At Risk by Kit Ehrman is Today's Second Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature At Risk by Kit Ehrman 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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At Risk by Kit Ehrman
A Steve Cline Mystery
Smashwords

Horseman and amateur sleuth Steve Cline is introduced in this first of four mysteries in the series, all originally published in hardcover by Poisoned Pen Press.

About At Risk (from the publisher): Steve Cline seems, at 21, much too young to be in charge of a major stable in Maryland's horse country. His skills and stamina are sorely tested when he's hijacked early one morning along with some of his horses. His escape turns him into a killer's target in an environment where everyone, no matter how innocent, courts risks …

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.

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

Diagnosis Death by Richard L. Mabry is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Diagnosis Death by Richard L. Mabry 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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Diagnosis Death by Richard L. Mabry
A Prescription for Trouble Medical Thriller
Abingdon Press

This third book in a series of four was published as a trade paperback in April 2011.

About Diagnosis Death (from the publisher): The threatening midnight calls followed Dr. Elena Gardner from one city to another, prolonging her grief. Even worse, they are echoed by the whispers of her own colleagues. Whispers that started after her comatose husband died in the ICU … then another mysterious death during her training. When a third happens at her new hospital, the whispers turn into a shout: “Mercy killer!”

Why doesn’t she defend herself? What is the dark secret that keeps Elena’s lips sealed?

Two physicians, widowers themselves, offer support, telling Elena they know what she is going through after the death of her husband. But do they? And is it safe to trust either of them with her secret? Soon Elena will find that even when the world seems to be against her, God is for her, if she'll only trust him.

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.

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

Review: Black Diamond by Martin Walker

Black Diamond by Martin Walker. A Mystery of the French Countryside. Knopf Hardcover, August 2011.

A simple cozy village mystery this is not. What starts out as an interesting, if fairly typical, situation for the Chief of Police to investigate, turns complicated — seemingly unnecessarily so — and very dark about a third of the way in when the first murder occurs, followed by too many intersecting storylines for Bruno to sort through.

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: Black Diamond by Martin Walker.

Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy to be Adapted as Graphic Novels

DC Entertainment announced today that the books of the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson will be adapted into graphic novels. The first, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, will be published in 2012.

"The intricate characters and stories Larsson created in the Millennium Trilogy are a perfect match for the graphic novel format, where we can bring Lisbeth Salander to life in entirely new, visually compelling ways," stated Dan DiDio, co-publisher of DC Entertainment. "It’s a distinct honor to work on a story that is already so popular with millions of readers around the world."

"Stieg always liked comics and it will be exciting to see the unforgettable characters he created come to life on the comics page," says Joakim Larsson, younger brother of the journalist and novelist, who died in 2004 before the first book in the series was published.

No writer or illustrator were announced for the books.

(Source: Press release via Comic Book Resources.)

Nordic Nights by Lise McClendon is Today's Second Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Nordic Nights by Lise McClendon 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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Nordic Nights by Lise McClendon
An Alix Thorssen Mystery (3rd in series)

About Nordic Nights (from the publisher): Hank was found standing over the body of visiting Norwegian artist Glasius Dokken. When Hank won't say a word in his own defense, it falls to his step-daughter, gallery owner and sometime sleuth Alix Thorssen, to clear him and uncover who actually sent Dokken, the painter of myths, to Valhalla. With ancient legends seeming to spring to life around her, and with very real bullets being fired through the windows of Alix's art gallery, her investigation could end with a Viking funeral. The answers may all be hidden in the secrets inscribed on some ancient rune stones.

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.

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

Nefertiti: The Book of the Dead by Nick Drake is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Nefertiti: The Book of the Dead by Nick Drake 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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Nefertiti: The Book of the Dead by Nick Drake
A Rahotep Mystery (1st in series)
HarperCollins

About Nefertiti: The Book of the Dead (from the publisher): She is Nefertiti—beautiful and revered. With her husband, Akhenaten, she rules over Egypt, the most affluent, formidable, sophisticated empire in the ancient world. But an epic power struggle is afoot, brought on by the royal couple's inauguration of an enlightened new religion and the construction of a magnificent new capital. The priests are stunned by the abrupt forfeiture of their traditional wealth and influence; the people resent the loss of their gods—and the army is enraged by the growing turbulence around them. Then, just days before the festival that will celebrate the new capital, Nefertiti vanishes.

Rahotep, the youngest chief detective in the Thebes division, has earned a reputation for his unorthodox yet effective methods. Entrusted by great Akhenaten himself with a most secret investigation, Rahotep has but ten days to find the missing Queen. If he succeeds, he will bask in the warmth of Akhenaten's favor. But if Rahotep fails, he and his entire family will die.

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.

New Promotional/Viral Website for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

In the "for what it's worth" category, the producers of the upcoming film adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo have created a(nother) promotional/viral website with the tagline "What is Hidden in Snow, Comes Forth in the Thaw".

Clicking on the tagline opens another window and after a few seconds some background music can be heard and then a looping image of the street view of the office of Millennium magazine with Daniel Craig appears (and disappears). After a long while — minutes — some voices can be heard, but the words are nearly indecipherable. As near as we can tell, there's nothing else to see or do here, though to be fair we gave up after 5 minutes or so.

Maybe this website is not ready for prime time or maybe we just don't get it — probably the latter.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo opens in US theaters on December 21st, 2011.

Telemystery: Bones and Without Motive, 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 two series being released this week.

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After a much-needed break, forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz) return to the Jeffersonian Institute, along with their team of investigative "squints" for another darkly humorous season of murder, mystery, controversy and chemistry in Bones.

In addition to a vast array of personal crises, ranging from Angela's secret pregnancy to Booth's new relationship with a beautiful reporter, the team tackles a complex caseload of gruesome crimes that includes facing a murderous Chupacabra, a trip to the Jersey Shore, the final return of the Gravedigger, and a vigilante sniper with a deadly link to Booth's past.

Bones: Season Six is available on DVD, Blu-ray, Amazon Instant, and iTunes, and consists of 23 episodes that originally aired on Fox from September 2010 through May 2011. The seventh season of Bones premieres on November 3rd.

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There’s a serial killer on the loose, and it’s up to Detective Constable Jack Mowbray (Ross Kemp) and his team to stop the murders in Without Motive.

Mowbray has seen a lot of disturbing things on the job. But somehow the family man has never taken it home with him—until now. The brutal murder of a young woman in Bristol sets off a chain of events that may change Mowbray forever … and tear his family apart.

When the Bristol murder is linked to a series of recent killings, the investigating team grows to more than a dozen detectives and just as many petty jealousies and full-blown rivalries. Mowbray’s boss, DCS Henderson (Kenneth Cranham), keeps the pressure on as it becomes clear that the latest killing will not be the last. Mowbray and his colleagues race to find a predator who will strike again—without apparent motive.

Without Motive: The Complete Series is available on DVD and consists of 12 episodes that originally aired on ITV over two seasons during 2000 and 2001.

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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.

Mulholland Books Has an Excerpt from the Graphic Novel Ruse: The Victorian Guide to Murder

Mulholland Books is featuring an excerpt from the graphic novel Ruse: The Victorian Guide to Murder (Marvel, October 2011 trade paperback) on its blog this morning, which prompted us to read up on it a bit more. Though comics have long featured crime-fighting superheroes, we're seeing more and more of them featuring crime-solving characters that would be at home in today's popular mystery books, some even written by bestselling novelists (e.g. Charlaine Harris with her Harper Connelly comics and Janet Evanovich with a comic spin-off of her Metro Girl series).

Ruse: The Victorian Guide to Murder is written by Mark Waid and illustrated by Mirco Pierfederici. The first of four issues collected in the graphic novel was published on March 16, 2011, and introduces Simon Archard, the most intelligent of men, renowned as the Victorian world's greatest detective. But when he crosses paths with the mysterious and enchanting Emma Bishop, has the smartest man in the world met his equal?

Here are the descriptions for the other three issues:

Ruse #2 (April 27th, 2011): Simon Archard has had a long string of partners and assistants, none more talented than Emma Bishop. And she'll need her talent now, more than ever — because there's a murderer in Partington who's targeting all of Archard's allies past and present!

Ruse #3 (May 25th, 2011): The City of Partington teeters on the brink of collapse when a deadly string of gambits leaves Simon and Emma at their wit’s end. The games are afoot as Emma and Simon scramble for clues as to who is behind this conspiracy of chaos!

Ruse #4 (June 15th, 2011): The Great Partington Enigma comes to a close as master detective Simon Archard and his partner, Emma Bishop, find themselves at war with one another while trying to save the city they love! What price will Emma have to pay in order to save Simon from his greatest arch-enemy?

See more images from the comics on the Marvel website.

Mystery Godoku Puzzle for October 10, 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 D E H K N O S W

This Motor City "crime" is in the title of the second Will Anderson mystery by D. E. Johnson (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!

Review: India Black and the Widow of Windsor by Carol K. Carr

India Black and the Widow of Windsor by Carol K. Carr. An India Black Mystery. Berkley Prime Crime Trade Paperback, October 2011.

There is plenty of derring-do in this historical mystery, close calls and narrow escapes and the like, but it is really accompanying India Black and the enigmatic French on their adventure that makes this book — and this series — so enjoyable.

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: India Black and the Widow of Windsor by Carol K. Carr.

Review: The Burning by Jane Casey

The Burning by Jane Casey. A Maeve Kerrigan Mystery. Minotaur Books Hardcover, August 2011.

The author does a fine job of balancing the introduction of a new character with a solidly developed murder investigation. Fortunately, this storyline is strong enough to compensate for some of the clichéd situations of a woman working in a man's world.

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: The Burning by Jane Casey.

Brown's Requiem by James Ellroy is Today's Amazon Kindle Daily Deal

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Brown's Requiem by James Ellroy as today's Amazon Kindle Daily Deal. The deal price of $1.99 is valid only for today, Sunday, October 09, 2011.

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Brown's Requiem by James Ellroy
Non-Series
Mysterious Press

This stand-alone novel, originally published in 1981, was adapted into the 2000 feature film Brown's Requiem starring Michael Rooker as Fritz Brown.

About Brown's Requiem (from the publisher): Fritz Brown's L.A. — and his life — are masses of contradictions, like stirring chorals sung for the dead. A less-than-spotless former cop with a drinking problem — a private eye-cum repo man with a taste for great music — he has ben known to wallow in the grime beneath the Hollywood glitter. But Fritz Brown's life is about to change, thanks to the appearance of a racist psycho who flashes too much cash for a golf caddie and who walked away clean from a multiple murder rap. Reopening this case could be Fritz's redemption; his welcome back to a moral world and his path to a pure and perfect love. But to get there, he must make it through a grim, lightless place where evil has no national borders; where lies beget lies and death begets death; where there's little tolerance for Bach or Beethoven and deadly arson is a lesser mortal sin; and where a private eye's unhealthy interest in the past can turn beautiful music into a funeral dirge.

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 10/09/2011 Download Link.

Review: The Killing Song by P. J. Parrish

The Killing Song by P. J. Parrish. Non-series. Pocket Books Mass Market Paperback, August 2011.

This stand-alone thriller features an engaging central character, a Miami crime reporter out of his element in Paris, searching for the man who killed his sister. A slightly disappointing aspect to the storyline is that it isn't all that suspenseful, as the killer's identity is known to the reader from the beginning, leaving very little new to discover.

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: The Killing Song by P. J. Parrish.

Mystery, Suspense and Thriller Adventure and Casual Games, New This Week from BFG (111008)

Games of Mystery is pleased to announce the availability of new mystery, suspense and thriller adventure and casual games from Big Fish Games released during this past week. 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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You play the role of Robert Cath, a fugitive American with a mysterious background, who is on the final journey of the Orient Express from Paris to Constantinople before World War I. Cath, already wanted by the French Police as a suspect of the murder of an Irish police officer, is contacted by an old friend Tyler Whitney through an urgent message in a letter to join him on the Orient Express. The said letter states that there is a possible exit from all of his troubles. Cath boards the train via a motorcycle while it was traveling from one station to another. As soon as Cath boars the luxurious train, he finds Whitney dead, killed by someone else on board the train. To blend in, he disposes of Whitney's body and takes his place, becoming involved in a web of treachery, lies, political conspiracies, personal interests, romance and murder.

Originally released in 1997, The Last Express was considered by game reviewers at the time to be one of the best point-and-click adventure games ever produced, though it was ultimately something of a commercial disappointment.

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Step into this mysterious adventure when Julien hires the world famous Detective Dupin to investigate the sudden death of his beloved Victorine. After her passing, Victorine’s husband, who she has no love for, has her buried incredibly quickly, making Julien uneasy. Become Detective Dupin’s assistant and use your talents to unravel the mystery!

This special collector's edition includes an integrated strategy guide, bonus gameplay, wallpapers and screensavers, concept art, musical soundtrack, the original story from which the game is adapted, and early access.

See also the other games in this series, Dark Tales: Edgar Allan Poe's The Black Cat and Dark Tales: Edgar Allan Poe's Murder in the Rue Morgue.

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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 our 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!