First Clues, Mysteries for Kids: New Titles for July 2011

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 July 2011, listed in approximate order of reading level, from books for younger readers to books for teens.

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Jasmine and the Treasure Chest 
Katy Kit
The Mermaid Mysteries (2nd in series)

The friends volunteer to help the water fairies tend to their underwater gardens. While they work, a fairy tells the sad tale of the beautiful mermaid Aroona and her human love, Sir Topaz. All the mermaids believe the tale — except for Jasmine, who thinks its just a silly story. But when Jasmine discovers the trail that leads to Aroona's lost treasure, she sets off to discover the truth.

The Mermaid Mysteries are recommended for readers aged 4 to 6.

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The Case of the Purple Pool 
Lewis B. Montgomery
A Milo and Jazz Mystery (7th in series)

How can a pool suddenly turn purple? And who could be behind it? Detective duo Milo and Jazz make a splash as they investigate their most colorful case yet!

The Milo and Jazz mysteries are recommended for readers aged 7 to 9.

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The Case of the Beagle Burglar 
Nancy Krulik
Jack Gets a Clue (1st in series)

The day I found out I could talk to animals did not start out well. First, I couldn't find my lucky T-shirt. Second, my dog, Scout, dragged me around the yard chasing squirrels. And third, the squirrels threw a bunch of acorns at my head. After I was hit, I realized I could talk to animals! It sounds crazy but it's true. I could understand Scout, the squirrels, and every other animal — even bugs!

My day got even worse when my best friend Leo's homework went missing. Leo blamed Scout! I know Scout's a dog, but trust me — he did not eat Leo's homework. But how would I prove it? There was only one thing to do — I had to talk to the animals around town. It was up to me, Jack Doyle, to get a clue and solve the mystery.

Jack Gets a Clue books are recommended for readers aged 7 to 9.

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The Case of the Tortoise in Trouble 
Nancy Krulik
Jack Gets a Clue (2nd in series)

Yeah! My third grade class was going on a field trip to a farm, and I couldn’t wait for a day off from regular school. But I wasn’t expecting to hear a voice coming from my backpack during the bus ride to the farm. It turns out my annoying little sister had hidden her pet tortoise, Tut, inside, and the voice was his! It’s true — I can talk to animals, and they can talk to me.

As if babysitting a tortoise wasn’t bad enough, things got worse when Tut disappeared. My mystery-solving partner, Elizabeth, and I had to interview all the cows, horses, goats, and flies on the farm as we looked for clues. It was up to us to find Tut before the end of the day, and we were on the case!

Jack Gets a Clue books are recommended for readers aged 7 to 9.

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The L.A. Dodger 
David A. Kelly
A Ballpark Mystery (3rd in series)

It's spring break and Kate and Mike are off to Los Angeles to visit Kate's dad, a scout for the Dodgers. But all is not sunny in L.A. — strange things have been happening to Kate's dad. Pages have gone missing from his clipboard. He's gotten threatening phone calls. And he thinks he's being followed! Is someone after Mr. Hopkins's top secret scouting reports?

The L.A. Dodger includes a fun fact page about Los Angeles's Dodger Stadium.

The Ballpark Mystery series books are recommended for readers aged 7 to 9.

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Vanished 
Sheela Chari

Eleven-year-old Neela dreams of being a famous musician, performing for admiring crowds on her traditional Indian stringed instrument. Her particular instrument used to be her grandmother’s — made of warm, rich wood, and intricately carved with a mysterious-looking dragon.

When this special family heirloom vanishes from a local church, Neela is devastated. As she searches for it, strange clues surface: a teakettle ornamented with a familiar-looking dragon, a threatening note, a connection to a famous dead musician, and even a legendary curse. The clues point all the way to India, where it seems that Neela's intrument has a long history of vanishing and reappearing. If she is able to track it down, will she be able to stop it from disappearing again?

This book is recommended for readers aged 10 to 12.

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The Wizard of Dark Street 
Shawn Thomas Odyssey

Oona Crate was born to be the Wizard’s apprentice, but she has another destiny in mind.

Despite possessing the rare gift of natural magic, Oona wants to be a detective. Eager for a case to prove herself, she wants to show her uncle — the Wizard of Dark Street — that logic is as powerful as magic. But when someone attacks the Wizard, Oona must delve even deeper into the world of magic to discover who wanted her uncle dead.

This book is recommended for readers aged 10 to 12.

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The Spaghetti Detectives 
Andreas Steinhofel

Sometimes Rico acts a bit odd — his mom calls him a "proddity" — but he's genius at noticing little things nobody else does. Like a string of spaghetti stuck to the sidewalk. Or the big buckteeth of that boy in the blue motorcycle helmet. Or the strange behavior of the neighbors in his apartment building.

Oscar is a true prodigy, with a high IQ and high anxieties to match. He's the one who wears the blue helmet — to protect his precious brain! Oscar may have a lot of book smarts, but he needs Rico's help to face his biggest fears. And when other kids mysteriously start going missing, it's up to the two friends to use their noodles, keep track of the clues, and crack the case!

This mystery is recommended for readers aged 10 to 12.

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Spiders on the Case 
Kathryn Lasky
The Deadlies Mysteries (2nd in series)

Can Jo Bell spin a web big enough to catch ... a criminal?

They're sweet and friendly ... but they just happen to be super toxic. The Deadlies are the world's most misunderstood family of spiders. Kicked out of home after home, all the Deadlies want is to settle down in a cozy web with no exterminators around.

Now they've found the perfect place — the Rare Books room at the Boston Library. The librarian isn't afraid of the Deadlies, and they have lots of lovely books to explore. But their peace is threatened when a thief starts targetting the library. Can the Deadlies spin a web big enough to catch a crook — or is it back on the road once more?

The books in the Deadlies series are recommended for readers aged 10 to 12.

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Into the Trap 
Craig Moodie

Eddie's family has been trapping lobsters for generations. but lately someone has been stealing their catch. When Eddie happens across the thieves' trap, he knows it's up to him to bring in the culprits. With the unlikely help of a boy who has run away from sailing camp, Eddie embarks on an adventure that puts his very life at risk.

This tale of adventure 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).

Telemystery: Law & Order Criminal Intent and Rizzoli & Isles, New This Week on DVD

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

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"In New York City's war on crime, the worst criminal offenders are pursued by the detectives of the Major Case Squad. These are their stories."

They have matched wits with the smartest of criminals and the darkest of minds but nothing will prepare Detectives Bobby Goren (Vincent D'Onofrio) and Alexandra Eames (Kathryn Erbe) for their most challenging season yet in Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

Law & Order: Criminal Intent: Season Six is available on DVD, Amazon Instant, and iTunes (click on the icons above for more details), and consists of 22 episodes that originally aired on NBC from September 2006 through May 2007.

The 10th season and series finale aired on USA Network this past Sunday.

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Boston's most baffling and complex homicides are no match for Detective Jane Rizzoli (Angie Harmon) and Dr. Maura Isles (Sasha Alexander), the dynamic female investigative duo featured in Rizzoli & Isles, a police procedural with a compelling point of view, based on the bestselling novels by crime novelist Tess Gerritsen.

Jane, the only female detective in Boston's homicide division, is a headstrong, tough-as-nails and fearless cop who never lets her guard down. Maura, on the other hand, is more comfortable among the dead than the living. She's quirky, endearing and exceptional at her job but somewhat socially awkward due to her tendency towards being brutally honest. The two women often find themselves working together, using their brilliant minds and complementary expertise to solve crimes. Despite their differences, they are the closest of friends and always have each other's backs as they investigate their city's grittiest and most puzzling homicides, while busting some of Boston's most notorious criminals along the way.

Rizzoli & Isles: Season One is available on DVD, Amazon Instant, and iTunes (click on the icons above for more details), and consists of 10 episodes that originally aired on TNT from July through September 2010.

The second season begins July 11th, 2011.

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Visit the Telemystery website to discover more television mystery series currently available on and coming soon to DVD, Blu-ray disc, or video on demand.

Mystery Godoku Puzzle for June 27, 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:

B E L N O R S U V

A man ends his wife’s affair by killing her lover with his pipe in this debut mystery by Edna Mazya (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!

Review: Trader of Secrets by Steve Martini

Trader of Secrets by Steve Martini. A Paul Madriani Legal Thriller. William Morrow Hardcover, May 2011.

Far more of an international political thriller than a legal one -- indeed, the law barely makes an appearance here -- this action-packed novel has the California defense attorney on a quest around the world to save not only his daughter but the planet itself.

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: Trader of Secrets by Steve Martini.

Purchase Options:

New Nancy Drew and Mystery Case Files Games Scheduled for Release This Week

Two new games of mystery are scheduled to be released this week.

The teenaged sleuth from River Heights is back with her 24th adventure in Nancy Drew: The Captive Curse.

Nancy's off to Germany to investigate mysterious sightings of a creature that's been terrorizing the community of a remote Bavarian castle. Local legend tells of a creature that marauded the area centuries ago, wreaking havoc and ultimately causing the death of a young woman before disappearing without a trace.

Can you, as Nancy Drew, unmask the creature before you suffer the same terrible fate?

Nancy Drew: The Captive Curse is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, June 27th, 2011, for Windows PCs and Apple Macs. It is ESRB rated E10+, Everyone, 10 and older.

Next is what we believe to be the first game in the "Mystery Case Files" series to be released for the Nintendo Wii.

Something is afoot at the abandoned resort on Malgrave Island and it is up to you to be the detective and solve the mystery in Mystery Case Files: The Malgrave Incident.

Malgrave Island has been closed to visitors for years, but Winston Malgrave, the mysterious curator, has requested your help collecting its trademark cure -- all dust -- the key to the survival of his beloved Sara, who is gravely ill. Finding hidden objects to uncover more dust is vital to your progress, but the more you uncover the more you unravel the long-buried mysteries of the island.

Point the Wii Remote and with the push of a button, explore the island's lush environments and test your wits against the puzzles and obstacles blocking your path in your search for cleverly hidden objects.

Mystery Case Files: The Malgrave Incident is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, June 27th, 2011, for Nintendo Wii. It is ESRB rated E for Everyone.

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Games of Mystery 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!

Mr. E. Reviews Wired

Purchase/Rental Option(s)

This briskly paced 3-part financial thriller miniseries has an intriguing, if not always credible, storyline that will likely satisfy most fans of the genre.

Read the full text of our review at Mr. E. Reviews Wired.

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Mr. E. Reviews is your source for mystery, suspense, thriller, and crime drama reviews of television and film.

New Hardcover Mysteries for July 2011

The Hidden Staircase Mystery Books has updated its list of new hardcover mysteries with books scheduled for publication in July 2011. Please note that some titles may publish early, and may already be available) and some may be delayed, published at a later date.

Below we're listing those authors with returning series characters, new series characters, and non-series or stand-alone mysteries in separate sections. All titles are available on our July new mystery books page, which will become the default home page for the site on July 1st.

• Authors with mysteries featuring returning series characters, (in italics) this month:

Hal Ackerman (Harry Stein, 2nd) — Susan Wittig Albert (Darling Dahlias, 2nd) — Donna Andrews (Meg Langslow, 13th) — Mark Billingham (Tom Thorne, 8th) — Benjamin Black (Quirke, 4th) — Axel Brand (Joe Sonntag, 2nd) — Alexander Campion (Capucine Le Tellier, 2nd) — Rebecca Cantrell (Hannah Vogel, 3rd) — Alys Clare (Hawkenlye, 13th) — Jodi Compton (Hailey Cain, 2nd) — Catherine Coulter (FBI Suspense, 15th) — Bill Crider (Sheriff Dan Rhodes, 18th) — Harry Dolan (David Loogan, 2nd) — Brendan DuBois (Lewis Cole, 7th) — Alice Duncan (Daisy Gumm Majesty, 5th) — Kate Ellis (Joe Plantagenet, 3rd) — Loren D. Estleman (Amos Walker, 21st) — Shamini Flint (Inspector Singh, 2nd) — Meg Gardiner (Jo Beckett, 4th) — Michael Genelin (Jana Matinova, 4th) — Tess Gerritsen (Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles, 9th) — Michael Harvey (Michael Kelly, 4th) — J. M. Hayes (Mad Dog and Englishman, 6th) — Tim Heald (Simon Bognor, 11th) — Suzette A. Hill (Francis Oughterard, 4th) — J. A. Jance (J. P. Beaumont, 20th) — Iris Johansen (Eve Duncan and Joe Quinn, 13th) — Thomas Kaufman (Willis Gidney, 2nd) — Alex Kava (Maggie O'Dell, 9th) — Julie Kramer (Riley Spartz, 4th) — Lynda La Plante (Anna Travis, 6th) — Victoria Laurie (Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye, 9th) — Mike Lawson (Joe DeMarco, 6th) — Eric Van Lustbader (Jason Bourne, 9th) — Vincent McCaffrey (Henry Sullivan, 2nd) — Leslie Meier (Lucy Stone, 17th) — Laurie Moore (Dainty Prescott, Debutante Detective, 2nd) — Perri O'Shaughnessy (Nina Reilly, 13th) — Randall Peffer (Cape Islands, 5th) — Frederick Ramsay (Ike Schwartz, 7th) — David Rosenfelt (Andy Carpenter, 9th) — Robert Rotenberg (Ari Greene, 2nd) — Rosemary Rowe (Libertus, 12th) — June Shaw (Cealie Gunther, 3rd) — Daniel Silva (Gabriel Allon, 11th) — Roz Southey (Charles Patterson, 5th) — Brad Thor (Scot Horvath, 10th) — Margaret Truman (Capital Crimes, 25th) — Michael Van Rooy (Monty Havikko, 2nd) — Patricia Wynn (Blue Satan and Mrs. Kean, 4th) — Anne Zouroudi (Hermes Diaktoros, Green Detective, 2nd).

• Authors with mysteries introducing characters, (in italics) in a new series this month:

Esri Allbritten ("Tripping Magazine") — Maureen Carter (Sarah Quinn) — Colin Cotterill (Jimm Juree) — Arne Dahl (Paul Hjelm) — Paul Harper (Marten Fane) — Beth McMullen (Sally Sin) — Bernadette Pajer (Benjamin Bradshaw) — Elizabeth Speller (Laurence Bartram) — Ronald Tierney (Vincent Gratelli).

• Authors with non-series or stand-alone mysteries this month:

Jeff Abbott — Megan Abbott — Akira Arai — J. G. Ballard — Robert Browne — Timothy Craig — Nina Darnton — Marjorie Eccles — Felix Francis — K. C. Frederick — Juan Gómez-Jurado — David S. Goyer and Michael Cassutt — Andrew Gross — Charlaine Harris — John Hart — Reginald Hill — Jennifer Hillier — Alan Hruska — Gregg Hurwitz — Glenn Kleier — Matthew Klein — Al Lamanda — Alice LaPlante — Will Lavender — Hillary Bell Locke — Holly Luhning — Margaret Mayhew — Paul McKellips — Boyd Morrison — Larry Len Peterson — Donald Ray Pollock — Peter Spiegelman — Jenny Stanton — Chevy Stevens — Dawn Tripp — Amanda Eyre Ward — Brian M. Wiprud — Richard Zimler.

For more information on any of these titles, please visit the July new mysteries page on our website. If you're interested in new paperbacks, visit The Mystery Bookshelf where you can discover a library of new mystery, suspense and thriller books, also updated with July 2011 releases.

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.

Telemystery: New Seasons of Leverage and True Blood Begin June 26th

This coming Sunday, June 26th, two prime time crime series begin their new seasons.

At 9 PM (ET/PT) on TNT, Leverage opens for a fourth season in epic fashion as the team heads to the rugged mountains of Alaska to help a woman whose husband has disappeared, possibly as a victim of foul play. More than any previous job, this one will push the Leverage team to the edge of endurance in one of the world’s harshest terrains, where a single wrong step could send them plunging into an almost certain death.

Also at 9 PM (ET/PT), True Blood returns for its fourth season on HBO in an episode titled "She's Not There", which refers both to the 1960s Zombies classic song -- all episodes are named after songs -- and to the storyline that involves Sookie journeying away from Bon Temps and what happens while she's gone.

And if you're feeling like getting made up for the season premiere, HBO and Tarte have unveiled a limited edition "True Blood" collection of cosmetics that includes a "mint-infused, iridescent red shade" of lip tint, a "sparkling red cheek stain", and a palette of 17 eye shadows. The collection is available exclusively from Sephora.

A New Day, the Burn Notice Comic Tie-In, Now Available Online

It's been teased at for some time now on USA Network's website, but today the Burn Notice comic tie-in A New Day has been released.

Written by Ryan Johnson and Peter Lalayanis with artwork by Tony Shasteen, the first chapter is available to read online. An app to download with enhanced content is indicated to be "coming soon".

In Chapter 1, titled "Welcome Back", the storyline picks up after the Season Four finale. Michael is in Washington D.C. with Raines, the mysterious man from Michael's past. Armed with a complete list of the people who burned him, Michael will "unofficially" help the CIA dismantle the nefarious organization that he's been fighting for the last four years. The job won't be easy though. Danger lurks in every corner as the lines blur between new friends and old enemies.

Chapter 2 will be available on June 30th.

Peter Falk, TV's Lt. Columbo, Has Died

Peter Falk, the actor who played the iconic role of LAPD homicide detective Columbo on television over a span of 35 years, has died. He was 83.

Though he'll probably be best remembered as the cop in a rumpled jacket, whose signature line was "Just one more thing ..." — indeed, his 2006 autobiography was titled just that — his body of work over nearly five decades spans television, film, and the stage, comedy and drama.

For a good summary of the actor's wide-ranging career, see this article in the New York Times.