Sunday, May 01, 2011

Harlequin Mira Mystery and Suspense Titles for May 2011

eHarlequin.com: Save 20% On Your Order

eHarlequin.com has released the list of May 2011 titles in 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.

For more information about the book from eHarlequin.com, click on the title or cover; other purchase options are also provided.

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Dark Angel by Karen Harper
Amazon.com (print and/or Kindle editions)

Dark Angel by Karen Harper
Maplecreek Amish Trilogy (3rd in series)

One morning Leah Kurtz goes to wake her adopted infant daughter and instantly knows something is terribly wrong. She is convinced that her baby has been switched with another child. Afraid that no one will believe her, Leah turns to an unlikely ally, despite the fact that her Amish community frowns on its members seeking help in the outside world.

0Dr. Mark Morelli studies the genetic illnesses that plague the Amish, but he has other, private reasons for coming to Maplecreek … reasons that may be tied to the mysterious disappearance of Leah's daughter.

Together, Leah and Mark must uncover a conspiracy—before there are deadly consequences.

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The Restorer by Amanda Stevens
Amazon.com (print and/or Kindle editions)Barnes & Noble (print and/or NookBook editions)Kobo eBooks

The Restorer by Amanda Stevens
Non-Series

My name is Amelia Gray. I'm a cemetery restorer who sees ghosts. In order to protect myself from the parasitic nature of the dead, I've always held fast to the rules passed down from my father. But now a haunted police detective has entered my world and everything is changing, including the rules that have always kept me safe.

It started with the discovery of a young woman's brutalized body in an old Charleston graveyard I've been hired to restore. The clues to the killer—and to his other victims—lie in the headstone symbolism that only I can interpret. Devlin needs my help, but his ghosts shadow his every move, feeding off his warmth, sustaining their presence with his energy. To warn him would be to invite them into my life. I've vowed to keep my distance, but the pull of his magnetism grows ever stronger even as the symbols lead me closer to the killer and to the gossamer veil that separates this world from the next.

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The Hypnotist by M. J. Rose
Amazon.com (print and/or Kindle editions)Barnes & Noble (print and/or NookBook editions)Kobo eBooks

The Hypnotist by M. J. Rose
The Reincarnationist (3rd in series)

Haunted by his inability to stop the murder of a beautiful young painter twenty years ago, Lucian Glass keeps his demons at bay through his fascinating work with the FBI's Art Crime Team. Investigating a crazed collector who's begun destroying prized masterworks, Glass is thrust into a bizarre hostage negotiation that takes him undercover at the Phoenix Foundation—dedicated to the science of past-life study. There, to maintain his cover, he submits to the treatment of a hypnotist.

Under hypnosis, Glass travels from ancient Greece to nineteenth-century Persia, while the case takes him from New York to Paris and the movie capital of the world. These journeys will change his very understanding of reality, lead him to question his own sanity and land him at the center of perhaps the most audacious art heist in history: a fifteen-hundred-year-old sculpture the nation of Iran will do anything to recover.

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Solve the Mystery of a Murdered Countess and Missing Count in Mystery Chronicles: Betrayals of Love, 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 Chronicles: Betrayals of Love
Mystery Chronicles: Betrayals of Love

When a Countess is discovered murdered, Commissaire Jean Bertineau asks for your help in this high-profile case. Traveling to France, you hope to quickly get to the bottom of this gruesome murder. Upon arriving, though, you learn that the Count has now disappeared! You must solve the mystery of these crimes before he, too, becomes a killer's victim.

See also the other game in this series, Mystery Chronicles: Murder Among Friends.

Mystery Chronicles: Betrayals of Love may be downloaded and purchased for $6.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. A demonstration version (131.33 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!

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Winners of the 2010 Agatha Awards Announced

Mystery Book Awards

The winners of the 2010 Agatha Awards were announced this evening, given annually by Malice Domestic Inc. to honor the best traditional mysteries, those typified by the works of Agatha Christie.

Thanks to everyone who tweeted the results, which are given below.

◊ Best Mystery Novel: Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny (Minotaur Books).

◊ Best First Mystery Novel: The Long Quiche Goodbye by Avery Aames (Berkley).

◊ Best Non-Fiction: Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks: 50 Years of Mysteries in the Making by John Curran (Harper).

◊ Best Short Story: "So Much in Common" by Mary Jane Maffini (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine).

◊ Best Children's/Young Adult: The Other Side of Dark by Sarah Smith (Atheneum).

In addition, we believe (from various tweets) that Linda Rodriguez won the Best Traditional Mystery Novel Contest sponsored by Minotaur Books, though we don't know the title of her book.

Previously announced honorees include the Lifetime Achievement Award to Sue Grafton and the Poirot Award to Janet Rudolph.

Review: The King of Diamonds by Simon Tolkien

The King of Diamonds by Simon Tolkien
More information about the book

The King of Diamonds by Simon Tolkien. A William Trave Mystery. Minotaur Books Hardcover, March 2011.

Part whodunit, part police procedural, part Gothic romance, part legal/political thriller, this book weaves multiple elements from these various mystery subgenres into a single crime novel that work surprisingly well together.

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: The King of Diamonds by Simon Tolkien.

Purchase Options: Amazon.com Print Edition | Amazon.com Kindle Edition | Barnes&Noble NookBook | Kobo eBook

Read the first chapter(s) of The King of Diamonds below. Use the Aa settings button to adjust text size, line spacing, and word density.

Reviews of Mystery and Suspense Books for Kids, New This Week on Book Trends (110430)

Book Trends: Reviews of Young Adult and Children Books

Book Trends, a review site for young adult and children books, published several new book reviews this past week. We're presenting here a summary of those in the mystery/suspense/thriller category.

Ice Claw by David Gilman. The 2nd book in the Danger Zone series of thrillers, recommended for readers aged 13 and older. Lexile measure: 810L. Reviewed by a 6th grade student, who writes, "There is great action, suspense, and excitement," adding, "David Gilman does not let up the pace from [the first book in the series] The Devil's Breath." (Read the entire review.)

For more reviews of children and young adult books of all genres, visit Book Trends; their reviews will amaze you! You can also follow Book Trends on Twitter.

Winners of the 2010 LA Times Book Prizes Announced

Mystery Book Awards

The 2010 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes were handed out last night to kick off the annual Festival of Books. The prizes honor the best books published in 2010 in a several categories.

For Mystery/Thriller, the winner was Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin (William Morrow).

Friday, April 29, 2011

A Dance with Dragons, the Fifth Book in the "A Song of Ice and Fire" Series by George R. R. Martin, Available to Pre-Order

A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin
More information about the book

If you've been enjoying Game of Thrones on HBO, you'll be happy to learn that the fifth book in the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series of fantasy/adventure books by George R. R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons, is available to pre-order. It is scheduled to be published this July. Game of Thrones is adapted from the first book in the series, A Game of Thrones.

It's been a long six years since the previous book in the series, A Feast for Crows, was published, and with A Dance with Dragons weighing in at 1200 pages, there's a lot of material to cover.

In the aftermath of a colossal battle, the future of the Seven Kingdoms hangs in the balance once again -- beset by newly emerging threats from every direction. In the east, Daenerys Targaryen, the last scion of House Targaryen, rules with her three dragons as queen of a city built on dust and death. But Daenerys has three times three thousand enemies, and many have set out to find her. Yet, as they gather, one young man embarks upon his own quest for the queen, with an entirely different goal in mind.

To the north lies the mammoth Wall of ice and stone -- a structure only as strong as those guarding it. There, Jon Snow, 998th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, will face his greatest challenge yet. For he has powerful foes not only within the Watch but also beyond, in the land of the creatures of ice.

And from all corners, bitter conflicts soon reignite, intimate betrayals are perpetrated, and a grand cast of outlaws and priests, soldiers and skinchangers, nobles and slaves, will face seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Some will fail, others will grow in the strength of darkness. But in a time of rising restlessness, the tides of destiny and politics will lead inevitably to the greatest dance of all.

Nominations for the 2011 Arthur Ellis Awards Announced

Mystery Book Awards

The nominees for the 2011 Arthur Ellis Awards have been announced by the Crime Writers of Canada, recognizing excellence in Canadian crime writing. The winners will be announced at an award banquet on June 2nd, 2011 at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Victoria, BC.

◊ Best Crime Novel
Slow Recoil by C. B Forrest (RendezVous Crime )
In Plain Sight by Mike Knowles (ECW Press)
The Extinction Club by Jeffrey Moore (Penguin Group)
Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny (Little, Brown)
A Criminal to Remember by Michael Van Rooy (Turnstone Press)

◊ Best First Crime Novel:
The Damage Done by Hilary Davidson (St. Martin's Press)
The Debba by Avner Mandleman (Random House)
The Penalty Killing by Michael McKinley (McClelland & Stewart)
The Parabolist by Nicholas Ruddock (Doubleday)
Still Missing by Chevy Stevens (St. Martin's Press )

◊ Best Crime Novel in French
La société des pères meurtriers by Michel Châteauneuf (Vent d’Ouest)
Dans le quartier des agités by Jacques Côté (Éditions Alire)
Quand la mort s'invite à la première by Bernard Gilbert (Québec Amerique)
Cinq secondes by Jacques Savoie (Libre Expression)
Vanités by Johanne Seymour (Libre Expression)

◊ Best Crime Non-Fiction
On the Farm by Stevie Cameron (Alfred A. Knopf)
Northern Light by Roy MacGregor (Random House)
Our Man in Tehran by Robert Wright (HarperCollins)

◊ Best Juvenile/Young Adult Crime Book
Pluto's Ghost by Sharee Fitch (Doubleday)
Lost For Words (The Worst Thing She Ever Did) by Alice Kuipers (HarperCollins)
Victim Rights by Norah McClintock (Red Deer Press)
The Vinyl Princess by Yvonne Prinz (HarperCollins)
Borderline by Allan Stratton (HarperCollins)

◊ Best Crime Short Story
"The Bust" by William Deverall (Whodunnit: Sun Media’s Canadian Crime Fiction Showcase)
"So Much in Common" by Mary Jane Maffini (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
"The Big Touch" by Jordan McPeek (Thuglit.com)
"In it Up to My Neck" by Jas R. Petrin (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine)
"The Piper's Door" by James Powell (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)

◊ Best First Unpublished Crime Novel
When the Bow Breaks by Jayne Barnard
Better Off Dead by John Jeneroux
Uncoiled by Kevin Thorton

(Hat tip to The Rap Sheet for alerting us to this announcement.)

Dean Koontz's Twilight Eyes to be Adapted for Television Miniseries

Twilight Eyes by Dean Koontz
More information about the book

Starz is developing a project, expected to be an 8-part miniseries, adapted from Twilight Eyes, the story of a man with psychic powers by Dean Koontz. If completed, it would mark the cable network's first original series.

Twilight Eyes features Slim MacKenzie, a young man blessed -- or cursed -- with the ability to see those that are out there lurking in the darkest shadows of an eerie, moonlit carnival. Feeding their twisted needs with human suffering. And fiendishly plotting the downfall of the human race. They're out there -- unseen by normal eyes, all too visible to Slim -- but don't scream. They'll hear you.

Originally published in 1985, the adaptation is expected to be updated to take place in the current day. Koontz will co-executive produce with his former agent Rob Lee and Stephen Tolkin, who previously adapted two of the author's novels for television and who will also write the screenplay for this one.

(Source: Deadline|Hollywood.)

Next Jack Ryan Film Gets Another New Screenwriter

Chris Pine

Will the next Jack Ryan film ever get made?

Yet another screenwriter, David Koepp, has come on board to rewrite the script for a prequel to the series of films already adapted from Tom Clancy's novels, previously starring Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, and Ben Affleck as CIA agent Jack Ryan. Chris Pine is lined up for the role in this "origin" story, how Ryan came to be with the CIA, but the script for the untitled film -- not adapted from any of Clancy's novels -- has proved to be a real stumbling block.

The storyline is still believed to be based on Adam Cozad's original outline for a completely different film that was repurposed to be the Jack Ryan backstory, involving the circumstances surrounding his survival of a helicopter crash while serving in the Marines. Several screenwriters have come and gone since then. Koepp has considerable experience in franchise films, having written or co-written the screenplays for two of the Jurassic Park movies, the original Mission: Impossible film based on the TV series, the third Indiana Jones movie, and Angels & Demons, adapted from the Dan Brown bestseller.

Paramount, which is behind the project, hopes to start production early in 2012.

(Source: Deadline|New York.)

Mystery Bestsellers for April 29, 2011

Bestselling Hardcover Mystery Books

A list of the top 15 mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending April 29th, 2011 has been posted by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books.

Just a bit of shuffling among the top bestselling crime novels this week, with Michael Connelly's 4th Mickey Haller legal thriller, The Fifth Witness, retaining the top spot this week. No new titles debut in the top 15, but one, almost certain to move up next week, enters the list at number 16.

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Bel-Air Dead by Stuart Woods
Amazon.com Print/Kindle EditionBarnes&Noble Print/Nookbook EditionApple iBookstore eBookGoogle/Alibris eBookKobo eBook

In Bel-Air Dead, the 20th thriller to feature Stone Barrington by Stuart Woods, the attorney receives a rather unexpected phone call from Arrington Calder, the ex-girlfriend with whom he has a son. Arrington's much older husband, the actor Vance Calder, has just died, leaving her a fortune in Centurion Studios stock. Arrington has plans for the money and asks Stone to represent her in the sale of the company. But when he arrives at her home in Bel-Air to finalize the deal, things take a nasty turn. It seems many of Hollywood's rich and beautiful have Arrington and Centurion in their sights, and Stone finds himself dragged into a surprisingly deadly web of intrigue.

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For more mystery books news, 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, April 28, 2011

Winners of the 2011 Edgar Awards Announced

Mystery Book Awards

The winners of the 2011 Edgar Awards were announced this evening, given annually by the Mystery Writers of America to honor the best in mystery writing.

Thanks to everyone who tweeted the results, which are given below.

◊ Best Novel: The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton (Minotaur Books)

◊ Best First Novel: Rogue Island by Bruce DeSilva (Forge Books)

◊ Best Paperback Original: Long Time Coming by Robert Goddard (Bantam)

◊ Best Fact Crime: Scoreboard, Baby: A Story of College Football, Crime and Complicity by Nick Perry (University of Nebraska Press).

◊ Best Critical Biographical: Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and his Rendezvouz with American History by Yunte Huang (Norton).

◊ Best Short Story: "The Scent of Lilacs" by Doug Allyn (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine).

◊ Best Juvenile: The Buddy Files: The Case of the Lost Boy by Dori Hillestad (Albert Whitman).

◊ Best Young Adult: The Interrogation of Gabriel James by Charlie Price (Farrar, Straus, Giroux)

◊ Best Play: "The Psychic" by Sam Bobrick (Falcon Theatre, Burbank CA).

◊ Best TV Episode: "Luther", Episode 1. Teleplay by Neil Cross (BBC America).

◊ Robert L. Fish Memorial Award: "Skyler Hobbs and the Rabbit Man" by Evan Lewis (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine).

◊ Grand Master: Sara Paretsky.

Review: Nine Man's Murder by Eric Keith

Nine Man's Murder by Eric Keith
More information about the book

Nine Man's Murder by Eric Keith. Non-series. Ransom Note Press Trade Paperback, March 2011.

The plot of this carefully crafted, meticulously detailed mystery is certainly familiar, but that does not detract in any way from the appeal of the book. Readers will be kept in suspect from nearly the very beginning as to "whodunit" in this affectionate homage to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None.

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: Nine Man's Murder by Eric Keith.

Purchase Options: Amazon.com Print Edition | Amazon.com Kindle Edition | Barnes&Noble NookBook

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Review: June Jam by Ron Roy

June Jam by Ron Roy
More information about the book

June Jam by Ron Roy. A Calendar Mystery. Random House Mass Market Paperback, March 2011.

The Pinto kids and their friends are at the top of their game here, coming up with creative ways of identifying the something -- or someone -- that is munching their way through the family strawberry patch, and ruining plans for a special treat for their Dad on Father's Day.

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: June Jam by Ron Roy.

Purchase Options: Amazon.com Print Edition | Amazon.com Kindle Edition | Barnes&Noble NookBook | Kobo eBook

Read the first chapter(s) of June Jam below. Use the Aa settings button to adjust text size, line spacing, and word density.

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