Harlequin Worldwide Mystery Titles for April 2010

eHarlequin.com has announced the April 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.)

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Death and the Crossed Wires by Linda Berry
A Trudy Roundtree Mystery (6th in series)

Pastor Josh Easterling is about to baptize sixteen-year-old Crys Cleary when he suddenly drops dead into the baptistry. Turns out some faulty wiring in the microphone led to his untimely and tragic electrocution. Officer Trudy Roundtree looks into a case of possible tampering and discovers the good reverend was murdered. The question is why …

Trudy, who knows the small-town oddities and eccentricities of Ogeechee, Georgia, inside and out, suspects the truth might involve the girl Crys. One by one her parents, her boyfriend and now her preacher have died. The poor girl believes she is cursed and keeps running away so her beloved grandfather won't be the next victim. As Trudy works overtime to keep one eye on Crys and another on some break-ins across town, she looks deeper into Crys's past. What she uncovers is a killer wily enough to hide in plain sight.

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Fitness Kills by Helen Barer
A Nora Franke Mystery (1st in series)

Healing a broken heart by all means culinary has left food writer Nora Franke with too many unwanted pounds. She welcomes a stint at an elite fitness spa in Baja, where she'll make over the menu, teach a few cooking classes and shed her breakup weight. Sure, Nora knows sticking to a fitness plan is hard. But now it's just plain murder …

A guest is found dead after a fall during a morning hike. Another is poisoned during a low-calorie cocktail party. Curious and more than a little nervous, Nora starts digging into the spa and its staff, which ticks off shady owners growing a cash crop of marijuana—and now someone wants her dead. But that's all the motivation Nora needs to save her dream job … and her own soon-to-be-skinny behind.

 Read our review of Fitness Kills by Helen Barer.

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Eden Palms Murder by Dorothy Francis
Non-series

Singer-songwriter Bailey Green happily accepts a welcome respite from a cold Iowa winter when her longtime friend and benefactor Francine Shipton asks her to come to Key West. But Bailey no sooner arrives at Francine's stunning beachfront estate when she learns that the elderly woman has been found lying at the foot of her grand staircase—murdered.

Wealthy Francine was working to donate her Eden Palms mansion to the homeless—a noble cause meeting much resistance in the posh beach community. Francine had hinted to Bailey that something strange was going on, but she didn't live long enough to share her secrets. Determined to get justice for her friend, Bailey follows an odd assortment of clues that lead her into the heart of the homeless community, where a missing man and a growing list of suspects make her a threat to a killer now determined to send her back to Iowa … in a box.

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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.

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Mystery Book Review: The Fallen by Mark Terry

The Fallen
by Mark Terry
A Derek Stillwater Mystery

Oceanview Publishing (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-933515-75-9 (1933515759)
ISBN-13: 978-1-933515-75-5 (9781933515755)
Publication Date: April 2010
List Price: $25.95

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Review: Homeland Security troubleshooter Derek Stillwater faces one of his most daunting tasks yet -- securing the release of twenty of the world's leaders -- in The Fallen, the third mystery in this series by Mark Terry.

An international economic summit is taking place at the picturesque Cheyenne Hills Resort in Colorado Springs. Twenty of the world's leaders have gathered and security is tight. But not tight enough. A terrorist group known as "The Fallen Angels", led by Richard Coffee, has quietly infiltrated the site and brazenly takes the twenty hostage. Derek Stillwater, who had been posing as a maintenance man at the resort as part of the pre-summit security planning, is furious. He knows Coffee from their service days together and knows what he's capable of. There had to have been inside help, but as an insider himself -- both officially and unofficially -- who can he trust?

Coffee's demand is simple. Release twenty prisoners from Guantanamo Bay immediately. For each hour that passes without his demand being met, one leader will be killed. But Stillwater has his own counter-agenda. Intimately familiar with the resort layout, he plans on taking advantage of this knowledge by neutralizing the threat one man at a time -- until there is only one left to face: Coffee himself.

The action in The Fallen starts almost immediately with little letup through to the final pages. Short chapters, relentless pacing, a cat-and-mouse strategy on the part of both Stillwater and Coffee, and a ticking clock keep the suspense level high. Stillwater is an exciting character to follow, methodical and inventive, yet daring and courageous -- but his nemesis is as well. They're a good match. And the situation at the summit, unthinkable years ago, seems far too real of a possibility today.

The Fallen is a dramatic, well-structured thriller that will keep readers enthralled.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of The Fallen and to Oceanview Publishing for providing a copy of the book for this review.

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

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Synopsis (from the publisher): Twenty world leaders meet for the G8 Summit at the beautiful Cheyenne Resort in Colorado Springs. But an ugly plot lurks beneath the surface: a terrorist group, The Fallen Angels, plans to wreak havoc on the Summit.

With the Secret Service, the FBI, Homeland Security, the military, and security from twenty different governments on-hand, shouldn't the resort be the safest place in the world?

It seems impossible that a terrorist group could infiltrate the Summit. And yet they do. Within minutes, twenty world leaders are taken hostage, and Richard Coffee, the group's leader, makes his first demand: release twenty detainees from Guantanamo Bay, or he'll execute one leader each hour until his demands are met.

Only one man can disrupt this plot. Derek Stillwater is that man.

Working undercover as a maintenance man at the resort, Stillwater will wage war on the world's deadliest, most sophisticated terrorist organization, picking off the terrorists one by one-until he comes face-to-face with an evil force from his past, Richard Coffee, The Fallen Angel himself.

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Mysterious Reviews is your source for the latest mystery, suspense, thriller, and crime novel reviews, edited by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books.

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Nominees for the 2010 Spinetingler Awards Announced

We read on The Rap Sheet this morning that Spinetingler Magazine has announced its nominees for the 2010 Spinetingler Awards in nine categories:

• Best Novel: New Voice (1-3 novels published)
• Best Novel: Rising Star (4-8 novels published)
• Best Novel: Legend (9+ novels published)
• Best Short Story on the Web
• Best Mystery or Crime Comic/Graphic Novel
• Best Mystery/Crime Fiction Press, Publisher or Imprint
• Special Services to the Industry & Community
• Best Reviewer
• Best Cover

Visit the site to vote for your favorites. Polls are open until April 30th and the winners will be announced on May 1st.

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Harlequin Mira Mystery and Suspense Titles for April 2010

eHarlequin.com has announced the April 2010 titles for their Mira imprint, the brightest stars in women's fiction. From all titles available, we've only listed those that are mystery, thriller, or suspense on this page. 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.)

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The Mist by Carla Neggers
Non-Series

Things looked bad when Lizzie Rush finally found hard evidence that her boss, thrill-seeking billionaire Norman Estabrook, heads an international criminal network. But when he escapes police custody after a deadly Boston bombing, the worst is yet to come.

From nowhere arrives the mysterious Brit, Will Davenport. Lizzie isn't sure which side he's on, but his mercenary talents may help end the violence. Now, emerging from a year of secrets and lies as a double agent straddling two worlds, Lizzie has little choice but to trust a man answering to no one. When the mist clears—and the frightening truth is revealed—who knows which side she herself will end up on.

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Dead Right by Brenda Novak
The Stillwater Trilogy (3rd in series)

Twenty years ago Madeline Barker's father disappeared. Despite what everyone else thinks, Madeline's convinced her stepfamily had nothing to do with it. But the recent discovery of his car finally proves he didn't just drive away. Worse, the police find something in the trunk that says there's more to this case than murder.

With no other recourse, Madeline decides to hire a private investigator—even if the cops don't like it. Even if her family doesn't like it. But when P.I. Hunter Solozano begins to uncover some shocking evidence, someone in Stillwater is determined to put a stop to Madeline's search for the truth.

And that means putting a stop to her. Permanently.

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The Memorist by M. J. Rose
Non-Series

As a child, Meer Logan was haunted by bizarre memories and faint strains of elusive music. Now a strange letter beckons her to Vienna, promising to unlock the mysteries of her past. With each step, she comes closer to remembering connections between a clandestine reincarnationist society, Beethoven's lost flute and journalist David Yalom.

David knows loss firsthand—terrorism took his entire family. Now, beneath a concert hall in Vienna, he plots a violent wake-up call to illustrate the world's need for true security.

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The Killing Edge by Heather Graham
Non-Series

Chloe Marin was lucky. She was just a teenager when a party at a Florida beachside mansion turned into a savage killing spree, and she was one of the few to survive. Bloody handwriting on the walls pointed to a cult whose rituals included human sacrifice. Chloe's sketch of one of the killers linked two dead cult members found in the Everglades to the massacre, closing the case as far as the cops were concerned.

Ten years later Chloe works as a psychologist specializing in art therapy to help traumatized victims, and on the side she finds release in her passion for the martial arts. Police who hire her as a consultant know she's a literal kick-ass advocate for victims who can't always speak for themselves.

The current disappearance of a young swimsuit model ranks low on the cops' priority list. Everyone assumes the girl has run off for some fun in the sun, instead of getting ready for a photo shoot. Everyone but Chloe, who suspects a killer is using the modeling agency to stalk his prey. When the ghost of the model appears, asking Chloe for help, she knows that she has to do everything she can.

So does Luke Cane, a British ex-cop-turned-P.I. investigating the disappearance of the model on behalf of her father. Chloe and Luke have trouble trusting each other, but they can't help their strong attraction for one another. Luckily they agree on the important things: someone needs to find those missing girls, and if a few laws have to get bent so lives can be saved, too bad.

When Chloe arrives late for an appointment at the modeling agency, she discovers a gruesome mass murder eerily similar to the one she witnessed a decade ago—and can't help thinking that if she hadn't run late, she would have been there when the killer arrived. Ten years ago she hadn't been convinced the police had identified the real killers, and now she's sure of it. The same evil mind is behind the current murders, and she's afraid she's the target—and terrified that she won't be able to cheat death a third time.

She has no choice now but to trust Luke on every level, because with a killer closing in, he's the only one who's willing to do whatever it takes to keep her alive.

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Prince of Twilight by Maggie Shayne
Wings in the Night (10th in series)

Far older than his legend, the immortal Vlad Dracul has wandered the earth for centuries in search of the reincarnation of his wife, Elisabeta. Now he believes he has found the woman possessed by his beloved's soul and is prepared to make her his for all eternity.

Tempest "Stormy" Jones is that mortal. She has long sensed the other, someone inside her fighting to take control, a feeling that becomes even stronger when the dark prince is near. But as Stormy denies the passion that burns between them, she also resists allowing Elisabeta to take over her mind and body to prevent her from claiming Vlad as her own.

But when Elisabeta discovers Vlad's feelings for Stormy, her wrath knows no bounds. She demands that her destiny be fulfilled, and seeks to destroy her rival, leaving Vlad in anguish, tormented by what was … and what could be. Now only he can choose—who will live and who will die.

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Out of Mind by Stella Cameron
Court of Angels (2nd in series)

Willow Millet longs to deny her family's exceptional gifts—paranormal talents known to few, shared by even fewer. Benedict Fortune is one such—a connection that should have strengthened the undeniable bond between him and Willow. But her self-doubt has driven them apart.

Married instead to her business, Willow's concierge we-can-do-anything service is thriving until it is hit by a string of bizarre and fatal accidents—every victim a client. Now her livelihood depends on two enigmatic socialites and their notoriously decadent parties. In this anything-goes atmosphere, Willow and Ben are thrown together again and their need for each other is as strong as ever, but they are challenged at every turn …

For dark forces are stalking Willow—coveting her gift as a means of cheating death … and ruling New Orleans forever.

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Oliver Stone May Direct Leonardo DiCaprio as Travis McGee in Film Adaptation of The Deep Blue Good-By

Last September, we reported that Leonardo DiCaprio had signed on to play Travis McGee in a film adaptation of the first novel in the series, The Deep Blue Good-by by John D. MacDonald. Now Variety is reporting that Oliver Stone may direct from an adapted screenplay written by Dana Stevens.

This isn't Stone's only recent move into crime novel adaptations. It was just last month that we reported that Stone had closed a deal to produce and direct an adaptation of the upcoming crime thriller Savages by Don Winslow.

About The Deep Blue Good-by (from the publisher): Cathy Kerr is innocence turned helpless desperation—all because of the smiling freckle-faced stranger named Junior Allen who has stolen a fortune in gems that her father had smuggled into the country. Cathy has nowhere to turn—except to another stranger, that man named Travis McGee—who is a walking pillar of cold rage as he follows the depraved wreckage of Junior Allen's trail.

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Games of Mystery: The Mystery of the Crystal Portal, Beyond the Horizon, New from Big Fish Games

Games of Mystery is pleased to announce the availability of a new mystery casual game from Big Fish Games released today and available to BFG Club members. 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.

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Embark on a breathtaking adventure to the world of mysteries and unsolved puzzles.

Many years have passed since Nicole’s father went missing. He knew something very important, something which could change the cause of humanity. Nicole has traveled the globe in search of her beloved father and trying to solve the mystery of the Crystal Portal and the key to her father's disappearance. In this sequel, new adventures await Nicole and her fellow friend Igor. Are you ready to join them as they travel all around the world in attempt to solve the greatest mystery ever? From her home in New York City to distant lands on the other side of the world, solve tricky puzzles and help Nicole find her father!

See also the first game in this series, The Mystery of the Crystal Portal.

Also available: The Mystery of the Crystal Portal: Beyond the Horizon Strategy Guide and The Mystery of the Crystal Portal: Beyond the Horizon Game Walkthrough.

The Mystery of the Crystal Portal: Beyond the Horizon may be downloaded and purchased for $6.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. A demonstration version (168.22 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

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Games of Mystery is your source for mystery-themed video, electronic, and board games, parties for kids and adults, and murder mystery weekends and mystery getaway vacations!

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