The Toymaker by Chuck Barrett is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature The Toymaker by Chuck Barrett as today's free mystery ebook.

This title was listed as free as of the date and time of this post. Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your transaction.

— ◊ —

The Toymaker by Chuck Barrett
A Jake Pendleton Mystery
Publisher: Switchback Publishing

This is the second mystery to feature the former NTSB investigator.

About The Toymaker (from the publisher): Jake Pendleton faces a dilemma as the line blurs between right and wrong. After his judgment comes into question, Jake is entrusted to his new mentor, an eccentric old man who sees beyond Jake’s flaws. A man who makes "toys for spies".

A man known as The Toymaker.

Jake’s first assignment reunites him with Gregg Kaplan in a daredevil mission to rescue a fellow agent held captive in Yemen. He risks his life to stop the first attack of an al Qaeda mastermind. But now, with no one to trust but himself, can Jake stop the terrorist from destroying what is most precious to the free world?

Unfortunately, more trouble comes his way as a killer from his past threatens something more important to Jake than his own life, leaving him to make the hardest decision any man ever has to make …

Who to sacrifice.

Important Note: This book was listed for free on the date and time of this post. Prices can and do change without prior notice. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Download Link(s):

Amazon Kindle Edition Download Link.

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

NBC Orders Series based on The Republic of Pirates by Colin Woodard

Luther creator Neil Cross is adapting Colin Woodard's 2008 book The Republic of Pirates for a direct-to-series order for NBC. The 10-episode series is expected to premiere mid-season. The book's subtitle: "Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribeean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down".

In the early eighteenth century, the Pirate Republic was home to some of the great pirate captains, including Blackbeard, "Black Sam" Bellamy, and Charles Vane. Along with their fellow pirates — former sailors, indentured servants, and runaway slaves — this "Flying Gang" established a crude but distinctive democracy in the Bahamas, carving out their own zone of freedom in which servants were free, blacks could be equal citizens, and leaders were chosen or deposed by a vote. They cut off trade routes, sacked slave ships, and severed Europe from its New World empires, and for a brief, glorious period the Republic was a success.

(Related article: The Hollywood Reporter.)

First Trailer for Gangster Squad

A new trailer for the film Gangster Squad has been released by the studio (below).

The film is adapted from the yet-to-be-published book by Paul Lieberman of the same title (Gangster Squad, St. Martin's Press October 2012 hardcover). Lieberman's book tells the story of two cops, O'Mara and Wooters, both of whom became obsessed with the Squad's priority target, the showboating Mickey Cohen. One set a trap for Mickey using his own guns, while the other formed an alliance with Mickey's fearless rival, Jack "The Enforcer" Whalen. Both of their crusades then came to a head on the same night in the last days of the 1950s.

Directed by Ruben Fleischer, the film stars Josh Brolin and Ryan Gosling as cops John O'Mara and Ryan Gosling, with Sean Penn as Mickey Cohen. A release date has not yet been announced.

Today's Bestselling Free Kindle MystereBooks (120514)

Here is today's list of the top bestselling free Kindle mysteries, suspense novels and thrillers.

We're using a script to embed an RSS feed from Amazon.com, which is updated hourly, but if you cannot see the box below — or have scripts blocked — you can use this link to see the relevant page on Amazon.com.

Teaser Poster for Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

A teaser poster for the Sin City sequel A Dame to Kill For has been released (right; click for larger version). The film itself hasn't even begun production, but that is expected later this year with a release date sometime in 2013.

Adapted from the comic of the same title by Frank Miller (as part of his "Sin City" series), the storyline follows Dwight McCarthy, a man stuck with nothing but a seedy gumshoe job and some demons. Dwight's thinking of all the ways he's screwed up and what he'd give for one clear chance to wipe the slate clean, to dig his way out of the numb gray hell that is his life. And he'd give anything. Just to feel the fire. One more time. But he can't let himself lose control again, can't ever let the monster out. And then Ava calls.

Charlaine Harris's 13th Sookie Stackhouse Mystery Dead Ever After to End Series

Charlaine Harris's 12th Sookie Stackhouse mystery, Deadlocked, was published last week and this morning the author announced that the next in the series, Dead Ever After, will be the last book to feature the character.

"Save the date," Harris writes on her Facebook page. "[T]he final Sookie Stackhouse book, DEAD EVER AFTER, will be on sale May 2, 2013!"

The "Southern Vampire" mysteries serve as a basis for the HBO series True Blood, which will premiere its fifth season on Sunday, June 10th, 2012.

Mystery and Suspense Films, New This Week on DVD (120515)

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.

See also a list of current mystery and suspense DVD, Blu-ray, or VOD deals on Amazon.com.

— ◊ —

Purchase/Rental Options

One for the Money (2012)

Film Synopsis (from the studio): Stephanie Plum (Katherine Heigl) can't catch a break. At 30, she finds herself newly-divorced, recently laid-off, and living with her hamster in Trenton, New Jersey. Broke and desperate, she lands a job working for her slimy cousin and his bail bond business. In need of fast cash she latches on to his biggest case — a local cop wanted for murder who just happens to be the guy that broke her heart in high school. Stephanie gets resourceful and tough, as she is swept up in a suspenseful world of murder, deceit, with a bit of romance.

Directed by Julie Anne Robinson from a screenplay adapted from the first book in the Stephanie Plum series of "numbered" mysteries by Janet Evanovich. The film runs 106 minutes and is rated PG-13 for violence, sexual references and language, some drug material and partial nudity.

Watch a trailer for the film below:

— ◊ —

Purchase/Rental Options

Rampart (2012)

Film Synopsis (from the studio): Nothing fascinates like a dirty cop. In real life they're terrifying, but in the movies their upending of law and order can open deep explorations of psychology, morality and violence. So meet Dave Brown (Woody Harrelson). Brown is a cop long ago unleashed from the rules of the Los Angeles Police Department. Roving the streets in his black-and-white cruiser, he governs and punishes at will. His home life is a riddle. Somehow he has fathered children with two sisters. Somehow he still lives casually with them both, slipping in and out of a family life thats as tangled as his long career on the force. His own daughter calls him Date Rape. Thats because, years ago, Brown may have killed a rapist and gotten away with it. The shadow of the incident still haunts him, so when his Rampart division gets caught up in a corruption scandal, Brown makes an easy target. As the controversy seeps through the department and into city hall, this hardened, reckless officer finds himself at the center of a sordid L.A. story.

Written and directed by Oren Moverman from a story by James Ellroy, Rampart runs 108 minutes and is rated R for pervasive language, sexual content and some violence.

Watch a trailer for the film below:

Telemystery: Flashpoint, 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.

— ◊ —

The emotional journey of a group of cops in the Strategic Response Unit (inspired by Toronto's Emergency Task Force) is the focus of the crime drama Flashpoint.

It's a unique unit that rescues hostages, busts gangs, defuses bombs, climbs the sides of buildings and talks down suicidal teens. Members of a highly-skilled tactical team, they're also trained in negotiating, profiling and getting inside the suspect's head to diffuse the situation to try and save lives.

Flashpoint: Season Four is available on DVD and consists of episodes that originally aired on CBS during the summer of 2011 and continuing on ION later in the year. A fifth and final season of the series has been ordered and is expected to premiere in October 2012 … presumably on ION, though we're not entirely sure of that.

— ◊ —

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.

Sherlock, The Shadow Line Winners at 2012 BAFTA Craft Awards

The 2012 BAFTA Craft Awards were handed out last night and Sherlock — currently airing on PBS Masterpiece Mystery! — took home a number of honors.

The episode "A Scandal in Belgravia" won for Editing: Fiction, Sound: Fiction, and Writing for series co-creator Steven Moffat.

Another crime drama, The Shadow Line, won for Director: Fiction.

Finalists for 2012 Benjamin Franklin Awards Announced

The finalists for the 2012 Benjamin Franklin Awards have been announced by the Independent Book Publishers Association. These awards recognize excellence in independent publishing and are given out to the best books in several categories, including Mystery/Suspense. The winners will be announced on June 4th, the eve of BookExpo America 2012.

Mystery/Suspense Finalists …

• Public Anatomy by A. Scott Pearson (Oceanview Publishing)
• The Rock Hole by Reavis Z. Wortham (Poisoned Pen Press)
• The Opium Equation by Lisa Wysocky (Cool Titles)

Lawyers, Guns and Money by J. D. Rhoades is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Lawyers, Guns and Money by J. D. Rhoades as today's free mystery ebook.

This title was listed as free as of the date and time of this post. Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your transaction.

— ◊ —

Lawyers, Guns and Money by J. D. Rhoades
Publisher: J. D. Rhoades

This stand-alone thriller is by the author of the Jack Keller mysteries.

About Lawyers, Guns and Money (from the publisher): Andy Cole has a problem. Local crime boss Voit Fairgreen has just dropped a bag full of cash on his desk and hired him to defend Voit's brother Danny on a murder charge. Andy's one of the movers and shakers in the small southern town of Blainesville, and Voit figures Andy's the kind of inside guy that can cut a deal to get his baby brother out of the jam.

The problem is that Danny just might be innocent. But someone powerful needs this case buried, and if an innocent man dies for that, so be it.

Andy Cole is a guy who's made a good living by going along to get along. He's been willing to bend every rule, except Rule One — always get paid. But this case will cause him to re-examine his life and push him and his lover, beautiful newspaper editor Elizabeth Sinclair, to risk everything — including their lives — for the truth.

Important Note: This book was listed for free on the date and time of this post. Prices can and do change without prior notice. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Download Link(s):

Amazon Kindle Edition Download Link.

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

Mystery Godoku Puzzle for May 14, 2012

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!).

— ◊ —

This week's letters and mystery clue:

E H I K N O P R S

This colorful animal is mentioned in the title of a Robert Greer murder mystery (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!

First Trailer for True Blood Season 5

HBO has released a new trailer for the fifth season of True Blood; we've embedded it below.

Based on the series of Sookie Stackhouse "Southern Vampire" mysteries by Charlaine Harris, this season is expected to generally follow the storyline of the fifth book in the series, Dead as a Doornail — the cover of which, not coincidentally, is the same as this season's teaser poster. (A tie-in edition of the book is being published next week.)

True Blood returns on Sunday, June 10th, 2012.

Telemystery: CBS Orders 3 and Cancels 3 Prime Time Crime Series

The last of the networks, CBS, announced today what series they were ordering, renewing, and canceling for the 2012 Fall season.

Among the new series are Elementary (Sherlock Holmes in contemporary New York City), Vegas (based on the story of Ralph Lamb, who became the sheriff of Clark County Nevada in the 1960s), and Golden Boy (one cop's rise from officer to police commissioner). We're disappointed to see that Applebaum, based on the "Mommy Track" mysteries by Ayelet Waldman, didn't make the cut.

Renewals include CSI: NY, which apparently was doubtful … and was considered a toss-up with its franchise mate from Florida as to which to keep. Speaking of which …

The long-running CSI: Miami has been canceled as well as newcomers NYC 22 and Unforgettable.

Today's Bestselling Free Kindle MystereBooks (120513)

Here is today's list of the top bestselling free Kindle mysteries, suspense novels and thrillers.

We're using a script to embed an RSS feed from Amazon.com, which is updated hourly, but if you cannot see the box below — or have scripts blocked — you can use this link to see the relevant page on Amazon.com.