Jane Harper, bestselling author of The Dry, and now author of The Survivors, recently took time to talk about her new book with Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen. You can order a copies of Harper’s books through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2HGHSdO

Before you check out the virtual event, or the podcast, here’s the summary of The Survivors.

Coming home dredges up deeply buried secrets in The Survivors, a thrilling mystery by New York Times bestselling author Jane Harper

Kieran Elliott’s life changed forever on the day a reckless mistake led to devastating consequences.

The guilt that still haunts him resurfaces during a visit with his young family to the small coastal community he once called home.

Kieran’s parents are struggling in a town where fortunes are forged by the sea. Between them all is his absent brother, Finn.

When a body is discovered on the beach, long-held secrets threaten to emerge. A sunken wreck, a missing girl, and questions that have never washed away…

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Here’s the virtual event to watch.

If you prefer, you can listen to The Poisoned Pen podcast.

Congratulations to Sourcebooks/Poisoned Pen Press author Mary Anna Evans. Her Faye Longchamp Archaeological Mystery, Catacombs, won a gold medal in the category “Maverick” for the Will Rogers Medallion Awards. We seldom talk about westerns, but here’s the background of this award.

“Will Rogers was a respected writer and cowboy entertainer whose work embodied and demonstrated the traditions and values of the American cowboy.  The Will Rogers Medallion Award was originally created to recognize quality works of cowboy poetry that honored the Will Rogers heritage, but has expanded to include other works of Western literature and film.”

You can find the list of award winners here – https://www.willrogersmedallionaward.net/new-release. I’m sure you’ll recognize another book or two, such as Craig Johnson’s award-winning Longmire title, Land of Wolves.

You can order Mary Anna Evans’ books through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2IrcqLo

Here’s the summary of Catacombs.

What secrets lie deep beneath the surface?

A deafening explosion rocks a historic Oklahoma City hotel, sending archaeologist Faye Longchamp-Mantooth crashing to the marble floor of the lobby. She’s unhurt but shaken—after all, any time something blows up in Oklahoma City, the first word on everyone’s lips is the same: bomb.

Faye is in town for a conference celebrating indigenous arts, but is soon distracted by the aftermath of the explosion, which cracks open the old hotel’s floor to reveal subterranean chambers that had housed Chinese immigrants a century before. Faye is fascinated by the tunnels, which are a time capsule back to the early 20th century—but when the bodies of three children are discovered deep beneath the city, her sense of discovery turns to one of dread…

You’ll want to check out this coming week’s virtual events that will appear live on The Poisoned Pen’s Facebook page. You might also want to order books by your favorite author or authors now, through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Here’s five days worth of events to enjoy.

Are you a fan of Sherlock Holmes? Are you a fan of the original by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, or all of the authors who followed to write about Holmes and Watson? Two of The Poisoned Pen’s favorite authors, Leslie Klinger and Laurie King, who write about Holmes and his world, are quoted in Alison Flood’s article in The Guardian, “‘I think I’ve written more Sherlock Holmes than even Conan Doyle’: the ongoing fight to reimagine Holmes.” You’ll want to check it out here. https://bit.ly/3jnSxZK

Once you’ve read the article, you might want to explore some of the books mentioned. Check for them in the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

I know Patrick Millikin means it when he says it’s an honor for him and The Poisoned Pen to host Walter Mosley. And, this time, it was on release day for Mosley’s latest Easy Rawlins book, Blood Grove. There are still signed copies of the latest book available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2NXhTQU

Here’s the summary 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.

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Here’s the best part. You can watch Walter Mosley talk about his book and his life in LA.

It’s tonight, but this piece is up early enough that you can still catch it. The Poisoned Pen hosts Jane Harper, author of The Survivors, Thursday, Feb. 4 at 6 PM (8 PM ET) on the store’s Facebook page. There are copies of all of her books, from The Dry to The Survivors, in the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2HGHSdO

For a little background before the event, or before reading Harper’s books, check out Daneet Steffens piece for https://CrimeReads.com. It can be found here. https://bit.ly/3oMGmH2

Jane Harper. The Survivors (Flatiron Books, $27.99 Unsigned). Coming home dredges up deeply buried secrets in The Survivors, a thrilling mystery by New York Times bestselling author Jane Harper

Kieran Elliott’s life changed forever on the day a reckless mistake led to devastating consequences.

The guilt that still haunts him resurfaces during a visit with his young family to the small coastal community he once called home.

Kieran’s parents are struggling in a town where fortunes are forged by the sea. Between them all is his absent brother, Finn.

When a body is discovered on the beach, long-held secrets threaten to emerge. A sunken wreck, a missing girl, and questions that have never washed away…

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Jane Harper is the author of international bestsellers The Dry, Force of Nature and The Lost Man. Her books are published in 40 territories worldwide.

Jane has won numerous top awards including the CWA Gold Dagger Award for Best Crime Novel, the British Book Awards Crime and Thriller Book of the Year, the Australian Book Industry Awards Book of the Year and the Australian Indie Awards Book of the Year.

The major motion picture adaptation of The Dry, starring Eric Bana as Aaron Falk, is set for release in Australian cinemas on New Year’s Day.

Are you ready for the fifth Liam Campbell novel, Spoils of the Dead? Dana Stabenow will be discussing her latest Hot Book of the Week on The Poisoned Pen’s Facebook page Saturday, Feb. 6 at 2 PM (4 PM ET). Signed copies will have to be ordered through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2F9m0Bq

Here’s the story of Spoils of the Dead.

Dana Stabenow. Spoils of the Dead (Head of Zeus, $29.99 Signed). Newenham is an ice-bound bush town with a six-bed jail, a busted ATM and a saloon that does double-duty as a courtroom. It’s a wide-enough patch to warrant a state police presence, though, and Trooper Liam Campbell is it.

Campbell has been exiled from Anchorage to Newenham in disgrace, busted down from sergeant to trooper in the aftermath of a mistake that cost a family of five their lives, to spend some time in the wilderness.

Campbell didn’t expect the job to be simple and it hasn’t. From the (literally) cutthroat business of commercial fishing, to the paranoid misanthropy of the back-country prospector, to drug dealers, serial killers, and caches of forgotten war gold, he has had his hands full. Now he has a dead archaeologist, murdered at their own dig site, who claimed to be on the verge of a momentous discovery.

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Dana Stabenow was born in Anchorage and raised on a 75-foot fish tender in the Gulf of Alaska. She knew there was a warmer, drier job out there somewhere and found it in writing.

Her first science fiction novel, Second Star, sank without a trace (but has since been resurrected as an e-book), her first crime fiction novel, A Cold Day for Murder, won an Edgar award, her first thriller, Blindfold Game, hit the New York Times bestseller list. The Land Beyond, the final third of her historical trilogy about Marco Polo’s granddaughter, Silk and Song, was published in October 2015. She is the author of the popular Kate Shugak mystery series, the most recent of which, No Fixed Line, was released in January, 2020.

Alyssa Maxwell’s recent piece for https://CrimeReads.com attracted my attention. Whether you’re interested in tea, collectible porcelain, or Maxwell’s A Lady and Lady’s Maid Mysteries, you might want to read “The Delicate Art of the English Tea Set: A Historical Mystery Writer’s Appreciation”. You can find it here. https://bit.ly/3j9N2OA

You can find Maxwell’s books, including the latest in her A Lady and Lady’s Maid Mystery series, A Sinister Service, in the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2Y0vOcV

In the Alyssa Maxwell’s sixth delightful A Lady and Lady’s Maid Mystery set after World War I, a trip to Staffordshire for Lady Phoebe Renshaw and her lady’s maid, Eva Huntford, leads to murder in a famed pottery works…

Following the devastation of the Great War, England’s noble class takes comfort in honoring tradition. To celebrate their grandparents’ wedding anniversary, Lady Phoebe Renshaw and her siblings travel to Staffordshire to commission a china service bearing the Wroxly coat of arms from the venerated Crown Lily Potteries, a favorite of Queen Mary.

The two leading designers at the illustrious china manufacturer offer competing patterns. But when one of them is found dead–his body crushed in a grinding pan and his design pattern book missing–his rival is immediately suspected. The police are also suspicious of the dead designer’s resentful young son, a schoolmate of Phoebe’s fifteen-year-old brother Fox. When Fox gets involved to help his friend, Phoebe begins to investigate the rival artist.

At the same time, Eva is enlisted to go undercover at the works so she can gain the confidence of the female employees, who are only allowed to paint, not design, which may have led to a grudge against the victim. Pursuing a killer who has no compunction about using a kiln as a coffin, Phoebe and Eva take their lives into their hands to discover the shattering truth…

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Alyssa Maxwell knew from an early age that she wanted to be a novelist. Growing up in New England and traveling to Great Britain fueled a passion for history, while a love of puzzles of all kinds drew her to the mystery genre. She and her husband reside in Florida, where she loves to watch BBC productions, sip tea in the afternoons, and delve into the past. You can learn more about Alyssa and her books at www.alyssamaxwell.com.

It’s not too early to talk about Abigail Dean’s hot debut novel, Girl A. Caz Frear will host Dean on Tuesday, February 9 at 1 PM (3 PM ET) on The Poisoned Pen’s Facebook page, but you’ll be able to catch it later if that doesn’t work for you. Girl A can be ordered through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/36vJFfz

If you’re interested in the backstory, and Dean’s own story, check out Alison Flood’s interview with the author in The Guardian. https://bit.ly/3j5CCzl

Here’s Girl A.

Abigail Dean. Girl A (Viking, $27.00 Unsigned). For readers of Room and Sharp Objects, a propulsive and psychologically immersive novel about a young girl who escapes captivity”“but not the secrets that shadow the rest of her life.

“”˜Girl A,’ she said. “˜The girl who escaped. If anyone was going to make it, it was going to be you.'”

Lex Gracie doesn’t want to think about her family. She doesn’t want to think about growing up in her parents’ House of Horrors. And she doesn’t want to think about her identity as Girl A: the girl who escaped, the eldest sister who freed her older brother and four younger siblings. It’s been easy enough to avoid her parents”“her father never made it out of the House of Horrors he created, and her mother spent the rest of her life behind bars. But when her mother dies in prison and leaves Lex and her siblings the family home, she can’t run from her past any longer. Together with her sister, Evie, Lex intends to turn the House of Horrors into a force for good. But first she must come to terms with her siblings”“and with the childhood they shared.

What begins as a propulsive tale of escape and survival becomes a gripping psychological family story about the shifting alliances and betrayals of sibling relationships”“about the secrets our siblings keep, from themselves and each other. Who have each of these siblings become? How do their memories defy or galvanize Lex’s own? As Lex pins each sibling down to agree to her family’s final act, she discovers how potent the spell of their shared family mythology is, and who among them remains in its thrall and who has truly broken free.

Abigail Dean works as a lawyer for Google, and before that was a bookseller. She lives in London, and is working on her second novel.