Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, welcomed Danielle Trussoni for her first appearance at the bookstore. Trussoni’s first book was The Puzzle Master. There are signed copies of the sequel, The Puzzle Box, in the Webstore. https://bit.ly/481u31U.
Here’s the summary of The Puzzle Box.
It is the Year of the Wood Dragon, and the ingenious Mike Brink has been invited to Tokyo, Japan, to open the legendary Dragon Box.
The box was constructed during one of Japan’s most tumultuous periods, when the samurai class was disbanded and the shogun lost power. In this moment of crisis, Emperor Meiji locked a priceless Imperial secret in the Dragon Box. Only two people knew how to open the box—Meiji and the box’s sadistic constructor—and both died without telling a soul what was inside or how to open it.
Every twelve years since then, in the Year of the Dragon, the Imperial family holds a clandestine contest to open the box. It is devilishly difficult, filled with tricks, booby traps, poisons, and mind-bending twists. Every puzzle master who has attempted to open it has died in the process.
But Brink is not just any puzzle master. He may be the only person alive who can crack it. His determination is matched only by that of two sisters, descendants of an illustrious samurai clan, who will stop at nothing to claim the treasure.
Brink’s quest launches him on a breakneck adventure across Japan, from the Imperial Palace in Tokyo to the pristine forests of Hakone to an ancient cave in Kyushu. In the process, he discovers the power of Meiji’s hidden treasure, and—more crucially—the true nature of his extraordinary talent.
Danielle Trussoni is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels The Ancestor, Angelology, and Angelopolis, all New York Times Notable Books, and The Puzzle Master, chosen by The Washington Post as one of their Best Thrillers of 2023. Her memoir, Falling Through the Earth was selected by The New York Times as one of the Top Ten Books of the Year. Trussoni is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and winner of the Michener-Copernicus Society of America Fellowship, and her work has been translated into more than thirty languages.
Trussoni discusses her character, Mike Brink, and the background of the story. Enjoy the conversation.