Saturday, November 27, 2010

City in Shadow by Evan Marshall (Book Review)

Mysterious Reviews: Mystery, Suspense, Thriller and Crime Novel Reviews, edited by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books

City in Shadow by Evan Marshall. An Anna Winthrop "Hidden Manhattan" Mystery. Severn House Hardcover, November 2010.

A multi-layered mystery populated with creatively developed characters with a storyline that is often as dark as its title implies, the innovative and fast-paced plot keeps the pages turning.

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: City in Shadow by Evan Marshall.

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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.

Serial by Jack Kilborn and Blake Crouch is Today's Featured Free Kindle Mystery

Kindle Mysteries: Mystery Books Available on the Amazon Kindle

Kindle Mysteries is pleased to feature a mystery title that is currently available in Kindle eBook format for free from Amazon.com. We don't know how long it will be offered at this special price (typically only until a certain number of downloads have been completed), so download it today!

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Serial by Jack Kilborn and Blake Crouch
More Information About Serial by Jack Kilborn and Blake Crouch

Serial by Jack Kilborn and Blake Crouch
Non-series
Grand Central (Kindle eBook)
Download Link

About Serial (from the publisher): When two of the most twisted minds in the world of horror fiction face off, the result is Serial, a terrifying tale of hitchhiking gone terribly wrong. Beyond a thrilling piece of horrifying suspense, Serial is also a groundbreaking experiment in literary collaboration. Kilborn wrote the first part. Crouch wrote the second. And they wrote the third together over email in 100-word exchanges, not aware of each other's opening section. All bets were off, and may the best psycho win.

Note: Serial is an 8000-word short story.

Investigate Mysterious Happenings in Haunted Halls: Green Hills Sanitarium, New from BFG

Games of Mystery

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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Haunted Halls: Green Hills Sanitarium
Haunted Halls: Green Hills Sanitarium

Your boyfriend Tim, an investigative journalist, has gone missing on one of his trips. You learn he was investigating the possibility of wrong doings at the Green Hills Sanitarium. When you arrive, you find it is decrepit, as if it had been abandoned years earlier -- even though Tim's previous messages to you suggest it was operational. But now those messages have abruptly stopped coming, so you decide to do a little investigating on your own. Explore the halls of this mental asylum to find your boyfrind in this incredible hidden object adventure game!

This is the standard edition of the game. For a more in-depth gaming experience, check out the Haunted Halls: Green Hills Sanitarium (Collector's Edition) that includes bonus gameplay, a built-in strategy guide, original soundtrack, striking screensavers, and more!

Haunted Halls: Green Hills Sanitarium may be downloaded and purchased for $6.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. A demonstration version (188.95 MB) may be downloaded and played for free for one hour; the full version is 332.43 MB.

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!

Friday, November 26, 2010

Winners of the 2010 Irish Book Awards Announced

Mystery Book Awards: The Edgars, The Agathas, The Anthonys, and many more.

The winners of the fifth annual Irish Book Awards for 2010 were announced yesterday, recognizing the best books in ten categories, including crime fiction. Winners were selected from a shortlist by both the Irish Literary Academy and the voting public.

The Crime Fiction Book of the Year is Dark Times in the City by Gene Kerrigan (Vintage).

The fifth title in the Skulduggery Pleasant series, Mortal Coil by Derek Landy (HarperCollins), featuring the well-dressed, wise-cracking, living-dead, skeleton magician-detective, received the award for Best Young Adult Book.

Investigate Rumors of Witchcraft in Hidden Mysteries: Salem Secrets, New from BFG

Games of Mystery

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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Hidden Mysteries: Salem Secrets
Hidden Mysteries: Salem Secrets

Help Constable Hawthorne investigate the rumors of witchcraft in this fun hidden object puzzle adventure game!

Four young girls have been suffering from an outbreak of mysterious fits and bizarre tantrums. Rumors abound that the girls have been "afflicted" by local practitioners of Witchcraft, but nobody has yet been charged or tried. The Governor of Massachusetts has sent you, as Constable Hawthorne, to investigate the scenes and uncover the Hidden Mysteries!

See also the other games in this series, including Hidden Mysteries: Titantic, Secrets of the Fateful Voyage and Hidden Mysteries: Vampire Secrets.

Hidden Mysteries: Salem Secrets may be downloaded and purchased for $6.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. A demonstration version (222.13 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!

Mystery Bestsellers for November 26, 2010

Mystery Bestsellers

A list of the top 15 mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending November 26th, 2010 has been posted on the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books website.

No change among the top three -- The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson is still atop the list -- but quite a bit of shuffling elsewhere, including two new titles this week.

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The Emperor's Tomb by Steve Berry
More information about the book

In the 12th spot is the fifth thriller to feature Cotton Malone, The Emperor's Tomb by Steve Berry.

The tomb of China’s First Emperor, guarded by an underground army of terra-cotta warriors, has remained sealed for more than 2,000 years. Though it’s regarded as one of the greatest archaeological sites in the world, the Chinese government won’t allow anyone to open it. Why?

That question is at the heart of a dilemma faced by former Justice Department operative Cotton Malone, whose life is shattered when he receives an anonymous note carrying an unfamiliar Web address. Logging on, he sees Cassiopeia Vitt, a woman who’s saved his life more than once, being tortured at the hands of a mysterious man who has a single demand: Bring me the artifact she’s asked you to keep safe. The only problem is, Malone doesn’t have a clue what the man is talking about, since Cassiopeia has left nothing with him. So begins Malone’s most harrowing adventure to date—one that offers up astounding historical revelations, pits him against a ruthless ancient brotherhood, and sends him from Denmark to Belgium to Vietnam then on to China, a vast and mysterious land where danger lurks at every turn.

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The Athena Project by Brad Thor
More information about the book

Entering the list in 14th position is The Athena Project by Brad Thor.

Just as skilled, just as fearsome, and just as deadly as their colleagues, Delta Force’s newest members have only one thing setting them apart—their gender. Part of a top-secret, all-female program codenamed The Athena Project, four of Delta’s best and brightest women are about to undertake one of the nation’s deadliest assignments.

When a terrorist attack in Rome kills more than twenty Americans, Athena Team members Gretchen Casey, Julie Ericsson, Megan Rhodes, and Alex Cooper are tasked with hunting down the Venetian arms dealer responsible for providing the explosives. But there is more to the story than anyone knows.

In the jungles of South America, a young U.S. intelligence officer has made a grisly discovery. Surrounded by monoliths covered with Runic symbols, one of America’s greatest fears appears to have come true. Simultaneously in Colorado, a foreign spy is close to penetrating the mysterious secret the U.S. government has hidden beneath Denver International Airport.

As Casey, Ericsson, Rhodes, and Cooper close in on their target, they will soon learn that another attack—one of unimaginable proportions—has already been set in motion, and the greatest threat they face may be the secrets kept by their own government.

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The top four mystery bestsellers this week are shown below:

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg LarssonThe Confession by John GrishamMoonlight Mile by Dennis LehaneCross Fire by James Patterson

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.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

CBS Developing Two New Crime Dramas

Telemystery: Mystery and Suspense on Television

The Hollywood Reporter's Live Feed blog is reporting that CBS is developing two dramas that have criminal elements.

From CSI creator Anthony Zuiker comes Desperado, a Texas-based Justified-esque series about lawmen who bring cowboy-style justice to San Antonio.

And from Michael Cuesta (Dexter) comes Knife Fight, in which a female public defender becomes a prosecutor in search of the truth. It is based on a short story of the same title by mystery writer Joel Goldman that appeared in The Prosecution Rests, edited by Linda Fairstein (who's developing her own series, One Police Plaza, for ABC).

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

First Clues, Mysteries for Kids: New Titles for December 2010

First Clues: Mysteries for Kids

First Clues: Mysteries for Kids is pleased to announce a selection of new mystery, suspense and thriller books (including series books) scheduled for publication during December 2010, listed in approximate order of reading level, from books for younger readers to books for teens.

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Big Boys Don't Spy by K. E. M. Johnston

Big Boys Don't Spy More Information about the book
K. E. M. Johnston
Non-series

Set in the suburbs of Washington DC, with the CIA Headquarters around the corner, 12-year-old Will Wand, Agent 003.5, has his first assignment -- to save the world, or at least to uncover the mole in his mother's advertising company. Will strongly suspects his bossy, annoying cousin Penelope, visiting from the U.K., is a double agent, and when he finds her diary written in code, he knows he's onto something ... but if you hear any more, he'll have to kill you (or at least confiscate your Star Wars walkie-talkie).

This book, which may be the start of a new series, is recommended for readers aged 10 to 12.

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Vampire Slayer: A Vampire's Kiss by Stefan Petrucha and Sarah Kinney

Vampire Slayer: A Vampire's Kiss More Information about the book
Stefan Petrucha and Sarah Kinney
Nancy Drew: The New Case Files

The Girl Detective has been locked in a large estate with Gregor, the young man whom everyone suspects of being a vampire, only to learn he has a rare disease that won’t allow him to venture outside during the day. While Nancy’s friends George and Bess and boyfriend Ned are locked outside the estate, Nancy and Gregor are trapped inside with a crazed woman who believes Gregor is a real vampire, and that she must destroy him!

Nancy Drew: The New Case Files graphic mysteries are recommended for readers aged 10 and older.

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Conspiracy 365: December by Gabrielle Lord

Conspiracy 365: December More Information about the book
Gabrielle Lord
The Conspiracy 365 Series

The final entry in this 12 volume series of thrillers.

On New Year's Eve, Callum Ormond is chased down the street by a crazed man with a deadly warning: They killed your father. They'll kill you. You must survive the next 365 days. Cal is fighting for his sister's life. But nobody believes the "psycho kid" and he's running out of people he can trust. He doesn't even know which of his enemies he's facing. How many hard-won treasures will he have to relinquish in return for his sister's safety?

The Conspiracy 365 Series is recommended for readers aged 13 and older.

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First Clues: Mysteries for Kids is your source for information on over 200 mystery series for children and young adults, where each series is conveniently listed under four different age categories (New Sleuths, ages 4 to 6; Future Sleuths, ages 7 to 9; Sleuths in Training, ages 10 to 12; and Apprentice Sleuths, ages 13 and older).

Defy a Pirate's Curse in Mystery Case Files: 13th Skull (Collector's Edition), New from BFG

Games of Mystery

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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Mystery Case Files: 13th Skull (Collector's Edition)
Mystery Case Files: 13th Skull (Collector's Edition)

Shortly after moving into a creepy mansion in Louisiana, Sara Lawson is struck with tragedy when her husband mysteriously disappears. Sara’s daughter, Magnolia, believes her father was kidnapped by the ghost of a vengeful pirate seeking to protect his lost fortune. With the locals terrified of the pirate’s curse, you are the family’s last hope. Only a Master Detective with incredible hidden object skills can locate Marcus Lawson in the seventh entry of this popular series!

This is a special Collector's Edition that includes features you won't find in the standard edition, such as bonus gameplay, an integrated strategy guide, concept art, and more.

See also the other games in the Mystery Case Files Series.

Mystery Case Files: 13th Skull (Collector's Edition) may be downloaded and purchased for $13.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. A demonstration version (294.75 MB) may be downloaded and played for free for one hour; the full version is 669.46 MB.

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!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Harry Potter: Years 1 to 6 Giftset, Blu-ray and DVD, 60% Off Today Only!

Harry Potter: Years 1 to 6 Giftset
More information about the DVD

Amazon's Gold Box Deal of the Day (November 23rd) is a truly remarkable one: the Harry Potter: Years 1 to 6 Giftset (Blu-ray) for 60% off list price!

The first six films are bundled together in a single box set and include Harry Potter and the ...

... Sorcerer's Stone;
... Chamber of Secrets;
... Prisoner of Azkaban;
... Goblet of Fire;
... Order of the Phoenix;
... Half-Blood Prince.

If you have a new Blu-ray player (or are expecting one from Santa) and want to upgrade your existing library of Harry Potter films, this is a cost-effective way of doing so.

Also available: Harry Potter: Years 1 to 6 Giftset (DVD), also 60% off list.

These deals are available today only from Amazon.com and while supplies last.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Watch Director Jon Favreau's Commentary to the Trailer for Cowboys & Aliens

Cowboys and Aliens (2011)

Just last week the first trailer for the sci-fi western action thriller Cowboys & Aliens was released.

Today, MTV asked director Jon Favreau to provide a commentary to the trailer! You can watch this entertaining video below. Additional related videos are provided on the MTV post.

Favreau said he cast the film as he would any Western — assuming no sci-fi element. He added that the idea for the alien technology shackled to Craig's character's wrist was producer Steven Spielberg's idea. The first scene in the trailer (which you can see here) is also the opening scene in the film.

Cowboys & Aliens is adapted from the 2006 graphic novel of the same name created by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg.

New Screenshots for Upcoming Interactive Crime Novel Game L.A. Noire

L.A. Noire

Last week, we reported on the first trailer L. A. Noire, a new video game scheduled for release on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 early next year. Now the developer, Rockstar Games, has released a few new screenshots and media previews for the game.

An interactive crime novel featuring LAPD homicide detective Cole Phelps (voiced by Aaron Staton) and set in the late 1940s, L.A. Noire blends action, detection and complex storytelling into an open-ended challenge to solve a series of gruesome murders. Set in a perfectly recreated Los Angeles before freeways, with a post-war backdrop of corruption, drugs and jazz, L.A. Noire attempts to blend cinema and gaming.

See a few of the images below; if you missed the trailer, it is embedded at the bottom of this post.

L.A. Noire
A meticulously detailed 1947 Los Angeles is the backdrop for L.A. Noire's dark story, with incredible attention invested in recreating the scene of each crime.
L.A. Noire
L.A. Noire is the story of Cole Phelps and his rise -- with each successfully completed case -- from beat cop up through the ranks of the LAPD.
L.A. Noire
Set in the Golden Age of Hollywood, 1947 Los Angeles was also among the most violent and corrupt years in the city's history.

Messages by Weyman Jones (Book Review)

Mysterious Reviews: Mystery, Suspense, Thriller and Crime Novel Reviews, edited by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books

Messages by Weyman Jones. Non-series. Five Star Hardcover, October 2010.

A well-developed, character-driven plot that leads readers in multiple directions is at the core of this solid thriller, one that will keep readers guessing as to the identity of culprit right up to the very end.

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: Messages by Weyman Jones.

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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.

The Pillars of the Earth, a Mini-Series Adaptation of the Ken Follett Novel, New on DVD and Blu-ray Disc

Cinemystery: TV and Film Adaptations from Novels of Mystery and Suspense

Cinemystery, your source for information on TV series, made-for-television movies, and films adapted from novels of mystery and suspense, which are now available on DVD or Blu-ray disc, is profiling a mini-series scheduled for release this week.

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The Pillars of the Earth: Available on DVD or Blu-ray Disc
Information on The Pillars of the Earth

Adapted from the novel The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. Directed by Sergio Mimica-Gezzan.

More adventure than thriller or suspense, this eight-part mini-series is an enduring love story masterfully entwined with political turmoil, set against a backdrop of war, religious strife and power struggles in 12th century England.

Emerging from the war-torn shadows of England's Dark Ages, an idealistic mason, Tom Builder (Rufus Sewell) sets out on a quest of erecting a glorious Cathedral bathed in light. But when that light threatens to illuminate the dark secrets of ambitious Bishop Waleran Bigod (Ian McShane) and the battling progeny of King Henry, Queen Maud (Alison Pill) and King Stephen (Tony Curran), they'll stop at nothing to keep those secrets safe.

The mini-series also stars Matthew Macfadyen as Prior Philip and Donald Sutherland as Earl Bartholomew.

The Pillars of the Earth runs 421 minutes and is Not Rated.

Also available: The Pillars of the Earth (Blu-ray disc).

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Visit the Cinemystery website to discover more TV and film adaptations currently available on DVD and Blu-ray disc.

Solve 5 New Murder Mysteries in CSI: Unsolved! for Nintendo DS

CSI: Unsolved (Nintendo DS)
More Information about the Game

Team up with the cast of CSI to solve Sin City’s murder mysteries in CSI: Unsolved!, which is scheduled for release tomorrow, November 23rd, for Nintendo DS. (Note: some sites have the release date as November 30th; the game can be pre-ordered, though.)

You're presented with 5 original cases, such as the death of a young pop star on stage or the discovery of a mummified body in the desert, written by the writers of the acclaimed CSI TV series. Investigate the scene, collect evidence, question witnesses, and bring suspects to justice!

Specifically designed with DS users in mind, CSI: Unsolved! makes the most of the DS Touch Screen for an improved pick-up-and-play experience. Thanks to stylish visuals, heart-pounding interrogations, and unique touch gameplay, be prepared to feel like a real CSI. Progress through each case on your Nintendo DS, and do everything CSIs do on the hit show.

CSI: Unsolved! is ESRB rated T for Teen.

See also the previous games in this series: CSI: Dark Motives and CSI: Deadly Intent.

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is your source for mystery-themed video, electronic and board games, parties for kids and adults, murder mystery weekends and mystery getaway vacations, and more mysterious fun!

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