Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, welcomed Alexandra Potter for her first visit to the bookstore. So, I Met This Guy, Potter’s latest book has an exciting chase scene, and it’s about a con man who gets conned. There are signed copies available in the Webstore. https://tinyurl.com/3bjeczux

Here’s the description of So, I Met This Guy.

Two women, one con man, and a European adventure fueled by friendship, heartbreak, and having nothing left to lose, from mega-bestselling UK author Alexandra Potter.

Maggie thinks she’s finally found the love of her life. Theo is charming, passionate, and crazy about her. So when Theo mysteriously disappears, Maggie certainly doesn’t expect that he’s gone for good—let alone stolen her life savings, heart, and self-esteem.

Now she’s living in a caravan in a muddy field in the middle of nowhere, left to pick up the pieces. When junior reporter Flick catches wind of the story, she decides that exposing the romance fraudster may be just the career break she needs.

The pair embark on the road trip of their lives—from the glitz and glamour of Monte Carlo to the souks of Tangier—where unexpected twists, hidden secrets, and hard truths are revealed. And, as an unlikely friendship begins to blossom, they realize it’s not just about finding the guy, it’s about finding themselves.

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Alexandra Potter is the bestselling author of numerous novels in the UK, including Confessions of a Forty-Something F**k Up, which is now the basis of a major TV series, Not Dead Yet. Her titles have sold in twenty-five territories and achieved worldwide sales of more than one million copies, making the bestseller charts across the globe.

Yorkshire born and raised, Alexandra lived for several years in LA before settling back in the UK. She currently lives in London with her Californian husband and their Bosnian rescue dog. When she’s not writing or traveling, she’s getting out into nature, trying not to look at her phone and navigating this thing called mid-life.

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Enjoy the conversation with Alexandra Potter.

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, is back from her extended trip, so she welcomed Deanna Raybourn back to the bookstore. A Ghastly Catastrophe is the tenth Veronica Speedwell and Stoker novel. You can order signed copies through the Webstore, https://tinyurl.com/2nkfh2bf.

Here’s the description of A Ghastly Catastrophe.

Veronica and Stoker are practically dying for a new adventure, but when their wish is granted, they find themselves up against a secret society and a darkly seductive duo in this landmark historical mystery from beloved New York Times bestselling and Edgar® Award–nominated author Deanna Raybourn.

When the corpse of an entitled young man is found entirely drained of blood in a carriage next to Highgate Cemetery, Veronica’s interest is piqued. And then a second victim is found, his death made to look like a suicide—and Veronica and her intrepid beau Stoker know the hunt is on. The two men share one link: they were both members of a society so secretive that only a singular mention of it can be found anywhere.

Thirsty for more clues, Veronica and Stoker hear that a young Romany boy may know more about their first victim, and the only way to the boy is through an old acquaintance of Stoker’s, Lady Julia Brisbane. Lady Julia and her dashing husband, Nicholas, occasionally track down murderers and are only too happy to help. But as it becomes clear that the secret society is a dangerous sect looking to entice immortality seekers, Veronica and Stoker find themselves ensnared by a decidedly more sinister couple.

The professed leader of the society claims to be a creature of the night; his partner practices witchcraft and they both fancy themselves emissaries of the otherworldly. Just as Veronica and Stoker get closer to learning the true purpose of the society and unraveling this macabre mystery, another body turns up, and they quickly discover they’ve gone from being the hunters to the hunted. . . .

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Deanna Raybourn is the New York Times bestselling and Edgar® Award–nominated author of the Veronica Speedwell Mysteries, the Lady Julia Grey series, and several stand-alone novels, including KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE and KILLS WELL WITH OTHERS. She lives in Virginia with her family.

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I’m sure you’ll enjoy the conversation with Deanna Raybourne.

Left Coast Crime ended this past weekend. The Lefty Awards are voted on by attendees at the convention. They were presented Saturday night. Congratulations to the four winners. You can order copies of the books through the Webstore. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Best Humorous Mystery Novel: – Scot’s Eggs by Catriona McPherson

Best Historical Mystery Novel for books set before 1970 (The Bill Gottfried Memorial): The Case of the Missing Maid by Rob Osler

Best Debut Mystery Novel: Whiskey Business by Adrian Andover

Best Mystery Novel (not in other categories): River of Lies by James L’Etoile

Because Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, was still on vacation, author Dana Stabenow brought her own team to the bookstore for her book release. Stabenow’s new book is The Harvey Girl. Followers of Stabenow’s blog, https://blog.stabenow.com/, may recognize her group of followers, the Danamaniacs. Three of them showed up to support the event. You can order signed copies of The Harvey Girl through the Website. https://tinyurl.com/ysm432yn

Here’s the summary of The Harvey Girl.

From the award-winning author of the Kate Shugak Mysteries, a thrilling new detective series set during America’s wild boom time of the nineteenth century.

WELCOME TO THE GILDED AGE. WHERE NOT EVERYTHING GLITTERS.

1890. The New Mexico Territory is a lawless frontier where criminals steal money and land alike with impunity. Everyone wears a six-gun and is ready and willing to draw it.

In the new city of Montaña Roja, Fred Harvey’s growing empire is threatened by the robberies plaguing his newest Harvey House restaurant. To get justice, he needs a skilled detective to go undercover and procure answers to questions the law will not ask.

The assignment falls to Clare Wright, a young Pinkerton agent. Disguised as one of Harvey’s famous hostesses, Clare travels west where she risks being exposed at every step of her investigation. To get answers – and to get out alive – there are only two things she can trust: her instincts, and her derringer.

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Dana Stabenow was born in Anchorage, Alaska and raised on a 75-foot fishing tender. She knew there was a warmer, drier job out there somewhere and found it in writing. Her first book in the bestselling Kate Shugak series, A Cold Day for Murder, received an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America.

Follow Dana at stabenow.com

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Enjoy Dana Stabenow’s conversation about The Harvey Girl.

Thanks to Deb Lewis of The Poisoned Pen’s staff for sharing her book picks for March. If the link doesn’t take you directly to the book, you can find it through the Webstore, https://store.poisonedpen.com/.

The Politician by Tim Sullivan

A ransacked room. A dead politician. A burglary gone wrong – or a staged murder?

DS George Cross loves puzzles – he’s good at them – and he immediately spots one when he begins investigating the death of former mayor Peggy Frampton. To most, the crime scene looks like a burglary that went horribly wrong. But George can see what others can’t: This was murder.

She Fell Away by Lenore Nash 

A State Department diplomat must confront the ghosts of her past as she searches for a missing American woman in New Zealand in this pulse-pounding and unputdownable thriller.

Missing by E.A Jackson 

In this unputdownable crime thriller for fans of Tana French, a detective returns to a thirty-year-old case—an infamous disappearance in London—that has haunted her entire career and now may jeopardize her future.

Who Will Remember by CS Harris 

The macabre murder of a prominent nobleman throws an already unsettled London into chaos in this electrifying new historical mystery by the USA Today bestselling author of What Cannot Be Said.

My Grandfather, the Master Detective by Masateru Konishi

A Japanese The Thursday Murder Club, taking healing fiction for a mystery-filled spin with this bestseller that has sold more than 200,000 copies in Japan.

Weavingshaw by Heba Al-Wasity

This yearning, gothic slow-burn fantasy romance follows a young woman haunted by the ghosts of her past and the Saint of Silence who promises her greatest desire in return for her darkest secret. . . .

Author Dana Stabenow was guest host for Paula Lafferty for The Poisoned Pen when Paula Lafferty appeared at the bookstore. The Once and Future Queen is the first book in her series, The Lives of Guinevere. There are signed copies of the book available in the Webstore, https://tinyurl.com/4492kz9v

Here’s the description of The Once and Future Queen.

Outlander-meets-The Princess Bride plus Camelot in a fresh, big-hearted, feminist, timeslip adventure reimagining the epic saga of King Arthur, as told from the perspective of his spunky and surprising queen, Vera – complete with time travel and good running shoes!

***DELUXE LIMITED EDITION HARDCOVER with stenciled edges, a beautiful foil-stamped hardcover, exclusive interior design with full-color illustrated endpapers*** Only while supplies last.

Vera always knew she didn’t fit in. When she learns that she is meant to be in another time, she leaps at the chance to embrace a new life in a world of valor, intrigue, and unexpected magic in this bold and romantic retelling of Arthurian legend . . .

22-year-old Vera is at a crossroads: waiting tables, grieving her previous relationship, and jogging aimlessly each morning as if toward an uncertain future. Then an odd man shows up at her workplace, insisting that she was once the legendary Queen Guinevere of Camelot, and that her lost memories hold the key to changing both the past and the present. Somehow, it all feels like the direction she’s been looking for. But when she asks the mysterious man to tell her more about Lancelot, Arthur, and a faithless queen, he can only say that much of what she’s heard about Camelot is wrong. The truth, he claims, is something she must see for herself.

After jumping through a portal in Glastonbury’s historic center, Vera is not prepared for what she finds. Magic is everywhere, but a curse on the kingdom means it dwindles every day. She has no idea how to perform a queen’s duties. Her fast friendship with Lancelot sets gossip flowing, and the stranger she must call “husband” often refuses to meet her eye. Arthur is a puzzle: cold, forbidding, and, while angry to her face, keeps leaving secret tokens of tenderness in her chambers. Worst of all, Vera’s memories—and the answers locked within them—show no signs of returning. If Vera is truly destined to save Camelot, she’ll have to trust her instincts. And her king will have to trust her . . .

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Paula Lafferty is the author of La Vie De Guinevere, a feminist timeslip reimagining of King Arthur’s legend that was independently published through a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign before being traditionally released by Kensington Publishing. It has since become an international sensation, published in 10 countries and translated into 8 languages, with an audiobook edition narrated by Julia Whelan. Born and raised in Kansas, she earned BFA in Film Production from Chapman University and a Master of Divinity from Saint Paul School of Theology. She now lives with her husband, daughter, and dog in the Kansas City, KS area and can be found online at PaulaLafferty.com, on Instagram @paulalafferty_writes and on Tiktok @paulalafferty.

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Enjoy the conversation with Paula Lafferty.

Critic Oline Cogdill recently reviewed John McMahon’s new Head Cases novel, Inside Man, in the South Florida Sun Sentinel and shared that review with us. You can order a signed copy through The Poisoned Pen’s Webstore, https://tinyurl.com/uathfve8. You can also check out Barbara Peters’ interview with McMahon in the video at the end.

Thank you, Oline, for sharing your review.

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Book review: Suspenseful ‘Inside Man’ looks at the world in a different way, through patterns and puzzles

‘Inside Man: A Head Cases Novel’ by John McMahon; Minotaur; 400 pages; $29

In John McMahon’s suspenseful “Inside Man” — the second book in his intriguing “Head Cases” series — FBI agent Gardner Camden sees patterns and puzzles to be solved where others just see the ordinary. The way a person’s teeth align, for example, or the angle of cars.

Making sense of shapes and motifs and pulling them into cohesive ideas are part of Gardner’s job as leader of the FBI’s Patterns and Recognition team (PAR), which draws on the analytical strengths of its five investigators. McMahon confidently combines the cerebral with solid action, skimping on neither aspect.

The team’s nickname is “Head Cases,” because they admit they “mostly live in their heads.” Each team member is brilliant yet each knows that they ended up on this team after “dead-end assignments” to which they’d been “exiled after making a mistake elsewhere in the FBI.”

The fictional PAR, based in Miami and Jacksonville, suits Gardner and his team well — though “Inside Man” has them in a bit of a slump. Gardner and Joanne “Shooter” Harris find the body of their confidential informant, Freddie Pecos, in his remote Florida trailer surrounded by weapons and a million in cash. Freddie was the link to a militia group that had been skimming money from the state to buy weapons. “Legal gun purchases, but from an illegal source of income,” says Gardner.

As the team looks for a new informant, “an inside man,” they uncover a link to a string of unsolved missing persons cases in northern Florida.

McMahon shapes a compelling look at law enforcement, assuredly showing that no matter how intelligent people are, mistakes can be made. The PAR team members are not superhuman. They are people with super intellects, but also given to foibles, frailties and fumbles.

“Inside Man” allows glimpses into Gardner’s private life as he balances the personal with the professional. Poignant scenes with Gardner and his 8-year-old daughter, Camila, show a bright child who has the potential to follow in her father’s footsteps. The scenes in which the two work on puzzles, often devising their own, show how they are bonding. Camila might even be smarter than her dad.

McMahon delves into the Florida landscape, mixing the rural with the urban, and real places such as Pembroke Pines and Gainesville with fictional, all of which capture the spirit of the Sunshine State.

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Enjoy Barbara Peters’ interview with John McMahon.

Author Paige Shelton was guest host at The Poisoned Pen, interviewing Jenn McKinlay and Tracy Sierra. Jenn McKinlay’s latest book is the sixteenth in the Library Lover’s mystery series, Booking for Trouble. Tracy Sierra’s new book is Warning Signs. You can order signed copies of both books in the Website. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Here’s the description of Booking for Trouble.

It’s all hands on deck when a dead body is found near the small town of Briar Creek in this Library Lover’s Mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of A Merry Little Murder Plot.

Just off the shores of the coastal Connecticut town of Briar Creek are two small islands, which library director Lindsey Norris visits with her new book-boat, inspired by the bookmobiles she’s seen traveling across the country. Nothing, not even the infamous feud between the families who own the Split Islands, can stop Lindsey from getting books into the hands of readers. But when Lindsey and her boat captain husband, Mike Sullivan, discover a body on the rocky outcropping of one of the islands, Lindsey’s new library venture quickly becomes a murder investigation.

At news of the crime, hostilities between the two families are reignited. Long buried secrets are revealed, tensions spark, and suspects abound. As Lindsey navigates treacherous waters (both literal and metaphorical), she must use her research skills and community ties to solve the murder and bring peace to the islands before her book-boat dreams are sunk.

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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 books, pets, and her husband’s guitars.

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Tracy Sierra’s Warning Signs is described below.

Twelve-year-old Zach is cautiously optimistic. His father Bram, whose business is in dire need of cash, has put together a father-son backcountry ski weekend to wine and dine his biggest investors. Schooled in outdoor survival by his mother, Zach is eager to prove himself to the hypercritical Bram. Maybe if Zach shows how useful he is, he can earn his father’s love.

But Zach knows to be on high alert around Bram, and he sees the way the group ignores the increasingly threatening conditions. For the first time in his beloved mountains, he is faced with the unknown, convinced that something watches their cabin from the treeline. Something that leaves behind strange tracks and picks its prey clean.

As the adults recklessly test the limits of the outdoors, Zach worries he might be in even more danger than he realized. Could the men around him prove more violent than the unforgiving weather, and the strange creature lurking in the dark? Zach will have to rely on his wits if he hopes to make it home safely. But he knows all too well that the wilderness can be unpredictable even at the best of times. And at the worst? Deadly.

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Tracy Sierra was born and raised in the Colorado mountains. She is an attorney who currently lives in New England in a colonial-era home. When not writing, she spends time with her husband and two children. Nightwatching, her debut novel, was selected as a Fallon Book Club pick. Warning Signs is her second novel.

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Enjoy the conversation with Jenn McKinlay and Tracy Sierra.

Thank you to critic Oline Cogdill for sharing her review of Mark Greaney’s The Hard Line. Cogdill’s review of the latest in the Gray Man series was originally published in the South Florida Sun Sentinel. You can still order a signed copy through The Poisoned Pen’s Webstore. https://tinyurl.com/575wu495

Here’s Cogdill’s review.

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Book review: Government conspiracies, betrayals and high-tech weaponry abound in ‘The Hard Line’

‘The Hard Line’ by Mark Greaney; Berkley; 496 pages; $31

With his outstanding “The Hard Line,” Mark Greaney’s trademark style — his intense plotting emphasizing fast-and-furious action that taps into the changing political environment — continues to reshape the espionage genre. It is the 15th installment in his popular “Gray Man” series.

While his novels are plot-heavy, the author doesn’t skimp on fully fleshed-out characters who match the action. Greaney puts his characters into nail-biting jeopardy, only to pull them out — sometimes — but in realistic ways.

The Gray Man is Courtland “Court” Gentry, a freelance assassin and, now, an ex-CIA agent. Court and his far-flung group of operatives are working out of a nondescript office park in Norfolk, Virginia, that they call the Ghost Town, run by a former CIA deputy director. They are an “off-the-books direct action team,” and boy, are they active. While their methods and results are not discreet, Court and his team take jobs the agency cannot publicly do.

That’s both difficult and oddly simple for Court, whose shadowy existence is so undercover that many doubt the Gray Man exists. Woe to them. Greaney has shaped Court as a kind of superman, able to get out of seemingly impossible danger. Yet, Greaney makes each escape believable in its own way. This dichotomy moves this series, and is a major aspect of “The Hard Line.”

While Court is an admitted nomad, he believes in family, the one you’re related to by blood and the one you’re connected to by the blood you spill together. This sense of family infuses various undertakings in “The Hard Line,” which begins with a father trying to avenge his estranged son’s death, leading to a son wanting justice for his father.

In between, Court follows the threats aimed at security experts and intelligence operatives across the globe. For some, the most danger erupts in their own neighborhoods. Of course, complicated government conspiracies, betrayals and high-tech weaponry abound.

Longtime readers of Greaney know not to shy away from his lengthy novels, which generally run around 500 pages. The crisp writing moves the story at nearly head-spinning pace. The list of characters with brief descriptions at the beginning isn’t just helpful, it’s necessary.

The explosive “The Hard Line” delivers a breathless energy from the first sentence to the last, continuing Greaney’s string of hard-charging, involving thrillers.

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You can also watch Jack Stewart interview Mark Greaney at The Poisoned Pen.