PoisonedBlogger

Mark Greaney, on book tour for Gunmetal Gray, appeared at The Poisoned Pen.

Before the photos, here’s the blurb about the book, as it appears at the Web Store.

Mark Greaney, the #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan novels, delivers another breakneck thriller following the world’s deadliest assassin—the Gray Man…

After five years on the run Court Gentry is back on the inside at the CIA. But his first mission makes him wish he had stayed on the outs when a pair of Chinese agents try to take him down in Hong Kong. Normally the Chinese prefer to stay eyes-only on foreign agents. So why are they on such high alert?

Court’s high stakes hunt for answers takes him across Southeast Asia and leads
to his old friend, Donald Fitzroy, who is being held hostage by the Chinese. Fitzroy was contracted to find Fan Jiang, a former member of an ultra-secret computer warfare unit responsible for testing China’s own security systems. And it seems Fan may have been too good at his job—because China wants him dead.

The first two kill teams Fitzroy sent to find Fan have disappeared and the Chinese have decided to “supervise” the next operation. What they don’t know is that Gentry’s mission is to find Fan first and get whatever intel he has to the US.

After that, all he has to do is get out alive…

We have photos!

Autographed copies of Gunmetal Gray are available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2kWKcjq

John Lescroart (Fatal) and Kelly Parsons (Under the Knife) recently appeared at The Poisoned Pen to discuss their latest books with Barbara Peters, owner of the bookstore, and a receptive audience.

You can watch the event, via Livestream. https://livestream.com/poisonedpen/events/6992976

There are also photos.

As I said, you can watch the event on Livestream.

You can purchase signed copies of Fatal and Under the Knife through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

I’m always happy when Hank Phillippi Ryan has time to participate in one of the features here. She was quick to say yes when asked to talk about winter reads. Do you know Ryan and her books?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN is the on-air investigative reporter for Boston’s WHDH-TV, winning 33 EMMYs and dozens more journalism honors. The bestselling author of nine mysteries, Ryan’s also an award-winner in her second profession—with five Agathas, two Anthonys, two Macavitys, the Daphne, and Mary Higgins Clark Award. Critics call her “superb.” Her novels have been named Library Journal’s Best of 2014 and 2015 ““now Ryan’s newest novel SAY NO MORE is a Library Journal Best of 2016 and a Mary Higgins Clark and Agatha Award nominee. Hank is a founder of MWA University and 2013 president of National Sisters in Crime.

Thank you, Hank, for finding time!

*****

Do we want to read “cold” in the winter, or warm? My book THE WRONG GIRL takes place in the dead of winter, but I was writing much of it over the summer in sweltering Boston. To keep the book on climatological track, I put a yellow stickie on my computer to remind me: “It’s Cold!”

So let’s go for cold.

The classic winter story? Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie. Remember?

A master class in plot, and unexpected connections. Right? And brilliant, because (no spoilers) it reveals Poirot’s true heart. And as a mystery, it completely holds up. (And when you read the book again, it makes you remember how the movie is top of your mind—from the opening scene, it’s very different!)

Have you ever read City of Light by Lauren Belfer?

I read it years ago, and it’s stayed with me ever since. One classic and chillingly chilly scene takes place in the dead of winter…and it’s brilliant. I’ve just read The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore…such a cool and clever book about the battle for electricity between Edison and Westinghouse. (It’s mostly fiction, but I’m recently fascinated by books where real people are characters.) Trust me. Fascinating.

And I promise you’ll be enchanted by Winter’s Tale, by Mark Helprin.

Magical realism, gorgeous writing. A story of love and murder and journalism and chance and a flying horse. And the ice-covered sheen of Helprin’s astonishing the Lake of the Coheeries will make your own weather circumstances seem like the tropics.

And yes, I’m behind, but never too late for a terrific book. I’m reading Devil in the White City.

Erik Larson’s riveting true crime story is about the 1893 World’s Fair– and a terrifying serial killer. Proves you cannot make this stuff up. Even though we try.

(My new book takes place in the summer, and we’re in a blizzard right now! I need a new yellow stickie, I fear. Happy winter, all!)

*****

Hank Phillippi Ryan’s website is https://hankphillippiryan.com. And, she can often be found on Facebook. Thank you, Hank.

Hank’s book, Say No More, and her winter reading suggestions, can be found in the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com.

If you love mysteries set in Great Britain, you won’t want to miss Deborah Crombie and Charles and Caroline Todd when they appear together at The Poisoned Pen, Saturday, Feb. 18 at 2 PM. Crombie will be signing Garden of Lamentations, and the Todds will sign the latest Rutledge book, Racing the Devil.

I was lucky enough to attend a tea, sponsored by HarperCollins, the authors’ publishers, when I was at Bouchercon in September. I’m going to share that post because I hope to entice you to come to The Poisoned Pen to hear the authors.

*****

HarperCollins invited a small group of bloggers, librarians and booksellers to a two-hour tea with Deborah Crombie and mother-son team of Charles and Caroline Todd. While the attendees were at small tables, Charles, Caroline and Deborah talked, and then joined us at the tables.

Caroline Todd led the conversation, asking Deborah Crombie about her next book featuring Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James. Garden of Lamentations comes out in February, and Deborah did have the cover art to show us.

And, then Caroline said Duncan and Gemma are the modern equivalent of the Todds’ Rutledge and Bess. She said that’s one reason they love each other’s books, and, they did even before they met or toured together. And, speaking of touring, they told us about the story of a Florida book tour. They were to appear at a library, and they were dropped at a hotel in the middle of nowhere. When they asked about food, they were pointed to a small shack. But, the food was so good. And, people were feeding alligators nearby. There were signs, though, saying do not take the path after dark. The food at the shack was good, but if you took the path at night, you might be eaten on the way.

Caroline asked Deborah about going to England to research the places for her mysteries. Deborah said you have to go. The Sound of Broken Glass takes place at the Crystal Palace in South London. Deborah’s guide told her you could get stranded there if the weather is bad, and people had been stranded there for three days by an ice storm. No one could get in or out. She knew she had to use that as part of the story. Charles and Caroline went on to tell their own story about the Crystal Palace. There are trees in it, and it’s built of glass. When it was first built, sparrows got in there. They didn’t know how to get them out. They couldn’t shoot them because of the glass. The Duke of Wellington only said one word. “Sparrowhawks.” And, that’s what they did. They let sparrowhawks loose to get the sparrows.

The tidbits of conversation from the three authors were so enjoyable to listen to. In comparing characters, they said Crombie’s Duncan stands back and analyzes as Rutledge does, and Gemma, like the Todds’ Bess Crawford, tackles troubles head-on.

Caroline Todd said they put Inspector Rutledge in Scotland Yard because they could send him to other parts of England. Everyone did London, so they wanted to explore crimes in other parts of the country.

Charles and Caroline Todd

Caroline said they explore villages because there’s more opportunity for murder. People in villages know each other. She said the friend who takes them around when they explore will contact them, saying, “I have found the loveliest place of find a body.” They said the villages have the same social structure as London, but in the city, the classes may never mix. In the villages, everyone interacts. Charles said he was a corporate troubleshooter, and he knows what it’s like to show up and not be welcome in a village, so outsiders may not be welcome, and may be shut out. He said it’s important to explore the villages, to see the details. All three authors agreed that pubs are the perfect places for people watching.

Charles described the correct way to draw Guinness in England. He said there’s a line on a standard clear glass pint. When it’s done right, there’s no foam below the line. The foam is all above the line, and they leave room to form the clover leaf.

In The Shattered Tree, the latest Bess Crawford mystery, the Todds deliberately sent her to Paris. They wanted to see how she would deal when she was out of her comfort zone with no support.

In talking about research, they all agreed they do extensive research, but there are stories they couldn’t use. They discussed clothing. Women wore military-style gowns during World War I. They couldn’t get feathers. The British wore dark styles while in mourning, but Paris refused to do that.

For The Shattered Tree, they had to know that the French lost Alsace-Lorraine to the Germans in the Prussian War. After the war, the official language was German.  And, Bess has a patient who speaks German when he has a shock. Is he a German spy? Or, something else? Then, Charles gave a great deal of information about the Paris gun. It fired from eighty-two miles away. There was a great psychological effect because people couldn’t hear it go off. It was a four hundred pound plus bomb, but it only made a four foot wide hole. It was not very accurate, and not highly explosive. But, the people suffered from horrific terror during the summer of 1918 because they never heard the bomb coming.

Asled about outlining, Caroline said she never could outline. Even in college, she would write the paper and then outline it afterward. They let the story tell itself. They know the first scene. She said the characters will tell you what will happen next if you listen to the characters.

Charles said as a mystery author, they need to be one step ahead of the reader. But, they have to play fair. If the reader goes back, they have to be able to make sense of the story. “Readers keep us honest.”

Deborah agreed. Garden of Lamentations has multiple viewpoints and storylines. She doesn’t like keeping things from the reader. She believes in fair play and the traditional formula. That’s what made traditional mysteries popular. Can you catch the killer?

I waited to thank Deborah and the Todds, and I was able to get final pictures of the authors after the entertaining program.

Watch for signed copies of Garden of Lamentations and Racing the Devil in the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/ And, I hope you can make it to the program on Saturday.

Hope you can make it to The Poisoned Pen on Thursday, Feb. 16 at 7 PM when Stephen Coonts (Liberty’s Last Stand) moderates a conversation with Charles Cumming (A Divided Spy) and K.J. Howe (The Freedom Broker).

For those who can’t make it, signed books will be available through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Authors Alexandra Burt (The Good Daughter) and Robert Knott (Robert B. Parker’s Revelation) recently appeared at The Poisoned Pen.

Patrick Millikin interviewed Burt.

Here’s the summary of The Good Daughter, from the Web Store.

“From the author of Remember Mia comes the tale of a young woman in search of her past, and the mother who will do anything to keep it hidden…

What if you were the worst crime your mother ever committed?

Dahlia Waller’s childhood memories consist of stuffy cars, seedy motels, and a rootless existence traveling the country with her eccentric mother. Now grown, she desperately wants to distance herself from that life. Yet one thing is stopping her from moving forward: she has questions.

In order to understand her past, Dahlia must go back. Back to her mother in the stifling town of Aurora, Texas. Back into the past of a woman on the brink of madness. But after she discovers three grave-like mounds on a neighboring farm, she’ll learn that in her mother’s world of secrets, not all questions are meant to be answered…”

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, interviewed Robert Knott.

Here’s the summary of the new Robert B. Parker’s Revelation.

“Itinerant lawmen Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch return to confront an escaped criminal in the grittiest entry yet of the New York Times bestselling series.

Territorial marshals Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch figured things had finally settled down in Appaloosa when Boston Bill Black’s murder charge was dropped. But all that changed when Augustus Noble Driggs was transferred to a stateside penitentiary just across the border from Mexico. Square-jawed, handsome, and built like a muscled thoroughbred stallion, Driggs manages to intimidate everyone inside the prison walls, including the upstart young warden.
In a haunting twist of fate, Driggs and a pack of cold-blooded convicts are suddenly on the loose—and it’s up to any and all territorial lawmen, including Cole and Hitch, to capture the fugitives and rescue the woman kidnapped during their escape. But nothing is ever quite what it seems with the ever-elusive Driggs. Finally free, he’s quickly on his own furious hunt for a hidden cache of gold and jewels–and for the men who betrayed him and left him for dead.
With an unlikely and unconventional Yankee detective by their side, Cole and Hitch set off on a massive manhunt. As horses’ hooves thunder and guns echo deadening reports, Driggs discovers one of the lawmen on his trail is none other than a fellow West Point graduate he’d just as soon see dead. Ruthless and willing to leave a bloody path of destruction in his wake, Driggs seeks vengeance at any cost.”

Alexandra Burt and Robert Knott signed copies of their books.

That means there are signed copies available through the Web Store if you would like to buy one. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

How much can be said about Sarah Pinborough’s psychological thriller, Behind Her Eyes, without giving away the ending?

That’s the challenge Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, faced when she interviewed Pinborough. You can see how they did with that discussion, and watch it on Livestream. https://livestream.com/poisonedpen/events/6989195

But, first, there are some great pictures of this event, including photos of a couple authors who came to hear Pinborough. It looks like everyone had a great time.

Intrigued? If you would like to buy a signed copy of Behind Her Eyes, check the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2ltcTSe

It’s just one more place for those of us who love mysteries and crime fiction to find information. Here’s the news release for KillerBooks.com.

Writerspace, a high-traffic, online community and home to more than 100 authors and 150,000 readers of romance, mystery, women’s and young adult fiction, announces the launch of KillerBooks.com.

“For years we have offered a broad representation for the fiction community, but recently authors and readers of mystery, thriller, and suspense novels have advised us they want an online home dedicated specifically to those genres,” said Writerspace proprietor Cissy Hartley from her Mobile, AL, office. “Since our soft launch of the site a couple of months ago, almost 40,000 readers have opted into the KillerBooks list, which shows the immense popularity of these related genres.”

Modeled after Writerspace.com’s successful platform developed over the last twenty years, KillerBooks provides readers of the edgy genre grouping with information about their favorite authors’ new releases. Readers of mysteries, thrillers, and suspense novels receive a monthly newsletter with information on new releases, can find blogs by authors and industry professionals online and are offered the opportunity to participate in seasonal online events and enter monthly contests sponsored by the authors.

Current members of the Killer Books author community include national bestsellers Christina Dodd, Jayne Ann Krentz, Elizabeth Lowell, Laura Benedict, Kylie Brant, Allison Brennan, Stella Cameron, Tricia Cerrone, Ann Christopher, Lyn Cote, Margaret Daley, Kyra Davis, Veronica Forand, Dara Girard, Laura Griffin, Carolyn Haines, Linda O. Johnston, Melinda Leigh, Kat Martin, Cheyenne McCray, Linda McDonald, Deanna Raybourn, Karen Robards, Karen Rose, Alexandra Sokoloff, Harry Squires, Wendy Corsi Staub, Mariah Stewart, Kate White, Danica Winters, and Rebecca Zanetti—and more are coming on board, Hartley advises.

“With a database of nearly 10,000 mystery, suspense and thriller novels, and more being added daily, KillerBooks.com is an excellent resource for the busy reader of these novels,” Hartley said. “Authors of mystery, thrillers and suspense are encouraged to sign up and add their books to the site, free of charge.”

Readers and even a few authors showed up for tea with Kristan Higgins, and discussion of her new book, On Second Thought.

Before photos, here’s the summary of On Second Thought, from the Web Store.

“Following in the footsteps of her critically acclaimed novel If You Only Knew, multi-bestselling author Kristan Higgins returns with a pitch-perfect look at the affection—and the acrimony—that binds sisters together 

Ainsley O’Leary is so ready to get married—she’s even found the engagement ring her boyfriend has stashed away. What she doesn’t anticipate is for Eric to blindside her with a tactless breakup he chronicles in a blog…which (of course) goes viral. Devastated and humiliated, Ainsley turns to her half sister, Kate, who’s already struggling after the sudden loss of her new husband.

Kate has always been so poised, so self-assured, but Nathan’s death shatters everything she thought she knew—including her husband—and she learns that sometimes the people who step up aren’t the ones you expect. With seven years and a murky blended-family dynamic between them, Ainsley and Kate have never been overly close, but their shared sorrow dovetails their faltering worlds into one.

Despite the lifetime of history between them, the sisters must learn to put their differences aside and open their hearts to the inevitable imperfection of family—and the possibility of one day finding love again.”

Now, photos from the tea and program.

If you would like a copy of Kristan Higgins’ On Second Thought, check the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2kwkrWP

It was Julia Spencer-Fleming’s debut mystery in the Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne series that was actually the inspiration for this February feature.

If you haven’t read that award-winning book, you missed one of the outstanding debuts in the last twenty years. Here’s what the Web Store has on it.

“It’s a cold, snowy December in the upstate New York town of Millers Kill, and newly ordained Clare Fergusson is on thin ice as the first female priest of its small Episcopal church. The ancient regime running the parish covertly demands that she prove herself as a leader. However, her blunt manner, honed by years as an army pilot, is meeting with a chilly reception from some members of her congregation and Chief of Police Russ Van Alystyne, in particular, doesn’t know what to make of her, or how to address “a lady priest” for that matter.

The last thing she needs is trouble, but that is exactly what she finds. When a newborn baby is abandoned on the church stairs and a young mother is brutally murdered, Clare has to pick her way through the secrets and silence that shadow that town like the ever-present Adirondack mountains. As the days dwindle down and the attraction between the avowed priest and the married police chief grows, Clare will need all her faith, tenacity, and courage to stand fast against a killer’s icy heart.

In the Bleak Midwinter is one of the most outstanding Malice Domestic winners the contest has seen. The compelling atmosphere-the kind of very cold and snowy winter that is typical of upstate New York-will make you reach for another sweater. The characters are fully and believably drawn and you will feel like they are your old friends and find yourself rooting for them every step of the way.”

Julia Spencer-Fleming was the first author I asked to suggest titles for winter reading. Thank you, Julia, for inspiring this month’s feature, and thank you for participating.

*****

It’s fifteen below and the snow is up to your windowsill. The car sounds like a dying walrus when you try to crank the engine, and the only time you feel truly warm is when you wrap up in a blanket and stand over the furnace vent. When winter hits hard, you have two options when cracking open a book. You can opt to escape with fiction where characters frolic on sandy white beaches and fall in love beneath swaying palm trees, or you can meet your enemy head-on with a mystery where the only thing deadlier than the bad guys is the weather. Here are a few of my favorite winter reads.

THE COLD TRUTH by Jonathan Stone.

Part twisty psychological thriller, part police procedural, this 1999 book takes a young detective trainee from New York City and thrusts her into the brutal winter of the remote Adirondacks, where she learns the ropes from a legendary lawman faced with one last cold case on the eve of his retirement. Don’t read anything else about it ““ this is a novel that works best if you come to it cold, as it were.

TAMARACK COUNTY by William Kent Krueger.

Few writers do winter as well as Kent Krueger, who revisits the season regularly in his series set in northern Minnesota. In the thirteenth Cork O’Conner novel, the wife of a prominent local judge goes missing in a blizzard, setting off a series of increasingly violent events that force the ex-sheriff to revisit his investigation of a crime from twenty years before. The isolation and claustrophobia of the heavy snow mirrors that of the characters trapped by their own pasts.

ARCTIC RISING by Tobias S. Buckell.

This genre-blending science fiction mystery begins with a bang as Anika Duncan, a pilot for the United Nations Polar Guard, is framed for a crime she didn’t commit. She goes on the lam in a melting, ice-free Arctic where nations, corporations and individuals will stop at nothing to gain control of its resources. Exhilarating as well as chilling, and an excellent introduction for mystery readers who might be sci-fi- curious.

CHANCE OF A GHOST By E.J. Copperman.

Winter is way off-season for innkeeper Alison Kerby, who runs a New Jersey Shore guesthouse that happens to have some permanent ghostly residents. In fact, a blizzard is on the door in the fourth book in the Haunted Guesthouse series. But snowdrifts, a bum car heater and drafts coming through the windowsills won’t stop Alison and her whacky crew from helping a deceased actor figure out who helped him shuffle off this mortal coil. The perfect read for when you want to be really cozy.

Finally, for those of you who love nonfiction: ENDURANCE: SHACKLETON’S INCREDIBLE VOYAGE by Alfred Lansing (1999).

There are hundreds of accounts of various expeditions mounted during the great age of polar exploration, but Lansing's meticulously-researched look at Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ill-fated 1914 Antartica venture remains one of the best. Shackleton and his men kept diaries, took photographs and otherwise documented their year-long ordeal as they waited, walked, drifted and rowed their way out of the ice. Read this one with a warm drink close at hand as you marvel at the greatest mystery ““ human endurance.

*****

Thank you, Julia, for finding time to work on this project. Julia Spencer-Fleming’s website is at  https://www.juliaspencerfleming.com/

I would suggest if you’re looking for Stone’s The Cold Truth that you check with your local library. If you’re looking for any of the other titles, please check the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/