Relative Danger by June Shaw is Today's Third Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Relative Danger by June Shaw as today's third 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.

— ◊ —

Relative Danger by June Shaw
A Cealie Gunther Mystery
Publisher: Five Star

This first in a series of three mysteries (to date) introduces amateur sleuthing grandmother Cealie Gunther.

About Relative Danger (from the publisher): Spunky widowed Cealie Gunther is a woman of a certain age whose zeal for adventure keeps her in the thick of things … like trouble. She pops up in town early to watch her motherless granddaughter Kat graduate, only to discover that because of a custodian's death — accidental — or murder — graduation might not take place.

Determined to find the truth, Cealie snags a job as a substitute teacher, exposing violence, lurking menace and more disturbing questions than answers. The only thing certain is that a killer has decided Cealie and her grandchild need to be expelled … permanently.

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.

Antiques Maul by Barbara Allan is Today's Second Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Antiques Maul by Barbara Allan 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.

— ◊ —

Antiques Maul by Barbara Allan
A Brandy Borne, Trash and Treasures Mystery
Publisher: Kensington

This is the second mystery (of five to date) in this series by co-writers Max Allan Collins and his wife Barbara.

About Antiques Maul (from the publisher): As autumn splashes color across the small Mississippi River town of Serenity, newly divorced Brandy Borne is on the brink of going crazy after her ever-impossible mother quits the local theatre group. She comes up with a brilliant idea for preserving her sanity and keeping Mother busy: open their own booth at the new antiques mall in town. But they are about to cross paths with a killer …

Brandy, along with Sushi, her spoiled Shih Tzu, pays a visit to the town's Chief of Police to ask about federal auctions of confiscated goods, a little-known source of great antiques and collectibles. Her buys at her first auction in Rockford, Illinois turn out to be a success. On the other hand, her first visit from ten-year-old son Jake, who has been living with his father, turns out to be a challenge.

While Halloween looms large on the horizon, things turn grim when a body is found at the antiques mall. To the cops, the case seems pretty clear cut: the victim's dog, the normally good-natured Brad Pit Bull, mauled its owner to death. But Brandy knows her canines, and this dog has definitely been framed. Brandy and Mother are soon snooping into nooks, crannies, and cubby holes while stepping on assorted toes. As All Hallow's Eve shenanigans grow increasingly frightening, true terror unmasks itself when Jacob goes missing. Is his disappearance just a childish prank? Or are sinister forces bubble-bubble-toiling trouble in Serenity?

Now Brandy and her over-the-top mom are on the hunt to find Jake before a devious killer mauls again …

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.

B&N Free Nook Book Download Link.

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

Two "Double" Books by Lee Goldberg are Today's Featured Free MystereBooks

MystereBooks is pleased to two collections — a total of three books and one novella — by crime novelist Lee Goldberg as today's free mystery ebooks. The three books have separately been available for free at one time or another in the past.

These titles were 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 prices of the books before completing your transaction.

— ◊ —

Double Header by Lee Goldberg
Publisher: Lee Goldberg

About Double Header (from the publisher): Both of the author's "Charlie Willis" crime novels in a single ebook.

My Gun Has Bullets: When Beverly Hills Police Officer Charlie Willis pulls over a speeding Rolls Royce hell-bent for Neiman Marcus, he's surprised to see Esther Radcliffe, the geriatric star of the TV series "Miss Agatha," behind the wheel. He's even more surprised when she guns him down and keeps on driving. A few hours later, he wakes up in the intensive care unit … to find a William Morris agent, a network president, and the head of Pinnacle Studios standing at the foot of his bed. They have a proposal for him: in exchange for conveniently forgetting who shot him, they'll make him the star of his own series, "My Gun Has Bullets". So Charlie trades in his real badge for a fake one … and so begins an uproarious but deadly romp through the wonderful world of TV make-believe … with real bullets.

Dead Space: Ex-cop Charlie Willis handles "special security" at Pinnacle Pictures. His job: to protect the studio and its stars, to stop scandals before they explode, to keep the peace in the land of make-believe. When Pinnacle revives the cult, 1960s TV series "Beyond the Beyond" as the cornerstone of a fourth network, two powerful forces fight for control of the show — a talent agency that uses blackmail, torture, and murder to keep its clients on the A-list, and a homicidal legion of rabid fans led by an insane actor who thinks he's in outer space.

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.

— ◊ —

Double Impact by Lee Goldberg
Publisher: Lee Goldberg

About Double Impact (from the publisher): The stand-alone Harvey Mapes mystery and a John McGrave novella are included in this ebook.

Watch Me Die: Harvey Mapes is a 26-year-old security guard who spends his nights in a guard shack outside a gated community in Southern California, reading detective novels, watching 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.

McGrave: Los Angeles cop John "Tidal Wave" McGrave is an unstoppable force of nature who always gets his man … even if it means laying waste to everything around him, including his own career … which is exactly what happens in his pursuit of Sebastian Richter, the ruthless leader of an international gang of violent thieves.

When Richter flees to Berlin, McGrave chases after him … even though the cop doesn't know the language, the laws, or the culture. But McGrave doesn't care...he speaks the universal language of knee in the groin and fist in the face … and he won't let anything get in his way.

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 Shop by J. Carson Black is Today's Amazon Kindle Daily Deal

MystereBooks is pleased to feature The Shop by J. Carson Black as today's Amazon Kindle Daily Deal. The deal price of $0.99 is valid only for today, Wednesday, February 22, 2012.

— ◊ —

The Shop by J. Carson Black
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

About The Shop (from the publisher): In Aspen, Colorado, a pop star and her entourage are brutally murdered in their luxury chalet. The lead assassin, ex-Navy SEAL Cyril Landry, has no qualms about carrying out his mission until the instant before he kills the young star—an intense, shared moment that will ultimately drive him to find out why these people had to die. Landry transforms from mercenary to hunter as he delves into the depths of The Shop, the shadowy organization that has hired him to execute people across the country.

Thousands of miles away, in a seedy motel in Gardenia, Florida, a local police chief is found shot to death. The scene has all the signs of a romantic rendezvous gone wrong, but Detective Jolie Burke isn’t so sure. As she digs for clues, the tangled threads of evidence lead to a disturbing place: Indigo, the lush tropical estate of the powerful Haddox clan and home of US Attorney General Franklin Haddox. As Jolie continues to pursue the truth, she quickly discovers that Haddox will do anything to protect his country’s ugly secrets—even kill.

Landry’s quest to uncover The Shop’s motives throws him into the dark currents of Jolie’s investigation, and they find themselves working together as an unlikely duo: a cop and a killer, joining forces to expose a shocking conspiracy that ascends to the highest offices in the land.

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 22, 2012 only.

Download Link(s):

Amazon Kindle Daily Deal.

International Trailer for The Cold Light of Day

A few weeks ago we featured the first US trailer for the action-thriller The Cold Light of Day. Now an international (UK) trailer for the film has been released (via MSN Movies UK); we've embedded it below. (It's a bit shorter but covers essentially the same scenes.)

Henry Cavill stars as Will Shaw, who arrives in Spain for a week-long sailing vacation with his family. But the stressed young business man is not in a holiday mood. His start-up company just went under and his tense relationship with his disciplinarian father Martin (Bruce Willis) only makes matters worse. But when the family is kidnapped by what turns out to be intelligence agents hell-bent on recovering a mysterious suitcase, Will suddenly finds himself on the run. His whole world turns upside down when Martin reappears, revealing he is an undercover agent tangled in an intergovernmental web of lies and secrets. During a clandestine rendezvous, Martin is killed by a sniper, and Will must find a way to get the rest of his family back alive.

The Cold Light of Day, which also stars Sigourney Weaver, is directed by Mabrouk El Mechri from an original screenplay by Scott Wiper and John Petro. It opens in US and UK theaters on April 6th, 2012.

New Director for Film Adaptation of American Assassin by Vince Flynn

CBS Films acquired the rights to Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp thrillers several years ago and the project therefrom has been a roller coaster ride ever since.

Let's see … back in early 2010 Antoine Fuqua was on board to direct an adaptation of the sixth book in the series, Consent to Kill. Fast forward 15 months, and Fuqua is out as is the book. The studio is now looking at Ed Zwick directing an adaptation of the eleventh book, American Assassin, which isn't so far-fetched as it is a prequel to the series as a whole and would serve as a nice launching point for a franchise.

Today we're learning that Zwick is out and Jeffrey Nachmanoff is in as director. The source material, however, remains the same … for the present.

In American Assassin, Mitch Rapp is introduced. Before he was considered a CIA superagent, before he was thought of as a terrorist's worst nightmare, and before he was both loathed and admired by the politicians on Capitol Hill, Mitch Rapp was a gifted college athlete without a care in the world … and then tragedy struck …

No word on screenwriter, much less an actor to play Mitch Rapp.

(It's little wonder crime novelists are so elated when their books are optioned for film and so discouraged when frequently nothing comes of it.)

(Related article: Deadline.com.)

Nominees for the 2011 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes Announced

The nominees for the 2011 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes have been announced. One of the many categories is Mystery-Thriller, and we've listed the nominees below.

The 32nd annual prizes will be awarded at a public ceremony April 20th, 2012, at USC's Bovard Auditorium.

Mystery-Thriller Nominees:
• Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson (Little, Brown)
• Plugged by Eoin Colfer (Overlook Press)
• 11/22/63 by Stephen King (Scribner)
• Snowdrops by A. D. Miller (Doubleday)
• The End of Wasp Season by Denise Mina (Little, Brown)

Richard Castle to Write Three New Derrick Storm Novellas

Hyperion Books has announced plans to publish three original ebook novellas by bestselling crime novelist Richard Castle. The books mark the return of former CIA operative Derrick Storm. (We thought Castle had killed off the character, but the press release says he's coming "out of retirement." More from the author himself below.)

A Brewing Storm will be published in May, 2012 with the two other, currently untitled, books coming out in July and August. (It is available to pre-order.)

"While consulting with the NYPD on a recent case, I was inspired to re-examine the circumstances around the death of my beloved character Derrick Storm," said Castle. "It turns out, there was much more to the story than met the eye. I'm excited to be working with Hyperion to bring Derrick Storm fans a brand new adventure of mystery, action and intrigue."

Richard Castle is, of course, a character played by Nathan Fillion on the ABC series Castle. Even though he is fictional, he has still managed to write three bestselling mysteries featuring NYPD homicide detective Nikki Heat, a character inspired by his working relationship with Kate Beckett (Castle co-star Stana Katic).

(Source: Press release.)

New Poster for Indie Thriller Would You Rather

A new poster for the indie film thriller Would You Rather has been released (right; click for larger version). The tagline: "A dinner to die for."

We don't know much about the film. The studio lists it as in post-production, with this brief synopsis: Desperate to help her ailing brother, a young woman agrees to compete in a deadly game of "Would You Rather" hosted by a sadistic aristocrat.

The film is directed by David Guy Levy from a screenplay by Steffen Schlachtenhaufen and stars Brittany Snow, Sasha Grey, and Jeffrey Combs. We are unaware of any release date.

Review: The Technologists by Matthew Pearl

Read our … Review of The Technologists by Matthew Pearl. Random House Hardcover, February 2012.

Buy from …