News: Festival to Celebrate New Mysteries and their Writers

Organizers for the first International Mystery Writers' Festival will showcase 12 works June 12-17, 2007 in Owensboro (KY). Some of the key players in the field, including Ira Levin, Sue Grafton, and Angela Lansbury, are expected to attend the event, dubbed, "Discovering New Mysteries," at Owensboro's RiverPark Center.

Festival leaders will introduce a new award, The Angie, named after Lansbury, the star of TV's Murder, She Wrote. She will be honored as "The First Lady of Mystery" said Zev Buffman, RiverPark President & CEO.

Buffman added, "This is the only new works festival in the English-speaking world specializing in staging and discovering new mysteries."

"Discovering New Mysteries" is still accepting submissions of original plays, screenplays and teleplays. Deadline for submissions is November 30, 2006. The "Festival Final 12" will be selected and notified February 15, 2007. Categories and prizes include: Best New Work, Play, $10,000; Most Promising New Writer, all categories, $5,000; Outstanding Screenplay or Teleplay, $2,500.

For more information, visit the RiverPark Center website here.

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News: Focus Home Interactive to Release New Sherlock Holmes Mystery Game

Focus Home Interactive is reporting that the latest game in its Sherlock Holmes series, Sherlock Holmes-The Awakened, will be released early next year in the US. The game has traditional point-and-click game play, in a real time 3D environment, while offering numerous enigmas and varied puzzles including some that use physics and light for the first time.

The game, based on an excellent scenario, plunges the player into the heart of a terrifying investigation. Sherlock Holmes, assisted by the loyal Doctor Watson, investigates strange disappearances which seem related to the activity of a secret sect which worships the god Cthulhu. The adventure begins in London, in the renowned Baker Street, then on to investigating a disturbing psychiatric hospital near Bale, Switzerland, then on to Louisiana and finally to Scotland.

A trailer is available on the official Sherlock Holmes-The Awakened website.

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Mystery Bestsellers for November 17, 2006

A list of the top ten mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending November 17, 2006 has been posted on the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books website.

Several new mysteries are on the bestseller lists this week. Debuting in first position at both the Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com James Patterson's 12th Alex Cross mystery, simply titled Cross. Alex Cross was a rising star in the Washington, DC, Police Department when an unknown shooter gunned down his wife, Maria, in front of him. The killer was never found, and the case turned cold. Now a free agent from the police and the FBI, he's set up practice as a psychologist once again. Then Cross's former partner, John Sampson, calls in a favor. He is tracking a serial rapist in Georgetown, one whose brutal modus operandi recalls a case Sampson and Cross worked together years earlier. When the case reveals a connection to Maria's death, Cross latches on for the most urgent and terrifying ride of his life.

In the second spot on both lists is Nature Girl by Carl Hiaasen. Honey Santana has a scheme to help rid the world of irresponsibility, indifference, and dinnertime sales calls. She's taking rude, gullible Relentless, Inc., telemarketer Boyd Shreave and his less-than-enthusiastic mistress, Eugenie-the fifteen-minute-famous girlfriend of a tabloid murderer-into the wilderness of Florida's Ten Thousand Islands for a gentle lesson in civility. What she doesn't know is that she's being followed by her obsessed former employer. And he doesn't know he's being followed by Honey's still-smitten former drug-running ex-husband. And when they all pull up on Dismal Key, they don't know they're intruding on Sammy Tigertail, a half white-half Seminole failed alligator wrestler, trying like hell to be a hermit despite the Florida State coed who's dying to be his hostage. Publishers Weekly calls Nature Girl "another hilarious Florida romp".

Finally, just in time for the holidays, is the latest mystery by mother and daughter Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark, Santa Cruise. Alvirah Meehan, the lottery winner turned amateur sleuth; her husband, Willy; recently hitched private detective Regan Reilly and her groom, Jack, head of the NYPD Major Case Squad; and Regan's parents, Nora and Luke, are guests on the Royal Mermaid's maiden voyage, the Santa Cruise. On-board activities include a mystery seminar dedicated to a Ghost of Honor, the late Left Hook Louie, a champion prizefighter turned bestselling author. However, a terrified mystery fan swears she has spotted the Ghost of Honor in the ship's chapel. Then two Santa suits disappear from a locked supply room. A storm develops, and in the infirmary an attempt is made on the life of a seemingly feeble passenger. Back in Miami, a TV reporter is turning the cruise into a public-relations nightmare, thanks to her spies on the ship. As the Royal Mermaid sails through troubled waters, Alvirah, Regan, and Jack are uncovering the clues that lead them to dangerous criminals who were not on the original guest list!

Visit the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books often where we provide readers and collectors of mysteries with the best and most current information about their favorite mystery authors, books, and series.

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Press Release: Adventure Company Ships Murder on the Orient Express for PC

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Adventure Company, the leading publisher of adventure games, today shipped to retail its engrossing new PC game, Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express. The game is a thrilling murder mystery for both long-time and new Agatha Christie fans that presents an ideal blend of classic Queen of Crime style lifted from the pages of her acclaimed novel of the same name with additional deceptive twists and turns, making the interactive mystery a challenge for detectives of all skill levels.

Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express draws fans in as they step aboard a lavishly appointed 1930’s era train along with a cast of 25 intriguing characters led by acclaimed Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, and including philanthropist Samuel Ratchett and Princess Dragomiroff, all traveling from Istanbul to London. The game adds a new main character to the storyline as well, Antoinette Marceau, a train company employee, crime buff and a huge fan of Poirot’s. The luxurious rail trip quickly shifts gear when a heinous murder is committed, shocking everyone aboard and fueling a hunt for the killer.

Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express is equipped with a new mapping system, where icons of each rail car appear on the top of the game screen. Players simply click on the rail car they want to visit to move quickly and easily from place to place. There is also the ability to skip through dialogue by pressing the enter key. This is particularly useful if a player returns to a certain section of the game for a clue but does not want to burn time listening to dialogue they’ve already heard.

Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express is rated “T” (teen) and has moderate system requirements including Windows® 2000/XP and a 1.4 GHz Pentium® 3 processor.

The game is available to purchase on the Games of Mystery website on the Mystery Computer Games page.

Read the entire press release here.

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Mystery Book Review: A Trout in the Sea of Cortez by John Salter

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, has written our review of A Trout in the Sea of Cortez by John Salter. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

A Trout in the Sea of Cortez by John Salter
Non-series

Counterpoint Press (hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-58243-342-9 (1582433429)
ISBN-13: 978-0-1-58243-342-4 (9781582433424)
Publication Date: September 2006
List Price: $24.00

Synopsis (from the publisher): Dennis Pratt doesn't want to go to Mexico. He's a guy knocking on forty, with a dead-end job, a lukewarm marriage, a distant daughter, and an incredible lack of enthusiasm for anything in his life. So little wonder that he's not very enthusiastic about the trip south of the border his wife's got planned. And as he becomes increasingly convinced that his wife is having an affair with a local alpha-male, obsessive thoughts begin to take over his life, and Pratt finds himself putting his job and his marriage at risk. He befriends a shifty father and daughter who live in a camper near the country club where Pratt is trying to learn how to play golf. He meets a mysterious artist and may or may not be falling in love with her. And his imagination runs wild about his wife and daughter. Only when en route to Mexico, and at their villa in Los Cabos on the Sea of Cortez, do the pieces start to fall into place, with disastrous results.

A quirky cocktail of obsession, adultery, revenge, hazardous waste, golf, murder, fatherhood, and love, A Trout in the Sea of Cortez is a smart, sarcastic, and riveting mid-life crisis murder mystery.

Review: A Trout in the Sea of Cortez is John Salter's first full-length novel, and while it might not be categorized as a murder mystery by most definitions, it is an interesting if somewhat over-long work of fiction.

Read as a mystery, the first three-quarters of the book represent the background material. The principal character is Dennis Pratt, a part-time hazardous waste employee, married to an apparently successful mortgage broker, with a daughter in college, living near Fargo. Pratt smokes too much, he drinks too much, and he suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder, but none of these concern him as much as believing his wife of almost 20 years is having an affair. She has lost a lot of weight, has whipped her body into shape, and seems to be spending a little too much time with the local dentist.

Then there's the case of the missing mercury. Though his company doesn't handle highly toxic metal, he accepts $500 to take it anyway, thinking he can come up with a way to dispose of it. Striking a deal with the father of a girl who's selling used balls on the course where he plays golf, he discovers the mercury missing when he tries to buy it back. Worse for Pratt, the man is found murdered on the golf course and his daughter has vanished.

And so begins the mystery, soon after Pratt and his wife, together with three other couples and, no surprise, the dentist and his girlfriend, have arrived in the resort area of Los Cabos in Baja California, Mexico. The authorities in Fargo suspect Pratt of the murder, and the fact that he has apparently fled to Mexico seems proof of his guilt. Though the denouement isn't all that original, it cleverly unfolds in a way that may take the reader by surprise.

Salter has tried to combine two books in A Trout in the Sea of Cortez, and has generally succeeded. There's the well-written novel about a troubled family man, a husband and father who loves his wife and daughter, but is having difficulty adjusting to middle age. Then there's a murder mystery, really just a short story but a good one, that's been well integrated into the novel. As a mystery reader, one might have hoped for a little less of the former and a little more of the latter, but it's definitely worthwhile seeking this book out.

Special thanks to John Salter for providing a copy of A Trout in the Sea of Cortez for this review.

Review Copyright © 2006 Hidden Staircase Mystery Books

Visit Mysterious Reviews for other reviews of current and upcoming mystery books. The Hidden Staircase Mystery Books is committed to providing readers and collectors of mystery books with the best and most current information about their favorite authors, titles, and series.

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Mysteries on DVD: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

New on DVD this week is The Da Vinci Code, the movie adapation for the book of the same name by Dan Brown. A murder inside the Louvre and clues in Da Vinci paintings lead to the discovery of a religious mystery protected by a secret society for two thousand years -- which could shake the foundations of Christianity.

Critics and controversy aside, The Da Vinci Code is a verifiable blockbuster. The film has taken in over $250 million to date while the book has sold over 100 million copies.

The Da Vinci Code DVD is available for pre-order now, and will be available for sale tomorrow. Click on the DVD cover to order from Amazon.com.

See more mystery books that have been adapted as screenplays at Mysteries on DVD.

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Mystery Godoku: Weekly Puzzle for November 13, 2006

A new Mystery Godoku Puzzle has been created by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books and is 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!).

This week's letters and mystery clue: E I M O P R S T W. This author’s latest supernatural spy thriller was titled Three Days to Never (9 letters).

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!

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News: Prime Suspect, The Final Act

The Prime Suspect miniseries is drawing to a close. This Sunday, November 12th, PBS will show the first two hours of Prime Suspect 7: The Final Act, with the conclusion to follow next Sunday, November 19th. (Check local listings; dates and times may vary.)

For nearly 15 years Helen Mirren has played the series character Jane Tennison, a brilliant detective but flawed human being who has dealt with all manner of personal problems and demons. The first episode originally aired in January, 1992. In The Final Act, she reprises her role for the last time.

The Prime Suspect series, and Helen Mirren individually, have deservedly been honored by the media over the years, winning awards from BAFTA for Mirren and the series, a Peabody for the series, Emmys for Mirren and the series, Edgars for the series, and many others.

Read an interview with Helen Mirren, on both the series and her final portrayal of Jane Tennison, on PBS.org here.

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News: Legacy Awards Winners Announced

The Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation announced last weekend the winners for its Legacy Awards program. Presented annually, this national awards program honors black writers in the categories of Fiction, Debut Fiction, Nonfiction, and Contemporary Fiction.

The winner in the Contemporary Fiction category was The Long Mile, a mystery by Clyde W. Ford. At the awards ceremony, held at the National Press Club, Ford said, "The first thing any writer is trying to do is tell a story. We are not trying to say something, but tell a story about hopes, aspirations and challenges. I see myself standing on the shoulders of great writers."

The Long Mile is a gritty detective thriller, set in New York City, that relates one African-American man's riveting quest for truth and redemption. Written in the tradition of Raymond Chandler and Walter Mosley, it is the first in a series of thrillers featuring the compelling character of former NYPD officer John Shannon.

The Long Mile was also the winner of the 2006 Independent Publisher Book Award (IPPY) for Best Mystery/Suspense/Thriller.

Read an article covering the Legacy Awards event on the Washington Post website here.

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Mystery Bestsellers for November 10, 2006

A list of the top ten mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending November 10, 2006 has been posted on the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books website.

New this week, and debuting at the top of both the Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com mystery bestsellers lists, is J. D. Robb's 23rd "In Death" mystery, Born in Death, featuring New York City Lt. Eve Dallas. Eve has a grisly double homicide to solve when two young lovers - both employees of the same prestigious accounting firm - are brutally killed on the same night. She's also asked by a pregnant friend to take on the case of a missing neighbor, who's also expecting. She'll have to track her down while simultaneously unearthing the deals and double-crosses hidden in the files of some of the city's richest and most secretive citizens, in a race against this particularly vicious killer.

Also new this week is the third, and final, installment in the epic chronicle of the Corleone crime family, The Godfather's Revenge, by Mark Winegardner, written with permission from the estate of the author of the original Godfather, Mario Puzo. A subordinate to Michael Corleone, New Orleans underboss Carlo Tramonti is publicly humiliated when the U.S. Attorney General—President Danny Shea's brother—has him arrested and deported to Colombia. Tramonti eventually returns, hell-bent on settling scores, and triggers a series of events destined to change the course of American history. Corleone, though haunted by the death of his brother Fredo, knows that this is no time for weakness-and so, with fearless consigliere Tom Hagen leading the way, a new path for the future is forged.

Visit the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books often where we provide readers and collectors of mysteries with the best and most current information about their favorite mystery authors, books, and series.

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Press Release: Court TV and Barnes & Noble to Market New Series “Murder by the Book”

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Court TV and Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) have joined forces to promote the network’s upcoming series, Murder by the Book, featuring James Ellroy, Michael Connolly, Faye Kellerman, Jonathan Kellerman and Lisa Scottoline. The series will premiere on November 13th at 10pm, and takes viewers through the real-life cases that most captivated these best-selling mystery writers.

Court TV will implement a national TV, print, and online marketing campaign. The series will also be featured on Barnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com). Barnes & Noble.com commercials will appear on Court TV throughout the holiday season. In addition, there will be extensive placements throughout the Court TV Web site (www.courttv.com) with links to Barnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com/murderbythebook), so visitors can purchase books written by authors appearing on Murder by the Book.

Read the press release here.

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News: Evanovich Teams with Cannell on New Series

Authorlink is reporting that Warner Books has announced a collaboration between bestselling authors Janet Evanovich and Stephen J. Cannell to write a new adventure series set in Orange County. The first book in the series, No Chance, is scheduled for publication in late 2007.

Warner Books Senior Vice President and Publisher Jamie Raab said, "The combined talents, creativity and sales power of Janet Evanovich and Stephen J. Cannell is guaranteed to result in a marvelous, bestselling new franchise. Warner Books is thrilled to be working with this dynamic duo."

Read the article on Authorlink.com here.

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Mystery Book Review: The Second Mouse by Archer Mayor

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, has written our review of The Second Mouse by Archer Mayor. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

The Second Mouse by Archer Mayor
A Joe Gunther Mystery

Mysterious Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-89296-072-8 (0892960728)
ISBN-13: 978-0-89296-072-9 (9780892960729)
Publication Date: October 2006
List Price: $24.99

Synopsis (from the publisher): A legend among Vermont cops, Joe Gunther has solved more local whodunits than a whole squad of detectives. But his latest case takes him and his team off their Brattleboro home turf, forty-two miles west, to chip-on-its-shoulder, blue-collar Bennington.

On the edge of town, Gunther encounters the lifeless body of Michelle Fisher. Her corpse, pale and seemingly at peace, offers him no clues about who she was or how she died. There are no signs of violence, no disorder. Snapshots and postcards show a woman who laughed hard and lived harder. Yet diaries reveal a rootless life marred by depression and drink. Suicide seems a reasonable conclusion, but Gunther suspects foul play. The house is for sale, after all, and Michelle was its only tenant-one who resisted all efforts to have her evicted. The unsavory landlord is a prime suspect, but is safely equipped with an impressively air-tight alibi.

Now to uncover the truth about the fate of this discarded, all but forgotten woman, Gunther must follow a confusing trail of half leads and mounting crimes. He draws near to a violent and careless trio of criminals, whose leader is hell-bent on making the career move of a lifetime-and willing to step on anyone who might get in his way.

Review: The Second Mouse is Archer Mayor's latest mystery featuring Vermont Bureau of Investigation (VBI) field commander Joe Gunther. Although not strictly his case, Gunther is intrigued by the death of Michelle Fisher whose apparent suicide doesn't quite agree with some inconsistencies found at the scene of her death.

The story alternates between two seemingly unrelated cases. Michelle, whose boyfriend had recently died, was living in the house that legally belonged to his father, a man that desperately wanted her out of his house. Was she so despondent that suicide seemed to be the only answer, or was her death the result of a more sinister act? The other case presents three fascinating, and completely different characters, together leading a life of crime that escalates from simple larceny to murder. Could one or more of them somehow have been involved in Michelle's life, and possibly be the cause of her death?

There is considerable appeal for the reader in trying to determine how these cases are related and will ultimately be resolved. The solution to the mystery surrounding Michelle's death is fairly evident early on, but this in no way lessens the satisfaction of seeing how Gunther connects the cases. "Things have a funny way of working out" he says at the end of the book. If not always according to plan.

Mayor has a spare, clean style of writing. Shortly after arriving at Michelle's house for the first time, Gunther mentally notes that dead bodies "... displayed all the variety that they had in life, but in none of the same ways." And that they were "... capable of a kind of frozen, extraordinarily subtle form of sign language." He then asks himself, "... how many of the dead might have struggled fruitlessly to be heard in life, only to be scrutinized too late by total strangers anxious to see or hear even the slightest twitch or murmur." This is wonderfully perceptive prose, and illustrative of how much of the book is written.

Though The Second Mouse is the 17th mystery for Gunther, Mayor manages to keep the series as fresh as new fallen Vermont snow. It is highly recommended.

Special thanks to Hachette Book Group for providing a copy of The Second Mouse for this review.

Review Copyright © 2006 Hidden Staircase Mystery Books

Visit Mysterious Reviews for other reviews of current and upcoming mystery books. The Hidden Staircase Mystery Books is committed to providing readers and collectors of mystery books with the best and most current information about their favorite authors, titles, and series.

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News: Archer Mayor Kicks Off Authors' Series

Stephen Seitz of the Rutland (VT) Herald writes that Archer Mayor recently kicked off Misty Valley Books' annual "Vermont Voices" November series of author appearances. He also asks if Vermont's best-known fictional detective has finally found his way to the silver screen.

Director Jay Craven is "working on a screenplay right now," Mayor said. "But what we need are millionaires. It's a three- to six-year project unless we get funding." Seitz adds that Hollywood has been dancing around a possible Gunther project for years, and Mayor said he got so tired of waiting for it to happen, he just told Craven to go ahead.

Joe Gunther's latest mystery The Second Mouse takes place in Bennington. "I set it in Bennington because I hadn't picked on it yet," he said. "It's a pretty interesting town. They see themselves as Vermont's forgotten and much-maligned corner, which too many people think should be relegated to New York or Massachusetts." Mysterious Reviews recently published a review of The Second Mouse on its website.

Seitz notes that while Archer Mayor is best known for his authentic and deeply researched mystery novels, he has plenty of experience in the field. Besides being a part-time police officer for Bellows Falls, he is an assistant medical examiner for the state and a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician for the NewBrook Fire Department in Newfane, where he lives.

Read the rest of the Archer Mayor profile on RutlandHerald.com here.

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Mystery Trivia for November 2006

The Hidden Staircase Mystery Books has posted new mystery trivia questions for November 2006.

The Phryne Fisher mysteries, by Kerry Greenwood, are set in which Australian city (also the author's home town)?

According to the author, she adds a little extra mystery to each chapter of a book. How does she do this?

Visit the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books to see the answers to these questions as well as previous mystery book trivia questions from prior months.

The Hidden Staircase Mystery Books provides readers and collectors of mysteries with the best and most current information about their favorite mystery authors, books, and series.

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