Harlequin Intrigue Titles for August 2010

eHarlequin.com has released the August 2010 titles in their Intrigue, breathtaking romantic suspense series. Get these edge-of-your-seat reads today with characters who conquer everything from kidnappings to murder mysteries, only to find themselves irresistibly drawn to one another! For more information or to purchase any of the books below, click on the book title or book cover. (Previous months titles can be found on the backlist page.)

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Alpha Warrior by Aimee Thurlo

Nick Blacksheep was an outsider to all: the police force, his community and the women he kept at arm's length. Experienced in modern warfare, the tall Navajo's imposing spirit recalled the intensity of his ancestors. His heart incapable of wounding, Nick was the fiercest protector beautiful Drew Simmons could have ever imagined—or desired.

With contract killers on her tail, the small-town librarian needed a cop who was true to his word. Though Blacksheep promised to safeguard Drew, he couldn't have expected her compassion to thaw the ice in his veins. Now his greatest duty isn't to himself, but the woman he welcomed into his home.

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One Tough Marine by Paula Graves

Threatened by masked men making an impossible demand of her, Abby Chandler runs to Luke Cooper for help. She knows it's been three years since he vanished after their blazing one-night stand … and that she might be forced to reveal the secret that he's her little boy's father.

Abby has no idea that the former marine has also been keeping a painful secret—that his disappearance was the only way to keep her alive. Luke knows Abby came to him for protection, but earning her trust isn't going to be easy. Nor will keeping his hands off her. But admitting their once-forbidden attraction still exists could be risky. And deadly.

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Wanted: Bodyguard by Carla Cassidy

Special Agent Riley Kincaid was fearless when it came to hunting ruthless criminals. But he was clueless when it came to marriage. Even a pretend one. Now, faced with a gorgeous single mother who needed protection from the killer next door, Riley was forced to play the doting husband and loving father … then walk away when the danger had passed. Too bad nobody warned him that Lana Tyler and her little girl could stir up feelings Riley had firmly avoided all his life. Claiming the key to everyone's survival meant having razor-sharp focus on the mission, Riley did everything he could not to be alone with his temporary wife. Which was turning out to be his toughest assignment yet …

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Colby Velocity by Debra Webb

Former Equalizer Leland "Rocky" Rockford did not have a problem working with Colby Agent Kendra Todd. As far as he was concerned, partnering with her was one of the benefits of their agencies' merger. Something about her calm and composed air made him want to ruffle her feathers—until they were assigned to a murder case.

Fully in professional mode, Rocky was willing to do whatever necessary to support Kendra—and keep her safe. But as the case started cracking, so did the walls around her guarded heart. Now, with questions and the bodies piling up, they must outmaneuver the shadowy element that not only wants them to fail, but wants them dead …

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Lock, Stock and Secret Baby by Cassie Miles

Special Forces operative Blake Jantzen's mission is clear: protect Eve from the psychopath targeting her. His soldier instincts are put to the ultimate test when guarding her leads them both into a dangerous web of secrecy and deceit. Everyone has something to hide—including the beautiful pregnant woman whose life rests in his hands … and whose presence stirs a passion that even he cannot control.

Eve Weathers is a brilliant scientist … and a virgin. After learning she's been impregnated as part of an experiment, she knows trusting Blake is the only way to keep her unborn child safe. It seems the baby she carries is the key to exposing a killer … and unlocking a mystery that will forever link her and Blake.

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Bundle of Trouble by Elle James

Sylvia Michaels had raised her son for four short months before he was cruelly snatched from her arms. Desperate and alone, her investigation led to Texas and the ranch of multimillionaire Tate Vincent. The ruggedly handsome bachelor was an intriguing man … and the father of a child who looked suspiciously like hers!

But what was supposed to be a joyous reunion was shattered by a hail of gunfire—and an empty cradle. Now both parents were on the hunt for the kidnappers and the child they each claimed as theirs. Tate couldn't deny that Sylvia fought with a mother's passion, and Sylvia couldn't help but notice that the protective man made the perfect father. But would their dream of a family be shattered before it even began?

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If you enjoy the romantic suspense books in this series, you can get 2 free Harlequin Intrigue books plus 2 free gifts just for giving the automatic program a try. Accepting your two free Intrigue 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 four additional Intrigue books.

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MBN Welcomes Gerry Boyle, Author of the Jack McMorrow Mysteries

Mystery Books News is thrilled to welcome Gerry Boyle as our guest blogger. Gerry is the author of Damaged Goods (Down East Books, May 2010 Hardcover, 978-0-89272-796-4), the 9th mystery in the Jack McMorrow series.

Today, Gerry writes about what it's like when your hero grows up. And he's also providing our readers with an opportunity to win a copy of his book and -- as a special bonus -- a copy of Deadline, the first in the series for another lucky visitor! Visit Mystery Book Contests, click on the "Gerry Boyle: Damaged Goods" contest link, enter your name, e-mail address, and this code (1852) for a chance to win! (One entry per person; contest ends July 27, 2010.)

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Photo courtesy of Gerry Boyle

My first series hero, ex-New York Times reporter, Jack McMorrow, is a pretty tough guy. He stands on principle, fights (often literally) for the downtrodden, and serves as backup for his partner, street-smart social worker Roxanne Masterson.

So when Roxanne became pregnant in Home Body (McMorrow No. 8), Damaged Goods (McMorrow No. 9), served up a new challenge. What would fatherhood do to my free-swinging journalist from the Maine woods? As one skeptical reader put it, “So is McMorrow going to be taking his kid on play dates?”

I have to admit this gave me pause. Could Jack be as tough and reckless with a new mouth to feed? When your hero has to get up to change a diaper, what does that do for his street cred? Would he pause from his investigations to pick up a bundle of Pampers?

Where’s the suspense in that?

It was one of those moments when you freeze at the keyboard, like a driver stopped at a fork in the road. Left is fatherhood, right is … what? After all, I’d set the stage for the child’s arrival.

As McMorrow is semi-autobiographical (I was a newspaper reporter and columnist for many years) I took a day or two to ponder my own experience with children. We have three (grown up now and scattered from Maine to Ireland), and certainly fatherhood had a settling effect on me. I gladly traded nightlife for hanging out with my kids. I still hung out with cops and criminals for work but did soccer on Saturdays. And in the back of my mind, I knew the day job provided more than a chance to hang out in courtrooms. It also meant health insurance.

So what of McMorrow? And then the light bulb went on. Jack has always fought for what he believes is right. He goes to bat for abused women, forlorn street kids. When he takes a stand, he doesn’t back down. When threatened by bad guys, he stands firm. But, I thought, what if someone threatened his child?

The answer made me smile—there would be Holy Hell to pay.

In mystery novels there is a tradition of the hero as loner. Outsider. It’s a form that goes back to medieval times with the roving knight saving the mistress and then riding off into the forest, and continues in the American West (Paladin and his ilk riding into town), to Raymond Chandler’s Marlowe, John B. MacDonald’s Travis McGee, Robert B. Parker’s Spenser. McGee had a series of liaisons; Spenser had Susan Silverman. But no kids.

McMorrow may be a soccer dad. But more than those protagonists, he’s got something precious in play. His child.

That thought shaped Damaged Goods, in which Sophie is three (mirroring the time between publication of McMorrow novels, when I’d been off doing other projects and Jack and Roxanne were going through those sleepless nights).

Yes, I had to think hard about how a three-year-old sounds. I didn’t want the child to be cloyingly cute, nor did I want her to be so precocious that she didn’t seem believable. I ran her dialogue by a few people, including friends who had kids that age. But mostly I wanted this to be McMorrow unleashed. Roxanne, after removing children from the compound of a deranged backwoods Satanist, is threatened by the guy, and the threat is quickly extended to and focused on Sophie. Jack enlists his loyal and lethal friend and neighbor Clair, a Vietnam vet, ex-commando. As the threat escalates, it becomes clear that Jack and Clair will take no prisoners. If they go down, it will be fighting.

In the end, I liked writing McMorrow and Roxanne as dad and mom. They’re good parents and their daughter is a delight. And I think the juxtaposition of their idyllic family life in small-town Maine with the very real threats from the Satanist and, more subtly, from a prostitute McMorrow is writing about, make the book more suspenseful.

McMorrow the dad is devoted, gentle, playful. But he is also deliberate, cool, resolute and ultimately dangerous for anyone who would threaten his family. He will protect Sophie and Roxanne, or he will die trying.

McMorrow declawed? I don’t think so.

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Gerry lives in a small village in central Maine, making regular trips for book research. His deal with Jack: he’ll send him into some pretty dangerous places, but he’ll scout them out first. Visit his website at GerryBoyle.com or follow him on Twitter (@gerryboyle).

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About Damaged Goods: Ex-New York Times reporter Jack McMorrow has it all. A beautiful wife, social worker Roxanne Masterson, their wonderful daughter, Sophie, a cozy house on a back road in the hills of Waldo County, Maine. Jack freelances for the Times, cuts wood with his Vietnam vet friend and neighbor Clair. Life is good ...

... until the day Roxanne returns home shaken by a violent confrontation with a deranged Satanist whose children she has removed from a filthy backwoods compound. Roxanne decides to leave her job. Jack sets out to finish a story about small-town "escorts" and becomes entangled with one, the mysterious Mandi, who is injured by a client and taken in by McMorrow.

The threats converge until the family is surrounded in the Maine woods, literally and figuratively. Who will break the blockade? When the noose is tightened, who will survive?

Also available: Damaged Goods by Gerry Boyle (Kindle edition).

For a chance to win a copy of Damaged Goods or Deadline, courtesy of the author, visit Mystery Book Contests, click on the "Gerry Boyle: Damaged Goods" contest link, and enter your name, e-mail address, and this code (1852) in the entry form. (One entry per person; contest ends July 27, 2010.)

Secrets of the Dragon Wheel, a New Game of Mystery from BFG

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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Epiphany O'Day has been laughed out of her University. Her superiors think her wild theories on the ancient and mysterious Dragon Wheel artifact are pure fantasy.

But her mentor, Professor Lunn has used her careful research to unlock dark forces and he begs her to help him before its too late. But powerful, evil people have taken notice of her work and now a trail of blood and ancient torment are forcing our beautiful young sleuth to tangle with more than academia.

She must sneak on to the Imperial Majestic, a luxurious and very dangerous royal train destined for an epic journey from Europe into the darkest reaches of the Far East. She will now have to use every ounce of her wits, bravery and deep knowledge of the Dragon Wheel to stop the murder and mayhem in its tracks.

Secrets of the Dragon Wheel may be downloaded and purchased for $6.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. A demonstration version (120.21 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 Ms. Terri's reviews of the adventure and casual mystery games featured on this site, including Midnight Mysteries: The Edgar Allan Poe Conspiracy, Nancy Drew Dossier: Lights, Camera, Curses!, Enlightenus, and many more!

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!

Covert Affairs Premieres Tuesday, July 13th on USA Network

The premiere of a new original series, Covert Affairs, airs tomorrow, July 13th, at 10 PM (ET/PT) on USA Network following the second season premiere of White Collar.

Meet the spy next door ...

The pilot episode introduces Piper Perabo as Annie Walker, a world-traveler fluent in six languages, who is besting her fellow CIA trainees in every test. But that doesn't explain why she's suddenly summoned to the agency headquarters to report for active duty as a field operative one month before her training is over. She doesn't know there may be something -- or someone -- from her past that her CIA bosses are really after.

Watch a 60-second preview below:

Second Season of White Collar Premieres Tuesday, July 13th on USA Network

The second season of White Collar premieres tomorrow, July 13th, at 9 PM (ET/PT) on USA Network.

White Collar stars Matt Bomer as Neal Caffrey, a con artist who has been playing cat and mouse for years with his nemesis, FBI Agent Peter Burke (Tim DeKay), and is finally imprisoned. When Neal escapes from a maximum-security prison to find his long-lost love, Peter nabs him once again. Rather than returning to jail, Neal suggests an alternate plan: He'll provide his criminal expertise to assist the Feds in catching other elusive criminals in exchange for his eventual freedom. Initially wary, Peter quickly finds that Neal provides insight and intuition that can't be found on the right side of the law.

In the season two opener titled "Withdrawal", an elusive master thief has targeted a handful of New York's most prestigious banks, and it's up to Peter and Neal to thwart his next heist. Watch a 30-second promo below:

New Poster Released for RED, based on the graphic novel by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner

A couple of weeks ago we featured the first trailer for the film RED, based on the graphic crime novel of the same name by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner.

Now Summit Entertainment has released the first official poster for the film. It retains much of the look of its original source (see below), a nice touch by the studio.

RED opens in theaters on October 15th and stars Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, and Helen Mirren as retired CIA agents who embark on an impossible, cross-country mission to break into the top-secret agency headquarters, where they will uncover one of the biggest conspiracies and cover-ups in government history.

A Fourth "Girl Who" Thriller by Stieg Larsson?

We can't resist the word "mystery" in the title of a news item, especially when that title reads "Stieg Larsson's 4th Manuscript Clouded in Mystery." A fourth manuscript?

The late Stieg Larsson is the author of the wildly popular trilogy of thrillers featuring journalist Mikael Blomkvist and computer hacker Lisbeth Salander. But as the Associated Press is reporting, a nearly completed fourth novel with the pair was found on Larsson's laptop.

"The plot is set 120 kilometers north of Sachs Harbour, at Banks Island in the month of September," Larsson wrote, about a month before his death, in an e-mail to his friend John-Henri Holmberg, who made it available to The Associated Press. "According to the synopsis it should be 440 pages." Holmberg doesn't know anything about the plot, but points out that Larsson's long-time partner Eva Gabrielsson is also aware of the unfinished novel, and probably has access to any outline made by the author before his death. For now, Swedish publisher Norstedts doesn't want to comment on the possibility of a fourth book.

The three existing titles in the series are The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.

Psych, Street Hawk, and White Collar, New This Week on DVD

Telemystery, your source for one of the most comprehensive selections of detective, amateur sleuth, private investigator, and suspense television mystery series, mini-series and made-for-television movies, now available or coming soon to DVD or Blu-ray disc, is profiling three series being released this week.

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Smart. Scientific. Psychic? The decidedly distinctive team of Shawn Spencer (James Roday) and Burton Guster (Dulé Hill) from Psych P.I. are back for more laughs, more mystery, and more highly unusual cases in every wildly entertaining episode of the fourth season of Psych.

They might disagree, but they can always depend on each other. In this captivating season of whimsical and wonderful whodunits, their friendship and their business will be put to the test by a slew of potential culprits that include werewolves, ghosts, a shark, and those they trust the most.

The Psych: Season Four DVD set of 4 discs contain the 16 episodes that aired on USA Network from August through October 2009 and January through March 2010. Extras include a gag reel, deleted scenes, video and audio commentaries, and "psychouts".

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Rex Smith plays Jesse Mach, an ex-motorcycle cop injured in the line of duty, now a police trouble shooter, who has been recruited for a top-secret government mission to ride Street Hawk, an all-terrain attack motorcycle designed to fight urban crime, capable of incredible speeds of up to 300 mph and immense firepower. Only one man, Norman Tuttle (Joe Regalbuto), knows Jesse Mach s true identity. Richard Venture plays his commander, Lt. Leo Altobelli.

The Man, The Machine. Street Hawk.

The Street Hawk: The Complete Series DVD set of 4 discs contain the 13 episodes that aired as a mid-season replacement on ABC during the spring of 1985. Extras include a newly produced documentary on the series.

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Charming con man Neal Caffey (Matthew Bomer) escapes from a maximum-security prison, only to be recaptured by his nemesis, FBI Agent Peter Burke (Tim DeKay) in the pilot episode of White Collar. With few options, Caffey agrees to help the bureau bring down other elusive criminals in exchange for his eventual freedom. But before long, Caffey finds himself playing a game of cat and mouse with those who want him back in prison ... or dead.

The White Collar: Season One DVD set of 4 discs contain the 14 episodes that aired on USA Network from October through December 2009 and January through March 2010. Extras include a gag reel, deleted scenes, and episode commentaries. Also available: White Collar: Season One Blu-ray disc.

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Visit the Telemystery website to discover more television mystery series currently available on DVD and Blu-ray disc.

Warner Bros. Options Film Rights to Occupied City by David Peace

The Risky Business blog of The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Warner Bros. has optioned the film rights to the crime novel Occupied City by David Peace. Set in 1948 Tokyo, Occupied City is the second in Peace's planned trilogy of novels based on true crimes committed in Japan.

“I am thrilled that at a time when studios are not investing in literary properties Warner Bros. is willing to invest in interesting material,” producer Polly Johnsen says. “David is an excellent writer, and this story is unlike anything that has been told before.”

We agree. In our review of Occupied City, we said "Far more of a literary novel than a mystery, some might be tempted to call Occupied City a tour de force based on its unusual approach to storytelling." Each of the 12 "candles", or chapters, is told -- sometimes in a most unusual manner -- from the perspective of a different character associated with the crime.

Peace is also the author of the Red Riding Quartet thrillers, which was adapted into a three-part mini-series that aired in the UK and was screened by IFC in the US. A new film adaptation is also in the works.

About Occupied City (from the publisher): A fierce, exquisitely dark novel that plunges us into post–World War II Occupied Japan in a Rashomon-like retelling of a mass poisoning (based on an actual event), its aftermath, and the hidden wartime atrocities that led to the crime.

On January 26, 1948, a man identifying himself as a public health official arrives at a bank in Tokyo. There has been an outbreak of dysentery in the neighborhood, he explains, and he has been assigned by Occupation authorities to treat everyone who might have been exposed to the disease. Soon after drinking the medicine he administers, twelve employees are dead, four are unconscious, and the “official” has fled ...

Twelve voices tell the story of the murder from different perspectives. One of the victims speaks, for all the victims, from the grave. We read the increasingly mad notes of one of the case detectives, the desperate letters of an American occupier, the testimony of a traumatized survivor. We meet a journalist, a gangster-turned-businessman, an “occult detective,” a Soviet soldier, a well-known painter. Each voice enlarges and deepens the portrait of a city and a people making their way out of a war-induced hell.

Mystery Godoku Puzzle for July 12, 2010

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 E H I K R S T

This is the title of the mystery by Chelsea Cain that introduced Portland (OR) detective Archie Sheridan. (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!