It seems as if I’m only writing tributes in the last weeks, to Kerry Greenwood, Peter Lovesey, and now Andrew Gross. May they all rest in peace.
A personal Arizona story. I met Andrew Gross and his wife, Lynn, at a birthday party in Tucson. We had dinner. The next day, I went to see Andrew at the Tucson Festival of Books. Andrew looked awful, but he managed to make it through his program. He had food poisoning from the night before.
Gross appeared at The Poisoned Pen several times. He wrote some books with James Patterson before he wrote thrillers on his own. But, I want to share an interview for Gross’ most personal book, Button Man. It’s based on the story of Gross’ own family, a Jewish family working in the garment industry. You would have to place a special order for Button Man.https://bit.ly/3YvwrdJ
Andrew Gross said Button Man is really a depiction of the origin of an industry, but also a depiction of organized crime in New York.
Patrick Millikin did an excellent interview with Andrew Gross. It’s a pleasure to hear him talk about his family and New York City history. It’s worth watching, one last time.
We’ve lost a great one. Peter Lovesey died yesterday. He was a Diamond Dagger award winner and received the Grand Master Award from Mystery Writers of America. Janet Rudolph published a beautiful tribute to Lovesey on her blog, Mystery Fanfare – https://bit.ly/3FY7CRs.
Lovesey was the author of Sergeant Cribb mysteries; Bertie, Prince of Wales; and the Superintendent Peter Diamond books. He also wrote books as Peter Lear. You can find many of his books through the Webstore, https://bit.ly/42go5Yo.
We’re all going to miss Peter Lovesey, but I know Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, was a friend of his. She did a wonderful interview with him when his last book was released, Against the Grain.
Peter Lovesey was the author of more than forty highly praised mystery novels including the Peter Diamond investigations and the Sergeant Cribb investigations. He has been honored with the two highest awards in mystery fiction, Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America and the Cartier Diamond Dagger of the Crime Writers’ Association as well as many other international accolades. He lived in Shrewsbury, England.
Although Kelly Mullen’s book, This is Not a Game, was already released in the U.K., this week was release date for the book in the U.S. Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, hosted the release party which included champagne and cookies shaped like dachshunds.
You can still pick up a signed copy of This is Not a Game through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/3XUlsdH
Here’s the description of the debut novel, This is Not a Game.
MURDER MARTINIS A GRANDMOTHER-GRANDDAUGHTER SLEUTHING DUO DACHSHUNDS (x2) A GLAMOROUS ISLAND MANOR
Widow Mimi lives on idyllic Mackinac Island, where cars are not allowed and a Gibson martini with three onions at the witching hour is compulsory. Her estranged granddaughter, Addie, is getting over the heartbreak of not only being dumped by her fiancé, Brian, but also being cut out of the deal for the brilliantly successful video game?Murderscape they invented together (with Addie doing most of the heavy lifting).
When Mimi gets an invitation from local socialite Jane Ireland—a seventysomething narcissist who’s having a salacious affair with her son-in-law—to a charity auction, she invites Addie. But Mimi doesn’t tell her that a blackmail threat from Jane looms over the party’s invitation.
Once they arrive, a big storm rolls in, trapping everyone in the mansion. And then, Jane is murdered. Soon Mimi and Addie’s strained relationship is put to the test when they must team up to narrow down the suspects. When another body turns up, the sleuthing pair realize someone else is playing a deadly game, and they might not survive the night.
Kelly Mullen is an author, producer and marketing executive. Her creative work for brands has won over fifty awards, including Cannes Lions and Clios. As an executive producer, her credits include the Academy Award-nominated film Trumbo, starring Bryan Cranston and Helen Mirren, and the Apple TV+ documentary Dads, produced with Ron Howard. Born and raised in Iowa, Kelly is now a dual citizen of the UK and US. She lives in London with her husband and their rescue cats.
Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, welcomed Steve Cavanagh to the bookstore. There are signed copies of Cavanagh’s new book, Witness 8, available in the Webstore. https://bit.ly/3RapJ9a
Here’s the description of Witness 8.
NSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER
Author of the “unguessable and unputdownable” (Alex Michaelides, #1 New York Times bestselling author) Kill For Me, Kill for You, the master of psychological thrillers Steve Cavanagh returns.
What if the witness was more twisted than the killer?
Something is wrong with Ruby Johnson.
A former resident of the ultra-elite Manhattan upper class, Ruby now works as a maid in the type of houses she used to live in. Unassuming, she sees everyone’s dirty secrets from the inside of their beautiful, renovated brownstones. But when Ruby witnesses a murder, she has wicked plans in mind that don’t involve telling the authorities the truth.
Eddie Flynn, streetwise ex con-artist-turned-defense attorney, is the only lawyer in New York City willing to take on hopeless cases. And none is more hopeless than John Jackson’s—the gun that killed his neighbor found, with Jackson’s DNA, in his own home. Flynn and his unconventional team will need to use every trick they know to keep an innocent man from being locked up. But to save his client’s life, Eddie must first protect his own, as the scariest organized criminals in the city are out for his head.
Perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell and Megan Miranda, Witness 8 is a fresh knockout page-turner from an author who is “the real deal” (Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author).
Steve Cavanagh is the bestselling and award-winning author of several books, including the Eddie Flynn series and Kill for Me, Kill for You. A former lawyer, he was born and raised in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where he still lives. Find out more at SteveCavanaghAuthor.com.
The British Library Crime Classics are popular books at The Poisoned Pen Bookstore, with the introductions by Martin Edwards. They’re published by Sourcebooks/Poisoned Pen Press. This week, Dana Stabenow reviews Mary Kelly’s The Spoilt Kill, which is available through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/3BuXBcx
Mary Kelly’s The Spoilt Kill beat out John le Carre’s Call for the Dead for the Gold Dagger Award in 1961, and now I know why. This book is exquisitely written, with a totally character-driven plot in a fully realized workplace setting (a commercial pottery). The detective is undercover on a case of industrial espionage and the pottery’s accountant is found murdered by, well, let’s just say by clay.
But this is one of those books that is about far more than its mystery. I’ll excerpt one sample for you.
“…But you heard what Dart said. “You have to have these things.” Have to. Obligation. England the great mercantile nation, rolling in prosperity, measures poverty against a new list of basic possessions. And it’s no longer a pity to be poor, a misfortune, it’s a disgrace, a stigma, a reflection on your character, a condition you daren’t permit to be seen, like syphilis. Perhaps I exaggerate.”
No, he doesn’t. Who says we need that enormous TV, that flashy car, that McMansion? That is a passage that could have been written today and be just as relevant now as it was then. The sheer pettiness of the motive for the espionage rings horribly true.
Be aware, this is not a light-hearted read and there is no HEA, but on a level of craft it reads as well as le Carre himself ever did. I especially recommend it to my writing friends.
N.B.: I will say this and no more in criticism [SPOILER]:
Nicholson is meant to have been disappointed in love at the end, but my feeling is he really dodged a bullet there.
Kerry Greenwood, author of the historical detective Phryne Fisher mysteries, died last week, according to ABC News. https://ab.co/4jpXNdt.
Australian author Kerry Greenwood, who died in Melbourne on March 26 aged 70. (Supplied: Allen & Unwin)
Although Greenwood was Australian, her Phryne Fisher mysteries were published here in the United States by Poisoned Pen Press/Sourcebooks.
Over the course of her career, The Poisoned Pen bookstore published a number of blog pieces about her books, the fashion in the shows, the Phryne Fisher shows themselves.
Guest host Liana de la Rosa recently welcomed Melissa Marr to The Poisoned Pen. Marr is the author of A Course in Magic series, including the latest book, The Reluctant Witch. There are signed copies available in the Webstore. https://bit.ly/4iWN8qz
Here’s the description of The Reluctant Witch.
The Magicians meets One Last Stop in the sequel to Remedial Magic by New York Times bestselling author Melissa Marr!
After discovering she’s a witch and being whisked away to the magical land of Crenshaw, Ellie wants nothing more than to spend time with her new wife, Prospero, who has magically altered Ellie’s memories to convince her of exactly that.
Prospero herself is guilt-wracked after erasing Ellie’s memories and being forced into a sham marriage with the woman she loves for real. But Crenshaw is dying, poisoned by Prospero’s enemies who want their community to return to the human world, and she will do anything to save it.
The most powerful witch in anyone’s memory is in Prospero’s home, in her bed, with no idea that she’s a prisoner there… yet.
As the very fabric of their world is being destroyed, Ellie and Prospero must find a way to work together and save the world, and themselves.
Melissa Marr writes fiction for adults, teens, and children. Her books have been translated into over 25 languages and been bestsellers in the US (New York Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal) as well as overseas. Wicked Lovely, her debut novel, was an instant New York Times bestseller and evolved into an internationally bestselling multi-book series with a myriad of accolades. If she’s not writing, you can find her in a kayak or on a trail with her wife.
If you’ve been following the blog for a few years, you may be aware of Dana Stabenow’s project, Storyknife.
Overlooking Cook Inlet and the heart-stopping grandeur of the Aleutian Mountain Range, Storyknife Writers Retreat, a literary nonprofit located in Homer, Alaska, hosts residencies for women from Alaska, across the United States, and internationally. Our mission is to give women writers the time and space to explore their craft without distraction. Storyknife provides women with a community to support their efforts, lifting their voices.
Patrick King from The Poisoned Pen welcomed debut author Allison Gunn for a virtual event. There are still copies of Nowhere available in the Webstore. https://bit.ly/3E78vGz
Here’s the description of Nowhere.
Mare of Easttown meets The Outsider in this spine-tingling and twisty debut about a series of disappearances in a small, fundamentalist town and what one broken family must do to remain together as dark forces close in.
After losing her young son in an accident, Rachel Kennan throws herself into her career as police chief of a small Virginia town to avoid focusing on her grief. Meanwhile, her husband, Finn, a washed-up writer whose alcoholism led to the devastating tragedy that changed everything, struggles to redeem himself before his family completely falls apart. Their two daughters are the only things keeping Rachel and Finn together, but the girls have demons of their own.
At the same time, a disturbing crime rocks their tightknit, religious community, sending Rachel chasing leads in a place that does not take kindly to outsiders. When an ominous force in the forest starts calling to the children, fear spawns hate among the townspeople, placing the Kennan family directly in the line of fire. Left with no choice but to rely on each other, Rachel and Finn must come together to face threats inside and out.
A haunting family saga and a disquieting horror debut, Nowhere draws from Appalachian folklore to caution us that true terror is what we bury in our own hearts.
Allison Gunn is a professional researcher, writer, and podcaster with a penchant for all things whimsical and strange. An alum of the University of Maryland, she has extensively studied marginalized communities as well as Appalachian folklore and the occult. She currently resides in the wonderfully weird land of West Virginia with her twin daughters, a precocious pup, and one seriously troubled tabby. Nowhere is her first novel.
Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, recently welcomed two British authors for a virtual event at the bookstore. C.B. Everett’s latest book is The Other People. Jess Kidd launches a series with Murder at Gulls Nest. Both books are available in the Webstore. https://store.poisonedpen.com/
Here’s the summary of The Other People.
A group of strangers gathered at a mysterious country house are in a race against time to stop a serial killer in this twisty, high-concept thriller that combines Agatha Christie with Shutter Island.
Ten strangers.
An old dark house.
A killer picking them off one by one.
And a missing girl who’s running out of time…
And then there was one.
Ten strangers wake up inside an old, locked house. They have no recollection of how they got there. In order to escape, they have to solve the disappearance of a young woman. But a killer also stalks the halls of the house and soon the body count starts to rise. Who are these strangers? Why were they chosen? Why would someone want to kill them? And who—or what—lurks in the cellar?
Forget what you think you know.
Because while you can trust yourself, can you really trust The Other People?
C.B. Everett is the pen name for author Martyn Waites. He trained at the Birmingham School of Speech and Drama and worked as an actor for many years before becoming a writer. His novels include the critically acclaimed Joe Donovan series, The Old Religion, and The White Room. In 2013, he was chosen to write Angel of Death, the official sequel to Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black, and in 2014 won the Grand Prix Roman Etranger for Born Under Punches. He has been nominated for every major British and French crime fiction award and has also enjoyed international commercial success with eight novels written under the name Tania Carver.
Here’s the description of Jess Kidd’s Murder at Gulls Nest.
From Jess Kidd, the bestselling author of Things in Jars who “is so good it isn’t fair” (Erika Swyler, nationally bestselling author), the first in a cozy mystery series about a former nun who searches for answers in a small seaside town after her pen pal mysteriously disappears.
I believe every one of us at Gulls Nest is concealing some kind of secret.
1954: When her former novice’s dependable letters stop, Nora Breen asks to be released from her vows. Haunted by a line in Frieda’s letter, Nora arrives at Gulls Nest, a charming hotel in Gore-on-Sea in Kent.
A seaside town, a place of fresh air and relaxed constraints, is the perfect place for a new start. Nora hides her identity and pries into the lives of her fellow guests. But when a series of bizarre murders rattles the occupants of Gulls Nest it’s time to ask if a dark past can ever really be left behind.
Jess Kidd is the award-winning author of Murder at Gulls Nest, The Night Ship, Himself, Mr. Flood’s Last Resort, and Things in Jars. Learn more at JessKidd.com.
Enjoy the conversation with C.B. Everett and Jess Kidd.
