Penumbra by Carolyn Haines is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Penumbra by Carolyn Haines 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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Penumbra by Carolyn Haines
Non-Series
Tyrus Books

This noir stand-alone, originally published in hardcover in 2006 by Minotaur Books, is written by the author of the cozy Southern Belle mystery series featuring Sarah Booth Delaney.

About Penumbra (from the publisher): Jade Dupree is a beautician and an undertaker’s assistant with a gift for smoothing the ravages of death from the faces of her clientele. But her strange talent isn’t the only thing that sets her apart from the townspeople of tiny Drexel, Mississippi. Jade is half-black and the unacknowledged bastard daughter of Drexel’s “first lady,” the imperious Lucille Longier. Jade’s half sister, the pale, fragile, and legitimate Marlena, is married to Lucas Bramlett, the wealthiest man in the region. While the entire town knows of the blood bond between the two women, no one dares speak the truth out loud. Though her talents as a hairdresser are highly sought after by Drexel’s elite, Jade accepts that she’ll never truly be part of the town and lives her life the best she can.

But on one hot summer day in 1952, Jade’s world is turned inside out when Marlena, on a tryst with her lover, is savagely beaten and her young daughter kidnapped. Determined to find her niece before it’s too late, Jade accepts help from a white sheriff’s deputy, Frank Kimble. The forbidden attraction that ignites between them threatens to add to the violence already brewing in town.

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.

For more free mystery ebooks, visit our Free MystereBooks page.

Winners of the 2011 CWA Dagger Awards Announced

The winners of the 2011 CWA Dagger Awards have been announced by the Crime Writers' Association at an awards ceremony this evening at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel. And they are …

• Gold: Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin (Macmillan)
• Ian Fleming Steel: The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton (Orion)
• John Creasey New Blood: Before I Go To Sleep by S. J. Watson (Doubleday)

Recently Published Indie Mysteries (111007)

We're always on the lookout for new mystery, suspense and thriller books, and with this series of recurring posts, we're looking at Indie Mysteries, books published by small, independent publishers, or self-published, that recently caught our eye ... and may be of interest to you too. Most of these titles, selected primarily from the Smashwords website, are ebook only, though some may also be available in a print format.

Important Note: The prices indicated for these books are current as of the date of this post, may differ between vendors, and can and do change without notice. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

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Dead in the Rose City
by R. Barri Flowers
A Dean Drake Mystery
Self Published (Ebook)
October 2011
Price as of the date of this post: $3.49

Dean Jeremy Drake, nicknamed D.J., is a private investigator and ex-homicide detective for the Portland Police Bureau. He is six-five, hip, tough, armed with a .40 caliber Glock, and courts danger and romance with equal abandon. These qualities are put to the test when Drake is framed for murder in the midst of two seemingly unrelated cases. The more he investigates, the more he realizes they are intricately and dangerously connected. It literally becomes a life and death issue as Drake has to use all his detective skills, and then some, to fit all the pieces together in a deadly, high stakes whodunit and why.

Also available: Kindle edition.

Stalking Sydney
by Andie Alexander
Non-Series
Self Published (Ebook)
October 2011
Price as of the date of this post: $0.99

When Sydney Burke is almost strangled by a serial killer with a penchant for poetry, she becomes the focus of a certain FBI agent named Joe Ross, who’s hunting for the serial killer. Sydney is a stringer—a freelance journalist who races to newsworthy scenes to get video to put on the air for a fee. She unwillingly becomes a target for the serial killer who wants something from her. Between dealing with a crazy ex-boyfriend, paying off gambling debts to a pimp, and staying away from a congressman with Alzheimer’s in a quest for her identity, Sydney has to find the killer and escape the city before she becomes the next victim of his bad poetry and a gun to the head.

Also available: Kindle edition.

Deadly Friendship
by Sam Phillips
A Rick Cunningham Mystery (2nd in series)
Crossroads Publishing (Ebook)
September 2011
Price as of the date of this post: $2.99

A sixteen-year-old crime is revived when a caller to a radio talk show names a killer and concludes with the veiled threat that providence is about to take revenge on all of the participants in the crime. Rick Cunningham is asked to search out the identity and whereabouts of the caller and flush out the truth in a murky world of secrets, conspiracies and murder.

Noho
by James Davis
Non-Series
Wild Wolf Publishing (Ebook)
September 2011
Price as of the date of this post: $0.99

When a dead dancing girl with all the wrong connections is found with Nick Valentine's name scrawled on a scrap of paper in her pocket, life gets a lot more complicated for the disgraced Great War hero. Unwillingly drawn into a web of espionage and crime in the underbelly of 1930's London, Nick soon discovers that who killed her may be less important than why.

Also available: Kindle edition.

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For more recently published Indie Mysteries, visit the Smashwords Mystery and Detective category page or the Thriller and Suspense category page.

New Trailer for The Raven

A new — the first, we think — trailer for The Raven has been posted online; we've embedded it below.

When a mother and daughter are found brutally murdered in 19th century Baltimore, Detective Emmett Fields (Luke Evans) makes a startling discovery: the crime resembles a fictional murder described in gory detail in the local newspaper — part of a collection of stories penned by struggling writer and social pariah Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack). But even as Poe is questioned by police, another grisly murder occurs, also inspired by a popular Poe story.

Realizing a serial killer is on the loose using Poe’s writings as the backdrop for his bloody rampage, Fields enlists the author’s help in stopping the attacks. But when it appears someone close to Poe may become the murderer’s next victim, the stakes become even higher and the inventor of the detective story calls on his own powers of deduction to try to solve the case before it’s too late.

The Raven opens in US theaters on March 9th, 2012.

Blood Safari by Deon Meyer is Today's Second Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Blood Safari by Deon Meyer 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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Blood Safari by Deon Meyer
Non-Series
Grove/Atlantic

About Blood Safari (from the publisher): Emma Le Roux, a beautiful young woman, sees her brother named on the Cape Town news as the prime suspect in the killing of four poachers and a witch doctor. But it can’t be possible: he disappeared twenty years ago in Kruger National Park and is believed to be dead. Emma tries to find out more but is attacked and barely escapes. So she hires Lemmer, a personal security expert, and sets out into the Lowveld in search of the truth. A complicated man with a dishonorable past, Lemmer just wants to do his job and avoid getting personally involved. But as they search for answers from the rural police, they encounter racial and political tensions, greed, corruption, and violence unlike anything they have ever known.

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.

For more free mystery ebooks, visit our Free MystereBooks page.

Scepter of the Ancients by Derek Landy is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Scepter of the Ancients by Derek Landy 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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Scepter of the Ancients by Derek Landy
A Skulduggery Pleasant Novel (1st in series)
HarperCollins

This first in a series of thrillers for tweens introduces Skulduggery Pleasant, a well-dressed, wise-cracking, living-dead, skeleton magician-detective, who takes on 12-year-old Stephanie Edgely as an apprentice, replacing her with a clone so she can devote her full-time energies to fighting crime.

About Scepter of the Ancients (from the publisher): Meet Skulduggery Pleasant. Sure, he may lose his head now and again (in fact, he won his current skull in a poker match), but he is much more than he appears to be—which is good, considering that he is, basically, a skeleton. Skulduggery may be long dead, but he is also a mage who dodged the grave so that he could save the world from an ancient evil. But to defeat it, he'll need the help of a new partner: a not so innocent twelve-year-old girl named Stephanie. That's right, they're the heroes.

Stephanie and Skulduggery are quickly caught up in a battle to stop evil forces from acquiring her recently deceased uncle's most prized possession—the Sceptre of the Ancients. The Ancients were the good guys, an extinct race of uber-magicians from the early days of the earth, and the scepter is their most dangerous weapon, one capable of killing anyone and destroying anything. Back in the day, they used it to banish the bad guys, the evil Faceless Ones. Unfortunately, in the way of bad guys everywhere, the Faceless Ones are staging a comeback and no one besides our two heroes believes in the Faceless Ones, or even that the Sceptre is real.

So Stephanie and Skulduggery set off to find the Sceptre, fend off the minions of the bad guys, beat down vampires and the undead, prove the existence of the Ancients and the Faceless Ones, all while trading snappy, snippy banter worthy of the best screwball comedies.

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).

For more free mystery ebooks, visit our Free MystereBooks page.

Citytv Cancels Murdoch Mysteries

In news from last week that we missed — and for which we are incredibly disappointed — the fifth season of Murdoch Mysteries, currently in production, will be its last.

Based on a character created by crime novelist Maureen Jennings, Canadian-produced Murdoch Mysteries stars Yannick Bisson as William Murdoch, a late 19th century Toronto police detective, who uses cutting edge technology to solve crimes. Murdoch is featured in seven mysteries written by Jennings and published between 1997 and 2007.

Several Canadian newspapers have been pondering the mystery, as it were, of why the show is coming to an end. It's not for lack of viewers, as the recently completed fourth season was its highest rated ever. Some have speculated that the series, a period crime drama, doesn't fit in with the image its network, Citytv, wants to move forward with. The show's producers, who are partnered with ITV in the UK, are optimistic that a sixth season may find a home somewhere.

We've enjoyed the series — see our reviews of Seasons 2 and 3 on Mr. E. Reviews — and are looking forward to seeing Season 4 on DVD.

(Source: Toronto.com.)

New Carina eBook Mysteries for October 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 October 2011 from Carina Press include:

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Unfinished Business by W. Soliman
The Hunter Files (1st in series)

Charlie Hunter retired from the force at 40 to relax, work on his boat and go fishing with his son on weekends, not become an amateur sleuth. But he can't say no to Kara Webb when she seeks his help in tracking down her sister, missing for 15 years.

The disappearance of teenaged Jasmine Webb was one of the first cases Charlie worked on after being made a detective. He's never forgotten it or his suspicions, even after the girl's parents told police they'd heard from her and the file on Jasmine was closed.

When Charlie's son is threatened, finding Jasmine becomes even more important—it's no longer just about closure, it's about protecting his family. Which makes the constant dead ends all the more frustrating. Until Charlie realizes that the question they should be asking isn't where Jasmine is, but who Jasmine has become …

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Hot Trick by Patricia Rosemoor
A Shelley Caldwell Mystery (2nd in series)

Shelley Caldwell's career as a Chicago homicide detective is complicated by her city's supernatural underground, her abilities as a sensitive and her half-vampire lover, Jake DeAtley.

Meeting a crazy banshee with visions of someone drowning in a trunk is the latest strange incident. Shelley ignores the warning — until famous illusionist Sebastian Cole reveals his new trick: escaping from a locked trunk submerged in the Chicago River. Sebastian gets out alive, but a woman across town isn't so lucky. Then another person is found killed in circumstances eerily similar to one of Sebastian's acts.

Shelley is certain there's a link between the magician and the murders. Even more unsettling is the way Sebastian invades her mind and stirs her senses. Not to mention Jake's negative reaction to the man. Can Shelley fight off Sebastian's supernatural influence to determine if he's the killer … or another victim?

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Behind the Scenes by Natalie J. Damschroder
Non-series

Kennedy Smyth's firm provides security for companies and charities in seriously dangerous countries. She doesn't usually take on "frivolous" jobs, but when an old friend asks her to protect his son's movie shoot, she finds it hard to refuse. Also hard to resist is the film's charismatic star, Rogan St. James. The handsome actor piques her interest, while the strange actions of the terrorist threatening the set raise her suspicions.

Even though he's a successful actor, Rogan wants more — a real woman to love, the type he doesn't think exists … until he meets Kennedy. She intrigues him with her confidence and passion for her work, and frustrates him with her refusal to let him get close.

But Kennedy finds herself in a vulnerable position when she discovers that the terrorist isn't actually out to derail the film. She's the real target — and if he finds out how much Rogan means to her, he could be next …

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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.

The Dead Saint by Marilyn Brown Oden is Today's Amazon Kindle Daily Deal

MystereBooks is pleased to feature The Dead Saint by Marilyn Brown Oden as today's Amazon Kindle Daily Deal. The deal price of $1.99 is valid only for today, Friday, October 07, 2011.

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The Dead Saint by Marilyn Brown Oden
A Bishop Lynn Peterson Mystery (1st in series)
Abingdon Press

About The Dead Saint (from the publisher): It begins with a single gunshot, and Bishop Lynn Peterson watches in horror as a good friend, who is a member of the New Orleans Saints, collapses on the street.

When a medal the player wore — a medal Lynn had promised to return to the man's family — disappears, Lynn is thrust into a suspenseful and fast-moving journey through four assassinations, an attempt on her life, conflicts with a mysterious and ancient society, and a behind-the-scenes conspiracy that reaches all the way to the White House.

The turbulent, unstoppable intrigue challenges Lynn mentally, physically, and spiritually as she engages in a desperate battle with an opponent who is just as determined to kill as Lynn is to stop him even though she has no idea where — or who — he will strike next.

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 Kindle Daily Deal 10/07/2011 Download Link.

Mystery Bestsellers for the Week Ending October 07th, 2011

A list of the top 15 mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending October 07th, 2011 has been posted by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books.

Moving up to number one this week is last week's featured title, The Affair by Lee Child. No new titles debut this week.

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The highest ranking new title at number 17 is Tag Man, the 22nd mystery in the Joe Gunther series by Archer Mayor.

Across Brattleboro, Vermont, rich people (some with dark secrets) are waking up in their high security, alarm-equipped homes to find a Post-it note stuck to their bedside tables reading, "You're it." There is little sign of disturbance anywhere, nothing stolen (that anyone admits,) and only a bit of expensive food eaten as a signature. The Press loves the story and dubs the burglar the Tag Man.

But who is he? And what’s he actually doing? In fact, he’s quickly running for his life, for what he discovers in one of these houses appears to be proof of a heinous string of murders. But is it? Joe Gunther, struggling to recover from a devastating personal loss, leads his VBI team to untangle the many conflicting pieces of evidence, while the burglar himself struggles for survival in the no-man’s-land between the police and the villains. With no one knowing what to believe, or who to trust, with Tag Man running for his life in a way he never imagined possible, as no one knows who’s watching as they sleep, or who truly did what.

Purchase Options:

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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.

Mr. E. Reviews Henry's Crime

Purchase/Rental Option(s)

I'm not entirely sure how so much could go so wrong with this film — I actually like the premise and can see where it would have a lot of potential in the right hands and with the right actors — but I certainly don't recommend it as released, even as a rental.

Read the full text of our review at Mr. E. Reviews Henry's Crime.

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

Review: Dandy Gilver and the Proper Treatment of Bloodstains by Catriona McPherson

Dandy Gilver and the Proper Treatment of Bloodstains by Catriona McPherson. A Dandy Gilver Mystery. Minotaur Books Hardcover, August 2011.

There is definitely some appeal in this multi-faceted socialite amateur sleuth, and the murder mystery plot itself is a well developed country manor-style whodunit. But this is also a very wordy, chatty mystery, one in which the reader just wants Dandy to get on with it all and solve the case.

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: Dandy Gilver and the Proper Treatment of Bloodstains by Catriona McPherson.