New Teaser Trailer for the 6th Season of Dexter

Showtime has released a new teaser trailer for the sixth season of Dexter with the tagline, "Renewed, recharged, refocused with nothing to stop Dexter from being Dexter".

Based on a character created by crime novelist Jeff Lindsay, Dexter stars Michael C. Hall as a forensic blood spatter expert for the Miami Metro Police Department. When he's not helping the homicide division solve murders, however, he satisfies his dark desires by hunting and killing bad guys who slip through the justice system.

We don't have a return date yet for the series, but previous seasons have premiered in late September.

Mystery Bestsellers for the Week Ending June 17th, 2011

A list of the top 15 mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending June 17th, 2011 has been posted by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books.

Some minor swapping of positions within the top 10 — but no change in the books that represent it — with Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris firmly at the top spot. One new title enters the list this week.

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Entering the list in the 11th spot is the latest James Bond thriller Carte Blanche by Jeffery Deaver.

James Bond, in his early thirties and already a veteran of the Afghan war, has been recruited to a new organization. Conceived in the post-9/11 world, it operates independent of MI5, MI6 and the Ministry of Defense, its very existence deniable. Its aim: To protect the Realm, by any means necessary.

A Night Action alert calls James Bond away from dinner with a beautiful woman. Headquarters has decrypted an electronic whisper about an attack scheduled for later in the week:

Casualties estimated in the thousands, British interests adversely affected.

And Agent 007 has been given carte blanche to do whatever it takes to fulfill his mission ...

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For more mystery books news, 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.

Iris Johansen's The Killing Game to be Adapted as Lifetime Movie

Laura Preppon has been cast to play Eve Duncan in a Lifetime made-for-television adaptation of Iris Johansen's 1999 thriller The Killing Game. Naomi Judd will co-star as Eve's mother, Sandra Duncan.

In the book, a merciless killer on the hunt ... an innocent child in his sights ... a woman driven to the edge to stop him ...

The killer knows Eve Duncan all too well. He knows the pain she feels for her murdered daughter, Bonnie, whose body has never been found. He knows that as one of the nation's top forensic sculptors she'll insist on identifying the nine skeletons unearthed on a bluff near Georgia's Talladega Falls. He knows she won't be able to resist the temptation of believing that one of those skeletons might be her daughter's. But that is only the beginning of the killer's sadistic game. He wants Eve one on one, and he'll use his ace in the hole to make sure she complies. And he won't stop playing until he claims the prize he wants most: Eve's life.

(Source: The Hollywood Reporter.)

Final Trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

We were dumbstruck at how boring -- mind-numbingly boring -- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 was. In our review, we asked, "Where's the magic?"

Well, maybe the producers were saving it all for Part 2. The final trailer before the film's release next month has been posted online, which we've embedded below. If the scenes in the trailer are any indication, Part 2 may be as dynamic and exciting as Part 1 was tedious and dull ... and now we're actually looking forward to seeing it!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 hits theaters July 15th, 2011.

Review: The Inspector and Silence by Håkan Nesser

The Inspector and Silence by Håkan Nesser. A Van Veeteren Mystery. Pantheon Hardcover, June 2011.

This is an old-fashioned whodunit-style crime novel, a nicely crafted mystery with a minimum of high technology and forensics. At the end of the day, it is solid police work -- with some assistance from an anonymous tipster -- that solves the crime.

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: The Inspector and Silence by Håkan Nesser.

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Read the first chapter(s) of The Inspector and Silence below. Use the Aa settings button to adjust text size, line spacing, and word density.

Finalists for the 2011 Canadian Children's Book Centre Awards Announced

The finalists for the 2011 Canadian Children's Book Centre Awards have been announced, including the new category for the John Spray Mystery Award. The winners of the English-language awards will be announced at an invitation-only gala event at The Carlu in Toronto on October 4th, 2011.

The finalists in the mystery category are ...

◊ Borderline by Allan Stratton (HarperTrophy), Non-Series.

◊ Dead Bird Through the Cat Door by Jan Markley (Gumboot Books), a Megabyte Mystery.

◊ The Mystery of the Cyber Bully by Marty Chan (Thistledown Press), a Marty Chan Mystery.

◊ A Spy in the House by Y. S. Lee (Candlewick Press), a Mary Quinn Agency Mystery.

◊ Victim Rights by Norah McClintock (Red Deer Press), a Ryan Dooley Mystery.

(Hat tip to In Reference to Murder.)

OMN Welcomes Barry S. Brown, Author of the Mrs. Hudson Mysteries

Omnimystery News is pleased to welcome Barry S. Brown, whose second mystery to feature Sherlock Holmes's landlady, Mrs. Hudson and the Irish Invincibles (Sunstone Press, May 2011 Trade Paperback, 978-0-86534-819-6), has just been published.

Today Barry asks us, how much do we really know about Mrs. Hudson?

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It is 1881. Victoria rules the British Empire while the domains of nearly all other women extend only to the limits of their kitchens. To make her way in a world that extends beyond cooking and cleaning, a woman needs extraordinary skills and a fool-proof plan. Mrs. Hudson possesses both.

For 29 years she and her "uncommon common constable" husband, Tobias Hudson, spent evenings together planning the steps needed to solve the most complex crime they could find in that day’s news. Days she went to the Reading Room of the British Museum to request such works as Rokitansky’s Treatise of Pathological Anatomy from clerks who scoured the paper the next day for news of a horrendous crime perpetrated by the stub of a woman they had served the day before. All the while she honed skills at inferring mood and background from observation of the behavior and characteristics of people she met or simply passed on the street. When Tobias died she was prepared to open the first of its kind consulting detective agency as tribute to him and to fill the hours made empty by his death. And that was where her fool-proof plan came into play.

Employing the lodgings she and Tobias had leased years before, she advertised "rooms to let, good location, applicant should possess an inquiring mind and a curiosity about human behavior." Of the applicants she interviewed, a tall slender chemist appeared the best of the lot. Sherlock Holmes had a high forehead suggesting intellect and a haughty self-assurance she believed would encourage the confidence of others. He claimed skills in boxing and fencing and, while she doubted there would be a significant role for swordplay, she thought the ability to mix with the toughs they would inevitably encounter could prove useful. Importantly, he brought with him the level-headed Dr. John Watson to whom Mrs. Hudson took immediately.

Knowing these events, and convinced therefore that the great lady had been done irreparable harm by Watson’s accounts, I set forth to re-write and to right the record of Mrs. Hudson’s achievements. The result of those labors was The Unpleasantness at Parkerton Manor, published about a year ago by Sunstone Press.

However, there was a surprise to come after being published and the month-long bacchanal following that event. I discovered to my dismay there was a virtual army of those still writing and still claiming Sherlock Holmes to be the sage of 221B. I had, of course, known of Laurie King, but assumed that Ms. King would move gracefully aside as Mrs. Hudson came on the scene. (To date Ms. King hasn’t seen fit to budge.) Quite simply, I had no idea of all the other writers comfortably enmeshed in 19th and early 20th century London and eager to lead Holmes and Watson yet again through its streets and alleys before returning them in triumph to their sitting room in Baker Street for a quiet pipe or two. Stunned by the crowd of true believers surrounding me, I took comfort from the words of the reviewer for The District Messenger, Newsletter of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London, who reported that I "was the first to suggest that [Mrs. Hudson] was the true detective genius at 221B Baker Street," and further describing her as "a likeable character, ... and disconcertingly credible." The reviewer goes on to describe the adventures I recount as "a gloriously complex and improbable scenario" no doubt inserting the word "improbable" to placate the inevitable diehards who refuse to relinquish their view of Sherlock Holmes.

Nonetheless, I was sufficiently heartened to write a second Mrs. Hudson, the recently published Mrs. Hudson and the Irish Invincibles, leading my publisher to declare the two books the Mrs. Hudson of Baker Street mystery series while others have described them as two books. As in the first of the two, historical characters and events are woven into the story to assure the reader of the accuracy of my reporting.

And so I remain adamant that Mrs. Hudson be given her due, allowing others to champion the investigative skills of the young Holmes and the old Holmes, and of the single Holmes and the married Holmes. We are joined only in paying equal tribute to the country doctor who sold all rights to his first book, A Study in Scarlet, for £25 and received that only after suffering the rejections of the numerous publishers certain that his work would never find a readership.

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When not busy unmasking Sherlock Holmes, Barry S. Brown is engaged in research into social problems in a career that has led to work in mental hospitals, prisons, and drug abuse treatment agencies. He has published two books of non-fiction and more than 100 papers and chapters based on that work. He now lives with his wife, Ann, in North Carolina, a safe distance from the mayhem of Victorian London.

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About Mrs. Hudson and the Irish Invincibles: When Moira Keegan tries to recruit Sherlock Holmes to save her father's life, Holmes, Watson and Mrs. Hudson do their best to convince the 12-year old that she has misunderstood her father's situation. When, a short time later, they read that Moira's father was found dead in a sleazy waterfront inn, the members of London's premier consulting detective agency have a new client and a singular purpose. In this, the second in the Mrs. Hudson of Baker Street series, the part-time housekeeper and full-time sage of 221B will lead her colleagues in a quest for justice that will put them at odds with Scotland Yard, Irish revolutionaries, religious zealots, and even the London Times. Before Mrs. Hudson can bring everything to right she will need to enlist the assistance of Charles Stewart Parnell, the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, and his mistress Katharine O'Shea.

Mrs. Hudson and the Irish Invincibles is available as a Trade Paperback.

Three Canadian Crime Novelists Have Their Books Optioned for TV

The works of three Canadian crime novelists have been optioned for television by Bell Media, which owns CTV.

The authors are: William Deverell, whose legal thrillers with a comic twist feature retired lawyer Arthur Beauchamp; Giles Blunt, whose series character is detective John Cardinal; and former criminal defense attorney Robert Rotenberg, who has just published his second stand-alone.

Deverell was the winner of the 1997 Hammett Award for Trial of Passion, while Blunt has been honored with the 2001 CWA Silver Dagger Award for Forty Words of Sorrow and the Arthur Ellis Award in 2004 for The Delicate Storm. Blunt intends to adapt his own novels for television.

"These projects exemplify our commitment to developing great Canadian programming. And we are equally delighted to be working with terrific Canadian screenwriters to adapt these novels and bring them to the screen," said Corrie Coe, senior vice-president of independent production for Bell Media, in a press release.

With the borders between local programming blurring all the more with international video on demand and the like, it's possible that fans of crime dramas here in the US will be able to enjoy these adaptations at some point in the future.

(Source: National Post.)

Review: Hell Is Empty by Craig Johnson

Hell Is Empty by Craig Johnson. A Walt Longmire Mystery. Viking Hardcover, June 2011.

This is not a typical crime novel, with the Wyoming Sheriff, in pursuit of an escaped killer through mountainous territory during a particularly brutal snowstorm, alone most of the time and, in a twist for a series-based thriller, being the source of much of the suspense.

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: Hell Is Empty by Craig Johnson.

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Read the first chapter(s) of Hell Is Empty below. Use the Aa settings button to adjust text size, line spacing, and word density.

Another Studio Tries to Bring Harlan Coben's Tell No One to US Theaters

Last summer we posted about a studio project to create an English-language film adaptation of Harlan Coben's thriller Tell No One. (The book has already been adapted as the 2006 French film Ne le dis a personne.)

Now we're learning that the project has taken yet another turn, this time with Ben Affleck attached to direct a screenplay by Chris Terrio for Warner Bros. (Somewhat oddly, Deadline|New York seems to imply that this would be a remake of the French film, not an English language adaptation of the book. It may be a subtle difference, but it seems to be a distinction worth mentioning.)

The book was originally published in 2002 and apparently has been in the hands of several studios since then. It is a stand-alone — Coben is also the author of the Myron Bolitar mystery series — and involves a man, David Beck, whose wife was kidnapped and murdered ... or was she? A message has appeared on his computer, a phrase only he and his dead wife know. Suddenly Beck is taunted with the impossible — that somewhere, somehow, she is alive. Beck has been warned to tell no one. And he doesn't. Instead, he runs from the people he trusts the most, plunging headlong into a search for the shadowy figure whose messages hold out a desperate hope. But already Beck is being hunted down. He's headed straight into the heart of a dark and deadly secret — and someone intends to stop him before he gets there.

(Source: Deadline|New York.)

Watch a Preview of the Fifth Season Opener of Burn Notice

Burn Notice returns for a fifth season on June 23rd, but you can get a preview of the season opener below.

The USA Network crime drama stars Jeffrey Donovan as "burned" spy Michael Westen, who at the end of last season came "in from the cold" (as it were). But is everything as it seems? In an episode titled "Company Man", Westen is now working alongside his old agency to bring down the people who burned him ... and follows a trail that leads them to the heart of Venezuela.

Burn Notice also stars Gabrielle Anwar as Westen's ex-girlfriend and Bruce Campbell as his buddy Sam Axe.

(Source: AOL-TV.)

The Fear Index, a Financial Thriller by Robert Harris, Optioned for Film

Robert Harris's yet-to-be-published financial thriller, The Fear Index, has been optioned for film by Fox 2000.

The title refers to the VIX, the ticker symbol for the Volatility Index that measures implied volatility of the S&P 500; it is also commonly referred to as the "fear index".

The book is set entirely over the course of a single day. Dr. Max Hoffman is a legend, a physicist once employed on the Large Hadron Collider, who now uses a revolutionary and highly secret system of computer algorithms to trade on the world's financial markets. None of his rivals is sure how he does it, but somehow Hoffman's hedge fund -- built around the standard measure of market volatility, the VIX -- generates astonishing returns for his investors.

Late one night, in his house beside Lake Geneva, an intruder disturbs Hoffman and his wife while they are asleep. Over the next few hours, as the markets edge towards another great crash, Hoffman's world disintegrates. But who is trying to destroy him?

The Fear Index is being published in September 2011 by Hutchinson in the UK, and in January 2012 by Knopf in the US.

(Source: Deadline|New York.)

The Watchman by Robert Crais is Today's Featured Free Nook Book Mystery

MystereBooks is pleased to feature a mystery title that is currently available as a Nook Book 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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The Watchman by Robert Crais
A Joe Pike Mystery (1st in series)
Simon & Schuster (Nook Book)
Download Link

About The Watchman (from the publisher): When the U. S. Marshals and the finest private security firm that money can buy can't protect Larkin Conner Barkley from the men who want her dead, her wealthy family hires the one man money can't buy to protect their daughter - Joe Pike. Joe owes a bad man a favor, and the favor is to protect Larkin, a spoiled, self-centered, rich girl who happens to be a federal witness in a case the feds are putting together to bust a crime cartel linking organized mobsters and West Coast industrialists. And when Pike learns that the man he'll be working for is one of his oldest and most trusted friends - his former LAPD training officer, Bud Flynn - Pike signs on and commits himself to protecting the girl's life.

But Pike and the girl immediately come under intense fire, and Pike realizes that someone is leaking information that could get them both killed. Turning to his friend Elvis Cole for help, Pike's investigation soon reveals a web of lies and deceptions, half-truths and betrayals, and the stunning revelation that even the cops are not who they seem.

Read our Review of The Watchman by Robert Crais at Mysterious Reviews.

New Carina eBook Mysteries for June 2011

Each month, Omnimystery News is pleased to present new mystery and suspense titles from Carina Press, an ebook only publisher. Links are provided to purchase the ebook from, where available, Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble, Kobo Books, or the Apple iBookstore; click on the banner to the right to be taken to the CarinaPress.com website to browse for other titles.

New ebooks of mystery and suspense for June 2011 from Carina Press include:

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No One To Trust by Julie Moffett
A Lexi Carmichael Mystery

SWFG: Single, White, Female, Geek.

That's me, Lexi Carmichael, a reformed hacker who was gainfully employed by the National Security Agency. But a series of extraordinary events led me to leave government life behind for a fresh start with a brand-new company and an incredibly sexy boss, Finn Shaughnessy. It may not be kosher to have the hots for your boss, but he seems to have the hots for me, too. If only things didn't get so complicated ...

Darren Greening, a genius researcher from Flow Technologies (our first client!) is missing, and his bosses think I'm involved. And they aren't the only ones—the man who nearly snapped my neck in the parking garage thinks so, too.

Now I'm caught in the middle of a complex and dangerous case. I'll have to use all my geek skills and a little help from my friends to solve the mystery of Darren's disappearance before Neck-Snapping-Man makes a return visit ...

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The First Victim by J. B. Lynn
Non-series

She was like all the other victims. Naked, flawed, helpless ...

Fifteen years ago, Emily Wright barely escaped from a serial killer dubbed the Baby Doll Strangler. She wants nothing to do with the small town where she was abducted, but when her father is hospitalized she reluctantly returns home to care for her teenage sister.

When her sister's friend is killed and left in front of Emily's house, Emily begins to relive the nightmare she endured long ago. Soon she realizes that her sister, too, is in danger from the killer—and the only person who can help is the man Emily left behind: Deputy Bailey O'Neil. Together, Emily and Bailey must discover the killer's identity before he claims his next victim ...

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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, Kobo eReader BlackBerry and mobile phones.

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

Teaser Trailer for the Fourth Season of Damages

DirecTV has posted a teaser trailer for the fourth season of the legal thriller Damages, which will air exclusively on the satellite provider starting July 13th, 2011. We've embedded the video below.

Glenn Close and Rose Byrne return as attorneys Patty Hewes and Ellen Parsons, this season working on "a wrongful-death suit filed against a military contractor over something that happened in a war zone." John Goodman will play the contractor's CEO, who becomes the defendent in the case.