Mystery Book Review: Veil of Lies by Jeri Westerson

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of Veil of Lies by Jeri Westerson. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

Veil of Lies by Jeri Westerson
A Medieval Noir Mystery

St. Martin's Minotaur (Trade Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-312-58012-6 (0312580126)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-58012-4 (9780312580124)
Publication Date: October 2009
List Price: $14.99

Review: Set in 1384 in London, Jeri Westerson introduces Crispin Guest, an amateur sleuth, in Veil of Lies, the first in a series of medieval noir mysteries.

Crispin is of royal blood, a knight in the service of the Duke of Lancaster. In an accusation of treason against the King, he is stripped of his knighthood and lives in a squalid district in London in a single room above a storefront. He's determined to rebuild his disgraced reputation. To survive, he takes on the role of a "tracker", one who, for a fee, will track down stolen articles and return them to their rightful owners. Familiar with the mannerisms of the rich, yet so poor as to be invisible to those with money, he is ideally suited to this kind of work. When well-to-do cloth magnate Nicholas Walcote summons him, Crispin is delighted ... until he learns of the job. He is asked to follow Walcote's wife, who is believed to be having an affair. Although Crispin is reluctant to accept the job, he needs the money. When he visits Walcote the following day, however, Crispin finds him murdered, stabbed several times in his back. What is so unusual is that Walcote is found in a sealed room in his mansion, locked from the inside. Although Crispin has no official authority, the Lord Sheriff allows him help with the investigation.

But the case gets more complicated when Walcote's brothers come to claim the body and are dumbfounded to discover the dead man is not Nicholas. So many questions to be answered: Who was killed? How was he killed? Why was he killed? And where is Nicholas Walcote? Crispin the Tracker must first find all the pieces of this elaborate puzzle before he can solve the unknown man's murder.

The multifaceted, well-crafted plot involving dark secrets, international conspiracy, religious rivalry, an ancient artifact reputed to have magical properties, and, of course, a locked room murder mystery, is but one reason that Veil of Lies is so noteworthy. Another is the principled character of Crispin Guest, who makes for a very appealing amateur sleuth. The individuals in his alliance and those working against him are also all credibly drawn. There is even a touch of humor and romance. This solid debut will have readers looking forward to Crispin Guest's next case.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Veil of Lies and to St. Martin's Minotaur for providing a trade paperback edition of the book for this review.

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

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

Synopsis (from the publisher): Former knight turned detective, Crispin Guest, is called to the compound of a successful but reclusive cloth merchant who suspects his wife of infidelity and wants Crispin to look into the matter. In dire need of money, Crispin reluctantly agrees and discovers that the wife is indeed up to something. But when he comes to inform his client, he finds the merchant dead in a sealed room, locked from the inside. Now Crispin has come to the unwanted attention of the Lord Sheriff of London and finds himself in the middle of a complex plot involving dark secrets, international intrigue, and a missing religious relic—one that lies at the very heart of this heinous and impossible crime.

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Games of Mystery: Mystery Case Files Return to Ravenhearst, Now Only $2.99 for a Limited Time at Big Fish Games

Games of Mystery, your source for mystery-themed electronic and board games, parties for kids and adults, and murder mystery weekends and mystery getaway vacations, is pleased to announce a special sale on a mystery game from Big Fish Games available for a limited time only. You can find out more about this casual game, and others like it, by visiting our Mystery Games: Big Fish Download Games page or by clicking on the links provided below.

For a limited time only (the end date is not given), Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst may be purchased for only $2.99! Simply use coupon code RTR299 during checkout.

Emma's soul is free. But her ghost has delivered a dire warning: evil still lurks in Ravenhearst Manor. Go deep inside the cursed estate in Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst, the thrilling sequel to Mystery Case Files: Ravenhearst. Experience Ravenhearst's spectral halls as never before with new immersive adventure-style gameplay and an epic original soundtrack. Feel the floorboards creak as you move from room to room solving puzzles and seeking out clues in over 150 detailed scenes.

Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst may be downloaded and purchased for $6.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. A sample version (92.86 MB) may be downloaded and play for free for one hour; the full unlimited version is 290.93 MB.

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, Syberia and Syberia II, The Serpent of Isis, James Patterson's Women's Murder Club: A Darker Shade of Grey, 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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Press Release: Reviving Great British Thrillers

November 2009: Using the latest print-on-demand technology, Top Notch Thrillers, a new imprint of Ostara Publishing based in Essex, England, aims to revive the best of British thriller writing from the 1960s and 70s by republishing titles which “do not deserve to be forgotten.”

Ostara has already established a reputation for high quality trade paperbacks of out-of-print detective stories and crime novels under various thematic imprints such as College Crime, Clerical Crime and Medieval Mysteries. For Top Notch Thrillers, they have brought in critic and award-winning crime-writer Mike Ripley as series editor.

“There is a staggering variety of style and breadth of imagination in British thriller writing which is in danger of slipping from popular memory,” says Ripley. “I think of the Sixties and Seventies as a Golden Age for British thrillers, much as the 1930s were for the detective story. The big names are still remembered, if only just – writers such as Alistair Maclean, Len Deighton and Gavin Lyall – but many are unjustly forgotten. It is a labour of love for me to bring back some of the favourite titles of my youth and put them before a new generation of readers before it’s too late.”

The first four Top Notch Thrillers, published this week, are Snake Water by Alan Williams, The Terrible Door by George Sims, Night of Glass by Philip Purser and A Clear Road to Archangel by Geoffrey Rose. Eight more titles are expected in 2010.

Tracking down authors and agents turned into something of a quest for Ripley. He found Geoffrey Rose, who only wrote three novels, living in retirement in southern England despite the fact that his original publisher had lost track of him in 1980.

“Finding Geoffrey Rose alive and well and happy to see his novel back in print makes it all worthwhile,” he said. “He was an amazing stylist and his books, which have a dreamlike almost surreal quality, were once compared to the early work of Graham Greene, but as a thriller writer he was a genuine one-off.”

For further details, visit www.ostarapublishing.co.uk.

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Games of Mystery: I Spy Spooky Mansion, New from Big Fish Games

Games of Mystery, your source for mystery-themed electronic and board games, parties for kids and adults, and murder mystery weekends 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.

Through creaking gates, you'd best beware -- Enter the mansion … if you dare! Discover a collection of intriguing picture riddles and games while locked inside a dark, mysterious house. Reveal hundreds of hidden objects and thrilling secrets as you uncover three different and surprising ways out. Decode a puzzling message, make your own ghosts, unveil a secret room, and more!

I Spy Spooky Mansion may be downloaded and purchased for $6.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. A demonstration version (144.76 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 Bestsellers for November 20, 2009

A list of the top 15 mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending November 20, 2009 has been posted on the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books website.

Another reasonably quiet week, no change among the top five, and only one new book entering our list this week in 9th position.

Just 3 months after the publication of the 20th thriller in the Alex Cross series, the 21st, I, Alex Cross by James Patterson, is released.

You can't run

Detective Alex Cross is pulled out of a family celebration and given the awful news that a beloved relative has been found brutally murdered. Alex vows to hunt down the killer, and soon learns that she was mixed up in one of Washington's wildest scenes. And she was not this killer's only victim.

You can't hide

The hunt for her murderer leads Alex and his girlfriend, Detective Brianna Stone, to a place where every fantasy is possible, if you have the credentials to get in. Alex and Bree are soon facing down some very important, very protected, very dangerous people in levels of society where only one thing is certain -- they will do anything to keep their secrets safe.

Alex Cross is your only hope to stay alive

As Alex closes in on the killer, he discovers evidence that points to the unimaginable -- a revelation that could rock the entire world.

The top four mystery bestsellers this week are shown below:

Please visit the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books where we are 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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Sam Worthington Cast in Film Adaptation of The Last Days of American Crime

Mania.com is reporting that Sam Worthington (Avatar) has been cast to appear in the film adaptation of the soon-to-be-published graphic novel series The Last Days of American Crime, written by Rick Remender and illustrated by Greg Tocchini.

About the book: In the not-too-distant future as a final response to terrorism and crime, the U.S. government plans in secret to broadcast a signal making it impossible for anyone to knowingly commit unlawful acts. To keep this from the public, the government creates a distraction, installing a new currency system using digital charge cards. Enter: Graham Bricke. A career criminal never quite able to hit the big score, Graham intends to steal one of the charging stations, skip the country and live off unlimited funds for the rest of his life. But the media has leaked news of the anti-crime signal one week before it was to go live ... and now Graham and his team have just a few days to turn the crime of the century into the last crime in American history.

"It's really motivated by [David] Mamet's Heist film and James Ellroy's [novel] American Tabloid," Remender explained. "Ellroy being an example of the kind of hard-boiled crime that has a socio-political backdrop and Mamet's Heist a very well-thought out film that focuses on the heist itself."

The Last Days of American Crime (Book 1) publishes January 19, 2010, with the second book in the series two months later.

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Film Adaptation of Graphic Novel Miss: Better Living through Crime Planned

Variety is reporting that the 2002 graphic novel Miss: Better Living Through Crime, written by Philippe Thirault and illustrated by Marc Riou and Mark Vigouroux, is being adapted for the big screen. Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, Tears of the Sun, Brooklyn's Finest) will direct the John Ridley adaptation with Spike Lee producing.

About the book: We called them "the crazy years‚" New York City was spreading like a pool of urine across a subway platform. Even rats caught diseases there. Welcome to the world of Miss, a bold new journey into crime graphic novels. Set during the early 1900s in New York, Miss tells the tale of two unlikely partners in crime, Enola and Slim. Enola is a poor white girl who has learned to survive by hook or by crook since being expelled from the orphanage. Slim is a black pimp with an uncertain past, trying to keep one foot out of the grave. When their paths cross, and their options run out, Enola and Slim forge a partnership as murderers for hire. This is their story ... what it takes to survive when all you have is a gun.

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Filming Begins on Murder on the Orient Express, Starring David Suchet as Hercule Poirot

In a press release yesterday, ITV announced that principal photography has begun for the television adaption of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, starring David Suchet as Hercule Poirot.

The star-studded international cast includes Dame Eileen Atkins, Hugh Bonneville, Jessica Chastain, Sam Crane, Marie-Josée Croze, Serge Hazanavicius, Barbara Hershey, Toby Jones, Susanne Lothar, Joseph Mawle, Denis Ménochet, David Morrissey, Elaina Satine, Brian J. Smith, Stanley Weber and Samuel West.

David Suchet said, “It's an honor to have such a wonderful international cast on board for this world famous murder mystery. Writer Stewart Harcourt has created an exquisite script. His attention to detail is impeccable.”

Murder on the Orient Express will be filmed on location in Malta and London. No air date was announced.

(In related news, ITV noted that four new Poirot films, Appointment with Death, The Clocks, Three Act Tragedy and Hallowe’en Party, have completed filming and are awaiting scheduling.)

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Whodunit140, a New Murder Mystery Twitter Novel

A press release on YourStory.org announced Whodunit140, the world's first Twitter murder mystery novel. Simply follow @whodunit140 on Twitter to read it.

The story will develop every day, and is being written directly on Twitter. "Some people have claimed to write a Twitter novel," said the author, "but all they have done is rewrite and abbreviate a manuscript they have already written. Whodunit140 is being written especially for Twitter."

Whodunit140 is written entirely in 140 character chapters.

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CWA Planning a National Crime Fiction Week for June 2010

The Crime Writers' Association (CWA) is planning a National Crime Fiction Week next year, according to an article in The Bookseller. Members of the CWA will take part in readings, discussions, and readers' group events during the week, scheduled to begin June 14, 2010.

The winner of the Young Crime Writers Competition will also be announced. This event, which takes place from January 18th to February 19th, is organized by the CWA.

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Otto Penzler To Create New Imprint for Atlantic Books

The Bookseller is reporting that Otto Penzler, owner of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City, has joined Atlantic Books to create his own imprint under the Corvus division in January. It is expected that he will publish six to ten new crime fiction, spy and thriller titles a year.

First up: Lou Manfredo's debut novel Rizzo's War. Set in a Brooklyn police precinct, the novel explores, through the lives of veteran detective Joe Rizzo and his ambitious young partner, the byzantine procedures and grubby politics, the trading of favors, and the gray areas between practice and malpractice, which form the real basis of modern police work.

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More Casting News for Crime Drama Pilots

The Hollywood Reporter (here and here) is reporting several casting news items related to upcoming crime dramas.

Amaury Nolasco (Prison Break) has been signed to co-star opposite Radha Mitchell in The Quickening, a potential series for A&E. The Quickening centers on Maggie Bird, a homicide detective assigned to a desk job after she is diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Nolasco will play Maggie's ex-husband.

Jason Lee (My Name is Earl) has been cast as the lead in Delta Blues, featuring a Memphis police office who moonlights as an Elvis impersonator. The TNT pilot is executive produced by George Clooney.

Mystery Book Review: 13 1/2 by Nevada Barr

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of 13½ by Nevada Barr. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

13½ by Nevada Barr
Non-series

Vanguard Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-59315-553-0 (1593155530)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59315-553-7 (9781593155537)
Publication Date: September 2009
List Price: $25.95

Review: Nevada Barr, author of the Anna Pigeon mystery series, pens her first stand-alone thriller, 13½.

One night in 1971, 11-year-old Dylan Raines is convicted of murdering his mother, father, and baby sister, and severely injuring his older brother Richard. Convicted by a Minnesota court, and sentenced to juvenile detention until his 18th birthday, and the state penitentiary thereafter, he doesn't profess his innocence, but rather his inability to remember anything that happened that night. Thirty-six years later, Polly Farmer Deschamps, a divorced mother of two young girls, meets Marshall Marchand, an architect helping to rebuild post-Katrina New Orleans. They are married but shortly afterward Polly notices Marsh seems troubled ... and when she begins to explore his past, she concludes she may not know the man she married, and to fear for the safety of her children.

The best thrillers typically have unexpected twists, or something to surprise the reader along the way, but there is nothing unexpected or surprising in 13½. The author makes little effort to disguise the fact that the Marchand brothers in 2007 New Orleans are, in fact, the Raines brothers of Minnesota in the late 1960s, and that the murders of the Raines family members described early in the book are not quite what they seem. Nor is the identity of the mysterious Woman in Red all that mysterious. Even the title doesn't make a lot of sense: "13½" is a prison tattoo that signifies 12 jury members, 1 judge, half a chance; but there is no judge, jury, or trial here ... nor is there a prison. Maybe the title has a more subtle meaning, but if so, it's not clear what it is or how it relates to the story.

The briskly paced and exceptionally well-written narrative overcome much of the predictability of 13½. The significant plot holes are a little harder to ignore. Elements of psychological suspense are introduced in a very convincing way, however; here's a passage that effectively conveys the confusion of one of the characters: "Leaning into the psychic wind, he pushed forward two more staggering steps. Outside the master bedroom the mental storm reached gale force. Holding onto the door frame, he tried to overcome the need to go in. Three times this evening he'd made the pilgrimage through the stairwell's nightmares to this room to see if it had reappeared. He didn't know whether this time would be a relief or further proof that he should get to know his wife's razor more intimately." But too little is subsequently developed or advanced in this regard, and given the outcome is known in advance, the reader is left somewhat dissatisfied in the end.

Special thanks to Jane Wesman Public Relations for providing a copy of 13½ for this review.

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

If you are interested in purchasing 13½ from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right. 13½ (Kindle edition) is also available. Learn more about the Kindle, Amazon's Wireless Reading Device.

Synopsis (from the publisher): In 1971, the state of Minnesota was rocked by the “Butcher Boy” incident, as coverage of a family brutally murdered by one of their own swept across newspapers and television screens nationwide.

Now, in present-day New Orleans, Polly Deschamps finds herself at yet another lonely crossroads in her life. No stranger to tragedy, Polly was a runaway at the age of fifteen, escaping a nightmarish Mississippi childhood.

Lonely, that is, until she encounters architect Marshall Marchand. Polly is immediately smitten. She finds him attractive, charming, and intelligent. Marshall, a lifelong bachelor, spends most of his time with his brother Danny. When Polly’s two young daughters from her previous marriage are likewise taken with Marshall, she marries him. However, as Polly begins to settle into her new life, she becomes uneasy about her husband’s increasing dark moods, fearing that Danny may be influencing Marshall in ways she cannot understand.

But what of the ominous prediction by a New Orleans tarot card reader, who proclaims that Polly will murder her husband? What, if any, is the Marchands’ connection to the infamous “Butcher Boy” multiple homicide? And could Marshall and his eccentric brother be keeping a dark secret from Polly, one that will shatter the happiness she has forever prayed for?

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Lorraine Bracco Joins Cast of TNT Pilot Rizzoli

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that former The Sopranos star Lorraine Bracco will join the cast of the TNT crime drama pilot Rizzoli, based on characters created by mystery author Tess Gerritsen.

It was previously announced that Angie Harmon will play the role of Boston police detective Jane Rizzoli in the pilot, and Sasha Alexander as Rizzoli's crime solving partner, medical examiner Maura Isles. Bracco will play Rizzoli's mother Angela.

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Games of Mystery: Nikopol, Secret of the Immortals, New from Big Fish Games

Games of Mystery, your source for mystery-themed electronic and board games, parties for kids and adults, and murder mystery weekends 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.

It is Paris 2023 and you are Alcide Nikopol, a struggling artist, devoted son, and political savior. The city is now a maze of mysteries, secrets, and clues that must be explored. When you learn your missing father may be alive, a possible pawn in a looming political battle between a power hungry dictator and the Immortals, you find yourself in a suspenseful adventure to find your father and thwart a dangerous conspiracy. As you search for answers from your humble artist's apartment to grand palace corridors, through labyrinthine metro passages and fortified military towers, you become entangled in political intrigue and caught between two worlds, one of anarchy and one of Immortality.

Based on the graphic novels by Enki Bilal.

Also available: Nikopol: Secret of the Immortals Game Walkthrough.

Nikopol: Secrets of the Immortals may be downloaded and purchased for $6.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. Due to its large size, a demonstration version is not available.

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!

Return to Mystery Books News ...