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Don’t forget about the second half of January at The Poisoned Pen! Check out the scheduled programs, and then check the Web Store for books by your favorite authors. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, welcomed New Zealand author Michael Bennett to talk about his debut thriller, Better the Blood. If you watch the event, Bennett talks about his family involvement in the production of the book. You can order a copy of Better the Blood through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/item/wLu_br6H3tUtq22IznQevw

Here’s the summary of Better the Blood.

An absorbing, clever debut thriller that speaks to the longstanding injustices faced by New Zealand’s indigenous peoples, by an acclaimed M?ori screenwriter and director

A tenacious M?ori detective, Hana Westerman juggles single motherhood, endemic prejudice, and the pressures of her career in Auckland CIB. Led to a crime scene by a mysterious video, she discovers a man ritualistically hanging in a secret room and a puzzling inward-curving inscription. Delving into the investigation after a second, apparently unrelated, death, she uncovers a chilling connection to an historic crime: 160 years before, during the brutal and bloody British colonization of New Zealand, a troop of colonial soldiers unjustly executed a M?ori Chief.

Hana realizes that the murders are utu—the M?ori tradition of rebalancing for the crime committed eight generations ago. There were six soldiers in the British troop, and since descendants of two of the soldiers have been killed, four more potential murders remain. Hana is thus hunting New Zealand’s first serial killer.

The pursuit soon becomes frighteningly personal, recalling the painful event, two decades before, when Hana, then a new cop, was part of a police team sent to end by force a land rights occupation by indigenous peoples on the same ancestral mountain where the Chief was killed, calling once more into question her loyalty to her roots. Worse still, a genealogical link to the British soldiers brings the case terrifyingly close to Hana’s own family. Twisty and thought-provoking, Better the Blood is the debut of a remarkable new talent in crime fiction.

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Michael Bennett (Ng?ti Pikiao, Ng?ti Whakaue) is an award-winning screenwriter, director, and author whose films have been selections at major festivals, including Cannes, Berlin, Toronto, and New York. His nonfiction book, In Dark Places, which explored an infamous miscarriage of justice, won awards, and his young adult graphic novel, Helen and the Go-Go Ninjas, was a finalist for the 2019 New Zealand Book Awards.

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Please welcome Michael Bennett.

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, recently welcomed Stacy Willingham to the bookstore. Signed copies of Willingham’s latest book, All the Dangerous Things, are available through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/item/3Czr8TaWU99k-B3vrNTtWA

Here’s the description of All the Dangerous Things.

Following up her instant New York Times bestseller, A Flicker in the Dark, Stacy Willingham delivers a totally gripping thriller about a desperate mother with a troubled past in All the Dangerous Things.

One year ago, Isabelle Drake’s life changed forever: her toddler son, Mason, was taken out of his crib in the middle of the night while she and her husband were asleep in the next room. With little evidence and few leads for the police to chase, the case quickly went cold. However, Isabelle cannot rest until Mason is returned to her—literally.

Except for the occasional catnap or small blackout where she loses track of time, she hasn’t slept in a year.

Isabelle’s entire existence now revolves around finding him, but she knows she can’t go on this way forever. In hopes of jarring loose a new witness or buried clue, she agrees to be interviewed by a true-crime podcaster—but his interest in Isabelle’s past makes her nervous. His incessant questioning paired with her severe insomnia has brought up uncomfortable memories from her own childhood, making Isabelle start to doubt her recollection of the night of Mason’s disappearance, as well as second-guess who she can trust… including herself. But she is determined to figure out the truth no matter where it leads.

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STACY WILLINGHAM is the New York Times and internationallybestselling author of A Flicker in the Dark. Before turning to fiction, she was a copywriter and brand strategist for various marketing agencies. She earned her BA in magazine journalism from the University of Georgia and MFA in writing from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Her work has been translated in over 30 countries. She currently lives in Charleston, South Carolina, with her husband, Britt, and Labradoodle, Mako, where she is always working on her next book.

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I hope you enjoy watching the event. And, I promise you’ll find Stacy Willingham’s introduction to her book to be fascinating.

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, recently welcomed Iris Yamashita whose debut novel is City Under One Roof. There are signed copies of City Under One Roof available through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/item/rbwr187Wriu1jVNUZ7rLtQ

Here’s the description of City Under One Roof.

A stranded detective tries to solve a murder in a tiny Alaskan town where everyone lives in a single high-rise building, in this gripping debut by an Academy Award–nominated screenwriter.

When a local teenager discovers a severed hand and foot washed up on the shore of the small town of Point Mettier, Alaska, Cara Kennedy is on the case. A detective from Anchorage, she has her own motives for investigating the possible murder in this isolated place, which can be accessed only by a tunnel.

After a blizzard causes the tunnel to close indefinitely, Cara is stuck among the odd and suspicious residents of the town—all 205 of whom live in the same high-rise building and are as icy as the weather. Cara teams up with Point Mettier police officer Joe Barkowski, but before long the investigation is upended by fearsome gang members from a nearby native village.

Haunted by her past, Cara soon discovers that everyone in this town has something to hide. Will she be able to unravel their secrets before she unravels?”

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Iris Yamashita is an Academy Award–nominated screenwriter for the movie Letters from Iwo Jima. She has been working in Hollywood for fifteen years developing material for both film and streaming, has taught screenwriting at UCLA, and is an advocate of women and diversity in the entertainment industry. She has also been a judge and mentor for various film and writing programs, and lives in California.

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Enjoy this discussion of the debut novel.

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, recently welcomed Mary Kubica and Jennifer Herrera to the bookstore. Kubica is the author of the Hot Book of the Week, Just the Nicest Couple. Herrera’s The Hunter is her debut novel. There are signed copies of both books in the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Here’s Mary Kubica’s latest, Just the Nicest Couple.

“Grabs you on the first page and doesn’t let go until you reach the end. A riveting tale about marriage, trust, and secrets.” —Laura Dave, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Thing He Told Me

A husband’s disappearance links two couples in this twisty thriller from New York Times bestselling author Mary Kubica

Jake Hayes is missing. This much is certain. At first, his wife, Nina, thinks he is blowing off steam at a friend’s house after their heated fight the night before. But then a day goes by. Two days. Five. And Jake is still nowhere to be found.

Lily Scott, Nina’s friend and coworker, thinks she may have been the last to see Jake before he went missing. After Lily confesses everything to her husband, Christian, the two decide that nobody can find out what happened leading up to Jake’s disappearance, especially not Nina. But Nina is out there looking for her husband, and she won’t stop until the truth is discovered.

“Rich with detail and a mounting, almost suffocating sense of dread, Just the Nicest Couple is a dark and twisted exploration of loyalty, family, and how far we’ll go to protect the ones we love.” —Andrea Bartz, New York Times bestselling author of We Were Never Here

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Mary Kubica is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of THE GOOD GIRL and PRETTY BABY.  She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, in History and American Literature. She lives outside of Chicago with her husband and two children and enjoys photography, gardening and caring for the animals at a local shelter. 

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Here’s Jennifer Herrera’s debut novel, The Hunter.

A riveting atmospheric suspense debut that explores the dark side of a small town and asks: How can we uncover the truth when we keep lying to ourselves?

“Herrera has a gift for drawing vivid characters and rich settings. A voicey and compelling debut that is not to be missed.”–Karin Slaughter

After reckless behavior costs NYPD detective Leigh O’Donnell her job and her marriage, she returns with her four-year-old daughter to her beautiful hometown of Copper Falls, Ohio. Leigh had stayed away for more than a decade—even though her brother and a trio of loving uncles still call it home—because, while the town may seem idyllic, something rotten lies at its core. Three men in town have drowned in what Leigh suspects to be a triple homicide. She hopes that by finding out who killed them, she just might get her life back on course.

Headstrong and intuitive, Leigh isn’t afraid to face a killer, but she has to do more than that to discover the truth about what happened to those men. She must unravel a web of secrets going back generations, and, in doing so, plumb the darkness within herself.

Perfect for fans of Mare of Easttown, this taut debut is a haunting look at how the search for truth often leads back to the most unlikely of places.

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Jennifer Herrera is a former philosophy grad student turned literary agent, who is fascinated by the stories we tell ourselves to live and the lies we cling to that sabotage our chances at a good life. She has lived in six states and five countries (so far) and now resides in Philadelphia with her husband, daughter, and cat.  

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Enjoy the conversation about books and domestic suspense.

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, recently welcomed Peter Blauner to the bookstore. Blauner is the author of Picture in the Sand which was influenced by The Ten Commandments. If you watch the event, you’ll learn how Blauner was inspired. In the meantime, you can order a signed copy of Picture in the Sand, the bookstore’s Historical Fiction Novel of January through the Web Store. https://tinyurl.com/55w8f2wc

Here’s the description of Picture in the Sand.

“On rare occasions I read a book that reminds me of why I fell in love with storytelling in the first place. This is such a book.” —Stephen King

Peter Blauner’s epic Picture in the Sand is a sweeping intergenerational saga told through a grandfather’s passionate letters to his grandson, passing on the story of his political rebellion in 1950s Egypt in order to save his grandson’s life in a post-9/11 world.

When Alex Hassan gets accepted to an Ivy League university, his middle-class Egyptian-American family is filled with pride and excitement. But that joy turns to shock when they discover that he’s run off to the Middle East to join a holy war instead. When he refuses to communicate with everyone else, his loving grandfather Ali emails him one last plea. If Alex will stay in touch, his grandfather will share with Alex – and only Alex – a manuscript containing the secret story of his own life that he’s kept hidden from his family, until now.

It’s the tale of his romantic and heartbreaking past rooted in Hollywood and the post-revolutionary Egypt of the 1950s, when young Ali was a movie fanatic who attained a dream job working for the legendary director Cecil B. DeMille on the set of his epic film, The Ten Commandments. But Ali’s vision of a golden future as an American movie mogul gets upended when he is unwittingly caught up in a web of politics, espionage, and real-life events that change the course of history.

It’s a narrative he’s told no one for more than a half-century. But now he’s forced to unearth the past to save a young man who’s about to make the same tragic mistakes he made so long ago.

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PETER BLAUNER is an Edgar-winning, New York Times bestselling author of several other novels, including Slow Motion Riot, The Intruder, and Sunrise Highway. His books have been translated into twenty languages. Picture in the Sand is the culmination of two decades of writing and research that took him from Brooklyn to Cairo a half-dozen times.

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The conversation is quite interesting, especially with stories both from Blauner and Peters talking about The Ten Commandments.

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, recently welcomed co-authors Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch for a virtual event. Meltzer and Mensch are the authors of The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill. There are signed copies of this historical book available in the Web Store. https://tinyurl.com/23rpwfkc

From the New York Times bestselling authors of The First Conspiracy and The Lincoln Conspiracy comes the little-known true story of a Nazi plot to kill FDR, Joseph Stalin, and Winston Churchill at the height of World War II.

In 1943, as the war against Nazi Germany raged abroad, President Franklin Roosevelt had a critical goal: a face-to-face sit-down with his allies Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill. This first-ever meeting of the Big Three in Tehran, Iran, would decide some of the most crucial strategic details of the war. Yet when the Nazis found out about the meeting, their own secret plan took shape—an assassination plot that would’ve changed history.

A true story filled with daring rescues, body doubles, and political intrigue, The Nazi Conspiracy details FDR’s pivotal meeting in Tehran and the deadly Nazi plot against the heads of state of the three major Allied powers who attended it.

With all the hallmarks of a Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch page-turner, The Nazi Conspiracy explores the great political minds of the twentieth century, investigating the pivotal years of the war in gripping detail. This meeting of the Big Three changed the course of World War II. Here’s the inside story of how it almost led to a world-shattering disaster.

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BRAD MELTZER is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Lightning Rod, The Escape Artist, and over ten other bestselling thrillers, as well as the Ordinary People Change the World series. He is also the host of the History Channel TV shows Brad Meltzer’s Decoded and Brad Meltzer’s Lost History, which he used to help find the missing 9/11 flag that the firefighters raised at Ground Zero.

JOSH MENSCH is a New York Times bestselling author and documentary television producer with a focus on American history. He is co-author with Brad Meltzer of The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington and The Lincoln Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill America’s 16th President. For television he has written, directed, and produced nonfiction series for PBS, the History Channel, and other networks. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his family.

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This is a fascinating conversation. If you’re a history buff, you might want to watch this event.

Jenn McKinlay’s Hat Shop Mysteries are back! She recently stopped by The Poisoned Pen Bookstore to talk about the new one in the series, Fatal Fascinator. Signed copies are available in the Web Store. https://tinyurl.com/3w3ftw94

Here’s the description of Fatal Fascinator.

Hip hip beret! Hatmakers Scarlett Parker and Vivian Tremont return and must collar a killer when a castle wedding goes awry in New York Times bestselling author Jenn McKinlay’s new Hat Shop Mystery.

It’s wedding season and Viv’s longtime frenemy Piper May is getting married. She convinces Viv and Scarlett to take on the job of designing the headpieces for her “wedding of the year.” The well-to-do bride and her entourage are delighted to have Viv and Scarlett as their famous hat designer guests, but the hat-making pair are really just looking forward to a getaway at a castle in Sussex. It is to be a weekend full of events, culminating in the big ceremony.  
 
Unfortunately, on the first night of the festivities, the groom is found murdered, and the joyous holiday becomes the stuff of nightmares as no one is allowed to leave the castle until the investigation is complete. Although Scarlett assures Harrison Wentworth, her fiancé, that she and Viv will stay out of harm’s way, circumstances force them to step in when a secret affair between the deceased groom and a bridesmaid comes to light, and the murderer takes another life. Scarlett and Viv vow to unveil the killer’s identity before the wedding adds another to its death toll.

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Jenn McKinlay is the award-winning, New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of several mystery and romance series. Her work has been translated into multiple languages in countries all over the world. She lives in sunny Arizona in a house that is overrun with kids, pets, and her husband’s guitars.

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Jenn’s events are always fun. Check it out.

Stacy Willingham’s latest thriller, All the Dangerous Things, is the Hot Book of the Week at The Poisoned Pen. You can order a signed copy through the Web Store now, https://tinyurl.com/4w98zdw8, and then you can “meet” Willingham at a live event on January 12 at 7 PM MST, 9 PM EST. Of course, the event will also be livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube.

Here’s the description of All the Dangerous Things.

Following up her instant New York Times bestseller, A Flicker in the Dark, Stacy Willingham delivers a totally gripping thriller about a desperate mother with a troubled past in All the Dangerous Things.

One year ago, Isabelle Drake’s life changed forever: her toddler son, Mason, was taken out of his crib in the middle of the night while she and her husband were asleep in the next room. With little evidence and few leads for the police to chase, the case quickly went cold. However, Isabelle cannot rest until Mason is returned to her—literally.

Except for the occasional catnap or small blackout where she loses track of time, she hasn’t slept in a year.

Isabelle’s entire existence now revolves around finding him, but she knows she can’t go on this way forever. In hopes of jarring loose a new witness or buried clue, she agrees to be interviewed by a true-crime podcaster—but his interest in Isabelle’s past makes her nervous. His incessant questioning paired with her severe insomnia has brought up uncomfortable memories from her own childhood, making Isabelle start to doubt her recollection of the night of Mason’s disappearance, as well as second-guess who she can trust… including herself. But she is determined to figure out the truth no matter where it leads.

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STACY WILLINGHAM is the New York Times and internationallybestselling author of A Flicker in the Dark. Before turning to fiction, she was a copywriter and brand strategist for various marketing agencies. She earned her BA in magazine journalism from the University of Georgia and MFA in writing from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Her work has been translated in over 30 countries. She currently lives in Charleston, South Carolina, with her husband, Britt, and Labradoodle, Mako, where she is always working on her next book.