PoisonedBlogger

Authors Amy Engel (The Roanoke Girls) and Isabella Maldonado (Blood’s Echo) recently appeared at The Poisoned Pen to discuss their books.

Patrick Millikin from The Poisoned Pen joined bookstore owner Barbara Peters to interview the authors.

Maldonado’s Blood’s Echo is a debut, kicking off the Veranda Cruz series, set in Phoenix. Here’s the summary from the Web Store.

Whenever the lust for drugs, money, and power lays claim to a city, brutality is never far behind. Phoenix detective Veranda Cruz is dead set on taking down the Villalobos Cartel, but the ruthlessness of her quarry demands a ruthless edge of her own.

Detective Veranda Cruz leads an elite task force on the Phoenix Police Drug Enforcement Bureau. Bartolo Villalobos is the heir apparent to the most powerful cartel in the world. No one in the department suspects the secret motive behind Veranda’s obsession with the cartel . . . until an operation goes horribly wrong.

Targeted by an increasingly unstable drug lord, Veranda must protect her family and stay clear of adversaries within the force while she sets a trap for Bartolo. As the desert action heats up, Veranda and her new Homicide team—along with an arson investigator who kindles a flame for her—are all drawn into a deadly gambit. Taking down Bartolo is the ultimate goal, but is Veranda ready to trade life for justice?

Praise:

“Maldonado ratchets up the tension with each page, leaving you breathless as you race to the end.”—Robin Burcell, bestselling author of The Kill Order

“Isabella Maldonado is off to a great start, giving us a tense thriller with a strong sense of place and an insider’s look at some of the most dangerous work in law enforcement. This first Veranda Cruz novel will leave readers eagerly awaiting her next adventure.”—Jan Burke, New York Times bestselling author

“The Phoenix sun isn’t the only thing burning in this thrilling debut and I look forward to more.”—Shannon Baker, bestselling author of the Kate Fox mystery series

“Maldonado has crafted a top-notch thriller that will have police procedural junkies and thrill-seekers turning page after page, late into the night.”—Maegan Beaumont, award-winning author of Carved in Darkness

*****

Here’s the summary of Amy Engel’s The Roanoke Girls.

“Roanoke girls never last long around here. In the end, we either run or we die.”

After her mother’s suicide, fifteen year-old Lane Roanoke came to live with her grandparents and fireball cousin, Allegra, on their vast estate in rural Kansas. Lane knew little of her mother’s mysterious family, but she quickly embraced life as one of the rich and beautiful Roanoke girls. But when she discovered the dark truth at the heart of the family, she ran…fast and far away.

Eleven years later, Lane is adrift in Los Angeles when her grandfather calls to tell her Allegra has gone missing. Did she run too? Or something worse? Unable to resist his pleas, Lane returns to help search, and to ease her guilt at having left Allegra behind. Her homecoming may mean a second chance with the boyfriend whose heart she broke that long ago summer. But it also means facing the devastating secret that made her flee, one she may not be strong enough to run from again.

As it weaves between Lane’s first Roanoke summer and her return, The Roanoke Girls shocks and tantalizes, twisting its way through revelation after mesmerizing revelation, exploring the secrets families keep and the fierce and terrible love that both binds them together and rips them apart.

*****

Signed copies of both books, Blood’s Echo and The Roanoke Girls, can be ordered through the Web Store.  https://store.poisonedpen.com

 

 

 

You might not have seen the Livestream yet of Tim Dorsey. He was at The Poisoned Pen for the first time in years, on book tour for Clownfish Blues.

We do have photos from the event.

If you missed the Livestream event, you can still watch it. https://livestream.com/poisonedpen/events/6962949

And, you can order signed copies of Clownfish Blues, and copies of Dorsey’s other books, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2mMvwos

Well, if you know Brad Parks, you know Say Nothing is an odd title for him. (Not kidding, Brad.)

Brad was just here at The Poisoned Pen to talk about his new book.  Say Nothing is a departure for him. It’s a thriller, not a Carter Ross mystery. He explains why in his conversation with bookstore owner, Barbara Peters, via Livestream. https://livestream.com/poisonedpen/events/7110430

Here’s the summary of the book, as it appears at the Web Store.

“Terrific book. Truly terrific. Tension throughout and tears at the end. What could be better than that?”—Sue Grafton
 
“Outstanding—starts with a bang and gets tenser and tenser. Say Nothing shows Parks is a quality writer at the top of his form.”—Lee Child

Judge Scott Sampson doesn’t brag about having a perfect life, but the evidence is clear: A prestigious job. A beloved family. On an ordinary Wednesday afternoon, he is about to pick up his six-year-old twins to go swimming when his wife, Alison, texts him that she’ll get the kids from school instead.

It’s not until she gets home later that Scott realizes she doesn’t have the children. And she never sent the text. Then the phone rings, and every parent’s most chilling nightmare begins. A man has stolen Sam and Emma. A man who warns the judge to do exactly as he is told in a drug case he is about to rule on. If the judge fails to follow his instructions, the consequences for the children will be dire.

For Scott and Alison, the kidnapper’s call is only the beginning of a twisting, gut-churning ordeal of blackmail, deceit, and terror; a high-profile trial like none the judge or his wife has ever experienced. Their marriage falters. Suspicions and long-buried jealousies rise to the surface. Fractures appear. Lies are told.

Through it all, Scott and Alison will stop at nothing to get their children back, no matter the cost to themselves . . . or to each other.
 
“A twisting, suspenseful ride that adds a new and original twist to the legal thriller: a judge, cornered. If you haven’t discovered Brad Parks yet, Say Nothing is your chance. Smart, propulsive storytelling.”—William Landay

*****

We have a few pictures of Brad with Barbara prior to and during the event.

And, then there’s Brad with the book stock.

You can order signed copies of Say Nothing through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2mG6Yxh

Author Lisa See is going to be at the Tucson Festival of Books on Sunday, March 12 talking about her new book, The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane.

Before she appears there, she made time for an interview on Goodreads. You can learn how See came up with the idea for the book. Find out about her research. https://bit.ly/2m3PtUt

Even if you can’t make it to Tucson, you can order a signed copy The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, or copies of See’s other books, through our Web Store. https://bit.ly/2mD4DTA

Author Lyndsay Faye is fascinated with Sherlock Holmes. Her forthcoming book, The Whole Art of Detection, is a collection of stories featuring him.

Here’s the summary of the book, as it appears in the Web Store.

Internationally bestselling author Lyndsay Faye was introduced to the Sherlock Holmes mysteries when she was ten years old and her dad suggested she read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s short story ‘The Adventure of the Speckled Band.’ She immediately became enamored with tales of Holmes and his esteemed biographer Dr. John Watson, and later, began spinning these quintessential characters into her own works of fiction-from her acclaimed debut novel, Dust and Shadow, which pitted the famous detective against Jack the Ripper, to a series of short stories for the Strand Magazine, whose predecessor published the very first Sherlock Holmes short story in 1891.

Faye’s best Holmes tales, including two new works, are brought together in The Whole Art of Detection, a stunning collection that spans Holmes’s career, from self-taught young upstart to publicly lauded detective, both before and after his faked death over a Swiss waterfall in 1894. In ‘The Lowther Park Mystery,’ the unsociable Holmes is forced to attend a garden party at the request of his politician brother and improvises a bit of theater to foil a conspiracy against the government. ‘The Adventure of the Thames Tunnel’ brings Holmes’s attention to the baffling murder of a jewel thief in the middle of an underground railway passage. With Holmes and Watson encountering all manner of ungrateful relatives, phony psychologists, wronged wives, plaid-garbed villains, and even a peculiar species of deadly red leech, The Whole Art of Detection is a must-read for Sherlockians and any fan of historical crime fiction with a modern sensibility.

*****

Kerry McHugh  recently talked to Lindsay Faye in Shelf Awareness. Here’s the link if you’d like to read the article. https://www.shelf-awareness.com/readers-issue.html?issue=589#m10340

If you would like to order a signed copy of The Whole Art of Detection, you can order it through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2lZW2qW

 

The Poisoned Pen is Jacqueline Winspear’s first appearance for her new Maisie Dobbs book, In This Grave Hour. She’ll be here on Monday, March 13 at 7 PM.

Her last two newsletters have been fascinating, providing background of the book. Check out the first of the two.

Newsletter
Hello Everyone!

Well, it’s only about 6 weeks to go before publication of In This Grave Hour, my new novel featuring psychologist-investigator, Maisie Dobbs. I can’t believe it’s the 13th novel in the series! When I began to write Maisie Dobbs, the first book in the series, I thought I was embarking upon the only novel I would ever write, and I feared the manuscript, when finished, would languish in a drawer forever. It was as time went on and I wrote deeper into the story, that I realized there were more experiences in my head for Maisie Dobbs—and I began to hope that, maybe, if I were lucky, an agent might pick out my proposal from the pile that arrived every day. I still pinch myself at times, incredibly aware of my good fortune that Maisie Dobbs was “discovered.”

In This Grave Hour is dedicated to “our family’s WWII evacuees”—I was raised listening to so many of my late mother’s stories of being evacuated from London to the country on September 1, 1939. She was one of ten children—the eldest three joined the services, and the younger seven were all evacuated, sent away to live with complete strangers for the duration of the war. Well—almost. As soon as children reached the age of fourteen, they were invariably sent back home; after all, fourteen was the age at which most children left school and started work.

There is an assumption that so many evacuees came from poor city families and were grateful to be let loose in the countryside. To be fair, for many children there was great joy to be found living close to farms and away from smoky streets. But by the same token, there were those who came from homes with indoor bathrooms who were shocked to find themselves in cold houses with no privacy to take care of personal hygiene, and a WC reached only after a long, cold trek to the end of the garden. And so many of those children experienced abuse at the hands of the very people entrusted with their care, while others found only kindness. People often ask me about the background research that underpins my novels. For my work on In This Grave Hour, I had only to turn to family stories to write about the war on the home front, and to create the character of Anna, the young evacuee who is sent to live at Maisie Dobbs’ home in the country. She is fortunate to be billeted at a home where there are caring people—sadly this was not so for many children.

If you can get your hands on a copy, one of the best books on the subject was written some 30-odd years ago by the late Ben Wicks, a British-born Canadian cartoonist, illustrator, journalist, author—and former evacuee. As part of his research for No Time To Wave Goodbye, about the evacuation of children at the outset of WWII, Wicks placed an advertisement in several newspapers and—having expected only a few replies—was overwhelmed by the thousands of letters he received. Many began with the words, “I have never told anyone about this …” and went on to describe the personal trials, tribulations—and for some, the good times—that began when they were put on a train with an identification label tied to their coat, and waved goodbye to their mother. I bought my mother a copy of the book, but she could read only a few pages—it brought back so many troubling memories.

“Every war is a war against the child.” So said Eglantyne Jebb, founder of the Save The Children Fund. Anna, the evacuee who comes into Maisie’s life, is not the only child to face uncertain times in In This Grave Hour. There are others—a group of boys who suffered as refugees in the Great War. They are men now … and as a new war begins, someone is killing them, one by one.

In This Grave Hour will be published on March 13th. Here’s a list of cities I’ll be visiting on my 2017 book tour—fuller details on event locations, contact details and times will be up on the Appearances page of my website soon! Save the date if you’re in the area for one of these events!

In this Grave Hour 3/13 Poisoned Pen Bookshop, Phoenix, AZ
3/14 Murder by the Book, Houston, TX
3/15 Bookshop West Portal, San Francisco, CA
3/16 Book Passage, Corte Madera, CA
3/20 Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.
3/21 Barnes & Noble, Upper West Side, NYC
3/22 Harvard Bookstore, Cambridge, MA
3/27 Vroman’s, Pasadena, CA
3/28 University Bookstore, Seattle, WA
3/29 Broadway Books, Portland, OR
4/5 Kepler’s, Menlo Park, CA
4/13 Copperfield’s, Petaluma, CA
4/19 Special Event, Toronto, Canada
4/20 Special Library Event, Springfield, MO

Hope to see you along the way!
Jacqueline
“This is the thirteenth in the Dobbs series, and even as the time frame has moved through the first war and the years between the wars, Winspear has continued to explore the aftermath of the nightmare that was WWI—the effects the conflict had on people and society. She does so again here, just as the world takes its first steps into another devastating global conflict. It’s a fine novel, written with Winspear’s sure hand and ability to meld historical events into an engaging crime narrative. Fans will savor this one as they anticipate what Maisie will do in WWII.”
—Booklist

In This Grave Hour will be published on March 13th.

*****

Signed copies of In This Grave Hour will be available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2mPCedT

It’s been a number of years since I’ve seen Tim Dorsey, and it appears as if it’s been a number of years since he’s been at The Poisoned Pen. But, he’s on book tour for Clownfish Blues, so he was back.

Here’s the description of the 21st Serge Storms book, as described in the Web Store.
A (Serge A.) Storm is brewing for a cabal of bad guys gaming the Florida state lottery in this insanely funny novel from the maestro of mayhem, Tim Dorsey.

If you’re loud and proud Floridian Serge A. Storms, how do you follow up your very own remake of Easy Rider? You shoot your own “episodes” of your favorite classic television show, Route 66!

With Coleman riding shotgun, Serge is rolling down the highway of his dreams in a vintage silver convertible Corvette just like the snazzy car Martin Milner drove. It doesn’t matter that the actual Route 66 didn’t pass through Florida, for Serge discovers that a dozen episodes near the series’ end were filmed (really!) in his beloved home state. So for Serge and the always toked and stoked Coleman, the Sunshine State is all the road you need to get your kicks.

But their adventure traveling the byways of the Sunshine State’s underbelly is about to take a detour. Someone is trying to tilt the odds in the state lottery amidst a conga line of huge jackpots spinning off more chaos than any hurricane season. With this much at stake, of course every shady character wants in. Crooked bodega owners, drug cartels laundering money through the lottery, and venture capitalists are all trying to game the system—and lining up to get their cut. They’re also gambling with their lives, because when Serge and Coleman get hip to this timely (and very lucrative) trip, there’s no telling whose number is up next.

Throw in Brooke Campanella, Serge’s old flame, as well as the perpetually star-crossed Reevis, and it’s a sure bet that the ever lucky Serge will hit it big. Winning has never been this deadly—or this much fun!

*****

If you haven’t had the chance to hear Tim Dorsey talk about his books lately, you can watch his interview with Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen. It’s on Livestream. https://livestream.com/poisonedpen/events/6962949

And, you can order signed copies of Clownfish Blues through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2mTrR5I

Pierce Brown is the author of the Red Rising books, Red Rising, Golden Son, and Morning Star. 

He recently took time to answer eight questions from Penguin Random House. You can watch the short video here. https://bit.ly/2lXKh4Y

And, you can order Pierce Brown’s books through The Poisoned Pen at the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2m6wmdf

Rhys Bowen appeared at The Poisoned Pen to celebrate the release of her standalone, In Farleigh Field.

 

She came prepared to talk about World War II, and the effects on the British people.

And, she came dressed in style.

As you can tell by the pictures, Rhys and The Poisoned Pen Bookstore owner, Barbara Peters, had a fun time with their discussion.

And, you have the chance to enjoy the program as well, because it was taped for Livestream. https://livestream.com/poisonedpen/events/6962944

If you’d like to order a signed copy of In Farleigh Field, check out the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2m3z2tB