Mystery Bestsellers for the Week Ending January 11, 2013

A list of the top 15 Mystery Hardcover Bestsellers for the week ending January 11th, 2013 has been posted by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books.

Little change among the top ten titles this week with Gone Girl by Gilliam Flynn retaining the top spot on our list. Two new books enter the list this week (positions in parentheses).

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(12): Collateral Damage
Stuart Woods

A Stone Barrington Mystery (25th)

Stone Barrington is back in Manhattan and pleased to receive an unexpected visit from his friend and sometime lover Holly Barker, now an assistant director at the CIA. For her part, Holly is glad to leave the staid, official environs of the capital for the dining and atmosphere of New York, but her sojourn isn't only for pleasure. An explosive incident requires her immediate attention — and Stone's investigative expertise.

But what initially appears to be a clear-cut case soon becomes increasingly complex — and dangerous. For in the secretive world of government intelligence, national interests all too often conflict with power grabs and turf wars, and extreme wealth allows even the most pursued rivals to slip through the cracks. As Stone and Holly follow the trail from London's posh embassy district to Manhattan's Upper East Side, they learn just how well the most cunning plans can be disguised … and how far some people will go to wreak vengeance.

            

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(13): The Blood Gospel
James Robbins and Rebecca Cantrell

The Order of the Sanguines (1st)

An earthquake in Masada, Israel, kills hundreds and reveals a tomb buried in the heart of the mountain. A trio of investigators — Sergeant Jordan Stone, a military forensic expert; Father Rhun Korza, a Vatican priest; and Dr. Erin Granger, a brilliant but disillusioned archaeologist — are sent to explore the macabre discovery, a subterranean temple holding the crucified body of a mummified girl.

But a brutal attack at the site sets the three on the run, thrusting them into a race to recover what was once preserved in the tomb's sarcophagus: a book rumored to have been written by Christ's own hand, a tome that is said to hold the secrets to His divinity. The enemy who hounds them is like no other, a force of ancient evil directed by a leader of impossible ambitions and incalculable cunning.

From crumbling tombs to splendorous churches, Erin and her two companions must confront a past that traces back thousands of years, to a time when ungodly beasts hunted the dark spaces of the world, to a moment in history when Christ made a miraculous offer, a pact of salvation for those who were damned for eternity.

            

Review: Dog in the Manger by Mike Resnick

A Mysterious Review of …

Dog in the Manger by Mike Resnick. An Eli Paxton Mystery.

Review summary: This reissue of a mystery first published in 1997 is a real pleasure, featuring a Cincinnati PI, who has a captivating charm on a case that continues to confound him the longer he pursues it. A most welcome sequel is scheduled to be published in June 2013. (Click here for text of full review.)

Our rating:

Dog in the Manger
Mike Resnick
An Eli Paxton Mystery
Seventh Street Books (November 2012)

Publisher synopsis: A dog is missing. Not just any dog. The number one Weimaraner in the country and current Westminster winner.

Down-on-his-luck private eye Eli Paxton is hired to find him. Not exactly an elite assignment, but better than nothing. Maybe it will help him pay his rent.

It turns out to be anything but a routine case. People start dying in mysterious ways, a cargo plane goes missing, and someone is taking shots at him. It makes no sense. Even a top show dog isn't worth that much.

Now the hunt is on. Paxton needs to find this dog to save his own skin. The trail leads to Arizona, then Mexico, and finally back to his hometown of Cincinnati …

Where he finds the startling solution.

      

New Poster and Trailer for Crime Thriller Dead Man Down

A new poster (right; click for larger image) and trailer (below) for the crime thriller Dead Man Down has been released by the studio. The poster's tagline: "Revenge is coming."

Colin Farrell and Noomi Repace star as two strangers, one a crime lord's right-hand man, the other one of his boss's victims, irresistibly drawn to each other, whose mutual desire for revenge unravels in an escalating trail of violence.

Directed by Niels Arden Oplev from an original screenplay by J. H. Wyman, Dead Man Down opens in theaters March 8th, 2013.

MystereBooks: Guilt by Association, the 1st Rachel Knight Mystery by Marcia Clark, Now at a Special Price

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Guilt by Association by Marcia Clark, now available at a special price, courtesy of the publisher, Mulholland Books.

The ebook format of this title was priced at $2.99 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.

Today's Bestselling Free Kindle MystereBooks (130110)

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.

First Trailer for Art Heist Thriller, Trance

The first trailer for the art heist thriller Trance has been been released by the studio (embedded below).

Fine art auctioneer Simon (James McAvoy), in league with a gang led by underworld boss Franck (Vincent Cassel), plots the audacious theft of a masterpiece by Goya from a major public auction. When Simon double-crosses the gang during the robbery, Franck retaliates violently and knocks him unconscious.

In the aftermath of the heist, Simon sticks stubbornly — and perhaps shrewdly — to his claim that the violent trauma has left him with no memory of where he stashed the artwork.

Unable to coerce the painting's location from Simon, Franck and his associates reluctantly join forces with a charismatic hypnotherapist (Rosario Dawson) in a bid to get him to talk. But as they journey deeper into Simon's jumbled psyche the boundaries between reality and hypnotic suggestion begin to blur and the stakes rise faster and far more dangerously than any of the players could have anticipated.

Directed by Danny Boyle from an original screenplay by John Hodge and Joe Ahearne, Trance opens in UK theaters on March 27th, 2013. It does not (yet) have a US release date.

Telemystery: UK and France to Co-Produce International Crime Drama, The Tunnel

We have yet to see an episode of the Scandinavian crime drama The Bridge — we had hoped it would have made its way to our shores by now — but we're now learning that a second international version of the series is planned.

In the original, a dead body is found on the Øresund bridge that connects Denmark and Sweden, the investigation of which requires the cooperation of the police from both countries. Originally airing in both countries during Fall 2011, a second season of the series has been commissioned, which is expected to air Fall 2013.

Last year, FX Networks ordered a pilot centered around the same premise, with the body this time being discovered on a bridge connecting El Paso, Texas and Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. (The working title remains The Bridge.)

Today, Sky Atlantic HD and Canal Plus announced that the UK and French companies are co-producing a third bi-lingual version, titled The Tunnel and set in the Channel Tunnel between Folkestone and Calais. Production is expected to begin soon on the 10-episode series, which is scheduled to air later this year in Europe.

The Mystery Bookshelf: The Girl Next Door by Brad Parks, a Carter Ross 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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The Girl Next Door by Brad Parks
A Carter Ross Mystery (3rd in series)
Minotaur Books (Trade Paperback)
Publication Date: January 2013
ISBN-13: 978-1-250-01340-8

About The Girl Next Door (from the publisher): Reading his own newspaper's obituaries, veteran reporter Carter Ross comes across that of a woman named Nancy Marino, who was the victim of a hit-and-run while she was on the job delivering copies of that very paper, the Eagle-Examiner. Struck by the opportunity to write a heroic piece about an everyday woman killed too young, he heads to her wake to gather tributes and anecdotes. It's the last place Ross expects to find controversy — which is exactly what happens when one of Nancy's sisters convinces him that the accident might not have been accidental at all.

It turns out that the kind and generous Nancy may have made a few enemies, starting with her boss at the diner where she was a part-time waitress, and even including the publisher of the Eagle-Examiner. Carter's investigation of this seemingly simple story soon has him in big trouble with his full-time editor and sometime girlfriend, Tina Thompson, not to mention the rest of his bosses at the paper, but he can't let it go — the story is just too good, and it keeps getting better. But will his nose for trouble finally take him too far?

Purchase Options for The Girl Next Door:

        

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About the author: Brad Parks is a graduate of Dartmouth College and spent a dozen years as a reporter for The Washington Post and The (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger. He is now a full-time novelist who lives in Virginia with his wife and two small children. Learn more about the author and his award-winning series of mysteries featuring investigative reporter Brade Parks on his website, BradParksBooks.com.

 Crime novels by Brad Parks reviewed by Mysterious Reviews: The Girl Next Door (2011).

Please Welcome Novelist DJ Swykert

by DJ Swykert

We are delighted to welcome novelist DJ Swykert as our guest.

DJ's new thriller is Children of the Enemy (Cambridge Books, October 2012 trade paperback and ebook formats).

Today DJ tells us about the construction of a story.

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The idea for the plot line in Children of the Enemy originated from an article I read in a Detroit newspaper that stated: Detroit Police only solve one-third of the homicides committed in the city. My first thought had nothing to do with the one-third they solved, but for the victims of the two-thirds that go unsolved.

Photo provided courtesy of
DJ Swykert

Children of the Enemy is a story about justice. It's about innocents caught up in the Detroit drug business. It's a character study of the victims and perpetrators not a detective story. It's about people working outside the system who can't get justice within the system. Raymond Little is an ex-convict attempting to save Jude's daughter who was kidnapped by a drug dealer. He knows if he goes through the system Angelina is as good as dead.

I write a book like you would watch a movie. It's how I move the story along, chapters being scenes, the end result being me as a director, assembling the chapter-scenes into a coherent story consisting of characters, conflict and resolution. It all begins with the characters. My protagonist Ray in Children of the Enemy was a man I saw who ran a salvage yard, which could also be described as a junkyard. He was sitting on a chair outside of a house trailer, smoking a cigarette, with virtual mountains of scrap metal pieces and junk appliances surrounding him. I imagined in real life he was perhaps a cross between Dirty Harry and James Earl Jones. It was just how he impressed me. Three-fingered Jack Davis is based on a man I knew as Three-fingered Jack, although they probably call him Two-fingered Jack by now, the drug business is every bit as violent in reality as portrayed in my story.

Once I have a few characters I like I put them into a situation, a conflict. The next step is to frame in my mind how I intend to resolve the conflict. The rest of the writing consists of chapters that point toward the resolution. Last, good writing always needs even better editing. I have been blessed with a good editor. A writer puts down on paper the essence of a story; the editor shapes the story into a book. Few writers can edit themselves. It really helps if you can find an impartial editor to help you with clarity in your writing and story.

If someone were to ask me for advice on how to improve their writing, I'd tell them to read Elmore Leonard's Ten Rules of Writing, which you can find on the internet. It's the most concise and easily explained set of ideas on good writing I've ever found. I don't follow them verbatim, but a lot of his essentials have always stuck with me.

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DJ Swykert is a former 911 operator who writes fiction. His work has appeared in The Tampa Review, Monarch Review, Sand Canyon Review, Zodiac Review, Scissors and Spackle, Spittoon, Barbaric Yawp and BULL. An expert on wolves, he is also the author of the novel Alpha Wolves. You can learn more about DJ and his books on his website.

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Children of the Enemy
DJ Swykert

Jude St. Onge is a man on the run. He is an addict who has stolen a large cache of drugs from Detroit drug kingpin Mitchell Parson, who is determined to retrieve the drugs and take his revenge on Jude.

After the torture slaying of Jude's wife, and the kidnapping of Jude's daughter, Angelina, the last thing Mitchell Parson expected to hear when he picked up the phone was: "I have your sons."

Raymond Little, with a murder conviction in his past, and newspaper reporter Ted Rogers have become unusual allies with Jude in an attempt to rescue his daughter. Together they kidnap Parson's two boys, hoping to secure Angelina's release. Risks for both hostage-takers skyrocket as the two sides square off, while Detroit Homicide Detectives work the case unaware of all that is at stake in the investigation.

Only Ray and Ted can save the endangered children …

    

The Art of Falling Apart by Mark Dawson is Today's Third Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature The Art of Falling Apart by Mark Dawson as today's third free mystery ebook (A Tragi-Comic 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.

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The Art of Falling Apart
Mark Dawson
A Tragi-Comic Thriller
Publisher: Macmillan

Dystopia have rocketed up the charts in Europe, so now it's time to crack America. The opening concert in Las Vegas is a sell-out success — but secret envy and open animosity have begun to tear the group apart.

The lead singer, Vid, is on a roller-coaster of self-indulgence and egomania … Jared, the lead guitarist, resents being shouldered out of the limelight … Spin, the warm-up DJ, just cannot resist dangerous extra-marital adventures … nor can their manager, Alex, resist the lure of personal gain that greed and duplicity could bring him.

Then one of them dies, in an apparent accident, and there begins to unravel a chilling saga of dark emotions, cynical manipulation, and murderously ruthless self-interest.

  

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.

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

California Blood by Pete Palamountain is Today's Second Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature California Blood by Pete Palamountain as today's second free mystery ebook (A Crime 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.

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California Blood
Pete Palamountain
A Crime Thriller
Publisher: Pete Palamountain

• Suicide of a wandering derelict who returns home after forty years.
• Murder of a wealthy matriarch at her estate in the hills above the San Gabriel Valley.
• Murder of a charismatic Catholic priest after conducting Monday morning Mass.

Is there a common factor? Are the three deaths related? Is there more violence to come?

Set in the small town of Garvey at the foot of Mt. Baldy, Police Chief Duffield (Duffy) Lear and newspaperwoman Matricia (Mattie) Lee team up to find out.

  

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.

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

Fish House by Stephen Dougherty is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Fish House by Stephen Dougherty as today's free mystery ebook (A 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.

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Fish House
Stephen Dougherty
A Thriller
Publisher: CreateSpace

Alex Cole is a fish out of water.

There is a shelf life to corporate heavies like him. Burnt out and trying to recover from the death of his wife, Alex knows it's time to leave the game. So what's a Philadelphia blue blood supposed to do to save himself? Pull up stakes, get out, and try to forge a relationship with the young daughter he hardly knows before it's too late. And the best idea Alex can think of is to buy that fish house in Florida, trading a suit and tie for the quiet, lazy coastal lifestyle. But with conflicts between fishermen, his condo neighbors, City Hall, and a missing luxury yacht looming, his quiet life is about to get loud.

Hounded by his condo-owning neighbors, and legal action by a relentless City Hall he also finds himself in the crosshairs of organized crime when a wealthy mobster sells his luxury yacht — then sends his Cuban thugs to steal it back. The marine patrol arrests those on board and asks Alex to harbor the vessel. Irate, the mob boss arrives with his goons to reclaim his prized boat — but instead sparks a bloody fight with an outrageous group of fisherman. Alex is flailing in deeper water than he's ever been in before — until a surprising alliance between former enemies gives him a fighting chance to mete out some fish house justice!

  

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.

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

Telemystery: TNT Orders Unscripted Police Procedural, Cold Justice

We wouldn't call ourselves fans of reality (unscripted) crime television, but this premise has us intrigued. TNT has ordered Cold Justice (working title), a procedural drama that follows two top-notch female investigators as they dig into murder cases that have lingered for years without answers and closure.

Kelly Siegler, a Texas prosecutor for 21 years, who has successfully tried 68 murder cases, and Yolanda McClary, a crime scene investigator who worked more than 7000 cases in her 26 years on the Las Vegas Police Department, are putting their vast knowledge and experience to work helping local law-enforcement officers and families of violent-crime victims get to the truth. With a fresh set of eyes on old evidence, superior interrogation skills and access to advanced DNA technology and lab testing, Siegler and McClary are determined to bring about a legal and emotional resolution. Taking on a different unsolved crime each week, they will carefully re-examine evidence, question suspects and witnesses, and chase down leads in order to solve cases that would have otherwise remained cold indefinitely.

Eight episodes have been ordered, which are expected to air in late Summer 2013.

Telemystery: First Trailer for Netflix's Hemlock Grove

A new trailer has been released by Netflix for its original supernatural thriller Hemlock Grove (embedded below).

Based on the novel of the same title by Brian McGreevy, the storyline is centered on a Pennsylvania steel town, whose residents are investigating the murder of a 17-year-old girl.

The 13-episode series, which stars Famke Janssen, Bill Skarsgård, Landon Liboiron, Penelope Mitchell, Freya Tingley, and Dougray Scott, will begin streaming on April 19th, 2013.

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Hemlock Grove
Brian McGreevy

The body of a young girl is found mangled and murdered in the woods of Hemlock Grove, Pennsylvania, in the shadow of the abandoned Godfrey Steel mill. A manhunt ensues — though the authorities aren't sure if it's a man they should be looking for.

Some suspect an escapee from the White Tower, a foreboding biotech facility owned by the Godfrey family — their personal fortune and the local economy having moved on from Pittsburgh steel — where, if rumors are true, biological experiments of the most unethical kind take place. Others turn to Peter Rumancek, a Gypsy trailer-trash kid who has told impressionable high school classmates that he's a werewolf. Or perhaps it's Roman, the son of the late JR Godfrey, who rules the adolescent social scene with the casual arrogance of a cold-blooded aristocrat, his superior status unquestioned despite his decidedly freakish sister, Shelley, whose monstrous medical conditions belie a sweet intelligence, and his otherworldly control freak of a mother, Olivia.