News: Queen of Suspense Publishes Children's Mystery

With more than 85 millions copies of her books in print, Mary Higgins Clark, known in the publishing world as the Queen of Suspense, is venturing into new literary territory: she's published a children's mystery.

Ghost Ship is the story of two boys separated by centuries of sailing history. One afternoon after a night of terrible thunderstorms, Thomas, who is visiting his grandmother on Cape Cod, finds a weathered, old-fashioned belt buckle. When he picks it up, a boy his own age, Silas Rich, who was a cabin boy on a ship called the Monomoy that sailed almost 250 years ago, appears. Suddenly the world of sailing ships is very near as Silas tells his tale.

"I am so pleased to have written my first children's book and to have my dear friend Wendell Minor illustrate it," Clark says. "I thought it would be a daunting project, but with six grandchildren and eleven step-grandchildren, I've been telling stories to children for a long time."

Clark, a resident of Cape Cod for over 30 years, drew upon her knowledge of the area in writing the book. "I've always loved the background and myths and legends. It was easy to create a story, putting together some of the things that happened in the Cape," she says.

Clark and Minor are working on a second children's picture book, this time about George Washington.

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Mystery Godoku: Weekly Puzzle for April 02, 2007

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: A C E I L M N O S. She is the author of the cat mysteries featuring Boston journalist Theda Krakow (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!

Profile: A Literary United Nations in New Jersey

Virginia Rohan, writing for the North Jersey Media Group, recently interviewed Harlan Coben, whose latest book, The Woods, is already a bestseller and it hasn't even been released. The New Jersey native's book hits the bookstores in mid-April.

If the literary world had its own little United Nations, Rohan notes, the headquarters could be the wood-paneled library of Coben's home. There, on the floor between the bookshelves and the pool table, his international bestsellers peacefully coexist in one big heap.

"We're up to 37 languages now," the 6-foot-4 novelist says of the ever-growing number of translations of his thrillers.

She adds that the self-deprecating Coben claims to have "the attention span of a gnat," which he says helps in his writing. "If I'm bored, I'm thinking the reader's bored. I'm constantly trying to make sure that I'm engaging the reader at every level," says the author, who is known for his twists, turns and surprises.

Coben, 45, who was born in Newark and raised in Livingston, came to mystery writing relatively late, he says. His first book, which kicked off a mystery series about a sports agent named Myron Bolitar, came out in 1995. Coben worked as a writer in the travel industry until he was successful enough as a published author to quit.

Coben is already at work on his next novel, to be published in mid-April 2008. "I should be a lot farther along than I am," he says. "I'm only on about page 15 or 20, but I have the idea down."

Read the entire profile on NorthJersey.com here.

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Mystery Book Review: Christine Falls by Benjamin Black

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, has written our review of Christine Falls by Benjamin Black. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

Christine Falls by Benjamin Black
A Quirke Mystery

Henry Holt (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-8050-8052-6 (0805081526)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8050-8052-7 (9780805081527)
Publication Date: March 2007
List Price: $25.00

Synopsis (from the publisher): It's not the dead that seem strange to Quirke. It's the living. One night, after a few drinks at an office party, Quirke shuffles down into the morgue where he works and finds his brother-in-law, Malachy, altering a file he has no business even reading. Odd enough in itself to find Malachy there, but the next morning, when the haze has lifted, it looks an awful lot like his brother-in-law, the esteemed doctor, was in fact tampering with a corpse--and concealing the cause of death.

It turns out the body belonged to a young woman named Christine Falls. And as Quirke reluctantly presses on toward the true facts behind her death, he comes up against some insidious--and very well-guarded--secrets of Dublin's high Catholic society, among them members of his own family.

Review: Booker Prize winner John Banville, writing under the pseudonym Benjamin Black, delivers in his first mystery, Christine Falls, a stylish, atmospheric thriller that is both beautifully written and solidly plotted.

The central character is a Dublin pathologist, known only as Quirke, who is good at his job but but seems to barely tolerate it. He lives alone and drinks far too much. One night he finds his life-long friend, now a physician working at the same hospital as Quirke but who is rarely in the morgue, altering the autopsy report of a dead woman, Christine Falls. Curious as to why he would do this, Quirke embarks on a journey to discover the circumstances of Christine's death, and finds an organization that is "planting souls", sending orphaned Irish babies to America to be raised.

The book has a mysterious, decidedly noir feel to it, evoking images of darkness and black-washed colors in the reader's mind. There's a persistent sense of intrigue in the story: who was Christine Falls, why are people trying to get Quirke to back off looking into her death, and how are Quirke's friends and family involved? Just as Quirke seems close to answering these questions, they drift further away, again out of reach.

Christine Falls loses some of its momentum whenever Quirke is not in the picture. The related side story that takes place in Boston concurrent with Quirke's investigation in Dublin is important to the plot, but seems to be written in a more simplistic, less artistic manner. It's possible Black intentionally took this approach in writing, drawing a distinction between the two environments, but it seems a bit incohesive nonetheless.

All the clues to the mystery of Christine Falls are presented in due course, and the drawn out resolution is not unexpected. Still, this elegantly crafted book with its haunting story is deeply satisfying.

Special thanks to FSB Associates for providing a copy of Christine Falls for this review.

Review Copyright © 2007 Hidden Staircase Mystery Books

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Mystery Bestsellers for March 30, 2007

A list of the top ten mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending March 30, 2007 has been posted on the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books website.

New this week: Obsession, the 21st Alex Delaware mystery by Jonathan Kellerman, debuts at the top of both the Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com mystery hardcover bestseller lists.

Tanya Bigelow was a solemn little girl when Dr. Alex Delaware successfully treated her obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Now, at nineteen, she still seems older than her years -- but her problems go beyond hyper-maturity. Patty Bigelow, Tanya's aunt and adoptive mother, has made a deathbed confession of murder and urged the young woman to seek Delaware's help. Armed with only the vaguest details, the psychologist and LAPD detective Milo Sturgis follow a trail twisting from L.A.'s sleaziest low-rent districts to its overblown mansions, retracing Patty and Tanya's nomadic and increasingly puzzling life to the doorsteps of a sullen heroin addict; a randy real-estate broker; and a brilliant, enigmatic physics student. Suddenly a very real murder tears open a terrifying tunnel into the past, where secrets -- and bodies -- are buried.

Also new on the lists this week: The Alibi Man by Tami Hoag. Elena Estes, a former undercover cop turned private investigator, exists on the fringes of her old life of wealth and privilege, training horses for a living. But a shocking event is about to draw her back into the painful vortex she's fought so hard to leave behind. First she finds the body-a young woman used, murdered, and dumped in a canal. Not just a victim, but a friend. As Elena delves into her dead friend's secret life, she discovers ties not only to the Russian mob but also to a group of powerful and wealthy Palm Beach bad boys known for giving each other alibis to cover a multitude of sins. A group that includes a man Elena once knew very well-her former fiancé, Bennett Walker, a man she knows has already escaped justice at least once in his life.

A couple of other newcomers: Hunter's Moon by Randy Wayne White, the 14th mystery in the Doc Ford series, and The Alpine Scandal by Mary Daheim, the 19th mystery in the Mary Daheim series.

Be sure to check out our new, updated Mystery Bestsellers aStore to purchase any of the bestselling mysteries featured on our website!

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The Mystery Bookshelf: New Paperback Titles for April 2007

The Mystery Bookshelf has updated its list of paperback mysteries available for purchase to include 32 new books for April 2007.

New titles include Bleeding Hearts, the 14th mystery in the China Bayles series by Susan Wittig Albert, Pretty Girl Gone, the 3rd mystery featuring former St. Paul policeman Rushmore "Mac" McKenzie by David Housewright, A Mold for Murder, the 3rd mystery in this series with soapmaker Benjamin Perkins by Tim Myers, and The Lost Van Gogh by A. J. Zerries, a new series introducing Clay Ryder of the NYPD Major Case Squad.

Paperback mysteries on The Mystery Bookshelf published within the past 6 months can be conveniently be browsed by author, series character, or date of publication.

Older mysteries are stored in the archives, which may be searched using The Mystery Bookshelf Search function.

Thanks for visiting The Mystery Bookshelf, your source for new paperback mysteries to read and enjoy!

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Mystery Book Review: The Dollmaker by Amanda Stevens

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

The Dollmaker by Amanda Stevens
Non-Series

MIRA Books (Mass Market Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-7783-2428-1 (0778324281)
ISBN-13: 978-0-7783-2428-7 (9780778324287)
Publication Date: March 2007
List Price: $6.99

Synopsis (from the publisher): In Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, a terrible secret is about to be uncovered by a woman whose daughter vanished seven years ago without a trace ...

And now a new clue has surfaced ... a doll that is the spitting image of Claire Doucett's missing child, right down to the tiny birthmark on the girl's left arm. A chance sighting of the eerily lifelike doll in a New Orleans French Quarter collectibles shop leaves Claire shaken to her core ... and more determined than ever to find out what happened to her beloved Ruby.

When the doll is snatched and the store's owner turns up dead, Claire knows the only person she can turn to is ex-husband Dave Creasy, a former cop who has spent the past seven years imprisoned by his own guilt and despair. He let Claire down once when she needed him the most. Can she make him believe the doll really exists? She'll have to if they're to survive an encounter with a brutal psychopath—the dollmaker—who stole their future to feed an obsession that will never die.

Review: From the genteel shops lining the French Quarter of New Orleans to the forbidden bayous in the surrounding parishes, The Dollmaker by Amanda Stevens is a terrifying thriller that works equally well as an investigative detective story.

A parents' worst nightmare: their child disappears, apparently the result of a kidnapping. The first 48 hours are critical: if the child isn't located within that time frame, the chances of their returning safely are remote. For Claire Doucett, it's been 7 years since her daughter Ruby was taken from her, yet she still believes she may be alive. Then, suddenly, Claire spies a most life-like doll in a store window, a doll that eerily resembles her daughter. Even the doll's dress matches what Ruby was wearing when she disappeared. In her haste to visit the store, Claire is involved in an accident that puts her in the hospital. But then the doll vanishes, the store owner found murdered. Convinced the doll is related in some way to Ruby's kidnapping, Claire turns to her ex-husband, a disgraced NOPD cop who was involved in the destruction of evidence in the case of a murdered stripper about the same time their daughter was taken.

The first half of The Dollmaker is absolutely electrifying, drawing the reader into Claire's torment as a mother who's lost her daughter but holds out hope that she may be recovered. The idea that someone has taken a little girl for the purposes of making a doll is unthinkable, yet Stevens' crisp writing makes it all too believable.

Then the plot shifts its focus to Claire's ex-husband, Dave. It's here that the detective story begins, and though the transition is rather abrupt, there is no loss of continuity. Dave is equally anguished by events surrounding his daughter's kidnapping and is unexpectedly presented with an opportunity to redeem himself for past indiscretions.

While the kidnapper's identity is not a surprise (his character's background is chronicled every few chapters), and the ending is a bit too theatrical, Stevens cleverly brings everything together in a satisfying conclusion to this riveting mystery.

Special thanks to Amanda Stevens for providing a copy of The Dollmaker for this review.

Review Copyright © 2007 Hidden Staircase Mystery Books

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Press Release: Writing Contest Makes Every Entrant a Winner

The Writing Show First-Chapter-of-a-Novel Contest offers all entrants a professional 750-word critique.

Thousand Oaks, CA (PRWeb) March 26, 2007 -- Want to get published but don't know how your novel measures up? Enter The Writing Show First Chapter Contest and get 750 words of feedback from publishing industry pros. Each critique will detail the chapter's positive attributes and suggest how the work can be improved. All contestants will also receive a week's free access to Literary Market Place Online, a searchable database of the North American book publishing industry.

First prize for this best first chapter of an unpublished novel competition is $500, the two-volume print version of Literary Market Place, and an interview on the popular podcast The Writing Show. Two second prizes comprise $100 each.

The early deadline is May 15, 2007 with a $35 entry fee; the late deadline is June 15, 2007 with a $45 entry fee. Winners will be announced on November 15, 2007.

Judges, who will provide the critiques, include publishers, editors, reviewers, authors, and other industry professionals. The winning entries will be selected by a celebrity panel that includes best-selling crime fiction author C. J. Box, who writes the Joe Pickett novels set in the U.S. mountain west.

Entries will be judged on the following criteria:

1. Story. Is it a compelling read with a great hook? Are we engaged?
2. Style. Is the writing smooth and tight, without awkward constructions, extraneous verbiage, and redundancies?
3. Dialog. Is the dialog natural and does it move the story along?
4. Character. Are the characters interesting? Do we care about them?
5. Mechanics. Are grammar, spelling, and punctuation correct?

Rules, instructions for entering, and more detail can be found on The Writing Show Web site at http://writingshow.com/?p=239. Writers can listen to a special podcast about the contest at http://www.writingshow.com/podcasts/Contest_2007.mp3.

The contest is sponsored by The Writing Show and Literary Market Place.

Read the entire press release here.

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Mystery Godoku: Weekly Puzzle for March 26, 2007

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: A B E I L N R T U. Bound for the Riviera, Hercule Poirot finds mystery aboard this elegant transport (with “The”, 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!

Profile: Lisa Scottoline, Framed by Experience

Victor Greto, writing for The News Journal (Wilmington DE), recently profiled Philadelphia native Lisa Scottoline, whose latest book, Daddy's Girl, hit the bestseller lists earlier this month. She has written 14 suspense novels in as many years beginning in 1993, with each of her page-turning works averaging 100,000 words.

Greto writes that on Scottoline's 43 acre farm outside Malvern (PA), it's business as usual. "I finished the next book two days ago," Scottoline says during an early March afternoon. That book, which may be called Old Flame, will come out next year. She also has begun writing a weekly column called "Chick Wit" for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Although she never seriously considered writing for a living, after devouring the works of John Grisham and Scott Turow, Scottoline thought, "These men were doing it, and I'm an actual lawyer. We're more than Della Street. I can do this, too."

It took her five years of rejection and five maxed-out credit cards. Her first book, Everywhere that Mary Went, was published in paperback by HarperCollins in 1993. She says of the characters in her books, "My women are women first, then lawyers. They're fun and sexy, fully-realized women." She smiles, almost shyly. "Men love it."

Read the entire profile on DelawareOnline.com here.

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Mystery Book Review: Final Paradox by Mary E. Martin

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, has written our review of Final Paradox by Mary E. Martin. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

Final Paradox by Mary E. Martin
An Osgoode Trilogy Mystery

iUniverse (Trade Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-595-40760-9 (0595407609)
ISBN-13: 978-0-595-40760-6 (9780595407606)
Publication Date: November 2006
List Price: $17.95

Synopsis (from the publisher): Harry Jenkins, an honest lawyer, seeks truth and love in a world darkened by fraud and deceit. Years back, Elixicorp, a company developing a drug to forestall memory loss, defrauded millions from Toronto’s elite. But since then, no one has been able to find the money. This long buried treasure has poisoned the lives of all who seek it.

His elderly client, Norma Dinnick, teeters between lucidity and madness in her dark world of paradoxical claims. When she instructs Harry to sue the other claimants for the Elixicorp shares, one of the litigants is fatally shot in open court at Osgoode Hall. The murder weapon is an ornate, silver pistol, which is both a means of betrayal and a gift of love. Peter Saunderson, an old acquaintance of Harry’s from law school, surfaces to frame his own wife and lover with the courtroom murder and to implicate Harry in the scheme.

Harry and his father have been estranged for years. Stanley is found unconscious at the foot of his cellar steps, a gun in his hand. Waking from his coma, he asks Harry’s forgiveness for a long-buried wrong. This ugly .38 calibre gun becomes the means whereby love and forgiveness is found.

Beset with questions, Harry turns to the beautiful Natasha who guides him to the answers and an understanding of the final paradox.

Review: Mary E. Martin weaves an intricate tale of intrigue and betrayal in Final Paradox, the second entry of the Osgoode Trilogy.

One doesn't so much read Final Paradox as be drawn into it. There are only six or so principal characters, the central, but in many ways least interesting, being Toronto attorney Harry Jenkins. The interlocking relationships between them are only revealed as necessary to further the plot. Martin is effective in keeping extraneous information to a minimum, focusing instead on how a missing stock certificate has influenced and continues to affect the lives of these people.

The certificate, and its whereabouts, is central to the story. At some point in the past, a group of con men made off with millions of dollars of money intended to fund a new drug company, Elixicorp. And then the money, and the shares in the company, disappeared. The man entrusted with both, Arthur Dinnick, died soon after the swindle and his widow, Norma, now elderly and in both poor physical and mental health, seems unable or unwilling to help locate the missing fortune.

The story moves along briskly, with Norma filling in historical details while reminiscing about, or probably more accuractely, retreating to, the past. The most serious plot hole is the "why now?" question. Why, after all these years, is retrieving the shares so important? Why didn't Dinnick's associates take action soon after his death, when presumably they would have been easier to locate? A credible answer can be inferred by the reader, but is never actually presented as fact by the author. And that the book ends without resolving some other plot points doesn't come as a disappointment, for the enjoyment here is in the journey.

Special thanks to Author Marketing Experts for providing a copy of Final Paradox for this review.

Review Copyright © 2007 Hidden Staircase Mystery Books

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News: Nancy Drew Movie Sequel Planned

Variety is reporting that even before the new Nancy Drew movie hits the screens this summer, producer Jerry Weintraub and director Andrew Fleming have already decided there will be a sequel with Emma Roberts again set to star as the famous teenage sleuth.

Nancy Drew, scheduled to be released on June 15, 2007, has the teen detective accompanying her father on a business trip to Los Angeles, where she happens upon clues to a murder mystery involving a movie star. Nancy's resourcefulness are put to the test when she finds herself in the middle of the fast-living, self-indulgent world of Hollywood.

According to Variety, Weintraub said he set Nancy Drew 2 (for lack of a better title) into motion after studying the release schedule. "There's nothing for girls to go to. I wanted to make something that families go to, or mothers and their daughters," Weintraub said. Nancy Drew 2 is likely to be released in Summer 2008.

To view the trailer for Nancy Drew, see our previous post Nancy Drew Trailer Available.

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Press Release: Evil Under the Sun to be Released as PC Game

Toronto, Canada. March 22, 2007. The Adventure Company, the leading publisher of adventure games worldwide, is pleased to announce that it will be releasing Agatha Christie: Evil Under the Sun for Windows® in October 2007. Based on the novel Evil Under the Sun by the world’s best-known mystery author, this is the third installment in The Adventure Company’s successful Agatha Christie video game series.

Famous detective Hercule Poirot is back in typical style, turning up at just the right time to begin an investigation into the murder of a famous actress during what should have been the start of a relaxing holiday.

Taking on the role of Hercule Poirot, players can scour a stunning tropical island for clues and delve deeper into the mysterious relationships between over 20 unique characters to search out the killer.

There are a number of added features and improvements that have been made to Evil Under the Sun based on player feedback, including a more streamlined inventory system, character dialogue choices that will impact events as the player progresses in the game, less repetitive detective footwork, and more diverse environments and locales to explore.

“Agatha Christie fans will finally get the chance to step into the shoes of famous detective Hercule Poirot,” said Richard Wah Kan, President and CEO of The Adventure Company. “We are thrilled to continue the series based on another world renowned classic by the Queen of Crime.”

AWE Games and Lee Sheldon are teaming up once again. Their goal is to create even more stunning and varied environments for players to explore and enhance their experience by adding a host of new puzzles. Intriguing plot twists will be introduced based on how the player chooses to interact with the cast of colorful characters.

The anticipated ESRB rating is ‘T’ for Teen and the anticipated PEGI rating is 12+. Agatha Christie: Evil Under the Sun will be Windows® Vista™ compatible.

Please visit the Games of Mystery website which provides information on more mystery games of all kinds as well as mystery parties, mystery-themed vacations, and more!

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Mystery Bestsellers for March 23, 2007

A list of the top ten mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending March 23, 2007 has been posted on the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books website.

New this week: Christine Falls by Benjamin Black which enters the Barnes & Noble.com bestseller list in 5th place and just misses the top 10 at Amazon.com.

Black, the pen name for Booker-winning author John Banville, introduces Dublin pathologist Quirke who follows the corpse of a mysterious woman into the heart of a conspiracy among the city's high Catholic society. It turns out the body belonged to a young woman named Christine Falls. And as Quirke reluctantly presses on toward the true facts behind her death, he comes up against some insidious--and very well-guarded--secrets of Dublin's high Catholic society, among them members of his own family. Publishers Weekly calls Christine Falls "[an] expertly paced debut thriller". Kirkus Reviews adds it is a "good story, and gorgeous writing". (Mystery Books News Editor's note: Mysterious Reviews will publish its review of Christine Falls this weekend.)

Also new on the lists this week: The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz. Meet Isabel "Izzy" Spellman, private investigator. Part Nancy Drew, part Dirty Harry, Izzy walks an indistinguishable line between Spellman family member and Spellman employee. Duties include: completing assignments from the bosses, aka Mom and Dad (preferably without scrutiny); appeasing her chronically perfect lawyer brother (often under duress); setting an example for her fourteen-year-old sister, Rae (who's become addicted to "recreational surveillance"); and tracking down her uncle (who randomly disappears on benders dubbed "Lost Weekends"). Her latest assignment: a fifteen-year-old, ice-cold missing person case. She accepts, only to experience a disappearance far closer to home, which becomes the most important case of her life. Publishers Weekly calls The Spellman Files a "delicious debut"; Kirkus Reviews agrees, saying it is "a spirited, funny debut ".

Be sure to check out our new, updated Mystery Bestsellers aStore to purchase any of the bestselling mysteries featured on our website!

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News: Agatha Award Nominees for 2006

We were reminded by a colleague that we neglected to post the nominees for the Agatha Awards for books published in 2006. The Agatha Awards honor the traditional mystery—books best typified by the works of Agatha Christie—and are awarded annually by Malice Domestic, Ltd. Malice Domestic XIX is scheduled for May 04-06, 2007, at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel in Arlington (VA). (For more information, visit the Malice Domestic website.)

Here are the nominees:

Best First Novel:

Consigned to Death by Jane Cleland, St. Martin’s Minotaur
The Chef Who Died Sauteing by Honora Finkelstein and Susan Smily, Hilliard & Harris
Feint of Art by Hailey Lind, Signet
Murder on the Rocks by Karen MacInerney, Midnight Ink
The Heat of the Moon by Sandra Parshall, Poisoned Pen Press

Best Novel

The Saddlemaker's Wife by Earlene Fowler, Penguin
Why Casey Had to Die by L. C. Hayden, Five Star
The Virgin of Small Plains by Nancy Pickard, Random House
All Mortal Flesh by Julia Spencer-Fleming, St. Martin’s Minotaur
Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear, Henry Holt

Reviews of three of these books (Consigned to Death, Feint of Art, and Messenger of Truth) are available on the Mysterious Reviews website.

Click here for a complete list of all nominees in all categories.

Congratulations to all authors, and we'll report on the winners in early May.

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