Mystery Bestsellers for the Week Ending January 13, 2012

A list of the top 15 mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending January 13th, 2012 has been posted by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books.

Last week's number one, Death Comes to Pemberley, a stand-alone novel by P. D. James, retains its spot at the top this week by a comfortable margin. In second position is a former number one, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson, which after nearly dropping out of the top 10, has climbed strongly in recent weeks.

Two new titles debut.

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At number 11 is Believing the Lie, the 16th Inspector Thomas Lynley mystery by Elizabeth George.

Lynley is mystified when he's sent undercover to investigate the death of Ian Cresswell at the request of the man's uncle, the wealthy and influential Bernard Fairclough. The death has been ruled an accidental drowning, and nothing on the surface indicates otherwise. But when Lynley enlists the help of his friends Simon and Deborah St. James, the trio's digging soon reveals that the Fairclough clan is awash in secrets, lies, and motives.

Deborah's investigation of the prime suspect — Bernard's prodigal son Nicholas, a recovering drug addict — leads her to Nicholas's wife, a woman with whom she feels a kinship, a woman as fiercely protective as she is beautiful. Lynley and Simon delve for information from the rest of the family, including the victim's bitter ex-wife and the man he left her for, and Bernard himself. As the investigation escalates, the Fairclough family's veneer cracks, with deception and self-delusion threatening to destroy everyone from the Fairclough patriarch to Tim, the troubled son Ian left behind.

Purchase Options:

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At number 15 is the 3rd Wyatt Hunt thriller, The Hunter by John Lescroart.

Raised by loving adoptive parents, San Francisco private investigator Wyatt Hunt never had an interest in finding his birth family — until he gets a chilling text message from an unknown number: "How did ur mother die?"

The answer is murder, and urged on by curiosity and the mysterious texter, Hunt takes on a case he never knew existed, one that has lain unsolved for decades.

Child Protective Services, who suspected but could never prove that Hunt was being neglected, is uninformed; his birth father, twice tried but never convicted of the murder, is in hiding; Evie, his mother's drug-addicted religious fanatic of a friend, is untraceable. And who is the texter, and how are they connected to Hunt?

Yet in the present, time is running out. The texter, who insists the killer is out there, refuses to be identified. The cat-and-mouse game leads Hunt across the country and eventually to places far more exotic — and far more dangerous. As the chase escalates, so does the threat, for the killer has a secret that can only be trusted to the grave.

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.

Two New Posters for The Woman in Black

Two new posters for the film adaptation of The Woman in Black, the Gothic thriller by Susan Hill, have been released, one for the US (right; click for larger version) and one for the UK (bottom). Each has the own tagline: She'll never let go (US) and Fear her curse (UK).

Daniel Radcliffe stars as young solicitor Arthur Kipps, who is hired to attend to the affairs of the late Mrs. Alice Drablow. But upon his arrival to the remote village where she lived, he soon discovers that the town is keeping a deadly secret: the house belonging to his client is haunted by the ghost of a woman, who is determined to find someone — and something — she lost …

Janet McTeer and Ciarán Hinds co-star. The Woman in Black opens in US theaters February 3rd, 2012, and a week later in the UK.

A Detailed Man by David Swinson is Today's Second Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature A Detailed Man by David Swinson as today's second free mystery ebook. We don't know how long it will be offered at this special price (typically for a limited time only or 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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A Detailed Man by David Swinson
Non-Series
Publisher: Dymaxicon Books

This is the author's debut thriller, which may also be the first of a series to feature the Washington DC homicide detective Ezra Simeon.

About A Detailed Man (from the publisher): Half of DC Police Detective Ezra Simeon’s face is immobilized from a persistent case of Bell’s Palsy—he must drink through a straw and eat carefully to avoid chewing through his own cheek. He has been detailed from robbery to the cold case department while he heals.

“How odd to dream with one eye open, like having one foot in reality,” Sim muses in the dark, bluesy vein that is typical of his Chandler-esque narration. “That’s what makes dreaming dangerous and why I moved my gun farther from the bed.”

Detective Simeon’s half-frozen world begins to heat up when a friend from his Academy days drops dead of a heart attack, and Sim is tapped to replace him, detailed now to homicide, where he inherits the high-profile case of a murdered escort he alone thinks may be the victim of a serial killer.

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.

Dying for Justice by L. J. Sellers is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Dying for Justice by L. J. Sellers as today's free mystery ebook. We don't know how long it will be offered at this special price (typically for a limited time only or 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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Dying for Justice by L. J. Sellers
A Wade Jackson Mystery
Publisher: Spellbinder Press

This is the fourth mystery in this series featuring Eugene (Oregon) police detective Wade Jackson.

About Dying for Justice (from the publisher): When Gina wakes up from a two-year coma, she realizes someone tried to kill her and make it look like suicide. Detective-in-training Lara Evans is assigned the case, but when she discovers who the main suspect is, she fears she’s in way over her head.

Meanwhile Detective Jackson learns the man in prison for murdering his parents is innocent of the crime and another officer coerced the detainee into a confession.

As the two investigators work the cold files, members of their own department come under suspicion and their cases begin to overlap. Can they find the killers before the crimes of the past explode in the present?

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.

Who Killed Rosie Larsen Won't Be Revealed until the End of Season Two

No disrespect intended, but is the executive producer of The Killing living in an alternate reality?

For those who may have forgotten, the outstanding — up until the final episode — American version of the Danish crime drama Forbrydelsen left its viewers unexpectedly hanging at the end of the first season without a resolution to the whole premise of the season: Who Killed Rosie Larsen? AMC renewed the crime drama for a second season, and those of us who were disappointed with the outcome of the first fully expected that whodunit would be revealed within the first episode or two of the second.

We were wrong.

In a lengthy profile in the January 2012 issue of Written By (Writers Guild of America, West), Veena Sud, who produces the The Killing, her first television adaptation, says she does not make decisions by committee — i.e. the viewers that watch the show and ultimately determine its success or failure — adding, "Our intent was not to mislead or betray. We talked about the fans, and their passion, and all of the stuff that was being said on the internet. But the bottom line is, we close the door and we're a bunch of people in the room, and our job was, and continues to be, to tell the story that feels right by us."

The last sentence of the article is the most chilling … at least to us: "For the record, who killed Rosie Larsen won't be revealed until the end of season two."

(Not that it matters one way or the other, but Forbrydelsen identified whodunit at the end of its first season.)

After feeling completely misled by how the first season played out, we weren't sure we were going to watch the second season. That decision seems to have been made for us before it even begins. For those that plan on watching despite the arrogance of Veena Sud and her team, AMC hasn't scheduled a premiere date but it will likely be later this spring.

BBC Announces Crime Drama Updates

In addition to the news that the BBC is developing a mini-series adaptation of Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone, the British television network made a number of other crime drama-related announcements.

• Death in Paradise, featuring a London detective who is sent to a fictional Caribbean island to solve the murder of a colleague and ends up joining the police force there, has been renewed for a second season.

• Matthew Macfadyen has been cast in the lead role of a new historical crime series, Ripper Street. Set in 1889, the action is centered on the police precinct H Division, which is responsible for maintaining order in the area following the "Ripper" murders.

• Denis Lawson will join New Tricks for its ninth season following the departure of James Bolam.

• Sean Bean, Anna Maxwell Martin and Stephen Graham have been cast in Accused, which follows a different character in each episode as they await their verdict in court, and tells the story behind how they find themselves accused. The series won an International Emmy in 2001.

BBC to Develop Mini-Series Adaptation of The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

The BBC announced today (via a press release) that it has commissioned five new dramas for BBC One, including one adapted from the classic mystery The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins.

Published in 1868, The Moonstone is regarded by many to be the first detective novel, introducing Sergeant Cuff of Scotland Yard, who is called in to solve the theft of the titular gem — actually a diamond — and in the process uncovers secrets, lies, passion, hypocrisy, and … murder.

The 3-part mini-series is expected to air in December 2012.

The Finder Premieres Thursday, January 12th on Fox

The Finder premieres tomorrow, Thursday January 12th, at 9 PM (ET/PT) on Fox.

Geoff Stults stars as Iraqi war veteran Walter Sherman, who gained a reputation in his army days as being the go-to guy for tracking down insurgents and deserters and finding improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Unfortunately one IED found Walter before he could find it, resulting in severe brain damage with a lasting and unexpected effect. Walter transformed from someone skilled at the standard recovery of people and things to someone much more extraordinary: a Finder.

With this newly discovered "Finder Power," Walter locates almost anything for just about anyone. Once he's on a case, there's no turning back until he's found exactly what he's looking for — whether that's a dead body, a missing father, a guitar pick, a murder weapon or a pair of lucky socks.

Michael Clarke Duncan stars as Walter's legal advisor and brother-in-arms Leo Knox. He owns the ramshackle Ends of the Earth bar on Looking Glass Key, which also serves as a makeshift office and home base for Walter.

Because of his rare skills, Walter is often asked to find a person or a thing that law enforcement either will not or cannot find. Walter's occasional social ineptitude, general paranoia and case-related tunnel vision make him somewhat difficult to work with, but thanks to the help and guidance of Leo, as well as the grateful friends and connections he has made through his work, he ultimately finds meaning in his own life by finding someone or something other people have lost.

In the opening episode titled "An Orphan Walks Into A Bar", a teen asks Walter to locate his father, who went missing after his plane vanished in the Florida wilderness. Meanwhile, Leo tries to make a paroled juvenile delinquent feel at home at the Ends of the Earth; and Walter helps Creedence Clearwater Revival's John Fogerty recover a stolen guitar.

Based on a character created by Richard Greener, author of "The Locator" suspense thrillers, Walter Sherman was introduced on an episode of Bones last season. Watch a short preview for this new series below.

Contraband Opens in Theaters Friday, January 13th

The crime thriller Contraband opens in theaters this Friday, January 13th, 2012.

Set in New Orleans, the film stars Mark Wahlberg as Chris Farraday, who long ago abandoned his life of crime. But after his brother-in-law, Andy (Caleb Landry Jones), botches a drug deal for his ruthless boss, Tim Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi), Chris is forced back into doing what he does best — running contraband — to settle Andy's debt.

Chris is a legendary smuggler and quickly assembles a crew with the help of his best friend, Sebastian (Ben Foster), to head to Panama and return with millions in counterfeit bills. Things quickly fall apart and with only hours to reach the cash, Chris must use his rusty skills to successfully navigate a treacherous criminal network of brutal drug lords, cops and hit men before his wife, Kate (Kate Beckinsale), and sons become their target.

Directed by Baltasar Kormákur, Contraband is rated R for violence, pervasive language and brief drug use. Watch a trailer for the film below.

The Mystery Bookshelf: Potsdam Station by David Downing, a John Russell Mystery

The Mystery Bookshelf, where you can discover a world of mystery and suspense, is pleased to feature a new crime novel we recently received from the publisher.

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Potsdam Station by David Downing
A John Russell Mystery (4th in series)
Soho Crime (Trade Paperback)
Publication Date: January 2012
ISBN-13: 978-1-61695-073-6

About Potsdam Station (from the publisher): In April 1945, Hitler’s Reich is on the verge of extinction. Assaulted by Allied bombs and Soviet shells, ruled by Nazis with nothing to lose, Berlin has become the most dangerous place on earth.

John Russell’s son Paul is stationed on the Eastern Front with the German Army, awaiting the Soviets’ final onslaught. In Berlin, Russell’s girlfriend Effi has been living in disguise, helping fugitives to escape from Germany. With a Jewish orphan to care for, she’s trying to outlast the Nazis.

Russell hasn’t heard from either of them since fleeing Germany in 1941. He is desperate to find out if they’re alive and to protect them from the advancing Red Army. He flies to Moscow, seeking permission to enter Berlin with the Red Army as a journalist, but when the Soviet’s arrest him as a spy, things look bleak—until they find a use for him that has him parachuting into Berlin behind German lines.

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About the author: A native of suburban London, David Downing is the author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction for both adults and children, including four crime thrillers featuring Anglo-American journalist John Russell. (The fifth, Lehrter Station, is published in May 2012.) He lives with his wife in Guildford, England.

 Crime novels by David Downing reviewed by Mysterious Reviews: Zoo Station (2007), Silesian Station (2008), Stettin Station (2010) and Potsdam Station (2011).

Purchase Options for Potsdam Station:

Watch Me Die by Lee Goldberg is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Watch Me Die by Lee Goldberg as today's free mystery ebook. We don't know how long it will be offered at this special price (typically for a limited time only or 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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Watch Me Die by Lee Goldberg
A Harvey Mapes Mystery
Publisher: Adventures in Television

Originally published in hardcover by Five Star under the title The Man with the Iron-On Badge, this mystery could easily have been the first in an entertaining series. The author, however, lists it as a stand-alone on his website.

About Watch Me Die (from the publisher): Harvey Mapes is a twenty-nine-year-old security guard who spends his nights in a guard shack outside a gated community in Southern California, reading detective novels, watching TVLand reruns, and waiting for his life to finally start … which happens when Cyril Parkus, one of the wealthy residents, asks Harvey to follow his beautiful wife Lauren.

The lowly security guard jumps at the opportunity to fulfill his private eye fantasies and use everything he's learned from Spenser, Magnum, and Mannix. But things don't exactly go according to the books … or the reruns. As Harvey fumbles and stumbles through his first investigation, he discovers that the differences between fiction and reality can be deadly. With the help of his mortgage-broker neighbor and occasional lover Carol, Harvey uncovers a blackmail plot that takes a sudden and unexpectedly tragic turn … plunging him into a world of violence, deception, and murder … and forcing him to discover what it really takes to be a private eye.

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.

The Kill by Jan Neuharth is Today's Amazon Kindle Daily Deal

MystereBooks is pleased to feature The Kill by Jan Neuharth as today's Amazon Kindle Daily Deal. The deal price of $0.99 is valid only for today, Wednesday, January 11, 2012.

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The Kill by Jan Neuharth
A Hunt Country Novel of Suspense
Paper Chase Farms

This is the third mystery in this series, set in the foxhunting community of Middleburg, Virginia, just outside Washington D.C.

About The Kill (from the publisher): When word reaches her in war-torn Afghanistan that her beloved Uncle Richard has been brutally murdered, globe-trotting photojournalist Abigale Portmann reluctantly abandons her assignment and returns to the rolling hills and rocky relationships of her past in the picturesque equestrian community of Middleburg, Virginia—a place she has painstakingly avoided for 17 years. While the sheriff thinks the murder is a random robbery gone bad, Abigale soon becomes convinced her uncle was slain by someone he knew. Suspicion swirls among colorful characters in the tweedy, foxhunting crowd, including a superficial nouveau riche social climber, the lazy heir to an old-money fortune, and, most painfully to Abigale, her former childhood sweetheart. As the gripping plot unfolds, friends become suspects and family ties are tested, until events spin out of control and the riveting tale races to a terrifying finish.

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 — Available 01/11/2012 only.

Bond 50: The 22 James Bond Films on Blu-ray

To celebrate 50 years — Yikes! 50 years! — of James Bond on film, MGM and Fox Home Entertainment announced today the complete collection (to date) of James Bond films on Blu-ray discs. It's currently up for pre-order at Amazon.com at a hefty discounted price, though there is no release date yet.

From Dr. No (1962) through Quantum of Solace (2008), all 22 films in the James Bond series featuring the six actors who played the part — Can you name all six? — are included in this set. (Harder trivia question: Can you name all 22 movies?)

Watch a promo video for "Bond 50" below.

Answers to our trivia questions:

The Bond actors: Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig.

The Bond films: Dr. No, From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die, The Man with the Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, A View To a Kill, The Living Daylights, License to Kill, GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, Die Another Day, Casino Royal, Quantum of Solace. Skyfall, the 23rd film, is currently in production with Daniel Craig playing James Bond for the third time.

USA Network Renews Psych for a 7th Season

USA Network announced today via a pineapple puzzle on Facebook that its longest running series, Psych, has been renewed for a 7th season of 16 episodes.

James Roday stars as police consultant Shawn Spencer, who solves crimes with powers of observation so acute that Santa Barbara Police Department detectives think he's psychic.
Dule Hill stars as his best friend and reluctant sidekick, Gus, and Corbin Bernsen as his disapproving father, Henry, who ironically was the one who honed his son's "observation" skills as a child.

The final piece to the puzzle unlocked a video featuring Roday and Hill announcing the pickup, during which Roday says, "Oh, and also, Psych is officially coming back for a seventh season, which is very cool …"

The second half of Psych's 6th season premieres on February 29th, 2012.

Patricia Highsmith's Deep Water Adaptation Gets New Screenwriter

It's been well over two years since we last reported on the film adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's 1957 suspense novel Deep Water, but now we're learning that Fox 2000 has hired Zach Helm to write the script … but with an eye towards dark sexy comedy instead of murder mystery thriller. Steven Zaillian is producing together with Mike Nichols, who back in 2009 was attached to direct a Joe Penhall script.

Set in the small town of Little Wesley, Highsmith describes Melinda Van Allen as beautiful, rebellious, tempestuous and sexy. And unfortunately for wealthy socialite Vic Van Allen, she is his wife. An incorrigible flirt, Melinda spares no opportunity to flaunt her many lovers to her husband. In response, Vic doesn't miss an opportunity to let them know that he's the jealous type. When Malcolm McCrae, one of Melinda's exes, is murdered in the city, Vic doesn't hesitate to suggest to her latest paramour that he might have been responsible. But as rumors about Vic's nasty streak begin to spread amongst their friends, fiction and reality begin to converge. And it's only a matter of time before Vic really does have blood on his hands …

(Related article: The Hollywood Reporter.)