Solve the Mystery Surrounding a Legend in Chronicles of Mystery: The Tree of Life, 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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For centuries people have risked their lives and committed unspeakable crimes to discover the secrets of The Tree of Life. Times have changed, but not human nature. As Sylvie Leroux -- a young archaeologist and adventurer, working to solve the mystery that surrounds the legend, finds herself tempted by the same promises like so many others before her.

What is linking the mystery of the missing crew from the Mary Celeste with a trunk dating back to the conquistadors? Who is the enigmatic Count of St. Germain? In order to get answers to these and many more questions, Sylvie will set on an epic journey which will lead her across the channels of Venice to the dark alleys of Cairo, rocky coasts of Gibraltar and into the unknown.

See also the first game in this series, Chronicles of Mystery: The Scorpio Ritual.

Chronicles of Mystery: The Tree of Life may be downloaded and purchased for $6.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. A demonstration version (1520.00 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!

World's Greatest Sleuth! by Steve Hockensmith (Mystery Book Review)

World's Greatest Sleuth! by Steve Hockensmith. A Holmes on the Range Mystery. Minotaur Books Hardcover, January 2011.

The combination of a real historical setting and a real literary event provides a convincing backdrop to this cleverly-devised murder mystery, one that merges the excitement of a scavenger/treasure hunt with the eye-rolling antics of a modern-day reality show.

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: World's Greatest Sleuth! by Steve Hockensmith.

Purchase Options:  |  | 

Blue Bloods Moves to Wednesdays on CBS

Tomorrow, CBS moves its new crime drama Blue Bloods from Fridays to Wednesdays at 10 PM (ET/PT) for a four week trial run. Hopefully viewers will follow it, as we believe it is one of the network's strongest new series this season.

Blue Bloods stars Tom Selleck as Frank Reagan, the New York City Police Commissioner, a position held by father. Reagan, a widower, has two sons who are also police officers, one a homicide detective, and a daughter who is an assistant district attorney. Another son, also a police officer, died in the line of duty and provides the backstory for a subplot involving a secret organization called the Blue Templars, which may have been involved in his death.

In tomorrow's episode, titled "Little Fish", Danny and Jackie investigate the murder of a high-end escort found floating in the river. Meanwhile, Frank vows to bring a killer to justice when a missing boy's remains are found from a case that he was emotionally invested in 25 years ago.

Watch a short clip from the series below:

James Ellroy's LA: City of Demons Premieres Wednesday, January 19th, on Investigation Discovery

Tomorrow, Wednesday January 19th at 10 PM (ET/PT), Investigation Discovery premieres a new series, James Ellroy's LA: City of Demons.

In the 6-part series, bestselling crime novelist James Ellroy takes a fresh look at some of Hollywood's most nihilistically notorious crimes from the past to the present.

Untamed, unfiltered, and narrated by Ellroy himself, the series begins with a deeply personal account of the genesis of Ellroy's fascination with crime, the unsolved murder of his mother in 1958. This harrowing event formed his moral and spiritual attachment to devastated women. "Murdered women own me," he narrates, and after a long downward spiral with drugs, booze and petty crime, the obsession provided him with the fire and fury to write his unprecedentedly praised crime novels and memoirs.

Read more about James Ellroy's LA: City of Demons on the series website. Watch a trailer for the series below:

Top Suspense Group Features Mystery and Suspense eBooks by Established Authors

Nine established, professional authors of mystery and suspense (and other genres) recently joined forces to promote quality ebooks and formed the Top Suspense Group.

"Readers can count on us," Max Allan Collins, one of the co-founders, explains. "Every member of our group has already made his or her mark on genre fiction, whether it's noir, crime, mystery, thriller, horror or Westerns, and in some cases, several of these genres."

In addition to Collins, the other authors are Bill Crider, Lee Goldberg, Joel Goldman, Ed Gorman, Vicki Hendricks, Paul Levine, Harry Shannon, and Dave Zeltserman.

Their website is conveniently organized by genre, with a featured "book of the day" title on the home page that includes an embedded preview. The authors also maintain a blog, where they discuss their books in more detail.

It's an interesting and informative site, one worth visiting and checking out.

Village of the Ghost Bears by Stan Jones, a Nathan Active 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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Village of the Ghost Bears by Stan Jones
A Nathan Active Mystery (4th in series)
Soho Crime (Trade Paperback)
Publication Date: January 2011
ISBN-13: 978-1-56947-864-6

About Village of the Ghost Bears (from the publisher): Alaska State Trooper Nathan Active must figure out what connects a dead hunter on a remote Arctic lake with a year-old fatal plane crash in the Brooks Range and a fire at the Chukchi Recreation Center that killed eight people, including the town’s basketball star. The case turns out to involve a lucrative polar bear poaching operation and the intense bond between a brother and sister from the village of Cape Goodwin, famous in the Arctic for twins, polar bears, and schizophrenia. The heart of the matter, he discovers, is a dead woman whose killer remembers her as having a mouth so sweet “it was like kissing a Hershey bar.”

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About Stan Jones: A native of Alaska, he has worked as an award-winning journalist and bush pilot. Visit his website at SJBooks.com.

 Mysteries by Stan Jones reviewed by Mysterious Reviews: Village of the Ghost Bears (2009).

Harlequin Intrigue Titles for February 2011

eHarlequin.com has released the February 2011 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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Scene of the Crime: Bachelor Moon by Carla Cassidy

FBI profiler Sam Connelly had come to Daniella Butler's remote Louisiana bed-and-breakfast to escape the consuming horrors of his job—and the dark demons he fears lurk in his own soul. But finding a dead body on her property changes everything. There's no room in his life—in his heart—for a family. Or so he thinks, until a killer's threat places his irresistible innkeeper and her young daughter under his protection. Now, as the obsessed psychopath inches closer to possessing Daniella, Sam must call upon his elite skills to track his target and keep the beautiful blonde and her child safe. Defending them becomes his greatest challenge. Losing them is not even an option.

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Darkwood Manor by Jenna Ryan

An estate haunted by over a hundred years of tragedy—and Donovan Black stood at the heart of it. Like Darkwood Manor, Donovan was an utter mystery. An FBI sharpshooter who couldn't break away from his past, he only wanted to make sure that history didn't repeat itself—especially now that the manor had a lovely new owner.

Isabella Ross had either discovered the perfect vacation spot or her final resting place. Now her only hope for survival is a man who doesn't want her around—a man she can't seem to resist. But the secrets in his family's attic threaten to consume them both, and something—or someone—won't rest until the manor house is empty …

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Gunning for Trouble by HelenKay Dimon

When he was recruited by the Recovery Project, Caleb Mattern found a new lease on life. Tracking missing persons. Protecting witnesses. But even after stretching his muscles and becoming one of the company's elite agents, he couldn't leave his past behind. Avery Walters wouldn't let him.

His former boss had also been his onetime lover, and now she's burst back into his life with dangerous consequences. But settling old scores won't be on the agenda—not yet! With the nation's security depending on them to act appropriately, Caleb must pull off the most impossible assignment of his career. Now that Avery's put her life in his hands, what will Caleb do with it?

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Brazen by Patricia Rosemoor

Despite their uncanny psychic connection, Siobhan McKenna had once pushed Clay Salazar away. Better to break his heart than to be responsible for his death, as her family curse threatened any man she loved. But now the feisty McKenna faces trouble on her ranch—someone's trying to drive the Double JA into the dust! Her solution: hire Clay, a Navajo-trained horse gentler, to run the place. With their special connection severed, his life should be safe.

But amid growing danger and scandalous revelations, it doesn't take long for Siobhan and Clay to bond—more than psychically. And Clay isn't about to let her walk away from him again. But can their shared passion overwhelm her fears? Or will the McKenna curse claim another victim?

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.38 Caliber Cover-Up by Angi Morgan

Undercover DEA agent Erren Rhodes was used to working alone. So the very idea of teaming up with Officer Darby O'Malley to ferret out a killer wasn't exactly how he thought this critical mission would go. But thanks to information only the beautiful cop possessed, finding whoever was responsible for shooting Erren's friend made Darby a valuable—and irresistible—partner. Digging into the case, though, revealed a far-reaching conspiracy … and angered all the wrong people. Now, trying to bring a killer to justice while keeping Darby safe was making Erren remember why he was better off on his own. Especially when Darby made him long to hole up with her in the safe house and never let her out of his sight.

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Seized by the Shiek by Ann Voss Peterson

After one too many death threats, Sheik Efraim Aziz was ready to end his business in Wyoming and head home. But one last horse ride had kept him in town a little longer. Callie McGuire had followed him on his private journey, leaving him mesmerized by her beauty and just enough time to save her from the gunshots they both barely escaped. Now, figuring out who was targeting them would keep him glued to her side no matter how much she claimed she didn't need his protection. With their list of suspects growing—along with their attraction—Efraim found working with Callie an unexpected pleasure. Suddenly, despite the danger surrounding them, Wyoming seemed so much more appealing …

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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:

Theatrical Trailer for The Mechanic

A couple of weeks ago we posted a red-band trailer for The Mechanic starring Jason Statham and Ben Foster as hitmen, master and apprentice. A day or so later the theatrical trailer was released, but somehow we missed it at the time. We're embedding it below.

Here's the complete synopsis of the film from the studio: Arthur Bishop (Jason Statham) is a "mechanic", an elite assassin with a strict code and unique talent for cleanly eliminating targets. It's a job that requires professional perfection and total detachment, and Bishop is the best in the business. But when his mentor and close friend Harry (Donald Sutherland) is murdered, Bishop is anything but detached. His next assignment is self-imposed: he wants those responsible dead. His mission grows complicated when Harry's son Steve (Ben Foster) approaches him with the same vengeful goal and a determination to learn Bishop's trade. Bishop has always acted alone but he can't turn his back on Harry's son. A methodical hit man takes an impulsive student deep into his world and a deadly partnership is born. But while in pursuit of their ultimate mark, deceptions threaten to surface and those hired to fix problems become problems themselves.

A remake of the 1972 Charles Bronson film, also titled The Mechanic, The Mechanic opens in theaters January 28th, 2011.

Ken Bruen's Serialized Novel Black Lens Starts Tomorrow on Mulholland Books

Starting tomorrow, Wednesday January 19th, Mulholland Books will be serializing Black Lens, a novel by Ken Bruen. New episodes/chapters (we're not sure which) will appear weekly on Wednesdays thereafter.

Other than being subtitled "Noir for 2011 and beyond" and with art by crime novelist Jonathan Santlofer (is it a graphic novel?) we don't know anything about the book ... but you can be sure we'll be there to check it out!

Mulholland Books is an imprint of Little, Brown, and in addition to this new serialized novel, features original stories by writers of mystery and suspense on its website. (Hat tip to The Rap Sheet for reminding us of this event.)

OMN Welcomes Scott Nicholson, Author of Crime Beat

Omnimystery News is delighted to welcome Scott Nicholson as our guest blogger. A writer of thrillers, comic books, short stories, and screenplays, Scott's most recent novella is Crime Beat (Haunted Computer Books, January 2011 eBook, 294-0-01-205035-9).

Today, Scott writes that crime doesn't pay ... but neither does journalism.

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Photo provided courtesy of
Scott Nicholson

I've been a journalist for 13 years, almost as long as I've been a fiction writer, and though I've never directly been the crime reporter, at community papers with small staffs you end up doing a little bit of everything.

That's a great advantage for a novelist. You personally know the police chief, you learn how to go through court records, and most of all you register the day-to-day calamity that flows over the broadband scanner. For example, I will never again own a motorcycle after hearing the alarming frequency of collision calls in which the car is "PD," property damage only, while the motorcycle operator is "PI," personal injury, with ambulances en route.

I started Crime Beat a few years ago, when we had a sullen, idealistic guy coming in to take over crime coverage, along with courts and some politics. It seemed like the moment this guy sat his desk, a crime spree erupted—meth labs, breaking and entering, and even a murder, something that only happens about once a year in our small Appalachian community.

I even joked that he was either the devil or else he called in some favors to have all this crime to splash on the front page. From there, the idea was born, though I wrote the story from the point of view of the editor, a position I've never held and in fact have passed up on more than one occasion, because I knew it would entail responsibilities that would detract from my fiction.

I came back to the story a couple of months ago, when my latest thriller Disintegration hit #30 on the Kindle bestseller list, topping #1 in both Mystery and Suspense. I'm usually known for paranormal or supernatural thrillers, so I wanted to get more mystery stories out, because mystery was one of the first genres I followed and got published in.

I knew it was going to be a novella, because it's first-person POV and difficult to carry on for a full 80,000 words. The editor character came from a blend of my experiences and a little bit of my sardonic, cynical side. It's hard not to become cynical after witnessing so much tragedy, political ineptitude, and plain old cruelty, and then processing it for the public.

For that reason, I rarely follow national or world news. It's sort of like what they say about sausage: once you see it being made, you don't want to eat it.

Crime Beat was a pleasant, harmless way to address the urge to deliver sensationalism as a commodity. People accuse the media of delivering only bad news, but our sales go up when there's a murder on the front page. We didn't commit the murder, but we welcome the dropped quarters. Maybe we're not so much better than the person who committed the crime.

As my newshound says in the story, crime does pay. It just seems to pay everybody but the criminal.

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Scott Nicholson is author of 12 novels, including The Red Church, The Skull Ring, Speed Dating with the Dead, and As I Die Lying, as well as six story collections. With J. R. Rain, he writes the Cursed! urban fantasy series, and as L. C. Glazebrook, he writes the paranormal romance series October Girls. Visit his website at HauntedComputer.com.

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About Crime Beat: When John Moretz takes a job as a reporter in the Appalachian town of Sycamore Shade, a crime wave erupts that boosts circulation and leaves people uneasy. Then a murder victim is discovered, and Moretz is first on the scene.

As more bodies are discovered, Moretz comes under police suspicion, but the newspaper's sales are booming due to his coverage of sensational crime. His editor is torn between calling off his newshound and cashing in on the attention, plus the editor is romancing the big-city reporter assigned to cover the suspected serial killer.

And Moretz seems to be one step ahead of the other reporters, the police, and even the killer himself.

Crime Beat is available in all digital formats: a Kindle edition at Amazon.com, a NOOKBook at Barnes&Noble.com, and in other formats at Smashwords. The 21,000-word novella comes with a bonus story "Do You Know Me Yet?" from the Head Cases collection.

Summit Considering Sequel to Graphic Novel Adaptation Red

Collider is reporting that Summit Entertainment has hired Jon Hoeber and Erich Hoeber, the screenwriters who adapted Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner's graphic novel Red, to write a sequel. The film, also titled Red, stars Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, and John Malkovich as retired spies who re-team to learn who has targeted them for elimination. The brothers also recently adapted the graphic novel Whiteout.

This is an interesting development and one we'll be sure to follow. Besides, where else can you find ever so proper Dame Helen Mirren wielding high-powered automatic weaponry!

If you haven't seen Red yet, you can meet the team below (via Yahoo! Movies). Red (DVD) and Red (Blu-ray disc) are available on January 25th, and may be pre-ordered.

White Collar Returns with New Episodes Tuesday, January 18th on USA Network

One of our favorite series, White Collar, returns from its long hiatus with new episodes tomorrow, Tuesday January 18th at 10 PM (ET/PT) on USA Network.

When Peter is suspended by the FBI for a crime he didn't commit, he is forced to run a sting with Neal and the gang to catch Mozzie's shooter, and clear his name. Check out "Burke's Seven" guest-starring Paul Blackthorn (who appeared last year in an episode titled "Point Blank") and Hilarie Burton as Sara Ellis (episodes "In the Red" and "Unfinished Business").

Watch a short promo for the series below:

A New Trailer for HBO's Game of Thrones

HBO has posted a new trailer for its upcoming fantasy adventure drama Game of Thrones, adapted from the books in the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series by George R. R. Martin, the first of which is titled A Game of Thrones.

In a land where summers span decades and winters can last a lifetime, the struggle for the Iron Throne has begun. It will stretch from the south, where heat breeds plots, lusts and intrigues; to the vast and savage eastern lands; all the way to the frozen north, where an 800-foot wall of ice protects the kingdom from the dark forces that lie beyond. Kings and Queens, knights and renegades, liars, lords and honest men ... all will play the Game of Thrones.

Game of Thrones premieres on HBO on April 17th; ten episodes have been produced. We've previously posted an in-depth preview of the series; you can watch the latest trailer below: