Mystery Bestsellers for the Week Ending March 30, 2012

A list of the top 15 mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending March 30th, 2012 has been posted by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books.

As predicted, last week's featured title, Stay Close by Harlan Coben, assumes the top spot this week … and by a decisive margin.

Two new titles debut this week.

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At number six is Guilty Wives, a stand-alone thriller by James Patterson and David Ellis.

Only minutes after Abbie Elliot and her three best friends step off of a private helicopter, they enter the most luxurious, sumptuous, sensually pampering hotel they have ever been to. Their lavish presidential suite overlooks Monte Carlo, and they surrender: to the sun and pool, to the sashimi and sake, to the Bruno Paillard champagne. For four days they're free to live someone else's life. As the weekend moves into pulsating discos, high-stakes casinos, and beyond, Abbie is transported to the greatest pleasure and release she has ever known.

In the morning's harsh light, Abbie awakens on a yacht, surrounded by police. Something awful has happened — something impossible, unthinkable. Abbie, Winnie, Serena, and Bryah are arrested and accused of the foulest crime imaginable. And now the vacation of a lifetime becomes the fight of a lifetime — for survival.

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Four places lower at number 10 is the 9th Maisie Dobbs mystery, Elegy for Eddie by Jacqueline Winspear.

Early April 1933. To the costermongers of Covent Garden — sellers of fruit and vegetables on the streets of London — Eddie Pettit was a gentle soul with a near-magical gift for working with horses. When Eddie is killed in a violent accident, the grieving costers are deeply skeptical about the cause of his death. Who would want to kill Eddie — and why?

Maisie Dobbs' father, Frankie, had been a costermonger, so she had known the men since childhood. She remembers Eddie fondly and is determined to offer her help. But it soon becomes clear that powerful political and financial forces are equally determined to prevent her from learning the truth behind Eddie's death.

Plunging into the investigation, Maisie begins her search for answers on the working-class streets of Lambeth where Eddie had lived and where she had grown up. The inquiry quickly leads her to a callous press baron; a has-been politician named Winston Churchill, lingering in the hinterlands of power; and, most surprisingly, to Douglas Partridge, the husband of her dearest friend, Priscilla.

As Maisie uncovers lies and manipulation on a national scale, she must decide whether to risk it all to see justice done.

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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.

A&E Adapting Graphic Novel O.C.T. for Potential Series

Rosario Dawson (Sin City, Eagle Eye) is bringing her graphic crime novel O.C.T. to A&E. (The acronym stands for Occult Crimes Taskforce.)

The potential series is expected to center on Dawson's alter-ego character in the book, Sophia Ortiz, an NYPD detective versed in the black arts and equipped with mystical weaponry. The O.C.T. detectives are responsible for keeping the peace as an organized demon-force attempts to take over Manhattan.

Jorge Zamacona (Homicide: Life on the Street, Wanted, The Unusuals) will write the screenplay for the pilot.

(Related article: The Hollywood Reporter.)

Bones Renewed for an 8th Season

With Bones returning on a new night this coming Monday after a long absence, fans have something else to cheer about: Fox has renewed the crime drama for an 8th season.

"Over the past seven seasons, Hart Hanson, Stephen Nathan and the incredible Bones cast and crew have redefined the traditional crime procedural with an irreverent and adventurous sensibility," said Fox president Kevin Reilly. "I'm really happy to have this distinctive, fan-favorite on our schedule for another season."

Based on characters created by forensic anthropologist and crime novelist Kathy Reichs, Bones stars Emily Deschanel as Dr. Temperance Brennan, who has an uncanny ability to read clues left behind in a victim's bones. Her partner in solving crimes is FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth (played by David Boreanaz).

First Trailer for House at the End of the Street

Before she was Katniss Everdeen, Jennifer Lawrence was Elissa living at the House at the End of the Street, a horror thriller directed by Mark Tonderai. A new trailer for the film (via MTV) has been released, which we've embedded below.

In the film newly divorced Sarah (Elisabeth Shue) and her daughter Elissa find the house of their dreams in a small, upscale, rural town. But when startling and unexplainable events begin to happen, Sarah and Elissa learn the town is in the shadows of a chilling secret.

Also starring Max Thieriot as Ryan, the sole surviving member of a double murder that took place at the House at the End of the Street, the film opens in theaters September 21st, 2012.

Review: Five Noir Novels of the 1940s and 50s by David Goodis

We've just published our Review of David Goodis: Five Noir Novels of the 1940s and 50s edited by Robert Polito. Library of America Hardcover, March 2012.

Available to purchase from …

First Trailer for Crime Thriller The Samaritan

Earlier this week we featured the first poster for the crime thriller The Samaritan. Now the first trailer for the film (via Yahoo! Movies) has been released, which we've embedded below.

The film stars Samuel L. Jackson as ex-con Foley, who — after 25 years in prison — is finished with the grifter's life. And when he meets an elusive young woman named Iris (Ruth Negga), the possibility of a new start looks real.

But his past is proving to be a stubborn companion: Ethan (Luke Kirby), the son of his former partner, has an ingenious plan and he wants Foley in. The harder Foley tries to escape his past, the tighter he is ensnared in Ethan's web of secrets … until it becomes all too clear to Foley that some wrongs can never be made right.

We may have had our dates wrong in our earlier post, as the latest information available indicates The Samaritan will open in theaters May 4th, 2012.

One-Sheet Poster, Viral Website for Total Recall

It's been a busy week for Total Recall. First there was the trailer for the trailer. Then there was the banner poster. Then the motion banner poster. And now today, the standard one-sheet poster (right; click for slightly larger version). The poster's tagline: "What is real?"

And there's more!

Sony has a new viral website, separate from the film's website, that offers you the opportunity to "escape from your world to ours. Come to Rekall for the memory of a lifetime." Enter your phone number and a Rekall representative will contact you when experience packages are available. (It doesn't seem to be much more than that for now.)

In the meantime, welcome to Rekall, the company that can turn your dreams into real memories. For a factory worker named Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell), even though he's got a beautiful wife (Kate Beckinsale) who he loves, the mind-trip sounds like the perfect vacation from his frustrating life — real memories of life as a super-spy might be just what he needs. But when the procedure goes horribly wrong, Quaid becomes a hunted man. Finding himself on the run from the police — controlled by Chancellor Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston), the leader of the free world — Quaid teams up with a rebel fighter (Jessica Biel) to find the head of the underground resistance (Bill Nighy) and stop Cohaagen. The line between fantasy and reality gets blurred and the fate of his world hangs in the balance as Quaid discovers his true identity, his true love, and his true fate.

Directed by Len Wiseman from a screenplay adaptation of Philip K. Dick's short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" by Mark Bomback and Kurt Wimmer, Total Recall opens in theaters August 3rd, 2012.

Nominees for the 2012 Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award Announced

A new literary mystery award is being introduced at this year's Bloody Words 2012 conference, the Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award. It will be presented to the author of a "book that makes us smile", a print or ebook published the previous year by a Canadian author. The winner will be announced at the Bloody Words XII banquet in Toronto on June 2nd, 2012.

The nominees for this inaugural prize are:

• Dire Threads by Janet Bolin (Berkley)
• A Red Herring without Mustard by Alan Bradley (Doubleday)
• Cheat the Hangman by Gloria Ferris (Imajin Books)
• The Busy Woman's Guide to Murder by Mary Jane Maffini (Berkley)
• Champagne for Buzzards by Phyllis Smallman (McArthur)

 indicates a review by Mysterious Reviews.

(Hat tip to The Rap Sheet for alerting us to this information.)

Cover of First Lemony Snicket All the Wrong Questions Book Revealed

Last month a new series of Lemony Snicket autobiographical books was announced by Little, Brown. Today, the cover of the first of these was released (right).

"Who Could That Be at This Hour?" will be published on October 23rd, 2012. Though no synopsis is available, here's what has been revealed about the books in the "All the Wrong Questions" series: In a fading town, far from anyone he knew or trusted, a young Lemony Snicket began his apprenticeship in an organization nobody knows about. He started by asking questions that shouldn't have been on his mind. Now he has written an account that should not be published, in four volumes that shouldn't be read.

(Hat tip to Media Bistro.)

Motion Banner Poster for Total Recall

That banner poster for Total Recall, which we featured yesterday? Well, it's actually an overlay of images from a 10-second motion sequence (without audio), which was released by the studio today and embedded below.

Directed by Len Wiseman from a screenplay adaptation of Philip K. Dick's short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" by Mark Bomback and Kurt Wimmer, the film starring Colin Farrell opens in theaters August 3rd, 2012.