Partners in Crime by Gallagher Gray is Today's Second Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Partners in Crime by Gallagher Gray as today's second free mystery ebook. 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 we urge you to download it while it is still available for free.

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Partners in Crime by Gallagher Gray
A Hubbert and Lil Mystery (1st in series)
Smashwords

Katy Munger writes three mystery series, one under her own name, one under Chaz McGee, and this one, the Hubbert and Lil, Partners in Crime mysteries, as Gallagher Gray. Originally published in hardcover by Dutton in 1991, Partners in Crime introduces the amateur sleuthing team of Auntie Lil and T. S. Hubbert.

About Partners in Crime (from the publisher): On his first day of early retirement, T. S. is ordered back to work pronto to find out who would have the nerve to invade Sterling & Sterling's hallowed halls with murder in mind. Auntie Lil smells a mystery and promptly butts in, despite T. S.'s efforts to stop her. Together, they investigate a trail that leads them back four decades, to a time when the stuffy old men now in power at Sterling & Sterling were not nearly so old and nowhere near as stuffy. It was a time many of them would like to forget — especially now that it appears retribution may finally be near.

Important Note: Prices can and do change without prior notice, so please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Download Link(s):

Apple Free iBook Download Link (via iTunes).

Smashwords Free Book Download Link.

Steve Martini Thrillers are This Week's Perk at Bookperk

All this week — until Friday, August 19th, 2011 at 11 PM (ET) — BookPerk is offering readers the following deal: Purchase a hardcover edition of Steve Martini's latest Paul Madriani legal thriller, Trader of Secrets, and receive the mass market paperback editions of two previous titles in the series, Guardian of Lies (2009) and The Rule of Nine (2010), for free. As a bonus, shipping is free (to US addresses) for all three books.

To take advantage of this offer, simply visit BookPerk: Steve Martini Thriller Bundle and click on the Buy Now button.

Other "perks" available on the site this week that have a mystery theme associated with them include an offer to get a free ticket to a pizza party with crime novelist Laura Lippman!

(Disclosure: There are no referral links in this post. No incentive was provided by HarperCollins to write this post.)

Mystery and Suspense Films, New This Week on DVD (110816)

Checking through our list of films currently scheduled for release this week on DVD and/or Blu-ray disc, shown below are those that fall into the mystery, suspense, thriller and adventure categories.

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Purchase/Rental Options

The Conspirator (2011)

In the wake of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, seven men and one woman are arrested and charged with conspiring to kill the President, Vice President, and Secretary of State. The lone woman charged, Mary Surratt (Robin Wright), 42, owns a boarding house where John Wilkes Booth (Toby Kebbell), 26, and others met and planned the simultaneous attacks.

Against the ominous backdrop of post-Civil War Washington, newly-minted lawyer Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy), a 28-year-old Union war ero, reluctantly agrees to defend Surratt before a military tribunal. Aiken realizes his client may be innocent and that she is being used as bait and hostage in order to capture the only conspirator to have escaped a massive manhunt, her own son, John (Johnny Simmons).

As the nation turns against her, Surratt is forced to rely on Aiken to uncover the truth and save her life. Directed by Robert Redford. (PG-13; 122 minutes)

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Purchase/Rental Options

Priest (2011)

This post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller is set in an alternate world — one ravaged by centuries of war between man and vampires.

The story revolves around a legendary Warrior Priest from the last Vampire War who now lives in obscurity among the other downtrodden human inhabitants in walled-in dystopian cities ruled by the Church. When his niece is abducted by a murderous pack of vampires, Priest breaks his sacred vows to venture out on a quest to find her before they turn her into one of them. He is joined on his crusade by his niece's boyfriend, a trigger-fingered young wasteland sheriff, and a former Warrior Priestess who possesses otherworldly fighting skills. (PG-13; 87 minutes)

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Purchase/Rental Options

Jane Eyre (2011)

Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, and Judi Dench star in this new adaptation of the Gothic romantic suspense novel by Charlotte Brontë.

When orphaned governess Jane Eyre (Wasikowska) arrives at imposing Thornfield Hall she’s intrigued by her brooding wealthy employer Rochester (Fassbender). His dark moods and the strange occurrences in the house lead her to discover a terrible secret that he had hoped to hide from her forever. (PG-13, 120 minutes)

Telemystery: Dexter, New This Week on DVD

Telemystery, your source for one of the most comprehensive listings of crime drama, amateur sleuth, private investigator, mystery and suspense television series, mini-series and made-for-television movies, now available on or coming soon to DVD or Blu-ray disc, is profiling one series being released this week.

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Michael C. Hall stars as blood spatter expert Dexter Morgan in the Showtime series Dexter. And he ought to know a thing or two about blood: Dexter is a serial killer. The series is based on a character created by crime novelist Jeff Lindsay.

In the aftermath of the fourth season's chilling finale, Rita's death has left Dexter feeling responsible, possibly even … guilty. Unable to deal with the trauma, Dexter makes a drastic decision that will impact everyone around him. Meanwhile, Quinn (Desmond Harrington) stirs up trouble at the station when he notes that Rita's murder, which is being pinned on the Trinity Killer, doesn't fit his normal murder profile. Things get even more heated when Quinn suggests to LaGuerta (Lauren Vélez) that they look at the husband: Dexter Morgan.

Dexter: Season Five is available on DVD and Blu-ray Disc (click on the icons above for more details), and consists of 12 episodes that originally aired on Showtime from September through December, 2010.

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Visit the Telemystery website to discover more television mystery series currently available on and coming soon to DVD, Blu-ray disc, or video on demand.

Guns by Phil Bowie is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Guns by Phil Bowie as today's free mystery ebook. 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 we urge you to download it while it is still available for free.

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Guns by Phil Bowie
A John Hardin Mystery (1st in series)
Medallion Press

After reading the synopsis, you may wonder why this crime novel is called a "John Hardin" mystery. In this first book, Sam Bass enters the Federal witness protection program and is given the identity of John Hardin, the name he uses in the second and third books of the series.

About Guns (from the publisher): Smart, cocksure Sam Bass is a man with a mysterious past. To the handful of inhabitants on a tiny island off the coast of North Carolina, including Valerie, the Cherokee widow whom he loves, Sam is a laid-back pilot-for-hire. When he becomes a local hero after rescuing an elderly couple from their storm-battered boat, the human interest story is picked up by the wire services and draws the attention of men from his past.

Intent on killing him and addressing him as "The Cowboy," the mystery men fail to get Sam but unintentionally kill Valerie, leaving her young son orphaned and Sam hell-bent on revenge. He seeks out Valerie's grandfather and trains with him in the ancient Cherokee way of vengeance before setting out to administer violent justice.

Important Note: Prices can and do change without prior notice, so please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Download Link(s):

Amazon Free Kindle Edition Download Link.

B&N Free Nook Book Download Link.

Apple Free iBook Download Link (via iTunes).

Mystery Godoku Puzzle for August 15, 2011

A new Mystery Godoku Puzzle has been created by the editors of the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books and is now available on our website.

Godoku is similar to Sudoku, but uses letters instead of numbers. To give you a headstart, we provide you a mystery clue to fill in a complete row or column (if you choose to use it!).

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This week's letters and mystery clue:

A C E G I K L M N

Moonlight’s PI Mick St. John was based on this vampire PI in a book by Trevor Munson (9 letters).

We now have two weeks of our puzzles on one page in PDF format for easier printing. Print this week's puzzle here.

Previous puzzles are stored in the Mystery Godoku Archives.

Enjoy the weekly Mystery Godoku Puzzle from the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, and Thanks for visiting our website!

The Lying Game Premieres Monday, August 15th, on ABC Family

Tomorrow, Monday August 15th at 9 PM (ET/PT), ABC Family premieres The Lying Game, a mystery series adapted from a young adult novel of the same title by Sara Shepard.

The Lying Game stars Alexandra Chando as Emma, a foster kid who learns she has an identical twin sister, Sutton (also played by Chandro). After their initial meeting, Sutton talks Emma into stepping into her life for a few days while she pursues a lead on the mysterious identity of their birth mother. After Sutton inexplicably fails to return to the girls’ designated meeting place, Emma must decide whether to come clean about her identity and risk her own safety in the hope of uncovering her twin sister's whereabouts, along with the truth about why they were separated in the first place.

The second entry in the planned 4-book series, Never Have I Ever, was published earlier this month by HarperTeen. Shepard is also the author of "Pretty Little Liars" series of young adult novels, which have also been adapted into the ABC Family series Pretty Little Liars, currently airing its second season on the cable network.

The Wind Knot by John Galligan is Today's Second Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature The Wind Knot by John Galligan as today's second free mystery ebook. 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 we urge you to download it while it is still available for free.

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The Wind Knot by John Galligan
A Ned "Dog" Oglivie Fly Fishing Mystery (4th in series)
Tyrus Books (Adams Media)

Published earlier this year in hardcover by Tyrus Books, the previous titles in the series are The Nail Knot, The Blood Knot, and The Clinch Knot.

About The Wind Knot (from the publisher): After five years of self-imposed exile on the rivers of America, trout bum Ned "Dog" Oglivie has burned his waders and hat, given away his rod, and turned his Cruise Master RV away from the famous Hemingway water in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, bound for reconciliation with his past. But some men never make it home.

Important Note: Prices can and do change without prior notice, so please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Download Link(s):

Amazon Free Kindle Edition Download Link.

Review: Lake Charles by Ed Lynskey

Lake Charles by Ed Lynskey. Non-series. Wildside Press Trade Paperback, June 2011.

Set in eastern Tennessee in the late 1970s, this tautly crafted suspense thriller effectively makes use of its setting and time period. It is a prime example of "state noir" done right.

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: Lake Charles by Ed Lynskey.

Pseudonymous Ngaio Marsh Award Winner Alix Bosco Revealed to be Playwright and Screenwriter Greg McGee

Late last year, Alix Bosco was announced the winner of the inaugural Ngaio Marsh Award for her debut thriller Cut & Run. At the time, it was known that the author had used a pseudonym, but her identity had not been revealed.

Now we're learning (via Crime Watch) that Alix Bosco is playwright and screenwriter Greg McGee, who was first rumored to be the author late last year (but who denied it at the time). You can read much more about why the author chose to reveal his identity in today's Sunday Star•Times (New Zealand).

Alix Bosco's second novel, Slaughter Falls, is also shortlisted for this years Ngaio Marsh Award.

(Hat tip: The Rap Sheet.)

House Report by Deborah Nicholson is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature House Report by Deborah Nicholson as today's free mystery ebook. 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 we urge you to download it while it is still available for free.

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House Report by Deborah Nicholson
A Kate Carpenter Mystery (1st in series)
Smashwords

Originally published in hardcover by Severn House in 2004, this mystery is the first of five in the series written by the author.

About House Report (from the publisher): As the front-of-house manager of a large theatre complex in Calgary, Kate Carpenter is used to several things. She is used to the late nights and the demanding customers. She is used to improvising when things don't go to plan. And she is used to a quiet life in her perfect apartment with her twin addictions of caffeine and good books.

She is not used to finding dead people in her theatre, but that all changes when Kate and her young assistant, Graham, find a dead man in the theatre's public toilets — and the murder weapon was a nail gun belonging to the theatre.

Despite warnings from virtually everyone, Kate is determined to investigate the murder — even when it leads her into serious danger. She is convinced she can be of more use than the detective assigned to the case, and if the murderer is somebody connected with the theatre then she is even keener to get involved. Two brutal attacks later and Kate still has no answers, but will that be enough to persuade her to stay out of the investigation?

Important Note: Prices can and do change without prior notice, so please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Download Link(s):

B&N Free Nook Book Download Link.

Apple Free iBook Download Link (via iTunes).

Smashwords Free Book Download Link.

Review: Stagestruck by Peter Lovesey

Stagestruck by Peter Lovesey. A Peter Diamond Mystery. Soho Crime Hardcover, June 2011.

Actors' superstitions and supposedly haunted theaters provide a fitting backdrop to this fine police procedural. Add to this a storyline in which illusion is reality and nothing is as it seems and the result is another compelling case for DS Diamond.

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: Stagestruck by Peter Lovesey.

Mute Witness by Robert L. Fish is Today's Second Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Mute Witness by Robert L. Fish as today's second free mystery ebook. 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 we urge you to download it while it is still available for free.

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Mute Witness by Robert L. Fish
Non-Series
Rosetta Books

Mute Witness was originally published in 1963 as written by Robert L. Pike, a pen name used by the author. The book was later adapted into the 1968 film Bullitt starring Steve McQueen.

About Mute Witness (from the publisher): For Lieutenant Clancy of the New York Police Department, the assignment of protecting mobster Johnny Rossi soon turns into an investigation into who wants him dead and why.

Important Note: Prices can and do change without prior notice, so please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Download Link(s):

Amazon Free Kindle Edition Download Link.

Yet Another US Poster for the Crime Thriller Drive

The marketing folks at FilmDistrict are working overtime putting out materials for the crime thriller Drive. We recently posted the Comic-Con poster, the trailer, a UK quad poster and TV spot for the film … and now there's yet another new US poster (right; click for larger version).

Adapted from the 2005 stand-alone novel by James Sallis, Drive stars Ryan Gosling as the unnamed "Driver", a professional stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway driver for hire. When he comes to the aid of a buddy, who is being sent "a message", Driver finds himself the target of some of LA's most dangerous men.

The film, which won a Best Director award at this year's Cannes Film Festival for Nicholas Winding Refn, also stars Bryan Cranston, Ron Perlman, Christina Hendricks, Oscar Isaac, and Albert Brooks. It opens in theaters September 16th, 2011.

God Save the Mark by Donald E. Westlake is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature God Save the Mark by Donald E. Westlake as today's free mystery ebook. 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 we urge you to download it while it is still available for free.

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God Save the Mark by Donald E. Westlake
Non-Series
Rosetta Books

Originally published in 1967 by Random House, God Save the Mark went on to win the 1968 Edgar Award for Best Novel.

About God Save the Mark (from the publisher): • mark n. An easy victim; a ready subject for the practices of a confidence man, thief, beggar, etc.; a sucker. (Dictionary of American Slang, Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1960.)

That's the long definition of a mark. But there's a shorter one. It goes …

• mark n. Fred Fitch.

What, you ask, is a Fred Fitch? Well, for one thing, Fred Fitch is the man with the most extensive collection of fake receipts, phony bills of sale, and counterfeit sweepstakes tickets in the Western Hemisphere, and possibly in the entire world. For another thing, Fred Fitch may be the only New York City resident in the twentieth century to buy a money machine. When Barnum said, "There's one born every minute, and two to take him," he didn't know about Fred Fitch; when Fred Fitch was born, there were two million to take him.

Every itinerant grifter, hypester, bunk artist, short-conner, amuser, shearer, short-changer, green-goods worker, pennyweighter, ring dropper, and yentzer to hit New York City considers his trip incomplete until he's also hit Fred Fitch. He's sort of the con-man's version of Go: Pass Fred Fitch, collect two hundred dollars, and move on.

What happens to Fred Fitch when his long-lost Uncle Matt dies and leaves Fred three hundred thousand dollars shouldn't happen to the ball in a pinball machine. Fred Fitch with three hundred thousand dollars is like a mouse with a sack of catnip: He's likely to attract the wrong kind of attention.

Add to this the fact that Uncle Matt was murdered, by person or persons unknown, and that someone now seems determined to murder Fred as well, mix in two daffily charming beauties of totally different types, and you have a perfect setup for the busiest fictional hero since the well-known one-armed paperhanger. As Fred Fitch careers across the New York City landscape — and sometimes skyline — in his meetings with cops, con men, beautiful girls, and (maybe) murderers, he takes on some of the loonier aspects of a Dante without a Virgil.

Important Note: Prices can and do change without prior notice, so please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Download Link(s):

Amazon Free Kindle Edition Download Link.