The Trinity by David LaBounty is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature The Trinity by David LaBounty 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.

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The Trinity by David LaBounty
Publisher: Silverthought Press

About The Trinity (from the publisher): Chris Fairbanks is a lonely young man who joins the Navy in search of travel, adventure, and women — but mostly to escape his lower middle-class existence, his loveless family, and to find some meaning in his otherwise meaningless life. The Navy sends Chris to a small communications base in Scotland, where he is befriended by a disillusioned Catholic chaplain, Father Alexander Crowley. Crowley joined the Navy for his own sinister reasons — including his desire to incite a race war that will consume the world. Blinded by his search for friendship and acceptance, Chris reluctantly finds himself drawn into Crowley's white supremacist group and his alcohol-fueled plans for genocide. After realizing the depths of Crowley's madness and struggling with his own complicity in this reign of terror, Chris appeals to his chain of command. Met with indifference and disbelief, he takes matters into his own hands, leading The Trinity to an apocalyptic and fiery end.

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 Bestsellers for the Week Ending May 18, 2012

A list of the top 15 mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending May 18th, 2012 has been posted by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books.

The 12th "Southern Vampire" mystery Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris retains the top spot on the list this week.

Two new titles debut.

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Entering the list at number 8 is the new Lucas Davenport mystery, Stolen Prey by John Sandford.

Lucas Davenport has seen many terrible murder scenes. This is one of the worst. In the small Minnesota town of Deephaven, an entire family has been killed — husband, wife, two daughters, dogs.

There's something about the scene that pokes at Lucas's cop instincts — it looks an awful lot like the kind of scorched-earth retribution he's seen in drug killings sometimes. But this is a seriously upscale town, and the husband was an executive vice president at a big bank. It just doesn't seem to fit.

Until it does. And where it leads Lucas will take him into the darkest nightmare of his life.

Purchase Options:

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Two places lower at number 10 is the new stand-along thriller, The Columbus Affair by Steve Berry.

Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative journalist Tom Sagan has written hard-hitting articles from hot spots around the world. But when a controversial report from a war-torn region is exposed as a fraud, his professional reputation crashes and burns. Now he lives in virtual exile — haunted by bad decisions and the shocking truth he can never prove: that his downfall was a deliberate act of sabotage by an unknown enemy. But before Sagan can end his torment with the squeeze of a trigger, fate intervenes in the form of an enigmatic stranger with a request that cannot be ignored.

Zachariah Simon has the look of a scholar, the soul of a scoundrel, and the zeal of a fanatic. He also has Tom Sagan's estranged daughter at his mercy. Simon desperately wants something only Sagan can supply: the key to a 500-year-old mystery, a treasure with explosive political significance in the modern world. For both Simon and Sagan the stakes are high, the goal intensely personal, the consequences of opposing either man potentially catastrophic. On a perilous quest from Florida to Vienna to Prague and finally to the mountains of Jamaica, the two men square off in a dangerous game. Along the way, both of their lives will be altered — and everything we know about Christopher Columbus will change.

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.

Blade Runner Screenwriter May Write Sequel

We've known for almost a year now that Blade Runner director Ridley Scott was set to direct a sequel to the film. But little more has been announced about the project since then.

Until now.

In a press release today, Alcon Entertainment — which holds the film rights to any prequel or sequel — announced that Blade Runner screenwriter Hampton Fancher was "in talks" to develop an idea for an original screenplay for the film. Sounds a little less than set in stone to us.

The Alcon press release — you can find a copy on the Collider website — makes it sound as if the sequel news is new news, but that was announced last year by Ridley Scott himself.

The original film was based on the Philip K. Dick short story "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" but little is known about the expected storyline of the sequel other than it "will take place some years after the first film concluded." That's where Hampton Fancher comes in, we guess. What is known is that Harrison Ford will not be reprising his role as Rick Deckard.

A&E Cancels Breakout Kings

A&E has canceled Breakout Kings.

We can't say we're disappointed. We were huge fans of Nick Santora and Matt Olmstead's series Prison Break but this follow-up series from them never resonated with us. The concept was fine; we think it was simply poor — or maybe uninspired — casting. Regardless, we tried it for a couple of first season episodes and then abandoned it.

USA Network Announces Prime Time Crime Series in Development

Earlier this week TNT announced its slate of series in development and today USA has done the same. As per usual, we're focusing on those that have a mystery-, suspense- or thriller-theme to them.

Bang Bang is based on the French television series Doom Doom and is centered on an unlikely partnership that is formed when veteran hitman Danny is saved by rival novice hired gun Marco, while executing a target. This dynamic duo pair up to execute contracts … if they don't kill each other first.

San Francisco's hottest new restaurant, Tour, an exciting fusion of world cuisines that's drawing crowds across all demographics in the Bay Area is the setting for Rare. Part of its allure may be the chef, a mysterious ex-special forces captain who's good with a knife both inside … and outside the kitchen. Even if he tries to resist his old violent life, he will be unlikely to keep it entirely outside his new establishment.

In Fallen, San Diego homicide detective Robbie Brownlaw, a gruff, macho cop known for his "act first, ask questions later' approach, develops the rare condition of synesthesia during recovery from a head trauma accident and suddenly finds himself seeing "emotions". His partner doesn't quite understand this "touchy-feely" approach to solving crimes, but there's no doubt that this new insight is helping clear cases. Based on a character created by crime novelist T. Jefferson Parker in his "California Crime" thriller The Fallen.

Book Trailer for The 500 by Matthew Quirk (via EW.com)

Matthew Quirk's debut thriller The 500 will be published next month — the film adaptation rights have already been sold — and Entertainment Weekly has a first look at the book's trailer.

A year ago, fresh out of Harvard Law School, Mike Ford landed his dream job at the Davies Group, Washington's most powerful consulting firm. Now, he's staring down the barrel of a gun, pursued by two of the world's most dangerous men. To get out, he'll have to do all the things he thought he'd never do again: lie, cheat, steal — and this time, maybe even kill.

Mike grew up in a world of small-stakes con men, learning lessons at his father's knee. His hard-won success in college and law school was his ticket out. As the Davies Group's rising star, he rubs shoulders with "The 500," the elite men and women who really run Washington — and the world. But peddling influence, he soon learns, is familiar work: even with a pedigree, a con is still a con.

Liam Neeson to Star as Matthew Scudder in Film Adaptation of A Walk Among the Tombstones by Lawrence Block

Here's some interesting news out of Cannes: Liam Neeson will star in a film adaptation of Lawrence Block's tenth Matthew Scudder mystery, A Walk Among the Tombstones, with a screenplay to be written and directed by Scott Frank.

Formerly a cop with the NYPD, now an unlicensed private eye and a recovering alcoholic haunted by past mistakes, Matt Scudder is hired to find the kidnapped wife of a drug dealer. He operates just outside the law where the police don't go to track down the kidnappers, who he discovers have been involved in multiple kidnappings and brutal murders.

Principal photography is expected to begin on location in New York City in February 2013.

Mysterious Press Publishes New Collection of Short Stories by David Corbett

Earlier this week Mysterious Press published Killing Yourself to Survive, a new collection of short stories by crime novelist David Corbett. Also published are new editions of the author's first two novels, The Devil's Redhead and Done for a Dime (All are available as ebooks only).

Before becoming a novelist, Corbett spent fifteen years as an investigator for the San Francisco private detective agency Palladino & Sutherland. In 1995, he left to help his wife set up her own law firm before selling his first novel in 2000. (It was published in hardcover by Ballantine two years later.)

Here's a synopsis of this new collection of short stories, from the publisher:

Sterling Associates recruited Satcher in the killing fields of Iraq. A marine who learned the brutalities and frustrations of war in Fallujah, Satcher was ideal for Sterling, a shadowy corporation whose business is to kill for America when the CIA can't. He comes to Guatemala, the deadliest nation in the Americas, to kidnap a Sinaloan cartel member and turn him against his family. There he meets Odilia, an idealistic young lawyer dedicated to raising her country from the mire. Both want to save Guatemala, but Satcher's method means destroying it first.

This new story from the hard-boiled mind of David Corbett is a glimpse into a life most Americans prefer to ignore. Along with the six others in this volume, it provides a glimpse into the darkest corners of the modern world, and a reminder that hope springs even from the bloodiest soil.

Finally, Mysterious Press is offering a free original short story by Corbett — one not included in the book — just for subscribing to their newsletter. A blog post has the details, though doesn't mention an end date.

First Teaser Poster for Skyfall

A new teaser poster for Skyfall has been released by the studio (via Yahoo! movies, right; click for larger version).

This 23rd film in the long-running franchise is Daniel Craig's third turn as James Bond, Agent 007. It is an original screenplay, not based on any of the Bond books, and directed by Sam Mendes.

To our knowledge, there has been no detailed description of the storyline, only this very brief synopsis: James Bond's loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.

Skyfall has its world premiere in London on October 26th, 2012. It opens in the US on November 9th. A trailer has not been released yet, but Sony has uploaded a number of production videoblogs; the most recent of these is embedded below:

Today's Bestselling Free Kindle MystereBooks (120517)

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.

Spate, a PI Video Game Set in a Steampunk Environment

A new PI-themed mystery video game is being developed by Eric Provan using funds raised on Kickstarter. Titled Spate, the action is centered on Detective Bluth, who has been hired by a woman to follow her husband, who she suspects is having an affair. Instead, the man makes daily trips into the Xzone, a surreal steampunk environment, "a place that has been swallowing people whole since the day the fog rolled in."

The first half of the video below is of Provan discussing the game. The last half, starting just past the 3 minute mark, is a trailer for Spate, illustrating some of the gameplay. The game is expected to be released next month (June 2012).

(Hat tip to Criminal Element.)

Fall 2012 Network Prime Time Crime Schedule

The four major broadcast networks have published their Fall 2012 prime time schedules. We're presenting a summary of the "prime time crime" series below with more to come about the new shows later today and tomorrow. (All times below are ET/PT.)

Mondays …

ABC: Castle (5th season) at 10 PM.
CBS: Hawaii Five-0 (2nd season) at 10 PM.
Fox: Bones (8th season) at 8 PM.

Tuesdays …

CBS: NCIS (10th season) at 8 PM.
CBS: NCIS: Los Angeles (4th season) at 9 PM.
CBS: Vegas (new series) at 10 PM.

Wednesdays …

CBS: Criminal Minds (8th season) at 9 PM.
CBS: CSI (13th season) at 10 PM.
NBC: Law & Order: SVU (14th season) at 9 PM.

Thursdays …

ABC: Last Resort (new series) at 8 PM.
CBS: Person of Interest (2nd season) at 9 PM.
CBS: Elementary (new series) at 10 PM.

Fridays …

CBS: CSI: NY (9th season) at 8 PM.
CBS: Blue Bloods (3rd season) at 10 PM.
NBC: Grimm (2nd season) at 9 PM.

Sundays …

ABC: Once Upon a Time (2nd season) at 8 PM.
ABC: Revenge (2nd season) at 9 PM.
ABC: 666 Park Avenue (new series) at 10 PM.
CBS: The Mentalist (5th season) at 10 PM.

Several announced new series will have mid-season premieres and are not listed above.

The Last Page by Libby Fischer Hellmann and David J. Walker is Today's Second Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature The Last Page by Libby Fischer Hellmann and David J. Walker as today's second 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.

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The Last Page by Libby Fischer Hellmann and David J. Walker
Publisher: Libby Fischer Hellmann

This novella marks the first collaboration between the Chicago authors, and may serve as the first in a new series.

About The Last Page (from the publisher): Barbara Adams, head of the Windbrook Library in suburban Chicago, has died, apparently from a fall down the stairs to the library's basement. But when Julia Fairbanks, her closest friend's daughter starts to poke around, she finds troubling emails that indicate Barbara was not the victim of a heart attack, but a vicious killer instead. Can Julia find the murderer? Or will she end up on the last page?

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.

Ripped Apart by Miriam Minger is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Ripped Apart by Miriam Minger 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.

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Ripped Apart by Miriam Minger
Publisher: Walker Publishing

About Ripped Apart (from the publisher): Unspeakable tragedy and cold-blooded murder conspire against Clare Carson when her six-year-old son is kidnapped after a heart transplant and his abductors want her dead. A dying cop’s last words lead her to former Special Ops Jake Wyatt, who helps her discover the horrific truth behind her son’s abduction and offers to help her get Tyler back. With nowhere else to turn, Clare entrusts her life to Jake not knowing he has a deadly agenda of his own that could destroy them.

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.

Identity: Lost by Pascal Marco is Today's Amazon Kindle Daily Deal

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Identity: Lost by Pascal Marco as today's Amazon Kindle Daily Deal. The deal price of $0.99 is valid only for today, Thursday, May 17, 2012.

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Identity: Lost by Pascal Marco
Publisher: Oceanview Publishing

About Identity: Lost (from the publisher): It's July, 1975 and an overworked Chicago police force receives a call that an 85-year-old white man has been attacked by a gang of black youths on the lakefront in Burnham Park. Amid public outrage, contentious Mayor Richard J. Daley commands his police to find the killers fast and make the bucolic park safe again.

Uncommonly but fortunately for the police, twelve-year-old James Overstreet steps forward and identifies five of the six assailants and arrests are made. But detectives and county attorneys bungle the case, leaving the judge no choice but to release the accused.This startling turn of events jeopardizes James's life, forcing the entire Overstreet family into witness protection in Arizona, and creates a nightmare that will haunt the brave witness forever.Fast-forward thirty years. The stoic young man has grown to become Maricopa County's most feared prosecutor. But his life is about to be turned upside down when paths from the past cross into the present, veering toward a shocking climax.

Important Note: Amazon.com updates its Kindle book deal every day at approximately midnight PT. The title referenced above is available at a discounted price for Thursday, May 17, 2012 only.

Download Link(s):

Amazon Kindle Daily Deal.