New Carina eBook Mysteries for January 2011

Each month, Omnimystery News is pleased to list new mystery and suspense titles from Carina Press, an ebook only publisher. Links on this page are for the Kindle edition of the book; click on the banner to the right to be taken to the CarinaPress.com website to purchase other ebook formats.

New books of mystery and suspense for January 2011 from Carina Press include:

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Fatal Justice by Marie Force
A Sam Holland Mystery (2nd in series)

Standing over the body of a Supreme Court nominee, Lieutenant Sam Holland is hip-deep in another high-profile murder case. The fact that she was one of the last people to see Julian Sinclair alive just complicates things even more. On the plus side, her relationship with Senator Nick Cappuano is heating up—but it's also attracting a lot of unwanted media attention and blinding flash bulbs.

The pressure is on for Sam to find Sinclair's killer, but a new lead in her father's unsolved shooting puts her in unexpected danger. When long-buried secrets threaten to derail her relationship with Nick, Sam realizes that while justice can be blind, mixing romance with politics has the potential to be fatal ...

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The Paris Secret by Angela Henry
Non-series

Less than twenty-four hours after fleeing to Paris, Maya Sinclair is the prime suspect in a brutal murder—and targeted by the real killer. When she's viciously attacked in the gardens of Versailles, Maya barely escapes with her life thanks to sexy French journalist Simon Girard.

Simon has been investigating the mysterious death of his brother, an art forger with ties to the woman Maya is suspected of killing. Still healing from heartbreak of his own, Simon reluctantly joins forces with Maya, who has awakened feelings within him he thought long dead.

Their search for answers uncovers the existence of a secret society, and puts them on a quest to find a missing crucifix rumored to hold the key to everlasting life. Together, Maya and Simon race through Paris one step ahead of a killer who will do anything to ensure some secrets remain buried forever ...

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Carina Press, a division of Harlequin, is a digital-first publisher offering ebooks in a variety of genres, including mystery. eBooks from Carina can be read on the Apple iPad, Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader, B&N Nook, Borders Kobo, BlackBerry and mobile phones.

For more mystery, suspense and thriller ebooks, visit MystereBooks.com.

The Pot Thief Who Studied Einstein by J. Michael Orenduff (Book Review)

The Pot Thief Who Studied Einstein by J. Michael Orenduff. A Hubie Schuze Mystery. Oak Tree Press Trade Paperback, November 2010.

Though the plot is a little thin here and the whodunit never really in doubt, the primary reason to read this entertaining mystery is to listen to Anasazi pot expert (and sometime thief) Hubie Schuze tell a creative story of how a simple appraisal assignment went seriously wrong.

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: The Pot Thief Who Studied Einstein by J. Michael Orenduff.

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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.

Cross Swords with a Vengeful Pirate in Mystery Case Files: 13th Skull, New 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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Shortly after moving into a creepy mansion in Louisiana, Sara Lawson is struck with tragedy when her husband mysteriously disappears. Sara’s daughter, Magnolia, believes her father was kidnapped by the ghost of a vengeful pirate seeking to protect his lost fortune. With the locals terrified of the pirate’s curse, you are the family’s last hope. Only a Master Detective with incredible hidden object skills can locate Marcus Lawson in the seventh entry of this popular series!

For a more in-depth playing experience, check out the Mystery Case Files: 13th Skull (Collector's Edition) that includes features you won't find in the standard edition, such as bonus gameplay, an integrated strategy guide, concept art, and more.

See also the other games in the Mystery Case Files Series.

Mystery Case Files: 13th Skull may be downloaded and purchased for $6.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. A demonstration version (574.17 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 January 07, 2011

A list of the top 15 mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending January 07, 2011 has been posted on the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books website.

The new year begins just as last year ended, with The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson firmly atop the leaderboard. Two new titles enter the top 15 this week.

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In 14th position is Three Seconds, the fifth Sundkvist and Grens mystery by Anders Roslund and Borge Hellstrom, though only the second to be translated into English.

Piet Hoffman, a top secret operative for the Swedish police, is about to embark on his most dangerous assignment yet: after years spent infiltrating the Polish mafia, he's become a key player in their attempt to take over amphetamine distribution inside Sweden's prisons. To stop them from succeeding, he will have to go deep cover, posing as a prisoner inside the country's most notorious jail.

But when a botched drug deal involving Hoffman results in a murder, the investigation is assigned to the brilliant but haunted Detective Inspector Ewert Grens -- a man who never gives up until he's cracked the case. Grens's determination to find the killer not only threatens to expose Hoffman's true identity-it may reveal even bigger crimes involving the highest levels of power. And there are people who will do anything to stop him from discovering the truth.

Three Seconds (original Swedish title: Tre Sekunder) was the winner of the Swedish Academy of Crime Writers' 2009 award for Best Swedish Crime Novel of the Year.

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Actually debuting last week just off the list and moving up to number 15 is Dead Zero, the seventh mystery featuring Bob Lee Swagger by Stephen Hunter.

Who killed Whiskey 2-2?

And why won’t it stay dead?

A marine sniper team on a mission in tribal territories on the Afghan-Pakistan border, Whiskey 2-2 is ambushed by professionals using the latest high-tech shooting gear. Badly wounded, the team’s sole survivor, Gunnery Sergeant Ray Cruz, aka “the Cruise Missile,” is determined to finish his job. He almost succeeds when a mystery blast terminates his enterprise, leaving a thirty-foot crater where a building used to be—and where Sergeant Cruz was meant to be hiding.

Months pass. Ray’s target, an Afghan warlord named Ibrahim Zarzi, sometimes called “The Beheader,” becomes an American asset in the region and beyond, beloved by State, the Administration, and the Agency. He arrives in Washington for consecration as Our Man in Kabul. But so does a mysterious radio transmission, in last year’s code. It’s from Whiskey 2-2.

Is Ray Cruz back? Has he gone rogue, is he insane, or just insanely angry? Will he succeed, though his antagonists now include the CIA, the FBI, and the same crew of bad boys that nearly killed him in Zabol province? Not to mention Bob Lee Swagger and a beautiful CIA agent named Susan Okada who gives Swagger more than just a patriotic reason to take the case.

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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.

BBC Commissions Waking the Dead Spin-off, The Body Farm

In a press release today, the BBC announced the network had commissioned The Body Farm, a spin-off of its crime drama Waking the Dead and starring Tara Fitzgerald as forensic pathologist Eve Lockhart.

Eve leads a brilliant and ambitious team of scientists at a private facility where human remains are donated for scientific experiment. They are called upon by police forces all over the world to provide expert knowledge to help solve crimes.

"Eve Lockhart is a powerful and brilliant character from Waking The Dead – compassionate but cool and committed she searches for truth and justice in the darkest human experience." said Kate Harwood, Controller, Drama Series and Serials. "The Body Farm visually combines forensic and mortal elements in a cinematic, beautiful, surprising and arresting series."

A 90-minute pilot and five 60-minute episodes will be produced. Filming starts this spring.

Mr. E. Reviews Män Som Hatar Kvinnor (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)

Män Som Hatar Kvinnor (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) is a first-rate, beautifully filmed thriller, with a credible adapted storyline from the first book in the Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson, that will keep viewers in suspense. Michael Nyqvist is fine as investigative reporter Mikael Blomqvist but Noomi Rapace is simply outstanding as Lisbeth Salander, a complicated role that she plays at just the right level of depth and intensity.

Read the full text of our review at Mr. E. Reviews Män Som Hatar Kvinnor (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).

Available on: DVD | Blu-ray | VOD

Mr. E. Reviews is your source for mystery, suspense, thriller, and crime drama reviews of television and film.

J. J. Abrams Developing "Slightly Heightened Reality" Crime Drama for Television

As a follow-up to our post yesterday about new crime dramas under consideration by the television networks, TV|Line is reporting that J. J. Abrams -- who already has several projects in various stages of development, from concept to pilot -- is ready to pitch to the networks an hour-long crime drama set in a "slightly heightened reality" called Pulp.

The screenplay comes from Monica Breen and Alison Schapker, who previously worked with Abrams several of his other series, including Alias, Lost, and Fringe.

Uncover the Dark Mystery of a Sunken Town in Phantasmat (Collector's Edition), New 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 crashing your car in the middle of nowhere, you stumble upon The Drowned Dead Hotel, a lonely forgotten structure leaning from a cliff. Beneath lies a dark and cold lake that used to be a lively town. What secrets are buried at the bottom of the muddy waters? Who are the mysterious inhabitants of the hotel? Uncover the dark mystery of a sunken town in this beautifully hand-drawn adventure game, that blends multiple game modes with an engaging and stirring storyline, and get to the bottom of a long forgotten tragedy.

This is a special Collector's Edition full of exclusive extras not available in the standard game, including a bonus adventure, wallpapers, replayable levels, and more.

Phantasmat (Collector's Edition) may be downloaded and purchased for $13.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. A demonstration version (234.61 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!

The Maze Runner Adaptation Gets a New Screenwriter

A month or so ago we reported that Twilight director Caterine Hardwicke had signed on to direct the film adaptation of the young adult thriller The Maze Runner by James Dashner.

At the time, Dashner himself was reportedly writing the screenplay. Now the Los Angeles Times is reporting that Noah Oppenheim, who most recently wrote the English language screenplay for the remake of the Swedish thriller Snabba Cash, will adapt the book.

The Maze Runner is the first in what is expected to be a trilogy of novels featuring a teenager named Thomas, who in the opening chapter wakes up surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade, a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls—a maze from which escape seems impossible.

Crime Dramas (and more) in Development at the Networks

We thought we had been keeping up with all the news involving potential crime dramas being considered by the television networks for next season.

We missed a few!

Entertainment Weekly has a list of projects in early development that have at least been moved along to the script stage. We're listing those that are crime drama-ish below; we were aware of many of these (indicated by a link at the end of the brief description to one of our posts on the subject) but some are clearly new to us.

ABC:

True Lies. Based on the 1994 film, True Lies, starring Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger. (OMN post)

Baker Street Letters. Two brothers rent Sherlock Holmes’ old office space and respond to letters that still come to the dead sleuth.

CBS:

Untitled project based on the Jane Whitefield novels by Thomas Perry about a one-woman witness protection program. (post)

Untitled project starring Jason Alexander as a former TV star who works for his ex-wife’s detective agency when he’s down and out.

Desperado. A modern-day western crime drama set in Texas. (post)

Untitled project that chronicles the first female Chief of Police in Newark NJ. (post)

The Wild Wild West. Update of the series that starred Robert Conrad and Ross Martin. (post)

Treadstone. Based on Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne series of novels about a group of spies working for the Treadstone Corp. (post)

CW:

Hawkshaw. Sexy, mysterious 20-something doesn’t know his true identity but believes he is a detective and possible descendant of Sherlock Holmes who starts solving crimes. (post)

Fox:

Alcatraz. A drama about the mysteries and secrets of the most infamous prison of all time. (post)

Untitled project about a female college student who fights crimes in China. (post)

Every Bitter Thing by Leighton Gage (Book Review)

Every Bitter Thing by Leighton Gage. A Mario Silva Investigation. Soho Crime Hardcover, December 2010.

This creative and quite clever variation on the typical manor house mystery, where a group of apparent strangers come together only to have one of them start killing off the others, is highly entertaining, marred only slightly when the motive for the murders -- and hence the identity of the killer -- is revealed early on.

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: Every Bitter Thing by Leighton Gage.

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Read the first chapters of Every Bitter Thing below.

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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.

George Clooney to Star in Film Adaptation of The Monster of Florence

Deadline|New York is reporting that Fox 2000 has acquired the film rights to the true crime book The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston and Italian crime reporter Mario Spezi.

George Clooney is on board to play Preston, who is probably best known to mystery readers as the co-author with Lincoln Child of the Pendergast series of thrillers.

The Monster of Florence describes the efforts of Preston and Spezi, who together set out to solve a series of unsolved murders that took place between 1974 and 1985 outside the Italian city. Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects, The Tourist) and Nathan Alexander (Valkyrie) will write the screenplay.

One Deadly Sister by Rod Hoisington is Today's Featured Free NookBook Mystery

MystereBooks is pleased to feature a mystery title that is currently available as a NookBook for free from Barnes&Noble. We don't know how long it will be offered at this special price (typically only until a certain number of downloads have been completed), so download it today!

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One Deadly Sister by Rod Hoisington
A Raymond and Sandy Reid Mystery (1st in series)
EnteraBooks (NookBook)
Download Link

About One Deadly Sister (from the publisher): Ray Reid doesn't come looking for trouble, he simply wants to get past his Philadelphia divorce and start a new life, but woman-trouble comes looking for him.

Unfortunately, he arrives in the small Florida oceanside town just as someone decides to murder the local gubernatorial candidate. Reid doesn’t have a clue about women and gets seduced and framed—by a 70-year-old in a thong. He’s the perfect target for the local prosecutor who figures he has the ideal trial that’ll propel him to the US Senate.

Ray hasn’t bothered with his estranged sister up north for years but now, as a stranger in a hostile town, she’s his only hope. She holds an old grudge and resents having her life interrupted. After first telling him to go to hell, she reluctantly decides to at least check out her brother’s predicament.

This small step leads to an ever-increasing entanglement of deceit, double-cross, and danger, as she can’t leave well-enough alone and goes after the real killer.

Read our Review of One Deadly Sister by Rod Hoisington at Mysterious Reviews.

Mr. E. Reviews The Guilty

More drama than suspense thriller, the plot of ITV's 1992 two-part made-for-television movie The Guilty, especially during its first half, is utterly predictable, though credibly played out. The performances, however, are first rate, and Michael Kitchen, as the arrogant barrister trapped in a maelstrom of his own making, is particularly noteworthy.

Read the full text of our review at Mr. E. Reviews: The Guilty.

The Guilty is new on DVD today.

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Mr. E. Reviews is your source for mystery, suspense, thriller, and crime drama reviews of television and film.

Damages to Air on DIRECTV Starting January 5th

DIRECTV customers are in for a real treat: Starting tomorrow, Wednesday January 5th, the satellite television provider will begin airing weekly episodes from the first season of Damages. Episodes from the second season begin on April 6th, from the third season on May 25th, with new episodes from the fourth season premiering exclusively on DIRECTV this summer.

The fourth season will consist of ten new episodes and will star Glenn Close and Rose Byrne as well as other principal cast members from previous seasons.

Get more information about the series on the DIRECTV: Damages website. Watch a short promo video below: