Welcome to the Club

If you simply can’t get enough of Women’s Murder Club, the inane ABC-TV series starring Angie Harmon and based on a series of books by James Patterson, the evil Microsoft might just have the answer.

Microsoft and I-play yesterday released “Women’s Murder Club: Death in Scarlet,” which they’re touting as “the first interactive game based on a story and characters by best-selling author James Patterson.” (Of course it’s the first. Would there need to be more?) It will be available exclusively on MSN Games through Thursday, May 29. (Not being a gamer, I don’t get why that’s a good thing; but, hey: I don’t make this stuff up.)

While none of this sounds terribly fun to me, the Microsoft publicists obviously see things differently. You can tell how excited they are from all the en-dashes:

The game, which features the characters from the “WMC” books and an all-new, never-before-seen storyline, is a thrilling seek-and-find adventure designed by award-winning game designer Jane Jensen in collaboration with Patterson. Its storyline lets fans experience the suspense of James Patterson’s stories interactively for the first time as they solve a chilling series of murders in San Francisco.

“The opportunity for casual games built around intriguing stories and compelling characters is largely untapped, and who better to lead the way than America’s No. 1 storyteller, James Patterson?” said Kevin Unangst, senior global director of Games for Windows in the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. “We’re thrilled to partner with James Patterson and I-play to debut a game of this caliber on MSN Games.”

Dude, do you know how many books Patterson sells? Why wouldn’t you be thrilled? And the I-play people are no less so. Quoting from the same news release:

“MSN Games is a great place to debut a high-profile casual game with a powerful brand like James Patterson, based on the strength of their audience and the scope and reach of the MSN and Microsoft networks,” said Don Ryan, head of I-play. “We’re excited to work with them and are looking forward to an incredible debut for the first ‘Women’s Murder Club’ game.”

All of this probably won’t hurt Patterson’s popularity, either. However, it seems it will be too little, too late to help the show: earlier this week, ABC announced that Women’s Murder Club has been canceled.