YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE, NO MATTER WHERE YOU LIVE.
Did you miss Diana Gabaldon’s appearance for the 25th Anniversary Edition of Dragonfly in Amber? You can still get a signed copy through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2hx0CQD
We also have photos of the event, with permission to share them. Can you find yourself in the crowd, if you attended?
If you didn’t attend, you probably want to see pictures of Diana Gabaldon. We have a couple of her with some of her readers.
Did you miss the event when Natasha Pulley was at The Poisoned Pen to discuss and sign her latest novel, The Bedlam Stacks? You can still order a signed copy through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2i9CReh
We do have a few photos to share.
Here’s the summary of the book.
The eagerly anticipated new novel from the author of THE WATCHMAKER OF FILIGREE STREET–a treacherous quest in the magical landscape of nineteenth-century Peru.
In 1859, ex-East India Company smuggler Merrick Tremayne is trapped at home in Cornwall after sustaining an injury that almost cost him his leg. On the sprawling, crumbling grounds of the old house, something is wrong; a statue moves, his grandfather’s pines explode, and his brother accuses him of madness.
When the India Office recruits Merrick for an expedition to fetch quinine–essential for the treatment of malaria–from deep within Peru, he knows it’s a terrible idea. Nearly every able-bodied expeditionary who’s made the attempt has died, and he can barely walk. But Merrick is desperate to escape everything at home, so he sets off, against his better judgment, for a tiny mission colony on the edge of the Amazon where a salt line on the ground separates town from forest. Anyone who crosses is killed by something that watches from the trees, but somewhere beyond the salt are the quinine woods, and the way around is blocked.
Surrounded by local stories of lost time, cursed woods, and living rock, Merrick must separate truth from fairytale and find out what befell the last expeditions; why the villagers are forbidden to go into the forest; and what is happening to Raphael, the young priest who seems to have known Merrick’s grandfather, who visited Peru many decades before.The Bedlam Stacksis the story of a profound friendship that grows in a place that seems just this side of magical.
Do you want your daughter or granddaughter to grow up to love mysteries as much as you do? Linda Fairstein, a former sex-crimes prosecutor, and author of the Alexandra Cooper crime novels and Devlin Quick mysteries for middle-school readers, has a new book for that audience, Digging for Trouble. But, she recently wrote an article for The Washington Post telling where she developed her love of mysteries. It’s “Why Nancy Drew is an ideal role model.” https://wapo.st/2jjSZ08
Fairstein’s book and the Nancy Drew mysteries are available through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com
If you’re looking for mysteries for your eight to twelve-year-old, check them out. Here’s the summary of Digging for Trouble.
Twelve-year-old supersleuth Devlin Quick heads to Montana to dig out dinosaur bones, but instead she uncovers a mystery in this second book in the thrilling series from New York Times bestselling author Linda Fairstein
After successfully apprehending a map thief at the beginning of summer, Dev is going to spend the second half of her summer vacation in Montana with her best friend, Katie, exploring the outdoors and NOT getting into trouble. But after participating in a dinosaur dig, Katie and Dev suspect that someone bad is in the Badlands when Katie’s found fossils are switched out for old rocks. The good news? With Mom back in New York, no one can stop Devlin from investigating! But the fossil thief isn’t the only danger here, as snakes, scorpions, and bears abound, making Montana a treacherous place for finding answers.
And when the mystery takes Dev and Katie back to Manhattan—to the Museum of Natural History—the case gets even more complicated, even with Dev’s friend Booker there to help. Dev has to use her brains, brawn, and yes, okay, the lessons learned from her police commissioner mother if she wants to dig up the truth once and for all. This is the perfect read for fans of Nancy Drew and Theodore Boone.
It’s not too early to invite you to the holiday party at The Poisoned Pen Bookstore. Barbara Peters and author Doris Casey will host the holiday party on Sunday, November 19 at 2 PM, and it’s free to attend.
We have a wonderful slate of authors scheduled to appear. They’ll talk about their books, and then do a signing.
Rhys Bowen signs THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST ($24.99)
Kate Carlisle signs EAVES OF DESTRUCTION ($7.99)
Timothy Hallinan signs FOOL’S RIVER ($26.95) and FIELDS WHERE THEY LAY ($15.95)
Carolyn G. Hart signs GHOST ON THE CASE ($26)
Jenn McKinlay signs DEATH IN THE STACKS ($25)
And, Daryl Gerber Wood signs A DEADLY ECLAIR ($26.99)
Can’t make it next Sunday? You can always order signed copies through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com (But, you’ll have more fun if you can make it to The Poisoned Pen.)
John Lawton takes readers back to 1958 in his latest novel, Friends and Traitors, the Hot Book of the Week at The Poisoned Pen. Here’s the link to order a signed copy through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2ma7yVl
Here’s the summary of the book.
John Lawton’s Inspector Troy novels are regularly singled out as a crime series of exceptional quality, by critics and readers alike.Friends and Traitors is the eighth novel in the series—which can be read in any order—a story of betrayal, espionage, and the dangers of love.
London, 1958. Chief Superintendent Frederick Troy of Scotland Yard, newly promoted after good service during Nikita Khrushchev’s visit to Britain, is not looking forward to a European trip with his older brother, Rod. Rod has decided to take his entire family on “the Grand Tour” for his fifty-first birthday: a whirlwind of restaurants, galleries, and concert halls from Paris to Florence to Vienna to Amsterdam. But Frederick Troy only gets as far as Vienna. It is there that he crossespaths with an old acquaintance, a man who always seems to be followed by trouble: British spy turned Soviet agent Guy Burgess. Suffice it to say that Troy is more than surprised when Burgess, who has escaped from the bosom of Moscow for a quick visit to Vienna, tells him something extraordinary: “I want to come home.” Troy knows this news will cause a ruckus in London—but even Troy doesn’t expect an MI5 man to be gunned down as a result, and Troy himself suspected of doing the deed. Ashe fights to prove his innocence, Troy is haunted by more than just Burgess’s past liaisons—there is a scandal that goes up to the highest ranks of Westminster, affecting spooks and politicians alike. And the stakes become all the higher for Troy when he reencounters a woman he first met in the Ritz hotel during a blackout—falling in love is a handicap when playing the game of spies.
How many times can they remake “Murder on the Orient Express”? How many times have you read Agatha Christie’s classic? There are a variety of editions available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2zr1VYi
Here’s the media tie-in for Kenneth Branagh’s version of the film.
In The Washington Post, Michael Dirda discusses the book and the movie, asking if we need another remake. https://wapo.st/2AvtEou
Maybe not, but it never hurts to go back and reread the book.
November is NaNoWrMo, otherwise known as National Novel Writing Month. Wendall Thomas, author of the debut mystery Lost Luggage, headed off to Book Soup to work on a novel. (Let’s hope it’s a sequel.) Here are some photos from the event, in which people can see an author in the window, working on a novel.
She looks like she was having too much fun to NOT be working on a sequel to Lost Luggage. Have you checked out Lost Luggage in the Web Store? https://bit.ly/2i7kXYW
Here’s the description.
Cyd Redondo, a young, third-generation Brooklyn travel agent who specializes in senior citizens, has never ventured farther than New Jersey. Yet even Jersey proves risky when her Travel Agents’ Convention fling, Roger Claymore, leaves her weak in the knees-and everywhere else-then sneaks out of her Atlantic City hotel room at three a.m.
Back in Brooklyn, when she reads about smugglers stopped at JFK with skinks in their socks or monkeys down their pants, she never imagines she will join their ranks. But days after the pet store owner next door to Redondo Travel is poisoned, Cyd wins a free safari. Her boss, Uncle Ray, wants to cash it in for computers, but Cyd is determined to go. When Roger turns up at the Redondo clan’s door, Cyd invites him along as her “plus one.” And just like that she is thrown heels-first into the bizarre and sinister world of international animal smuggling.
She and Roger arrive in Africa, luggage lost, to find two of Cyd’s elderly clients in a local jail. She manages to barter them out, only to discover smugglers have hidden five hundred thousand dollars’ worth of endangered parrots, snakes, frogs, and a lone Madagascan chameleon in the clients’ outbound luggage. When Roger steals the bags – is the U.S. Embassy in on the contraband ring? – Cyd and the chameleon helicopter into the jungle to go after Roger on their own.
Wondering if “plus one” Roger is actually a minus, Cyd dodges Interpol, faces off with a cobra, steals a diplomatic bag, hijacks a FedEx truck, crashes an eco-safari, winds up in a leopard trap, and is forced to smuggle snakes in her bra. It’s a scramble to find the smugglers, save her clients, and solve Mrs. Barsky’s murder before finding herself at the top of the endangered species list.
For fans of Elaine Viets, Lisa Lutz, Janet Evanovich, and Blaize Clement.
Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press author Mary Anna Evans for sending the following feature. Stuart Rosebrook’s column, “Locked and Loaded” in True West Magazine, https://truewestmagazine.com, recently featured books about Western history and fiction from 2017. Here’s the link to Rosebrook’s entire column. https://truewestmagazine.com/locked-and-loaded-western-history/
But, maybe you’re only interested in the crime fiction about the west. Here are the titles Rosebrook featured under “A Badge, a Body and a Gun”. If you’ve been attending Poisoned Pen Bookstore programs, or reading Barbara Peters’ newsletter, I think you’ll recognize some of these authors. After you check Rosebrook’s list, you might want to check the Web Store for the books. https://store.poisonedpen.com/
Modern Western mysteries dominate the sales of Western novels and there is no shortage of titles to choose from in 2017. Here are 11 of my favorites.
Beyond Reason by Kat Martin (Kensingon)
Burials: a Faye Longchamp Mystery by Mary Anna Evans (Poisoned Pen Press)
Cold Hearted River by Keith McCafferty (Viking)
Dark Signal by Shannon Baker (Forge)
Desert Remains by Steven Cooper (Seventh Street Books)
Double Wide by Leo W. Banks (Brash Books)
Kill the Heroes by David Thurlo (Minotaur Books)
Song of the Lion by Anne Hillerman (HarperCollins)
The Last Cowboys of San Geronimo: A Novel by Ian Stansel (Houghton Mifflin)
The Right Wrong Number by Jim Nesbitt (Spotted Mule Press)
The Western Star by Craig Johnson (Viking)
Although Michael Connelly’s Two Kinds of Truth tops Marilyn Stasio’s list for her latest column in The New York Times Book Review, she also covers books by Lee Child, Rita Mae Brown and Henning Mankell. After you read her article, “Big-League Crimes, Solitary Victims and Galloping Escapism”, https://nyti.ms/2z1KLh8, check out the Web Store for copies, in some cases, signed copies of the books. https://store.poisonedpen.com
Douglas Preston recently sent this to The Poisoned Pen so we could share it with you. As he said, Cities of Gold will never be at this low price again.
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