John Charles welcomed Amanda Cox for a virtual author event at The Poisoned Pen. Cox is the author of The Bitter End Birding Society. You can order a copy of the book through the Webstore, https://bit.ly/46Jl7hq
Here is the description of The Bitter End Birding Society.
A forbidden romance, a fractured family, and one woman’s journey to piece it all together
Hometown hero Ana Leigh Watkins ventures to Bitter End, Tennessee, to help her great-aunt prepare for retirement. A town called Bitter End seems an ironic place for Ana to refresh her weary spirit, but she’s desperate for respite from the attention and unwarranted admiration of her community. While on a hike in Roan Mountain, a ragtag group of amateur bird-watchers takes her under their wing–a little against her will. However, she quickly warms to these genuine souls seeking solace in the great outdoors.
But when Ana’s adventures in Bitter End lead her to a severed branch of her family tree–one that involves the forbidden love between a moonshiner’s daughter and a preacher’s son–what began as a getaway to help her great-aunt becomes a transformative journey that binds together two women who, though they live on the same street, have been estranged for sixty years.
An immersive faith-based novel of finding belonging, reconciliation, and new beginnings for fans of southern fiction. This narrative of friendship and community makes for a perfect book club selection.
Amanda Cox is a two-time Christy Award-winner and author of multiple Southern fiction novels. She crafts stories that explore themes of hope, healing, and belonging that invite readers to journey alongside authentic characters. She lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with her husband and their three children. Learn more at AmandaCoxWrites.com.
This month, Deb Lewis has eight book suggestions. The links should take you directly to the books, but, if not, check the Webstore. https://store.poisonedpen.com/
#1 New York Times bestselling author John Grisham is the acclaimed master of the legal thriller. Now, he’s back with his first-ever whodunit, even more suspenseful than his courtroom dramas, as a small-time lawyer accused of murder races to find the real killer to clear his name.
An unforgettable suspense novel that combines the storytelling talents of Academy Award-winning actor Reese Witherspoon and internationally bestselling author Harlan Coben. Gone Before Goodbye is the story of a woman trapped in a deadly conspiracy—where uncovering the truth could cost her everything.
“A tantalizing mystery…for word-sleuths and crime-fans alike.” —Janice Hallett, bestselling author of The Appeal. She knew there’d be ghosts in Oxford, she just didn’t think they’d make their way to the dictionary.
The 20th mystery in the #1 New York Times-bestselling Armand Gamache series.
Somewhere out there, in the darkness, a black wolf is feeding.
Several weeks ago, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec and his team uncovered and stopped a domestic terrorist attack in Montréal, arresting the person behind it. A man they called the Black Wolf.
Nancy Drew meets Yellowjackets in We Had a Hunch—a dark and suspenseful thriller from USA Today bestseller Tom Ryan that asks a simple question: what happens to your favorite teenage detectives when they grow up?
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Celebrants and The Guncle, a heartwarming story about finding oneself in one of the most romantic cities on Earth.
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly, the Lincoln Lawyer is back with a case against an AI company whose product may have been responsible for the murder of a young girl.
From the national bestselling author of In My Dreams I Hold a Knife and Midnight is the Darkest Hour comes a chilling, compulsive story of five amateur sleuths, whose hunt for an elusive killer catapults them into danger as the world watches.
Allison Brennan and Shane Gericke both have new books out, and Gericke asked Brennan to interview him about his new book at The Poisoned Pen. Gericke’s new book is Ocean of Bones. Brennan’s book is Don’t Say a Word. There are signed copies of both books available in the Webstore. https://store.poisonedpen.com/
Here’s the description of Ocean of Bones.
The oil rig spasmed like heroin withdrawal. Broussard staggered for the rails as riggers and engineers crashed onto the splintering deck. Sheet metal howled like a chorus of the dead as the highly flammable oil and gas spewing from the drill tower looked for just one spark . . .
An oil rig disaster sends Remy “Knockout” Broussard to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. Normally he’d rest there for eternity, but the oil gods watched the rough-and-tough roustabout sacrifice his life to save his fellow workers. They decide to reunite Knockout with his grieving family and choose two wisecracking treasure hunters for the job. At turns hilarious and heartrending, it’s Shane Gericke at his very best.
n the second book of the thrilling new Angelhart Investigations series from New York Times bestselling author Allison Brennan, the Angelharts must figure out whether a teen’s death is a tragic accident…or a murder.
The police ruled Elijah Martinez’s death an accidental drug overdose, but the teen’s grieving mother isn’t convinced. With the case officially closed, Angelhart Investigations is the only one who can help her find the truth. Margo Angelhart’s sure this will be an easy solve—she’ll talk to Elijah’s friends and employer, retrace his steps, and figure out what happened in his final hours.
Except none of his friends believe he did drugs, and the teacher who’s been vocal about the police mishandling the case turns up dead. Every thread Margo pulls leads back to a dangerous drug ring that once ran through the school.
When Margo’s brother Jack, a former cop, can’t get straight answers out of the police, they don’t know if it’s because of an active case…or a cover-up. Margo’s only sure of one thing—she has to find out what really happened to Elijah before more teens become pawns in a twisted scheme.
ALLISON BRENNAN is the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of over forty-five novels. She has been nominated for Best Paperback Original Thriller by International Thriller Writers and the Daphne du Maurier Award. A former consultant in the California State Legislature, Allison lives in Arizona with her husband, five kids and assorted pets.
Enjoy the conversation with Shane Gericke and Allison Brennan.
John Charles recently welcomed Colleen Gleason for a virtual author chat. Gleason’s latest book, Lady Darling Inquires After a Killer, the first in a series, set during the time of Sherlock Holmes. You can order a copy of the book through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/42T6XsO
Here’s the summary of Lady Darling Inquires After a Killer.
Lady Bridgerton meets The Thursday Murder Club in the first of a charming, Victorian-set mystery series from bestselling author Colleen Gleason.
Lady Darling is a woman “of a certain age.” Fifty, to be specific-which, in the eyes of London society, makes her uninteresting, eccentric, and a little intimidating.
She’s a widow.
An empty-nester (all of her children very successfully married-off).
She’s titled, influential…and very, very rich.
Now she just wants to be left alone to enjoy her pets and her gardens and her books.
Until someone turns up dead at a dinner party, and Lady Darling is on the scene.
What’s a smart, responsible, capable woman to do?
Find the killer, of course!
Learn more about Colleen Gleason and Lady Darling in the video.
John Charles welcomed Frank Verlizzo for a Poisoned Pen virtual event. Verlizzo discussed the first book in his Retro Broadway Mystery series, Scenery of the Crime. You can order a copy through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/4gFL7yI
Here’s the description of Scenery of the Crime.
In this first book of the Retro Broadway Mystery Series, set in 1975 New York City, several bizarrely executed murders involve theatrical ad execs Vic Senso and Bettie Balboa in the far-from glamorous world of backstage Broadway. Behind all the beautiful scenery hides a myriad of potentially life-threatening hazards. Has there ever been a stage-related “accident” that was actually a cover-up for murder?
Legendary actress Helena Baxter is once again starring on Broadway! A weird death on stage places her in the spotlight of suspicion, along with a cast of other suspects, including her dashing British bridegroom, her Hollywood Producer Ex, the demure set designer, the ubiquitous photographer, the watchful general manager, and a catty rival diva.
With assistance from a quirky press agent and her handsome young assistant, Vic and Bettie inadvertently place themselves in grave danger. It will take NYPD Detective Renny Clements and high society psychic, Mizz Mitzi, to make sense of the murders in time to save the lives of their new friends.
Enjoy Frank Verlizzo’s discussion with John Charles.
Thanks once again to Oline Cogdill for two reviews. In the South Florida Sun Sentinel, she discusses Fog and Fury by Rachel Howzell Hall and also the anthology, Double Crossing Van Dine. You can order the books through The Poisoned Pen’s Webstore. https://store.poisonedpen.com/
Book review: ‘Fog and Fury’ about small beach town has realistic characters, brisk plot
Plus, smart ‘Double Crossing Van Dine’ anthology breaks all the rules of detective fiction.
‘Fog and Fury: A Haven Thriller’ by Rachel Howzell Hall; Thomas & Mercer; 395 pages; $28.99
The fog that seems to permeate the small, supposedly peaceful Haven, California, tends to mask the fury that seeps throughout the beach town as new resident Alyson “Sonny” Rush arrives in Rachel Howzell Hall’s aptly titled “Fog and Fury.”
Despite Haven’s nickname of “Mayberry by the Sea,” Sonny is often “blinded” by the persistent fog every morning. The fog, she says, “muffled sound … obscured sight … made the familiar feel foreign.” Haven “ain’t what it seems,” she’s warned about this town of 1,000. People do “bad” things.
Yet Sonny leaves the LAPD after a decade to move to this Northern California town to work as a private investigator for her godfather, Ivan Poole, who also is a former police detective. Sonny and her mother, who has the beginnings of dementia, are among the few Black residents.
Sonny learns immediately how duplicitous Haven can be when her first case involves the family of wealthy Cooper Sutton, her ex-lover who had told her he was divorced. (He isn’t.) He said he would move to Los Angeles. (He wasn’t planning to.) He’s too invested in his career as a real estate developer. He wants to make Haven more attractive to investors.
Sonny’s first case is finding Figgy, a goldendoodle owned by London and Mackenzie, Cooper’s wife and daughter. Mackenzie claims the dog was stolen, but Ivan believes she has hidden the dog to get attention. The dog is safe. But the Sutton family is a toxic mess. Sonny also is hired by the parents of Xander Monroe, a star student and athlete whose recent death was ruled a suicide. The parents refuse to believe Xander killed himself and they distrust what appears to be an incompetent police investigation.
Sonny’s investigations lead to a complex network of corruption, betrayal and lies infesting Haven. Howzell Hall elevates “Fog and Fury” with realistic characters who lead a brisk plot. She infuses her novels with bits of passive racism that hit hard. Haven is so small, and has so few Black residents, that none of the stores stock Black hair care products.
“Fog and Fury” launches a new series for Howzell Hall, whose last several novels have been stand-alones. A trip back to Haven would be welcomed.
Short stories anthology
‘Double Crossing Van Dine,’ edited by Donna Andrews, Greg Herren and Art Taylor; introduction by Catriona McPherson; Crippen & Landru; 310 pages; $22
The Golden Age of Detective Fiction that launched the classic genre novel is considered to be from the 1920s to 1930s. But contemporary readers know that a second Golden Age began in the mid-1980s when the novels became more emotionally involving along with the introduction of detectives from myriad backgrounds and cultures. The genre continues to evolve, seeing several golden ages in the past decades.
Going out on a limb here, many authors from the ’20s and ’30s haven’t survived the test of time, aside from a few, such as Agatha Christie. And going out on another limb here, S.S. Van Dine, the focus of this short story anthology, probably is among those only recognized by readers steeped in the history of mystery fiction.
Van Dine, whose real name was Willard Huntington Wright, was an American art critic, literary editor, biographer and author who wrote the series about detective Philo Vance.
He also penned the “Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Fiction.” The 20 clever short stories in this smart anthology each aims to ignore them, or “break them like kindling,” as author Catriona McPherson writes in her introduction. Crime fiction has been richer when writers discarded these rather fatuous and often useless rules and set their own paths, as the authors of these short stories show.
Each story begins describing one of Van Dine’s rules, then crushing it.
Fort Lauderdale author Elaine Viets’ “Sweet Poison,” about two young women struggling in New York’s Lower East Side during 1921, forgets the rule that “all clues must be publicly stated,” as they deal with the unexpected death of one’s “Wall Street sugar daddy.”
Barb Goffman puts aside the “no love interest” rule in “Baby Love” as a fledgling-but-broke private detective tries to launch his career so he and his very loving wife can afford a baby. Co-editor Greg Herren stifles the “no supernatural” rule with “The Spirit Tree,” in which the solution to a murder comes from beyond. The “only one detective rule” doesn’t work for Delia Pitts’ “Better Together,” which finds two heads are better than one.
Boca Raton author Alan Orloff’s “The Society Set” takes a butler who has several jobs for his persnickety employer on a journey of a jewelry heist that actually embraces Van Dine’s version of a “fascinating crime.” Leigh Perry has a work-around for the “no secret societies” ban in “Guilted Lily,” in which a tight-knit group of grifters seek a score.
Tom Mead dismisses the rule that servants should never be the culprits in “The Tell-Tale Thumb.” Some people, Mead writes, see only the uniform, not the person who hides in plain sight.
The majority of the authors in “Double Crossing Van Dine” have either won or been nominated for awards. A handy brief bio of each of the authors may inspire readers to seek out more of their stories.
Join a virtual event at The Poisoned Pen on Wednesday, October 1 at 5 PM when J.A. Jance discusses her new Joanna Brady novel, The Girl from Devil’s Lake. You can watch the event on the bookstore’s YouTube channel or Facebook page. You can order a signed copy through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/4nlyE5N
Here’s the summary of The Girl from Devil’s Lake.
Arizona County Sheriff Joanna Brady solves her biggest case yet, from a body in the desert to crimes spanning decades and countries, in the thrilling latest installment in the New York Times bestselling suspense series.
Sheriff Joanna Brady is looking forward to the holidays with her busy family, and to celebrating her daughter Jenny’s graduation from the police academy. But the family is interrupted when a body is discovered beneath a flooded bridge in the Arizona desert, and Joanna is called onto the case. A young boy was murdered, and the details of the crime scene tell Joanna two things: This was not the killer’s first murder. And it’s only a matter of time before he kills again.
As Joanna digs deeper into the case, she begins to understand this murder is just one piece of a much, much bigger puzzle. She uncovers unlikely connections between cases of mysterious deaths and missing persons, having long since gone cold, that extend far beyond the confines of her small town and include the discovery of a body near Devil’s Lake, North Dakota. To get justice for the victims and to save the town of Bisbee from a predator, Joanna must chase down every dangerous lead.
Meanwhile, as a dogged journalist is circling the case and privileged information is leaked, Joanna can’t be sure who to trust. Could a prolific killer be hiding in plain sight? And how far will that person go to keep his many crimes hidden?
J. A. Jance is the New York Times bestselling author of the J. P. Beaumont series, the Joanna Brady series, the Ali Reynolds series, six thrillers about the Walker Family, and one volume of poetry. Born in South Dakota and brought up in Bisbee, Arizona, she lives with her husband in Seattle, Washington.
Don Bentlley recently acted as guest host at The Poisoned Pen, hosting David McCloskey, Jack Stewart and M.P. Woodward. McCloskey’s book is The Persian. Jack Stewart’s thriller is Declared Hostile. M.P. Woodward’s latest books are Tom Clancy: Terminal Velocity and Red Tide. There are signed books available through the Webstore. https://store.poisonedpen.com/
Here are the summaries of the authors’ books.
Kamran Esfahani, a dentist living out a dreary existence in Stockholm, agrees to spy for the Mossad after he’s recruited by Arik Glitzman, the chief of a clandestine unit tasked with running targeted assassinations and sabotage inside Iran. At Glitzman’s direction, Kam returns to his native Tehran and opens a dental practice there, using it as a cover for the Israeli intelligence agency. Kam proves to be a skillful asset, quietly earning money helping Glitzman smuggle weapons, run surveillance, and conduct kidnappings. But when Kam tries to recruit an Iranian widow seeking to avenge the death of her husband at the hands of the Mossad, the operation goes terribly wrong, landing him in prison under the watchful eye of a sadistic officer whom he knows only as the “General.” And now, after enduring three years of torture in captivity, Kamran Esfahani sits in an interrogation room across from the General, preparing to write his final confession. Kam knows it is too late to save himself. But he has managed to keep one secret—only one—and he just might be able to save that. In this haunting thriller, careening between Tehran and Tel Aviv, Istanbul and Stockholm, David McCloskey delivers an intricate story of vengeance, deceit, and the power of love and forgiveness in a world of lies.
David McCloskey is the author of the novels Damascus Station, Moscow X, and The Seventh Floor, and is cohost of the podcast The Rest Is Classified. A former CIA analyst, he worked at Langley and in field stations across the Middle East. He lives in Texas.
A treasonous plot. Clandestine actors. World order hanging in the balance.
Elite NCIS investigator Emmy “Punky” King, seasoned in global espionage, uncovers the edges of an intricate international conspiracy following the arrest of a U.S. Marine. Relying solely on her sharp intuition, she starts peeling back layers of a complex mystery that links the U.S. president to a clandestine corporation. As she navigates the corruption, Punky finds herself deep in an escalating game that threatens more than just national security.
Halfway across the world in Eastern Europe, Colt Bancroft and the Black Ponies are thrust into a high-stakes mission to prevent nuclear weapons from falling into the hands of rogue Russian operatives. But when their operation spirals into chaos following an ambush by an unexpected adversary, Colt finds himself navigating the deadly terrain of enemy territory, fighting for survival.
Although separated by continents, their missions are fatally intertwined. Colt must battle against overwhelming odds while Punky races against time to uncover the traitor behind it all—both unaware that if either fails, the world will plunge into chaos.
From Jack Stewart, former US Navy Top Gun instructor pilot, comes Declared Hostile, the intense fourth installment in the acclaimed Battle Born series. This riveting narrative is a must-read for fans of Tom Clancy and Dale Brown, packing high-stakes action and intricate conspiracy into every chapter.
Jack Stewart grew up in Seattle, Washington and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy before serving twenty-three years as a fighter pilot. During that time, he flew combat missions from three different aircraft carriers and deployed to Afghanistan as a member of an Air Force Tactical Air Control Party. His last deployment was with a joint special operations counter-terrorism task force in Africa.Jack is a graduate of the U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN) and holds a Master of Science in Global Leadership from the University of San Diego. He is an airline pilot and has appeared as a military and commercial aviation expert on international cable news. He lives in Dallas, Texas with his wife and three children.
Jack Ryan Jr battles terrorists in the disputed mountains of Kashmir to save a comrade in the latest entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series.
A string of savage murders in the United States seems unrelated until the FBI makes a shocking discovery: a decade ago, all of the murder victims were involved in a raid to eliminate the Umayyad Revolutionary Council, a vicious terror group that—were it not for John Clark and the Campus—would have perpetrated the most devastating attack against critical American infrastructure in history. Now it appears they’re back, with a next-generation leader hell-bent on revenge.
Mary Pat Foley, Director of National Intelligence, greenlights an op for the Campus to cut the head off the snake. Clark taps ex-Delta commando Bartosz “Midas” Jankowski to lead a kill team deep into the mountains to snuff out the charismatic terror leader. But when the hunters become the hunted, it’s up to Jack Rayan Jr. to avert disaster amid a deadly power game of nations vying for control of the disputed region.
On a rapid covert ingress from neighboring India, he’ll traverse the Himalayan wilderness with a rifle on his back and a tough Mujahadin fighter by his side. Jack knows time is growing short—he must save his team and lead them into position to be the first to hit terminal velocity.
“An adrenaline-laced naval thriller ripped straight from tomorrow’s headlines.” —Jack Carr, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Red Sky Mourning
From the New York Times bestselling author behind the Tom Clancy Jack Ryan Jr. books and former U.S. Naval Intelligence officer comes a gripping and timely military thriller.
America’s Navy is stretched to the breaking point. China’s combat fleet grows. And both countries compete for access to advanced semiconductor chips produced only in Taiwan. When the Chinese strike first, casualties mount and high-tech arsenals are exhausted. It’s a war of attrition—and the Chinese are winning.
Rear Adm. Will Cole outgoing operations officer (N3) of the Pacific Fleet is on the brink of retirement. After a thirty-year career, he’s ready to settle down, rebuild his marriage, and pass the torch to the next generation of the “Fighting Coles”: Their oldest, Henry, flies F-18s. Their middle son, Jamie, is a merchant marine officer. Their daughter, Lucy, has a high-tech job with a defense contractor.
But all plans are scrapped when war drums start beating. The Pacific Fleet commander sends Cole stateside to challenge a hardened political bureaucracy into getting serious about the threat to peace in the Pacific. Proven right when the missiles start flying, Cole is ordered to do the impossible: destroy the Chinese fleet and retake Taiwan—before it’s too late. He’ll risk everything in a final fleet amphibious action—his career, his Navy, and his family.
With the pacing of a master storyteller and a flair for riveting action sequences, M. P. Woodward captivates readers while raising important questions about the U.S. Navy’s ability to remain the world’s guarantor of a free sea in the twenty-first century.
From the halls of Washington to the mountains of Taiwan to the waters of the South Pacific, Red Tide is the story of America at war, as depicted through the eyes of one courageous naval family.
M. P. Woodward?is the New York Times best-selling author of the Tom Clancy Jack Ryan Jr. series and The Handler CIA espionage series (The Handler and?Dead Drop).??He served as a U.S. naval intelligence officer before going on to an international career in tech and streaming media.? He lives in Redmond, Washington.
Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, welcomed P.J. Tracy for a virtual event at the bookstore. Tracy is the author of the Monkeewrench novels. It’s been six years since the last Monkeewrench book. Fans have been waiting for The Deepest Cut. There are still a few signed copies available through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/3Vn9yY9
Here’s the description of The Deepest Cut.
The Monkeewrench team is back in a brand-new nail-biting thriller from New York Times bestselling author P. J. Tracy.
Minneapolis homicide detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth arrest a sadistic pair of killers for the murder of several women with the help of Monkeewrench, their eccentric, cyber-sleuth friends and partners. One of the killers dies in custody and the other, Wolfgang Mauer, is sent to a maximum security mental hospital in a rural corner of Minnesota.
There, Mauer plots his escape–and his vengeance. With the help of his mother, a former militia leader and assassin living an extravagant, reclusive life, he schemes to get out of the mental hospital and hunt down the detectives and the Monkeewrench crew that got him a life sentence.
When Mauer successfully escapes, an inexperienced county sheriff is thrown head-first into a massive manhunt for the murderer. When she finds three bodies and discovers that Mauer has kidnapped a young boy, she realizes that Mauer’s escape was just the beginning. With many lives on the line, Magozzi, Gino, and Monkeewrench join in the desperate search effort. The longer he’s at large, the more people will die, and Mauer is on a mission to find those who sentenced him, so they all have targets on their backs.
P. J. Tracy was the pseudonym of mother-daughter writing team P. J. and Traci Lambrecht. Traci spent most of her childhood riding and showing horses. She graduated with a Russian studies major from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, where she also studied voice. Her aspirations of becoming a spy were dashed when the Cold War ended, so she began writing to finance her annoying habits of travel and singing in rock bands. Much to her mother’s relief, she finally realized that the written word was her true calling. They had a long, prolific career together in multiple genres before P. J.’s passing in December 2016. Traci continues to write.
Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, welcomed James R. Benn back to the bookstore to talk about his new book, A Bitter Wind.. She said the two have been together for all twenty of the books in the series, and he’s already submitted the next one in the Billy Boyle series. Benn said when he started the series, he thought he’d have enough material for six or seven books about World War II. There are signed copies of A Bitter Wind available in the Webstore. https://bit.ly/4mp7LNd
Here’s the summary of A Bitter Wind.
To solve a murder at an English airbase, US Army Captain Billy Boyle must immerse himself in the fascinating and secretive world of WWII radio espionage.
Christmas Day 1944: After his last mission put him in the tailspin of the Battle of the Bulge, Captain Billy Boyle travels to southeast England to visit his girlfriend, Diana Seaton, for a brief holiday respite. Diana is engaged in classified work at RAF Hawkinge, including Operation Corona, which recruits German-speaking Women’s Auxiliary Air Force members—many of them Jewish refugees from the Kindertransport rescue—to countermand German orders and direct night fighters away from Allied bombers.
It’s fascinating and critical espionage work, but it’s laced with peril, as Billy finds out. On a scenic Christmas walk along the White Cliffs of Dover, Billy and Diana stumble upon the dead body of a US Air Force officer. In the dead man’s pocket are papers with highly confidential information about radio interception operations. Information worth killing over.
As Billy digs into the secret world of codebreakers and radio jammers stationed at Hawkinge, another body turns up. Now Billy must find out what connects these two men—and who was so hell-bent on silencing them. Enlisting the help of his long-time associates, Billy undertakes another thrilling investigation that brings him to war-torn Yugoslavia, where he must rescue an escaped POW who may be the only person who knows the truth.
James R. Benn is the author of the Billy Boyle World War II mysteries. The debut, Billy Boyle, was selected as a Top Five Book of the Year by Book Sense and was a Dilys Award nominee, A Blind Goddess was longlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, The Rest Is Silence was a Barry Award nominee, and The Devouring was a Macavity Award nominee. Benn, a former librarian, lives on the Gulf Coast of Florida with his wife, Deborah Mandel.
Enjoy James R. Benn’s conversation with Barbara Peters.
