Purchase/Rental Option(s)
This is an odd horror film, one that probably would have worked better had it not included any supernatural elements. But it does and suffers for it. Maybe worth a rental for a popcorn night at home, but otherwise give it a pass.
Read the full text of our review at Mr. E. Reviews Sinister.
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Mr. E. Reviews is your source for mystery, suspense, thriller, and crime drama reviews of television and film.
A Mysterious Review of …
Parrots Prove Deadly by Clea Simon. A Pru Marlowe Mystery.
Review summary: This "pet noir" series features a pet psychic, who is an interesting character, but clearly one more comfortable around animals than people. Though the murder storyline is nicely plotted, it is intended mostly for fans of animal mysteries, those in which the animals not only participate in solving the crime but also chat with the reader about the case. A different kind of cozy, but a cozy nonetheless. (Click here for text of full review.)
Our rating:
Parrots Prove Deadly
Clea Simon
A Pru Marlowe Mystery
Poisoned Pen Press (April 2013)
Publisher synopsis: Parrots will repeat anything — they don't talk sense. Or do they?
When Pru Marlowe is called in to retrain a foul-mouthed African gray after its owner's death, the bad-girl animal psychic can't help hearing the bird's words as a replay of a murder scene. But the doctor on call scoffs at the idea, and the heirs just want their late mother's pet to quit cursing.
With the only other possible witnesses being an evasive aide, the blind neighbor, and a single-minded service dog, Pru is stuck with what may be a feather-brained theory. Even her crotchety tabby Wallis doesn't buy it, although she's more than willing to "interrogate" the big bird, as Pru deals with drugs, jealousy, and a potential rabies outbreak.
MystereBooks is pleased to feature Payne & Misery by Catherine Leggitt, now available at a special price, courtesy of the publisher, Ellechor Publishing.
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 (04/10/2013 at 12:00 AM ET). 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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Payne & Misery by Catherine Leggitt
A Christine Sterling Mystery (1st in series)
Publisher: Ellechor Publishing
All that glitters is not gold for Christine Sterling.
The luster of her shiny Golden Years dream fades when Christine's newly retired husband, Jesse, becomes obsessed with a hobby requiring extra time away from her. Mired in boredom, Christine develops a bad reputation for conjuring wild tales to explain ordinary occurrences. Then she meets someone who has true reason to complain, if anyone does.
Lila Payne's life is the mirror opposite of ideal. The plight of this seemingly abused woman gnaws at Christine, but the authorities turn a deaf ear to Christine's pleas for help on Lila's behalf.
Spurred into action when her beloved dog Molly and Lila both disappear on the same night, Christine dives into a scary pool swirling with muddy secrets and misery. Sensing God at work in the situation Christine continues to search and pray, but even with God's help, can they save Lila and Molly before it's too late?
Important Note: This book was listed at the above mentioned price 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.
Every month Amazon releases a new selection of Kindle books priced $3.99 or less.
Today's featured title from the Mystery & Thrillers category is Never Coming Back by Hans Koppel. This Kindle book was listed at $2.99 as of the date and time of this post, Wednesday, April 10, 2013 at 1:30 PM ET, and should be available at this price through the end of the month.
More information about the book is below; if other vendors have priced-matched this title, links to their sites are also shown.
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Never Coming Back by Hans Koppel
Publisher: Pegasus Books
Mike Zetterberg lives with his wife Ylva and their daughter in a house just outside Helsingborg in Sweden. One evening, Ylva doesn't come home as expected. Mike passes it off as a drink with a work friend, but when she's still missing the next day, he starts to worry. As Mike battles suspicion from the police and his own despair, he is unaware that Ylva is still alive, just a stone's throw from his own home: Ylva has been drawn into a twisted plot of revenge and tragedy that leads back into her and her abductors' shared past.
Given the sudden and mysterious circumstances of her disappearance, Mike becomes the chief suspect. But what no one knows is that she's being held hostage in the cellar of the house across the street. A secret camera has been set up in her own home so that Ylva can only watch her family on the screen. They cannot see her — and they most certainly cannot hear her scream.
Important Note: 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 second episode of the third season of Sherlock, now filming, will be titled "The Sign of Three", co-creators Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat have confirmed.
The storyline has not been revealed, but is almost certainly to be adapted from one of only four full-length novels to feature Sherlock Holmes, and the one in which John Watson meets his future wife Mary Morstan. Indeed, when Freeman's real-life partner Amanda Abbington was announced as a new cast member, it was assumed at the time she might play Morstan.
"The Sign of Three" is written by Steve Thompson, who wrote Season 1's "The Blind Banker" and the concluding episode to Season 2, "The Reichenbach Fall".
A Mysterious Review of …
The Further Adventures of Jack Lime by James Leck. A Jack Lime Mystery Short Story Collection.
Review summary: These are three entertaining noirish pulp fiction-style stories centered on the life of an in-demand teen PI and rather less so on the respective mystery at hand. He doesn't exactly stumble around, "solving crimes through sheer luck", as one culprit accuses him, but the statement isn't too far wrong. (Click here for text of full review.)
Our rating:
The Further Adventures of Jack Lime
James Leck
A Jack Lime Mystery Short Story Collection
Kids Can Press (April 2013)
Publisher synopsis: Jack Lime, amateur private eye, solves mysteries for his high school classmates in exchange for future favors. He stops at nothing — except for an occasional bout of narcolepsy — to crack three seemingly stand-alone cases while dodging bullies, Principal Snit and tireless reporter KC Stone. In the tradition of 1950s noir but with a thoroughly modern hero, these stories — shot through with Lime's acid wit — are best served with a root beer float.
MystereBooks is pleased to feature Severance Kill by Tim Stevens as today's fourth free mystery ebook (A Suspense Thriller; Kindle format only).
This title was listed for free as of the date and time of this post, April 10, 2013 at 7:40 AM ET. 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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Severance Kill
Tim Stevens
A Suspense Thriller
Publisher: Tim Stevens
Martin Calvary is going to Prague to kill a man. First he has to rescue him.
Calvary works for The Chapel, a branch of British Intelligence that identifies enemies of the state who are beyond the reach of the law, and eliminates them. Permanently.
But Calvary has had enough of the killing and wants out. His employers make him an offer: if he carries out one more assassination, he's free to leave. If he refuses, evidence of his involvement in all the previous killings will be passed on to the police and he'll become a wanted criminal facing life in prison.
Trapped, Calvary travels to Prague to carry out the hit. The target is Sir Ivor Gaines, a retired senior British diplomat and Cold War traitor who escaped justice more than twenty years ago. But Calvary discovers he's not the only one with an interest in Gaines. Also hunting him are the city's gangland boss, and the local branch of the successor organization to the Soviet KGB …
Calvary's hit on Gaines fails, and he's plunged into a race against time to locate and terminate the man before either Prague's premier organized crime family or the Russians discover just why Gaines is so important, and what the explosive repercussions would be were he to be taken to Moscow. Haunted by the memory of a terrible error he made five years ago, Calvary must track down Gaines to achieve severance not only from his job, but from his past itself.
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.
MystereBooks is pleased to feature Wild Irish by Jennifer Saints as today's third free mystery ebook (A Weldon Brothers Novel of Romantic Suspense; Kindle format only).
This title was listed for free as of the date and time of this post, April 10, 2013 at 7:30 AM ET. 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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Wild Irish
Jennifer Saints
A Weldon Brothers Novel of Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Between Your Sheets Publishing
Twelve years ago wrong side of the tracks bad boy, Jesse Weldon was framed for a crime he didn't commit by the blue-blooded Jordan family. Now he's back in Savannah with his highly successful security company to put the Weldon name on the right side of the tracks. Unfortunately, before he can even make a move in that direction, he runs into Alexandria Jordan and ends up making the same mistake he did before. He succumbs to her allure, but this time, he plans on getting her out of his system for good and walking away.
Except for a few wild moments with Jesse at seventeen, Alexi Jordan has followed the life expected of her. But a Wedding Day betrayal from her blue-blooded fiancé has her running from her life and right into the arms of the man she'd never forgotten, Jesse. Yet as she forges a new future for herself amid the scandal of her aborted wedding, Alexi finds herself the target of a twisted killer and both her and Jesse's days are now numbered.
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.
MystereBooks is pleased to feature Bad Games by Jeff Menapace as today's second free mystery ebook (A Psychological Thriller; Kindle format only).
This title was listed for free as of the date and time of this post, April 10, 2013 at 7:20 AM ET. 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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Bad Games
Jeff Menapace
A Psychological Thriller
Publisher: Mind Mess Press
The Lambert Family is heading to Crescent Lake, a rural cabin community in western Pennsylvania, for an idyllic weekend getaway. Some fishing, some barbecue, some games …
The Fannelli brothers are heading to Crescent Lake too. Some stalking, some kidnapping, some murder, definitely some games … though not necessarily the type of games the Lamberts had in mind.
But it doesn't matter. The Lamberts are going to play whether they like it or not.
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.
MystereBooks is pleased to feature A Girl, A Guy, and A Ghost by Patricia Mason as today's free mystery ebook (A Humorous Romantic Mystery; Kindle format only).
This title was listed for free as of the date and time of this post, April 10, 2013 at 7:10 AM ET. 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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A Girl, A Guy, and A Ghost
Patricia Mason
A Humorous Romantic Mystery
Publisher: Ellora's Cave
Curvy redhead Giselle Hunter, parapsychology reporter, has a crisis. Finding a ghost within three days is the only way to save her job. Not easy, especially with no psychic talent. A trip to Savannah Georgia — voted the most haunted city in America — seems ideal. But while Giselle encounters a discrimination-obsessed vampire, a nudist wizard, a not-so-psychic medium and a host of other kooks, there's not a ghost in sight.
Then there's scrumptiously sexy, private investigator Ry Leland. With his buff body and biteable lips, Ry ignites her passion. He's an enormous distraction. Distracting her in a bed, in a closet, on the kitchen table, in a car … But despite the explosion of their mutual lust at first sight, Ry is unwilling to help with what he calls a cockamamie investigation. Unwilling, that is, until an attempt on her life makes it clear someone wants to stop Giselle from finding a ghost … and turn her into one.
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.
MystereBooks is pleased to feature Vanished by Irene Hannon as today's Barnes & Noble Nook Daily Find.
The deal price of $1.99 is valid only for today, Wednesday, April 10, 2013.
Note: The price has been matched by Amazon.com for today only.
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Vanished
Irene Hannon
A Private Justice Mystery (1st in series)
Revell
Reporter Moira Harrisons is lost. In the dark. In a thunderstorm. When a confusing detour places her on a rural, wooded road, she's startled by the sudden appearance of a lone figure caught in the beam of her headlights. Though Moira jams on her brakes, the car careens across the wet pavement ù and the solid thump against the side of the vehicle tells her she hit the person before she crashes into a tree on the far side of the road.
A dazed Moira is relieved when a man opens her door, tells her he saw everything, and promises to call 911. Then everything fades to black. When she comes to an hour later, she is alone. No man. No 911. No injured person lying on the side of the road. But she can't forget the look of terror she saw on the person's face in the instant before her headlights swung away. The person she hit had been in trouble. She's sure of it. But she can't get anyone to believe her story — except a handsome former police detective, now a private eye, who agrees to take on the case.
Important Note: This book was listed at the price mentioned above 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.
Here is today's mystery and suspense update from Big Fish Games …
• The New Release is Ghost: Elisa Cameron.
• The Daily Deal is The Princess Case: A Royal Scoop, just $2.99 today only!.
• The current Catch of the Week is Brink of Consciousness: Dorian Gray Syndrome, just $2.99 through Sunday, April 14, 2013 only.
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Today's New Release is Ghost: Elisa Cameron
Am I dead? Apparently so. Adding to the mystery, you have no memory of how it may have happened. As you discover more, death seems to be the least of your problems. Elisa Cameron must work quickly to save her sister, her future, and possibly the world. From the best-selling Dark Horse graphic novel "Ghost" comes a story of supernatural proportions!
A sample version is available to download and play for free for one hour.
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Today's Daily Deal is The Princess Case: A Royal Scoop
Help Lois Wheeler investigate and find a kidnapper in this incredible Hidden Object game! After a royal couple sets off on their honeymoon, Lois Wheeler gets an exclusive interview at their swanky hotel room. Instead of getting the biggest scoop of her career, however, Lois gets wrapped up in an international kidnapping case! Work with the FBI to find important clues and catch the crooks!
A sample version is available to download and play for free for one hour. You can purchase this game today only — Wednesday, April 10, 2013 — for $2.99.
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The current Catch of the Week is Brink of Consciousness: Dorian Gray Syndrome
Help Sam Wilde rescue his love Anna in this incredible Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure game! Sam's every move is being tracked so he has to be extra careful. Putting his journalistic talents to the test, Sam must find the maniac who has kidnapped Anna, and stop him before its too late. Explore gorgeous locations and solve tricky puzzles to stop an evil maniac!
A sample version is available to download and play for free for one hour. You can purchase this game at the special price of $2.99 through Sunday, April 14, 2013.
A&E has ordered to series Those Who Kill, based on the Dutch crime drama Den som dræber, which itself is based on a concept by crime novelist Elsebeth Egholm.
"Those Who Kill is not a crime procedural about serial killers," said A&E President and General Manager Bob DeBitetto. "[I]t's a deep serialized character portrait of two compelling yet damaged individuals coming together through the revelation of their dark past."
The 10-episode series stars Chloë Sevigny stars as homicide detective Catherine Jensen and James D'Arcy as a forensic psychiatrist, who assists in the police investigation.
Every month Amazon releases a new selection of Kindle books priced $3.99 or less.
Today's featured title from the Mystery & Thrillers category is This Wicked World by Richard Lange. This Kindle book was listed at $3.99 as of the date and time of this post, Tuesday, April 09, 2013 at 1:30 PM ET, and should be available at this price through the end of the month.
More information about the book is below; if other vendors have priced-matched this title, links to their sites are also shown.
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This Wicked World by Richard Lange
Publisher: Little, Brown
Ex-marine Jimmy Boone-former bodyguard to Los Angeles's rich and famous-is fresh out of Corcoran, on parole, and trying to keep his nose clean until he figures out his next move. He has a job tending bar on Hollywood Boulevard, serving drinks to tourists, and is determined to put the past behind him.
But trying to do the right thing has always been Boone's downfall. When he backs up a buddy on a hero-for-hire gig-looking into the mysterious death of a kid on a downtown bus he once again finds himself in a world of trouble.
As Boone learns more about the boy, an innocent who got involved with the wrong people, his investigation becomes a mission. Along the dangerous margins of Los Angeles, he encounters down-on-their-luck drug dealers, a vengeful stripper, a dog-fighting ring, a beautiful ex-cop, a vicious crime boss and his crew, and a fortune in counterfeit bills. Before long, Boone realizes that his quest to get at the truth about a ruthless murder may also turn out to be his last chance at redemption.
Important Note: 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.
BBC Drama announced today (at MIPTV) that Ben Miller will not return as Detective Inspector Richard Poole for a third season of Death in Paradise. He will be replaced by Kris Marshall, playing the role of DI Humphrey Gordon. The details of how and when Miller departs "remain tightly under wraps."
"I have absolutely loved my time on Death In Paradise and am sad to be leaving such a successful show," said Miller. "[H]owever DI Poole has made no secret of his struggle with the Caribbean heat, so I felt now was a good time to put him out of his misery! I know Kris will do a superb job and I'm delighted to be handing over the detective baton to him."
"I am thrilled to be joining Death In Paradise and finding out a bit more about what makes Humphrey tick," added Marshall. "Six months filming on a tropical island with an amazing cast and glorious sunshine? What isn't there to love! I might even get myself a parrot!"
Death in Paradise premiered in late 2011 and recently concluded its second season. The premise is that a very City-oriented detective arrives on the (fictional) island of Saint-Marie to solve the murder of the local police captain, only to take his place when the case is closed.
We've seen the first season and are currently watching the second season (on our local PBS station) of this terrific series. It is not (yet) available on DVD in the US.
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