G.I. Bones by Martin Limón, A George Sueno and Ernie Bascom Mystery

The Mystery Bookshelf, where you can discover a library of new mysteries, is pleased to feature a new mystery series title we recently received from the publisher.

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G.I. Bones by Martin Limón
A George Sueno and Ernie Bascom Mystery (6th in series)
Soho Crime (Trade Paperback)
Publication Date: November 2010
ISBN-13: 978-1-56947-863-9

About G.I. Bones (from the publisher): A Korean fortune-teller is being bothered by a dead American soldier who wants his bones found and buried. An underage officer's daughter is missing together with a Latino soldier. Several of the leading Korean gangsters who own the bars in the ville have been killed. Sueno and Bascom of Military Intelligence must go back to the founding of Itaewon, Seoul's red-light district, in order to learn who killed the soldier, who's taking revenge on the gang lords, and where to find the missing girl.

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About the author: Martin Limón retired from the Army after serving multiple tours of duty, 20 years in total and half of them in Korea. He lives in Lynnwood, Washington, with his wife and three children.

 Mysteries by Martin Limón reviewed by Mysterious Reviews: The Wandering Ghost (2007) and G.I. Bones (2010).

Reviews of Mystery and Suspense Books for Kids, New This Week on Book Trends (101106)

Book Trends, a review site for young adult and children books, published several new book reviews this past week. We're presenting here a summary of those in the mystery/suspense/thriller category.

Dead Is Just a Rumor by Marlene Perez. The fourth mystery featuring the Giordano Sisters recommended for readers aged 12 and older. Lexile measure: HL580L. Reviewed by a 6th grade student, who writes, "I liked that the author wrote the book so that people in middle school as well as high school could relate to the book. I also liked was how the author made the main character (Daisy) not afraid to say or do anything. But, it did feel like the author was sort of rushing the story."

The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall by Mary Downing Hahn. A stand-alone novel of suspense recommended for readers aged 10 to 12. Lexile measure: N/A. Reviewed by a 6th grade student, who writes, "I like how the characters are described in this book; you get a lot of details. Plus the ending of the book really puts the whole story together, at which time everything that happens finally makes sense."

October by Gabrielle Lord. The 10th book in the Conspiracy 365 series of thrillers, recommended for readers aged 10 to 12. Lexile measure: 780L. Reviewed by a 6th grade teacher, who writes, "Everything will be revealed in two short months, and readers can't wait! Lord's writing is compelling from start to finish, as there is never a dull moment. Readers can't bear to put the book down, and when the end is reached, they'll be counting the days for the next month."

For more reviews of children and young adult books of all genres, visit Book Trends; their reviews will amaze you! You can also follow Book Trends on Twitter.

Interpol Needs Your Help in Unlikely Suspects, a New Whodunit Game at AVG

Games of Mystery is pleased to announce this week's new mystery and suspense casual and adventure games available for immediate download from Amazon Video Games.

A complete list of downloadable mystery games is available on our Games of Mystery: Amazon Video Games Download page.

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Unlikely Suspect

The Superintendent of Interpol needs your help! It's up to you to track 16 criminals across the globe to learn the criminal's modus operandi. Scour each scene for evidence, and decipher the clues awarded at the end of each site to build your investigation. With more than 4,000 different outcomes, there's always a case to crack!

Eliminate the obvious and take a closer look at the evidence to figure out who's guilty in this whodunit hidden-object adventure. Examine each suspect's dossier and compare it to the evidence-is the killer tall, short, blond, brunette? Visit the coroner to find out what weapon was used to build your case. Search each suspect's lair and collect all the clues to figure out which criminal matches the evidence and determine who committed the crime this time!

ESRB Rating: Not Specified.

Windows Vista/XP (170 MB download).

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

Parade Magazine Talks to Tom Selleck

The online edition of Parade Magazine has a profile of and interview with actor Tom Selleck, who is currently starring in the CBS series Blue Bloods.

Selleck, who lives on a 63-acre spread near Santa Barbara he shares with his wife of 23 years, British actress Jillie Mack, was reluctant to take on the role of NYPD Police Commissioner Frank Reagan, due to on location filming. But he says, "It's the type of role that interests me. I didn't just want to play a dad or a commissioner barking orders. He's basically a good guy, but he has flaws. I found that fascinating."

Selleck also plays a flawed cop in a series of made-for-television movies featuring Robert B. Parker's character Jesse Stone. Before Blood Blues even aired, the actor was on record saying, "I'm not going to do this series at the expense of Jesse Stone." (Look for the next Jesse Stone movie, Innocents Lost, to air next spring.)

Selleck wraps up his Parade interview talking about who he'd like to see play the role of Thomas Magnum if a film adaptation of his popular series from the 80s, Magnum P.I., is ever made. His choice: Tom Selleck. He envisions an older Magnum in a story line that catches up with events since the series' final episode. "They can't just buy a title and stick some younger guy in it. These things are quite real to audiences."

A Darker Night by P. J. Brooke (Book Review)

A Darker Night by P. J. Brooke. A Max Romero Mystery. Soho Constable Hardcover, September 2010.

This noirish, well-plotted mystery, with multiple intersecting storylines that include twists and turns in just about every chapter, features a vibrant setting in Spain and a strong protagonist, who will stop at nothing to bring justice to the deserving.

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: A Darker Night by P. J. Brooke.

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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.

Discover the Downtown Secrets in a New Mystery Game 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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After mysteriously disappearing for three years, Marie is back in Alex’s life and needs his help! Using her one phone call, Marie begs Alex to search the scene of a murder and find some documents for her. After asking Alex to deliver the documents to Andre at The Joint, Marie hangs up and leaves Alex in the middle of a mystery! Scour hidden object scenes and discover exactly what’s going on with Marie!

Downtown Secrets may be downloaded and purchased for $6.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. A demonstration version (115.98 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!

Mystery Bestsellers for November 05, 2010

A list of the top 15 mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending November 5th, 2010 has been posted on the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books website.

Only some minor reordering of the top four bestsellers with The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson still at number one. Two new titles enter the list this week.

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The 32nd thriller featuring NYPSD detective Eve Dallas, Indulgence in Death by J. D. Robb, comes in at number 11.

First it was a limo driver shot through the neck with a crossbow. Then it was a high-priced escort found stabbed through the heart with a bayonet.

Random hits, thrill kills, murderers with a taste for the finer things in life -- and death -- are making Eve angry. And an angry Eve can be just as an efficient and dangerous predator as the killer.

As time runs out on another innocent victim's life, Eve's investigation will take her into the rarefied circle that her husband, Roarke, travels in -- and into -- the perverted heart of madness ...

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Boston private investigators Patrick McKenzie and Angie Gennaro return in Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane, new in the 13th position.

Amanda McCready was four years old when she vanished from a Boston neighborhood twelve years ago. Desperate pleas for help from the child's aunt led Kenzie and Gennaro to take on the case. The pair risked everything to find the young girl—only to orchestrate her return to a neglectful mother and a broken home.

Now Amanda is sixteen—and gone again. A stellar student, brilliant but aloof, she seemed destined to escape her upbringing. Yet Amanda's aunt is once more knocking on Patrick Kenzie's door, fearing the worst for the little girl who has blossomed into a striking, clever young woman—a woman who hasn't been seen in weeks.

Haunted by their consciences, Kenzie and Gennaro revisit the case that troubled them the most. Their search leads them into a world of identity thieves, methamphetamine dealers, a mentally unstable crime boss and his equally demented wife, a priceless, thousand-year-old cross, and a happily homicidal Russian gangster. It's a world in which motives and allegiances constantly shift and mistakes are fatal.

In their desperate fight to confront the past and find Amanda McCready, Kenzie and Gennaro will be forced to question if it's possible to do the wrong thing and still be right or to do the right thing and still be wrong. As they face an evil that goes beyond broken families and broken dreams, they discover that the sins of yesterday don't always stay buried and the crimes of today could end their lives.

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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.

Suzanne Collins' Adaptation of her Young Adult Thriller The Hunger Games to be Filmed

Variety is reporting that Gary Ross (Pleasantville, Seabiscuit) will direct a screenplay by Suzanne Collins, an adaptation of her own young adult thriller, The Hunger Games.

The first in the futuristic Hunger Games trilogy, the storyline features Katniss Everdeen, a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called "The Hunger Games."

Earlier this year, First Clues: Mysteries for Kids featured a student-written review of The Hunger Games, who called the book "fast, compelling". The other books in the series are Catching Fire and Mockingjay.

Film Adaptation of ABC Gothic Series Dark Shadows To Begin Filming Next Spring

After years in various stages of development, Deadline|Hollywood is reporting that Johnny Depp's and Tim Burton's next project -- a film adaptation of the 1966-1971 ABC gothic daytime series Dark Shadows -- will begin filming next April. Seth Grahame-Smith (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) will write the screenplay.

Depp will play 200-year-old vampire Barnabas Collins, a character who didn't make an appearance in the original series until well into its second season, but who has since come to personify it.

NBC Cancels Undercovers

The Hollywood Reporter's Live Feed blog is reporting that NBC has declined to pick up a full season of its new spy series Undercovers, thus canceling it. Six episodes remain to air, though when and if all do is unclear.

Just last month NBC ordered four additional scripts for the series.

Undercovers stars Boris Kodjoe and Gugu Mbatha-Raw as a married couple who own a small catering company and are (no surprise here, given the series title) undercover spies for the CIA.

Warner Bros. Announces Limited Edition Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 Soundtrack Collector's Set

A few days ago we mentioned a new video discussing the composer and score for Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. Now, Warner Bros., the studio producing the film, has announced a limited edition collector's set of the soundtrack to the film. Available to pre-order now at a special price from the studio (and currently about $8 less than Amazon.com's price), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 Soundtrack: Limited Edition Collector's Box Set is expected to be available on December 21st, 2010 with free shipping; the website indicates that orders received prior to December 10th should arrive in time for gift giving.

This set includes a full digital download of the soundtrack, with instructions sent to buyers on November 16th, three days before the film hits theaters. Also included in the set is a bonus CD with six extra tracks of unreleased music from the film, a 7" vinyl picture disc, an exclusive unreleased poster, original 35 mm film cells, an autographed piece of sheet music, and more! A numbered Certificate of Authenticity will also be provided.

For more information about this limited edition collector's set, or to place an order, use this link.

Film Adaptation of Dean Koontz's Odd Thomas Confirmed

A month or so ago, we reported that a film adaptation of Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz may be in the works.

Now, Screen Daily (via ComingSoon.net) is confirming that the project is moving forward and that Stephen Sommers (The Mummy movies) will direct his own screenplay.

Odd Thomas is a short-order cook in Pico Mundo, a small desert town in California, who can see -- but not hear -- the dead. "The dead don't talk. I don't know why." He tries to do his best by the silent souls who seek him out. Sometimes they want justice, and Odd's otherworldly tips to Pico Mundo's sympathetic police chief, Wyatt Porter, can solve a crime. Occasionally they can prevent one.

In the first book of the series, a mysterious man comes to town with a voracious appetite, a filing cabinet stuffed with information on the world's worst killers, and a pack of hyena-like shades following him wherever he goes. Who the man is and what he wants, not even Odd's deceased informants can tell him. His most ominous clue is a page ripped from a day-by-day calendar for August 15.

There are also two graphic novels in the series: In Odd We Trust and published last month Odd Is On Our Side.

Online Scavenger Hunt Begins for ABC Family's New Mystery Series, Pretty Little Liars

To help promote its new mystery series, Pretty Little Liars, ABC Family has begun an online scavenger hunt in which one can win a special VIP screening of the January premiere of the series for up to 10 people.

Here's the clue for the first mission: "I've put a photo of some of my work on the internet. But where? Write down the word I wrote on the mirror when the lights are Flickring. -A" (OK, we're lost and don't get it. Do you?)

Part of the mystery here is, Who is "A"? The series is set in Rosewood, a perfect little town. So quiet and pristine, you'd never guess it holds so many secrets. Some of the ugliest ones belong to the prettiest girls in town -- Aria, Spencer, Hanna and Emily, four estranged friends whose darkest secrets are about to unravel.

One year ago, Alison, the Queen Bee of their group, disappeared and the girls swore they'd never tell what really happened that night. They thought their secrets would bond them together, but just the opposite is true. Then again, who's to say what the truth is in Rosewood. It seems everyone in town is lying about something.

Now, as the mystery surrounding Alison's disappearance resurfaces, the girls begin getting messages from "A," saying –- and threatening –- things only Alison would know. But it couldn't be Alison. Could it? Whoever it is, they seem to know all the girls' secrets, and seem to be watching their every move. The girls are friends again, but will they be there for each other if their dark secrets come to light?

Pretty Little Liars premieres Monday, January 3rd, 2011, at 8 PM (ET/PT) on ABC Family.

Top Mystery in the Amazon Best of 2010 is Faithful Place by Tana French

Amazon.com has recently released its Best of 2010 list of editors' picks for the best books of the year.

There aren't many mysteries or novels of suspense on the list, but the best of them, in second place, is Tana French's third Dublin Murder Squad mystery, Faithful Place.

We agree it is an exceptional novel. In our review, published earlier this year on Mysterious Reviews, we said, "Faithful Place is written in an expansive, literary style, immersing the reader into the lives of a multi-generational family," adding that the novel "has elements of a police procedural as well as elements of a standard whodunit-style mystery, and will likely appeal to readers who enjoy either genre. With a cast of memorable characters and an intriguing plotline, Faithful Place will certainly be remembered as among the best suspense novels to be published this year."

Women's Murder Club: Death in Scarlet, Available for $2.99 Today and Tomorrow Only

Here's a new promotion from Big Fish Games: the popular game James Patterson's Women's Murder Club: Death in Scarlet is now available for just $2.99 when you use the coupon code greatgame at checkout. But hurry: this special price is only available today and tomorrow (expires Friday, November 5th, 2010).

In this second game of the series, based on characters created by mystery author James Patterson, a morning jog presents a chilling find, and a new wave of fear descends upon San Francisco. Study murder scenes with SFPC homicide detective Lindsay Boxer, medical examiner Claire Washburn, and hotshot crime reporter Cindy Thomas. Find hidden objects inside nine investigations, brain-bending puzzles, strikingly-beautiful artwork, and an all-new spine tingling storyline. Discover the truth and stop a psychotic killer!

Our game reviewer, Ms. Terri, recently reviewed the fourth game in the series, Little Black Lies, saying, "Murder mystery fans will be pleased to know that, while the whodunit plot is a little flimsy, it is well executed and, in no small way, helps propel the game forward and keep the player involved." Read her full review at Games of Mystery: Women's Murder Club: Little Black Lies.

New customers can receive a free BFG Club Membership for one month. BFG Club Members save 30-70% on all games, have early access to new games, and have the opportunity to earn free games every month!