Blown Away by Shane Gericke is Today's Second Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Blown Away by Shane Gericke as today's second free mystery ebook. We don't know how long it will be offered at this special price (typically for a limited time only or until a certain number of downloads have been completed), so we urge you to download it while it is still available for free.

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Blown Away by Shane Gericke
An Emily Thompson Mystery
Publisher: Pinnacle

Suburban Chicago police detective Emily Thompson is introduced in this mystery, the first of three in the series.

About Blown Away (from the publisher): A serial killer is playing a deadly game. There are no rules except one: The killer always wins. The loser always dies.

Since joining the force, rookie cop Emily Thompson has had one ambition: to work homicide. Now she’s got her chance. A twisted sociopath is turning her safe Chicago suburb into a brutal killing field, and every single one of his grisly clues leads directly to Emily. In 72 hours, on her fortieth birthday, he intends to make her his greatest trophy. If she doesn’t stop him before then, Emily’s first case will be her last.

In a city gripped by terror, and with little more to go on than her instincts, Emily must match wits with a madman bent on chilling revenge. It is an investigation that will lead her into a nightmare world of unimaginable crimes, the dark secrets of her own past—and to a final shocking discovery …

Read our review of Blown Away by Shane Gericke.

Important Note: Prices can and do change without prior notice, so please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Download Link(s):

Amazon Free Kindle Edition Download Link.

B&N Free Nook Book Download Link.

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

All For One by Ryne Douglas Pearson is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature All For One by Ryne Douglas Pearson as today's free mystery ebook. We don't know how long it will be offered at this special price (typically for a limited time only or until a certain number of downloads have been completed), so we urge you to download it while it is still available for free.

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All For One by Ryne Douglas Pearson
Non-Series
Publisher: Schmuck & Underwood

About All For One (from the publisher): Mary Austin is the kind of teacher that parents adore and children wish for. Firm and compassionate, a guiding light in their lives, she would do anything to protect her students.

But that loyalty is tested when the school's sadistic bully is found dead on campus, and suspicion falls on six children in her class. None willing to talk. To point the finger.

To reveal the killer.

Faced with this, Mary finds herself confronted with dark memories from her own childhood. Fragmentary flashes from the past that test the bounds of her reality, the onslaught worsening when a tenacious detective is brought in to close the case.

On loan from the Seattle Police Department, Detective Dooley Ashe is plagued by his own demons, but focuses on breaking through the wall of silence the children have erected. Up against a town indifferent toward the crime and suspects virtually untouchable by the law, Dooley turns to Mary as an avenue to the truth.

As an unlikely closeness develops between Dooley and Mary, the suspected children close ranks, worried that one of their own is ready to break and give the detective what he wants.

But when unseen adversaries push back, with both damaging and deadly results, Dooley and Mary are forced to face their personal limits as they each discover the unthinkable identity of the real killer.

Important Note: Prices can and do change without prior notice, so please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Download Link(s):

Amazon Free Kindle Edition Download Link.

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

Zoo Station by David Downing is Today's Barnes&Noble Nook Daily Find

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Zoo Station by David Downing as today's Barnes&Noble Daily Find. The deal price of $3.60 is valid only for today, Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Note: Amazon.com is matching the price of this ebook for today only.

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Zoo Station by David Downing
A John Russell Mystery
Soho Crime

This title introduces American journalist John Russell, living in pre-World War II Berlin. There are currently four books in the series, and we've had the pleasure of reading and reviewing all of them, intricately crafted fictional mysteries within the context of an all-too-real historical period.

About Zoo Station (from the publisher): By 1939, Anglo-American journalist John Russell has spent over a decade in Berlin, where his son lives with his mother. He writes human-interest pieces for British and American papers, avoiding the investigative journalism that could get him deported. But as World War II approaches, he faces having to leave his son as well as his girlfriend of several years, a beautiful German starlet.

When an acquaintance from his old communist days approaches him to do some work for the Soviets, Russell is reluctant, but he is unable to resist the offer. He becomes involved in other dangerous activities, helping a Jewish family and a determined young American reporter. When the British and the Nazis notice his involvement with the Soviets, Russell is dragged into the murky world of warring intelligence services.

Read our review of Zoo Station by David Downing.

Important Note: Prices can and do change without prior notice, so please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Download Link(s):

B&N Nook Daily Find Download Link for 01/10/2012.

Warner Bros. Hires Screenwriter for Adaptation of A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Last July we reported that Warner Bros. had optioned the film rights to A Discovery of Witches, the debut supernatural suspense novel by Deborah Harness.

Now we're learning that the studio has hired Pulitzer Prize-winning, Tony Award-winning playwright David Auburn (Proof, The Lake House) to write the screenplay.

A Discovery of Witches — the first in an expected trilogy — introduces Diana Bishop, a young scholar and the descendant of witches, who discovers a long-lost and enchanted alchemical manuscript deep in Oxford's Bodleian Library. Its reappearance summons a fantastical underworld, which she navigates with her leading man, vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont.

It's no secret that what with the Harry Potter film series complete, Warner Bros. is looking for new material from which to build a franchise. This adaptation would seem to us to be a solid start.

(Related article: The Hollywood Reporter.)

Review: The Burning Soul by John Connolly

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: The Burning Soul by John Connolly.

TNT Orders Pilot for Crime Drama L.A. Noir

TNT announced today (via a press release) that the cable network has ordered a pilot for L.A. Noir, based on John Buntin's 2009 book L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City, which chronicles the epic battle between Los Angeles Police Chief William Parker and mobster Mickey Cohen, a one-time boxer who rose to the top of L.A.'s criminal world.

The series — if subsequently ordered — is expected to be a fast-paced crime drama set in Los Angeles during the 1940s and '50s. It's a world of glamorous movie stars, powerful studio heads, returning war heroes, a powerful and corrupt police force and an even more dangerous criminal network determined to make L.A. its West Coast base.

Frank Darabont (The Walking Dead, The Shawshank Redemption) will executive produce the pilot and direct his own adapted screenplay.

Mr. E. Reviews Cowboys & Aliens

Purchase/Rental Option(s)

This adaptation of the graphic novel of the same title doesn't develop its potential much beyond what is minimally necessary. Indeed, rather than create something new and exciting, the director seems content to simply string together a sequence of recreations of previously filmed scenes from other, better, films and television shows.

Read the full text of our review at Mr. E. Reviews Cowboys & Aliens.

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

The World of the Hunger Games

In a little over two months, The Hunger Games — adapted from the bestselling young adult novel by Suzanne Collins — opens in theaters in the US. In advance of the film's release, Scholastic has announced plans to produce a number of books linked to the movie. We have previously written about two of these — The Hunger Games Tribute Guide and The Hunger Games: Official Illustrated Movie Companion — and now we have the artwork for the cover of another: The World of The Hunger Games (right). The image used is also the same from the puzzle poster contest from last month.

The World of The Hunger Games is a richly illustrated, full-color guide to all the districts of Panem, all the participants in the Hunger Games, and the life and home of Katniss Everdeen. It is available to pre-order; the official publication date is March 23rd, 2012, the same day the film opens. (Note: Amazon.com lists the publication date as February 7th, the same day as the other books published by Scholastic, but we believe this to be incorrect.)

Mystery and Suspense Films, New This Week on DVD (120110)

Checking through our list of films currently scheduled for release this week on DVD and/or Blu-ray disc, shown below are those that fall into the mystery, suspense, thriller and adventure categories.

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Purchase/Rental Options

Killer Elite (2011)

Film Synopsis (from the studio): Jason Statham, Clive Owen, and Robert De Niro star in this adaptation of Ranulph Fiennes 1991 bestselling true story-based novel The Feather Men.

Two of the world's most elite operatives, Danny (Jason Statham) and his mentor Hunter (Robert De Niro) go up against the cunning leader of a secret military society (Clive Owen). Covering the globe from Australia to Paris, London and the Middle East, Danny and Hunter are plunged into a highly dangerous game of cat and mouse — where the predators become the prey.

Rated R. 116 minutes.

Watch a trailer for the film below:

Hulu Acquires Canadian Crime Drama Endgame

Hulu has acquired the Canadian crime drama Endgame, which it has begun streaming today. The first two episodes — "Opening Moves" and "Turkish Hold Em" — are currently available to watch; we've embedded "Opening Moves" below … but suspect it won't be available to watch for free for very long.

Endgame stars Shawn Doyle as brilliant chess master Arkady Balagan. Traumatized by the murder of his fiancée, Balagan has become a prisoner in his luxury Vancouver hotel, terrified to step outside. To pay his bill, Balagan starts solving mysteries — using an unlikely band of hotel employees and chess fanatics to do his legwork. He imagines events, interviews the living and the dead, and runs conflicting scenarios — all in his head, solving crimes that baffle the police.

Endgame premiered in March 2011 on Showcase in Canada, running 13 episodes. It has not been renewed for a second season … yet.

New Teaser Poster for The Bourne Legacy

Just last week we had the first look at Jeremy Renner as Aaron Cross in the next "Bourne" thriller, The Bourne Legacy, and now a new teaser — and minimalist — poster has surfaced for the film.

wcmartell added a nice explanation to our post for why Matt Damon, who appeared in the first three films of the franchise as Jason Bourne, is not appearing in this one despite the inclusion of the name "Bourne" in the title. But that's not the only confusing aspect to the film. The fourth book in the series is also titled The Bourne Legacy — written by Eric Van Lustbader, who took over the series after the death of Robert Ludlum — but this movie is being filmed from an original screenplay, not one adapted from the book.

So it probably goes without saying that the tagline shown in the poster is all too apt: "Prepare for the unexpected."

The Bourne Legacy opens in theaters August 3rd, 2012.

Telemystery: Columbo, Hawaii Five-O, and Pacific Blue, New This Week on DVD

Telemystery, your source for one of the most comprehensive listings of crime drama, amateur sleuth, private investigator, mystery and suspense television series, mini-series and made-for-television movies, now available on or coming soon to DVD or Blu-ray disc, is profiling one made-for-television movies set and two series seasons being released this week.

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More than a decade after Columbo left the air as a regular part of NBC's Mystery Movie, Peter Falk reprised the iconic character of LAPD homicide detective Lt. Columbo in some 24 television movies for ABC, which aired on an irregular basis from 1989 through 2003.

Columbo: The Movie Collection 1994-2003 is the final set (of four released) in this series of movies. Available on DVD the set consists of the seven movies that aired during this period. Guest stars for these movies include Rue McClanahan, George Wendt, William Shatner, and Tyne Daly

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Jack Lord stars as Steve McGarrett, head of an elite police unit based in Honolulu, in Hawaii Five-O.

This long-running series aired for twelve seasons. In this final season, the team is going out with a bang … and taking every thief, thug, and cold-blooded murderer with them. It all culminates in a showdown between McGarrett and his ultimate nemesis.

Hawaii Five-O: Season Twelve is available on DVD and Amazon Instant and consists of 19 episodes that originally aired on CBS from October 1979 through April 1980.

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An ensemble cast portraying an elite division of the Santa Monica Police Department, who patrol their beaches on bicycles, in Pacific Blue.

From chasing down pick-pockets and purse-snatchers to investigating top-secret homicides, these law enforcement officers keep the warm, sunny beaches safe, no matter the cost. Featuring a stellar, sexy cast of characters, their relationships sizzle as temptation and desire stir up conflicting personal and professional interests.

Pacific Blue: The Complete Series is available on DVD and consists of 101 episodes that originally aired on USA Network from March 1996 through April 2000. Also being released this week: Pacific Blue: Season One on DVD.

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Visit the Telemystery website to discover more television mystery series currently available on and coming soon to DVD, Blu-ray disc, or video on demand.

Short Lists for the 2011 Indie Lit Awards Announced

The Independent Literary Awards were begun last year, with winners selected by book bloggers. This year, the category of mystery has been added, with the nominees (short lists) for the 2011 awards announced this past weekend. The winners will be announced in mid-March 2012.

Mystery Short List:
• A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny (Minotaur Books)
• The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes by Marcus Sakey (Dutton)
• Fun & Games by Duane Swierczynski (Mulholland Books)
• The Cut by George Pelecanos (Reagan Arthur)
• Missing Daughter, Shattered Family by Liz Strange (MLR Press)

indicates a review by Mysterious Reviews.

(Hat tip to Elizabeth A. White via Mystery Fanfare for alerting us to this news.)

To Speak for the Dead by Paul Levine is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature To Speak for the Dead by Paul Levine as today's free mystery ebook. We don't know how long it will be offered at this special price (typically for a limited time only or until a certain number of downloads have been completed), so we urge you to download it while it is still available for free.

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To Speak for the Dead by Paul Levine
A Jake Lassiter Mystery
Publisher: Bantam/Nittany Valley

Paul Levine, an attorney himself, introduces ex-jock turned Miami trial lawyer Jake Lassiter in this first of this long-running — 8 books over a period of 21 years — series.

About To Speak for the Dead (from the publisher): If dead men could talk, Miami trial lawyer Jake Lassiter would be out of a job. As it is, the “ex-football player, ex-public defender, ex-a-lot-of-things” has an uncanny knack for digging up the truth … and the trouble that usually comes with it.

This time, he’s defending Dr. Roger Salisbury, an orthopedic surgeon and enigmatic womanizer charged with medical malpractice in the death of wealthy Philip Corrigan. But what appears to be a routine case takes a sinister turn when Susan, the dead man’s daughter, insists that the doctor and her sexy stepmother, Mrs. Melanie Corrigan, conspired to kill her father. Now, Susan wants Lassiter to prove it.

Lassiter would love to help the lovely and willful Susan, but how can he defend his client for malpractice while building a case against him for murder? Meanwhile, Corrigan’s beautiful widow makes a play for Lassiter, even as she continues to hold the brilliant surgeon under her spell.

Turning for help to his old friend, retired coroner Charlie Riggs, Lassiter hopes to get the evidence he needs from the dead man himself. Could the late Philip Corrigan reveal whether his death was accidental or homicidal?

Soon, Lassiter finds himself embroiled in murder, missing persons, grave robbery, kinky sex, and deadly drugs as he searches Florida’s steamy streets and tropical waterways for a cold-blooded killer.

Important Note: Prices can and do change without prior notice, so please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Download Link(s):

Amazon Free Kindle Edition Download Link.

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

Mystery Godoku Puzzle for January 09, 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:

A B D E K N O R W

Sara Paretsky’s 16th V. I. Warshawski mystery 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!

Chasin' the Wind by Michael Haskins is Today's Second Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Chasin' the Wind by Michael Haskins as today's second free mystery ebook. We don't know how long it will be offered at this special price (typically for a limited time only or until a certain number of downloads have been completed), so we urge you to download it while it is still available for free.

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Chasin' the Wind by Michael Haskins
A Mick Murphy Mystery
Publisher: Five Star

Key West (Florida) journalist Liam Michael "Mad Mick" Murphy is introduced in this mystery. The second in the series, Free Range Institution, was published last year.

About Chasin' the Wind (from the publisher): When officials sworn to uphold the law try to subvert it in Key West, Mad Mick is compelled to react. He and a ragtag group of citizens confront failed justice, but are left with only revenge as an option. Except, perhaps a renegade deal with the Cuban government.

Dodging treachery, Mad Mick Murphy goes headlong toward treason, dragging his team of "typical" islanders deeper into the mess they wanted to eliminate.

Important Note: Prices can and do change without prior notice, so please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Download Link(s):

Amazon Free Kindle Edition Download Link.

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

My Gun Has Bullets by Lee Goldberg is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature My Gun Has Bullets by Lee Goldberg as today's free mystery ebook. We don't know how long it will be offered at this special price (typically for a limited time only or until a certain number of downloads have been completed), so we urge you to download it while it is still available for free.

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My Gun Has Bullets by Lee Goldberg
A Charlie Willis Mystery
Publisher: St. Martin's Press/CreateSpace

This first of two mysteries in this series featuring LAPD detective Charlie Willis was originally published in 1995. The author reissued this title and its sequel Beyond the Beyond — which he renamed Dead Space — in 2011.

About My Gun Has Bullets (from the publisher): When Beverly Hills Police Officer Charlie Willis pulls over a speeding Rolls Royce hell-bent for Neiman Marcus, he's surprised to see Esther Radcliffe, the geriatric star of the TV series Miss Agatha, behind the wheel. He's even more surprised when she guns him down and keeps on driving. A few hours later, he wakes up in the intensive care unit … to find a William Morris agent, a network president, and the head of Pinnacle Studios standing at the foot of his bed. They have a proposal for him: in exchange for conveniently forgetting who shot him, they'll make him the star of his own series, My Gun Has Bullets. So Charlie trades in his real badge for a fake one … and so begins an uproarious but deadly romp through the wonderful world of TV make-believe … with real bullets.

Important Note: Prices can and do change without prior notice, so please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Download Link(s):

Amazon Free Kindle Edition Download Link.

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

The Last Detective by Peter Lovesey is Today's Barnes&Noble Nook Daily Find

MystereBooks is pleased to feature The Last Detective by Peter Lovesey as today's Barnes&Noble Nook Daily Find. The deal price of $3.60 is valid only for today, Sunday, January 08, 2012.

Note: Amazon.com is matching the price of this ebook for today only.

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The Last Detective by Peter Lovesey
A Peter Diamond Mystery
Soho Crime

Peter Lovesey published The Last Detective in 1991, his third series character (after two historical series, one featuring Victorian detective Sergeant Cribbs and the other, Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales). It went on to win the 1992 Anthony Award for Best Novel. Lovesey continues to write mysteries featuring this character, which are published in the US by Soho Press. Last May, Soho reissued the first in this series, the title currently offered here.

About The Last Detective (from the publisher): A nude female corpse has been found floating in a large reservoir just south of Bristol. In order to solve the mystery of the "Lady in the Lake," Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond must locate two missing letters attributed to Jane Austen and defy his superiors on the force to save a woman unjustly accused of murder.

Important Note: Prices can and do change without prior notice, so please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Download Link(s):

B&N Nook Daily Find 01/08/2012 Download Link.

Antarkos Rising by Jeremy Robinson is Today's Second Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Antarkos Rising by Jeremy Robinson as today's second free mystery ebook. We don't know how long it will be offered at this special price (typically for a limited time only or until a certain number of downloads have been completed), so we urge you to download it while it is still available for free.

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Antarkos Rising by Jeremy Robinson
Non-Series
Publisher: Breakneck Media

This stand-alone futuristic thriller is by the author of the "Chess Team" mysteries.

About Antarkos Rising (from the publisher): A phenomenon known as crustal displacement shifts the Earth’s crust, repositioning continents and causing countless deaths. In the wake of the global catastrophe, the world struggles to take care of its displaced billions. But Antarctica, freshly thawed and blooming, has emerged as a new hope. Rather than wage a world war no nation can endure, the leading nations devise a competition, a race to the center of Antarctica, with the three victors dividing the continent.

It is within this race that Mirabelle Whitney, one of the few surviving experts on the continent, grouped with an American special forces unit, finds herself. But the dangers awaiting the team are far worse than feared; beyond the sour history of a torn family, beyond the nefarious intentions of their human enemies, beyond the ancient creatures reborn through anhydrobiosis — there are the Nephilim.

Important Note: Prices can and do change without prior notice, so please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Download Link(s):

Amazon Free Kindle Edition Download Link.

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

Murder Over Easy by Marshall Cook is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Murder Over Easy by Marshall Cook as today's free mystery ebook. We don't know how long it will be offered at this special price (typically for a limited time only or until a certain number of downloads have been completed), so we urge you to download it while it is still available for free.

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Murder Over Easy by Marshall Cook
A Monona Quinn Mystery
Publisher: Tyrus Books

Small town Wisconsin newspaper editor "Mo" Quinn is introduced in this series of four (to date) mysteries.

About Murder Over Easy (from the publisher): Monona Quinn thought moving from Chicago to rural Wisconsin would be the change of pace she was looking for. But when the popular owner of the local diner is murdered, she realizes she may not find what she was looking for.

Important Note: Prices can and do change without prior notice, so please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Download Link(s):

Amazon Free Kindle Edition Download Link.

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

The Firm, based on the Legal Thriller by John Grisham, Premieres This Sunday on NBC

The Firm premieres this Sunday, January 8th, 2012 on NBC at 9 PM with a two-hour pilot episode.

Based on the legal thriller of the same title by John Grisham, The Firm continues the story of attorney Mitchell McDeere (played by Josh Lucas) and his family 10 years after the events of the book — and the 1993 film adaptation starring Tom Cruise. As a young associate, McDeere brought down the prestigious Memphis law firm of Bendini, Lambert & Locke, which operated as a front for the Chicago mob — and his life was never the same. After a difficult decade, which included a stay in the Federal Witness Protection program, Mitch and his family now emerge from isolation to reclaim their lives and their future — only to find that past dangers are still lurking and new threats are everywhere.

Watch a promo for the series below.

Review: Getting Lucky by D. C. Brod

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: Getting Lucky by D. C. Brod.