Mystery Bestsellers for February 05, 2010

A list of the top 15 mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending February 05, 2010 has been posted on the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books website.

No change in the top seven titles this week, but we are seeing a bit more activity overall.

Debuting in 8th position is the third Michael Bennett thriller by James Patterson, Worst Case (co-written with Michael Ledwidge).

The son of one of New York's wealthiest families is snatched off the street and held hostage. His parents can't save him, because this kidnapper isn't demanding money. Instead, he quizzes his prisoner on the price others pay for his life of luxury. In this exam, wrong answers are fatal.

Detective Michael Bennett leads the investigation. With ten kids of his own, he can't begin to understand what could lead someone to target anyone's children. As another student disappears, one powerful family after another uses their leverage and connections to turn the heat up on the mayor, the press--anyone who will listen--to stop this killer. Their reach extends all the way to the FBI, who send their top Abduction Specialist, Agent Emily Parker. Bennett's life--and love life--suddenly get even more complicated.

Before Bennett has a chance to protest the FBI's intrusion on his case, the mastermind changes his routine. His plan leads up to the most devastating demonstration yet--one that could bring cataclysmic devastation to every inch of New York.

Moving up to the eighth spot is The Bricklayer, the first mystery featuring ex-FBI agent Steve Vail by Noah Boyd.

A woman steps out of the shower in her Los Angeles home and is startled by an intruder sitting calmly in her bedroom holding a gun. But she is frozen with fear by what he has to say about the FBI—and what he says he must do ...

A young agent slips into the night water off a rocky beach. He's been instructed to swim to a nearby island to deposit a million dollars demanded by a blackmailer. But his mission is riddled with hazardous tests, as if someone wanted to destroy him rather than collect the money ...

Vail has resigned himself to his dismissal and is content with his life as a bricklayer. But the FBI, especially Deputy Assistant Director Kate Bannon, needs help with a shadowy group that has initiated a brilliant extortion plot. The group will keep killing their targets until the agency pays them off, the amount and number of bodies escalating each time the FBI fails. One thing is clear: someone who knows a little too much about the inner workings of the Bureau is very clever —and very angry—and will kill and kill again if it means he can disgrace the FBI.

Steve Vail's options —and his time to find answers—are swiftly running out.

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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First Clues Review: The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan

First Clues: Mysteries for Kids is delighted to introduce a new feature for our website, book reviews written by students. These students offer their unique perspective on the book in their review and provide a valuable resource to parents looking for new mystery adventures for their kids to read.

The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan
The 39 Clues Series

Scholastic (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-545-06039-7 (0545060397)
ISBN-13: 978-0-545-06039-4 (9780545060394)
Publication Date: September 2008
List Price: $12.99

Review written by Kevin, a 6th grade student. Date of review: February 2010.

Review: Competition, mystery, and near death experiences, what do these have in common? A tremendous book called The 39 Clues: The Maze of Bones written by Rick Riordan, and the first in its series. It has a very intriguing story line that made me want to keep reading and never stop. I think this would be great for any younger reader.

Dan (11 years old) and Amy (14 years old) live with an au pair because their parents died in a fire leaving their Great Aunt Beatrice as their guardian. Every weekend, Dan and Amy go to the Cahill Mansion where their Grandmother Grace Cahill lives. In the beginning of the story Grace dies and she selects a few family members, including Dan and Amy, to hear her will. Grace’s will gives the people in the room two choices, either enter a dangerous competition which will be completed when 39 clues are revealed or have a chance or take a million dollars each. If Dan and Amy choose to enter the competition they could end up being very influential people, but they will be disowned by their aunt because she doesn’t want them to take the challenge. But, Dan and Amy take the chance of dying and enter the contest. Their rich and dangerous cousins, aunts, and uncles take the challenge as well, and they all get the first clue. The family members compete against Dan and Amy because they don’t want Dan and Amy to get the power. Although the family members compete against one another, they mainly target Dan and Amy, but will kill each other if it becomes necessary. What will happen next? Will they survive the challenge?

This book deserves 5 out of five stars because the book is very intriguing and made me want to keep reading. The author described the setting and the thoughts of the main characters very well. For example, the Cahill mansion was very well described with all the details about the inside and outside during the funeral. The author also did a good job in describing the important characters physical appearance. It is difficult for me to find anything I did not like about this book. Overall I recommend this to any younger reader from third to seventh grade, however everyone would enjoy reading this great book.

If you are interested in purchasing The Maze of Bones from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right.

First Clue Mysteries is pleased to provide information on over 100 mystery series for children and young adults. Each series is conveniently listed under four different age categories: New Sleuths (ages 4 to 6), Future Sleuths (ages 7 to 10), Sleuths in Training (ages 10 to 12), and Apprentice Sleuths (ages 13 and older). If you have a favorite mystery series you'd like to see added to our site, please contact us.

All student book reviews are protected by copyright and may not be reproduced in any manner, print or electronic, without the express written consent of the copyright owner. Reviews are published here with permission of the copyright owner.

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Super Bowl Commercial Released by Paramount for Shutter Island, based on the novel by Dennis Lehane

Paramount Pictures has released (early) its 30-second Super Bowl ad for Shutter Island based on the novel by Dennis Lehane. With several trailers already released, there are no new visuals here, and the commercial focuses more on the fact that Martin Scorsese directed it than on the film itself.

About the film (from the studio): Shutter Island is the story of two U.S. marshals, Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo), who are summoned to a remote and barren island off the coast of Massachusetts to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a murderess from the island's fortress-like hospital for the criminally insane.

About the book (from the publisher): Summer, 1954. U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels has come to Shutter Island, home of Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Along with his partner, Chuck Aule, he sets out to find an escaped patient, a murderess named Rachel Solando, as a hurricane bears down upon them. But nothing at Ashecliffe Hospital is what it seems. And neither is Teddy Daniels. Is he there to find a missing patient? Or has he been sent to look into rumors of Ashecliffe’s radical approach to psychiatry? An approach that may include drug experimentation, hideous surgical trials, and lethal countermoves in the shadow war against Soviet brainwashing.

Or is there another, more personal reason why he has come there? As the investigation deepens, the questions only mount: How has a barefoot woman escaped the island from a locked room? Who is leaving clues in the form of cryptic codes? Why is there no record of a patient committed there just one year before? What really goes on in Ward C? Why is an empty lighthouse surrounded by an electrified fence and armed guards?

The closer Teddy and Chuck get to the truth, the more elusive it becomes, and the more they begin to believe that they may never leave Shutter Island. Because someone is trying to drive them insane.

Watch the Super Bowl commercial for Shutter Island below. The film opens in theaters February 19th, 2010.

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Columbia Hires Screenwriter for Adaptation of The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

Variety is reporting that Columbia Pictures is moving forward with the film adaptation of The Lost Symbol by hiring Steven Knight (Eastern Promises, Emma's War) to pen the screenplay. The Lost Symbol, published last September, is the third bestselling thriller by Dan Brown to feature Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, played by Tom Hanks in the first two film adaptations of The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons. There is no information on whether Hanks will return for The Lost Symbol.

About The Lost Symbol (from the publisher): As the story opens, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned unexpectedly to deliver an evening lecture in the U.S. Capitol Building. Within minutes of his arrival, however, the night takes a bizarre turn. A disturbing object -- artfully encoded with five symbols -- is discovered in the Capitol Building. Langdon recognizes the object as an ancient invitation ... one meant to usher its recipient into a long-lost world of esoteric wisdom.

When Langdon’s beloved mentor, Peter Solomon -- a prominent Mason and philanthropist -- is brutally kidnapped, Langdon realizes his only hope of saving Peter is to accept this mystical invitation and follow wherever it leads him. Langdon is instantly plunged into a clandestine world of Masonic secrets, hidden history, and never-before-seen locations -- all of which seem to be dragging him toward a single, inconceivable truth.

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Games of Mystery: Sarah Maribu and the Lost World, New from Big Fish Games

Games of Mystery, your source for mystery-themed board, electronic and video games, parties for kids and adults, and murder mystery weekends and mystery getaway vacations, is pleased to announce the availability of a new mystery casual 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.

Sarah Maribu is off to explore an island full of dinosaurs! After her grandfather tips her off to this ancient land, Sarah is off on a wild adventure. Upon arrival, though, her husband Michael goes missing and must be saved. Track down the dinosaur-worshipping natives and get Michael back. Collect incredible treasures and explore a mysterious island full of puzzles and hidden objects.

Also available: Sarah Maribu and the Lost World Strategy Guide and Sarah Maribu and the Lost World Game Walkthrough.

Sarah Maribu and the Lost World may be downloaded and purchased for $6.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. A demonstration version (198.88 MB) may be downloaded and played for free for one hour.

Watch a preview video below:

Get any standard game for $6.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. Other benefits include the $2.99 Daily Deal, Tomorrow's Game Today, and special member rewards. And if you purchase any 6 games within a single month, you earn a free game with the Big Fish Game Club Monthly Punch Card! (Collector's Editions earn 3 punches each, half-way towards your free game!)

Read our new game reviews by Ms. Terri: Midnight Mysteries: The Edgar Allan Poe Conspiracy (Review), 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 Book Review: Overkill by Eugenia Lovett West

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

Overkill by Eugenia Lovett West
An Emma Street Mystery

St. Martin's Minotaur (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-312-37114-4 (0312371144)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-37114-2 (9780312371142)
Publication Date: November 2009
List Price: $25.99

Review: Former opera singer Emma Streat is having trouble dealing with her recent past -- the murder of her husband, the loss of her singing voice when a fire bomb destroyed her home, even not being a "hands-on" mom when her sons go off to college -- when she receives a call from Venice asking for her help in Overkill, the second mystery in this series by Eugenia Lovett West.

Cathy Riordan, an assistant to Emma's niece Vanessa Metcalf, pleads with Emma to immediately travel to Italy. Vanessa, a promising opera diva, intends to quit her vocation and run off with a man she just met following her next -- and final -- performance. Seth Barbazaolan is handsome and rich, and has promised Vanessa a life of leisure and happiness. Emma flies to Venice to discuss the matter with her niece, but soon after her arrival, Cathy's accompanist is found dead, hung with a drapery cord in Vanessa's suite, an apparent suicide. In the wake of this tragedy, Emma insists Vanessa and Cathy return with her to Boston, reasoning that her niece can always catch up with Seth in Sardinia later. But after arriving in the US, Vanessa suddenly becomes deathly ill. At the hospital, tests suggest she has acquired a virus of some kind -- and officials fear it may be the avian flu, the first such case in the US. Emma calls on Lord Andrew Rodale for help, a man who first worked with her in solving her husband's murder, and together they uncover an international organization that trafficks in deadly viruses.

The synopsis of Overkill suggests this mystery may be complicated and overworked, a plot with too many disparate elements, but nothing could be further from the truth. It's more like a grand puzzle, engaging the reader to put the pieces together with Emma Streat. Emma herself is a delightful amateur sleuth, a capable, determined woman, who has faced recent hardship but is unwilling to let that stop her from protecting her family, even if she doesn't quite know what that may entail. This fast-paced, thrilling, really rather sophisticated read will almost certainly be remembered as one of the best mysteries of the year.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Overkill and to St. Martin's Minotaur for providing a copy of the book for this review.

Review Copyright © 2010 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved

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

Synopsis (from the publisher): Emma Streat is rebuilding her shattered life in Boston when she receives an SOS from Venice. She must come at once to intervene in a disastrous affair between her opera singer niece, Vanessa, and a notorious playboy. But the night Emma and Vanessa return home, Vanessa is struck down by what appears to be the first case of avian flu in the United States.

Suddenly Emma is forced to cope with the medical world. As the case assumes a larger, international aspect, she finds herself working again with a charismatic British peer. Will their unusual relationship survive Emma’s new interest in a brilliant doctor?

After two shocking murders, Emma has to rev up her now-established talent for making unlikely connections, in order to smoke out a lethal global network that sells stolen viruses—and save herself from a painful and horrifying death.

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Mystery Book Review: The Blood of Tyrants by Peter S. Fischer

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of The Blood of Tyrants by Peter S. Fischer. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

The Blood of Tyrants by Peter S. Fischer
Non-series

Grove Point Press (Trade Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-615-32455-X (061532455X)
ISBN-13: 978-0-615-32455-5 (9780615324555)
Publication Date: October 2009
List Price: $15.95

Review: Peter S. Fischer, the creator/producer of the classic television series Murder, She Wrote, takes on the Washington political establishment in his first novel, the murder mystery thriller The Blood of Tyrants.

Disgraced reporter Paul Castelli has reinvented himself as Paul Castle, host of National Heartbeat, a cable television show that exists less to report the news than to make it. In what can only be described as the story of his career -- any reporter's career -- he inadvertently stumbles into the middle of a political firestorm that will soon rock the nation: the murders, some staged as accidents, of over a dozen of the country's most powerful representatives. Followed by homicide detective Aaron Kovacs and FBI agent Fowler Briggs, Castle tries to keep one step ahead of the authorities in an effort to put an end to the killings that are terrorizing the country.

The plot in The Blood of Tyrants is clearly satirical so it is easy to overlook how preposterous it is. Still, conspiracy theorists among any number of political groups will no doubt find something to pique their interest here. To be sure, the plot moves along rapidly, the characters well-developed without being too much like caricatures, and though the outcome is fairly predictable (the whodunit aspect is never in doubt), the path there is exciting nonetheless. The author, a familiar name in crime dramas, adds a little humor here and there with references to TV shows; here's a passage when Castle hits New York City to learn more about the murders: It all looked so easy on television when Rockford did it, or Kojak or Columbo. Nose around, ask a few questions, wave a few Andrew Jacksons about and the information spilled forth like water over Hoover Dam. Somehow these guys missed the Westin Hotel in midtown Manhattan. The way people were eyeing him, you'd think he was there to steal the silverware.

The reading experience is marred to some extent by rather sloppy editing, mostly typesetting issues, but also numerous misspelled words and missing punctuation. For an experienced screenwriter of this caliber, it seems incongruous in his debut novel.

Special thanks to Grove Point Press for providing a copy of The Blood of Tyrants for this review.

Review Copyright © 2010 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved

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

Synopsis (from the publisher): A crowded restaurant in Washington, D.C. A powerful Congressman is lunching with a wealthy contributor who suddenly rises and shoots the Congressman dead in front of a hundred witnesses. Quietly, he resumes his seat, placing the gun on the table as he awaits the authorities. Thus begins ten days of terror, ten days in which the nation teeters on the brink of anarchy.

Inadvertently drawn into this murderous conspiracy is Paul Castle, a once promising newspaper reporter, now the host of a third rate cable show that deals in sleaze and scandal. Castle suddenly finds himself a pawn in a series of bizarre murders that have gripped the nation in fear. Secretly aided by an avuncular New York homicide detective and hounded by an ambitious FBI agent, Castle seeks to get to the bottom of the mystery and in the process, regain his lost self-respect. With the future of the country at stake, he knows he cannot afford to fail.

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Final Harry Potter Film, based on the novel by J. K. Rowling, to be Released in 3D

Given the runaway success of Avatar, due in no small part to its being shown in 3D, it's little surprise that Warner Bros. has confirmed that the next Harry Potter movie will also be released in 3D, as reported on the Heat Vision blog of The Hollywood Reporter.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is based on the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling.

"We're excited about 3D and look forward to bringing a rich, involving visual experience to audiences around the world," Warners film group president Jeff Robinov said.

The film will be released in two parts, the first on November 19th of this year, the second on July 15th of next. The 3D announcement, which strictly speaking only applies to the first film, though it's hard to believe the studio would release one in 3D and the other not, has not affected the release dates.

About Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (from the publisher): It all comes down to this -- a final faceoff between good and evil. You plan to pull out all the stops, but every time you solve one mystery, three more evolve. Do you stay the course you started, despite your lack of progress? Do you detour and follow a new lead that may not help? Do you listen to your instincts, or your friends?

Lord Voldemort is preparing for battle and so must Harry. With Ron and Hermione at his side, he's trying to hunt down Voldemort's Horcruxes, escape danger at every turn, and find a way to defeat evil once and for all. How does it all end?

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Games of Mystery: Penny Dreadfuls Sweeney Todd, New from Big Fish Games

Games of Mystery, your source for mystery-themed board, electronic and video games, parties for kids and adults, and murder mystery weekends and mystery getaway vacations, is pleased to announce the availability of a new mystery casual 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.

Travel back to the 19th century and encounter a literary legend! Sweeney Todd has come back to England seeking revenge. After being falsely accused and convicted of a crime, Todd was sent to Australia for life. Now he’s back and ready to get payback. Use your hidden object skills to track down and stop the notorious killer and bring his operation to an end! Find crucial clues and solve puzzles to discover the grim secrets of the murderous barber of Fleet Street, Sweeney Todd.

See also the exclusive Penny Dreadfuls Sweeney Todd Collector's Edition for a more in-depth gaming experience.

Also available: Penny Dreadfuls Sweeney Todd Game Walkthrough.

Penny Dreadfuls Sweeney Todd may be downloaded and purchased for $6.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. A demonstration version (132.06 MB) may be downloaded and played for free for one hour.

Watch a preview video below:

Get any standard game for $6.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. Other benefits include the $2.99 Daily Deal, Tomorrow's Game Today, and special member rewards. And if you purchase any 6 games within a single month, you earn a free game with the Big Fish Game Club Monthly Punch Card! (Collector's Editions earn 3 punches each, half-way towards your free game!)

Read our new game reviews by Ms. Terri: Midnight Mysteries: The Edgar Allan Poe Conspiracy (Review), 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 Book Review: Drive Time by Hank Phillippi Ryan

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

Drive Time by Hank Phillippi Ryan
A Charlotte McNally Mystery

Mira Books (Mass Market Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-7783-2797-3 (0778327973)
ISBN-13: 978-0-7783-2797-4 (9780778327974)
Publication Date: February 2010
List Price: $7.99

Review: Investigative reporter Charlotte "Charlie" McNally is caught between making a decision that will significantly affect either her personal life or her professional life -- and probably both -- all the while caught up in a mystery of "cloned" cars in Drive Time, the fourth book in this series by Hank Phillippi Ryan.

Charlie has recently become engaged to Josh, a professor at the Bexter Academy. His 9-year-old daughter will live with them, and also attend the academy. For Charlie, it's a dream come true. Except her boss, Kevin, the news director at the Boston television station where she works, has been offered, and has accepted, the position as head of the news division for a cable network in New York City. He wants Charlie to join him, but she's not sure she can juggle working in Manhattan while living near Boston. Meanwhile, she's working on a story involving "cloned" cars, vehicles with identical VIN numbers. Apparently, thieves are taking temporary possession of a car with a clean record, copying its VIN number, and then stealing an identical car, replacing its VIN number, and offering it for sale on a local radio show called "Drive Time". Charlie needs to find out how all this is occurring before February sweeps.

Separately, there's trouble at Bexter Academy. Someone is anonymously calling a student's parents asking them if they know where their child is. Since their child is in school, safe, the calls are considered by authorities to be cruel pranks. But then two school employees die within two weeks of each other -- accidents? -- and Charlie's investigative instincts tell her there's a connection. She quickly uncovers a web of jealousy, revenge, and extortion in which she's trapped, risking the lives of her new family.

The books in this series are all about Charlie balancing, really juggling, her professional and personal lives, and Drive Time is no exception. One has to wonder how much of this series may be autobiographical! In a similar manner, the storylines that make up both aspects of Charlie's life, illustrating the camaraderie of the newsroom and the affection she shares with Josh and his daughter, are nicely balanced as well. As befits the genre, a murder or two is included for her to solve, but the crimes at times almost seem secondary to everything else that's going on. Still, this is a wonderful series, well written with appealing, clever and intelligent characters who continue to evolve with each succeeding book.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Drive Time and to Nancy Berland Public Relations for providing a copy of the book for this review.

Review Copyright © 2010 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved

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

Synopsis (from the publisher): Investigative reporter Charlotte McNally is an expert at keeping things confidential, but suddenly everyone has a secret -- and it turns out it is possible to know too much.

Her latest scoop -- an exposé of a dangerous car scam, complete with stakeouts, high-speed chases and hidden-camera footage -- is ratings gold. But soon that leads her to a brand-new and diabolical scheme. Charlie's personal and professional lives are on a collision course, too. Her fiancé is privy to information about threats at an elite private school that have turned deadly.

Charlie has never counted on happy endings. But now, just as she's finally starting to believe in second chances, she realizes revenge, extortion and murder may leave her alone again -- or even dead ...

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Harlequin Worldwide Mystery Titles for February 2010

eHarlequin.com has announced the February 2010 titles for their Worldwide imprint, your partner in crime. Amateur sleuths, traditional cozies, police procedurals and private-eye fiction, written by award-winning authors. To purchase any of the books below, click on the book title or the book cover. (Previous months titles can be found on the backlist page.)

— ◊ —

Biggie and the Devil Diet by Nancy Bell
A Biggie Weatherford Mystery (6th in series)

Biggie Wetherford may be a pint-sized institution in the bucolic East Texas town of Job's Crossing, but the irrepressible eccentric is embroiled in a murder of hefty proportions. Biggie's first love, Rex Barnwell, has returned to the area with his young wife, converting the family ranch to a retreat for overweight teenage girls. With his arrival comes truth-telling time for Biggie's grandson, thirteen-year-old J.R.—Rex is his biological grandfather.

Sadly, their reunion is short-lived due to Rex's untimely murder. He was shot in the heart behind closed doors. The Texas Ranger in charge understands that trying to stop Biggie from sleuthing would be like shutting the barn door after the horse has bolted. With J.R.'s help, Biggie looks for the motive behind the fatal trigger pull … and finds more than a few surprises.

— ◊ —

The Prairie Grass Murders by Patricia Stoltey
A Sylvia Thorn and Willie Grisseljon Mystery (1st in series)

Vietnam veteran Willie Grisseljon is hiking through the rural Illinois countryside of his youth when he stumbles over a dead body hidden in a raspberry patch. When Willie reports his discovery, the local deputy takes one look at the wild-eyed veteran—still suffering from post-traumatic stress—and locks him up in the psychiatric ward. Luckily, Willie has family in high places. His sister, Palm Beach, Florida, judge Sylvia Thorn, brings her investigative skills to the scene.

A hike back to the spot reveals newly plowed soil and no corpse. Suspecting a cover-up, Sylvia turns to the sheriff, her old flame, to begin piecing together clues surrounding a missing business developer and the corruption and secrets he may have taken to his grave. For Sylvia, the seemingly obvious solution has a darker spectre—one that follows her home to Florida, where danger stalks her in her own backyard.

— ◊ —

The Accidental Sleuth by Helen Macie Osterman
An Emma Winberry Mystery (1st in series)

Life is good for sixty-something Emma Winberry. She's got a beautiful Chicago lakefront condo, a loving new man to share it with, and her nose for trouble is hardly twitching. That is, until she tries to help a teenage visitor next door, a girl too thin, too scared, and too quiet by any standards. The girl's aunt, Emma's neighbor Laura, has something to hide—and Emma soon suspects it's Laura's husband, a brute who keeps bad company.

But Emma's kindly interest leads her to meddle—again—and soon she's tied up, gagged, and left for dead in the middle of an abandoned warehouse. With some homeless people as unlikely allies, she uncovers the real focal point of everyone's trouble: an inventor found dead in an alleyway. Soon it's clear Emma is mixed up with some dangerous characters who believe talk is cheap, and a bullet is quicker.

— ◊ —

If you enjoy the books in this series, you can join Worldwide Mystery and get 2 free books plus 2 free gifts just for giving the automatic program a try. Accepting your two free Worldwide Mystery books and mystery gifts places you under no obligation to buy anything. You may keep the books and gifts and return the shipping statement marked cancel. If you do not cancel, about two months later, and then every other month, eHarlequin will send you three additional Worldwide Mystery books.

Keep up to date by subscribing to eHarlequin.com's free newsletter that contains the latest information about their series of books as well as informing you about subscriber-only special offers and new products. Click on the banner below to subscribe for free:

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Mystery Book Review: Dead Air by Deborah Shlian and Linda Reid

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of Dead Air by Deborah Shlian and Linda Reid. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

Dead Air by Deborah Shlian and Linda Reid
A Sammy Greene Mystery

Oceanview Publishing (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-933515-50-3 (1933515503)
ISBN-13: 978-1-933515-50-2 (9781933515502)
Publication Date: December 2009
List Price: $25.95

Review: Co-authors Deborah Shlian and Linda Reid introduce Sammy Greene, an investigative reporter and radio journalist for a prestigious New England college investigating the death of a professor and the suicides of a number of students, in Dead Air.

A junior at Ellsford University in Vermont, Sammy is also employed by the campus radio station WELL. She'd rather be working on her next journalism assignment as a communications major than studying genetics, and towards that end she decides to follow up on an interview with Professor Burton Conrad, who recently received the Ellsford Award for Excellence in Teaching and told Sammy it was the "kiss of death". "Teaching is the mission of Ellsford University," he says, "[but] teaching is no longer a priority. No, what really counts here is something more quantitative." When Sammy arrives at Conrad's residence, she's shocked to find him dead. And supremely ironic, given what he had said to her just the day before. Her journalistic instinct tells her there's more to the story here, but she already has something else on her plate, reporting on a recent rash of student suicides.

Universities and colleges make wonderful settings for murder mysteries. The minefields of campus politics are typically far more treacherous than those of business or government. Even the oft quoted "publish or perish" axiom of academicians has an element of intrigue built right into it. The authors are wise to select a student rather than a faculty member or other authoritative figure as the lead for their series, and Sammy Greene is quite engaging in that role. The Vermont setting is also nearly ideal, conjuring up images of autumn leaves falling on the quads of Harvard or Yale or Cornell. (Though it really stretches the imagination to believe a conservative college of any size would exist in Vermont ... or anywhere in New England, for that matter.)

The problem here, and it's mostly stylistic, is that Dead Air seems to waver between a cozy and a thriller, not quite one or the other yet not altogether satisfactory either. The plot, set in 1995 for reasons that aren't entirely obvious, gives away too much too soon using an often choppy narrative, resulting in little suspense in terms of whodunit, whydunit, or even howdunit. And the denouement, with its complicated familial relationships and uncertain motives, is a bit of a disappointment. Still, given a more structured, uncluttered case for Sammy to investigate, the stage is set for a series that should have considerable appeal.

Special thanks to Oceanview Publishing for providing a copy of Dead Air for this review.

Review Copyright © 2010 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved

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Synopsis (from the publisher): An outspoken, brash, native New Yorker, Sammy Greene isn't afraid to ruffle a few feathers at Ellsford University, her ultraconservative New England college. Host of "The Hot Line", a talk-radio show on campus station WELL, Sammy tackles the toughest, most controversial issues facing Ellsford's students.

When Sammy discovers the body of Dr. Burton Conrad, one of Ellsford's most esteemed professors, her journalistic drive kicks in and she sets out to discover what happened to the beloved professor. But when several Ellsford students mysteriously disappear, Sammy realizes she's uncovered the seamy, terrifying underbelly of this prestigious institute of higher education.

With the entire campus in peril, and demons from her past close behind, Sammy Greene must race to find answers. Along the way, she'll discover some unlikely allies -- and even more unlikely enemies. If Sammy isn't careful, someone is going to make sure that she signs off -- for good.

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