Winners of the 2011 Thriller Awards Announced

Last night the winners of the 2011 Thriller Awards were announced at Thrillerfest, hosted by the International Thriller Writers organization.

The winners are ...

◊ Best Novel: Bad Blood by John Sanford (Putnam)

◊ Best Paperback Original: The Cold Room by J. T. Ellison  (Mira)

◊ Best First Novel: Still Missing by Chevy Stevens  (St. Martin's Press)

◊ Best Short Story: The God for Vengeance Cry by Richard Helms (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)

R. L. Stine was honored as ThrillerMaster while Joe McGinniss received the True Thriller Award for non-fiction and Karin Slaughter received the Silver Bullet Award in recognition of her outstanding achievement in the pursuit of literacy and the love of reading.

 indicates a review is available from Mysterious Reviews.

(Hat tip to The Rap Sheet.)

Telemystery: The Closer and Rizzoli & Isles, Season Premieres Monday, July 11th

Two prime time crime series have their season premieres tomorrow, Monday July 11th, and they're both on TNT.

At 9 PM (ET/PT), The Closer opens its 7th season with an episode titled "Unknown Trouble". Brenda Leigh Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) and the squad investigate the owner of a hip-hop record label when one of his rap artists and six innocent bystanders are gunned down. The case hits home for Gabriel who knows two of the victims from church. Meanwhile, Chief Delk (Courtney B. Vance) is getting ready to announce the department's new organizational chart just as Brenda becomes the target of a civil suit against the police department.

And at 10 PM (ET/PT), the second season of Rizzoli & Isles airs. This drama, adapted from characters created by crime novelist Tess Gerritsen, stars Angie Harmon as Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and Sasha Alexander at medical examiner Maura Isles, who work together to solve crimes in their city. In "We Need Another Hero", Rizzoli is honored as a hero at a public event following her taking a bullet (in the final episode of last season). The celebration is short-lived, however, when disaster strikes. The ensuing case reunites Jane with an old high-school flame, Sgt. Major Charles "Casey" Jones (Chris Vance), who may be just the person she needs to heal her emotional scars.

Finally, as we mentioned a couple of days ago, TNT will be showing sneak peeks of its new series Dallas during the shows. Dallas is based on the original CBS prime time drama of the same name that aired from 1978 through 1991.

Snake Skin by C. J. Lyons is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Snake Skin by C. J. Lyons as our second free mystery ebook today. 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 we urge you to download it while it is still available for free.

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Snake Skin by C. J. Lyons
Non-Series
CreateSpace

About Snake Skin (from the publisher): Just your average Pittsburgh soccer mom, baking brownies and carrying a loaded forty-caliber Glock ...

Lucille Teresa Guardino. A woman of many identities. Lucille to her doting mother, Lulu to her devoted husband, Mom to her pre-teen daughter, Lucy to her friends, LT to her co-workers, and Supervisory Special Agent Guardino to the criminals she captures for the FBI's Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement squad.

A loving mom and wife, dutiful daughter, consummate professional, and kick-ass federal agent, Lucy is living the perfect life.

Until the day she comes up against a predator more vicious and cunning than any she's ever tackled before, one who forces Lucy to choose between the life of the young victim she is fighting to save and her own daughter's ... and Lucy's dream life is shattered.

Download Link(s):

Amazon Free Kindle Edition Download Link.

B&N Free Nook Book Download Link.

Review: Trapped on the D.C. Train! by Ron Roy

Trapped on the D.C. Train! by Ron Roy. A Capital Mystery. Random House Paperback, May 2011.

This is an exciting, if highly improbable plot-wise, entry in this series of early reader chapter books featuring the President's stepdaughter and her best friend on a train trip from Washington DC to Pennsylvania. A diverse cast of supporting characters adds interest and intrigue.

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: Trapped on the D.C. Train! by Ron Roy.

Purchase Options:

Winners of the 2010 Strand Critics Awards Announced

The Strand Magazine has posted on its website the winners of the 2010 Strand Critics Awards, which recognize excellence in the field of mystery fiction. The winners are chosen by a select group of book reviewers from the nation's top daily newspapers, as well as by the editor of The Strand Magazine.

The winners are ...

◊ Best Novel: The Reversal by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)

◊ Best First Novel: The Poacher's Son by Paul Doiron (Minotaur Books)

Review: Old Loves Die Hard by Lauren Carr

Old Loves Die Hard by Lauren Carr. A Mac Faraday Mystery. CreateSpace Trade Paperback, April 2011.

The uneven start to this mystery may be excused as the well developed plot that emerges offers an interesting twist or two along way, and delivers a surprise "whodunit" to the murder of Mac's ex-wife and her estranged boyfriend.

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: Old Loves Die Hard by Lauren Carr.

Purchase Options:

Mystery, Suspense and Thriller Adventure and Casual Games, New This Week from BFG (110709)

Games of Mystery is pleased to announce the availability of new mystery, suspense and thriller adventure and casual games from Big Fish Games released during this past week. 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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"Dean ... it's Kate. I think someone may have been following me to the Sam Rutherford Hotel. I'm staying in room 47 to wait for ..."

After receiving this panicked and incomplete phone call from Kate, Dean is off to track her down. Playing as Dean, you make your way to the Sam Rutherford Hotel and follow a series of clues in an effort to save Kate before it’s too late in this casual adventure game.

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A group of college students have gone missing from a remote island in the Pacific Ocean. You are called in to rescue them, but nothing is as it seems as the island is haunted by a mysterious evil! Use all your skills to complete hidden object scenes and solve perplexing puzzles as you delve deeper into the island’s sinister secrets.

This is a special Collector's Edition with features not available in the standard edition, including bonus gameplay, an integrated strategy guide, wallpapers and concept art, and more.

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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 our 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!

Bake Sale Murder by Leslie Meier is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Bake Sale Murder by Leslie Meier as today's featured free mystery ebook. 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 we urge you to download it while it is still available for free.

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Bake Sale Murder by Leslie Meier
A Lucy Stone Mystery (13th in series)
Kensington

Note: We previously featured this title as a free Nook Book; it is now available as a free Kindle edition.

About Bake Sale Murder (from the publisher): Ever since local developer Fred Stanton and his wife, Mimi, built five modular homes next door to Lucy Stone's farmhouse, life just hasn't been the same. With Mimi complaining about everything from the state of Lucy's lawn to another neighbor's lovable dog, quaint Tinker's Cove, Maine, is now entangled in cul-de-sac politics and backstabbing. And when Mimi doesn't show up for her shift at The Hat and Mitten Fund bake sale, the scent of burnt sugar leads Lucy to a shocking discovery: Mimi, face down on her kitchen floor — with a knife in her back.

While the police start their investigation, Lucy gets busy writing up the murder for the local Pennysaver — and following a few leads of her own. Lucy knows the women in her neighborhood didn't like Mimi, but they certainly didn't want her dead ... right?

Download Link(s):

Amazon Free Kindle Edition Download Link.

TNT Orders New, Updated Dallas

OK ... this is a bit of a stretch for us ... but TNT announced today that an all new series based on the characters from the nighttime drama Dallas is a go. The original aired on CBS from 1978 through 1991.

Famous for its cliffhangers, Dallas was known for its wealth, seduction, scandal and — yes, here's the mystery connection — intrigues. (The resolution to "Who shot J.R.?" was, at the time, the highest rated television episode in US history.)

The new Dallas stars Josh Henderson, Jesse Metcalfe, Jordana Brewster, Julie Gonzalo and Brenda Strong, who will be joined by original series stars Patrick Duffy, Linda Gray and Larry Hagman.

During the original series run, a long and bitter rivalry developed between brothers J.R. Ewing (Hagman) and Bobby Ewing (Duffy) that eventually led to J.R. losing control of most of the Ewing industries. In the new Dallas, this explosive rivalry now lives on through another generation, with the future of the family fortune in the hands of the Ewing offspring: cousins John Ross Ewing (Henderson), the son of J.R. and ex-wife Sue Ellen (Gray), and Christopher Ewing (Metcalfe), the adopted son of Bobby. Brewster stars as Elena, who is involved in a love triangle with Christopher and John Ross. Gonzalo stars as Christopher’s fiancée, Rebecca. And Strong stars as Ann, Bobby’s wife.

TNT has ordered 10 episodes of the series, which is slated to premiere in summer 2012.

TNT will give viewers their first look at Dallas on Monday, July 11th, with a special sneak peek during the season premieres of The Closer (9 PM ET/PT) and Rizzoli & Isles (10 PM ET/PT). The cable network is also unveiling a new website, DallasTNT.com, which promises to keep fans up-to-date on the behind-the-scenes action.

(Source: TNT Press Release)

The Hunt by Jan Neuharth is Today's Featured Free Nook Book Mystery

MystereBooks is pleased to feature The Hunt by Jan Neuharth, a mystery title that is currently available as a Nook Book for free from Barnes&Noble. 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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The Hunt by Jan Neuharth
A Hunt Country Suspense Novel
Paper Chase Farms (Nook Book)
Download Link

About The Hunt (from the publisher): This first in a trilogy — the other novels are The Chase and The Kill — is set in the elite foxhunting community of Middleburg, Virginia, just outside Washington DC. Doug Cummings, an attractive, wealthy lawyer and horseman, finds himself the target of a twisted but clever scheme to frame him for murder. When his former lover and then his horse groom are killed, Doug becomes the prime suspect. With the media and local law enforcement breathing down his neck, Doug struggles to protect his loved ones and races to find the killer. But the evidence against Doug mounts until even his own attorney doesn't believe him.

New Carina eBook Mysteries for July 2011

Each month, Omnimystery News is pleased to present 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 the Apple iBookstore; click on the banner to the right to be taken to the CarinaPress.com website to browse for other titles.

New ebooks of mystery and suspense for July 2011 from Carina Press include:

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Fatal Consequences by Marie Force
The "Fatal" Series (3rd in series)

The murder of two members of the Capitol Cleaning Service might’ve been just another homicide investigation—that is If one of them hadn’t been romantically involved with a married senator from Arizona. Lt. Sam Holland and her team are plunged into another complex case that at first seems open and shut.

But as Sam tugs on the threads of the investigation she uncovers a deep, dark Washington secret that threatens the careers of some of the government’s highest-ranking officials. Racing to catch a killer before he can strike again, Sam and her fiancé, U.S. Senator Nick Cappuano, attempt to plan a wedding while her colleague Detective Tommy “Gonzo” Gonzales faces life-changing news.

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The Fifth Kingdom by Caridad Pineiro
Non-Series

Dr. Deanna Vasquez hasn't spoken to her mother in years, not since the renowned archaeologist abandoned her family in her quest to find the lost tomb of Montezuma. When CIA agent Bill Santana shows up in her classroom with the news that her mother has been abducted by terrorists, Deanna has to help in any way she can.

Bill needs Deanna's expertise to determine the location of her mother's latest find, before her kidnappers do. He fears whatever mysteries the tomb holds could be deadly in the wrong hands. In an effort to make contact with the terrorist cell, Bill accompanies Deanna to Mexico posing as her fiancé—a ruse made doubly dangerous because of the very real heat between them ...

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Man Law by Adrienne Giordano
A Private Protectors Thriller (1st in series)

Security Consultant Vic Andrews lives by his Man Laws:

Never mess with your best friend's sister
Never get caught
Never get attached

But he can't deny his irresistible attraction to Gina Delgado, a young widow with three kids and plenty of strings attached. Even so, having a physical relationship doesn't mean they're "in a relationship."

Gina lost her husband to tragedy; she is not getting emotionally involved with another man in a dangerous profession. Sleeping with Vic is just stress relief.

Until one of Vic's assignments goes wrong and the target selects Gina and her kids for revenge. There's nothing Vic won't do to protect Gina and the children—the family he realizes, too late, he wants. He'll accomplish his mission but will he have lost his only chance at true love?

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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, Kobo eReader BlackBerry and mobile phones.

For more mystery, suspense and thriller ebooks, visit MystereBooks.com.