Barbara Peters welcomed Kemper Donovan back to the Poisoned Pen to discuss Agatha Christie and Donovan’s new book, Sweet Spot. Donovan is the host of the podcast “All About Agatha”, which is now ten years old. But, Donovan’s Sweet Spot is new, and there are signed copies of the book available through the Website, https://tinyurl.com/87sfwffy.

Here’s the description of Sweet Spot.

The USA Today bestselling host of the “All About Agatha” podcast injects the spark and fizz of a Golden Age Murder Mystery into the present day, as a ghostwriter-turned-sleuth must find a devious killer who’s transforming her new assignment into a real-life thriller…

Ghostwriters, just like ghosts, shouldn’t exist. Knowing that the latest juicy memoir was penned by a stranger for a paycheck tends to ruin the illusion of intimacy. But not every ghostwriter is in it for the money alone.

For Belle Currer—as the ghostwriter extraordinaire prefers to be known—Genevieve Caraway’s memoir is an irresistible project, a tale of tragedy overcome. At 14, Genevieve was abducted from her bedroom by a couple and held hostage for three months. She’s now a happily married mother with a flourishing career, a poster child for thriving after trauma. Still, the scars haven’t entirely faded.

Genevieve’s lavish Utah home, “Sweet Spot,” is a guarded compound impregnable to outsiders—theoretically, at least. But Belle’s arrival coincides with the parole of Deirdre Gregory, one of Genevieve’s kidnappers. When Deirdre shows up at Sweet Spot begging to see Genevieve, she is refused. The next day, Deirdre’s dead body is found on the grounds.

How did Deirdre get in? More importantly, who killed her? Belle soon joins Detective Kay Adams, the pregnant Mormon detective assigned to the case, in sifting through the suspects. The compound is filled with family and friends—and also with secrets, including one the ghostwriter has been carrying for far too long. She knows how guilt, remorse, and love can drive people to do unthinkable things. And that no matter how much you try to keep the world at bay, the best and worst of it may find a way to get in . . .

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Kemper Donovan is an acclaimed author and host of the “All About Agatha” podcast. A graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Law School, he worked at the literary management company Circle of Confusion for a decade before transitioning to writing full-time. He is a member of the New York Bar Association, PEN America, and Mystery Writers of America. He lives with his husband and daughters in Los Angeles and can be found online at KemperDonovan.com.

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Enjoy the conversation about Agatha Christie, the podcast, and Sweet Spot.

Patrick King welcomed Olivie Blake to The Poisoned Pen. It was a lively conversation. She’s on book tour for Dreamland. You can order a signed copy through the Webstore, https://tinyurl.com/3uyk3br9. Patrick describes it as horror, mystery, and psychological suspense. Characters are dark and deep.

Here’s the description of Dreamland.

DELUXE EDITION—a beautiful hardcover edition featuring sprayed edges, a designed case stamp, and fully illustrated color endpapers.

From New York Times bestselling author Olivie Blake comes a tantalizing story of power, seduction, and the omens you’ll ignore when everything you’ve dreamed of feels just within reach.

The headlines are calling it the “summer of exsanguination” in LA—girls are being murdered, the Santa Ana winds are blowing a strange energy into the city, and all signs point to fire season.

More pressing for Anya Morris, though, is the drudgery of living at home, working part time at the family store, and contending with her mother’s disdain for the acting career Anya knows she’s destined for but that feels more impossible by the day.

It’s in this suffocating late summer heat that Anya receives a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, an invitation to work for the de Witt family, one of LA’s most influential film dynasties. Soon, she’s spending her days and nights at their strange villa high in the Hollywood Hills, where she meets Jude, a recluse who is both the family’s heir apparent and its most closely guarded secret.

There’s a magnetism to Jude that Anya cannot resist, despite warning signs that scream like sirens in the night. Because the villa holds generations of bloodstained history, and an occult family curse may even live within its walls—or within Jude himself.

In this city, everyone cuts a deal with the devil. When Anya comes face to face with a devil of her own, she’ll learn just how far she’s willing to go to get everything she’s ever wanted.

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Olivie Blake is the New York Times bestselling author of speculative fiction for adults, including The Atlas Six trilogy, Alone with You in the Ether, Masters of Death, the short story collection Januaries, and her novel, Girl Dinner. With Little Chmura, she is the co-creator of the graphic series Clara and the Devil. As Alexene Farol Follmuth, she is also the author of the young adult novels My Mechanical Romance and Twelfth Knight. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and son.

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Enjoy the conversation with Olivie Blake.

Critic Oline Cogdill shared her review of Hank Phillippi Ryan’s forthcoming novel, Mother Daughter Sister Stranger. The review originally appeared in the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Ryan will appear for a virtual event for the Poisoned Pen on Friday, Sept. 11 at 4 PM MST, with the event available on Facebook and YouTube. With a release date of Sept. 1, you can pre-order a signed copy of Mother Daughter Sister Stranger through the Webstore, https://tinyurl.com/3apcxvuw.

Check out Cogdill’s review.

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Book review: How well do we know family? ‘Mother Daughter Sister Stranger’ digs into our different roles

‘Mother Daughter Sister Stranger’ by Hank Phillippi Ryan; Minotaur; 352 pages; $29

The title of Hank Phillippi Ryan’s highly entertaining domestic thriller might seem a bit unwieldy. But “Mother Daughter Sister Stranger” sums up the various roles a person may assume during a lifetime and how those roles may change depending on relationships and time.

But nothing is unwieldy about Ryan’s tightly coiled plot, which focuses on the relationship between two sisters whose love for each other has surpassed tragedies, years and their changing roles in each other’s lives.

Eliza and Bea Ramsey were 17 and 20, respectively, when their parents were killed in a plane crash. Amazingly, the sisters survived being in the back seat of the private plane their father owned. Eliza now works in Boston for a literary agent, while Bea is a high-profile fashion influencer and mother of the bright, curious Piper.

The sisters’ close bond remains strong, as does their grief over the loss of their parents. Each year, they hold a Remembrance Day to mourn the anniversary. But on the 11th year, Bea fails to show up at Eliza’s Boston brownstone to join her sister and collect Piper, who was spending the week with Eliza.

“Mother Daughter Sister Stranger” focuses on Eliza’s search for Bea, her attempts to shield Piper from any ideas that the child may have been abandoned and to uncover any secrets about Bea that Eliza didn’t know.

Ryan’s engrossing plot centers on the sisters’ lives, their interactions with each other and others in their lives.

Although Bea is missing through most of the plot, Ryan keeps her personality and quirks present. The sisters have been surrounded by controlling people: Bea’s estranged husband, who seems unconcerned about their daughter or Bea’s status; Eliza’s boss; and their aunt, who acted as a substitute parent after their mother and father died. Now, long-buried family secrets tied to the fatal flight are tumbling out.

According to Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, horror is the hottest genre in publishing, maybe even eclipsing romantasy. She asked Michael Koryta and W H Chizmar to talk about that before Koryta was host for Chizmar. Chizmar’s new book is Them. There are signed copies of Them available in the Webstore, https://tinyurl.com/3vbr5nf5.

Here’s the summary of Them.

The solo debut from the New York Times bestselling coauthor of Widow’s Point: The Complete Haunting, a post-apocalyptic/survival horror novel written in the bestselling traditions of Stephen King’s The Mist and Josh Malerman’s Bird Box.

A top-secret government project hits upon a revolutionary idea for transporting matter across the vast reaches of the universe, and it succeeds in bringing something back. Something alive. Soon, mankind’s reign comes to an abrupt halt when a truck hauling a very special shipping container overturns and rolls off the highway, unleashing an otherworldly horror upon an unsuspecting New England countryside, where it cannot be contained…

Several years later, an unidentified man emerges from the rubble of humanity, seeking other survivors and a shred of hope amid an eerie and lonely landscape. He travels by night up the rural East Coast, discovering Americana ruins and encountering monsters the likes of which no one has survived. Scarred and molded by the cruel horrors of this new natural order, he must face his own dwindling humanity and pray that any others out there have not become monsters themselves…

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W.H. Chizmar is the New York Times bestselling coauthor (with Richard Chizmar) of Widow’s Point: The Complete Haunting, as well as numerous short stories and essays. He lives in Maryland with his Bernese Mountain Dog, J.J. (short for James Joyce).

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Enjoy the conversation about horror and Them.

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, welcomed Catherine Ryan Howard for a virtual event. Before she talked about her new book, Buyer Beware, she talked about her favorite book child, The Nothing Man. You can order a copy of Buyer Beware through the Webstore, https://tinyurl.com/ptk4bee7

Here’s the description of Buyer Beware.

From the internationally bestselling author of 56 Days, a page-turning thriller about two women whose shattered lives come crashing together around a house whose secrets could bury them both.

If these walls could talk, they’d scream…

When Ellie moves to 1 Delaney Row, she hopes to find a fresh start—a place where no one knows her name, her history, or her secrets. But what she doesn’t know is that her new home is already hiding someone else’s secrets—and the people determined to keep them are watching her.

As Ellie starts to unravel the house’s disturbing backstory, coming closer to the shocking mystery at its center, she unwittingly puts herself on a deadly collision course not just with her new home’s history, but with her own as well.

A puzzle box of a thriller full of mind-boggling twists and turns, Buyer Beware is a chilling exploration of the dark secrets that any house can hold—and of the lengths we’ll go to start over.

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Catherine Ryan Howard is an award-winning, #1 bestselling thriller writer from Cork, Ireland. Her work has been shortlisted for the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best Novel, the UK Crime Writers Association John Creasey/New Blood and Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Awards, and the An Post Irish Crime Fiction Book of the Year multiple times. Her novels have been included in The New York Times Best Thrillers of the Year, The Washington Post’s Best Mysteries and Thrillers of the Year, and The Sunday Times (London)’s Best Thrillers of the Year. She is published in twenty languages, and a number of her titles have been optioned for the screen. Catherine’s fifth novel, 56 Days, won the An Post Irish Crime Fiction Book of the Year and was longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, the world’s most valuable annual literary prize. A screen adaptation starring Dove Cameron and Avan Jogia debuted exclusively on Amazon Prime Video in early 2026. Prior to writing full time, Catherine worked for a travel company in the Netherlands and in Walt Disney World, Florida. She lives in Dublin.

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Enjoy the conversation with Catherine Ryan Howard.

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, welcomed Boyd and Beth Morrison back to the bookstore. The brother and sister are authors of several books together, including their latest one, Duel of Beasts. You can order a signed copy of the book through the Webstore, https://tinyurl.com/3yd7xdsr

Here’s the summary of Duel of Beasts.

Savage beasts, fabulous treasures, perilous duels, and deadly treachery abound in this thrilling adventure novel set in medieval Spain.

Málaga, Spain, 1352. Knight-errant Gerard Fox and his daring wife Willa seek young noblewoman Madelena to deliver news of her brother’s death: an innocuous mission, yet one that plunges the couple into a fight for their lives against their most dangerous adversaries yet.

Madelena’s sister-in-law Helvira desires two things that Madalena now possesses: a considerable inheritance, and a letter that provides grounds for Helvira’s execution in both the Christian and Muslim worlds. With everything at stake, Helvira will stop at nothing to seize both.

Fox and Willa soon find themselves in a desperate battle to survive on a journey that will take them from the royal court at Seville to the mighty complex of the Alhambra Palace. To save Madelena and reveal the truth, the duo must outwit Helvira and her allies at every turn – and escape the ferocious creatures of Helvira’s deadly menagerie.

The unmissable new novel in the Tales of the Lawless Land series, combining thrilling historical action and clever puzzles, from New York Times bestselling author Boyd and expert medievalist Beth Morrison.

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Boyd Morrison is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twelve thrillers, including six with Clive Cussler. His first novel, The Ark, was an Indie Next Notable pick and was translated into over a dozen languages. He has a PhD in industrial engineering from Virginia Tech.

Follow Boyd on: @BoydMorrison IG: @BoydMorrisonWriter www.facebook.com/BoydMorrisonWriter

Beth Morrison is Senior Curator of Manuscripts at the J. Paul Getty Museum. She has curated major exhibitions including ‘Imagining the Past in France, 1250-1500’, and ‘Book of Beasts: The Bestiary in the Medieval World’. She has a PhD in the History of Art from Cornell University.

Follow Beth on: @BethMorrisonPhd IG: @BethMorrisonWriter www.facebook.com/BethMorrisonWriter

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Enjoy the conversation with Boyd and Beth Morrison.

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, welcomed Julie Carrick Dalton back to the bookstore for a virtual event. Peters was interested in talking about Dalton’s background before they talked about Dalton’s latest book. There are signed copies of that novel, The Forest Becomes Her, available in the Webstore, https://tinyurl.com/bdd5b3bp

Here’s the description of The Forest Becomes Her.

The perfect choice for your next book club: Julie Carrick Dalton’s The Forest Becomes Her is a timely, unforgettable novel about three women from different generations navigating the complexities of family, grief, the impacts of our choices, and our deep connections to the natural world beneath our feet.

In historic, bucolic Concord, Massachusetts, a centuries-old forest has been removed to make way for a new, eco-friendly housing development. The locals are upset by the destruction, but out-of-towners like Hazel Stoddard are flocking to put down roots in their new guilt-free dream homes.

Soon a tragedy leaves Hazel unmoored in her new life, and she begins to feel the pull of the absent forest. Hazel is not alone—her neighbors, real estate agent Stella Flint and teenage environmentalist Polly Bauer, each have their own trauma and relationship to the land. The three women are drawn together to save the last remaining oak tree, or they risk losing themselves to lingering shadows that only they can see.

In The Forest Becomes Her, Julie Carrick Dalton evocatively explores the power of multigenerational female relationships, the ever-evolving female form, humanity’s connection to our changing world, and the unexpected mysteries of nature.

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As a journalist, JULIE CARRICK DALTON has published more than a thousand articles in The Boston Globe, BusinessWeek, The Hollywood Reporter, Orion Magazine, Electric Literature, and other publications. A former beekeeper and organic farmer, she is a frequent speaker on the topic of writing fiction in the age of climate crisis and is a member of the teaching faculty at Drexel University’s MFA Program. When she isn’t reading, writing, or teaching, you can probably find her skiing, swimming, kayaking, working in her garden, or trying to keep track of her four children and two dogs.

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Enjoy the conversation about Dalton’s book and the environment.

Barbara Peters welcomed Chris Bohjalian for a virtual event forThe Poisoned Pen. Two thirds of the signed copies of The Amateur are already sold, so if you’re interested, order your signed copy now through the Webstore, https://tinyurl.com/abhtfnc6

Here’s the description of The Amateur.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Midwives and The Flight Attendant: When a young woman, a golf prodigy, kills a caddy with a stray ball at the country club, the investigation of this freak accident reveals a dark and shocking tale of secret affairs, predatory men, and a teenager on trial.

1978: It is the first Thursday in August and temperatures are flirting with ninety when Mira Winston, eighteen years old, drives a golf ball from her tee toward the practice net near the clubhouse and caddy shack. The golf ball, weighing 1.6 ounces, tears through the net, traveling 150 miles per hour, and slams, with sickening force, into the temple of a high school junior named Kenny Foster, rupturing an artery and unleashing a torrent of blood. Kenny brings his hand to the side of his head, then topples onto his side. He’s dead before the ambulance even arrives.

In the wake of this terrible accident—and everyone, at first, agrees it was an accident—Mira looks for comfort in all the wrong places: In her lover, Theo Catton, a married man three decades her senior. In her mother, a well-kept woman with secrets of her own. In the dead caddy’s little sisters, girls bewildered by grief. But when the investigators look more closely at the torn net, when a detective recalls Mira’s history of recklessness, and when Kenny’s father spies Mira with her married lover, the affluent and mannered community turns on this once-promising young woman. A gripping story that takes the reader from the sun-soaked greens of a tony Westchester country club to the fluorescent-lit stand of a county courtroom, The Amateur asks: What happens when one small moment—a swing, a ball, a piece of string—changes the course of an entire life?

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Chris Bohjalian is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-five books, including The Princess of Las Vegas, The Lioness, Hour of the Witch, Midwives, and The Flight Attendant, which was a Max series starring Kaley Cuoco. His other books include The Guest Room; Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands; The Sandcastle Girls; Skeletons at the Feast; and The Double Bind. His novels Secrets of Eden, Midwives, and Past the Bleachers were made into movies, and his work has been translated into more than thirty-five languages. His novels have been selections of Oprah’s Book Club. He is also a playwright (The Club, Midwives, and Wingspan). He lives in Vermont with his wife, photographer Victoria Blewer, and can be found at chrisbohjalian.com or on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), Litsy, and Goodreads, @chrisbohjalian.

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You’ll want to listen to Chris Bohjalian talk about his book.

Patrick Millikin welcomed George Pelecanos for a virtual event at The Poisoned Pen. It’s been fourteen years since the last book in the Derek Strange series. Millikin referred to the series, and the new book, The Blue Flame, as a love letter to D.C. The conversation touched on Pelecanos’ work on TV shows, such as “The Wire”, as well as Pelecanos’ books. You can order a copy of The Blue Flame through the Webstore, https://tinyurl.com/eahxs5sj.

Here’s the description of The Blue Flame.

Private investigator Derek Strange returns in a riveting drama about revenge, greed, and redemption—from bestselling author and Emmy-nominated writer for HBO’s The Wire and Treme, George Pelecanos.

He was curious. It was the cop in him. That flame was still alive.

The neon “Strange Investigations” sign may be flickering in disrepair outside his office, but private investigator Derek Strange is still accepting new cases. When a flashy drug lawyer hires him to prove an alibi for an accused murderer, Strange can’t help getting drawn into the darkness.

In his hunt for answers, he stands his ground against some of Washington, D.C.’s most dangerous criminals, and a police department that doesn’t entirely welcome his interference. As the violence escalates and claims another victim, the raised stakes force Strange to question his own moves. Are his instincts still intact?

The Blue Flame is signature Pelecanos: tough, smart, rich with details of a time and place—and at its core, exposing the good and bad that exist side by side in so-called heroes and villains alike.

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George Pelecanos is the bestselling author of twenty-three novels and story collections set in and around Washington, D.C.  He was a writer and producer on HBO’s The Wire, The Pacific, Treme, The Deuce, We Own This City, and the feature film D.C. Noir.  He lives in Silver Spring, Maryland.

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Enjoy the conversation with George Pelecanos.

Critic Oline Cogdill recently reviewed Jennifer Hillier’s forthcoming novel, Heart of Glass, for the South Florida Sun Sentinel before sharing it with us. Hillier will appear live at The Poisoned Pen Bookstore on Wednesday, August 26 at 7 PM MST. You can preorder a signed copy of Heart of Glass through the Webstore, https://tinyurl.com/ymjyu5n6

Thank you, Oline, for sharing the review.

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Book review: Deliciously chilling ‘Heart of Glass’ unlocks memories, secrets and a longing for the past

‘Heart of Glass’ by Jennifer Hillier; Minotaur; 368 pages; $29

So many bad things — murders, poisonings, unexplained deaths — have happened through the years in Seaside, Washington, that an encounter with a serial killer wasn’t even shocking. Some residents wonder if the lovely-sounding Seaside could be cursed, as author Jennifer Hillier explores in her deliciously chilling “Heart of Glass.”

Barb is all too familiar with the dark side of Seaside because 25 years ago she and her two best friends, Lorelei and Nicolette, were engulfed by that darkness. As usual, the girls were spending the evening at Wonderland, the local amusement park, flirting with boys, eating ice cream and just being teenagers, escaping from their dysfunctional homes. A few days later, Lorelei’s body was found in a cranberry bog; Sam Figg, a handsome stranger who had been seen with the girls confessed to the murder of Lorelei and four other young women.

The past 25 years have been endless “guilt and shame” for Barb, who still lives in Seaside, working as a freelance reporter. She and Nicolette, once inseparable, haven’t spoken for decades. And Wonderland, once Seaside’s popular tourist attraction and major source of income, has long been closed.

But the quiet times seem to be over. Figg, nicknamed the Carnival Killer, announces in a just-released documentary that, while he did commit four murders, he did not killed Lorelei. A firm that bought the Wonderland site is days away from reopening the park. And a body that may be a missing reality star has washed up on the beach.

One resident notes in the book that she’d thought Seaside was “finally past all this dark stuff.”

Hillier smoothly incorporates memories, secrets and a longing for the past in her clever “Heart of Glass,” as she makes both Seaside and the shadow of Wonderland as much characters as her people.

Although “Heart of Glass” is not a sequel, Hillier focused on the park in “Wonderland” (2015). She uses her new novel to connect the past with the future. The friend’s murder left a permanent stain on Barb’s heart, a situation that Hillier treats with sensitivity and realism, while adding myriad surprises.