ComingSoon.net is reporting that a film adaptation of the 1995 thriller Dead Reckoning by Susan and Pierre LaTour, Jr., is being planned. Cody Horn ( Twelve , Flipped ) is in negotiations to star. The plot involves Catherine Lakey, a chemistry professor, who disappears one morning while walking along a Cape Cod beach. The police assume she committed suicide, but the woman’s niece, Nancy, is not convinced. She soon learns that little is... 

Book Quote: “He always sings in the car. He has a low voice scraped out by cigarettes and all the yelling he does. His big pointy Adam’s apple bobs up and down, turning the tanned skin white wherever it moves. He reaches for the puppy in my lap. ‘You’s a good little rascal. Yes you is,’ he says in his dog voice, a happy, hopeful voice he doesn’t use much on people.” Book Review: Review by Jill I. Shtulman (JUL 30, 2010) Years ago,... 

Book Quote: “…But what I really mean is Poor us. All three of us have had terrible things happen – murder, cancer, abandonment – and for the first time I’m tempted to tell Robbie about Rachel. It’s not sympathy I want but the credibility that comes with having faced and lived through something tragic. I can say that I understand, and I do, but to Robbie and Alice – who know nothing of my past – my words would sound hollow……I... 

“It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.” This is the motto or mantra of Planetary , the story of three spacetime archaeologists in search of all things weird. It stars Elijah Snow, a man born in 1900, who, despite his years, still looks fabulous in all white; Jakita Wagner, the strong, silent supermodel who likes to punch things; and The Drummer, the cool nerd who can hear and interpret signals emitted from just about anything... 

In a press release today (read it on /Film ), Columbia Pictures announced that Len Wiseman is in negotiations to direct the Kurt Wimmer-written film adaptation of the short story We Can Remember It for You Wholesale by Philip K. Dick, effectively moving the project forward after being somewhat in limbo for 16 months or so now. A classic sci-fi thriller, it was originally made into the 1990 film Total Recall starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Studios... 

There are two phases that most kids go through at some point in their young lives. The first phase begins when they decide reading is boring. The second begins when they decide that “bathroom humor” (as my mother always diplomatically called it) is an endless source of hilarity. So what do you do when these two phases happen simultaneously?  Read More →

Book Quote: “Pat Tillman understood that outside the wire, bad things happen. But he was an optimist. Archetypically American, he was confident that right would prevail over wrong. When he swore the oath of enlistment in the summer of 2002, he trusted that those responsible for sending him into battle would do so in good faith. At the time, he didn’t envisage that any of them would trifle with his life, or misrepresent the facts of his death,... 

Amazon.com announced this morning its latest Kindle, a Wi-Fi only version of the standard Kindle that retains all of the features of the original (except, of course, 3G wireless) and weighs slightly less. The Kindle Wi-Fi , available only in graphite (as shown), is currently priced at $139 and will begin shipping August 27, 2010; it may be pre-ordered now.  Read More →

Bones of Contention by Jeanne Matthews . A Dinah Pelerin Mystery. Poisoned Pen Press Hardcover, June 2010. Jeanne Matthews introduces 30-year-old underemployed Dinah Pelerin, who is unexpectedly summoned to the home of a distant (in more ways than one) and dying uncle — “a chain-puller extraordinaire and a master of manipulation” — in Bones of Contention . Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: Bones... 

Book Quote: “Gwen’s a model citizen, you know that. It was just a wrong place at the wrong time kind of thing. I can see this just going away.” Book Review: Review by Betsey Van Horn (JUL 27, 2010) Debut novelist Klein has written a smart and nervy domestic drama/thriller. The pages fly, and the prose is crisp and economical. He tackles difficult, dicey, and controversial subject matter without handing out platitudes or falling... 

Mystery Books News is thrilled to welcome Eleanor Sullo as our guest blogger. Eleanor is the author the Menopause Murders mysteries, the second of which, Harem (Wings ePress: Trade Paperback, 978-1-59705-521-5; Electronic edition, 978-1-59705-495-9) is published next month. Today, Eleanor writes about her midlife career switch, which led to her new series of mysteries. And she’s also providing our readers with an opportunity to win a copy... 

With the paperback edition of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (one of our top 10 books of 2009 ) hitting shelves today, we checked in with author/inventor/dynamo William Kamkwamba to see where his inspiring journey has taken him over the last eight months. Not surprisingly, he provided a staggering list of accomplishments. Dear friends at Amazon, So many great things have happened since the last time we spoke. Our book tour took us all across... 

Book Quote: “In the weeks that followed, I became accustomed to my father’s presence, and did my best to persuade myself that he was home for good. It was the same every time he came home.” Book Review: Review by Guy Savage (JUL 27, 2010) The poverty of Southern Italy and the negative results of globalization are at the roots of the novella The Homecoming Party from Italian author Carmine Abate. Told through the eyes of Marco Tullio, the... 

MCA Hogarth is not to be missed, whatever she writes, and “Aphorisms” is a prime example why. I read it all in a go and have moved on to the companion piece, “Admonishments of Kherishdar.” How much do I love this? I’ve placed the hard copy on my Amazon wish list, and will buy it myself  Read More →

Oh lordy, is it award season yet? In other words, is summer over already? Here in Seattle the mercury just rose about 70 degrees last week, so you can understand if I'm a little grumbly, but I do like the prizes, and today's ceremonial first salvo got my blood going. It's the Man Booker longlist , a baker's dozen that will be narrowed down to the shortlist of six for the big UK/Commonwealth prize on September 7: Parrot and Olivier...