Hurt Machine by Reed Farrel Coleman is Today's Second Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Hurt Machine by Reed Farrel Coleman as today's second free mystery ebook.

This title was listed as free as of the date and time of this post. Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your transaction.

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Hurt Machine by Reed Farrel Coleman
A Moe Prager Mystery
Publisher: Tyrus Books

Another repeat freebie from December 2011, this is the 7th and most recent title in this series featuring the ex-NYPD cop, now private investigator. In our review of the book, we said, "The cleverly devised murder mystery plot … is one of the best, maybe the best, of the year."

About Hurt Machine (from the publisher): At a pre-wedding party for his daughter Sarah, Moe Prager is approached by his ex-wife and former PI partner Carmella Melendez. It seems Carmella's estranged sister Alta has been murdered, but no one in New York City seems to care. Why? Alta, a FDNY EMT, and her partner had months earlier refused to give assistance to a dying man at a fancy downtown eatery. Moe decides to help Carmella as a means to distract himself from his own life-and-death struggle. Making headway on the case is no mean feat as no one, including Alta's partner Maya Watson, wants to cooperate. Moe chips away until he discovers a cancer roiling just below the surface, a cancer whose symptoms include bureaucratic greed, sexual harassment, and blackmail. But is any of it connected to Alta's brutal murder?

Read our review of Hurt Machine by Reed Farrel Coleman.

Important Note: This book was listed for free on the date and time of this post. Prices can and do change without prior notice. 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 St. Paul Conspiracy by Roger Stelljes is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature The St. Paul Conspiracy by Roger Stelljes as today's free mystery ebook.

This title was listed as free as of the date and time of this post. Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your transaction.

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The St. Paul Conspiracy by Roger Stelljes
A Mac McRyan Mystery
Publisher: North Star Press/Roger Stelljes

This repeat freebie from December 2011 is the first title in this series, which introduces the St. Paul homicide detective.

About The St. Paul Conspiracy (from the publisher): The morning after Halloween the city of St. Paul awakens to find that a serial killer terrorizing the blue-collar working women of University Avenue has struck for the fifth time. The citizens of St. Paul are on edge.

For thirty-two-year-old fourth-generation St. Paul Homicide Detective Michael McKenzie "Mac" McRyan, his day was going to be less stressful. His day would involve paper work, coffee, and maybe even an early trip to the pub. Then his cell phone tells him his day is about to change. A body has been found in a high-end condominium between Summit and Grand Avenues; and it's not just anyone.

"Your day just got worse," Mac tells his captain.

The victim is Claire Daniels, the Twin Cities' most prominent political and investigative reporter. Claire was stunningly attractive. She had blonde hair, blue eyes and a curvaceous body she worked on relentlessly. Claire was the desire of every man in town.

With the Daniels murder on top of the latest serial killer attack, the political and media pressure on the St. Paul Police Department only builds and places Mac in the middle of a dangerous and high-stakes murder investigation that will ultimately have national political and security implications.

Important Note: This book was listed for free on the date and time of this post. Prices can and do change without prior notice. 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.

Ice Age by Brian Freemantle is Today's Amazon Kindle Daily Deal

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Ice Age by Brian Freemantle as today's Amazon Kindle Daily Deal. The deal price of $0.99 is valid only for today, Wednesday, February 15, 2012.

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Ice Age by Brian Freemantle
Publisher: Severn House

This is the first stand-alone thriller from the author of the Charlie Muffin spy novels.

About Ice Age (from the publisher): As the polar ice caps melt, scientists prepare for slowly rising sea levels. But there is a far more urgent threat, hitherto unimaginable, which in a matter of months—not decades—may destroy civilization as we know it.

A polar research station has gone quiet, and the crew that investigates finds four corpses—their bones arthritic, their skin withered, their hair reduced to tattered wisps. They are the bodies of the four scientists manning the station—none of them over forty-five years old. A terrifying virus, which causes adults to race to old age, has emerged from the ice where it has been locked since prehistoric times. Against such an ancient illness man has no immunity, and unless someone can stop it, the Earth is about to be swept clean by history’s deadliest plague.

Important Note: Amazon.com updates its Kindle book deal every day at approximately midnight PT. The title referenced above is available at a discounted price for Wednesday, February 15, 2012 only.

Download Link(s):

Amazon Kindle Daily Deal.

Telemystery: NBC Orders Pilot for Crime Drama Notorious

In other news from NBC tonight — we earlier reported on the network ordering a crime thriller adapted from Thomas Harris's Red Dragon — a pilot has been ordered for a suspense series that sounds suspiciously like ABC's Revenge … our favorite new show of this season.

Titled Notorious — no relationship to the Hitchcock classic — the potential series features a female detective returning uncover, as a maid's daughter, to the wealthy family in which she grew up in order to solve the murder of an heiress, who was once her closest friend. Liz Heldens (Friday Night Lights, Prime Suspect … the US version) will write the screenplay and serve as co-executive producer.

(Related article: The Hollywood Reporter.)

NBC Orders Crime Thriller Adapted from Thomas Harris's Red Dragon

NBC is bypassing the whole "let's make a pilot and then decide if we want a series"-process and ordering a 13-episode crime drama based on Thomas Harris's 1981 novel Red Dragon.

Though Hannibal Lecter is probably best known as a character in the multi-Academy Award winning film The Silence of the Lambs, he was actually introduced seven years earlier in Red Dragon. Indeed, the official log line from NBC for its series is, "One-hour contemporary thriller series featuring the classic characters from Thomas Harris's novel Red Dragon — FBI agent Will Graham and his mentor Dr. Hannibal Lecter — who are re-introduced at the beginning of their budding relationship."

Here's a synopsis of the book from the publisher: Will Graham stands in a silent, empty house communing with a killer. An FBI instructor with a gift for hunting madmen, Graham knows what his murderer looks like, how he thinks, and what he did to his victims after they died. Now Graham must try to catch him. But to do it, he must feel the heat of a killer's brain, draw on the macabre advice of a dangerous mental patient, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, and follow a trail of microscopic clues to the place where another family has already been chosen to die — and where an innocent woman has found the Dragon first.

Jonny Lee Miller to play Sherlock Holmes in CBS's Elementary

Way back in 2008 when we reported that BBC had ordered a "contemporary update of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle classics" we were — to say the least — not thrilled. This series turned out to be Sherlock and in our review of its first season, we called it "superb", adding that it was "creative and innovative with well written scripts and a great look yet still respect[ed] the characters originally created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle more than 100 years ago."

Now CBS wants to do the same, and we're once again not thrilled. Last month the network ordered a pilot for Elementary, calling it "modern take on the cases of Sherlock Holmes, with Sherlock now living in New York City." Our response: "Ugh."

Yes, we know we're being hypocrites on the subject.

But CBS seems determined to move forward, announcing today its choice for Sherlock Holmes: Jonny Lee Miller. All things considered, and despite our reservations about the series as a whole, not a bad choice. He most recently appeared as a major character in the fifth season of Dexter (as Jordan Chase) and plays the role of Roger Collins in the upcoming film Dark Shadows.

There's still no guarantee that the pilot will convert to a series, but based on our experience with the BBC production, we're at least willing to keep a somewhat, sort of, open mind.

Teaser Poster for Second Season of Game of Thrones

This scarcely merits a post given how minimal it is, but HBO has released a teaser poster for the second season of Game of Thrones (right; click for larger version).

Adapted from the series of "A Song of Ice and Fire" epic fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin — we believe this second season will generally follow the storyline of A Clash of Kings, the second book in the series — Game of Thrones returns on April 1st, 2012.

Since there isn't much news here, we thought we'd close with a replay of the splendid opening credits, a sublime combination of visual and audio that sets a perfect tone for the series.

Annotated Trailer for Gyakuten Saiban, based on the Ace Attorney Video Games

Last year we saw a trailer for Gyakuten Saiban (逆転裁判), a Japanese film based on the Ace Attorney character from a series of Nintendo DS video games. We didn't understand a word of it, but thought the visuals striking.

The film opened this past weekend in Japan — apparently to packed theaters — and while poking around we came across that very same trailer, but one where someone had annotated it, translating the text, dialog and voice-over. We've embedded that trailer below.

Gyakuten Saiban loosely follows the storyline of the first game in the series, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. Hiroki Narimiya stars as Ryūichi Naruhodō, a defense attorney also known as Phoenix Wright, who finds himself in the middle of a 15-year-old murder mystery.

We think the film looks amazing. The director, Miike Takashi, has indicated he is looking for a worldwide release of the film but we have no specific information on when, or even whether, it will be available in the US.

New International Trailer for Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter

Yesterday, we posted the first trailer Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, adapted from the alternate history thriller of the same title by Seth Grahame-Smith.

Today, the studio has released the international trailer, which we've embedded below. Though similar in content with several shared scenes, the two trailers do depict different elements of the film.

Benjamin Walker stars as Abraham Lincoln, whose mother is killed by a supernatural creature, feeding his passion to crush vampires and their slave-owning helpers.

Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter opens in US theaters on June 22nd, 2012.

The Road Rage Comics Series by Stephen King and Joe Hill

The "Road Rage" series of four comics is in stores tomorrow, Wednesday February 15th.

Adapted from the short story "Throttle" by Stephen King and Joe Hill, which itself was inspired by "Duel", a short story by Richard Matheson, the comic series features The Tribe, a motorcycle club that acts as a family unit.

Club leader Vince rides alongside his son Race, as well as fellow Vietnam vet Lemmy and a passle of others. They've been together a long time, these two generations of riders. But never before have they seen the kind of trouble they're about to run up against.

War is easy—lines are drawn, sides are chosen. But when the club is attacked on a lonely highway road by a trucker with unknown but quite murderous intent, their hard-scrabble existence becomes one of pure survival. And not all of 'em are going to make it through.

If all this has a familiar ring to it, it's likely because you've seen the 1971 made-for-television movie Duel, which stars Dennis Weaver as a motorist being stalked by an unseen truck driver. With a screenplay adapted from the same Matheson short story that inspired King and Hill, it was Steven Spielberg's first turn as a director and remains one of the most suspenseful films we've ever seen. (We watched it once decades ago … and it is one of the few films that we are too terrified to watch again.)

The covers of the four comics are shown below. Look for them in your favorite comic book store tomorrow.