Mystery Godoku Puzzle for December 17, 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!).

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This week's letters and mystery clue:

C D E G H I N O Y

The fifth mystery in the "Grim Reaper" series by Judy Clemens has this title (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!

MystereBooks: Two Merci Rayborn Mysteries by T. Jefferson Parker, Now at a Special Price

MystereBooks is pleased to feature the first two "Merci Rayborn" mysteries by T. Jefferson Parker at a special price, courtesy of the author. (The first book in the series, The Blue Hour, was briefly available for free yesterday.)

The ebook format of the titles listed below — this appears to be a Kindle promotion only — were priced at $0.99 each 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.

Mr. E. Reviews The River Wild

Purchase/Rental Option(s)

This is a very watchable action/adventure film that moves along fairly briskly after the obligatory "trouble on the home front" setup. There's not much suspense in the storyline, but that isn't the point of the film … which is the white water river rapids scenes that are worth the price of admission.

Read the full text of our review at Mr. E. Reviews The River Wild.

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

Today's Bestselling Free Kindle MystereBooks (121216)

Here is today's list of the Bestselling Free Kindle Crime Fiction: the top nine mysteries, novels of suspense, and thrillers.

We're using a script to embed an RSS feed from Amazon.com, which is updated hourly; as an alternative, you can click on the image to the right or use this link to see the relevant page on Amazon.com, which includes a list of both the Top 100 Paid and Top 100 Free Kindle Mysteries and Thrillers.

Mr. E. Reviews The Raven

Purchase/Rental Option(s)

Sometimes it's easy to identify exactly what it is about a film that makes it work … or not, as the case may be. As it is with this literary thriller, where almost all of its problems can be linked to the astonishingly poorly developed and written screenplay.

Read the full text of our review at Mr. E. Reviews The Raven.

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

Today's Amazon Local Deal: Get 1 of 50 Great Kindle Reads for $1

Today's Amazon Local Deal is a free voucher to purchase select eBooks from the Kindle Store for $1 each.

Choose from select mysteries, thrillers, sci-fi adventures, literary gems, and kids' books for Kindle — just $1 each with this free voucher. (The voucher is free, though a credit card is required to receive it.) The voucher must be used before December 26th, 2012 … and seems to be valid for a single ebook purchase only.

Here is a link to the available Mystery & Thriller titles from which you can choose. (Other categories include Kids & Teens, Literature & Fiction, and Science Fiction.)

This is a multi-day deal that is set to expire on Tuesday, December 18th, 2012. Please note that quantities of the voucher are limited!

Dead Reckoning by Gordon A. Kessler is Today's Second Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Dead Reckoning by Gordon A. Kessler as today's second free mystery ebook (A Mystery Thriller; Kindle format only).

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.

For a summary of all of today's featured titles, plus any that may have appeared before and are repeat freebies, visit our Free MystereBooks page. This page is updated daily, typically by 8 AM ET.

Finding Kate Huntley by Theresa Ragan is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Finding Kate Huntley by Theresa Ragan as today's free mystery ebook (A Novel of Romantic Suspense; Kindle format only).

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.

For a summary of all of today's featured titles, plus any that may have appeared before and are repeat freebies, visit our Free MystereBooks page. This page is updated daily, typically by 8 AM ET.

Review: Pago Pago Tango by John Enright

A Mysterious Review of …

Pago Pago Tango by John Enright. An Apelu Soifua, Jungle Beat Mystery.

Review summary: This debut mystery set in American Samoa introduces a down-to-earth, practical police officer investigating a simple burglary that soon becomes much more. The island setting provides a colorful backdrop to the story, which itself is a good balance between plot and character introduction. (Click here for text of full review.)

Review: Death Leaves a Bookmark by William Link

A Mysterious Review of …

Death Leaves a Bookmark by William Link. A Bibliomystery Short Story.

Review summary: The most serious criticism of this very short story is also probably a most unfair one: it's hard to imagine Peter Falk playing the role of Columbo here. And that's a bit of a disappointment, especially given how little mystery there is for him to solve. (Click here for text of full review.)

Today's Bestselling Free Kindle MystereBooks (121215)

Here is today's list of the Bestselling Free Kindle Crime Fiction: the top nine mysteries, novels of suspense, and thrillers.

We're using a script to embed an RSS feed from Amazon.com, which is updated hourly; as an alternative, you can click on the image to the right or use this link to see the relevant page on Amazon.com, which includes a list of both the Top 100 Paid and Top 100 Free Kindle Mysteries and Thrillers.

Telemystery: AMC Orders Low Winter Sun to Series

Last May AMC ordered a pilot for a remake of the BBC mini-series Low Winter Sun and now we're learning that the cable network has ordered it to series. Ten episodes will be produced.

Mark Strong and Lennie James will star in this "contemporary story of murder, deception, revenge and corruption in a world where the line between cops and criminals is blurred." The storyline opens with the murder of a cop by a Detroit detective.

"[Producers] Endemol and Chris Mundy have produced a beautiful pilot with an incredible cast led by the insanely talented Mark Strong," said AMC's Joel Stillerman. "We're thrilled to be moving forward with this compelling and intense new drama and look forward to returning to Detroit for production on the first season."

In 2006, Low Winter Sun won the Royal Television Society Award for Drama Serial.

MystereBooks: This Week's Update of Kindle Crime Fiction Priced $2.99 or Less (121215)

Every month Amazon publishes a list of 100 Kindle books priced $3.99 or less. We thought we'd take that idea and improve on it, publishing a list of 100 Kindle mystery books priced $2.99 or less and updating it every week!

Here is our general criteria for selecting titles to include: books from major or specialty publishers of crime fiction and those written by authors familiar to us. There are far more than 100 to choose from, so we use our best judgment to narrow it down.

And just a reminder … as we add new titles, older ones are removed from the list. These books aren't likely to be repeated, so we encourage you to check in frequently!

Only one note before we get to today's update … and that is that some of these titles have been mentiond earlier in the week in separate posts (especially if they were also available from Kobo or iTunes) …

MystereBooks: Broken Places, a Rachel Goddard Mystery by Sandra Parshall, Now at a Special Price

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Broken Places by Sandra Parshall, now available at a special price, courtesy of the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press.

The ebook format of this title was priced at $0.99 from the listed vendors (below) 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.

MystereBooks: Dogs Don't Lie, the First Pru Marlowe Pet Noir Mystery by Clea Simon, Now at a Special Price

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Dogs Don't Lie by Clea Simon, now available at a special price, courtesy of the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press.

The ebook format of this title was priced at $0.99 from the listed vendors (below) 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.