The Last Witness by Joel Goldman is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature The Last Witness by Joel Goldman 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 Last Witness by Joel Goldman
A Lou Mason Mystery
Publisher: Pinnacle/Joel Goldman

This is the second book (of five to date) to feature the Kansas City trial attorney.

About The Last Witness (from the publisher): Hired to defend the accused murderer of a local lawyer and political fixer, Jack Cullan, Mason finds himself working for none other than his friend and landlord, ex-cop Wilson "Blues" Bluestone Jr. With private files that rivaled those of J Edgar Hoover, Cullan had the goods on any number of Kansas City high-rollers, from Mayor Billy Sunshine on down. But the homicide detective on the case has it in for Blues, who faces the death penalty if he's convicted. Digging deeper, Mason unearths the kind of secrets someone will do anything to keep. And as he closes in on a desperate killer who's leaving a bloody trail through very high places, Mason may be setting himself up as the next target.

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.

New Swedish Teaser Poster for Snabba Cash II

A new Swedish teaser poster for Snabba Cash II has been released by the studio (right; click for slightly larger version).

We had originally read that the film was adapted from the final two books in the "Stockholm Noir Trilogy" by crime novelist Jens Lapidus … though we could have been wrong about this. Indeed, if our Swedish-to-English translator is right, this second film is set a couple of years after the events of the first and features the same characters but a new storyline. We've also read that a third film may be planned, with a screenplay to be written by Lapidus. (Snabba Cash, released in 2006, and based on the first book in the trilogy, is coming to theaters in the US this July. And speaking of that first book, it is being published in English in the US in April as Easy Money; it is on our TBR stack.)

Snabba Cash II stars Joel Kinnaman (The Killing) as Johan "JW" Westlund, who is drawn into the world of organized crime for the money to support a lifestyle well above his means.

Directed by Babak Najafi from a screenplay co-written by Peter Birro and Maria Karlsson, the film opens in Sweden on August 17th, 2012. Watch a trailer for the film below.

Enter To Win a The Hunger Games Prize Package from Kobo

Read the books before you see the movie for a chance to win a "The Hunger Games" prize package from Kobo.

Purchase any of the books in "The Hunger Games" trilogy or the film guides between March 13th and March 27th, 2012 for a chance to win a grand prize package consisting of:

• Kobo Touch eReader;
• The Hunger Games Gift Pack; and a
• $50 Movie voucher.

Three secondary prizes of a The Hunger Games Gift Pack are also available.

May the odds be ever in your favor!

(This contest is open to residents of USA and Canada. See the Kobo contest page for terms and conditions and how to enter without a purchase.)

Winners of the 2012 Spotted Owl Awards Announced

The Friends of Mystery announced today the winner of the 2012 Spotted Owl Award, given for the best crime novel by a Pacific Northwest author.

This year's winner is Bill Cameron for County Line.

The organization also selected Dove Season by Johnny Shaw to receive a special Stan Johnson Outstanding Debut Mystery award.

Warner Bros. Options Comic Mandrake the Magician for Film

Warner Bros. has acquired the film rights to the comic strip character Mandrake the Magician.

Created by Lee Falk, Mandrake the Magician has been mystifying readers since 1934. The dapper, mustached magician works his debonair magic and uses his legendary powers of hypnotism and illusion to combat crime.

This wouldn't be the first time the character appeared on screen. Warren Hull played Mandrake the Magician in a 12-episode serial that was released in 1939. In 1954, a made-for-television film featuring the character aired with Coe Norton starring, with another television movie in 1979 starring Anthony Herrera.

Not unlike what it did for Sherlock Holmes, the studio intends to give Mandrake the Magician a freshening while keeping the time period in which the character appears intact.

(Related article: The Hollywood Reporter.)

Review: The Astro Outlaw by David A. Kelly

Read our … Review of The Astro Outlaw by David A. Kelly. The Ballpark Mysteries. Random House Mass Market Paperback, February 2012.

Available to purchase from …

Donato and Daughter by Sandra Scoppettone is Today's Second Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Donato and Daughter by Sandra Scoppettone 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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Donato and Daughter by Sandra Scoppettone
Publisher: Dutton/Sandra Scoppettone

Sandra Scoppettone published this stand-alone in 1988 as written by Jack Early.

About Donato and Daughter (from the publisher): A serial killer is stalking nuns on the streets of New York. Can he be caught in time to prevent the next atrocious slaying, in time to keep the elite task force ranged against him from being taken off the case? Lieutenant Dina Donato leads this group of seven seasoned officers; but for her own partner she chooses the best cop for the job, her estranged father, currently exiled to one of the city’s worst precincts because of an old unsolved case involving his son.

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.

Dressed for a Kill by Brian Bianco is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Dressed for a Kill by Brian Bianco 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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Dressed for a Kill by Brian Bianco
Publisher: BookSurge

About Dressed for a Kill (from the publisher): To Chicago Tribune reporter Miles Fischer, it was just another rape and murder trial … until the two convicted felons are found dead from a crossbow, in the muddy parking lot of a rundown bar just days after their surprising acquittal. His curiosity turns to suspicion after searching the archives where he discovers two more cases similar to the one in Tweeksbury. Is it a coincidence?

Miles doesn’t think so. In fact, he believes he knows who the killer is after a chance encounter. Miles draws the ire of the FBI and becomes tight-lipped when confronted to disclose what he knows. He wants the story and the glory that goes with it, and believes he is the only one who can identify the killer. He sets his sights on Seattle and creates a game of cat-and-mouse with the FBI and an ex-cop turned private investigator. What Miles and the private investigator don’t realize is just how deadly this game is about to become.

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.

New UK Quad Poster for Action Thriller Safe

A new UK quad poster for the action thriller Safe has been released by the studio (right; click for slightly larger version). The poster's tagline: "They have the code. He is the key." Which doesn't quite match what the studio has on their website, which reads "She has the code. He is the key." Ah, but we digress …

Jason Statham — the one with the gun — stars as Luke Wright, a second-rate cage fighter on the mixed martial arts circuit, who lives a numbing life of routine beatings and chump change … until the day he blows a rigged fight. Wanting to make an example of him, the Russian Mafia murders his family and banishes him from his life forever, leaving Luke to wander the streets of New York destitute, haunted by guilt, and tormented by the knowledge that he will always be watched, and anyone he develops a relationship with will also be killed.

But when he witnesses a frightened twelve-year-old Chinese girl, Mei (Catherine Chan), being pursued by the same gangsters who killed his wife, Luke impulsively jumps to action … and straight into the heart of a deadly high-stakes war. Mei, he discovers, is no ordinary girl, but an orphaned math prodigy forced to work for the Triads as a "counter." He discovers she holds in her memory a priceless numerical code that the Triads, the Russian mob and a corrupt faction of the NYPD will kill for.

Realizing he's the only person Mei can trust, Luke tears a swath through the city's brutal underworld to save an innocent girl's life … and perhaps even redeem his own.

Written and directed by Boaz Yaking, Safe is scheduled to be in theaters April 27th, 2012. View a recently released short (60 second) trailer for the film below.

ITV Commissions New Series of Endeavour

Following the successful airing of Endeavour, a single-episode prequel to the Inspector Morse series, ITV has commissioned four additional 2-hour episodes.

Shaun Evans stars as the young Endeavour Morse, who was played by John Thaw in the original series. The character was created by crime novelist Colin Dexter, who will act as a consultant to the new series.

"It was fantastic that the audience responded so warmly to Endeavour," said Sally Haynes of ITV. "Shaun's portrayal of a legendary character was captivating and Endeavour thoroughly deserves a series — there's so much more we can do with the character."

James Bradshaw will return as Dr. Max Debryn and John Thaw's daughter Abigail will make further guest appearances as Dorothea Frazil.

Filming is expected to begin on location in Oxford later this year.

(Source: Press release.)