PoisonedBlogger

When mystery readers see Nevada Barr’s name, most of us expect an Anna Pigeon mystery. However, she’ll be at The Poisoned Pen on Tuesday, Sept. 17 at 7 PM to discuss her standalone thriller, What Rose Forgot. You can order a signed copy through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2lVZCXO

Here’s the summary of What Rose Forgot.

* POPSUGAR’s “New Thrillers That Should Be on Your Radar This Year”
* Women.com’s “12 New September Books Worth Canceling Plans For”

In New York Times bestselling author Nevada Barr’s gripping standalone, a grandmother in her sixties emerges from a mental fog to find she’s trapped in her worst nightmare  

Rose Dennis wakes up in a hospital gown, her brain in a fog, only to discover that she’s been committed to an Alzheimer’s Unit in a nursing home. With no memory of how she ended up in this position, Rose is sure that something is very wrong. When she overhears one of the administrators saying about her that she’s “not making it through the week,” Rose is convinced that if she’s to survive, she has to get out of the nursing home. She avoids taking her medication, putting on a show for the aides, then stages her escape.

The only problem is—how does she convince anyone that she’s not actually demented? Her relatives were the ones to commit her, all the legal papers were drawn up, the authorities are on the side of the nursing home, and even she isn’t sure she sounds completely sane. But any lingering doubt Rose herself might have had is erased when a would-be killer shows up in her house in the middle of the night. Now Rose knows that someone is determined to get rid of her.  

With the help of her computer hacker/recluse sister Marion, thirteen-year old granddaughter Mel, and Mel’s friend Royal, Rose begins to gather her strength and fight back—to find out who is after her and take back control of her own life. But someone out there is still determined to kill Rose, and they’re holding all the cards.

*****

And, here’s a link to Adam Wagner’s visual guide to What Rose Forgot, published at CriminalElement. https://bit.ly/2kJWUof

As Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen says, it’s always fun to introduce a debut author. Sara E. Johnson, author of Molten Mud Murder, a mystery set in New Zealand, recently appeared at the bookstore. You can order a signed copy of the debut through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2PKbISm

Peters introduced the Johnson, and now you can “meet” her and hear about New Zealand and the book via the video.

Here’s the description of Molten Mud Murder.

Is the past better left undisturbed, or unearthed?

When a body is found half-submerged in a molten mud pot in one of Rotorua’s famous geothermal wonderlands, forensics expert Alexa Glock spots a way to prolong her stay in New Zealand, which she has been visiting for work. Teeth are her expertise, and the investigation needs her help, as other ways of identifying the body may have… melted away.

Joining Detective Inspector Bruce Horne and his team, Alexa discovers that the murder victim, a city councilman, had trespassed on an island sacred to the Maori. The ancient punishment for such a transgression is disaster, demonic possession, or death… and when she visits the island to investigate, the same outcome is promised for her. Alexa doesn’t believe in ancient spirits returning to exact revenge, and when another victim turns up dead she begins to wonder whether the real threat is something—or someone—much closer to home.

Geneva Chase, the protagonist in Thomas Kies’ series, is a journalist and an alcoholic. She’s currently appearing in the third book in his series, Graveyard Bay. With a distinctive protagonist, he turns to the topic of “4 Iconic Crime Protagonists Who Are Even More Memorable Than Their Stories.” Kies’ article appears on CrimeReads at https://bit.ly/2ke3cw6.

Kies’ Graveyard Bay can be ordered through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2NHg1bS

Here’s the description of Graveyard Bay.

Time is running out…

The nude bodies of a corrupt judge and a Jane Doe are found under the icy, black waters at Groward Bay Marina, chained to the prongs of a mammoth fork lift. A videotape points to Merlin Finn, a ruthless gang leader with a proclivity for bondage and S&M who had recently broken out of prison. In the videotape, he’s wearing a black leather bondage mask.

With the newspaper she works for about to be sold and her job in jeopardy, journalist Geneva Chase investigates pill mills, crooked doctors, and a massive money laundering scheme in an attempt to identify the murdered woman and find the killer. Along the way, she finds herself working with a disgraced New York cop and a host of other unlikely characters with ties to the criminal underworld.

Geneva is clearly hot on the killer’s trail, but when she is kidnapped and held at the mercy of the criminals she hoped to stop, it looks like her chance to uncover the darkness that has seeped through her hometown may be lost forever.

William Kent Krueger’s latest novel, This Tender Land, appears at #3 on The New York Times Bestseller list on September 22. Did you miss his appearance at The Poisoned Pen? He and Barbara Peters, owner of the bookstore, discussed books, and much more. But, you can not only still watch the event, you can order a signed copy of This Tender Land through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2lPfdc0

Here’s the description of This Tender Land.

“If you liked Where the Crawdads Sing, you’ll love This Tender Land…This story is as big-hearted as they come.” —Parade 

A magnificent novel about four orphans on a life-changing odyssey during the Great Depression, from the New York Times bestselling author of Ordinary Grace. 

1932, Minnesota—the Lincoln School is a pitiless place where hundreds of Native American children, forcibly separated from their parents, are sent to be educated. It is also home to an orphan named Odie O’Banion, a lively boy whose exploits earn him the superintendent’s wrath. Forced to flee, he and his brother Albert, their best friend Mose, and a brokenhearted little girl named Emmy steal away in a canoe, heading for the mighty Mississippi and a place to call their own.

Over the course of one unforgettable summer, these four orphans will journey into the unknown and cross paths with others who are adrift, from struggling farmers and traveling faith healers to displaced families and lost souls of all kinds. With the feel of a modern classic, This Tender Land is an en­thralling, big-hearted epic that shows how the magnificent American landscape connects us all, haunts our dreams, and makes us whole.

*****

This is a conversation you’ll want to watch.

The Hot Book of the Week at The Poisoned Pen is a debut by the screenwriter of “Jurassic Park”. Check out Cold Storage by David Koepp. It’s available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2m0ravh

“On every level, Cold Storage is pure, unadulterated entertainment.” —Douglas Preston, The New York Times Book Review

For readers of Andy Weir and Noah Hawley comes an astonishing debut by the screenwriter of Jurassic Park: a wild and terrifying adventure about three strangers who must work together to contain a highly contagious, deadly organism

When Pentagon bioterror operative Roberto Diaz was sent to investigate a suspected biochemical attack, he found something far worse: a highly mutative organism capable of extinction-level destruction. He contained it and buried it in cold storage deep beneath a little-used military repository.

Now, after decades of festering in a forgotten sub-basement, the specimen has found its way out and is on a lethal feeding frenzy.  Only Diaz knows how to stop it.

He races across the country to help two unwitting security guards—one an ex-con, the other a single mother.  Over one harrowing night, the unlikely trio must figure out how to quarantine this horror again.  All they have is luck, fearlessness, and a mordant sense of humor.  Will that be enough to save all of humanity

Violence is Golden  Martin Edwards is on fire, with multiple starred reviews and  widespread acclaim for his new mystery series set in 1930s London, featuring a whip-smart amateur sleuth Rachel Savernake and her unlikely cohort, journalist Jacob Flint (Gallows Court, Sept. 2019). Check out the excellent Q&A with this powerhouse mystery author, editor, critic, and expert in Golden Age crime fiction, printed by Publishers Weekly in July.  Click here to read the article

Edwards’ Gallows Court is available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2lC6utB

Here’s the summary of Gallows Court.

“Superb—a pitch-perfect blend of Golden Age charm and sinister modern suspense, with a main character to die for. This is the book Edwards was born to write.” —Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author

London, 1930

Sooty, sulphurous, and malign: no woman should be out on a night like this. A spate of violent deaths—the details too foul to print—has horrified the capital and the smog-bound streets are deserted. But Rachel Savernake—the enigmatic daughter of a notorious hanging judge—is no ordinary woman. To Scotland Yard’s embarrassment, she solved the Chorus Girl Murder, and now she’s on the trail of another killer.

Jacob Flint, a young newspaperman temporarily manning The Clarion‘s crime desk, is looking for the scoop that will make his name. He’s certain there is more to the Miss Savernake’s amateur sleuthing than meets the eye. He’s not the only one. 

Flint’s pursuit of Rachel Savernake will draw him ever-deeper into a labyrinth of deception and corruption. Murder-by-murder, he’ll be swept ever-closer to its dark heart—an ancient place of execution. Twisted family relationships add to a trust-no-one narrative positively reeking with atmosphere.

In the September 6, 2019 New York Times, Walter Mosley is identified as “a novelist and screenwriter”. Yes, he is, and his opinion piece stems from his experience as a screenwriter. However, in the mystery field, he is the recipient of the 2016 Grand Master Award from Mystery Writers of America. He is the author of numerous novels, including the award-winning Easy Rawlins mysteries. His books can be found in the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2lJJuIQ

However, today, it’s more important that he’s the author of an opinion piece, “Why I Quite the Writers’ Room”. The subject? “The worst thing you can do to citizens of a democracy is silence them.” You might want to read the article. https://nyti.ms/2zXECDX

Debut mystery writer Sara E. Johnson appears at The Poisoned Pen on Monday, September 9 at 7 PM. She’ll introduce her book, Molten Mud Murder, and her protagonist, Alexa Glock. If you can’t make it, you can order signed copies of the book through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2k7sSur

You can read the summary of Molten Mud Murder here.

Is the past better left undisturbed, or unearthed?

When a body is found half-submerged in a molten mud pot in one of Rotorua’s famous geothermal wonderlands, forensics expert Alexa Glock spots a way to prolong her stay in New Zealand, which she has been visiting for work. Teeth are her expertise, and the investigation needs her help, as other ways of identifying the body may have… melted away.

Joining Detective Inspector Bruce Horne and his team, Alexa discovers that the murder victim, a city councilman, had trespassed on an island sacred to the Maori. The ancient punishment for such a transgression is disaster, demonic possession, or death… and when she visits the island to investigate, the same outcome is promised for her. Alexa doesn’t believe in ancient spirits returning to exact revenge, and when another victim turns up dead she begins to wonder whether the real threat is something—or someone—much closer to home.

*****

Better yet, you can read how Johnson’s year in New Zealand inspired murder. That’s a murder mystery, of course. She wrote about it for BookReporter.com. https://bit.ly/2kzH0Nd

Tickets are still available as of today, but they might not be for long. If you’re interested, you should call soon.

Diana Gabaldon and Tara Bennett discuss and sign

The Making of Outlander The Series: The Official Guide to Seasons Three and Four

Saturday, October 19th at 6:30pm

WHEN:October 19, 2019 @ 6:30 pm ““ 8:30 pm

WHERE:DoubleTree Resort by Hilton Hotel Paradise Valley- Scottsdale
5401 North Scottsdale Road
Scottsdale AZ 85250

COST:$55.00, $60.00 CONTACT: Patrick Millikin 480 947 2974

 Email

The Doubletree Resort by Hilton Hotels Paradise Valley-Scottsdale

5401 N Scottsdale Rd,  Scottsdale AZ 85250 

Doors open at 5:30pm

Cash Bar, Valet Parking available

Ms Gabaldon will only sign copies of MAKING OF OUTLANDER and any of her titles purchased at the event.  She will not be able to sign previously-purchased books.

Ticket Price includes copy of THE MAKING OF OUTLANDER THE SERIES: THE OFFICIAL GUIDE TO SEASONS THREE AND FOUR.

See how the story of Jamie Frasier and Claire Beauchamp Randall comes to life on the screen with this official, photo-filled companion to the third and fourth seasons of the hit Starz television series based on Diana Gabaldon’s bestselling Outlander novels.

I’ve been lucky enough to hear Karin Slaughter a couple times, and even sit at her table for a tea, so I can tell you she’s entertaining and you’ll definitely want to watch the YouTube video of her recent appearance at The Poisoned Pen. It was her last stop on her book tour for The Last Widow. Even with kittens to play with, she signed copies of the book, so you can still order a signed copy through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2zCFccU

With so many people in the audience who were new to the bookstore, owner Barbara Peters talked about the newsletter and the 250 events the store hosts every year. You’ll want to listen to her conversation with Karin Slaughter.

If you don’t want to watch the event, here’s the summary of The Last Widow.

New York Times bestselling author Karin Slaughter brings back Will Trent and Sara Linton in this superb and timely thriller full of devious twists, disturbing secrets, and shocking surprises you won’t see coming

A mysterious kidnapping

On a hot summer night, a scientist from the Centers for Disease Control is grabbed by unknown assailants in a shopping center parking lot. The authorities are desperate to save the doctor who’s been vanished into thin air. 

A devastating explosion

One month later, the serenity of a sunny Sunday afternoon is shattered by the boom of a ground-shaking blast—followed by another seconds later. One of Atlanta’s busiest and most important neighborhoods has been bombed—the location of Emory University, two major hospitals, the FBI headquarters, and the CDC.

A diabolical enemy 

Medical examiner Sara Linton and her partner Will Trent, an investigator with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, rush to the scene—and into the heart of a deadly conspiracy that threatens to destroy thousands of innocent lives. When the assailants abduct Sara, Will goes undercover to save her and prevent a massac