BBC has released a teaser trailer for the fourth season of Sherlock (below). The trailer's tagline: "It's not a game anymore."

No air date (of course), only "Coming in 2017". We can only hope that it might be closer to January than December!

All You Need Is Fudge by Nancy Coco, New on the Mystery Bookshelf during July 2016

New on the Mystery Bookshelf during July 2016 …

All You Need Is Fudge by Nancy Coco, An Allie McMurphy, Candy-Coated Mystery (4th in series)

Publisher: Kensington

  

Fudge shop owner Allie McMurphy is making fudgie treats for the annual yacht race — but a killer's stirring up a batch of trouble …

The annual yacht race off the coast of Mackinac Island, Michigan, is a highlight of the summer season, and Allie is pulling out all the stops making chocolate centerpieces for the occasion. Unfortunately, she and her bichonpoo, Mal, also pull a dead body from the murky waters of the marina. When Allie's boyfriend's sister becomes the prime suspect, Allie dives into investigating the murder herself. Amid bitter feuds and hushed-up scandals, the courageous candymaker quickly gets in over her head. Someone is trying to fudge the facts to keep a secret worth killing for …

— All You Need Is Fudge by Nancy Coco

To see more new paperback titles scheduled to be published this month, visit The Mystery Bookshelf for July 2016. For new hardcover titles, visit New Mysteries where for a list of July 2016 mysteries, novels of suspense, and thrillers is provided.

Innocent, The Kindle County Series by Scott Turow, Now Available at a Special Price

Omnimystery News is always searching for newly discounted mystery, suspense, thriller and crime novels for our readers to enjoy.

Today, we're pleased to present the following title, now available at a special price courtesy of the publisher, Grand Central …

Innocent by Scott Turow

The Kindle County Series (8th in series)

Publisher: Grand Central

Price: $2.99 (as of 07/26/2016 at 1:00 PM ET).

  

More than twenty years after Rusty Sabich and Tommy Molto went head-to-head in the shattering murder trial of Presumed Innocent, the men are pitted against each other once again in a riveting psychological match.

When Sabich, now over sixty years old and the chief judge of an appellate court, finds his wife, Barbara, dead under mysterious circumstances, Molto accuses him of murder for the second time, setting into motion a taut and explosive courtroom trial.

— Innocent by Scott Turow

A complete list of today's featured titles can be found on the Discounted MystereBooks page on Omnimystery News.

Important Note: Price(s) verified as of the date and time shown. Price(s) are subject to change at any time. Please confirm the price of the book before purchasing it.

New This Week: January's Betrayal, A Larry Macklin Mystery by A. E. Howe

Omnimystery News is pleased to present a mystery, suspense, or thriller ebook that we recently found by sleuthing (as it were) through new or recently reissued titles from independent publishers during July 2016 and priced $5.99 or less.

Visit our New Indie MystereBooks page for a complete list of titles featured today.

January's Betrayal by A. E. Howe

A Larry Macklin Mystery (3rd in series)

Publisher: A. E. Howe

Price: $2.99 (as of 07/26/2016 at 12:30 PM ET).

  

See all three mysteries in the highly reviewed Larry Macklin Series for $2.99 or less each on Kindle.

The specter of corruption has hovered over the Adams County Sheriff's Office for months. Criminal investigator Larry Macklin is convinced he's identified a mole for drug dealers within the department, but he doesn't have enough evidence to prove it.

Larry's attention is diverted when a recently released suspect in a series of rapes is shot and killed in the act of raping and murdering a woman … or so it seems. But the more Larry digs into the case, the more it becomes clear that the incident is part of a larger conspiracy — one that could have a devastating effect on his father's career as sheriff.

Larry is desperate to find the real killer and to protect the reputation of the sheriff's office, but it just might lead him to make the biggest mistake of his career.

— January's Betrayal by A. E. Howe

Important Note: Price(s) verified as of the date and time shown. Price(s) are subject to change at any time. Please confirm the price of the book before purchasing it.

A Conversation with Attorney and Author Charles Rosenberg

We are delighted to welcome attorney and author Charles Rosenberg to Omnimystery News today.

Chuck's new legal thriller — also the first in a new series — is Write To Die (Thomas & Mercer; July 2016 trade paperback and ebook formats) and we recently had the opportunity to spend some time with him talking about it.

— ♦ —

Omnimystery News: Introduce us to the lead characters of your new series. And what is it about them that appeals to you as a writer?

Photo provided courtesy of
Charles Rosenberg

Charles Rosenberg: Write To Die is the start of a new series, called the "To Die" series. The first novel in the series is set in Los Angeles in The Harold Firm, which is a preeminent entertainment law firm based in Century City. It represents big studios and A-list talent and is named for its founder (and still the big cheese in the firm), Hal Harold.

Rory Calburton, the protagonist, is a 40-year old lawyer — a former college football player — who's just made partner at the firm. But he never finished college and went to a non-accredited law school that I made up out of whole cloth — the Chester A. Arthur School of Law. It's north of Los Angeles, up by Magic Mountain, a Six Flags amusement park. The park has nineteen roller coasters, and the students ride them constantly to bleed off tension. So Rory's origins have given him something of a chip on his shoulder and an inferiority complex because everyone else in his firm went to well-known law schools with national reputations. Indeed, it's hinted that he may have gotten hired in the first place because of his father's connections. He's also a by-the-book kind of guy, which has worked well for him.

The other main character — almost a co-protagonist — is Sarah Gold, a whip-smart, thirtyish, new associate who went to Georgetown Law and just finished clerking for the Chief Justice of the United States. On her first day at the firm, she's assigned to help Rory out on a big case. Oil and water certainly get along a lot better. But Sarah has her own down-market side. She worked her way through law school as a private investigator and has a tendency, to Rory's horror, to go off on her own and use her PI skills to help cases out. In Rory's view, she constantly puts the firm at great risk. He tries, without success, to get her fired.

What appeals to me about these characters is the conflict between them in both background and style.

In background, they reflect a real dichotomy that's sometimes out there in the legal profession — between those who went to law school at supposedly great places and work at large, elite firms and those who went to school elsewhere and often work at a different kind of law and often represent different kinds of clients. A lot of legal thrillers are set in one milieu or the other, and I thought it would be fun to put lawyers from those two different worlds in the same law firm and let them go at it, with the added possibility of romance. In the end, there's something each can learn from the other.

I also thought it would be fun to contrast their styles and play off the tensions that causes, both professional and personal. Rory fights hard, but wants to play by he rules. Sarah finds rules constraining and thinks you can benefit clients by going outside them. Like secretly searching a house for the evidence they need!

OMN: How do you expect these characters to develop over the course of a series?

CR: In the first series I wrote (the "Robert Tarza" series) which begins with Death on a High Floor, the three main characters, all of them lawyers, change a lot in the two sequels. They get married, or get divorced, or hook up (not necessarily with one another), change jobs and so forth. This made writing it more interesting for me, and I think it reflects the true state of the world. It seemed to work for a lot of readers, but there was a vocal sub-set who disliked the fact that I'd changed the character(s) they liked best. So with the new "To Die" series, I have to give a little more thought to how I evolve the characters in the sequels. By the way, in Write To Die, the son of one of the characters in Death on a High Floor makes a cameo appearance, and I have plans for him in the future.

OMN: How do you go about finding the right voice for your characters, especially the female leads?

CR: Both the old series and the new series have strong female characters. In Death on a High Floor, Jenna James is a brilliant young lawyer who appears in a lot of scenes and is a key driver of the plot. But we never see the world from her POV because the novel is written in the first person voice of the lead male character, Robert Tarza. The first sequel, Long Knives, is different. Part of it is voiced in the first person by Jenna. When I wrote her in the first person I perhaps naively never thought I was doing something unusual or difficult or controversial, and most readers, to the extent they mention it at all (rarely), appear to think that I wrote what one called "a credible female character." I admit, though, that to this day I'm not quite sure exactly what that means.

Obviously, some people think that male and female characters have vastly different characteristics on the page, and that a male can't write a female and vice-versa. But you know, I'm writing about lawyers, and maybe male and female lawyers aren't all that different in the way they practice law (I can hear the screaming now as some people violently disagree). I've worked with lots of female lawyers and taught lots of female law students. Putting anatomy aside, they don't strike me as profoundly different from male lawyers except in one regard — the average woman lawyer may have a larger range of empathetic emotions to draw upon, particularly in dispute resolution, than the average male lawyer and that may be an advantage. But so far, I've not really tried to explore that particular set of possible differences or what they might mean to success or failure. And, of course, mental-emotional characteristics supposedly more common to one gender than to another are only on average, if they really exist at all. There's lots of overlap.

By the way, I don't mean to suggest that women have had an easy time in the legal profession. They've been majorly discriminated against in law schools, law firms and the courts. And I've seen it personally. My first law firm in Los Angeles, which was widely considered one of the most liberal firms in Los Angeles, both politically and socially (not a stiff-ass place) had NO women lawyers when I got there. And the number of women in my law school class was well below ten percent. It's somewhat better today in many ways, but it still goes on.

I've not explored that gender discrimination in the law in my novels, but maybe I will (perhaps I should!) at some point.

OMN: We called Write To Die a legal thriller. Would you agree with that?

CR: Yes. Of course, they are not thrillers in the sense that if the mystery isn't solved the world will end or New York City will be nuked. They are simply good mysteries with a dead body and courtroom scenes. So in that sense, I think the genre name is a bit misleading. I'm not sure who coined it or where it came from originally. A better name might be "legal drama" or "courtroom drama," and I've seen those used, too.

The legal thriller genre is a little limiting in that readers have clearly come to expect courtroom scenes if the novel is categorized that way. Paris Ransom, the third book in the "Robert Tarza" series, has courtroom scenes, but they are in Paris, where trials are conducted quite differently. Some readers were clearly disappointed with that. Others were not. But given the amount of objection, I probably won't ever do that again. Well, okay, maybe I will. I spent a couple weeks in England last year exploring their legal system (including watching a murder trial in the Old Bailey), and I'm not going to let all of that work go to waste.

OMN: Suppose Rory Calburton were to interview you. What would be his opening question? And what would your answer be?

CR: That's a great question!

I think Rory Calburton's question might be: "Hey, I'm the main protagonist of Write To Die, but I know almost nothing about myself. Like where I grew up, or who my parents are, or how I ended up in California. I'm forty, and I don't even know if I was ever married. Or what my dreams are. When am I going to learn all of that?"

And I'd say, "Get all your friends to buy the new book, and I'll write a few sequels and we can both find out the answers." So yep, that means I don't do a detailed biography of my characters before I write them. I learn about them as I go along.

— ♦ —

Charles Rosenberg is a graduate of Antioch College and the Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. He has taught extensively as an adjunct law professor, including at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, the Loyola Law School International LLM Program in Bologna, Italy, the UCLA School of Law, the Pepperdine School of Law, and the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA. Chuck currently practices in the Los Angeles area. He has been a partner in several law firms, including a large international firm. Currently, he is a partner in a three-lawyer firm.

For more information about the author, please visit his website at CharlesRosenbergAuthor.com and his author page on Goodreads, or find him on Facebook and Twitter.

— ♦ —

Write To Die by Charles Rosenberg

A Legal Thriller

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

Hollywood's latest blockbuster is all set to premiere — until a faded superstar claims the script was stolen from her. To defend the studio, in steps the Harold Firm, one of Los Angeles's top entertainment litigation firms and as much a part of the glamorous scene as the studios themselves. As a newly minted partner, it's Rory Calburton's case, and his career, to win or lose.

But the seemingly tame civil trial turns lethal when Rory stumbles upon the strangled body of his client's general counsel. And the ties that bind in Hollywood constrict even tighter when the founder of the Harold Firm is implicated in the murder. Rory is certain the plagiarism and murder cases are somehow connected, and with the help of new associate Sarah Gold — who's just finished clerking for the chief justice — he's determined to get answers. Will finding out who really wrote the script lead them to the mastermind of the real-life murder?

— Write To Die by Charles Rosenberg

Today's Selection of Daily Deals for Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Omnimystery News is pleased to feature a selection of today's Daily Deals found on Tuesday, July 26, 2016 at 7:30 AM ET …

Texas Tough by Janet Dailey

The Tylers of Texas Series

Publisher: Kensington

Kindle Daily Deal Price: $1.99

The quiet horse whisperer whose touch still ignites her dreams — and is everything wealthy Lauren Prescott is not. She can think of a million reasons why she should never ever fall into Sky Fletcher's sure embrace again. Until she clashes head-on with the dangerous complications of her privileged life and needs his protection like air to breathe …

The heiress Sky can't get out of his heart, no matter how much he tries. And being the secret third Tyler son doesn't change a thing. All he wants from his two brothers is help uncovering a dangerous conspiracy threatening his land, their ranch, and the spirited beauty he never should have touched …

— Texas Tough by Janet Dailey

Dead Man's Land by Robert Ryan

A Dr. John Watson Mystery

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Kindle Daily Deal Price: $1.99

Where better to get away with murder than a place where thousands are dying every day?

Deep in the trenches of Flanders Fields, men are dying in their thousands every day. So one more death shouldn't be a surprise.

But then a body turns up with bizarre injuries, and Sherlock Holmes' former sidekick Dr John Watson — unable to fight for his country due to injury but able to serve it through his medical expertise — finds his suspicions raised. The face has a blue-ish tinge, the jaw is clamped shut in a terrible rictus and the eyes are almost popping out of his head, as if the man had seen unimaginable horror. Something is terribly wrong.

But this is just the beginning. Soon more bodies appear, and Watson must discover who is the killer in the trenches. Who can he trust? Who is the enemy? And can he find the perpetrator before he kills again?

Surrounded by unimaginable carnage, amidst a conflict that's ripping the world apart, Watson must for once step out of the shadows and into the limelight if he's to solve the mystery behind the inexplicable deaths.

— Dead Man's Land by Robert Ryan

Blood Honor by Russell Blake

The Day After Never Series (1st in series)

Publisher: Reprobatio Ltd.

Kindle Daily Deal Price: 99¢

They said it could never happen — that the day would never come. They were wrong.

Five years post-collapse, former Texas lawman Lucas Shaw is surviving hardscrabble in a kill-or-be-killed wasteland. When an enigmatic young woman enters his life with a desperate plea, Lucas must face impossible odds and battle an adversary who will stop at nothing to destroy them.

— Blood Honor by Russell Blake

Double Fudge Brownie Murder by Joanne Fluke

A Hannah Swensen Mystery (18th in series)

Publisher: Kensington

Nook Daily Find Price: $1.99 (price-matched by Amazon)

  

Life in tiny Lake Eden, Minnesota, is usually pleasantly uneventful. Lately, though, it seems everyone has more than their fair share of drama — especially the Swensen family. With so much on her plate, Hannah Swensen can hardly find the time to think about her bakery — let alone the town's most recent murder …

Hannah is nervous about the upcoming trial for her involvement in a tragic accident. She's eager to clear her name once and for all, but her troubles only double when she finds the judge bludgeoned to death with his own gavel — and Hannah is the number one suspect. Now on trial in the court of public opinion, she sets out in search of the culprit and discovers that the judge made more than a few enemies during his career. With time running out, Hannah will have to whip up her most clever recipe yet to find a killer more elusive than the perfect brownie …

— Double Fudge Brownie Murder by Joanne Fluke

The Ice Twins by S. K. Tremayne

A Psychological Thriller

Publisher: Grand Central

Kobo Daily Deal Price: $1.99 (price-matched by Amazon)

  

One of Sarah's daughters died. But can she be sure which one?

A year after one of their identical twin daughters, Lydia, dies in an accident, Angus and Sarah Moorcroft move to the tiny Scottish island Angus inherited from his grandmother, hoping to put together the pieces of their shattered lives.

But when their surviving daughter, Kirstie, claims they have mistaken her identity — that she, in fact, is Lydia — their world comes crashing down once again.

As winter encroaches, Angus is forced to travel away from the island for work, Sarah is feeling isolated, and Kirstie (or is it Lydia?) is growing more disturbed. When a violent storm leaves Sarah and her daughter stranded, they are forced to confront what really happened on that fateful day.

— The Ice Twins by S. K. Tremayne

For more deals that may have been found after this post was created, see our Daily Deals page on Omnimystery News for an updated list.

Important Note: Price(s) verified as of the date and time shown. Price(s) are subject to change at any time. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of the purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before purchasing it.

Today's Selection of Free MystereBooks for Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Omnimystery News is pleased to feature a selection of Free MystereBooks found on Tuesday, July 26, 2016 at 7:00 AM ET …

On The Clock by E. G. Michaels

A Kyle Simmons Thriller

Publisher: E. G. Michaels

Price: FREE!

  

Sea of Lies by Bradley West

An Espionage Thriller

Publisher: Bradley West

Price: FREE!

  

Gibson & Clarke by Rick Santini

The Failed Justice Series

Publisher: Limitless Publishing

Price: FREE!

  

Boysie Blake: Problem Solver by Max Myers

A Murder Mystery

Publisher: U.S. Indie Books

Price: FREE!

  

Vengeance Always Delivers by Geoffrey Sleight

A Novel of Suspense

Publisher: Geoffrey Sleight

Price: FREE!

  

Like Father Like Daughter by Christina Morgan

The Flesh & Blood Trilogy

Publisher: Limitless Publishing

Price: FREE!

  

The Deadly Art Affair by K. M. Morgan

A Daisy McDare, Cozy Creek Mystery

Publisher: K. M. Morgan

Price: FREE!

  

Beef Brisket Murder by Patti Benning

The Darling Deli Series

Publisher: Summer Prescott Books

Price: FREE!

  

True Blue Murder by Elise M. Stone

An African Violet Club Mystery

Publisher: Civano Press

Price: FREE!

  

PRIMAL Origin by Jack Silkstone

The PRIMAL Series

Publisher: Jack Silkstone

Price: FREE!

  

Take Me Higher by Ali Parker

The Castaletta Syndicate Series

Publisher: BrixBaxter Publishing

Price: FREE!

  

Primed Charge by J. T. Patten

A Sean Havens, Black Ops Thriller

Publisher: Escape Your Reality Press

Price: FREE!

  

For a summary of all of today's titles, plus any that may have been added since this post was created, visit our Free MystereBooks page. This page is updated daily, typically by 8 AM ET.

Important Note: Price(s) verified as of the date and time shown. Price(s) are subject to change at any time. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of the purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before purchasing it.

A Far and Deadly Cry, A Novel of Suspense by Teri Holbrook, Now Available at a Special Price

Omnimystery News is always searching for newly discounted mystery, suspense, thriller and crime novels for our readers to enjoy.

Today, we're pleased to present the following title, now available at a special price courtesy of the publisher, Crimeline …

A Far and Deadly Cry by Teri Holbrook

A Novel of Suspense

Publisher: Crimeline

Price: 99¢ (as of 07/25/2016 at 8:00 PM ET).

  

The crime scene showed that a cunning mind and a passionate hatred lay behind the killing of Lisa Stillwell. But New Scotland Yard would not have been called to this remote Hampshire village if the baby-sitter's employer hadn't been Gale Grayson, a self-exiled American with a suspicious past.

Three years before, Chief Inspector Daniel Halford had watched helplessly as Gale's husband put a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger — seconds before Halford could arrest him for terrorism. Halford has never forgotten the scene or the pregnant young widow whose life was shattered — and as he questions her now, he finds past and present emotions blurring his judgment.

Yet piece by piece he is discovering some unsettling truths about the life of Lisa Stillwell … and a chilling picture is forming of a village that is not quite as sleepy as it seems.

— A Far and Deadly Cry by Teri Holbrook

A complete list of today's featured titles can be found on the Discounted MystereBooks page on Omnimystery News.

Important Note: Price(s) verified as of the date and time shown. Price(s) are subject to change at any time. Please confirm the price of the book before purchasing it.