Games of Mystery: Agatha Christie and Nancy Drew, New for Nintendo Wii

Games of Mystery, your source for mystery-themed games, parties, and vacations, is pleased to announce the availability of two more mystery games in popular series for the Nintendo Wii. More mystery games for this platform can be found at Games of Mystery: Nintendo Wii.

Originally scheduled to be released in October but now confirmed for tomorrow, Agatha Christie: Evil Under the Sun is the second release of an Agatha Christie title for the Nintendo Wii and the first Hercule Poirot adventure.

How does a millionaire wind up with a phony diamond? Can Hercule Poirot solve a murder on an exclusive island resort frequented by the rich and famous when everyone has an alibi?

Famous detective Hercule Poirot is back in typical style, turning up at just the right time to begin an investigation into the murder of a famous actress during what should have been the start of a relaxing holiday. Taking on the role of Hercule Poirot, players can scour a stunning tropical island for clues and delve deeper into the mysterious relationships between over 20 unique characters to search out the killer.

A version of the game is also available for Windows-based game systems: Agatha Christie: Evil Under the Sun (PC). Both versions have an ESRB rating of T for Teen.

View the Agatha Christie: Evil Under the Sun game trailer below:

The 16th game in the Nancy Drew mystery game series is now the first for the Nintendo Wii: Nancy Drew: The White Wolf of Icicle Creek.

Nancy Drew travels to the Canadian Rockies to investigate the Icicle Creek Lodge. Chantal, the owner of the lodge has asked her to uncover the culprit behind a recent string of suspicious accidents. To make matters worse, an eerie howling wolf keeps everyone up at night and terrorizes the guests. The wolf also appears at the site of accidents and then mysteriously disappears when the police arrive. As Nancy makes her way to the cozy lodge, an explosion rocks the quiet night, destroying a bunkhouse. To make matters worse, an eerie wolf’s howl in the distance is haunting the guests at night, causing Nancy to wonder if the accidents and the mysterious wolf are connected. Nancy has barely set foot on the premises and already trouble is afoot! Can Nancy solve this mystery before all the guests leave and Chantal is left out in the cold?

A version of the game is also available for Windows-based game systems: Nancy Drew: The White Wolf of Icicle Creek (PC). Both versions have an ESRB rating of E for Everyone. View more information about the Nancy Drew series (books, games, movies) on Squidoo: Nancy Drew.

View the Nancy Drew: The White Wolf of Icicle Creek game trailer below:

And don't forget to visit Games of Mystery for all types of mysterious fun!

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Mysteries on TV: Cannon, Jake and the Fatman, Law & Order, and Perry Mason, New This Week on DVD

Mysteries on TV, your source for the most complete selection of detective, amateur sleuth, private investigator, and suspense television mystery series now available or coming soon to DVD, is profiling two series that have season DVDs being released this week.

William Conrad starred as Frank Cannon in Cannon, a crime drama that ran for 4 seasons on CBS. Cannon was a wealthy private investigator and gourmet chef who lived in a penthouse on the Sunset Strip. His services were expensive but he got results. The series had very high production values and due to Conrad's rather large size, episodes relied more on plot than action.

The Cannon: Season One (Volume 2) DVD set of 4 discs contains the 13 episodes of the second half of the first season that aired from December 1971 through March 1972. The Cannon Complete First Season is also available as a 2-pack set.

William Conrad also starred as Los Angeles district attorney J. L. "Fatman" McCabe in Jake and the Fatman, a series that aired for 5 seasons on CBS some 12 years after Cannon. Joe Penny starred as his partner, private investigator Jake Styles. The first season of the series was set in Los Angeles before moving to Hawaii for the subsequent seasons. The character of Fatman McCabe originated on an episode of Matlock during its first season.

The Jake and the Fatman: Season One (Volume 2) DVD set of 4 discs contains the 12 episodes of the second half of the first season that aired from December 1987 through April 1988. The Jake and Fatman Complete First Season is also available as a 2-pack set.

The longest running crime drama series on television and still in production today is Law & Order. First airing in 1990 it is currently in its 19th season on NBC. Though the cast has changed over the course of its nearly 2 decades on television, the basic premise of the series is the same. A typical episode opens with an often topical crime followed by an investigation by the police and concluding with the prosecution of the crime by the justice system.

The sixth year introduced a new partner for Det. Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach), with Det. Rey Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) replacing Det. Mike Logan (Chris Noth). The season ended with the departure of Assistant District Attorney Claire Kincaid (Jill Hennessy).

The Law & Order: Season Six DVD set of 5 discs contains the 23 episodes of the sixth season that aired from September 1995 through May 1996. Note that the seasons have been released out of order (the 14th season, for example, has already been released).

Raymond Burr starred as Los Angeles defense attorney Perry Mason, originally in a series that aired on CBS for 9 seasons and later in thirty made-for-television movies. With the help of his secretary Della Street (Barbara Hale) and Paul Drake (William Hopper), Perry Mason crafted a defense for his clients that often relied on his outstanding courtroom skills in which the guilty party was trapped into admitting their guilt on the witness stand.

The Perry Mason: Season Three (Volume 2) DVD set of 4 discs contains the 13 episodes of the second half of the third season that aired from January through June 1960.

Visit the Mysteries on TV website to discover more television mystery series currently available on DVD.

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Mystery Godoku Puzzle for December 01, 2008

A new Mystery Godoku Puzzle has been created by the editors of the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books and is now available on our website.

Godoku is similar to Sudoku, but uses letters instead of numbers. To give you a headstart, we provide you a mystery clue to fill in a complete row or column (if you choose to use it!).

This week's letters and mystery clue:

A C E I J L S T U

This is the second title in the Nikki Hill series by attorney Christopher Darden (co-written with Dick Lochte, 9 letters).

New! We now have our puzzles in PDF format for easier printing. Print this week's puzzle here.

Previous puzzles are stored in the Mystery Godoku Archives.

Enjoy the weekly Mystery Godoku Puzzle from the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, and Thanks for visiting our website!

   

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Mystery Book Review: Anarchy and Old Dogs by Colin Cotterill

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of Anarchy and Old Dogs by Colin Cotterill. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

Anarchy and Old Dogs by Colin Cotterill
A Dr. Siri Paiboun Mystery

Soho Crime (Trade Paperback)
ISBN-10: 1-56947-501-6 (1569475016)
ISBN-13: 978-1-56947-501-0 (9781569475010)
Publication Date: August 2008
List Price: $12.00

Review: Colin Cotterill’s Anarchy and Old Dogs, the fourth in his Dr. Siri Paiboun series, serves up another history/mystery with a distinctly Asian flavour. And with the seventy-three year old comically eccentric coroner and his wannabee CSI team wandering around Laos, Vietnam and Thailand looking for ghosts, lost children, murderers, and ideological roots and revolutionaries past and present, it’s just as appealing as each of its predecessors.

Cotterill’s books, this one included, are delightfully humorous as Dr. Siri goes about his business of solving murders, saving his own aging skin and bending and breaking the rules of the political regime under which he works. In Anarchy, he sets out to discover why a blind man, a former dentist, was run down by an army logging truck in August 1977 on a street where “two cars passing at the same time would be considered a traffic jam.” In his search he finds the man’s widow and a set of codes written in invisible ink, which he partially deciphers, at least enough to learn a revolution is brewing. Meanwhile, a government official has been electrocuted in a Russian-built electrically-warmed bathtub and he must investigate that death as well. This leads him to travel to the city of Pakse, “a city built on greed” and “the seat of the royal underpants.” For support, he takes along his best friend, Civilai Songsawat, a septuagenarian bureaucrat who has become “a cocktail Party member.” As the two search for clues to the murder, the electrocution and the possible political coup, they reminisce about the good old days of their idealism in ousting the French from their Laos homeland. And unexpectedly they are confronted with the bizarre drowning of a schoolboy who “could swim before he could walk.” There’s additional action and more adventures when Nurse Dtui and Officer Phosy, two other members of Dr. Siri’s hometown entourage pose as a married couple and set out to follow him, but end in a refugee camp where their own lives are endangered.

As in his earlier books, Cotterill uses this one to detail the history of the regional conflicts and the ravages and political upsets that resulted from them. But whether it is life on the streets or in the refugee camp or in the recollections of ‘the old dogs’ during their bouts of drunken revelry, the history in the book always remains an appropriate background for the mysteries of the deaths and the impending coup. Cotterill makes excellent use of humour as well, especially in an episode with Nurse Dtui and Officer Phosy escaping the refugee camp with the unwitting help of Brother Fred of the Church of the Christian Brotherhood. The search for the Devil’s Vagina adds some sauce as well. And almost every page has a memorable phrase or two. Coffee, for example, becomes strong enough to “cut through a hangover like a cyclone through a barn,” while a drop of rain falls “as thick and heavy as a cow pat,” and Siri mixes his cocktails as “half rice whisky and the other half rice whisky.” The solutions to the deaths, whether by truck, electrocution or drowning, are teasingly spun out, while the revelation about who is the source for the coup comes as a shocking surprise. The ensemble cast of characters is memorable too with the transvestite fortune-telling, Auntie Bpoo, gaining more than his/her fifteen minutes of fame and exiting with a prediction that by the Lao New Year the seventy-three-year-old Dr. Siri would be married and he “and his new bride would have two bouncing baby boys” – even more reason to safely predict that the next novel in the Dr. Siri Paiboun series will be another enticing five star entertainment.

Special thanks to M. Wayne Cunningham (mw_cunningham@telus.net) for contributing his review of Anarchy and Old Dogs and to Soho Press for providing a trade paperback edition of the book for the review.

Review Copyright © 2008 — M. Wayne Cunningham — All Rights Reserved — Reprinted with Permission

If you are interested in purchasing Anarchy and Old Dogs from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right.

Synopsis (from the publisher): A blind retired dentist has been run down by a logging truck on the street in Vientiane just opposite the post office. His body is duly delivered to the morgue of Dr. Siri Paiboun, the official and only coroner of Laos. At the age of seventy-three, Dr. Siri is too old to be in awe of the new Communist bureaucrats for whom he now works. He identifies the corpse, helped by the letter in the man’s pocket. But first he must decipher it; it is written in code and invisible ink. The dentist’s widow explains that the enigmatic letters and numbers describe chess moves, but they are unlike any chess symbols Siri has previously encountered. With the help of his old friend, Civilai, now a senior member of the Laos politburo, and of Nurse Dtui (“Fatty”), Phosy, a police officer, and Aunt Bpoo, a transvestite fortune-teller, Dr. Siri solves the mystery of the note to the blind dentist and foils a plot to overthrow the government of Laos.

For more mystery book reviews visit Mysterious Reviews, a partner with the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books which is committed to providing readers and collectors of mystery books with the best and most current information about their favorite authors, titles, and series.

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New Hardcover Mysteries for December 2008

The Hidden Staircase Mystery Books has updated its list of new hardcover mysteries with books scheduled for publication in December 2008.

As we've done for several months now, we're listing those authors with returning series characters, new series characters, and non-series or stand-alone mysteries in separate sections. All titles are available on our December mystery books page. We're also using the "carousel" widget by Amazon.com to display a random selection of titles; refreshing this page will change the selection displayed.

Authors with mysteries having returning series characters (in parentheses) this month:

Jane Adams (Rina Martin), V. C. Andrews (Delia), Maggie Barbieri (Alison Bergeron, Murder 101), Steve Berry (Cotton Malone), Jan Brogan (Hallie Ahern), Patricia Cornwell (Kay Scarpetta), Monica Ferris (Betsy Devonshire, Needlecraft), Lee Goldberg (Mr. Monk), J. G. Goodhind (Honey Driver), Chris Grabenstein (John Ceepak), Sarah Graves (Jacobia "Jake" Tiptree, Home Repair is Homicide), Kerry Greenwood (Phryne Fisher), H. Terrell Griffin (Matt Royal), W. E. B. Griffin (Presidential Agent), Kay Hooper (Blood Trilogy), Graham Ison (Brock and Poole), J. A. Jance (Ali Reynolds), Jayne Ann Krentz (Arcane Society), Tim Maleeny (Cape Weathers), Michael McGarrity (Kevin Kerney), Laurie Moore (Cezanne Martin), Christopher Nicole (Anna Fehrbach), Perri O'Shaughnessy (Nina Reilly), Michael Pearce (Sandor Seymour), Elizabeth Peters (Amelia Peabody), Robert J. Randisi (Rat Pack), John Maddox Roberts (SPQR), Sheri Cobb South (John Pickett), Sally Spencer (Charlie Woodend), Nick Stone (Max Mingus), Peter Turnbull (Hennessey and Yellich), Andrew Vachss (Burke), John Morgan Wilson (Benjamin Justice), Sally Wright (Ben Reese).

Authors with mysteries introducing new series characters (in parentheses) this month:

P. J. Brooke (Max Romero), Simon Lewis (Inspector Jian), Betty Webb (Theodora "Teddy" Bentley).

Authors with non-series or stand-alone mysteries this month:

Hilary Bailey, Laura Benedict, M. F. Bloxam, Jan Burke, Doranna Durgin, Susan Froetschel, James Grippando, Margaret Mayhew, Elle Newmark, Carol O'Connell, Lila Shaara, Scott Sigler, E. Duke Vincent.

For more information on any of these titles, please visit the New Mysteries page on our website. If you're interested in new paperbacks, visit The Mystery Bookshelf where you can discover a library of new mysteries.

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.

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Mystery Book Review: Asking for Murder by Roberta Isleib

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of Asking for Murder by Roberta Isleib. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

Asking for Murder by Roberta Isleib
An Advice Column Mystery with Dr. Rebecca Butterman

Berkley Prime Crime (Mass Market Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-425-22331-0 (0425223310)
ISBN-13: 978-0-425-22331-4 (9780425223314)
Publication Date: September 2008
List Price: $6.99

Review: Psychologist and advice columnist Dr. Rebecca Butterman takes over a friend's practice and the search for her attacker in Asking for Murder, the third mystery in this series by Roberta Isleib.

Rebecca thinks of herself as “shrink, columnist, and girl sleuth”, pretty much in that order. Others might add "risk-taking nut job" to that list. When Rebecca’s closest friend, Dr. Annabelle Hart, a sandbox therapy practitioner, is found brutally beaten in her own office and left there for dead, Rebecca along with the police wants quick answers. Was this a break-in robbery gone badly? Was it a disgruntled patient? No one who knew Annabelle could give any reason for anyone to strike out at her. Much to the consternation of the police, fellow doctors and her ex-husband, Rebecca takes on her facade of “girl sleuth” by beginning to look into Annabelle’s patient files to see if she can come across any clue that would help in the search of the attempted killer. She finds letters of a threatening nature from patients, signed and unsigned. A few of her fellow psychologists have shown disfavor with her unorthodox form of therapy. And then there's her family. Due to the graveness of her condition, Annabelle’s sister, Victoria, is summoned who believes their younger sister, Heather, is responsible for Annabelle’s condition. Before Heather can be located Victoria is murdered while walking to her motel room from the hospital. When Heather is located, she is in an unstable condition, either from her bi-polar condition or possibly from taking drugs. When Rebecca gets close to the answer, her life is endangered. It becomes a battle of wits for Rebecca, to lay blame on the killer and to survive.

Asking for Murder is a delightful story and exhilarating mystery. The characters are well drawn, amiable and engaging, and the author brings a little humor and cynicism into the mysterious world of psychiatry and psychology. The pace of the story is fast and the plot easy to follow (with plenty of twists along the way) -- it will be hard for the reader to put this book down once started.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Asking for Murder and to Penguin Group for providing a copy of the book for this review.

Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.

If you are interested in purchasing Asking for Murder from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right.

Synopsis (from the publisher): When Rebecca's friend and fellow therapist Annabelle Hart is found badly beaten and left for dead, Rebecca is determined to help search for answers. But this time, no one wants her help. Not Detective Meigs, who thinks the crime was either a botched robbery or the result of a relationship gone sour. And not Annabelle's sister, who makes it clear that Rebecca isn't welcome in family matters.

The only place where her opinion matters is the therapist's couch. She's agreed to see Annabelle¹s patients, but it won't be easy. Annabelle's area of expertise is sandplay therapy, which Rebecca knows little about -- yet with a would-be killer on the loose, she can only hope the clues are buried within easy reach.

For more mystery book reviews visit Mysterious Reviews, a partner with the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books which is committed to providing readers and collectors of mystery books with the best and most current information about their favorite authors, titles, and series.

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Mystery Bestsellers for November 28, 2008

A list of the top 15 mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending November 28, 2008 has been posted on the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books website.

Of probably no surprise to anyone, James Patterson's latest Alex Cross thriller, Cross Country, assumes the top position on this week's bestseller list with last week's top four mysteries shifting down a notch or two. Other than that, it was a quiet holiday week with little of note.

Next week look for the new Kay Scarpetta novel by Patricia Cornwell (simply titled Scarpetta) as well as the fourth Cotton Malone thriller by Steve Berry (The Charlemagne Pursuit), both of which are expected to debut on our list.

On our bestseller page, we've added an icon next to every title that is available for immediate download onto the Amazon Kindle. To learn about this wireless reading device, visit the Amazon Kindle page for more information.

The top four mystery bestsellers this week are shown below:

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.

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Ian Rankin Developing Screenplay Based on Classic Scottish Thriller

Charlene Sweeney, writing for The Times, reports that crime writer Ian Rankin is developing a screenplay based on the classic Scottish thriller, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg. The 18th-century work is regarded as one of the most influential texts published in Scotland. Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Muriel Spark's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie are among the classic novels that Hogg's work helped to inspire.

Rankin, author of the popular Inspector Rebus mysteries, described Hogg's book as the "classic unread Scottish novel" and hopes that adapting the film will bring it to a greater audience, and believes it has contemporary relevance. "There are interesting parallels between when the book is set and now," he said. "It takes place at a time of political unrest when Scotland is entering a union with England, and its main character is a religious zealot that kills people who do not agree with his faith."

Rankin has been working on the screenplay for a couple of months and reportedly has development money and a producer and director who are interested in the project.

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Mystery Savings: Visit BBC America's Holiday Gift Center

Mystery Savings periodically provides our readers with current promotions that offer discounts or other incentives for purchasing mystery-themed products and services products through our partner websites. Below is a special offer recently received by us that we're pleased to pass on at this time.

Visit BBC America Shop's Holiday Gift Center for some great gift ideas! These pages include their Holiday Favorites, Best-Sellers, Collections and wonderful gift ideas for all ages, all conveniently categorized by price. There are dozens of mystery DVDs from which to choose and several interesting books, among them Agatha Christie: A Reader's Companion and The Complete Inspector Morse Book.

And now through November 30, 2008, BBC America is having a special sale. Mystery DVDs that are part of this sale include Agatha Christie's Poirot collections.

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Mystery Savings: Save $3 on $30 or more at Alibris.com

Mystery Savings periodically provides our readers with current promotions that offer discounts or other incentives for purchasing mystery-themed products and services products through our partner websites. Below is a special offer recently received by us that we're pleased to pass on at this time.

Use coupon code NOSTALGIA on checkout to save $3 on $30 or more of books, music, and movies at Alibris.com. This coupon expires at midnight, December 25, 2008. [MBN note: For even more savings, search for books that are eligible for free shippping. When Alibris is listed as a book's seller, it ships from their warehouse and is eligible for free shipping to U.S. addresses. Click on the orange Free Shipping link on the upper right side of the page to browse for books that qualify.]

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Games of Mystery: Mystery Case Files Return to Ravenhearst, New at Big Fish Games

Games of Mystery, your source for mystery-themed games, parties, and vacations, is pleased to announce the availability of a new mystery game from Big Fish Games released today. You can find out more about these games from our Mystery Games: Big Fish Download Games page or by clicking on the links provided below.

Emma's soul is free. But her ghost has delivered a dire warning: evil still lurks in Ravenhearst Manor. Go deep inside the cursed estate in Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst, the thrilling sequel. Experience Ravenhearst's spectral halls as never before with new immersive adventure-style gameplay and an epic original soundtrack. Feel the floorboards creak as you move from room to room solving puzzles and seeking out clues in over 150 detailed scenes.

Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst, a Big Fish Games exclusive, may be downloaded and purchased for as little as $6.99 with the Big Fish Game Club Jumbo Pack. A demonstration version may be downloaded (92.78 MB) and played for one hour for free. Also available for download: The Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst Strategy Guide.

And here's a special deal that you won't find on the Big Fish Games website: Save 50% on your purchase of Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst when you use the coupon code RAVEN50. This special deal is only available now through December 27, 2008.

All six games in the Mystery Case Files series, including the very popular Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir for the Nintendo DS, are available to purchase or download from our Mystery Games: Mystery Case Files Games page.

Other popular games on our download Big Fish Mystery Games page include several Agatha Christie and Nancy Drew games, Art of Murder: FBI Confidential, the Carol Reed mystery Remedy, Veronica Rivers: Portals to the Unknown, Mystery Chronicles: Murder Among Friends, and The Treasures of Mystery Island.

And don't forget to visit Games of Mystery for all kinds of mysterious fun!

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Mystery Book Review: Death Swatch by Laura Childs

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of Death Swatch by Laura Childs. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

Death Swatch by Laura Childs
A Scrapbooking Mystery with Carmela Bertrand

Berkley Prime Crime (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-425-22478-3 (0425224783)
ISBN-13: 978-0-425-22478-6 (9780425224786)
Publication Date: September 2008
List Price: $23.95

Review: A Mardi Gras celebration turns into a murder investigation for New Orleans scrapbook shop owner Carmela Bertrand in Death Swatch, the sixth mystery in this series by Laura Childs.

Carmela is attending a gala at Jekyl Hardy's vast apartment in the French Quarter when the festivities are abruptly brought to a halt when Carmela and her best friend, Ava Gruiex, walk out onto the patio and find Jekyl's new neighbor, Archie Baudier, dying, a heavy barbed wire knotted tightly around his throat. While waiting for the police to arrive, Carmela notices that Archie's otherwise immaculate shoes were flecked with gold paint and an old coin lay near the body. She pockets the coin to look at it later just as the police arrive, realizing all the while she was disturbing a crime scene. Newly independent, her divorce nearly final, and anxious to prove she doesn't need a man in her life (but isn't the police lieutenant rather attractive?), Carmella and Ava take it upon themselves to solve the puzzling murder

There are few cities in the world where such a diverse cast of characters seem more perfectly at home than in New Orleans. The city also makes a terrific setting for a murder mystery, and the author takes full advantage of her locale to great effect in Death Swatch. Characters are introduced at a somewhat leisurely pace allowing the reader to get comfortable with them within the context of the plot, and there's a historical element that adds some depth and interest to their investigation. As befits a scrapbooking mystery, there are numerous references to the craft that are seamlessly integrated into the story. (Scrapbook, stamping, and craft tips are added as an appendix in addition to favorite New Orleans recipes.) Unmasking the killer isn't all that difficult as the clues tend to be of the connect-the-dots variety, but the strong characters and setting more than compensate making Death Swatch a pleasure to read.

Special thanks to Penguin Group for providing a copy of Death Swatch for this review.

Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.

If you are interested in purchasing Death Swatch from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right.

Synopsis (from the publisher): Amid zydeco rhythms and popping champagne corks, scrapbook shop owner Carmela Bertrand and her friend Ava are partying in the French Quarter. It's Mardi Gras, and they never imagined this might be the scene of a murder, but as the evening progresses, float designer Archie Baudier is found dead on the balcony -- strangled with a barbed wire garrote.

The only thing wilder than this crime are the theories about who did it--from a ritualistic slaying to a mob hit to the outlandish work of a rival Mardi Gras float builder. Handsome detective Edgar Babcock isn't buying any of it. Neither is Carmela., and the odd clues are bringing out the sleuth in her: gold paint on the victim's shoes, a strange coin found next to his body, his ransacked apartment, and the peculiar fact that no one at the party really knew him. Only one thing is clear: Whoever killed Archie is following Carmela -- straight into the chaos of Mardi Gras.

For more mystery book reviews visit Mysterious Reviews, a partner with the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books which is committed to providing readers and collectors of mystery books with the best and most current information about their favorite authors, titles, and series.

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Mystery Savings: 25 Days of Christmas at Simply Audiobooks

Mystery Savings periodically provides our readers with current promotions that offer discounts or other incentives for purchasing mystery-themed products and services products through our partner websites. Below is a special offer recently received by us that we're pleased to pass on at this time.

Looking for a special gift for someone who spends far too much time in their car commuting? Why not consider Simply Audiobooks Holiday Gift Certificates? Their mystery book selection is outstanding with titles available for both download and to rent on CD. Categories include classic detective mystery, legal thriller, police stories, political thriller, character series, and women detectives. There's also a separate suspense category. Not a mystery fan? OK, we can accept that! Simply Audiobooks has titles in many other categories: biography, comedy, history, science fiction, travel, and many more.

And remember to visit Simply Audiobooks through December 11th for their 25 Days of Christmas! 25 days, 25 deals, only 24 hours each. Once the day is done, so is the deal!

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Mystery Book Review: Night Freeze by Lee Emory

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of Night Freeze by Lee Emory. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

Night Freeze by Lee Emory
Non-series

Treble Heart Books (Trade Paperback)
ISBN-10: 1-932695-76-1 (1932695761)
ISBN-13:978-1-932695-76-2 (9781932695762)
Publication Date: August 2008
List Price: $13.50

Review: Lee Emory’s thriller Night Freeze has all the elements of a classic serial killer mystery. Detective Niall Malone is called to Kansas City to investigate a disturbing series of murders that are tied together by the presence of a “US Marines” stamp on each of the victims. Despite obstacles such as a distrustful team of coworkers and some severe injuries that he has sustained en-route, Malone quickly discovers that the crimes are linked to Medical Examiner Dr. Shyla Clifford. Soon Clifford’s family and friends are disappearing at an alarming rate and turning up in several gory pieces, each death fueling and intensifying the hunt for the killer.

Emory’s writing is fast-paced, proceeding almost without pause from crime to crime. From the first page, the plot doesn’t slow for even a moment from beginning to end. While readers are certainly kept at the edge of their seats, the steady flow of action becomes a bit overpowering.

Likewise, Emory is clearly interested in the psychology of her serial killer, spending almost equal time following his thoughts and actions as her detectives. The emphasis on following the killer so closely, combined with the rate at which murders pile up, fills the book with many unnecessary, very graphic scenes of violence that sometimes seem to almost receive more attention than the work of solving the crime. These extremely disturbing scenes make the book difficult for those who don’t enjoy gore and horror, but may grip fans of this kind of graphic violence. In the end, however, readers are left wondering if Emory is more interested in writing about her killer’s crimes or the hero’s efforts to solve them.

This impression is reinforced by the lack of progress that Emory’s detectives seem to make for most of the book, and any mystery reader with a passing knowledge of crime-scene procedure will wince at the way some clues are mishandled. Readers already know the killer’s location, and may grow frustrated as detectives seem to miss obvious hints and his connections to Dr. Clifford’s past. Instead of a satisfying puzzle, solving the case mostly involves waiting for the detectives to put together what is already clear to the reader, while more and more of Clifford’s family graphically falls victim.

From the beginning, Emory spends a great deal of time developing and creating believable characters. This work pays off especially in her development of Dr. Clifford and Detective Malone, although the book’s action tends to sometimes overshadow these efforts. Understandably, Emory also has trouble creating a convincing emotional response for Dr. Clifford as her loved ones are murdered, a problem compounded by her decision to introduce a bit of romance at this unusual point. Emory also seems to have trouble establishing a firm voice for any of her characters, and despite their in-depth development they seem less "real" for this reason.

Night Freeze is action-packed and exciting, but ultimately fails to create a convincing and fully enjoyable picture. The graphic nature of many scenes will turn some readers away from this book immediately, while others may become less interested in the thriller plot as its well-drawn characters take a backseat to all the action. Lovers of classic mysteries will undoubtedly be frustrated by the lack of ingenuity from Emory’s detectives in the course of solving the case. Night Freeze ultimately fails to utilize many of the strengths in its writing, relying instead on action and violence to carry the plot.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Rebecca Henderson for contributing her review of Night Freeze and to Author Marketing Experts for providing a copy of the book for the review.

Review Copyright © 2008 — Rebecca Henderson — All Rights Reserved — Reprinted with Permission

If you are interested in purchasing Night Freeze from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right.

Synopsis (from the publisher): A chance for a new start ...

Phoenix Police Detective Niall Malone accepts a job to head up a task force hunting down a serial killer in another state. When at last he reports on the job, after spending some time in a Phoenix hospital, he walks smack into a wall of bigoted feelings toward his outsider status.

The defilement of a proud symbol ...

The killer's main target points to Medical Examiner, Dr. Shyla Clifford. She receives gruesome, butchered pieces of the bodies to identify, usually frozen. The butcher leaves a unique marker on each body part that has everyone in law enforcement and the military deeply disturbed as chaos and the murders reign.

A doctor marked for death!

Shyla Clifford finds herself fighting to keep her family safe and maintain her new career now that she's retired from the Navy. When pieces of her loved ones keep showing up on her doorstep, among other places, she suffers the kind of fear few ever experience. A detective assigned to head up the task force appears to make little progress in the case as people continue to disappear. Shyla's desperation and anguish grows to the point her professionalism suffers and she struggles to hold fast to her very sanity. Now it's up to her to find the key to the grisly murders; the race is on to find it before everyone in her family is brutally murdered. And before she becomes the only one left to run for her life.

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Games of Mystery: Disney Club Penguin for Nintendo DS Now Available

Games of Mystery, your source for mystery-themed games, parties, and vacations, is pleased to announce the first release of a Disney Club Penguin title for the Nintendo DS. Many other mystery games for this hand-held platform can be found at Games of Mystery: Nintendo DS.

Available today, Disney Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force allows players to become agents of the Elite Penguin Force, waddling their way through secret missions, solving mysteries and connecting with the online world of Club Penguin in new ways. Players will use both familiar and all-new gadgets, accessories, disguises and vehicles as they set out on new missions to investigate puzzling events in the world of Club Penguin.

Players can even earn coins while playing on Nintendo DS and upload them wirelessly to their online penguin accounts. In addition, each game comes packaged with a redeemable code that allows players to gain special access to the top secret EPF Command Room, which is only available to DS players online at ClubPenguin.com.

View the Disney Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force DS game trailer below:

And don't forget to visit Games of Mystery for all types of mysterious fun!

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