Mystery Book Review: Mad Hatter's Holiday by Peter Lovesey

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of Mad Hatter's Holiday by Peter Lovesey. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

Mad Hatter's Holiday by Peter Lovesey
A Sergeant Cribb Investigation

Soho Constable (Trade Paperback)
ISBN-10: 1-56947-560-1 (1569475601)
ISBN-13: 978-1-56947-560-7 (9781569475607)
Publication Date: June 2009
List Price: $14.00

Review: Sergeant Cribb and Constable Thackeray are summoned to Brighton when a human hand is found in a crocodile exhibit in Mad Hatter's Holiday, the fourth mystery in this series by Peter Lovesey. Originally published in 1973, Soho Constable is reissuing books in this series as trade paperbacks.

Set in the early fall of 1882, the story opens with Albert Moscrop, a craftsman of optical devices with a shop in London, arriving in Brighton on holiday, and taking "an observer's interest in his fellow-beings" … for what reason or purpose is unknown, but it seems vaguely sinister. The narrative puts the reader in the role of a voyeur as well, "observing" Albert watching everyone else, an oddly compelling, if at times uncomfortable, position. He soon focuses his attention on a family: a well-to-do physician, his third wife, teenaged son from a previous marriage, toddler son with his current wife, and their nanny. Moscrop inserts himself into their lives, first as a hero, saving the toddler, later as a confidant to the wife, who thinks her husband may be trying to poison her.

Midway through the book a woman's hand is found in an exhibit at the local aquarium. The local police realize they need assistance in determining the woman's identity, and call in the Criminal Investigation Department. Sergeant Cribb and Constable Thackeray arrive to take over the case, and get immediate assistance from Moscrop, who leads the detectives to believe the hand may belong to the wife of a physician on holiday with his family, to which he has recently become acquainted. But Cribb is suspicious of the man's motives, and the evidence he gathers suggests the hand, and other body parts he later recovers, may be of someone else entirely.

Mad Hatter's Holiday is so deftly plotted it isn't clear to the reader at any time what is true and what isn't, and who to believe and who not to trust. Though relatively short at just over 200 pages, the story is richly detailed and the characters well drawn, the setting with its grand pier a metaphor for the case, providing a contrast between the known above and the unknown below. This truly exceptional novel ends on an ambiguous note, though, which some readers may find unsettling: is the resolution to the crime that Cribb and his associates agree to be the only one plausible, indeed the correct one?

Special thanks to Soho Press for providing a copy of Mad Hatter's Holiday for this review.

Review Copyright © 2009 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved

If you are interested in purchasing Mad Hatter's Holiday from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right. Mad Hatter's Holiday (Kindle edition) is also available. Learn more about the Kindle, Amazon's Wireless Reading Device.

Synopsis (from the publisher): Brighton in 1882 is the setting of this novel of crime and tangled emotions. Albert Moscrop, a visitor whose holiday is dedicated to peering through a telescope at the seaside scene, marches down Queen’s Road to the beach and draws us through a sequence of disarmingly trivial observations into a compelling drama, played in the fashionable haunts of the nineteenth-century resort: beach, piers, promenade, swimming bath, aquarium, and Devil’s Dyke.

A keen student of human nature, Moscrop concentrates his interest on one particular family of holidaymakers—the Protheros, and especially the beautiful Zena Prothero, whose husband appears to take her excessively for granted. Gradually Moscrop moves into the circle of the Prothero family, only to become involved in a sensational murder. All Brighton is horrified by the gruesome crime. The local police seek the help of Scotland Yard, which is provided in the persons of Sergeant Cribb and Constable Thackeray. These indomitable detectives soon find themselves challenged by the strangest case of their careers, one that is as mystifying as it is macabre.

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Mystery Book Review: Her Deadly Mischief by Beverle Graves Myers

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of Her Deadly Mischief by Beverle Graves Myers. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

Her Deadly Mischief by Beverle Graves Myers
A Tito Amato Mystery

Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-59058-233-0 (1590582330)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-233-6 (9781590582336)
Publication Date: September 2009
List Price: $24.95

Review: Castrato Tito Amato investigates a murder committed during one of his performances in Her Deadly Mischief, the fifth mystery in this Baroque series by Beverle Graves Myers.

The place is Venice. The year is 1742. Tito Amato is once again singing a leading role in Armida at the Teatro San Marco Opera House under the direction of Maestro Torani. It is the third week of the Carnevale so masking is in order. The disguises can be useful for a number of purposes: some illicit, some romantic, and some a bit risqué. Amato is in his element that night, at the top of his form. Every eye and spyglass is glued to him, and every ear attuned to his music. As he raised his eyes and voice, he notices that the owner of one of the boxes in the fourth tier has their curtains completely drawn. He thinks someone has shut him out, that someone is ignoring him. He aims his voice higher, and it seems to work. A woman’s arm slides through the drawn drape. But then to his horror he sees she is struggling with a tall man wearing a mask. The man pushes her over the box’s railing and she falls to her death on the floor of the pit. Amato is the only witness to the murder. But the man was masked, and he only saw his eyes staring down at him. Knowing that Amato is the only person that had seen the killer, and knowing that Amato likes to do a little sleuthing and solving a mystery that no one else cares, or dares, to investigate, the chief of Venice’s police force, Messer Grande, enlists his help in trying to solve the mystery.

The box belongs to Alessio Pina, the son of a wealthy glass maker. Against his father's wishes, Alessio had planned to marry Zulietta Giardino, a Jewish prostitute who had left the ghetto, and move to the colonies in America. They were going to publicly show their love for each other by appearing together, in public, at the opera. But Alessio is delayed, and Zulietta is alone in the box when her killer confronted her.

The case is quite personal to Tito as he, too, has a Jewish wife and an adopted son, Titolino. And his wife's family has disowned her for marrying Tito. But as the singer becomes more involved in searching out clues, talking to both friends and enemies of the dead woman, and getting closer to the truth, the masked killer transfers his vengeance to Amato’s loved ones.

The author brings to life the city of Venice, its canals, bright colors and dark streets, opulent opera houses and Jewish ghettos, and more. The murder plot is multi-faceted, holding the reader's attention throughout. The characters are delightful, notably Messer Grande, who, befitting his title, is a little larger than life. Her Deadly Mischief, with its first-rate mystery storyline that is coupled with some humor and romance, is highly recommended.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Her Deadly Mischief and to Poisoned Pen Press for providing an ARC of the book for this review.

Review Copyright © 2009 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved

If you are interested in purchasing Her Deadly Mischief from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right.

Synopsis (from the publisher): Venice, 1742. Tito Amato has regained his zest for performing and is once again singing lead roles at the Teatro San Marco. On opening night, the famous castrato has the entire audience entranced -- except for one box with its scarlet curtains stubbornly drawn. Annoyed at being ignored, Tito aims the full force of his golden throat at the fourth-tier box. He is astounded when the curtains part and a woman tumbles over the railing.

The victim is Zulietta Giardino, a mischievous courtesan involved with a young glass maker. Did a wager over a rival courtesan's jewels spell Zulietta's death? Or did the motive involve sinister events in the glass factories of Murano?

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Mysteries on TV: Blood Ties, Bones, Murphy's Law, and Van der Valk Mysteries, New This Week on DVD

Mysteries on TV, your source for the most complete selection of detective, amateur sleuth, private investigator, and suspense television mystery series now available or coming soon to DVD, is profiling two series that have complete set DVDs and three series that have season DVDs or movies being released this week.

— ◊ —

The second (and final) season of Blood Ties picks up where the first one ended with private investigator Vicky Nelson (Christina Cox) and 480-year-old vampire Henry Fitzroy (Kyle Schmid) being drawn into baffling cases involving a terrifying pantheon of occult adversaries.

Blood Ties was based on characters depicted in the five "Blood" novels by Tanya Huff, and aired 22 episodes on Lifetime.

The Blood Ties: Season Two DVD set of 3 discs contain the 9 episodes that aired from October through December, 2007.

— ◊ —

Uncovering the truth behind gruesome homicides by examining rotting flesh is just another day at the office for a prosaic forensic anthropologist and her cocky FBI partner in Bones. Starring Emily Deschanel as the brilliant yet socially awkward Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan, and David Boreanaz as FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth, the series is powered by dark humor and sizzling chemistry. Forming an improbable bond, Booth and Bones conduct gruesome investigations into the disturbing realities of true crime aided by a group of unlikely colleagues, including an insect expert and conspiracy theorist, coroner and psychologist, among others.

Bones is based on characters created by mystery author Kathy Reichs.

The Bones: Season Four DVD set of 6 discs contain the 22 episodes that aired on Fox from September 2008 through May 2009.

— ◊ —

James Nesbitt starred as Tommy Murphy in Murphy's Law, a series that aired on BBC for 5 series (seasons) from 2003 through 2007.

Guilt-ridden over the death of his young daughter, who was slain by the IRA, he flees to London to work undercover for the Metropolitan Police. Hardheaded, hard-drinking, brash, and brooding, Murphy is down on his luck. But he still has more than a bit of the old Irish charm, flashing quick wit and a roguish grin.

Murphy's Law was based on characters created by novelist Colin Bateman.

The Murphy's Law: Series One DVD set of 3 discs contain the 4 episodes that originally aired during the spring of 2003.

— ◊ —

The Van der Valk Mysteries was an ITV series that starred Barry Foster as Dutch detective Simon van der Valk and was based on the character created by crime novelist Nicolas Freeling. The series was set in, and filmed on location in, Amsterdam.

Suave but cynical, the cultured Simon "Piet" Van der Valk has a taste for the finer things in life--symphony music, good wine, and the cooking of his beautiful French-born wife. But even long-suffering Arlette (Susan Travers) can tell that Piet is most at home when he’s at work. There, alongside easygoing Inspecteur Johnny Kroon (Michael Latimer), every new case is a personal challenge to this unorthodox cop on the streets of old Amsterdam.

The Van der Valk Mysteries: Set One DVD set of 2 discs contain the 6 episodes that originally aired during September and October, 1972.

— ◊ —

Visit the Mysteries on TV website to discover more television mystery series currently available on DVD.

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Mystery Book Review: The Assailant by James Patrick Hunt

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of The Assailant by James Patrick Hunt. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

The Assailant by James Patrick Hunt
A George Hastings Mystery

St. Martin's Minotaur (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-312-54578-9 (0312545789)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-54578-9 (9780312545789)
Publication Date: June 2009
List Price: $24.95

Review: The third challenge in the series James Patrick Hunt has created for mid-forty-year-old St. Louis PD detective, Lieutenant George Hastings, is to find a psychopath who Hunt reveals early on is driven to believe that it’s only strong men who “can return from a succession of murder and rape with contentment and joy in their hearts.” Hastings, a transplanted Nebraskan, eventually meets the test, but only after three women are brutally murdered, he gets help or hindrance from his colleagues and superiors, and readers get wide-ranging insights into the procedures of a modern-day police department, the malfunctioning mind of a madman and the lives of pleasure business employees, their often secretive clients, and stressed-out cops. With its minimalist style and its crackling, run-along dialogue, Hunt’s novel sweeps its readers from a horrific opening to a cathartic conclusion, and with a riveting story in between.

At thirty-three years of age, St. Mary’s Hospital ER physician, Dr. Raymond Sheffield, single, well-respected, and earning $400,000 annually, should be at the top of his game. Problem is his game has become murder, he’s morphed into Springheel Jim, and his pawns are three young women, two of whom are twenty-year-old high-dollar prostitutes street-named Ashley and Estelle, with Marla, the third victim, a forty-two-year old real estate agent and wife of a wealthy St. Louis businessman. Leading the investigation into the brutal killings, at least until the politics and media pressures boil over, is hard-charging Detective Hastings. As he toils he balances his duty against his emotions over his thirteen-year-old daughter, Amy, his estranged ex-wife, Eileen, with “her own selfish motives,” and his recently formed romantic alliance with criminal defence attorney, Carol McGuire, who knows Hastings “was the sort who could relax only on his own terms.” With chapters that read like short stories and fascinating cutaways that fill in the gaps, Hunt cranks up the tension as he dissects Sheffield’s warped brain and pits him against the rest of the world, looking down on his ER colleagues, maliciously plotting his murders, coldly executing his victims, and aggressively locking horns with his law enforcement bloodhounds. It is a masterfully chilling depiction of “evil is as evil does.” Just as well done, though, are the expert grillings that Hastings subjects various suspects to as he works clues, trails, motives and them to find the crazed killer. And when he finally overtakes Springheel Jim and bests him in a heart-racing psychological game of killer versus cop, it’s a relief to see good can still triumph over evil no matter how decadent nor where situated nor perpetrated by nor against whom.

Special thanks to M. Wayne Cunningham (mw_cunningham@telus.net) for contributing his review of The Assailant and to St. Martin's Minotaur for providing a copy of the book for this review.

Review Copyright © 2009 — M. Wayne Cunningham — All Rights Reserved — Reprinted with Permission

If you are interested in purchasing The Assailant from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right. The Assailant (Kindle edition) is also available. Learn more about the Kindle, Amazon's Wireless Reading Device.

Synopsis (from the publisher): Co-Ed Slain.

That’s the call that brings St. Louis Police Lieutenant George Hastings to the downtown banks of the Mississippi River, where Reesa Woods has been strangled and dumped. The hard-charging Hastings is no stranger to murder, but he’s stuck without any leads until a second body—also strangled—turns up across town and he knows he’s chasing a monster.

A talented doctor with an otherwise ordinary and enviable life, Raymond Sheffield has some very dark needs. His first victims are targets of opportunity, but his ambitions go far beyond that. He’s formed a taste for killing, and his only interest is in getting better at it.

As the violence mounts, the line between upstanding citizens and their secret desires gets thinner and thinner in a thrilling game of catch-me-if-you-can.

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George Pelecanos Wins 2008 Hammett Prize

Sarah Weinman posted on Twitter that George Pelecanos has won the 2008 Hammett Prize for his novel The Turnaround. The Hammett Prize, which was announced last night at an awards banquet during the NAIBA Fall Conference, is given annually by the North American Branch of the International Association of Crime Writers for literary excellence in the field of crime writing. (Awards are given out for books published during the previous year.)

Our congratulations to Mr. Pelecanos! Visit Mystery Book Awards for more information on over 30 other awards recognizing outstanding mystery fiction.

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Games of Mystery: Becky Brogan in The Mystery of Meane Manor

Games of Mystery, your source for mystery-themed electronic and board games, parties for kids and adults, and mystery getaway vacations, is pleased to announce the availability of a new mystery game from Big Fish Games released today. You can find out more about these games by visiting our Mystery Games: Big Fish Download Games page or by clicking on the links provided below.

Download →

In the sleepy village of Old Haven, Becky Brogan's school assignment has led her to the mysterious Meane Manor on the outskirts of town. A foul mist wafts around the dilapidated house, an old fortune teller box sits abandoned in the foyer, and eerie journal pages from the past take Becky on a hidden object mystery hunt. Collect clues and pieces of the past as you help Becky get closer and closer to solving The Mystery of Meane Manor!

Becky Brogan: The Mystery of Meane Manor may be downloaded and purchased for $6.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. A demonstration version (102.06 MB) may be downloaded and played for free for one hour.

Watch a preview video below:

Other popular games on our download Big Fish Mystery Games page include several Agatha Christie and Nancy Drew games, games in the Mystery Case Files series and in particular the latest, Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst, Adventure Chronicles: The Search for Lost Treasure, Enlightenus, Cate West: The Vanishing Files, Return to Mysterious Island 2: Mina's Fate, and Nick Chase: A Detective Story.

Read our new game reviews by Ms. Terri: Nancy Drew Dossier: Lights, Camera, Curses! (Review), The Hardy Boys: The Perfect Crime (Review), Enlightenus (Review), and Nick Chase: A Detective Story (Review).

Big Fish Games: Bestsellers

Big Fish Games: New releases

And don't forget to visit Games of Mystery for all kinds of mysterious fun!

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Mystery Godoku Puzzle for October 05, 2009

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!).

This week's letters and mystery clue:

A C D J L N O R S

This author’s short stories include Death of a Tattle-Monger and The Mule Head Bank Robbery. (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!

   

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Mystery Book Review: An Eye for an Eye by Irene Hannon

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of An Eye for an Eye by Irene Hannon. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

An Eye for an Eye by Irene Hannon
A Heroes of Quantico Mystery

Revell (Trade Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-8007-3311-8 (0800733118)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8007-3311-7 (9780800733117)
Publication Date: September 2009
List Price: $12.99

Review: A team of FBI agents is on the hunt for a sniper in An Eye For An Eye, the second romantic suspense thriller in the Heroes of Quantico series by Irene Hannon.

The romance part of this suspense thriller is between agent Mark Sanders and clinical psychologist Emily Lawson. Mark is in St. Louis on assignment, jogging through a park, when he notices Emily, a woman he knew as a teenager 20 years earlier. "A guy didn't forget his first kiss," he recalls. They meet and agree to go off for coffee to catch up. But just as they're preparing to leave the park, a shot is fired ... that introduces the suspense part of this romantic thriller: which of the two was being targeted? Emily is hit and barely survives, leaving a very determined Mark to identify who was shooting at them and why.

The pacing of An Eye For An Eye is brisk to the point of being relentless. It is certainly possible to complete this book in a couple of hours, but it should be read more for the romance than the suspense. The sniper is initially anonymous, but when a new character is introduced well into the book, it's clear the anonymous sniper now has a name. And his target is also now obviously known. This does not necessarily represent a disappointing turn of events, but it does mean that the whodunit aspect of the story is rapidly converted into a police procedural, though a fairly weak one at that. Overlaying it all, however, is the relationship between Mark and Emily, initially one of old friends getting reacquainted, later one of deep, and at times touching, emotion.

An Eye For An Eye isn't a memorable or even exciting romantic suspense thriller, but is a pleasant way of spending a lazy afternoon.

Special thanks to Revell Books for providing a copy of An Eye for an Eye for this review.

Review Copyright © 2009 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved

If you are interested in purchasing An Eye for an Eye from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right. An Eye for an Eye (Kindle edition) is also available. Learn more about the Kindle, Amazon's Wireless Reading Device.

Synopsis (from the publisher): After he accidentally shoots a teenager at a tense standoff, FBI Hostage Rescue Team member Mark Sanders is sent to St. Louis to work as a field agent and get his bearings while the bad press starts to settle. Just weeks away from returning to Quantico to resume his work on the HRT, Mark has a chance encounter with an old flame, Emily Lawson. But their reunion is cut short by a sniper.

Now Mark must find the shooter before he tries to strike again. But what is his motive--and who was his intended target? Can Mark put the pieces together, keep Emily safe, and rekindle a long-dead relationship at the same time?

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Mysteries on DVD Review: The Beiderbecke Tapes

We're still in the process of setting up a new website with reviews of mystery TV shows and movies which may (or may not) have a separate blog. In the meantime, we'll continue to post our television and film reviews here on Mystery Books News and advise you of when the new site is up.

Film: The Beiderbecke Tapes. Original release date: 12/13/1987; DVD release date: 09/15/2009.

Trevor Chaplin (James Bolam), Jill Swinburne (Barbara Flynn), John the Barman (David Battley), Sylvia (Beryl Reid), Mr. Carter (Dudley Sutton), Mr. Peterson (Malcolm Storry), Mr. Wheeler (Keith Smith). Screenplay adapted by Alan Plater from his novel The Beiderbecke Tapes.

The Beiderbecke Tapes is the second in what is collectively known as "The Beiderbecke Trilogy", a series that aired on ITV from 1984 through 1988.

This is the first of the trilogy I've watched, not having seen either The Beiderbecke Affair (which preceded it, and is available on DVD) or The Beiderbecke Connection (which followed, but is not yet available on DVD). But this episode (as it were, since it's divided into 2 parts) seems to stand alone, not obviously depending in any way on the previous one.

The story opens with Trevor Chaplin, a school-teacher at San Quentin High, being evicted from his home in Yorkshire. He's offered "temporary cohabitation" arrangements with another teacher from the same school, one Jill Swinburne, with whom he has a romantic relationship. About the only thing he salvages from his previous residence is a vast collection of jazz records and cassette tapes.

One evening at a local pub they meet John, the barman, a 1960s-era radical, who also expresses an interest in jazz and offers to send over to Trevor some audio tapes of American jazz great Bix Beiderbecke. The tapes arrive, but much to Trevor's surprise, one of them contains what seems to be a plot to illegally dispose of some toxic nuclear waste. Jill, who leans strongly towards liberal causes, decides to do something about it. What, though, she isn't quite sure. Trevor doesn't want to get involved until someone breaks into their home, apparently looking for the tape. Now it's personal, and he agrees with Jill that something must be done about it. What, though, they're not quite sure.

Soon thereafter, John the Barman is reported missing, then dead. Jill and Trevor conclude, not unreasonably, that his death is connected to the tape he sent to Trevor. What isn't clear is if John intended for Trevor to have the tape, or if it was accidentally included with the others. And if Trevor was meant to have it, what did John want him to do with it?

Meanwhile, San Quentin High is planning a school trip to Holland and then on to Greece, and the headmaster wants Jill and Trevor to go along as chaperones. They agree, thinking it's a good excuse to get out of town and presumably consider what they're going to do about the tape. But they're followed by a mysterious group of men to Holland, from whom they escape, not on to Greece as expected, but to Scotland.

Jill and Trevor eventually return home, only to be confronted by the authorities once again, at which time they learn of the origin of the tape and its true meaning.

The Beiderbecke Tapes is a comedy/mystery series that's not too comedic nor too mysterious. There are funny scenes to be sure, with the laughs coming from the witty dialog and the situations Jill and Trevor find themselves in. The mystery element is just convoluted enough to be credible, but is somewhat diluted by everything else that's going on.

For me, the secondary characters were far more interesting and entertaining than Trevor and Jill. Trevor, in particular, seems miscast, and his relationship with Jill is just a little too detached. Jill is clearly the strong, smart one here, but Trevor comes across as drab and a little too wimpish. They're presumably supposed to be in their 30s (though they look much older), but I wonder, given the storyline, if it might have worked better had they been in their 20s or 60s instead. Or if the story were set in the 1970s rather than the 1980s. Something's just a bit off in this regard.

The production values are fairly high, being filmed on location in Yorkshire, the Netherlands, and Scotland. The soundtrack is almost exclusively jazz-oriented, which adds an interesting flair but does get a bit repetitive, especially during the second part of the episode. Finally, it isn't clear if the scenes were intentionally filmed with a washed-out appearance or if the DVD was made from a poor master, but everything has a grayish tint to it.

Despite being over 20 years old, much of the plot remains relevant today. Yes, there are some dated references, and as it typical with British television, there is always something lost in the translation for American audiences, but The Beiderbecke Tapes is surprisingly topical. At well over 2 hours, though, it's far too long, with several scenes that have little to do with moving the story forward that could easily been shortened or deleted. Still, it's an enjoyable viewing experience, and one probably better suited for fans of comedy rather than those of mystery.

The Beiderbecke Tapes runs 154 minutes and is not rated (though is comparable to TV-PG D/L/S).

The DVD of The Beiderbecke Tapes is available to purchase. Also available: The Beiderbecke Affair. The episode is available to rent from Netflix: The Beiderbecke Tapes.

Reviewed on 10/04/2009 by Mr. E., television and movie critic for Mystery Books News.

Review Copyright © 2009 — Omnimystery — All Rights Reserved.

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Games of Mystery: Destination Treasure Island, New at Big Fish Games

Games of Mystery, your source for mystery-themed electronic and board games, parties for kids and adults, and mystery getaway vacations, is pleased to announce the availability of a new mystery game from Big Fish Games released today. You can find out more about these games by visiting our Mystery Games: Big Fish Download Games page or by clicking on the links provided below.

Download →

Help Jim Hawkins find Long John Silver's hidden treasure! Avoid dangerous and deadly traps set by the legendary pirate as you race against other adventurers and discover unimaginable riches! Transport yourself to a tropical land full of mystery and excitement in Destination: Treasure Island. Can you follow Long John Silver's clues across the sea and find his incredible loot?

Also available: Destination: Treasure Island Game Walkthrough.

Destination: Treasure Island may be downloaded and purchased for $6.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. Due to its large size (1019.76 MB) a demonstration version is not available for this game.

Watch a preview video below:

Other popular games on our download Big Fish Mystery Games page include several Agatha Christie and Nancy Drew games, games in the Mystery Case Files series and in particular the latest, Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst, Adventure Chronicles: The Search for Lost Treasure, Enlightenus, Cate West: The Vanishing Files, Return to Mysterious Island 2: Mina's Fate, and Nick Chase: A Detective Story.

Read our new game reviews by Ms. Terri: Nancy Drew Dossier: Lights, Camera, Curses! (Review), The Hardy Boys: The Perfect Crime (Review), Enlightenus (Review), and Nick Chase: A Detective Story (Review).

Big Fish Games: Bestsellers

Big Fish Games: New releases

And don't forget to visit Games of Mystery for all kinds of mysterious fun!

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FX Networks Orders Second New Crime Drama for Next Season

FX Networks has announced the order of an additional crime drama for its next television season.

Terriers stars Donal Logue as Hank Dolworth, an ex-cop who partners with his best friend Britt Pollack (Michael Raymond-James) to launch an unlicensed private investigation business. The duo, both struggling with maturity issues, solve crimes while avoiding danger and responsibility. No air date was announced.

Terriers joins Lawman, a series we reported on in July, which stars Timothy Olyphant in the lead role of Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, a 19th century-style lawman enforcing his own brand of justice in today's world, and based on the popular Elmore Leonard character most recently found in his short story "Fire in the Hole". Lawman premieres in March.

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The Mystery Bookshelf: Death at Solstice by Lucha Corpi, a Gloria Damasco Mystery

The Mystery Bookshelf, where you can discover a library of new mysteries, is pleased to feature a new mystery series title we recently received from the publisher.

— ◊ —

Death at Solstice by Lucha Corpi
A Gloria Damasco Mystery (4th in series)
Arte Publico Press (Trade Paperback)
Publication Date: October 2009
ISBN-13: 978-1-55885-547-2

About Death at Solstice (from the publisher): Chicana detective Gloria Damasco has a ''dark gift,'' an extrasensory prescience that underscores her investigations and compels her to solve numerous cases. This time, the recurring vision haunting her dreams contains two pairs of dark eyes watching her in the night, a phantom horse and rider, and the voice of a woman pleading for help. But most disquieting of all is Gloria's sensation of being trapped underwater, unable to free herself, unable to breathe.

When Gloria is asked to help the owners of the Oro Blanco winery in California's Shenandoah Valley, she finds herself on the road to the legendary Gold Country. And she can't help but wonder if the ever-more persistent visions might foreshadow this new case that involves the theft of a family heirloom, a pair of antique diamond and emerald earrings rumored to have belonged to Mexico's Empress Carlota.

Soon Gloria learns that there s more to the case than stolen jewelry. Mysterious accidents, threatening anonymous notes, the disappearance of a woman believed to be a saint, and a ghost horse thought to have belonged to notorious bandit Joaquin Murrieta are some of the pieces Gloria struggles to fit together. A woman's gruesome murder and the discovery of a group of young women from Mexico being held against their will in an abandoned house send Gloria on a fateful journey to a Witches' Sabbath to find the final pieces of the puzzle before someone else is killed.

— ◊ —

About Lucha Corpi: She holds a B.A. in Comparative Literature from UC-Berkley and an M.A. in World and Comparative Literature from San Francisco State University. A tenured teacher in the Oakland Public Schools Neighborhood Centers Program for 30 years, she retired in 2005.

New Trailer for Shutter Island, Based on the Novel by Dennis Lehane

Paramount today released a new trailer for its upcoming film Shutter Island, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and based on the novel by Dennis Lehane. In August, Paramount announced the delay of Shutter Island until February. And just last week, we reported that a graphic novel adaptation of the thriller was in development, scheduled for publication in January 2010.

Synopsis: In 1954, U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels and his partner, Chuck Aule, are sent to Shutter Island to find a mass murderer who has escaped from Ashecliffe Hospital, a fortress-like federal institution for the criminally insane. As an intense hurricane bears relentlessly down on the island, the marshals are forced to piece together clues to a shocking puzzle hidden within Shutter Island, taking them on a dark, twisted journey, where paranoia assumes an air of cool rationality and the line between sanity and madness disappears ...

Shutter Island is now scheduled to be in theaters February 19, 2010. Watch the new trailer, courtesy of FirstShowing.net, below:

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Mystery Book Review: Inspector Ghote's First Case by H. R. F. Keating

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of Inspector Ghote's First Case by H. R. F. Keating. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

Inspector Ghote's First Case by H. R. F. Keating
An Inspector Ghote Mystery

St. Martin's Minotaur (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-312-38404-1 (0312384041)
ISBN-13: 978-0-3121-38404-3 (97803121384043)
Publication Date: August 2009
List Price: $24.99

Review: Set in March 1960, not all that long before the first book in this series was published by H. R. F. Keating in 1964, Inspector Ghote's First Case is something of a misnomer; strictly speaking, it's not Ghote's absolute first case but his first case as a newly promoted Inspector in the Bombay Police Force. This is the 22nd mystery in this series.

Ghote has just received his promotion notice and is on a two week leave before he reports for duty. He's surprised when he's asked by a former Police Commissioner to look into the apparent suicide of the wife of a friend that took place several weeks earlier. As if he had nothing better to do with his time off. The local police have closed the case, but the answer to the question of why the woman, who was pregnant at the time, killed herself was never addressed. Ghote soon discovers his old school nemesis, now Inspector Barrani -- but known to Ghote as Bully Barrani, or more simply Bullybhoy -- was in charge of the case. He tries to assure Ghote, in the most condescending way, that there's nothing more to investigate, saying "You will just have to learn in police work not to ask questions that are having no answer."

Inspector Ghote's First Case suffers from two primary problems, the most serious being the case isn't all that interesting, is better suited for a short story than a full-length novel, and is familiar to the point of being predictable. The second problem is the premise itself: Why a prequel? What would have been different had the case been written from the perspective of a seasoned Inspector Ghote as opposed to a newly promoted Inspector Ghote? There doesn't seem to be any reason to write the book as a prequel, nothing "new", as it were, is presented, thus the artificiality of the approach doesn't do this long-running series any favors. As a first book for new readers of the series, however, Inspector Ghote's First Case may serve as a good introduction to the characters and somewhat unique narrative style of the author; for others, it's likely to be a bit of a disappointment.

Special thanks to St. Martin's Minotaur for providing a copy of Inspector Ghote's First Case for this review.

Review Copyright © 2009 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved

If you are interested in purchasing Inspector Ghote's First Case from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right.

Synopsis (from the publisher): Newly promoted Inspector Ghote of the Bombay Police is thrilled to be granted casual leave until he takes up his post, as it allows him to spend time with his heavily pregnant wife, who is desperate to watch a showing of Hamlet at the cinema. Their plans are ruined, however, when Sir Rustom Engineer asks Ghote to investigate the suicide of his friend’s wife.

Worried about his wife’s imminent delivery, Ghote nevertheless travels to the home of Mr. Dawkins, where he is unconvinced by the story of Iris Dawkins’s death. Especially when he recognizes the officer in charge, Darrani, who is well known for his closed mindedness. Ghote investigates further, with a Hamlet-esque awareness of how deceiving appearances can really be.

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Mystery Book Review: The Merry Misogynist by Colin Cotterill

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of The Merry Misogynist by Colin Cotterill. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

The Merry Misogynist by Colin Cotterill
A Dr. Siri Paiboun Mystery

Soho Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-56947-556-3 (1569475563)
ISBN-13: 978-1-56947-556-0 (9781569475560)
Publication Date: August 2009
List Price: $24.00

Review: Coroner Siri Paiboun is involved with two cases, one a suspected serial killer and the other a missing person, all the while battling endless bureaucracy in late 1970s Laos in The Merry Misogynist, the 6th mystery in this series by Colin Cotterill.

A young woman, who has been strangled and sexually abused, but not raped, is in the morgue with no indication of who she is or where she is from. With government resources limited (the local bureaucrats seem more interested in finding out who's living in Siri's designated housing than in searching for the killer), Siri sets out to investigate on his own. But he's also troubled by a young man, known around town as Crazy Rajid, who has gone missing. Siri's spirits are telling him Rajid is in trouble, serious trouble, but no one has seen him in several weeks. With his fiercely loyal wife at his side, and a dedicated policeman on call, Siri tackles both cases with urgency as he fears the serial killer is stalking a new victim and Rajid may be near death.

Dr. Siri Paiboun is a rational man, a scientist and physician, irreverent and cynical, but one who believes in and trusts his spirits. Here's a description of the character from early in the book -- "Siri was certain that if he were more intelligent or a better detective, he'd be able to interpret what he was being shown. He often arrived at the eureka moment long after the fact, when the mysteries had been solved by more conventional, mundane methods. His forehead was permanently bruised and disfigured from his constant slapping at it when he realized what the spirits had been trying to tell him." -- but don't believe it for a minute. Siri is thoughtful, proactive, and usually a step or two ahead of everyone else. He's a wonderful character, and a rather unique one in detective fiction.

The author also has a creative way with setting that both evokes a foreign land at a time not that far in the past yet makes it current and real. "They were in a village so basic the main house was a thatch of twigs. They were well-plaited twigs but really nothing to stop a good wolf puff. It was a picturesque place with a stream, like an illustration for a month on a calendar: heaven, unless you had to live in such an isolated place with no power or sanitation or medicines."

These elements, character and setting, are really the strong points of the book. The somewhat atypical serial killer plot is well developed with an interesting twist or two, but the missing person's story is rather weak and unrelated to everything else going on. Still, overall, The Merry Misogynist is a solid addition to this series, which is highly and most enthusiastically recommended.

Special thanks to Soho Press for providing an ARC of The Merry Misogynist for this review.

Review Copyright © 2009 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved

If you are interested in purchasing The Merry Misogynist from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right.

Synopsis (from the publisher): In poverty-stricken 1978 Laos, a man with a truck from the city was “somebody,” a catch for even the prettiest village virgin. The corpse of one of these bucolic beauties turns up in Dr. Siri’s morgue and his curiosity is piqued. The victim was tied to a tree and strangled but she had not, as the doctor had expected, been raped, although her flesh had been torn. And though the victim had clear, pale skin over most of her body, her hands and feet were gnarled, callused, and blistered.

On a trip to the hinterlands, Siri discovers that the beautiful female corpse bound to a tree has already risen to the status of a rural myth. This has happened many times before. He sets out to investigate this unprecedented phenomenon—a serial killer in peaceful Buddhist Laos—only to discover when he has identified the murderer that not only pretty maidens are at risk. Seventy-three-year-old coroners can be victims, too.

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