The Mystery Bookshelf: Potsdam Station by David Downing, a John Russell Mystery

The Mystery Bookshelf, where you can discover a world of mystery and suspense, is pleased to feature a new crime novel we recently received from the publisher.

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Potsdam Station by David Downing
A John Russell Mystery (4th in series)
Soho Crime (Trade Paperback)
Publication Date: January 2012
ISBN-13: 978-1-61695-073-6

About Potsdam Station (from the publisher): In April 1945, Hitler’s Reich is on the verge of extinction. Assaulted by Allied bombs and Soviet shells, ruled by Nazis with nothing to lose, Berlin has become the most dangerous place on earth.

John Russell’s son Paul is stationed on the Eastern Front with the German Army, awaiting the Soviets’ final onslaught. In Berlin, Russell’s girlfriend Effi has been living in disguise, helping fugitives to escape from Germany. With a Jewish orphan to care for, she’s trying to outlast the Nazis.

Russell hasn’t heard from either of them since fleeing Germany in 1941. He is desperate to find out if they’re alive and to protect them from the advancing Red Army. He flies to Moscow, seeking permission to enter Berlin with the Red Army as a journalist, but when the Soviet’s arrest him as a spy, things look bleak—until they find a use for him that has him parachuting into Berlin behind German lines.

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About the author: A native of suburban London, David Downing is the author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction for both adults and children, including four crime thrillers featuring Anglo-American journalist John Russell. (The fifth, Lehrter Station, is published in May 2012.) He lives with his wife in Guildford, England.

 Crime novels by David Downing reviewed by Mysterious Reviews: Zoo Station (2007), Silesian Station (2008), Stettin Station (2010) and Potsdam Station (2011).

Purchase Options for Potsdam Station:

Watch Me Die by Lee Goldberg is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Watch Me Die by Lee Goldberg 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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Watch Me Die by Lee Goldberg
A Harvey Mapes Mystery
Publisher: Adventures in Television

Originally published in hardcover by Five Star under the title The Man with the Iron-On Badge, this mystery could easily have been the first in an entertaining series. The author, however, lists it as a stand-alone on his website.

About Watch Me Die (from the publisher): Harvey Mapes is a twenty-nine-year-old security guard who spends his nights in a guard shack outside a gated community in Southern California, reading detective novels, watching TVLand reruns, and waiting for his life to finally start … which happens when Cyril Parkus, one of the wealthy residents, asks Harvey to follow his beautiful wife Lauren.

The lowly security guard jumps at the opportunity to fulfill his private eye fantasies and use everything he's learned from Spenser, Magnum, and Mannix. But things don't exactly go according to the books … or the reruns. As Harvey fumbles and stumbles through his first investigation, he discovers that the differences between fiction and reality can be deadly. With the help of his mortgage-broker neighbor and occasional lover Carol, Harvey uncovers a blackmail plot that takes a sudden and unexpectedly tragic turn … plunging him into a world of violence, deception, and murder … and forcing him to discover what it really takes to be a private eye.

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 Kill by Jan Neuharth is Today's Amazon Kindle Daily Deal

MystereBooks is pleased to feature The Kill by Jan Neuharth as today's Amazon Kindle Daily Deal. The deal price of $0.99 is valid only for today, Wednesday, January 11, 2012.

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The Kill by Jan Neuharth
A Hunt Country Novel of Suspense
Paper Chase Farms

This is the third mystery in this series, set in the foxhunting community of Middleburg, Virginia, just outside Washington D.C.

About The Kill (from the publisher): When word reaches her in war-torn Afghanistan that her beloved Uncle Richard has been brutally murdered, globe-trotting photojournalist Abigale Portmann reluctantly abandons her assignment and returns to the rolling hills and rocky relationships of her past in the picturesque equestrian community of Middleburg, Virginia—a place she has painstakingly avoided for 17 years. While the sheriff thinks the murder is a random robbery gone bad, Abigale soon becomes convinced her uncle was slain by someone he knew. Suspicion swirls among colorful characters in the tweedy, foxhunting crowd, including a superficial nouveau riche social climber, the lazy heir to an old-money fortune, and, most painfully to Abigale, her former childhood sweetheart. As the gripping plot unfolds, friends become suspects and family ties are tested, until events spin out of control and the riveting tale races to a terrifying finish.

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 — Available 01/11/2012 only.

Bond 50: The 22 James Bond Films on Blu-ray

To celebrate 50 years — Yikes! 50 years! — of James Bond on film, MGM and Fox Home Entertainment announced today the complete collection (to date) of James Bond films on Blu-ray discs. It's currently up for pre-order at Amazon.com at a hefty discounted price, though there is no release date yet.

From Dr. No (1962) through Quantum of Solace (2008), all 22 films in the James Bond series featuring the six actors who played the part — Can you name all six? — are included in this set. (Harder trivia question: Can you name all 22 movies?)

Watch a promo video for "Bond 50" below.

Answers to our trivia questions:

The Bond actors: Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig.

The Bond films: Dr. No, From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die, The Man with the Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, A View To a Kill, The Living Daylights, License to Kill, GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, Die Another Day, Casino Royal, Quantum of Solace. Skyfall, the 23rd film, is currently in production with Daniel Craig playing James Bond for the third time.

USA Network Renews Psych for a 7th Season

USA Network announced today via a pineapple puzzle on Facebook that its longest running series, Psych, has been renewed for a 7th season of 16 episodes.

James Roday stars as police consultant Shawn Spencer, who solves crimes with powers of observation so acute that Santa Barbara Police Department detectives think he's psychic.
Dule Hill stars as his best friend and reluctant sidekick, Gus, and Corbin Bernsen as his disapproving father, Henry, who ironically was the one who honed his son's "observation" skills as a child.

The final piece to the puzzle unlocked a video featuring Roday and Hill announcing the pickup, during which Roday says, "Oh, and also, Psych is officially coming back for a seventh season, which is very cool …"

The second half of Psych's 6th season premieres on February 29th, 2012.

Patricia Highsmith's Deep Water Adaptation Gets New Screenwriter

It's been well over two years since we last reported on the film adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's 1957 suspense novel Deep Water, but now we're learning that Fox 2000 has hired Zach Helm to write the script … but with an eye towards dark sexy comedy instead of murder mystery thriller. Steven Zaillian is producing together with Mike Nichols, who back in 2009 was attached to direct a Joe Penhall script.

Set in the small town of Little Wesley, Highsmith describes Melinda Van Allen as beautiful, rebellious, tempestuous and sexy. And unfortunately for wealthy socialite Vic Van Allen, she is his wife. An incorrigible flirt, Melinda spares no opportunity to flaunt her many lovers to her husband. In response, Vic doesn't miss an opportunity to let them know that he's the jealous type. When Malcolm McCrae, one of Melinda's exes, is murdered in the city, Vic doesn't hesitate to suggest to her latest paramour that he might have been responsible. But as rumors about Vic's nasty streak begin to spread amongst their friends, fiction and reality begin to converge. And it's only a matter of time before Vic really does have blood on his hands …

(Related article: The Hollywood Reporter.)

Review: The Gravedigger's Ball by Solomon Jones

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: The Gravedigger's Ball by Solomon Jones.

The Mystery Bookshelf: Frozen Assets by Quentin Bates, a Gunnhildur Gísladóttir Mystery

The Mystery Bookshelf, where you can discover a world of mystery and suspense, is pleased to feature a new crime novel we recently received from the publisher.

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Frozen Assets by Quentin Bates
A Gunnhildur Gísladóttir Mystery (1st in series)
Soho Crime (Trade Paperback)
Publication Date: January 2012
ISBN-13: 978-1-61695-056-9

About Frozen Assets (from the publisher): A body is found floating in the harbor of a rural Icelandic fishing village. Was it an accident, or something more sinister? It’s up to Officer Gunnhildur, a sardonic female cop, to find out. Her investigation uncovers a web of corruption connected to Iceland’s business and banking communities. Meanwhile, a rookie crime journalist latches onto her, looking for a scoop, and an anonymous blogger is stirring up trouble. The complications increase, as do the stakes, when a second murder is committed.

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About the author: Quentin Bates lived in Iceland for 10 years. In 1990, he returned to the UK, where he became a full-time journalist at a commercial fishing magazine. He and his wife frequently return to Iceland, where they have many friends … including several in the Reykjavík police.

 Crime novels by Quentin Bates reviewed by Mysterious Reviews: Frozen Assets (2011).

Purchase Options for Frozen Assets:

Mulholland Books has an Excerpt from the Graphic Novel Mystery Men

The graphic novel Mystery Men — which collects the five separate issues of the comic published last year — is released this week and the folks at Mulholland Books have an excerpt.

Written by David Liss and illustrated by Patrick Zircher, Mystery Men introduces all-new, never-before-seen heroes of the 1930s. With a new evil washing over an unsuspecting New York City, the Operative, the Aviatrix, the Surgeon, the Revenant and Achilles blast through dangers from blood-soaked mob warehouses to monster-infested mansions, and fight to blow the lid off a conspiracy that could bring the nation itself to its knees.

David Liss is the author of several stand-alone crime novels in addition to his series featuring private investigator Benjamin Weaver. The first book in that series, A Conspiracy of Paper, published in 2000, was the winner of multiple awards, including the Edgar Award for Best First Novel and the Macavity Award for Best First Novel.

Patrick Zircher has illustrated a number of series including Iron Man, New Warriors, Thunderbolts, X-Men and X-Men 2.

(Related article: Mulholland Books.)

Summer People by Aaron Stander is Today's Fourth Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Summer People by Aaron Stander as today's fourth 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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Summer People by Aaron Stander
A Ray Elkins Mystery
Publisher: Writers & Editors

Northwest lower Michigan sheriff Ray Elkins is introduced in the first of five (to date) mysteries in this series.

About Summer People (from the publisher): It is late June in Michigan's gold coast vacation area. The summer residents are settling in for the season and the tourists are beginning to flood the highways, beaches, and resorts. But the idyllic vision of a summer by the lake is suddenly shattered by a gangland-style slaying of one of the old money cottagers. This murder is quickly followed by the deaths of three more summer residents, each taking place under suspicious circumstances.

At times hindered by local politics and the proverbial tension between the summer people and the natives, Sheriff Ray Elkins searches for the possible links between the four victims. As he probes into their tangled lives and dark histories, he finds both the motive and the possible murderer.

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.