The CW has ordered a pilot for The Secret Circle, adapted from the trilogy of young adult thrillers by L. J. Smith. The creative team behind The Vampire Diaries (also adapted from another of Smith's series) will executive produce.
In the first book of The Secret Circle Trilogy, The Initiation, Cassie longs for her old life after being forced to move from sunny California to gloomy New England. Even so, she feels a strange kinship to a terrifying group of teens who seem to rule her school. Initiated into the coven of witches that's controlled New Salem for hundreds of years, she's drawn into the Secret Circle, a thrill that's both intoxicating and deadly. But when she falls for the mysterious and intriguing Adam, Cassie must choose whether to resist temptation or risk dark forces to get what she wants—even if it means that one wrong move could ultimately destroy her.
The two sequels are The Captive and The Power. All three books were originally published in 1992, and reissued as a two-volume set in 2008.
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
The CW Orders Pilot Adapted from The Secret Circle by L. J. Smith
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
Second Season of Justified Premieres Wednesday, February 9th on FX Networks
Tomorrow, Wednesday February 9th, the second season of Justified premieres on FX Networks (10 PM ET/PT).
Timothy Olyphant stars as Deputy US Marshal Raylan Givens, who returns to his home town in Eastern Kentucky, bringing his own brand of justice to bear on local criminals. The character is based on one created in a series of short stories by crime novelist Elmore Leonard.
Fresh off the epic gun battle that concluded the first season, this season opens with Bo Crowder dead, and the Crowder criminal grip on Harlan County broken. Givens must now face off against the criminal organizations that are moving to fill the void, and finds himself entangled once again with the mercurial Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins).
Watch a preview for Justified below:
The Fourth Assassin by Matt Beynon Rees, An Omar Yussef Mystery
The Mystery Bookshelf, where you can discover a library of new mysteries, is pleased to feature a new mystery series title we recently received from the publisher.
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The Fourth Assassin by Matt Beynon Rees
An Omar Yussef Mystery (4th in series)
Soho Crime (Trade Paperback)
Publication Date: February 2011
ISBN-13: 978-1-56947-885-1
About The Fourth Assassin (from the publisher): When Omar Yussef travels to New York for a UN Conference, he's eager to visit his youngest son Ala, who lives in Bay Ridge, a Brooklyn neighborhood with a large Palestinian community. He arrives at Ala's apartment to find the door ajar and a headless body in one of the beds. He's initially terrified that the dead man is his son, but soon Ala arrives and identifies the body as that of one of his roommates. He's convinced that his other roommate is the killer. But when the cops show up Ala refuses to give an alibi and is arrested.
Desperate to prove his son's innocence, Omar Yussef investigates. The murderer has left clues that refer to the Assassins, a medieval Shiite sect. When they were teenagers, Ala and his roommates had a club by that name. What's the connection? As Omar Yussef delves deeper, he uncovers a deadly international conspiracy.
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About Matt Beynon Rees: Born in South Wales, he has covered the Middle East as a journalist for over a decade and was Time magazine's Jerusalem bureau chief from 2000 to 2006. The first book in this series, The Collaborator of Jerusalem, won the CWA New Blood Dagger. He lives in Jerusalem. Visit his website at MattBeynonRees.com.
Read the first chapter(s) of The Fourth Assassin below. Use the Aa settings button to adjust text size, line spacing, and word density.
Random House Acquires Trilogy of YA Thrillers by Mark Frost
In a press release today, Random House Children's Books announced the publisher had acquired Will West: The Epic, a trilogy of thrillers for young adults written by Mark Frost. The first book in the series, The Paladin Protocol, will be published in Fall 2012.
Will West "combines a sophisticated mystery with furiously-paced action and a twist of the paranormal. In the novel, the title character has spent his entire life trying to avoid any attention at the request of his parents. Then by sheer accident, Will scores off the charts on a nationwide exam and is recruited by an exclusive and somewhat mysterious prep school, the best school no one's ever heard of, with technology the likes of which no one's ever seen. At the same time, coincidentally—or not so—Will realizes he's being followed by men in dark hats, driving black sedans who pose a terrifying threat to his family. What follows is a series of events and revelations that places Will smack in the middle of a millennia old struggle between titanic forces."
Mark Frost is a novelist and television screewriter, whose credits include The Six Million Dollar Man, Hill Street Blues, and Twin Peaks. He published his first novel, The List of Seven featuring a young Arthur Conan Doyle, in 1993.
The Illuminated Vineyard by Jean Moynahan (Mystery Book Review)
The Illuminated Vineyard by Jean Moynahan. Non-series. Five Star Hardcover, February 2011.
The author crafts an interesting environment for her characters in this novel of suspense, creating a sense of near-constant apprehension for the reader. The murder investigation and whodunit aspect is nicely handled, but is clearly secondary to the overall story arc of a recently widowed woman and her uneasy relationship with a mysterious young man.
Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: The Illuminated Vineyard by Jean Moynahan.
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Dracula Once Again to be Re-Imagined in Film
Deadline|New York is reporting that Warner Bros. is set to acquire a script for the film Harker, featuring the Scotland Yard detective Jonathan Harker, a character in the classic novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, on the trail of the infamous vampire. (Harker is a solicitor in the book, hence the film will be a "re-imagining" of the tale.) Jaume Collet-Serra (Orphan, Unknown) is set to direct a screenplay written by Lee Shipman and Brian McGreevy, the latter having just sold his first thriller, Hemlock Grove, to Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Bram Stoker wrote Dracula in 1897, the character being the source of countless retellings and interpretations since then.
Anton Yelchin Cast as Odd Thomas in Film Adaptation of Dean Koontz Novel
Last November we reported that the film adaptation of Dean Koontz's novel Odd Thomas was moving forward, with Stephen Sommers (The Mummy movies) directing his own screenplay.
Now we're learning (via Collider) that the role of the titular character has been cast: Anton Yelchin (Chekov in the Star Trek prequel).
Here's what 21-year-old Odd Thomas has to say about himself (from the author's website): "I see dead people, spirits of the departed who, each for his own reason, will not move on from this world. Some are drawn to me for justice, if they were murdered, or for comfort, or for companionship; others seek me out for motives that I cannot always understand. This complicates my life."
In the first book of the series -- there are four to day, plus two graphic novels -- a mysterious man comes to town with a voracious appetite, a filing cabinet stuffed with information on the world's worst killers, and a pack of hyena-like shades following him wherever he goes. Who the man is and what he wants, not even Odd's deceased informants can tell him. His most ominous clue is a page ripped from a day-by-day calendar for August 15.
You can read the first chapter(s) of Odd Thomas below. Use the Aa settings button to adjust text size, line spacing, and word density.
Monday, February 07, 2011
Lifetime Orders Two Crime Drama Series
Lifetime Television (via The Hollywood Reporter) has ordered two 13-episode crime dramas, both of which are expected to premiere later this year.
Ally Walker (Profiler, Sons of Anarchy) stars as an LAPD homicide detective in Exit 19, who is raising two sons with the help of her troubled brother (Chris Payne Gilbert).
Rachel Carpani (The Glades, McLeod's Daughters) stars as a Chicago police detective, who decides to join the department's internal affairs division in Against the Wall. Loyalties are tested within her close-knit, blue-collar family of cops; Treat Williams (Heartland, Everwood) and Kathy Baker (Jesse Stone, Medium) co-star.
Mr. E. Reviews The American
Adapted from a novel by Martin Booth, this is a quiet film; there is little action, minimal dialog, and a subdued soundtrack. It is most certainly a great film to look at -- the Italian village setting both quaint and mysterious -- but I'm not at all certain it's a great film to watch. The main character is complex, but George Clooney portrays him as simple and one-dimensional, often appearing on screen as if he doesn't understand the role he is playing at all.
Read the full text of our review at Mr. E. Reviews The American.
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Mr. E. Reviews is your source for mystery, suspense, thriller, and crime drama reviews of television and film.
New Carina Press Mysteries for February 2011
Each month, Omnimystery News is pleased to list new mystery and suspense titles from Carina Press, an ebook only publisher. Links are provided to purchase the ebook from, where available, Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble, or Kobo Books; click on the banner to the right to be taken to the CarinaPress.com website to browse for other titles.
New books of mystery and suspense for February 2011 from Carina Press include:
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Dangerous Secrets by Katie Reus
Non-series
Isabelle Ballantine has been fighting for independence since she was old enough to walk. Now that she's finally out from under her father's shadow, she won't let anyone stand in her way. It's tough living on her own, working in a bar and keeping her true identity a secret, but things start to look up when a sexy new stranger walks into her life. After working side by side for weeks, Izzy can't figure out why he won't make a move ...
To cinch the deal of a lifetime, Adam Marcellus agrees to help Izzy's eccentric father convince his daughter to move home. He'd assumed Izzy would be another spoiled rich princess, but he's surprised to discover his feelings for her are stronger than anything he's ever experienced. When a deranged stalker targets her, Adam finds himself fighting not only an unknown threat—but an unexpected attraction to the one woman he can't have ...
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Carina Press, a division of Harlequin, is a digital-first publisher offering ebooks in a variety of genres, including mystery. eBooks from Carina can be read on the Apple iPad, Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader, B&N Nook, Borders Kobo, BlackBerry and mobile phones.
For more mystery, suspense and thriller ebooks, visit MystereBooks.com.
Telemystery: Columbo, 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 on or coming soon to DVD or Blu-ray disc, is profiling one series being released this week.
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Peter Falk stars as LAPD homicide detective Columbo in this long-running series, which initially aired on NBC then later on ABC. (The DVD collections are designated as "seasons" for the NBC episodes and "movie collections" for the ABC made-for-television movies.)
The six movies that comprise the Columbo: The Movie Collection 1991-1993 DVD set include the following: "Caution: Murder Can Be Hazardous to Your Health" (1991, guest starring George Hamilton); "Columbo and the Murder of a Rock Star" (1991, Dabney Coleman); "Death Hits the Jackpot" (1991, Rip Torn); "No Time to Die" (1992, based on an 87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain); "A Bird in the Hand ..." (1992, Steve Forrest, Greg Evigan, Tyne Daly); "It's All in the Game" (1993, Faye Dunaway, who won an Emmy for her performance, with a script written by Peter Falk).
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Visit the Telemystery website to discover more television mystery series currently available on and coming soon to DVD and Blu-ray disc.
Mystery Godoku Puzzle for February 07, 2011
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!).
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This week's letters and mystery clue:
A C D E L O R T W
This describes the corpse in the third Luanne Fogarty mystery by Glynn Marsh Alam (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!
Sunday, February 06, 2011
Watch the Super Bowl Commercial for Cowboys & Aliens
For those of you who simply can't wait for the Super Bowl to begin, if only to watch the commercials, here's a preview.
The official YouTube page for Cowboys & Aliens has posted the commercial that will air later today; you can watch it below.
Directed by Jon Favreau, the film is set in 1875, New Mexico Territory. A stranger (Daniel Craig) with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution. The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the people of Absolution don't welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford). It's a town that lives in fear.
But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Screaming down with breathtaking velocity and blinding lights to abduct the helpless one by one, these monsters challenge everything the residents have ever known.
Now, the stranger they rejected is their only hope for salvation. As this gunslinger slowly starts to remember who he is and where he's been, he realizes he holds a secret that could give the town a fighting chance against the alien force. With the help of the elusive traveler Ella (Olivia Wilde), he pulls together a posse comprised of former opponents—townsfolk, Dolarhyde and his boys, outlaws and Apache warriors—all in danger of annihilation. United against a common enemy, they will prepare for an epic showdown for survival.
Cowboys & Aliens opens in theaters July 29th, 2011.
The October Killings by Wessel Ebersohn (Mystery Book Review)
The October Killings by Wessel Ebersohn. An Abigail Bukula Mystery. Minotaur Books Hardcover, January 2011.
Introducing a new character, who enlists the aid of another of the author's series leads, a well-constructed, complex plot that includes plenty of subtly integrated misdirection provides a strong foundation for what happens in this mystery that is both captivating and enriching.
Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: The October Killings by Wessel Ebersohn.
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Read the first chapter(s) of The October Killings below. Use the Aa settings button to adjust text size, line spacing, and word density.
The Chicago Code Premieres Monday, February 7th, on Fox
Tomorrow, Monday February 7th, the crime drama The Chicago Code premieres on Fox at 9 PM (ET/PT).
Jason Clarke stars as Jarek Wysocki, a local legend and a larger-than-life veteran of the Chicago Police Department who wields considerable power thanks to his relationship with Teresa Colvin (Jennifer Beals), his ex-partner and the city's first female superintendent, now in charge of a 10,000-member police force. While Teresa diplomatically governs amidst the complicated landscape of Chicago politics, Jarek works the streets on a crusade to clean up corruption and crime and avenge his brother's murder.
In the pilot, Colvin lobbies for a city corruption task force to investigate Alderman Ronin Gibbons, a building-magnate-turned-politician. Meanwhile, Wysocki investigates a suspicious murder in Grant Park alongside his new partner Caleb Evers (Matt Lauria).
Watch a short behind-the-scenes preview to The Chicago Code below:
