PoisonedBlogger

For some reason, Richard Osman’s debut mystery, The Thursday Murder Club, received quite a bit of criticism in Britain. Perhaps it’s because he’s better known there than he is in the U.S. “Richard Osman has worked as an executive producer on numerous UK shows. Richard’s popularity and tremendous knowledge of trivia led to him presenting his own BBC quiz show and several others, as well as being the host of Pointless with 7 million views. He is also a regular on panel shows and writes a column for the Radio Times. He has more than 830k followers across social media.”

However, if people were too polite in Britain, Osman might suspect they were planning his murder. He wrote about that in a recent piece for crimereads.com. It’s called “All British People are Potential Murderers – That’s Why We Love Our Mysteries.” You can read it here. https://bit.ly/3mLB6np

You can find The Thursday Murder Club in the Web Store. https://bit.ly/32Vsd2x Frankly, I found it delightful, with four amateur sleuths who are in their seventies and older. Osman treats them with respect. They’re savvy, shrewd sleuths. Check out the summary.

“A little beacon of pleasure in the midst of the gloom…SUCH FUN!”
–Kate Atkinson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Big Sky

Four septuagenarians with a few tricks up their sleeves
A female cop with her first big case
A brutal murder
Welcome to…
THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB

In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves The Thursday Murder Club.

When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case.

As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it’s too late?

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, recently discussed Vince Flynn’s Total Power with its author, Kyle Mills, and special guest Brad Thor. Thor says his books have quite a bit in common with the Vince Flynn books. You can still order signed copies of the sixth Mitch Rapp novel, Total Power, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/32V11RP

Here’s the summary of Total Power.

“Mills’s suspenseful, strikingly original sixth Mitch Rapp novel…is as riveting as anything penned by Mitch’s creator, Vince Flynn (1966″“2013). Mills has really hit his stride with this franchise entry.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“One of the best thriller writers on the planet.” —The Real Book Spy

In the next thriller in the #1 New York Times bestselling Mitch Rapp series, it’s a race against the clock when ISIS takes out the entire US power grid and throws the country into chaos.

When Mitch Rapp captures ISIS’s top technology expert, he reveals that he was on his way to meet a man who claims to have the ability to bring down America’s power grid. Rapp is determined to eliminate this shadowy figure, but the CIA’s trap fails.

The Agency is still trying to determine what went wrong when ISIS operatives help this cyber terrorist do what he said he could—plunge the country into darkness. With no concept of how this unprecedented act was accomplished, the task of getting the power back on could take months. Perhaps even years.

Rapp and his team embark on a desperate search for the only people who know how to repair the damage—the ones responsible. But his operating environment is like nothing he’s experienced before. Computers and communication networks are down, fuel can no longer be pumped from gas stations, water and sanitation systems are on the brink of collapse, and the supply of food is running out.

Can Rapp get the lights back on before America descends irretrievably into chaos?

This compulsive thriller proves once again that the Mitch Rapp series is “the best of the best when it comes to the world of special ops” (Booklist, starred review).

*****

You can watch the conversation here.

Author Megan Miranda recently acted as host for Wendy Walker, whose new book, Don’t Look for Me, was just released. You can order a signed copy of Walker’s book, as well as copies of her other books, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3hUeIo6

Here’s the summary of Don’t Look for Me.

* An Amazon Best Book of the Month (Mystery & Thriller) *
“A twisty, hair-raising tale.”““ Newsweek
“A fast-paced psychological drama.” ““ GMA.com
“Compulsively readable.” ““ PopSugar
“Reinforces Walker’s place at the top of the genre.” ““ Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Addictive.” ““ A.J. Finn, New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window
“Gripping.” ““ Adrian McGinty, New York Times bestselling author of The Chain

They said she walked away. But what really happened to Molly Clarke?
From the bestselling author of All Is Not Forgotten comes a compelling and emotionally powerful story of a daughter’s desperate search to find her mother before it’s too late.

They called it a “walk away.” The car abandoned miles from home. The note found at a nearby hotel. The shattered family. It happens all the time. Women disappear, desperate to start over. But what really happened to Molly Clarke?

The night Molly disappeared began with a storm, running out of gas, and a man offering her a ride to safety. But when the doors lock shut, Molly begins to suspect she has made a terrible mistake.

A new lead brings Molly’s daughter, Nicole, back to the small, desolate town where her mother was last seen to renew the desperate search. The locals are sympathetic and eager to help. The innkeeper. The bartender. Even the police. Until secrets begin to reveal themselves and Nicole comes closer to the truth about that night—and the danger surrounding her.

*****

Or, here’s another way of looking at the book. Adam Walker’s GifNotes at Criminal Element, provides the basic elements of the book with the help of Gifs. https://bit.ly/33IHSBE

*****

You can listen to the conversation between Wendy Walker and Megan Miranda via The Poisoned Pen’s podcast. https://youtu.be/bQ9jKkb73A0

While many of Libby Fischer Hellman’s novels are set in Chicago, she’s taken readers around the world in her novels. Her October 7 release, A Bend in the River, will take readers to Vietnam. You can order Hellmann’s novels through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3cg9jqa

Libby Fischer Hellmann left a career in broadcast news in Washington, DC and moved to Chicago over 35 years ago, where she, natu­rally, began to write gritty crime fiction. Thirteen novels and many short stories later, she claims they’ll take her out of the Windy City feet first. She has been nominated for many awards in the mystery writing commu­nity and has even won a few. Her novels include the now five-volume Ellie Foreman series, which she describes as a cross between Desperate Housewives and 24; the hard-boiled 4-vol­ume Georgia Davis PI series, and three stand-alone historical thrillers that Libby calls her Revolution Trilogy. Her short stories have been published in a dozen anthologies, the Saturday Evening Post, and Ed Gorman’s 25 Criminally Good Short Stories collection.

Look for Libby Fischer Hellmann’s book suggestions in the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

*****

DISTRACTIONS: PANDEMIC READING

I’ve noticed that writers have had one of two responses to the pandemic. Either they are paralyzed by the virus, its rampant spread, and all the attendant issues it’s brought; or they are energized and more productive because of the extra time at home and fewer social events. I would have pegged myself in the former camp, but I turned out to be the latter. I finished two novels, redecorated my daughter’s old doll house, and read more than usual. Who knew? My pandemic reading was eclectic. Whether that’s because of the pandemic or just coincidence, I have no idea. Still, it was difficult to pare the books I read down to three.

Dark Towers: Deutsche Bank, Donald Trump, and an Epic Trail of Destruction, David Enrich

I was fascinated by Trump’s relationship with Deutsche Bank so I was excited to dive in. What I found was that Trump was a small “subplot” of the story, but one that, in retrospect, was entirely predictable. Enrich paints a picture of a financial institution so motivated toward growth that they ignored the rules and flaunted their avarice. Think of Michael Douglas’s Gordon Gekko in “Wall Street” or Leo DiCaprio’s Jordan Belfort in “The Wolf of Wall Street” at the helm of a bank.  In a narrative that’s engaging and reads like fiction, Enrich traces the history of a once dignified institution that lost its way, forfeiting 95% of its value in the process. The one man who had doubts and might have steered the bank away from its reckless direction, William Broeksmit, was either too weak or too wrapped up in a fog of alcohol and depression, to do much. Enter Donald Trump, who himself ignored rules and flaunted his avarice. The two were made for each other. An oversimplification? Perhaps. But anyone with an interest in banking and finance should dig into this excellent read.

The Huntress, Kate Quinn

Back to fiction. First, I need to confess I’m a sucker for WW2 novels; never (IMHO)  has there been a time where the contrast between heroes and cowards was so clear and consequential.

Kate Quinn’s The Huntress, set in the US just after World War II, follows The Alice Network, Quinn’s phenomenal read about European women risking everything to spy on Nazis.

This time, a prominent Nazi woman accused of war crimes against Polish children, has escaped justice. When a German “widow” with a little girl in tow turns up in a Boston suburb, the daughter of the man she eventually marries thinks something about the woman is “off.”

At the same time, a British team led by a former journalist is actively hunting war criminals. His wife (a marriage of convenience) is an unorthodox female Russian aviator who knows the Huntress and escaped her clutches. All the threads come together in a masterfully plotted mystery that I couldn’t put down.

Dark Matter, Blake Crouch

The novel I’m still thinking about six months later is Blake Crouch’s Dark Matter. Blake, who never fails to produce a thoughtful yet anxiety-producing thriller, turns to sci-fi this time, and describes a series of infinite parallel worlds that can be accessed by opening a door after  drinking a special formula. The hero tries to reclaim his wife and lover, while at the same time another version of himself masquerades as him in an effort to literally steal the hero’s life, including his wife. Although it sounds complex, it essentially becomes a love story similar to the film, An Affair To Remember, where the hero has a deadline by which he must open the right door and find his true love. Still, thinking about infinite  parallel realities where one small decision can generate an alternate universe is mind-blowing, and I admit I drank the Kool-Aid. Great read!

A close runner up (#4) was The Book Of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd. It’s always a huge risk to tamper with the life of Jesus; indeed, to insinuate a different history for him, but Kidd does exactly that. In this book, Jesus has a wife, and the story is written from her point of view. Kidd does tread carefully, making Ana fall head over heels in love with Jesus. He returns her affection, but it’s clear he has other priorities. It’s an ambitious premise, and Monk humanizes all the characters in the novel, giving Ana her own journey and voice. I love to see authors stretch their wings, and The Book Of Longings, while not altogether satisfying, is worth the read.

*****

Here’s Libby Fischer Hellmann’s own latest book, A Bend in the River. Its an October 7 release, but you can pre-order it now.

When their village is destroyed, two sisters face their futures alone. Will the uncertainties of war keep them apart forever? In 1968 two young Vietnamese sisters flee to Saigon after their village on the Mekong River is attacked by American forces and burned to the ground. The only survivors of the massacre that killed their family, the sisters struggle to survive but become estranged, separated by sharply different choices and ideologies. Mai ekes out a living as a GI bar girl, but Tam’s anger festers, and she heads into jungle terrain to fight with the Viet Cong. For nearly ten years, neither sister knows if the other is alive. Do they both survive the war? And if they do, can they mend their fractured relationship? Or are the wounds from their journeys too deep to heal? In a stunning departure from her crime thrillers, Hellmann delves into a universal story about survival, family, and the consequences of war. A Bend in the River is a remarkable historical fiction standalone novel. If you enjoy a saga of survival against all odds with unforgettable female characters, you’ll love Libby Fischer Hellmann’s sweeping epic.

In honor of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, today I’m pointing to books about her in the Web Store. Check them out. https://bit.ly/33MPByN

Start with My Own Words, “The New York Times bestselling book from Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg—”a comprehensive look inside her brilliantly analytical, entertainingly wry mind, revealing the fascinating life of one of our generation’s most influential voices in both law and public opinion” (Harper’s Bazaar).“

Or, maybe you’d prefer Jeffrey Rosen’s Conversations with RBG. “In her own words, Ruth Bader Ginsburg offers an intimate look at her life and career, through an extraordinary series of conversations with the head of the National Constitution Center.“

There are even books for children in the Web Store. I’m sure, if you’re interested, that you’ll find a book or two to fit your needs.

The new schedule of virtual events takes us almost to the end of September. Of course, I’ll continue to advise you to check the website for updates and changes. In the meantime, make sure you order books early from your favorite authors who are appearing at The Poisoned Pen. You can find their books in the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

There’s a terrific schedule of authors coming up! I hope you find one or two of your favorite authors here. Or, watch an event with an author you haven’t yet discovered. Enjoy!

Mike Lupica has taken over writing Robert B. Parker’s Jesse Stone novels. His first one, Fool’s Paradise, is the nineteenth in the series. Guest host, author Joe Ide, gave Lupica a hard time in a recent conversation for Poisoned Pen. Check out Mike Lupica’s books in the Web Store, including signed copies of Fool’s Paradise. https://bit.ly/3iJKnK8

Here’s the summary of Fool’s Paradise.

When an unknown man is found murdered in Paradise, Jesse Stone will have his hands full finding out who he was–and what he was seeking.

When a body is discovered at the lake in Paradise, Police Chief Jesse Stone is surprised to find he recognizes the murder victim–the man had been at the same AA meeting as Jesse the evening before. But otherwise, Jesse has no clue as to the man’s identity. He isn’t a local, nor does he have ID on him, nor does any neighboring state have a reported missing person matching the man’s description. Their single lead is from a taxi company that recalls dropping off the mysterious stranger outside the gate at the mansion of one of the wealthiest families in town…

Meanwhile, after Jesse survives a hail of gunfire on his home, he wonders if it could be related to the mysterious murder. When both Molly Crane and Suitcase Simpson also become targets, it’s clear someone has an ax to grind against the entire Paradise Police Department.

*****

Enjoy the conversation between Mike Lupica and Joe Ide about Jesse Stone and the books.

Anne Perry and Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, have talked about books for years. They never really had the chance to talk about Perry’s first Elena Standish mystery, so they recently discussed both of them. Death in Focus was the first book, and A Question of Betrayal is the latest one. You can order both titles, and Perry’s other books, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2oJJzhL

The Elena Standish books are set in the 1930s. Here’s the summary of the first one, Death in Focus.

In the start of an all-new mystery series set in pre”“World War II Europe, an intrepid young photographer carries her dead lover’s final, world-shattering message into the heart of Berlin as Hitler ascends to power.

“Thrilling . . . reminiscent of works by Eric Ambler and Graham Greene.”—The Wall Street Journal

On vacation from London on the beautiful Italian coast, twenty-eight-year-old Elena Standish and her older sister, Margot, have finally been able to move on from the lasting trauma of the Great War, in which the newly married Margot lost her husband and the sisters their beloved brother. Touring with her camera in hand, Elena has found new inspiration in the striking Italian landscape, and she’s met an equally striking man named Ian. When Ian has to leave unexpectedly, Elena—usually the more practical of the sisters—finds she’s not ready to part from him, and the two share a spontaneous train trip home to England. But a shocking sequence of events disrupts their itinerary, forcing Elena to personally deliver a message to Berlin on Ian’s behalf, one that could change the fate of Europe.

Back home, Elena’s diplomat father and her secretive grandfather—once head of MI6, unbeknownst to his family—are involved in their own international machinations. Worried when Elena still hasn’t returned from Italy, her grandfather starts to connect the dots between her change in plans and an incident in Berlin, where Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich are on the rise. It seems the message Elena delivered has forced her into a dangerous predicament, and her grandfather’s old contacts from MI6 may be the only people who can get her out alive—if Elena can tell the difference between her allies and her enemies.

New York Times bestselling author Anne Perry merges family secrets with suspense on the world stage, as darkness bubbles under the surface of a Europe on the brink of change. In these complicated times, Elena emerges as a strong new heroine who learns quickly that when nothing is certain, she can rely only on herself.

Praise for Death in Focus

“Masterful! It’s exceedingly rare for an author to have the talent to blend classic elements of a thriller with compelling family dynamics and geopolitical intrigue, but Anne Perry pulls it off like the consummate pro that she is. And, on top of all that, Death in Focus is written in her unique literary voice. I guarantee you’ll love Elena Standish. Brava!” —Jeffery Deaver, author of The Never Game

*****

A Question of Betrayal has links to Elena Standish’s family.

On her first mission for MI6, the daring young photographer at the heart of this thrilling new mystery series by bestselling author Anne Perry travels to Mussolini’s Italy to rescue the lover who betrayed her.

Britain’s secret intelligence service, MI6, has lost contact with its informant in northern Italy, just as important information about the future plans of Austria and Nazi Germany is coming to light. And young Elena Standish, to her surprise, is the only person who can recognize MI6’s man—because he is her former lover. Aiden Strother betrayed her six years before, throwing shame on her entire family. Now, with so much to prove, Elena heads to Trieste to track down Aiden and find out what happened to his handler, who has mysteriously cut off contact with Britain.

As Elena gets word of a secret group working to put Austria in the hands of Germany, her older sister, Margot, is in Berlin to watch a childhood friend get married—to a member of the Gestapo. Margot and Elena’s grandfather, the former head of MI6, is none too happy about the sisters’ travels at this tumultuous time, especially when a violent event at home reminds him that even Britain is growing dangerous. As his own investigation collides with his granddaughter’s, what’s at stake on the continent becomes increasingly frightening—and personal.

Against the backdrop of a rapidly changing Europe, New York Times bestselling author Anne Perry crafts a novel full of suspense, political intrigue, and the struggle between love and loyalty to country.

*****

If you enjoy history, and family stories of the 1930s and ’40s, you’ll enjoy the conversation.

Darcy Coates’ horror novels are now part of the Sourcebooks/Poisoned Pen Press line. You can find her books in the Web Store. https://bit.ly/35Fg0ku

The partnership was recently covered in a Sourcebooks sponsored article in Publishers Weekly. Because it was sponsored by Sourcebooks, and is a shareable piece, I’m copying it here.

“Happily-Ever-After Horror: Spotlight on Darcy Coates”

Photo: Sandra Henri

Darcy Coates’s journey as a writer has been anything but easy. But with grit and determination, she went from self-published to a traditionally published author of more than 20 horror novels—many of which are USA Today bestsellers.

Seven years ago, Coates self-published her first horror e-book, “Once Returned,” a novella about a woman whose husband goes missing during a hiking trip. She followed that up by self-publishing 22 horror novels through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing program. But Coates’s titles were slow to sell—that is, until 2015, when everything changed. That was the year Coates self-published The Haunting of Gillespie House. “People started to read it,” she says. “And each book I released after that sold more.”

For the next five years, Coates’s e-books, including The Folcroft Ghosts, The Haunting of Ashburn House, and The House Next Door, captured the attention of countless readers. And her signature blend of classic horror with historical fiction, sci-fi, or the supernatural gave her novels a wide readership—her fans weren’t just horror fans. The author’s following was so strong that an employee at a New Jersey Barnes & Noble contacted Coates about purchasing physical copies of her books. At that time, Coates, who lives in Australia, was creating paperbacks through a print-on-demand company. She immediately sent copies to the U.S. and then, to Coates’s delight, the books began to sell.

That led to a meeting with Sourcebooks and their recently acquired mystery imprint Poisoned Pen Press, which led to a book deal. In 2019, Poisoned Pen Press acquired the paperback rights to 25 of Coates’s novels, beginning with Voices in the Snow, which was published in January 2020 and was followed up by 15 other Darcy Coates titles through August of this year, includingThe Haunting of Gillespie House, Parasite, and Craven Manor, which the New York Journal of Books called “eerie, scary, and utterly delightful.” Today, Coates’s books are available in the adult section of most bookstores, something, Coates says, “was never possible before.”

Coates’s work has been called atmospheric horror—stories that rely on location and emotional, mental, and psychological states. Instead of focusing on action sequences and gore, Coates concentrates on feelings, specifically feelings of unease. “I’ve always preferred books that build dread and leave me warily watching the darkest corners of my room,” she says. “When I write, any gore is a byproduct of the story, not the reason for it. I’ve always wanted to capture the feeling you have when you’re outdoors at night and someone starts to tell eerie campfire stories. A special kind of dread rises up, the kind that’s both addictive and consuming.”

To create that slow-building fear, Coates often sets her stories in large, aging houses. “The building or house can grow into a personality of its own,” she says. “A looming presence that watches—or perhaps adds to—the protagonist’s struggles.”

Those protagonists tend to be in their 20s, which makes Coates’s books great for YA readers, too. “There’s a bit of magic in writing early-20s characters,” she says. “It’s a point of change in life. You’re trying to plan for your future, live on your own for the first time, and establish the friendships you’ll have as an adult. It’s full of awkwardness and self-doubt and fear, and what better time to put that person in an impossible situation, such as a house with a sinister history, or to tell them that their best friend has gone missing while hiking in a remote forest?”

Dread isn’t the only through line that connects Coates’s work. “One thread that shows up repeatedly in my books is finding home,” Coates says. “Whether home is a physical location to feel safe at, or a family, or friends who are as good as family, most of my books have a character who is searching for something and conclude with them finding it, though often not in the form they expected.”

Another commonality in the author’s books is their happy endings—something Coates describes as unexpected but necessary. “A lot of horror features flawed characters essentially being punished for their past sins,” she says. “The story serves to call them to task for their flaws and ultimately mete out punishment—usually death. While those stories can be very satisfying, they’re not what I’m most drawn to. I like to read about characters who end up in a bad situation, not necessarily through their own fault, and have to find a way to survive it. It’s their test: they must rise to it, and they must be smarter and more resourceful than they ever imagined they could be. But, as long as they keep fighting, as long as they always strive to make the best choices in their power, I believe they deserve to come out the other side. It’s valuable, I think, not just for the characters but also for readers and even myself. That ending is a palate cleanser, a reward for the stress we feel while reading— and writing—the book.”

Sponsored by Sourcebooks A version of this article appeared in the 09/14/2020 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline: Happily-Ever-After Horror: Spotlight on Darcy Coates ALSO ON PW

Thanks to virtual events, The Poisoned Pen was able to host Ruth Ware, author of One By One. Barbara Peters, owner of the bookstore, did a very short introduction, and then turned the event over to A.J. Finn for the discussion with Ruth Ware. Finn’s The Woman in the Window is available through the Web Store. Ware’s books, including the new one, One By One, is as well. https://store.poisonedpen.com/ No promises, but, while supplies last, One By One comes with a signed bookplate. The other item it comes with may already be gone because there were hats for the first fifty orders, a beanie hat with One By One embroidery.

If you haven’t heard the summary of One By One yet, here it is.

“The Agatha Christie of our generation.” —David Baldacci, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“Diabolically clever.” —Riley Sager, author of Final Girls

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Turn of the Key and In a Dark Dark Wood returns with another suspenseful thriller set on a snow-covered mountain.

Getting snowed in at a luxurious, rustic ski chalet high in the French Alps doesn’t sound like the worst problem in the world. Especially when there’s a breathtaking vista, a full-service chef and housekeeper, a cozy fire to keep you warm, and others to keep you company. Unless that company happens to be eight coworkers…each with something to gain, something to lose, and something to hide.

When the cofounder of Snoop, a trendy London-based tech startup, organizes a weeklong trip for the team in the French Alps, it starts out as a corporate retreat like any other: PowerPoint presentations and strategy sessions broken up by mandatory bonding on the slopes. But as soon as one shareholder upends the agenda by pushing a lucrative but contentious buyout offer, tensions simmer and loyalties are tested. The storm brewing inside the chalet is no match for the one outside, however, and a devastating avalanche leaves the group cut off from all access to the outside world. Even worse, one Snooper hadn’t made it back from the slopes when the avalanche hit.

As each hour passes without any sign of rescue, panic mounts, the chalet grows colder, and the group dwindles further…one by one.

Enjoy the discussion!