve and his own longing for the bottle almost unbearable, Griessel realizes his mentorship of a new generation of law enforcers is going to be a little more complicated than he anticipated.

Past noon, the race to save a young tourist from death becomes desperate and chaotic, and just before half past five, they shoot Griessel, right in the heart.

Fairly normal day, your typical thirteen hours of Cape Town homicide investigation.

WSJ Profiles Six Crime Novel Characters Portrayed in Film

Speaking of Jason Bourne — see our previous post — The Wall Street Journal has an entertaining look at six crime novel characters that have appeared in film and have also been portrayed by multiple actors. In addition to a description of the character, there is a summary of their appearance in print and in film, and a famous "quirk" of the character.

Listed are Sherlock Holmes ("Dozens of actors have played him in more than 200 films and TV shows."); Jason Bourne ("After an injury, Bourne can't remember anything, including his own identity. Hint: Bourne isn't his real name."); James Bond ("He is very good-looking. He reminds me rather of Hoagy Carmichael …"); Philip Marlowe ("A way with metaphor: It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window."); Jack Ryan ("[P]ortrayed by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck."); and Lisbeth Salander ("A penchant for revenge.").

(Related article: The Wall Street Journal.)

Jeremy Renner as Aaron Cross in The Bourne Legacy

Filming for The Bourne Legacy — sans Bourne — is underway, and USA Today has the first photo of Jeremy Renner as the film's lead character Aaron Cross.

Plot details for the film are all but unknown, but what is known is that the screenplay is not adapted from any of the "Bourne" books, originally written by Robert Ludlum but now written by Eric Van Lustbader. It's a little confusing since the fourth book in the series, published in 2004, is also titled The Bourne Legacy. Aaron Cross is a contemporary of Jason Bourne and the storyline reportedly takes place in the same general universe.

The Bourne Legacy — the fourth in the film franchise — opens in theaters August 3rd, 2012.

(Related article: USA Today.)

Deadly Currents by Beth Groundwater is Today's Amazon Kindle Daily Deal

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Deadly Currents by Beth Groundwater as today's Amazon Kindle Daily Deal. The deal price of $0.99 is valid only for today, Friday, January 06, 2012.

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Deadly Currents by Beth Groundwater
A Mandy Turner Mystery
Midnight Ink

River ranger Mandy Tanner is introduced in this first of a series of white water adventures.

About Deadly Currents (from the publisher): The Arkansas River, heart and soul of Salida, Colorado, fuels the small town’s economy and thrums in the blood of river ranger Mandy Tanner. When a whitewater rafting accident occurs, she deftly executes a rescue, but a man dies anyway. Turns out, it wasn’t the rapids that killed him—he was murdered. Tom King was a rich land developer with bitter business rivals, who cheated on his wife, refused to support his kayak-obsessed son, and infuriated environmentalists.

Mandy’s world is upended again when tragedy strikes closer to home. Suspicious that the most recent death is connected to Tom King’s murder, Mandy goes on an emotionally turbulent quest for the truth—and ends up in dangerous waters.

Important Note: Prices can and do change without prior notice, so please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Download Link(s):

Amazon Kindle Daily Deal 01/06/2012 Download Link.

Mystery Bestsellers for the Week Ending January 06, 2012

A list of the top 15 mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending January 6th, 2012 has been posted by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books.

The new year starts where the previous year ended, with last week's top bestseller —Death Comes to Pemberley, a stand-alone novel by P. D. James — retaining its spot at the top this week.

One new title debuts.

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Coming in at number 12 is the second mystery in the "Private" series, #1 Suspect by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro.

Since former Marine Jack Morgan started Private, it has become the world's most effective investigation firm — sought out by the famous and the powerful to discreetly handle their most intimate problems. Private's investigators are the smartest, the fastest, and the most technologically advanced in the world — and they always uncover the truth.

When his former lover is found murdered in Jack Morgan's bed, he is instantly the number one suspect. While Jack is under police investigation, the mob strong-arms him into recovering $30 million in stolen pharmaceuticals for them. And the beautiful manager of a luxury hotel chain persuades him to quietly investigate a string of murders at her properties.

While Jack is fighting for his life, one of his most trusted colleagues threatens to leave Private, and Jack realizes he is confronting the cleverest and most powerful enemies ever.

Purchase Options:

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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.

Filmmaker Chris Columbus to Co-Author Middle-Grade Fantasy/Thriller Trilogy

HarperCollins Children's Books announced today that filmmaker Chris Columbus — who produced and directed the first two "Harry Potter" films as well as Percy Jackson the Olympians: The Lightning Thief — will team up with young adult author Ned Vizinni to write a trilogy of middle-school thrillers.

The series involves a San Francisco family that has to downsize when the father loses his job. They move into a home built 100 years earlier by a fantasy writer named Kristoff, where the siblings find themselves on a journey to retrieve a book of untold power.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Columbus talks about the origin of the series:

At one point, I started it as a screenplay, so there were about fifty pages of a screenplay that would become the first seven or eight chapters of the book. Then I thought, "Maybe it'd work as a television pilot," and I immediately discarded that idea because this is something that would be prohibitively expensive for television. Then I put it away and I didn't think about it, but it was always coming back to me at some point or another. Finally, I thought maybe this would work as a young adult novel for no other reason except I really wanted to see it to its conclusion.

The first book in the "House of Secrets" trilogy is scheduled for publication in Spring 2013.

(Related article: EW.com.)