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Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, recently welcomed Brian Klingborg for a virtual event. Klingborg’s latest Inspector Lu Fei novel, The Magistrate, takes readers back to China. There are signed copies of The Magistrate available in the Webstore. https://tinyurl.com/2bs9wce2

A brutal murder investigation with connections to corruption at the very highest level threatens not just the career but also the life of Inspector Lu Fei in Brian Klingborg’s latest mystery…

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BRIAN KLINGBORG has both a B.A. (University of California, Davis) and an M.A. (Harvard) in East Asian Studies and spent years living and working in Asia. He currently works in early childhood educational publishing and lives in New York City. Klingborg is also the author of Kill Devil Falls.

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Enjoy the conversation about China and Klingborg’s The Magistrate.

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, mentioned how much she enjoys bringing debut novels to readers. Sara Herchenroether’s debut is The Night Flowers. There will be signed copies available through the Webstore. https://tinyurl.com/3kz4xpht Peters asks Herchenroether to talk about her personal experience that led her to write a novel about the parallel between crime and cancer.

Here is the description of The Night Flowers.

People tend to think of us as shadows. Blurred black mist. Often, it’s “out of the corner of my eye.” People sense the cold. I’ve heard of ghost hunters who use a tape measure, laying it on the ground to mark our boundaries. I don’t want to be measured.

In 1983, deep in New Mexico’s Gila National Forest, the bodies of a young woman and two children were found. Who were they? How did they get there?

Thirty years later, two women find themselves drawn to the cold case. Librarian Laura MacDonald begins her own investigation as a way to distract herself from breast cancer treatments and becomes consumed by her search for answers. Jean Martinez is a veteran detective determined to keep working cold cases for the Sierra County police force even as her family begs her to retire. With only fragments from dusty case files and a witness who doesn’t want to remember, this unlikely duo is determined—no matter the cost—to uncover the truth behind the murders. And with their help, the woman in the woods is finally able to tell her story on her own terms and summon the power to be found.

The Night Flowers—a haunting debut thriller written with pulse-pounding precision and a deep understanding of the psychology of violence and the tenacity of those who combat it—announces the arrival of Sara Herchenroether as an exciting new voice.

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Sara Herchenroether lives outside Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, four young children, one old dog, and two rescue kittens. Sara is a breast cancer survivor.

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Enjoy the conversation.

Do you need something to read? You can’t go wrong with book suggestions from The Poisoned Pen. Here’s an entire list of suggestions to help you pick something from The Webstore. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

There are several lists of paperbacks. Barbara Peters, owner of The Pen, has some picks, and Rob Rosenwald has some suggestions as well. Check them out! I hope you find a book to love. Enjoy browsing!

OUR MAY SMALL PAPERBACK PICKS

Brennan, Allison. Silenced ($8.99).

Castillo, Linda. The Hidden One

McMahon, Jennifer. The Children on the Hill

Moriarty, Liane. Apples Never Fall

Sanders, Angela M. Witch Upon a Star

Silva, Daniel. Portrait of an Unknown Woman

Ware, Ruth. One By One

OUR MAY LARGE PAPERBACK PICKS

Bohjalian, Chris. The Lioness

Box, C J. Treasure State

Burke, James Lee. Every Cloak Rolled in Blood

Castillo, Linda. The Hidden One

Caudwell, Sarah. Thus Was Adonis Murdered

Flynn, Vince. Enemy at the Gates

Goodman, Alison. The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies

Gray, Claudia. The Late Mrs Willoughby

Haig, Matt. The Midnight Library

Hillier, Jennifer. Things We Do in the Dark

Horowitz, Anthony. With a Mind to Kill: A James Bond Novel

Krueger, William Kent. Fox Creek

Martin, William. December ’41

Morrison, Boyd/Beth. The Lawless Land

Pavone, Chris. Two Nights in Lisbon

BARBARA’S  PICKS

Banville, John. The Lock-Up

Barry, Dave. Swamp Story

Bohjalian, Chris. The Lioness

Box, C J. Treasure State

Beanland, Rachel. The House Is on Fire

Caudwell, Sarah. Thus Was Adonis Murdered

Cervantes, JC. The Enchanted Hacienda

Crosby, Ellen. Blow Up

Dunn, Mark. Ella Minnow Pea: 20th Anniversary Illustration

Edwards, Martin, ed. The Edinburgh Mystery

Goodman, Alison. The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies

Gray, Claudia. The Late Mrs. Willoughby

Mason, Tim. The Nightingale Affair

Newman, TJ. Drowning

Slocumb, Brendan. Symphony of Secrets

Smith, Martin Cruz. Independence Square

ROB’S PICKS

Barry, Dave. Swamp Story

Crosby, Ellen. Blow Up

Edwards, Martin, ed. The Edinburgh Mystery

Miller, Max. Tasting History

Newman, TJ. Drowning

Slocumb, Brendan. Symphony of Secrets

Smith, Martin Cruz. Independence Square

Verghese, Abraham. The Covenant of Water

While Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, had a few questions, then introduced Michael Koryta and Dennis Lehane. Dennis Lehane’s new book is Small Mercies. Koryta had “pages” of questions for Lehane. There are signed copies of Small Mercies available in the Webstore. https://tinyurl.com/djzv8ax2

Here is the summary of Small Mercies.

“Small Mercies is thought provoking, engaging, enraging, and can’t-put-it-down entertainment.” — Stephen King

The acclaimed New York Times bestselling writer returns with a masterpiece to rival Mystic River—an all-consuming tale of revenge, family love, festering hate, and insidious power, set against one of the most tumultuous episodes in Boston’s history.

In the summer of 1974 a heatwave blankets Boston and Mary Pat Fennessy is trying to stay one step ahead of the bill collectors. Mary Pat has lived her entire life in the housing projects of “Southie,” the Irish American enclave that stubbornly adheres to old tradition and stands proudly apart.

One night Mary Pat’s teenage daughter Jules stays out late and doesn’t come home. That same evening, a young Black man is found dead, struck by a subway train under mysterious circumstances.

The two events seem unconnected. But Mary Pat, propelled by a desperate search for her missing daughter, begins turning over stones best left untouched—asking questions that bother Marty Butler, chieftain of the Irish mob, and the men who work for him, men who don’t take kindly to any threat to their business.

Set against the hot, tumultuous months when the city’s desegregation of its public schools exploded in violence, Small Mercies is a superb thriller, a brutal depiction of criminality and power, and an unflinching portrait of the dark heart of American racism. It is a mesmerizing and wrenching work that only Dennis Lehane could write.

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Dennis Lehane is the author of thirteen novels—including the New York Times bestsellers Live by Night; Moonlight Mile; Gone, Baby, Gone; Mystic River; Shutter Island; and The Given Day—as well as Coronado, a collection of short stories and a play. He grew up in Boston, MA and now lives in California with his family.

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You really want to listen to Dennis Lehane talk about the background of Small Mercies.

Patrick Millikin recently welcomed Michael Farris Smith to The Poisoned Pen for a virtual event. Smith’s latest epic is Salvage This World. There are signed copies of it available through the Webstore. https://tinyurl.com/2sjudff9

Here’s the summary of Salvage This World.

In Michael Farris Smith’s latest “riveting” epic, a young woman returns home with her child to her ghost-haunted father, while a religious extremist hunts the stormridden territory to find the girl who may be the region’s savior. (Laird Hunt, National Book Award-nominated author of Zorrie and Neverhome)There was no rising from the dead and there was no hand to calm the storms and there was no peace in no valley.

In the hurricane-ravaged bottomlands of South Mississippi, where stores are closing and jobs are few, a fierce zealot has gained a foothold, capitalizing on the vulnerability of a dwindling population and a burning need for hope. As she preaches and promises salvation from the light of the pulpit, in the shadows she sows the seeds of violence.

Elsewhere, Jessie and her toddler, Jace, are on the run across the Mississippi/Louisiana line, in a resentful return to her childhood home and her desolate father. Holt, Jace’s father, is missing and hunted by a brutish crowd, and an old man witnesses the wrong thing in the depths of night. In only a matter of days, all of their lives will collide, and be altered, in the maelstrom of the changing world.

At once elegiac and profound, Salvage This World journeys into the heart of a region growing darker and less forgiving, and asks how we keep going—what do we hold onto—in a land where God has fled.

Garden & Gun Top Reads of 2023 • Bibliolifestyle Best Literary Fiction of 2023 • Southern Living Southern Writers to Read Right Now

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Michael Farris Smith is an award-winning writer whose novels have appeared on Best of the Year lists with Esquire, NPR, Southern Living, Garden & Gun, Book Riot, and numerous other outlets, and have been named Indie Next, Barnes & Noble Discover, and Amazon Best of the Month selections. He has also written the feature-film adaptations of his novels Desperation Road and The Fighter, titled for the screen as Rumble Through the Dark. He lives in Oxford, Mississippi, with his wife and daughters.

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Enjoy the conversation with Michael Farris Smith.

John Charles from The Poisoned Pen recently welcomed Victoria Thompson for a virtual event. Thompson’s latest Gaslight Mystery is Murder on Bedford Street. You can order copies of Thompson’s books through the Webstore, including the new book. https://tinyurl.com/3m37bza3

Here’s the summary of Murder on Bedford Street.

Midwife Sarah Malloy and her private investigator husband, Frank, must stop a killer lurking among a young family in the newest installment of the USA Today bestselling Gaslight Mysteries.

Hugh Breedlove is far from the most agreeable client private investigator Frank Malloy has ever had, but his case is impossible to refuse: his young niece, Julia, has been wrongfully committed to an insane asylum by her cruel and unfaithful husband, Chet Longly. Though Breedlove and his wife seem more interested in protecting the family reputation than their niece’s safety, Frank and Sarah agree to help for the sake of Julia and the young son she left behind.

Frank and Sarah’s investigation reveals a dark secret—a maid at the Longly home died suspiciously under Chet’s watch, and now it seems Julia’s son might also be in danger. The Malloys fear they are dealing with a man more dangerous than they had anticipated, one who will do anything to defame his wife. But all is not as it seems in the Longly family, and perhaps another monster is hiding in plain sight….

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Victoria Thompson is the Edgar® and Agatha Award–nominated author of the Gaslight Mysteries, the Counterfeit Lady series, and numerous historical novels. She lives in the Chicago area with her family.

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Enjoy John Charles’ conversation with Victoria Thompson.

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, recently welcomed Don Bentley and T. Jefferson Parker to the bookstore. Bentley’s latest Matt Drake thriller is Forgotten War. Parker’s The Rescue is the current Hot Book of the Week. You can order signed copies of both books through the Webstore. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Here’s the description of Forgotten War.

“A fascinating, action-packed thriller from one of the genre’s most talented authors. Don Bentley delivers a blistering adventure loaded with excitement and fabulous characters. You will not want it to end!”—Brad Thor, New York Times #1 bestselling author of Dead Fall

A brotherhood born in battle is endangered by a deadly secret in the latest astonishing thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Tom Clancy Zero Hour and Hostile Intent.

As a team, Matt Drake and his partner, Frodo, have watched each other’s backs through some very dark days. But one thing they’ve never doubted was their commitment to each other…until now. 

Frodo has been accused of a war crime ten years after leaving Afghanistan. Matt is determined to prove his friend innocent, but what will he do when he finds that his closest friend has secrets he won’t share?

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Don Bentley is the New York Times bestselling author of the Matt Drake series (Forgotten War, Hostile Intent, The Outside Man, Without Sanction) and three Tom Clancy novels. Bentley spent a decade as an Army Apache helicopter pilot and deployed to Afghanistan as an air cavalry troop commander. Following his time in the military, Bentley worked as an FBI special agent and was a SWAT team member. Bentley is also a graduate of the Seton Hill University Writing Popular Fiction MFA program. He resides in Austin, Texas, with his family.

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Here’s the summary of Parker’s The Rescue.

The Rescue is a gripping thriller that explores the strength of the human-animal bond and how far we will go to protect what we love by three-time Edgar Award winner and New York Times bestselling author T. Jefferson Parker.

While reporting on a Tijuana animal shelter, journalist Bettina Blazak falls in love with one of her story’s subjects—an adorable Mexican street dog who is being treated for a mysterious gunshot wound. Bettina impulsively adopts the dog, who she names Felix after the veterinarian who saved him.

In investigating Felix’s past, Bettina discovers that his life is nothing like what she assumed. For one thing, he’s not a Mexican street dog at all. A former DEA drug-sniffing dog, Felix has led a very colorful, dangerous, and profitable life. With Bettina’s story going viral, some interesting people are looking for Felix, making him a target—again.

Bettina soon finds herself drawn into a deadly criminal underworld from which she and her beloved dog may not return.

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T. Jefferson Parker is the author of numerous novels and short stories, the winner of three Edgar Awards (for Silent Joe, California Girl, and the short story “Skinhead Central”), and the recipient of a Los Angeles Times Book Prize for best mystery (Silent Joe). Before becoming a full-time novelist, he was an award-winning reporter. He lives in Fallbrook, California.

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Enjoy the conversation.

Barbara Peters recently welcomed debut author Meagan Jennett to The Poisoned Pen. Signed copies of Jennett’s thriller, You Know Her, are available through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/3NjwFzZ

Here’s the description of You Know Her.

“This book will be the talk of the genre. If you read one thriller this year, read this one.” —Chelsea Cain, New York Times bestselling author of Heartsick

Killing Eve meets Sharp Objects in this lush, savage Southern Gothic about two women: a fledgling murderer and the cop hell-bent on catching her.

Two hours before he vanished, Mark Dixon stole a glass of wine. That’s what bartender Sophie Braam told the cops when they questioned her about the customer whose mutilated body was just found. What she didn’t tell them is that she’s the one who killed him.

Officer Nora Martin is new to the Bellair Police Department and trying very hard to learn the ropes from Detective Murphy while ignoring all the men in the department snapping about a diversity hire. When she meets Sophie, they build an uneasy camaraderie over shared frustrations.

As winter slides into spring and bodies start piling up, Nora begins to suspect that something’s not quite right with the unnerving, enigmatic bartender. But will she be able to convince Murph, or will he keep laughing off the idea that the serial killer haunting their little town is a woman?

A crackling cat-and-mouse thriller set against the verdant backdrop of small-town Virginia, Meagan Jennett’s You Know Her probes the boundaries of female friendship and the deadly consequences when frustration ferments into rage.

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Meagan Jennett is an escaped bartender who traded in crafting cocktails for crafting her own tales. She is a doctoral candidate in fine arts at The University of Glasgow. Her work has been published in From Glasgow to Saturn, Honey & Lime Lit, and Skirting Around Magazine. You Know Her is her first novel.

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Enjoy “meeting” Meagan Jennett.

The 2023 Edgar Awards were presented on Thursday, April 27. Congratulations to all of the winners. Check out the list. Then, don’t forget to check the Webstore for books by your favorite authors. https://store.poisonedpen.com/ You’ve already seen many of the authors here for in-person and virtual events.

Here’s the press release from Mystery Writers of America.

Mystery Writers of America Announces 2023 Edgar Allan Poe Award Winners

April 27, 2023, New York, NY – Mystery Writers of America is proud to announce the winners for the 2023 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2022. The 77^th Annual Edgar® Awards were celebrated on April 27, 2023, at the New York Marriott Marquis Times Square and livestreamed on YouTube.

BEST NOVEL

Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka (HarperCollins – William Morrow)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR
 
Don’t Know Tough by Eli Cranor (Soho Press – Soho Crime)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
 
Or Else by Joe Hart (Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)

BEST FACT CRIME

Tell Me Everything: The Story of a Private Investigation by Erika Krouse (Flatiron Books)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL
 
The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and Their Creators by Martin Edwards

(HarperCollins – Collins Crime Club)

BEST SHORT STORY

“Red Flag,” Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Gregory Fallis (Dell Magazines)

BEST JUVENILE

Aggie Morton Mystery Queen: The Seaside Corpse by Marthe Jocelyn

(Penguin Random House Canada – Tundra Books)

BEST YOUNG ADULT
 
The Red Palace by June Hur (Macmillan Children’s Books – Feiwel & Friends)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

“Episode 1” – Magpie Murders, Written by Anthony Horowitz (Masterpiece/PBS)

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 ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD

“Dogs in the Canyon,” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Mark Harrison (Dell Magazines)

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD

A Dreadful Splendor by B.R. Myers (HarperCollins – William Morrow)

THE G.P. PUTNAM’S SONS SUE GRAFTON MEMORIAL AWARD

Hideout by Louisa Luna (Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group – Doubleday)

THE LILIAN JACKSON BRAUN MEMORIAL AWARD

Buried in a Good Book by Tamara Berry (Sourcebooks – Poisoned Pen Press) 

SPECIAL AWARDS

GRAND MASTER

Michael Connelly

Joanne Fluke

RAVEN AWARD

Crime Writers of Color

Eddie Muller for Noir Alley and The Film Noir Foundation

ELLERY QUEEN AWARD

The Strand Magazine

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The Edgar Awards, or “Edgars,” as they are commonly known, are named after MWA’s patron saint Edgar Allan Poe and are presented to authors of distinguished work in various categories. MWA is the premier organization for mystery writers, professionals allied to the crime-writing field, aspiring crime writers, and those who are devoted to the genre. The organization encompasses some 3,000 members including authors of fiction and non-fiction books, screen and television writers, as well as publishers, editors, and literary agents.
 
Mystery Writers of America would like to emphasize our commitment to diversity and fairness in the judging of the Edgar Awards. Judges are selected from every region of the country, from every sub-category of our genre, and from every demographic to ensure fairness and impartiality.

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The EDGAR (and logo) are Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by the Mystery Writers of America, Inc.

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, welcomed Taylor Adams for a virtual event. Adams’ third book is The Last Word. There are signed copies of the book, the Pen’s April Crime Book of of the Month, in the Webstore. https://tinyurl.com/4u3xfb3b

Here’s the description of The Last Word.

After posting a negative book review, a woman living in a remote location begins to wonder if the author is a little touchy—or very, very dangerous—in this pulse-pounding novel of psychological suspense and terror from the critically acclaimed author of No Exit and Hairpin Bridge.

Emma Carpenter lives in isolation with her golden retriever Laika, house-sitting an old beachfront home on the rainy Washington coast. Her only human contact is her enigmatic old neighbor, Deek, and (via text) the house’s owner, Jules.

One day, she reads a poorly written—but gruesome—horror novel by the author H. G. Kane, and posts a one-star review that drags her into an online argument with none other than the author himself. Soon after, disturbing incidents start to occur at night. To Emma, this can’t just be a coincidence. It was strange enough for this author to bicker with her online about a lousy review; could he be stalking her, too?

As Emma digs into Kane’s life and work, she learns he has published sixteen other novels, all similarly sadistic tales of stalking and murder. But who is he? How did he find her? And what else is he capable of?

Displaying his trademark command of rapid-fire pacing, unnerving atmosphere, and razor-sharp characterization, Taylor Adams once again delivers a diabolically disturbing—and deadly—game of cat and mouse.

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Taylor Adams is the author of several acclaimed thrillers including Hairpin Bridge and No Exit. No Exit has been published in 32 languages and was recently released as a Hulu Original film. Adams lives in Washington State.

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Enjoy the conversation with Taylor Adams.