eHarlequin Silhouette Romantic Suspense Titles for August 2010

Sparked by danger, fueled by passion, eHarlequin.com has released the August 2010 titles in their Silhouette Romantic Suspense series. Let yourself be swept away with characters who fall in love under larger-than-life circumstances. In Silhouette Romantic Suspense, suspense, emotion and glamour combine to create these highly charged books! For more information or to purchase any of the books below, click on the book title or book cover. (Previous months titles can be found on the backlist page.)

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To Catch a Killer by Kimberly Van Meter

Ten years ago Kara Thistle fled her sleepy California town. She left behind bittersweet memories and a night that changed her life. Now deadly business brings the FBI special agent back home and face-to-face with her ex-lover—Lantern Cove police chief Matthew Beauchamp.

Forced to work with the special agent to track down a killer, Matt has to play nice with Kara, the last person he expected to see again. The woman he's never forgotten. Despite everything, he still wants her … even when he discovers her secret. Now their daughter's in danger, and Kara is stealing his heart all over again. This time they have everything to lose …

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Army of Two by Ingrid Weaver

Special Forces major Mitch Redinger didn't do weekends with businessmen. Simply wasn't his style. He had his own reasons for accepting the invitation to a corporate retreat—her name was Chantal.

A lifetime ago Chantal had been the perfect general's daughter—until she lost her heart to a soldier. Now she owns her own resort, isolated and peaceful … until Mitch's presence on her little slice of heaven threatens to upend her world again.

But an awkward situation turns deadly when the resort is attacked. As every avenue of escape is closed off, Mitch and Chantal must work together to rescue the hostages, before more innocent people die …

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Redstone Ever After by Justine Davis

Redstone, Inc., pilot Tess Machado is awaiting her boss when two armed men muscle their way onto her plane in the middle of the California wilderness. It's Josh Redstone—of the Redstone empire—they want. But Tess isn't giving up the man she secretly loves—not without a fight.

Josh always knew this day would come. Being the head of Redstone put a giant target on his back. The kidnappers on board the Hawk V are armed and dangerous, but they're forgetting one glaring detail. No one—no one—puts his Tess in harm's way and gets away with it.

Will Tess and Josh admit what's been so obvious to others … before they're silenced forever?

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Covert Agent's Virgin Affair by Linda Conrad

Undercover agent Jake Pierson figures one romantic dinner will get never-been-kissed librarian Mary Walsh to tell him everything she knows about her late father's criminal activities. But the more Mary talks, the more Jake wants to shut her up with kisses. Because he's falling for his own too-trusting target—and there isn't a damn thing he can do about it. Well, maybe one thing …

With her shiny new lease on life, Mary has become wiser about a lot of things. For one, she can spot a liar a mile away. She knows her gorgeous new boyfriend is hiding something. And she has a sneaking suspicion those secrets will get them both killed unless he trusts her with the truth.

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Inception: The Cobol Job, a Comic Prequel to the Film

This Friday, July 16th, the highly anticipated film Inception hits theaters. To whet your appetite in the meantime, Inception: The Cobol Job, a comic prequel (or prologue), has been published, which can be read and dowloaded from Yahoo! movies.

Written by Jordan Goldberg, the comic is based on characters created by Christopher Nolan (who wrote the screenplay).

The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Dom Cobb, a thief skilled in the art of extraction, stealing valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious. But this ability has also made him an international fugitive, with one last chance at redemption if he can accomplish the impossible -- inception. Instead of the perfect heist, Cobb must pull off the reverse, not to steal an idea but to plant one. It could be the perfect crime.

Slow Horses by Mick Herron (Book Review)

Slow Horses by Mick Herron. Non-series. Soho Constable Hardcover, June 2010.

When a British intelligence agent errs in the description of a suspected bomber, following the wrong man while the right one ends up killing and injuring over 100 people, he's sent to a half-way house for spies for rehabilitation in Slow Horses, author Mick Herron's sixth novel of suspense.

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: Slow Horses by Mick Herron.

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Mysterious Reviews is your source for the latest mystery, suspense, thriller, and crime novel reviews, edited by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books.

Second Poster for RED Released, this one with Helen Mirren

Earlier this week we wrote about the first poster for the upcoming film RED, based on the graphic crime novel by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner. It featured Bruce Willis with an overall design similar to the cover of the source material.

Now a second poster has been released by the studio, this one with co-star Helen Mirren.

We're so hoping this film is a much fun as the trailer seems to suggest!

RED opens in theaters on October 15th and stars Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, and Helen Mirren as retired CIA agents who embark on an impossible, cross-country mission to break into the top-secret agency headquarters, where they will uncover one of the biggest conspiracies and cover-ups in government history.

Psych Season Five Premieres Wednesday, July 14th on USA Network

The fifth season of Psych premieres tomorrow, July 14th, at 10 PM (ET/PT) on USA Network.

Psych stars James Roday as Shawn Spencer, who possesses uncanny powers of observation honed by his police officer father, Henry (Corbin Bernsen). Using his charm and well-tuned talent, Shawn convinces the cops that he's actually a psychic, and although highly skeptical of his explanation, they hire him to help solve tough cases. With the reluctant assistance of his best friend Gus (Dulé Hill), Shawn uses his skills of observation and charismatic personality to become the detective he was trained to be, opening his own PI agency –- Psych –- and solving cases for an ever-suspicious, but grudgingly impressed, police force.

Opening season five is an episode titled "Romeo and Juliet and Juliet" in which Shawn and Gus find themselves caught between two rival Chinese Triad gangs as they search for a powerful businessman’s abducted daughter.

Watch a 30-second preview below:

Harlequin Intrigue Titles for August 2010

eHarlequin.com has released the August 2010 titles in their Intrigue, breathtaking romantic suspense series. Get these edge-of-your-seat reads today with characters who conquer everything from kidnappings to murder mysteries, only to find themselves irresistibly drawn to one another! For more information or to purchase any of the books below, click on the book title or book cover. (Previous months titles can be found on the backlist page.)

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Alpha Warrior by Aimee Thurlo

Nick Blacksheep was an outsider to all: the police force, his community and the women he kept at arm's length. Experienced in modern warfare, the tall Navajo's imposing spirit recalled the intensity of his ancestors. His heart incapable of wounding, Nick was the fiercest protector beautiful Drew Simmons could have ever imagined—or desired.

With contract killers on her tail, the small-town librarian needed a cop who was true to his word. Though Blacksheep promised to safeguard Drew, he couldn't have expected her compassion to thaw the ice in his veins. Now his greatest duty isn't to himself, but the woman he welcomed into his home.

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One Tough Marine by Paula Graves

Threatened by masked men making an impossible demand of her, Abby Chandler runs to Luke Cooper for help. She knows it's been three years since he vanished after their blazing one-night stand … and that she might be forced to reveal the secret that he's her little boy's father.

Abby has no idea that the former marine has also been keeping a painful secret—that his disappearance was the only way to keep her alive. Luke knows Abby came to him for protection, but earning her trust isn't going to be easy. Nor will keeping his hands off her. But admitting their once-forbidden attraction still exists could be risky. And deadly.

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Wanted: Bodyguard by Carla Cassidy

Special Agent Riley Kincaid was fearless when it came to hunting ruthless criminals. But he was clueless when it came to marriage. Even a pretend one. Now, faced with a gorgeous single mother who needed protection from the killer next door, Riley was forced to play the doting husband and loving father … then walk away when the danger had passed. Too bad nobody warned him that Lana Tyler and her little girl could stir up feelings Riley had firmly avoided all his life. Claiming the key to everyone's survival meant having razor-sharp focus on the mission, Riley did everything he could not to be alone with his temporary wife. Which was turning out to be his toughest assignment yet …

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Colby Velocity by Debra Webb

Former Equalizer Leland "Rocky" Rockford did not have a problem working with Colby Agent Kendra Todd. As far as he was concerned, partnering with her was one of the benefits of their agencies' merger. Something about her calm and composed air made him want to ruffle her feathers—until they were assigned to a murder case.

Fully in professional mode, Rocky was willing to do whatever necessary to support Kendra—and keep her safe. But as the case started cracking, so did the walls around her guarded heart. Now, with questions and the bodies piling up, they must outmaneuver the shadowy element that not only wants them to fail, but wants them dead …

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Lock, Stock and Secret Baby by Cassie Miles

Special Forces operative Blake Jantzen's mission is clear: protect Eve from the psychopath targeting her. His soldier instincts are put to the ultimate test when guarding her leads them both into a dangerous web of secrecy and deceit. Everyone has something to hide—including the beautiful pregnant woman whose life rests in his hands … and whose presence stirs a passion that even he cannot control.

Eve Weathers is a brilliant scientist … and a virgin. After learning she's been impregnated as part of an experiment, she knows trusting Blake is the only way to keep her unborn child safe. It seems the baby she carries is the key to exposing a killer … and unlocking a mystery that will forever link her and Blake.

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Bundle of Trouble by Elle James

Sylvia Michaels had raised her son for four short months before he was cruelly snatched from her arms. Desperate and alone, her investigation led to Texas and the ranch of multimillionaire Tate Vincent. The ruggedly handsome bachelor was an intriguing man … and the father of a child who looked suspiciously like hers!

But what was supposed to be a joyous reunion was shattered by a hail of gunfire—and an empty cradle. Now both parents were on the hunt for the kidnappers and the child they each claimed as theirs. Tate couldn't deny that Sylvia fought with a mother's passion, and Sylvia couldn't help but notice that the protective man made the perfect father. But would their dream of a family be shattered before it even began?

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If you enjoy the romantic suspense books in this series, you can get 2 free Harlequin Intrigue books plus 2 free gifts just for giving the automatic program a try. Accepting your two free Intrigue books and mystery gifts places you under no obligation to buy anything. You may keep the books and gifts and return the shipping statement marked cancel. If you do not cancel, about two months later, and then every other month, eHarlequin will send you four additional Intrigue books.

Keep up to date by subscribing to eHarlequin.com's free newsletter that contains the latest information about their series of books as well as informing you about subscriber-only special offers and new products. Click on the banner below to subscribe for free:

MBN Welcomes Gerry Boyle, Author of the Jack McMorrow Mysteries

Mystery Books News is thrilled to welcome Gerry Boyle as our guest blogger. Gerry is the author of Damaged Goods (Down East Books, May 2010 Hardcover, 978-0-89272-796-4), the 9th mystery in the Jack McMorrow series.

Today, Gerry writes about what it's like when your hero grows up. And he's also providing our readers with an opportunity to win a copy of his book and -- as a special bonus -- a copy of Deadline, the first in the series for another lucky visitor! Visit Mystery Book Contests, click on the "Gerry Boyle: Damaged Goods" contest link, enter your name, e-mail address, and this code (1852) for a chance to win! (One entry per person; contest ends July 27, 2010.)

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Photo courtesy of Gerry Boyle

My first series hero, ex-New York Times reporter, Jack McMorrow, is a pretty tough guy. He stands on principle, fights (often literally) for the downtrodden, and serves as backup for his partner, street-smart social worker Roxanne Masterson.

So when Roxanne became pregnant in Home Body (McMorrow No. 8), Damaged Goods (McMorrow No. 9), served up a new challenge. What would fatherhood do to my free-swinging journalist from the Maine woods? As one skeptical reader put it, “So is McMorrow going to be taking his kid on play dates?”

I have to admit this gave me pause. Could Jack be as tough and reckless with a new mouth to feed? When your hero has to get up to change a diaper, what does that do for his street cred? Would he pause from his investigations to pick up a bundle of Pampers?

Where’s the suspense in that?

It was one of those moments when you freeze at the keyboard, like a driver stopped at a fork in the road. Left is fatherhood, right is … what? After all, I’d set the stage for the child’s arrival.

As McMorrow is semi-autobiographical (I was a newspaper reporter and columnist for many years) I took a day or two to ponder my own experience with children. We have three (grown up now and scattered from Maine to Ireland), and certainly fatherhood had a settling effect on me. I gladly traded nightlife for hanging out with my kids. I still hung out with cops and criminals for work but did soccer on Saturdays. And in the back of my mind, I knew the day job provided more than a chance to hang out in courtrooms. It also meant health insurance.

So what of McMorrow? And then the light bulb went on. Jack has always fought for what he believes is right. He goes to bat for abused women, forlorn street kids. When he takes a stand, he doesn’t back down. When threatened by bad guys, he stands firm. But, I thought, what if someone threatened his child?

The answer made me smile—there would be Holy Hell to pay.

In mystery novels there is a tradition of the hero as loner. Outsider. It’s a form that goes back to medieval times with the roving knight saving the mistress and then riding off into the forest, and continues in the American West (Paladin and his ilk riding into town), to Raymond Chandler’s Marlowe, John B. MacDonald’s Travis McGee, Robert B. Parker’s Spenser. McGee had a series of liaisons; Spenser had Susan Silverman. But no kids.

McMorrow may be a soccer dad. But more than those protagonists, he’s got something precious in play. His child.

That thought shaped Damaged Goods, in which Sophie is three (mirroring the time between publication of McMorrow novels, when I’d been off doing other projects and Jack and Roxanne were going through those sleepless nights).

Yes, I had to think hard about how a three-year-old sounds. I didn’t want the child to be cloyingly cute, nor did I want her to be so precocious that she didn’t seem believable. I ran her dialogue by a few people, including friends who had kids that age. But mostly I wanted this to be McMorrow unleashed. Roxanne, after removing children from the compound of a deranged backwoods Satanist, is threatened by the guy, and the threat is quickly extended to and focused on Sophie. Jack enlists his loyal and lethal friend and neighbor Clair, a Vietnam vet, ex-commando. As the threat escalates, it becomes clear that Jack and Clair will take no prisoners. If they go down, it will be fighting.

In the end, I liked writing McMorrow and Roxanne as dad and mom. They’re good parents and their daughter is a delight. And I think the juxtaposition of their idyllic family life in small-town Maine with the very real threats from the Satanist and, more subtly, from a prostitute McMorrow is writing about, make the book more suspenseful.

McMorrow the dad is devoted, gentle, playful. But he is also deliberate, cool, resolute and ultimately dangerous for anyone who would threaten his family. He will protect Sophie and Roxanne, or he will die trying.

McMorrow declawed? I don’t think so.

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Gerry lives in a small village in central Maine, making regular trips for book research. His deal with Jack: he’ll send him into some pretty dangerous places, but he’ll scout them out first. Visit his website at GerryBoyle.com or follow him on Twitter (@gerryboyle).

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About Damaged Goods: Ex-New York Times reporter Jack McMorrow has it all. A beautiful wife, social worker Roxanne Masterson, their wonderful daughter, Sophie, a cozy house on a back road in the hills of Waldo County, Maine. Jack freelances for the Times, cuts wood with his Vietnam vet friend and neighbor Clair. Life is good ...

... until the day Roxanne returns home shaken by a violent confrontation with a deranged Satanist whose children she has removed from a filthy backwoods compound. Roxanne decides to leave her job. Jack sets out to finish a story about small-town "escorts" and becomes entangled with one, the mysterious Mandi, who is injured by a client and taken in by McMorrow.

The threats converge until the family is surrounded in the Maine woods, literally and figuratively. Who will break the blockade? When the noose is tightened, who will survive?

Also available: Damaged Goods by Gerry Boyle (Kindle edition).

For a chance to win a copy of Damaged Goods or Deadline, courtesy of the author, visit Mystery Book Contests, click on the "Gerry Boyle: Damaged Goods" contest link, and enter your name, e-mail address, and this code (1852) in the entry form. (One entry per person; contest ends July 27, 2010.)

Secrets of the Dragon Wheel, a New Game of Mystery from BFG

Games of Mystery is pleased to announce the availability of a new mystery casual game from Big Fish Games released today and available to BFG Club members. You can find out more about these games by visiting our Mystery Games: Big Fish Download Games page or by clicking on the links provided below.

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Epiphany O'Day has been laughed out of her University. Her superiors think her wild theories on the ancient and mysterious Dragon Wheel artifact are pure fantasy.

But her mentor, Professor Lunn has used her careful research to unlock dark forces and he begs her to help him before its too late. But powerful, evil people have taken notice of her work and now a trail of blood and ancient torment are forcing our beautiful young sleuth to tangle with more than academia.

She must sneak on to the Imperial Majestic, a luxurious and very dangerous royal train destined for an epic journey from Europe into the darkest reaches of the Far East. She will now have to use every ounce of her wits, bravery and deep knowledge of the Dragon Wheel to stop the murder and mayhem in its tracks.

Secrets of the Dragon Wheel may be downloaded and purchased for $6.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. A demonstration version (120.21 MB) may be downloaded and played for free for one hour.

Watch a preview video below:

Get any standard game for $6.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. Other benefits include the $2.99 Daily Deal, Tomorrow's Game Today, and special member rewards. And if you purchase any 6 games within a single month, you earn a free game with the Big Fish Game Club Monthly Punch Card! (Collector's Editions earn 3 punches each, half-way towards your free game!)

Read Ms. Terri's reviews of the adventure and casual mystery games featured on this site, including Midnight Mysteries: The Edgar Allan Poe Conspiracy, Nancy Drew Dossier: Lights, Camera, Curses!, Enlightenus, and many more!

Big Fish Games: Bestsellers

Big Fish Games: New releases

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Games of Mystery is your source for mystery-themed video, electronic, and board games, parties for kids and adults, and murder mystery weekends and mystery getaway vacations!