Mystery Godoku Puzzle for October 01, 2012

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 D E H I K N R T

Penny Hancock's 2012 thriller suggests something is "kept" here (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!

This Week's Bestselling Large Print Mystery and Suspense Books (120930)

Here is this week's list of the top ten bestselling mystery and suspense books in large print format from Amazon.com.

We're using a script to embed an RSS feed from Amazon.com, which is frequently updated, but if you cannot see the box below — or have scripts blocked — you can use this link to see the relevant page on Amazon.com.

Review: Portrait of a Dead Guy by Larissa Reinhart

A Mysterious Review of …

Portrait of a Dead Guy by Larissa Reinhart. A Cherry Tucker Mystery.

Review summary: This is an easy-reading country-cozy style mystery, set in rural central Georgia, where "everyone knows your business without even trying". There are a lot of characters to keep track of, though the mystery itself isn't all that demanding. Pleasant, but not altogether memorable. (Click here for text of full review.)

Our rating:

Portrait of a Dead Guy
Larissa Reinhart
A Cherry Tucker Mystery
Henery Press (August 2012)

Publisher synopsis: In Halo, Georgia, folks know Cherry Tucker as big in mouth, small in stature, and able to sketch a portrait faster than buckshot rips from a ten gauge — but commissions are scarce. So when the well-heeled Branson family wants to memorialize their murdered son in a coffin portrait, Cherry scrambles to win their patronage from her small town rival.

As the clock ticks toward the deadline, Cherry faces more trouble than just a controversial subject. Between ex-boyfriends, her flaky family, an illegal gambling ring, and outwitting a killer on a spree, Cherry finds herself painted into a corner she'll be lucky to survive.

      

Today's Bestselling Free Kindle MystereBooks (120930)

Here is today's list of the Bestselling Free Kindle Crime Fiction: the top nine mysteries, novels of suspense, and thrillers.

We're using a script to embed an RSS feed from Amazon.com, which is updated hourly, but if you cannot see the box below — or have scripts blocked — you can click on the image to the right or use this link to see the relevant page on Amazon.com.

Moonlighting in Vermont by Kate George is Today's Third Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Moonlighting in Vermont by Kate George as today's third free mystery ebook.

This title was listed as free as of the date and time of this post. Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your transaction.

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Moonlighting in Vermont
Kate George
A Bella Bree MacGowan Mystery (1st)
Publisher: Mainly Murder

Winner of the Daphne du Maurier Award for Mystery/Suspense.

Bella Bree MacGowan is your average country girl. She works two jobs to support her farm and the menagerie of stray animals that accumulate there; she's almost always covered in mud; and everyone in her small town of South Royalton, Vermont, feels free to comment on everything from her love life ("That Jim just isn't right for you!") to her expired inspection sticker ("Better get that car looked at!"). Is there any such thing as privacy anymore?

When Bree finds a dead body at the five-star resort where she moonlights as a maid, her life careens out of control. Her lawyer boyfriend, Jim, dumps her; the surly and sensual investigating officer, Lieutenant Miles Brooks, keeps giving her the beady eyeball; and a reporter at the paper where she works names Bree as the primary suspect in the murder! Can your average hard-working country girl prove her innocence, rein in a love life gone wild, and maintain her sanity all at the same time?

  

Important Note: This book was listed for free on the date and time of this post. Prices can and do change without prior notice. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

For more free mystery ebooks, visit our Free MystereBooks page.

Castle Cay by Lee Hanson is Today's Second Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Castle Cay by Lee Hanson as today's second free mystery ebook.

This title was listed as free as of the date and time of this post. Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your transaction.

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Castle Cay
Lee Hanson
A Julie O'Hara Mystery
Publisher: Rook Books

When her best friend is murdered, Julie O'Hara, a body language expert, packs up her suspicion and flies to Boston for his funeral. Who could have killed rising artist Marc Solomon, and what does Castle Cay, the Solomon's mysterious Caribbean island, have to do with it?

Before long, Julie's sixth-sense pulls a hidden string that unravels a deadly conspiracy … and her own troubled past.

  

Important Note: This book was listed for free on the date and time of this post. Prices can and do change without prior notice. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

For more free mystery ebooks, visit our Free MystereBooks page.

Maui Widow Waltz by JoAnn Bassett is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Maui Widow Waltz by JoAnn Bassett as today's free mystery ebook.

This title was listed as free as of the date and time of this post. Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your transaction.

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Maui Widow Waltz
JoAnn Bassett
An Islands of Aloha Mystery
Publisher: CreateSpace

Cash-strapped Maui wedding planner Pali Moon can't believe her luck when a prospective bride flashing a five-carat dazzler pops into her shop, "Let's Get Maui'd", to request a glitzy beachside wedding. But then Pali learns the lavish wedding must take place on Valentine's Day — only nine days away. Oh, and one other little hitch — the groom's been missing at sea for more than a week. But no worries, the bride assures Pali, with or without the groom the wedding will take place. She's struck a deal with the groom's best friend to be his proxy, if necessary.

Two days before the nuptials, a male corpse floats ashore on a South Maui beach. Looks like the groom's shown up just in time. But what's it gonna be — a wedding … or a funeral?

  

Important Note: This book was listed for free on the date and time of this post. Prices can and do change without prior notice. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

For more free mystery ebooks, visit our Free MystereBooks page.

The Lily Dale YA Series by Wendy Corsi Staub is Today's Kindle Daily Deal for Teens

MystereBooks is pleased to feature The Lily Dale Series of Paranormal Thrillers for Young Adults by Wendy Corsi Staub as today's Amazon Kindle Daily Deal for Teens.

The deal price of $1.99 each is valid only for today, Sunday, September 30, 2012.

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Awakening by Wendy Corsi Staub
The Lily Dale Series

Featured on the Kindle Daily Deal for Teens.

Calla thought that her boyfriend breaking up with her in a text message was the worst thing that could ever happen to her. But just two weeks later, her mother died in a freak accident, and life as she knew it was completely over. With her father heading to California for a new job, they decide that Calla should spend a few weeks with the grandmother she barely knows while he gets them set up.

To Calla's shock, her mother's hometown of Lily Dale is a town full of psychics-including her grandmother. Suddenly, the fact that her mother never talked about her past takes on more mysterious overtones. The longer she stays in town, the stranger things become, as Calla starts to experience unusual and unsettling events that lead her to wonder whether she has inherited her grandmother's unique gift. Is it this gift that is making her suspect that her mother's death was more than an accident, or is it just an overactive imagination? Staying in Lily Dale is the only way to uncover the truth. But will Calla be able to deal with what she learns about her mother's past and her own future?

Believing by Wendy Corsi Staub
The Lily Dale Series

Featured on the Kindle Daily Deal for Teens.

After spending the summer in Lily Dale, Calla has decided to stay for a few more months, and will soon be starting school at Lily Dale High. She's finally getting used to her new home and her newly realized gift. But lately, the visions occur much more frequently and have a greater sense of urgency. There may be someone who needs her help but there might also be a killer on the loose. Now that Calla believes in her own ability, can she learn to use it properly? And will she be able to learn more about her mother's mysterious death without putting herself in serious danger?

Connecting by Wendy Corsi Staub
The Lily Dale Series

Featured on the Kindle Daily Deal for Teens.

Although Lily Dale is a world apart from her old life in sunny Florida, Calla has finally accepted her ability to communicate with the Other Side. But the person Calla is most desperate to connect with is the one spirit whose energy she can't seem to feel anywhere: her mother. It seems like a lifetime has passed since her mother's death, and she's still no closer to finding out the truth. But as she and Jacy grow closer, his visions show Calla in serious danger. Together they must try to make sense of the signs they've been receiving from the Spirit world — and quickly. As long as her mother's killer is still on the loose, Calla will never be safe.

Discovering by Wendy Corsi Staub
The Lily Dale Series

Featured on the Kindle Daily Deal for Teens.

After finally learning who was behind her mother's death, Calla still doesn't understand why it happened. Somewhere out there, someone seems to share the powerful psychic abilities that allow Calla to see not only into the past, but to the Other Side — someone who apparently doesn't want to be found. Will Calla's journey lead to the closure she's been searching for, or will it force her to accept yet another loss and forever wonder what might have been? As new mysteries unfold and old ones are solved, this spine-tingling series continues. With an eye-catching new look, Wendy Corsi Staub's fans will not be disappointed.

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Important Note: These books were listed at the price mentioned above on the date and time of this post. Prices can and do change without prior notice. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Telemystery: Your Fall 2012 Schedule for Sunday, September 30th

Here is your Telemystery Fall 2012 Schedule for Sunday, September 30th (all times are ET/PT) … and a busy night it is!

At 8 PM is the second season premiere of Once Upon a Time on ABC. In an episode titled "Broken", reality and myth begin to merge as the fairytale characters awaken from evil Queen Regina's broken curse. Magic is introduced to Storybrooke, and Prince Phillip awakens his sleeping beauty, Aurora, but discovers that he and his traveling companion, Mulan, will soon have to face a deadly foe.

Revenge opens its second second on ABC on a new night at 9 PM with "Destiny". In the wake of last summer's events in the Hamptons and with the ante even higher, what will Emily's next move be? Will she be able to manage her heart and keep her emotions from getting in the way of her resolve to avenge her father?

Also at 9 PM on Showtime, "Are You …?" is the question on the table in the seventh season opener of Dexter. After witnessing her brother kill Travis Marshall, Debra attempts to reconcile with Dexter while struggling to cover up their involvement with the murder.

Three series compete in the 10 PM timeslot.

On ABC is the series premiere of 666 Park Avenue. In the pilot, Jane Van Veen (Rachael Taylor) and Henry Martin (Dave Annable), an idealistic young couple from the Midwest, arrive in New York City, the glamorous center of industry and media, and are offered the opportunity to manage the historic Drake by its wealthy owners, Gavin (Terry O'Quinn) and Olivia Duran (Vanessa Williams) — and the seduction begins. They are lured by the intoxicating lifestyle of New York's wealthy elite. But they soon wonder what they've gotten themselves into when they unwittingly bump into the dark embrace of the building's mysterious supernatural forces which endanger the lives of their residents. 666 Park Avenue is based on the series books by Gabriella Pierce.

On CBS, "The Crimson Ticket" opens the fifth season of The Mentalist. While Jane tries to decipher Lorelei's connection to Red John, the CBI team is forced to partner with the FBI to solve the murder of a hotel employee.

And finally, Emmy Award winner Homeland premieres its second season with "The Smile", in which an asset from Carrie's old life comes in from the cold.

This Week's Bestselling Mystery and Suspense Games to Download (120929)

Here is this week's list of the top ten bestselling games to download from Amazon.com, many of which have a mystery or suspense theme.

We're using a script to embed an RSS feed from Amazon.com, which is frequently updated, but if you cannot see the box below — or have scripts blocked — you can use this link to see the relevant page on Amazon.com.

See also these pages: Mystery Games to download to your PC and Mystery Games available as Android Apps.

Today's Bestselling Free Kindle MystereBooks (120929)

Here is today's list of the Bestselling Free Kindle Crime Fiction: the top nine mysteries, novels of suspense, and thrillers.

We're using a script to embed an RSS feed from Amazon.com, which is updated hourly, but if you cannot see the box below — or have scripts blocked — you can click on the image to the right or use this link to see the relevant page on Amazon.com.

MystereBooks: This Week's Update of Kindle Crime Fiction Priced $2.99 or Less (120929)

Every month Amazon publishes a list of 100 Kindle books priced $3.99 or less. We thought we'd take that idea and improve on it, publishing a list of 100 Kindle mystery books priced $2.99 or less and updating it every week!

Here is our general criteria for selecting titles to include: books from major or specialty publishers of crime fiction and those written by authors familiar to us. There are far more than 100 to choose from, so we use our best judgment to narrow it down.

And just a reminder … as we add new titles, older ones are removed from the list. These books aren't likely to be repeated, so we encourage you to check in frequently!

A couple of notes before we get to today's list …

• Endeavour Press is a small UK-based publisher, which has many ebooks priced $2.99 or less. We haven't included any on our weekly update, but we wanted to direct your attention to what they have to offer. We've read several of the "Raffles" and "Mycroft Holmes" novellas, and do recommend them.

• Poisoned Pen Press once again this past week lowered the price on four more mysteries, the first two books in the "Héctor Belascoarán Shayne" series by Paco Ignacio Taibo II, and the first and third books in the "Cape Weathers" series by Tim Maleeny. Use this link to see all the books this publisher has lowered to $2.99 or less.

• There are a handful of titles from Bloomsbury included below, but we suspect they are simply price-matched to a promotion at Kobo this weekend. There's no overlap, however, so we could be wrong. Still, we'll check on Monday to see if they're still discounted and if not, we'll remove them from the list.

And now on to our update! Below are listed the new $2.99 or less titles we added today; click on the cover or title for more information or to purchase the Kindle edition.

Important Note: Prices can and do change without prior notice! We strongly urge you to confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of purchase is the price of the book.

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A Poisoned Season by Tasha Alexander.
A Lady Emily Ashton Mystery (2nd).

Murder in the Latin Quarter by Cara Black.
An Aimée Leduc Mystery (9th).

County Line by Bill Cameron.

An Unholy Mission by Judith Campbell.
An Olympia Brown Mystery (4th).

A Twisted Ladder by Rhodi Hawk.

City of Masks by Daniel Hecht.
A Cree Black Mystery (1st).

Land of Echoes by Daniel Hecht.
A Cree Black Mystery (2nd).

Skull Session by Daniel Hecht.
A Mo Ford Mystery (1st).

Puppets by Daniel Hecht.
A Mo Ford Mystery (2nd).

An Easy Thing by Paco Ignacio Taibo II.
A Héctor Belascoarán Shayne Mystery (1st).

Some Clouds by Paco Ignacio Taibo II.
A Héctor Belascoarán Shayne Mystery (2nd).

Stealing the Dragon by Tim Maleeny.
A Cape Weathers Mystery (1st).

Greasing the Piñata by Tim Maleeny.
A Cape Weathers Mystery (3rd).

Winterwood by Patrick McCabe.

The Wilderness by Karen Novak.

Innocence by Karen Novak.

The Red Shoelace Killer by Susan Sundwall.
A Minnie Markwood Mystery.

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Important Note: Prices can and do change without prior notice! We strongly urge you to confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of purchase is the price of the book.

Threat Warning by John Gilstrap is Today's Nook Daily Find

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Threat Warning by John Gilstrap as today's Barnes & Noble Nook Daily Find.

The deal price of $2.99 is valid only for today, Saturday, September 29, 2012.

Note: The price has been matched by Amazon.com for today only.

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Threat Warning
John Gilstrap
A Jonathan Grave Mystery
Pinnacle

This is the third mystery in this series.

The first victims are random. Ordinary citizens, fired upon at rush hour by unseen assassins. Caught in the crossfire of one of the attacks, rescue specialist Jonathan Grave spies a gunman getting away-with a mother and her young son as hostages. To free them, Grave and his team must enter the dark heart of a nationwide conspiracy. But their search goes beyond the frenzied schemes of a madman's deadly ambitions. This time, it reaches all the way to the highest levels of power …

 

Click on the Amazon.com button to check out the special Whispersync offer associated with this title.

Important Note: This book was listed at the price mentioned above on the date and time of this post. Prices can and do change without prior notice. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.