I’m sure authors never know what to expect when Karin Slaughter is their host; nuclear power plants, COVID, Icelandic weather. Slaughter recently hosted Icelandic author Yrsa Sigurdardottir for The Poisoned Pen. You can find copies of Sigurdardottir’s books in the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2Ph8hTF

Here’s the description of Yrsa Sigurdardottir’s last book, The Absolution, although the conversation covered all kinds of topics.

The Absolution is the third installment in Queen of Icelandic crime fiction Yrsa Sigurdardóttir’s series about the psychologist Freyja and the police officer Huldar.

The police find out about the crime the way everyone does: on Snapchat. The video shows a terrified young woman begging for forgiveness. When her body is found, it is marked with a number “2”.

Detective Huldar joins the investigation, bringing child psychologist Freyja on board to help question the murdered teenager’s friends. Soon, they uncover that Stella was far from the angel people claim, but who could have hated her enough to kill?

Then another teenager goes missing, more clips are sent to social media, and the body with a “3” is found. Freyja and Huldar can agree on two things at least: the truth is far from simple. The killer is not done yet. And is there an undiscovered body carrying the number “1” out there?

Really? You should watch the event. Catch up with Yrsa Sigurdardottir and Karin Slaughter.

You only have to watch the video to know we won’t promise a signed copy of Steve Berry’s The Kaiser’s Web. They went quickly. The Poisoned Pen did the virtual book launch for Berry’s latest book. You can check the Web Store to see if there are any signed copies left. https://bit.ly/32UZtFA

Here’s the summary of The Kaiser’s Web.

In New York Times bestseller Steve Berry’s latest Cotton Malone adventure, a secret dossier from a World War II-era Soviet spy comes to light containing information that, if proven true, would not only rewrite history — it could impact Germany’s upcoming national elections and forever alter the political landscape of Europe.

Two candidates are vying to become Chancellor of Germany. One is a patriot having served for the past sixteen years, the other a usurper, stoking the flames of nationalistic hate. Both harbor secrets, but only one knows the truth about the other. They are on a collision course, all turning on the events of one fateful day — April 30, 1945 — and what happened deep beneath Berlin in the Fürherbunker. Did Adolph Hitler and Eva Braun die there? Did Martin Bormann, Hitler’s close confidant, manage to escape? And, even more important, where did billions in Nazi wealth disappear to in the waning days of World War II? The answers to these questions will determine who becomes the next Chancellor of Germany.

From the mysterious Chilean lake district, to the dangerous mesas of South Africa, and finally into the secret vaults of Switzerland, former-Justice Department agent Cotton Malone discovers the truth about the fates of Hitler, Braun, and Bormann. Revelations that could not only transform Europe, but finally expose a mystery known as the Kaiser’s web.

Steve Berry is the New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author of the Cotton Malone novels (The Bishop’s Pawn, The Malta Exchange), among other books, and several works of short fiction. He has 25 million books in print, translated into 40 languages.

With his wife, Elizabeth, he is the founder of History Matters, which is dedicated to historical preservation. He serves as an emeritus member of the Smithsonian Libraries Advisory Board and was a founding member of International Thriller Writers, formerly serving as its co-president.

Enjoy Steve Berry’s virtual book launch for The Kaiser’s Web!

According to Monica Marie Zorrilla’s recent article in Variety, “Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television has closed a deal to develop and produce a television series adapted from Walter Mosley‘s bestselling gritty historical fiction mystery series starring Rawlins, one of literature’s most popular Black investigators.” You can read her entire article here. https://bit.ly/3smXwNS

But, why wait for television? You can order Mosley’s books through the Web Store, including signed copies of the latest Easy Rawlins book, Blood Grove. https://bit.ly/2NXhTQU

Here’s the description of Blood Grove.

“Master of craft and narrative” Walter Mosley returns with this crowning achievement in the Easy Rawlins saga, in which the iconic detective’s loyalties are tested on the sun-soaked streets of Southern California (National Book Foundation) 

It is 1969, and flames can be seen on the horizon, protest wafts like smoke though the thick air, and Easy Rawlins, the Black private detective whose small agency finally has its own office, gets a visit from a white Vietnam veteran. The young man comes to Easy with a story that makes little sense. He and his lover, a beautiful young woman, were attacked in a citrus grove at the city’s outskirts. He may have killed a man, and the woman and his dog are now missing. Inclined to turn down what sounds like nothing but trouble, Easy takes the case when he realizes how damaged the young vet is from his war experiences—the bond between veterans superseding all other considerations.

The veteran is not Easy’s only unlooked-for trouble. Easy’s adopted daughter Feather’s white uncle shows up uninvited, raising questions and unsettling the life Easy has long forged for the now young woman. Where Feather sees a family reunion, Easy suspects something else, something that will break his heart.

Blood Grove is a crackling, moody, and thrilling race through a California of hippies and tycoons, radicals and sociopaths, cops and grifters, both men and women. Easy will need the help of his friends—from the genius Jackson Blue to the dangerous Mouse Alexander, Fearless Jones, and Christmas Black—to make sense of a case that reveals the darkest impulses humans harbor. 

Blood Grove is a novel of vast scope and intimate insight, and a soulful call for justice by any means necessary.

Walter Mosley is one of America’s most celebrated and beloved writers. A Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America, he has won numerous awards, including the Anisfield-Wolf Award, a Grammy, a PEN USA’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and several NAACP Image Awards. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages. His short fiction has appeared in a wide array of publications, including The New Yorker, GQ, Esquire, Los Angeles Times Magazine, and Playboy, and his nonfiction has been published in The New York Times Book Review, The New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, and The Nation. He is the author of, most recently, Down the River unto the Sea. He lives in New York City.

If you missed it earlier, here’s Patrick Millikin’s recent conversation with Walter Mosley.

Yesterday, we lost Margaret Maron. In 2013, the Mystery Writers of America celebrated Maron’s contributions to the mystery genre by naming her a Grand Master – an honor first bestowed on Agatha Christie.

Margaret Maron grew up in the country near Raleigh, North Carolina, but for many years lived in Brooklyn, New York. When she and her artist husband returned to the farm that had been in her family for a hundred years, she began a series based on her own background. The first book, Bootlegger’s Daughter, became a Washington Post bestseller that swept the major mystery awards for its year — winning the Edgar, Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Awards for Best Novel — and is among the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century as selected by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association.

Later, her Deborah Knott novels Up Jumps the Devil, Storm Track, and Three-Day Town each also won the Agatha Award for Best Novel. Margaret is also the author of the Sigrid Harald series of detective novels. In 2008, Maron received the North Carolina Award for Literature, the highest civilian honor the state bestows on its authors.

Here is Margaret Maron’s obituary, as posted by her family.

Margaret Maron, may she rest in peace.

Charles Finch’s latest Charles Lenox mystery, An Extravagant Death, is the Hot Book of the Week at The Poisoned Pen. He’s also appearing for a virtual event on Friday, February 26 at 6 PM (8 PM) ET. You can find the event on the bookstore’s Facebook page, or go directly from the store’s homepage. You might want to order your signed copy of his new book now. https://bit.ly/2wTAsyM

Here’s An Extravagant Death, the Hot Book of the Week.

Charles Finch. An Extravagant Death (St Martins Press, $27.99 Signed). In what promises to be a breakout in Charles Finch’s bestselling series, Charles Lenox travels to the New York and Newport of the dawning Gilded Age to investigate the death of a beautiful socialite.

London, 1878. With faith in Scotland Yard shattered after a damning corruption investigation, Charles Lenox’s detective agency is rapidly expanding. The gentleman sleuth has all the work he can handle, two children, and an intriguing new murder case.

But when Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli offers him the opportunity to undertake a diplomatic mission for the Queen, Lenox welcomes the chance to satisfy an unfulfilled yearning: to travel to America. Arriving in New York, he begins to receive introductions into both its old Knickerbocker society and its new robber baron splendor. Then, a shock: the death of the season’s most beautiful debutante, who appears to have thrown herself from a cliff. Or was it a suicide? Lenox’s reputation has preceded him to the States, and he is summoned to a magnificent Newport mansion to investigate the mysterious death. What ensues is a fiendish game of cat and mouse.

Witty, complex, and tender, An Extravagant Death is Charles Finch’s triumphant return to the main storyline of his beloved Charles Lenox series—a devilish mystery, a social drama, and an unforgettable first trip for an Englishman coming to America.

Charles Finch is the USA Today bestselling author of the Charles Lenox mysteries, including The Vanishing Man. His first contemporary novel, The Last Enchantments, is also available from St. Martin’s Press. Finch received the 2017 Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing from the National Book Critics Circle. His essays and criticism have appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Washington Post, and elsewhere. He lives in Los Angeles.

Dr. Jason Rugolo led the interview with Dan Frey, author of The Future is Yours. The novel is already in development as an HBO Max series. There are still a few signed copies available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3qUeoeF

Here’s the summary of The Future is Yours.

Two best friends create a computer that can predict the future. But what they can’t predict is how it will tear their friendship—and society—apart.

“An impossibly addictive brainteaser wrapped in a buttery popcorn kernel.”—Aneesh Chaganty, director and co-writer of Searching and Run

IN DEVELOPMENT AS AN HBO MAX ORIGINAL SERIES

If you had the chance to look one year into the future, would you? 

For Ben Boyce and Adhi Chaudry, the answer is unequivocally yes. And they’re betting everything that you’ll say yes, too. Welcome to The Future: a computer that connects to the internet one year from now, so you can see who you’ll be dating, where you’ll be working, even whether or not you’ll be alive in the year to come. By forming a startup to deliver this revolutionary technology to the world, Ben and Adhi have made their wildest, most impossible dream a reality. Once Silicon Valley outsiders, they’re now its hottest commodity. 

The device can predict everything perfectly—from stock market spikes and sports scores to political scandals and corporate takeovers—allowing them to chase down success and fame while staying one step ahead of the competition. But the future their device foretells is not the bright one they imagined.

Ambition. Greed. Jealousy. And, perhaps, an apocalypse. The question is . . . can they stop it?

Told through emails, texts, transcripts, and blog posts, this bleeding-edge tech thriller chronicles the costs of innovation and asks how far you’d go to protect the ones you love—even from themselves.

Here’s the conversation between Dan Frey and Dr. Jason Rugolo.

A Fatal Lie is the 23rd Ian Rutledge novel by Charles Todd. The mother/son team of Caroline and Charles Todd recently talked with Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, about their latest book and the history behind it. You can order a signed copy of A Fatal Lie, and copies of Todd’s other books, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2CYwbY1

Here’s the story of A Fatal Lie.

“If there’s ever been a more complex and compelling hero in crime fiction than Inspector Rutledge, I can’t think of one.”—Jeffery Deaver 

In one of his most puzzling cases, Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge must delve deep into a dead man’s life and his past to find a killer determined to keep dark secrets buried.

A peaceful Welsh village is thrown into turmoil when a terrified boy stumbles on a body in a nearby river. The man appears to have fallen from the canal aqueduct spanning the valley. But there is no identification on the body, he isn’t a local, and no one will admit to having seen him before. With little to go on, the village police turn to Scotland Yard for help.  

 When Inspector Ian Rutledge is sent from London to find answers, he is given few clues—a faded military tattoo on the victim’s arm and an unusual label in the collar of his shirt. They eventually lead him to the victim’s identity: Sam Milford. By all accounts, he was a good man and well-respected. Then, why is his death so mysterious? Looking for the truth, Rutledge uncovers a web of lies swirling around a suicidal woman, a child’s tragic fate, another woman bent on protecting her past. But where among all the lies is the motive for murder?  

To track a killer, Rutledge must retrace Milford’s last journey. Yet death seems to stalk his every move, and the truth seems to shift at every turn. Man or woman, this murderer stays in the shadows, and it will take desperate measures to lure him—or her—into the light. 

Charles Todd is the New York Times bestselling author of the Inspector Ian Rutledge mysteries, the Bess Crawford mysteries, and two stand-alone novels. A mother-and-son writing team, they live on the East Coast.

Here’s the virtual event featuring Charles and Caroline Todd.

If you don’t recognize Sarah Pearse’s name yet, you soon will. Her debut novel, The Sanatorium, is a Gothic thriller that made The New York Times bestseller list, and is a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick. Another bestselling author, Jayne Ann Krentz, hosted the virtual event conversation. Pearse and Krentz spoke about the writing process and the book itself. You can order a copy of The Sanatorium through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/37tG1U8

Here’s an introduction to The Sanatorium.

REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK
An instant New York Times bestseller!

“An eerie, atmospheric novel that had me completely on the edge of my seat.” —Reese Witherspoon

You won’t want to leave. . . until you can’t.

Half-hidden by forest and overshadowed by threatening peaks, Le Sommet has always been a sinister place. Long plagued by troubling rumors, the former abandoned sanatorium has since been renovated into a five-star minimalist hotel.

An imposing, isolated getaway spot high up in the Swiss Alps is the last place Elin Warner wants to be. But Elin’s taken time off from her job as a detective, so when her estranged brother, Isaac, and his fiancée, Laure, invite her to celebrate their engagement at the hotel, Elin really has no reason not to accept.

Arriving in the midst of a threatening storm, Elin immediately feels on edge–there’s something about the hotel that makes her nervous. And when they wake the following morning to discover Laure is missing, Elin must trust her instincts if they hope to find her. With the storm closing off all access to the hotel, the longer Laure stays missing, the more the remaining guests start to panic.

Elin is under pressure to find Laure, but no one has realized yet that another woman has gone missing. And she’s the only one who could have warned them just how much danger they are all in. . .

Sarah Pearse grew up in Devon, UK, and studied English literature and creative writing at the University of Warwick before completing a postgraduate diploma in broadcast journalism. She lived in Switzerland for several years before returning to the UK. The Sanatorium is her first novel.

Here’s the conversation and the introduction to debut author Sarah Pearse.

The Poisoned Pen recently welcomed J.A. Jance for a virtual event to discuss her latest Joanna Brady novel Missing and Endangered. You can order signed copies of the book, and copies of Jance’s other books, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2NIqCrG

Here’s the summary of Missing and Endangered.

Cochise County Sheriff Joanna Brady’s professional and personal lives collide when her college-age daughter is involved in a missing persons case in this evocative and atmospheric mystery in J. A. Jance’s New York Times bestselling suspense series, set in the beautiful desert country of the American Southwest.

When Jennifer Brady returns to Northern Arizona University for her sophomore year, she quickly becomes a big sister to her new roommate, Beth Rankin, a brilliant yet sheltered sixteen-year-old freshman. For a homeschooled Beth, college is her first taste of both freedom and unfettered access to the internet, and Jenny is concerned that she’s too naïve and rebellious for her own good.

Her worries are well-founded because one day Beth vanishes, prompting Jenny to alert campus authorities, local police, and her mom, Sheriff Joanna Brady—who calls in a favor. Beth is found, but Jenny’s concern has unwittingly put her in the crosshairs of a criminal bent on revenge. 

With Christmas vacation approaching, and Beth at war with her parents, Jenny invites Beth to the shelter of the Brady home. While Joanna is sympathetic, she’s caught up in a sensitive case—an officer-involved shooting that has placed the lives of two young children in jeopardy—leaving her stretched thin to help a fragile young woman recently gone missing and endangered.

J.A. Jance is the New York Times Bestselling author of more than sixty books. Born in South Dakota and raised in Bisbee, Arizona, she and her husband live in the Seattle area with their two longhaired dachshunds, Mary and Jojo.

Enjoy the conversation between J.A. Jance and Barbara Peters, especially the discussion of Bisbee, Arizona.