This Friday, February 11th, The Eagle opens in theaters nationwide.
Adapted from the young adult historical novel The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff, the film is set in 140 AD and stars Channing Tatum and Jamie Bell as Marcus and Esca, master and slave, two men who venture beyond the edge of the known world on a dangerous and obsessive quest that will push them beyond the boundaries of loyalty and betrayal, friendship and hatred, deceit and heroism.
20 years earlier, Rome's 5000-strong Ninth Legion, under the command of Flavius Aquila, Marcus's father, marched north carrying their treasured golden Eagle emblem. They never returned; Legion and Eagle simply vanished into the mists. Hearing a rumor that the Eagle has been seen in a tribal temple in the far north, Marcus, determined to restore the tarnished reputation of his father, is galvanized into action. Accompanied only by his slave Esca, Marcus sets out into the vast and dangerous highlands of Scotland -- to confront its savage tribes, make peace with his father's memory, and retrieve the hallowed Eagle. Along the way Marcus realizes that the mystery of his father's disappearance may well be linked to the secret of his own slave's identity and loyalty -- a secret all the more pressing when the two come face-to-face with the warriors of the fearsome Seal Prince.
Watch a trailer for the film below; visit the film's website for more information.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
The Eagle Opens in Theaters Friday, February 11th
Winners of the 2011 Lovey Awards Announced
The Love is Murder Conference was held last weekend, at which the annual Lovey Awards for 2011 were presented. We've updated our website with the list of winners, which is also presented below (with many thanks to Mary V. Welk for providing the information to us).
◊ Best First Novel: Stein, Stoned by Hal Ackerman
◊ Best Traditional/Amateur Sleuth: Grace Under Pressure 
◊ Best PI/Police Procedural: Hostile Takeovers by Michael Black
◊ Best Thriller: Running Dark by Jamie Freveletti
◊ Best Historical: Dangerous to Know by Tasha Alexander
◊ Best Romantic Suspense: Red, White, and Dead by Laura Caldwell
◊ Best Series: "Royal Spyness" by Rhys Bowen
◊ Best Short Story: "The Sugar Cure" (Delta Blues) by Carolyn Haines
Status Update on Film Adaptation of PlayStation 3 Game Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
We haven't heard much lately about the film adaptation of the PlayStation 3 adventure game Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, but yesterday, IGN published a short interview with David O. Russell, who will direct his own adapted screenplay.
"I have total respect for the game," Russell says. "My kid loves playing it, I love playing it. I just want to create a world that takes it to another level, that's another amazing world that's more cinematic."
Mark Wahlberg's name has been floated for the key role of Nathan Drake, with Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci rumored for unspecified parts. The film has a target release date of 2013.
About the game: A 400-year-old clue in the coffin of Sir Francis Drake sets a modern-day fortune hunter on an exploration for the fabled treasure of El Dorado, leading to the discovery of a forgotten island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
The search turns deadly when Nathan Drake becomes stranded on the island and hunted by mercenaries. Outnumbered and outgunned, Drake and his companions must fight to survive as they begin to unravel the terrible secrets hidden on the Island.
Watch the game trailer below.
AMC Sets Premiere Date for Murder Mystery Series The Killing
AMC has announced that the 2-hour premiere of its murder mystery series, The Killing, wll air on Sunday, April 3rd, at 9 PM (ET/PT). Subsequent episodes will air in its regular timeslot at 10 PM (ET/PT).
Based on the successful Danish television series Forbrydelsen, The Killing weaves together three distinct stories around a single murder in Seattle, including the detectives assigned to the case and their suspects, the victim's grieving family, and the local politicians connected to the case. As The Killing unfolds, it becomes clear that there are no accidents; everyone has a secret, and while the characters think they have moved on, their past still lingers.
Shot on location in Vancouver, the series stars Mireille Enos as Sarah Linden, the lead homicide detective investigating the death of Rosie Larsen; Billy Campbell as Darren Richmond, Seattle's City Council President running for Mayor; Joel Kinnaman as Stephen Holder, an ex-narc cop who joins the homicide division in the investigation to find Rosie's killer; Michelle Forbes as Rosie's mother, Mitch; and Brent Sexton as Rosie's father, Stan.
Take a first look at the series below.
Cast Details for Film Adaptation of Back Roads by Tawni O'Dell
Variety is reporting Andrew Garfield, Jennifer Garner and Marcia Gay Harden have been cast in a film adaptation of the noir-ish suspense novel Back Roads by Tawni O'Dell. Adrian Lyne will direct a screenplay he co-wrote with O'Dell. Filming is expected to begin in June.
In the book, Harley Altmyer (Andrew Garfield) should be in college drinking Rolling Rock and chasing girls. He should be freed from his closed-minded, stricken coal town, with its lack of jobs and no sense of humor. Instead, he's constantly reminded of just how messed up his life is.
With his mother in jail for killing his abusive father, Harley is an orphan with the responsibilities of an adult and the fiery, aggressive libido of a teenager. Just nineteen years old, he's marooned in the Pennsylvania backwoods caring for his three younger sisters, whose feelings about him range from stifling dependence to loathing. And once he develops an obsession with the sexy, melancholic mother of two living down the road, those Victoria's Secret catalogs just won't do the trick anymore. He wants Callie Mercer (Jennifer Garner) so badly he fears he will explode. But it's the family secrets, the lies, and the unspoken truths that light the fuse and erupt into a series of staggering surprises, leaving what's left of his family in tatters.
Marcia Gay Harden plays the role of a court-appointed psychotherapist Harley is required to visit.
You can read the first chapter(s) of Back Roads below. Use the Aa settings button to adjust text size, line spacing, and word density.
Nominations for the 2011 Barry Awards Announced
We're a little late in reporting this, but Deadly Pleasures has released its nominee list for the 2011 Barry Awards. We've updated our site with the nominations, but for your convenience, we're also listing them below. The winners will be announced at this year's Bouchercon in September. (
◊ Best Novel
Nowhere to Run by C. J. Box (Putnam)
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin (William Morrow)
The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton (Minotaur Books)
Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane (William Morrow)
Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny (Minotaur Books)
Savages by Don Winslow (Simon & Schuster)
◊ Best First Novel
Gunshot Straight by Lou Berney (William Morrow)
Rogue Island by Bruce DeSilva (Forge Books)
The Poacher's Son by Paul Doiron (Minotaur Books)
The Sherlockian by Graham Moore (Twelve)
The Holy Thief by William Ryan (Minotaur Books)
Once a Spy by Keith Thomson (Doubleday)
◊ Best British Novel
Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson (Doubleday)
Blood Harvest by S. J. Bolton (Bantam)
Night Whispers by John Connolly (Hodder & Stoughton)
Three Seconds by Anders Roslund and Börge Hellström (Quercus)
The Woodcutter by Reginald Hill (HarperCollins)
Fourth Day by Zoë Sharp (Allison & Busby)
◊ Best Paperback Original
The Hanging Tree by Bryan Gruley
The Dead Lie Down by Sophie Hannah
Eggsecutive Orders by Julie Hyzy (Berkley)
Fever at the Bone by Val McDermid (Harper)
The Rhetoric of Death by Judith Rock (Berkley)
A Small Death in the Great Glen by A. D. Scott (Atria)
◊ Best Thriller
The Bricklayer by Noah Boyd (Harper)
Bolt Action by Charles Charters (Hodder)
American Assassin by Vince Flynn
On Target by Mark Greaney (Jove)
13 Hours by Deon Meyer (Grove Atlantic)
The Rembrandt Affair by Daniel Silva (Putnam)
◊ Best Short Story
"Requiem for Antlers" by Mitch Alderman (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine)
"Family Values" by Robert Barnard (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
"The Body in the Dunes" by Caroline Benton (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
"The List" by Loren D. Estleman (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
"The Seven Sorrows" by Terence Faherty (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
"When the Apricots Bloom" by Ellen Larson (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine)
New Poster for The Adjustment Bureau
The Adjustment Bureau is scheduled to be in theaters on March 4th, and the studio has released a new poster for the film. (We previously posted an earlier version in November.)
Based on the 1954 short story "Adjustment Team" by Philip K. Dick, the film stars Matt Damon as David Norris, an ambitious politician on the brink of winning a seat in the US Senate, and Emily Blunt as a contemporary ballet dancer he meets while campaigning. But just as he realizes he's falling for her, David learns he is up against the agents of Fate itself — the men of The Adjustment Bureau — who will do everything in their considerable power to prevent David and Elise from being together.
Learn more about the film on The Adjustment Bureau website. Watch the trailer below.
OMN Welcomes Back Clark Hays and Kathleen McFall, Authors of the "Darkly Romantic" Mystery The Cowboy and the Vampire
Omnimystery News is delighted to welcome back Clark Hays and Kathleen McFall, authors of the "darkly romantic" mystery The Cowboy and the Vampire (Midnight Ink, October 2010 Trade Paperback, 978-0-7387-2161-3).
The writing duo visited us two weeks ago with their top ten list of why cowboys should not fall in love with the undead; today they're back with the neurology of love: a Valentine's Day post. And they're also providing our readers with an opportunity to win a copy of their book. Visit Mystery Book Contests, click on the "Clark Hays and Kathleen McFall: The Cowboy and the Vampire" contest link, enter your name, e-mail address, and this code (9193) for a chance to win! (One entry per person; contest ends 02/24/2011.)
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Photo provided courtesy of
Clark Hays and
Kathleen McFall
A few scientists recently decided to test the hypothesis that love endures beyond the irresistible, passion-fueled, drugged-like falling head over heels state that generally, at best, is completely over in a few short years (or even months, sometimes weeks, occasionally days). We found the premise of the study immediately depressing. Why is it such an accepted fact that love can't last and that those who profess eternal attraction must be lying or deluded?
The scientists apparently found 17 people who "claimed" to still be madly in love with their spouses after an average of 21 years of marriage. Each one gazed at a photo of their partner while an fMRI scanned their brain and lo and behold, their neurons fired in the same mad, giddy, ridiculous patterns as those who had just fallen in love!
When we read about this study, we wondered what the outcome would be if our brains had been part of it. We've been married for going on 12 years and still madly in love, more or less, depending on the day of the week and the phase of the moon. But we've also been writing together that entire time. We think the reason we're still in love is because of the writing partnership.
We started writing together in 1998, co-authoring The Cowboy and Vampire, A Darkly Romantic Mystery, released in a sexy second edition October, 2010, after its first publication in 1999.
We decided to write the book early in our relationship during those still heady days of falling in love. During a coffee, pie and cigarette (a habit, gladly, now resigned to the dustbin) stop at Grandma Hoffy's in Madras, Oregon, that conversation went something like this:
> Maybe we should write a book together.
> A trial run for marriage?
> If we can write a book together without killing each other, seems like we may have a chance.
> A romantic novel.
> About what?
> I don't know. Write what you know.
> The west.
> How to be a cowboy.
> I can take that part easy. What do you know?
> Washington, D.C.
> The Cowboy and the Politician?
> Boring.
> The Cowboy and Eleanor Roosevelt?
> Where did that come from?
> The Cowboy and the Redskins?
> Let's step back, if it's going to be about love…
> Our love.
> Okay, our love, sure, well, how does a cowboy feel about love?
> Scared.
> Why?
> Being with you means giving up a way of life.
> You think the city will suck you dry and toss you back lifeless.
> Something like that.
> Like a Vampire.
> Yea, like a Vampire.
That night, Clark started writing. He mailed the first pages — laboriously hand-written, a habit he still stubbornly insists upon — to Kathleen. She edited them (savagely, depending on who you ask), added a few more and then mailed them back to him. The first two chapters were written that way. By the third chapter — interestingly, after a sex scene — we decided to move in together. After that, it took another six months of back and forth writing before we had the first draft of a book — and the foundation for a still-passionate romance.
Eventually, the book became a rare instance in which the conjoined voice is more compelling than the individual voice. For The Cowboy and the Vampire, Clark brought "duct-tape" comedy, a deep knowledge of the western mindset, and a great feel for realistic snappy dialogue; Kathleen brought the spiritual dimension, an east coast mentality and — depending on who you ask – brutal or thorough editing.
Not only do we write fiction together, we also edit, argue, laugh about and talk through mostly everything else we write of consequence: speeches, media releases, articles, earnings reports and the like. We also protect each others' creativity in the face of the relentless need to make money writing.
Writing with your partner gives you a built-in critique and we take turns reading each others' work. During a recent review of a chapter from Blood and Whiskey, the sequel we are now writing went something like this:
> I hate flashbacks and won't write them.
> You are being ridiculous, many writers use flashbacks. The book I'm currently reading uses flashback.
> You're like literary tofu, you pick up the flavors of the authors you're reading.
> You're like literary jerky, hard and inflexible.
> How is it possible we both wrote an identical scene in which "a rivulet of blood dripped from her mouth, down her chin, disappearing in her milky white cleavage?"
Another benefit of writing with a partner is getting that nudge to get to work. In our case, it can be synonymous with competition, which can sometimes spur creativity.
> I bet I can write more than you in 15 minutes.
> Yea, maybe, but it will suck.
> No it won't, you know it won't.
> Okay, 1-2-3, go!
In these mini contests, we always trade what we write immediately and critique it. When one or both of us write something on the steamy side, well, then fiction and reality happily merge.
That gets brings us to another part of the research mentioned earlier in this blog post. The scientists also concluded that the most successful couples are those in which partners help each other expand their ideas of themselves. Writing together definitely does that.
If our brains were scanned after ten years writing together, we think they'd look like jigsaw pieces, each of us providing the perfect fit for the other's neuroses and creativity.
The publishing magic for us clearly seems to be tied to writing together. Together, we must make one awesome storyteller.
To conclude, in the spirit of Valentine's Day which is just around the corner, here are the top ten reasons why a Vampire falls in love with a Cowboy. (Click here for the Top 10 reasons what a Cowboy should not fall in love with a Vampire. Check out our website (www.cowboyandvampire.com) and our Facebook page for lots more fun stuff.)
Top Ten Reasons Why a Vampire Falls in Love with a Cowboy:
1. They like remote places … far from prying eyes.
2. Good with guns — handy for battling werewolves and zombies.
3. Knows how to stay in the saddle longer, which is helpful for late night "rodeos."
4. Looks sexy in jeans and boots.
5. No garlic in cowboy cooking.
6. Cattle make good snacks.
7. The smell of sagebrush on his clothes.
8. Pick-up trucks are perfect for hauling coffins.
9. When a cowboy falls in love, he falls forever
10. Loves slow dancing to the radio in the moonlight.
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About The Cowboy and the Vampire: Reporter Lizzie Vaughan doesn't realize it, but she has 2,000 years of royal Vampiric blood coursing through her veins. Neither she nor Tucker, her cowboy lover, has any idea that Julius, the leader of the undead, has a diabolical plan to reign over darkness for all eternity — with Lizzie at his side.
Lizzie battles for her life — and her soul — as she and Tucker find themselves caught up in a vampire war, pursued by hordes of Julius' maniacal, bloodthirsty followers.
Who will be left standing when the sun rises?
The Cowboy and the Vampire is available in Trade Paperback and popular eBook formats, including Kindle Edition and NookBook.
For a chance to win a copy of The Cowboy and the Vampire, courtesy of the authors, visit Mystery Book Contests, click on the "Clark Hays and Kathleen McFall: The Cowboy and the Vampire" contest link, enter your name, e-mail address, and this code (9193) for a chance to win! (One entry per person; contest ends 02/24/2011.)
Visit a Mysterious Town and Uncover a Terrible Secret in Stray Souls: Dollhouse Story (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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Welcome to a dark and spooky town where something that should not exist runs free; where a desperate wife will risk her beating heart to find her missing husband; and where a terrible secret lies buried behind an orphanage.
Through 12 main chapters, search for clues, solve puzzles, and unlock new areas as you explore 50 spine-chilling locations, play stimulating mini-games and locate hidden objects.
This is a special Collector's Edition, full of exclusive extras not found in the standard version, including an integrated strategy guide, bonus gameplay in the form of a prequel chapter, deleted scenes, soundtrack, and more.
Stray Souls: Dollhouse Story (Collector's Edition) may be downloaded and purchased for $13.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. A demonstration version (274.87 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!
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
CBS Orders Pilot for Crime Thriller Project Person of Interest
Last September we reported that CBS had acquired a crime thriller project developed by J. J. Abrams (Lost, Fringe, Undercovers) and Jonah Nolan (The Dark Knight, The Prestige) titled Person of Interest.
Now we're learning (via Deadline|Hollywood) that CBS has moved the project forward, ordering a pilot. The storyline reportedly involves an ex-CIA hitman and a scientist, who work together to prevent crimes from occurring in the first place. Hmm ... not exactly sure how that would work, but we'll trust Abrams/Nolan to come up with something original here!
Film Adaptation of Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell Moving Forward with New Director
Collider is reporting that D. J. Caruso (I Am Number Four, Eagle Eye, Disturbia) will direct a film adaptation of Josh Bazell's darkly comic suspense novel Beat the Reaper. Leonardo DiCaprio acquired the rights to the book some time ago, and may also star.
In the book, Dr. Peter Brown is an intern at Manhattan's worst hospital, with a talent for medicine, a shift from hell, and a past he'd prefer to keep hidden. Whether it's a blocked circumflex artery or a plan to land a massive malpractice suit, he knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men.
Pietro "Bearclaw" Brnwna is a hitman for the mob, with a genius for violence, a well-earned fear of sharks, and an overly close relationship with the Federal Witness Relocation Program. More likely to leave a trail of dead gangsters than a molecule of evidence, he's the last person you want to see in your hospital room.
Nicholas LoBrutto, aka Eddy Squillante, is Dr. Brown's new patient, with three months to live and a very strange idea: that Peter Brown and Pietro Brnwa might -- just might -- be the same person ...
Now, with the mob, the government, and death itself descending on the hospital, Peter has to buy time and do whatever it takes to keep his patients, himself, and his last shot at redemption alive. To get through the next eight hours -- and somehow beat the reaper.
You can read the first chapter(s) of Beat the Reaper below. Use the Aa settings button to adjust text size, line spacing, and word density.
Dreamworks Acquires Original Screenplay Featuring Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini
Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle and master magician Harry Houdini shared a friendship -- some might say an uneasy one, given Doyle's belief in Spiritualism and Houdini's vehement opposition to it -- during the 1920s. This real-life fact has been the inspiration for a number of fictional stories; see, for example, Gabriel Brownstein's 2005 suspense novel The Man from Beyond.
Now, The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Dreamworks has purchased Voices from the Dead, an original screenplay from J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5, Jeremiah, numerous episodes of Murder, She Wrote and Jake and the Fatman) in which the two men work together with a psychic to solve a series of murders in 1920s New York City.
Cinemax Orders Strike Back, Inspired by the Thriller by Chris Ryan
Inside TV is reporting that Cinemax has ordered Strike Back, a 10-part drama series "inspired" by both the thriller Strike Back, written by the pseudonymous Chris Ryan, a former British Special Forces operative, and the 6-episode UK mini-series adapted from the book.
Production will begin this month with filming in Hungary and South Africa, and feature new characters in a globe-spanning setting.
The book features two soldiers, one a celebrated military hero and the other a broken veteran living in the gutters of London. Their paths last crossed nearly twenty years ago. Now, amidst a hostage crisis in the Middle East, their lives are about to collide again.
While the book is not generally available in the US (the cover above is for a UK re-issue scheduled for publication later this year), the mini-series Chris Ryan's Strike Back (Blu-ray disc) is available. Watch a trailer below.
The Bones Companion App for iPad
If you're a fan of Bones and if you have an iPad, then Fox has an app for you!
The network released a free iPad app last week that lets you get additional information with key scenes and events in the episode as they happen on TV.
Keep your iPad on your lap while you watch Bones and participate with the live show helping to solve cases, decipher forensic speak, listen to and purchase the songs played on the show, comment with fellow fans, and more.
The Bones companion is live with the show and new every week for the rest of the season.
Ding Dong the Diva's Dead by Cat Melodia (Mystery Book Review)
Ding Dong the Diva's Dead by Cat Melodia. A Deborah de Lille Mystery. Camel Press Hardcover, February 2011.
The operatic elements in this very busy debut are presented in an entertaining manner, and some readers will no doubt delight in the madcap adventure amateur sleuth and mezzo soprano Debbie de Lille seems to be on, but the lack of focus on the matter at hand, the whodunit, if you will, probably makes the book somewhat less satisfactory for those seeking a well-developed mystery story.
Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: Ding Dong the Diva's Dead by Cat Melodia.
Purchase Options: 
Read the first chapter(s) of Ding Dong the Diva's Dead below. Use the Aa settings button to adjust text size, line spacing, and word density.
