Year: 2017

Because Paige Shelton is a Phoenix-area author, I couldn’t resist a preview of her February mystery, Bookman Dead Style. After you read the written preview, you’ll want to watch a fun one.

First, here’s the blurb from the Web Store. “A movie star is typecast as a killer in the second Dangerous Type Mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of To Helvetica and Back.

It’s January, and the Star City Film Festival has taken the Utah ski resort town by storm. Movie stars are everywhere, carving fresh powder on the slopes and crossing the thresholds of Bygone Alley’s charming boutique shops—including The Rescued Word, where Clare Henry and her grandfather restore old typewriters and beloved books. When cinema’s hottest superhero, Matt Bane, enters their store to buy some personalized notecards, it’s hard not to be starstruck.

But when Clare sees the police leading Matt out of The Fountain hotel in handcuffs only a few hours later, she can’t believe her eyes. The affable actor is accused of killing his sister, but Clare’s convinced he’s wrong for that role. Now it’s open call for suspects as Clare tries to reel in the killer before another victim fades to black…”

Now that you’ve read the summary, here’s the link to Adam Wagner’s fun .Gifnotes on Criminal Element, https://bit.ly/2jAZABt. It’s a visual summary of Shelton’s book.

My only request? If you enjoyed the .Gifnotes and want to order the book, ignore the links at the bottom of their page. Look for Bookman Dead Style in our Web Store. https://bit.ly/2iTwywx

It’s January, so this week’s Hot Book of the Week at The Poisoned Pen is one set during winter, Crimson Snow, edited by Martin Edwards.

Here’s the summary from the Web Store. “Crimson Snow brings together a dozen vintage crime stories set in winter. Welcome to a world of Father Christmases behaving oddly, a famous fictional detective in a Yuletide drama, mysterious tracks in the snow, and some very unpleasant carol singers. There’s no denying that the supposed season of goodwill is a time of year that lends itself to detective fiction.

On a cold night, it’s tempting to curl up by the fireside with a good mystery. And more than that, claustrophobic house parties, with people cooped up with long-estranged relatives, can provide plenty of motives for murder.

Including forgotten stories by major writers such as Margery Allingham, as well as classic tales by less familiar crime novelists, each story in this selection is introduced by the leading expert on classic crime, Martin Edwards. The resulting volume is an entertaining and atmospheric compendium of wintry delights.”

If you would like a copy of this week’s hot book, you can order Crimson Snow through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2k2iRwG

Left Coast Crime, the mystery conference held in areas west of the Mississippi, just announced the nominees for this year’s awards. Here’s the announcement as it appears on the Left Coast Crime website.

“The Left Coast Crime “Lefty” Awards are fan awards chosen by registered members of the Left Coast Crime convention. Nominations for awards to be presented at each annual convention are made by people registered for that convention and also the immediately prior convention. A ballot listing the official nominees is given to each registrant when they check in at the convention, and final voting takes place at the convention. The ballots are tabulated and that year’s Lefty Awards are presented at the Awards Celebration.

Left Coast Crime 2017, “Honolulu Havoc,” will be presenting four Lefty Awards at the 27th annual LCC convention in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Lefty awards will be voted on at the convention and presented at the Awards Banquet on Saturday, March 18, 2017, at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort.

Lefty for Best Humorous Mystery Novel
“¢ Donna Andrews, Die Like an Eagle (Minotaur Books)
“¢ Ellen Byron, Body on the Bayou (Crooked Lane Books)
“¢ Timothy Hallinan, Fields Where They Lay (Soho Crime)
“¢ Heather Haven, The CEO Came DOA (Wives of Bath Press)
“¢ Johnny Shaw, Floodgate (Thomas & Mercer)
“¢ Diane Vallere, A Disguise To Die For (Berkley Prime Crime)

Lefty for Best Hystorical Mystery Novel (Bruce Alexander Memorial)
for books covering events before 1960
“¢ Rhys Bowen, Crowned and Dangerous (Berkley Prime Crime)
“¢ Susanna Calkins, A Death Along the River Fleet (Minotaur Books)
“¢ Laurie R. King, The Murder of Mary Russell (Bantam Books)
“¢ Catriona McPherson, The Reek of Red Herrings (Minotaur Books)
“¢ Ann Parker, What Gold Buys (Poisoned Pen Press)

Lefty for Best Debut Mystery Novel
“¢ Sarah M. Chen, Cleaning Up Finn (All Due Respect Books)
“¢ Marla Cooper, Terror in Taffeta (Minotaur Books)
“¢ Alexia Gordon, Murder in G Major (Henery Press)
“¢ Nadine Nettmann, Decanting a Murder (Midnight Ink)
“¢ Renee Patrick, Design for Dying (Forge)

Lefty for Best Mystery Novel
“¢ Matt Coyle, Dark Fissures (Oceanview Publishing)
“¢ Gigi Pandian, Michelangelo’s Ghost (Henery Press)
“¢ Louise Penny, A Great Reckoning (Minotaur Books)
“¢ Terry Shames, The Necessary Murder of Nonie Blake (Seventh Street Books)
“¢ James W. Ziskin, Heart of Stone (Seventh Street Books)
To be eligible, titles must have been published for the first time in the United States or Canada during 2016, in book or ebook format. (If published in other countries before 2016, a book is still eligible if it meets the US or Canadian publication requirement.)”

If you’re looking for any of the books, check the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com

Once again, The Poisoned Pen hosted three authors. Tasha Alexander, Andrew Grant and Deanna Raybourn were interviewed by Barbara Peters, owner of the bookstore.

If you would like to see the program, check out the Livestream. https://livestream.com/poisonedpen/events/6866264

And, if you would like to order signed copies of the books, check the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com

Nick Petrie was just here at The Poisoned Pen, and his latest novel featuring war veteran Peter Ash, Burning Bright, is the Hot Book of the Week.

Here’s the synopsis from the Web Store.

“LOTS OF CHARACTERS GET COMPARED TO MY OWN JACK REACHER, BUT PETRIE’S PETER ASH IS THE REAL DEAL.”—Lee Child

In the new novel featuring war veteran Peter Ash, “an action hero of the likes of Jack Reacher or Jason Bourne” (Lincoln Journal-Star), Ash has a woman’s life in his hands—and her mystery is stranger than he could ever imagine.

War veteran Peter Ash sought peace and quiet among the towering redwoods of northern California, but the trip isn’t quite the balm he’d hoped for. The dense forest and close fog cause his claustrophobia to buzz and spark, and then he stumbles upon a grizzly, long thought to have vanished from this part of the country. In a fight of man against bear, Peter doesn’t favor his odds, so he makes a strategic retreat up a nearby sapling.

There, he finds something strange: a climbing rope, affixed to a distant branch above. It leads to another, and another, up through the giant tree canopy, and ending at a hanging platform. On the platform is a woman on the run. From below them come the sounds of men and gunshots.

Just days ago, investigative journalist June Cassidy escaped a kidnapping by the men who are still on her trail. She suspects they’re after something belonging to her mother, a prominent software designer who recently died in an accident. June needs time to figure out what’s going on, and help from someone with Peter’s particular set of skills.

Only one step ahead of their pursuers, Peter and June must race to unravel this peculiar mystery. What they find leads them to an eccentric recluse, a shadowy pseudo-military organization, and an extraordinary tool that may change the modern world forever.

Would you like a signed copy of Burning Bright? You can buy it through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2inXqkB

When Barbara Peters, owner of the Poisoned Pen, hosted the recent event at the bookstore, she referred to it as a Triple Threat program. Authors Brad Taylor, Ingrid Thoft and Nick Petrie all made a return visit to the store. They’ve been here for all of their books.

It was a well-attended program, as you can tell from the signing line afterward.

Here are a few photos from the event.

If you’d like to see the program, you can watch it on Livestream. https://livestream.com/poisonedpen/events/6866259

And, of course, you can order signed copies of the authors’ books through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

In some ways, I’m glad the holidays are over since The Poisoned Pen is back to regular programming. It’s nice to be able to share the photos from the store events. The other night, Erich Wurster and Thomas Perry were interviewed by Barbara Peters, owner of the store.

Erich Wurster’s The Coaster is from Poisoned Pen Press. So, Rob Rosenwald, publisher of Poisoned Pen Press, was in attendance.

After time to mingle, Barbara Peters interviewed the authors. Then the audience had time for book signing.

You can watch the interview on Livestream. https://livestream.com/poisonedpen/events/6865846

If you’d like signed copies of your own, of The Coaster or The Old Man, you can purchase them through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com

Douglas Preston was recently in town for an event hosted by The Poisoned Pen. He showed slides and talked about his adventures that led to his nonfiction account, The Lost City of the Monkey God.

If you didn’t read Dana Stabenow’s recent review, here’s the book summary from the Web Store.

“A five-hundred-year-old legend. An ancient curse. A stunning medical mystery. And a pioneering journey into the unknown heart of the world’s densest jungle.

Since the days of conquistador Hernán Cortés, rumors have circulated about a lost city of immense wealth hidden somewhere in the Honduran interior, called the White City or the Lost City of the Monkey God. Indigenous tribes speak of ancestors who fled there to escape the Spanish invaders, and they warn that anyone who enters this sacred city will fall ill and die. In 1940, swashbuckling journalist Theodore Morde returned from the rainforest with hundreds of artifacts and an electrifying story of having found the Lost City of the Monkey God-but then committed suicide without revealing its location.

Three quarters of a century later, bestselling author Doug Preston joined a team of scientists on a groundbreaking new quest. In 2012 he climbed aboard a rickety, single-engine plane carrying the machine that would change everything: lidar, a highly advanced, classified technology that could map the terrain under the densest rainforest canopy. In an unexplored valley ringed by steep mountains, that flight revealed the unmistakable image of a sprawling metropolis, tantalizing evidence of not just an undiscovered city but an enigmatic, lost civilization.

Venturing into this raw, treacherous, but breathtakingly beautiful wilderness to confirm the discovery, Preston and the team battled torrential rains, quickmud, disease-carrying insects, jaguars, and deadly snakes. But it wasn’t until they returned that tragedy struck: Preston and others found they had contracted in the ruins a horrifying, sometimes lethal-and incurable-disease.

Suspenseful and shocking, filled with colorful history, hair-raising adventure, and dramatic twists of fortune, THE LOST CITY OF THE MONKEY GOD is the absolutely true, eyewitness account of one of the great discoveries of the twenty-first century.”

We do have a few photos from the event.

Here are a couple slides from Preston’s presentation.

If you would like to order a signed copy of The Lost City of the Monkey God, it’s available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2iHhsaH