It’s the perfect time of year for a supernatural/horror novel by Michael Koryta, writing as Scott Carson.The Poisoned Pen recently held a virtual event on release day for Carson’s Where They Wait, co-hosted by Richard Chizmar, You can order a signed copy of Where They Wait through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2P9S4gb

Here’s the summary of Where They Wait.

“Tense and twisty.” —Charlaine Harris, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Southern Vampire Mysteries

A new supernatural novel about a sinister mindfulness app with fatal consequences from the New York Times bestselling author of the “grips from the first page” (Stephen King) thriller The Chill.

Recently laid-off from his newspaper and desperate for work, war correspondent Nick Bishop takes a humbling job: writing a profile of a new mindfulness app called Clarity. It’s easy money, and a chance to return to his hometown for the first time in years. The app itself seems like a retread of old ideas—relaxing white noise and guided meditations. But then there are the “Sleep Songs.” A woman’s hauntingly beautiful voice sings a ballad that is anything but soothing—it’s disturbing, and more of a warning than a relaxation—but it works. Deep, refreshing sleep follows.

So do the nightmares. Vivid and chilling, they feature a dead woman who calls Nick by name and whispers guidance—or are they threats? And her voice follows him long after the song is done. As the effects of the nightmares begin to permeate his waking life, Nick makes a terrifying discovery: no one involved with Clarity has any interest in his article. Their interest is in him.

This “taut, creepy techno-chiller that will leave you hearing ghosts” (Paul Tremblay, author of Survivor Song) is the ultimate horror read for our times.

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Scott Carson is the pen name for a New York Times bestselling author and screenwriter. He lives in New England.

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You can hear about Where They Wait, and also learn why Michael Koryta writes as Scott Carson if you watch the virtual event.

No, this isn’t a list from The Poisoned Pen. Criminal Element just posted their list of “The Most Anticipated Mysteries and Thrillers of 2022”. https://bit.ly/319bWJ9 Here’s their entire list for the first half of 2022, right through June. Of course, as in the past two pandemic years, publication dates can change.

There are titles here from well-established authors such as Alafair Burke, T. Jefferson Parker, and Gregg Hurtwitz. Debut authors include Nita Prose whose novel The Maid is already generating buzz.

A local and bestselling favorite, Rhys Bowen’s March release is Wild Irish Rose. “New York Times bestselling author Rhys Bowen, now writing in partnership with her daughter, Clare Broyles, transports and enthralls readers through the incomparable Molly Murphy Sullivan. Set in New York, 1907, Wild Irish Rose is the next novel in this beloved mystery series, a cause for celebration for readers and critics alike.”

Whether you’re a fan of thrillers, cozy mysteries, psychological suspense, or traditional mysteries, there’s something on this list for everyone. Watch for your favorites in The Poisoned Pen’s Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/ And, make sure you check back regularly for the events, whether virtual or in person, featuring the authors and their latest books.

Better Off Dead is the twenty-sixth Jack Reacher novel. Brothers Lee and Andrew Child co-wrote Better Off Dead, and they appeared for a virtual event at The Poisoned Pen to talk about their writing careers, books, and the latest in the series. You can order a signed copy of Better Off Dead through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2z4duCD

Here’s the summary of the new Jack Reacher book.

Jack Reacher is back in a brand-new page-turning thriller from acclaimed #1 bestselling authors Lee Child and Andrew Child.

Digging graves had not been part of my plans when I woke up that morning. 

Reacher goes where he wants, when he wants. That morning he was heading west, walking under the merciless desert sun—until he comes upon a curious scene. A Jeep has crashed into the only tree for miles around. A woman is slumped over the wheel.

Dead? No, nothing is what it seems. 

The woman is Michaela Fenton, an army veteran turned FBI agent trying to find her twin brother, who might be mixed up with some dangerous people. Most of them would rather die than betray their terrifying leader, who has burrowed his influence deep into the nearby border town, a backwater that has seen better days. The mysterious Dendoncker rules from the shadows, out of sight and under the radar, keeping his dealings in the dark.

He would know the fate of Fenton’s brother. 

Reacher is good at finding people who don’t want to be found, so he offers to help, despite feeling that Fenton is keeping secrets of her own. But a life hangs in the balance. Maybe more than one. But to bring Dendoncker down will be the riskiest job of Reacher’s life. Failure is not an option, because in this kind of game, the loser is always better off dead.

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Lee Child is the author of twenty-five New York Times bestselling Jack Reacher thrillers, with sixteen having reached the #1 position, and the #1 bestselling complete Jack Reacher story collection, No Middle Name. Foreign rights in the Reacher series have sold in one hundred territories. A native of England and a former television director, Lee Child lives in New York City and Wyoming.

Andrew Child, who also writes as Andrew Grant, is the author of RUN, False Positive, False Friend, False Witness, Invisible, and Too Close to Home. Child and his wife, the novelist Tasha Alexander, live on a wildlife preserve in Wyoming. He is the co-author of the #1 bestselling Jack Reacher novel The Sentinel.

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If you’re a fan of either author or Jack Reacher, you’ll want to watch the recent virtual event.

Gregory Galloway, author of Just Thieves, is scheduled to discuss his book at a virtual event at The Poisoned Pen on Wednesday, Oct. 27 at 5 PM PT. You can order a signed copy of Just Thieves through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3BgxWy1

You might want to read Megan Elliott’s review of Just Thieves in https://BookReporter.com. https://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/just-thieves Elliott says, “what emerges is a darkly elegant homage to the hard-boiled crime novels of Chandler, Cain and Macdonald — a smart, suspenseful tale that asks us to consider what we owe, and what we take from, those around us. The book is peppered with nods to the works of those and other authors (ranging from Jean Genet to Patricia Highsmith), as well as to classic noirs such as The Killers and Double Indemnity, all scrupulously cited at the novel’s end.”

Interested? Here’s the summary of Just Thieves.

“A sucker punch noir that is also a powerful and haunting allegory of work, debt, and power.” —Richard Price

A down and dirty gem of a tale—a twisty and twisted crime novel that evokes the worlds of George V. Higgins, Patricia Highsmith, and David Mamet, destined to be a Neo-noir classic.
Rick and Frank are recovering addicts and accomplished house thieves. They do not steal randomly – – they steal according to order, hired by a mysterious handler. The jobs run routinely until they’re tasked with taking a seemingly worthless trophy: an object that generates interest and obsession out of proportion to its apparent value.
 
Just as the robbery is completed, the two are involved in a freak car accident that sets off a chain of events and Frank disappears with the trophy. As Rick tries to find Frank, he is forced to confront his past, upending both his livelihood and his sense of reality. The narrative builds steadily into a powerful and shocking climax.  Reveling in its con-artistry and double-crosses, Just Thieves is a nail-biting, noirish exploration of the working lives of two unforgettable crooks and the hidden forces that rule and ruin their lives.

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Gregory Galloway is the author of the novels The 39 Deaths of Adam Strand and the Alex Award-winning As Simple As Snow. His short stories have appeared in the Rush Hour and Taking Aim anthologies. He is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and currently resides in NW Connecticut.

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BookReporter even has a Q&A with Gregory Galloway, so you can find out a little more about him before Wednesday’s virtual event. You can find the interview here. https://www.bookreporter.com/authors/gregory-galloway/news/interview-102121

The Poisoned Pen is ending October on a high note, and kicking off November in the same way. Just check out these upcoming programs. Then, check the Web Store to order books by your favorite authors. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Watch for these events. They’re now streamed simultaneously on Facebook and YouTube.

As Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen says, true crime is not new. Catherine Prendergast covers true historical crime with her new book. Her first book of narrative nonfiction for the general reader is The Gilded Edge: The Audacious Women and the Cyanide Love Triangle That Shook America. There are copies available in the Web Store, and they come with signed bookplates. https://bit.ly/3b2IYML

Here is the description of The Gilded Edge.

One of Book Riot‘s Anticipated 2021 Nonfiction Books

“The Gilded Edgeis a compelling read from start to finish. Gripping, suspenseful, cinematic. This is narrative nonfiction at its best.””“Lindsey Fitzharris, Bestselling Author ofThe Butchering Art

Astonishingly well written, painstakingly researched, and set in the evocative locations of earthquake-ravaged San Francisco and the Monterey Peninsula, the true story of two women—a wife and a poet—who learn the high price of sexual and artistic freedom in a vivid depiction of the debauchery of the late Gilded Age

Nora May French and Carrie Sterling arrive at Carmel-by-the-Sea at the turn of the twentieth century with dramatically different ambitions. Nora, a stunning, brilliant, impulsive writer in her early twenties, seeks artistic recognition and bohemian refuge among the most celebrated counterculturalists of the era. Carrie, long-suffering wife of real estate developer George Sterling, wants the opposite: a semblance of the stability she thought her advantageous marriage would offer, now that her philandering husband has taken to writing poetry.

After her second abortion, Nora finds herself in a desperate situation but is rescued by an invitation to stay with the Sterlings. To Carrie’s dismay, George and the arrestingly beautiful poetess fall instantly into an affair. The ensuing love triangle, which ultimately ends with the deaths of all three, is more than just a wild love story and a fascinating forgotten chapter. It questions why Nora May—in her day a revered poet whose nationally reported suicide gruesomely inspired youths across the country to take their own lives, with her verses in their pockets no less—has been rendered obscure by literary history. It depicts America at a turning point, as the Gilded Age groans in its death throes and young people, particularly young women, look toward a bright, progressive, more egalitarian future.

In an unfortunately familiar development, this vision proves a mirage. But women’s rage at the scam redefines American progressivism forever.

For readers of Nathalia Holt, Denise Kiernan, and Sonia Purnell, this shocking history with a feminist bite is not to be missed.

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Catherine Prendergast is a Professor of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a Guggenheim Fellow, and a Fulbright Scholar. Interviewed by NPR and New York Magazine, she has written on battles over school desegregation, anxieties over the global spread of English, and recognition of disability rights. Dr. Prendergast’s previous (scholarly) books include Buying Into English (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2008) and Literary and Racial Justice (Southern Illinois University Press, 2003). The Gilded Edge is her first work of narrative nonfiction.
 
Originally from New Jersey, she now lives in central Illinois with her husband and son.

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Enjoy the discussion of history of California and The Gilded Edge.

Clea Simon’s latest suspense novel, Hold Me Down, is much darker than her cozy mysteries. It involves PTSD, rape, abuse, and the music business. You can order a copy through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2WEzn72

Here’s the description of Hold Me Down.

A riveting work of dark suspense from acclaimed author Clea Simon Gal, a middle-aged musician, is back in Boston to play a memorial for her late drummer/best friend, when she finds herself freezing on stage at the sight of a face in the crowd. The next day, she learns that the man she saw has been killed ““ beaten to death behind the venue ““ and her friend’s widower is being charged in connection with his death. When the friend refuses to defend himself, Gal wonders why and, as the memories of begin to flood back, she starts her own informal investigation. As she does so, she must reexamine her own wild life, her perception of the past, and an industry that monetizes dysfunction in a dark tale of love, music, and murder.

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Before turning to a life of crime (fiction), Clea Simon was a journalist. Starting as a rock critic, she ended up writing about books and other arts. A native of New York, she came to Massachusetts to attend Harvard University, from which she graduated with high honors, and never left. The author of three nonfiction books and seven mysteries, she lives with her husband, the writer Jon S. Garelick, and their cat, Musetta. She is the author of the Witch Cats of Cambridge mysteries from Polis Books: A Spell of Murder, An Incantation of Cats, and A Cat on the Case. You can find her online at @Clea_Simon.

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While anyone will appreciate this virtual event, if you’re interested in the music industry you’ll really want to listen to this conversation with Clea Simon.

John Connolly recently appeared for The Poisoned Pen to discuss his new Charlie Parker novel, The Nameless Ones. If you order it through the Web Store, there’s some swag that comes with it, a signed oversize playing card, and a custom book tote. Here’s the link to order The Nameless Ones. https://bit.ly/2MdULvW

Here’s the description of The Nameless Ones.

“One of the best thriller writers we have.” —Harlan Coben, #1 New York Times bestselling author

From the international and instant New York Times bestselling author of The Dirty South, the white-knuckled Charlie Parker series returns with this heart-pounding race to hunt down the deadliest of war criminals.

In Amsterdam, four bodies, violently butchered, are discovered in a canal house, the remains of friends and confidantes of the assassin known only as Louis.

The men responsible for the murders are Serbian war criminals. They believe they can escape retribution by retreating to their homeland.

They are wrong.

For Louis has come to Europe to hunt them down: five killers to be found and punished before they can vanish into thin air.

There is just one problem.

The sixth.

With John Connolly’s trademark “dark, haunting, and beautifully told” (Booklist) prose and breathless twists and turns, The Nameless Ones is an unputdownable thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

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John Connolly is the author of the Charlie Parker series of thrillers, the supernatural collection Nocturnes, the Samuel Johnson Trilogy for younger readers, and (with Jennifer Ridyard) the Chronicles of the Invaders series. He lives in Dublin, Ireland. For more information, see his website at JohnConnollyBooks.com, or follow him on Twitter @JConnollyBooks.

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John Connolly is a true Irish storyteller. You’ll want to watch the virtual event.

Lori Rader-Day’s Death at Greenway is a departure from her earlier books. It was the British Crime Club pick for The Poisoned Pen. Catriona McPherson was special guest host for the bookstore’s recent virtual event. You can order Death at Greenway through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2Pa2pFO

Here’s the description of Death at Greenway.

“Irresistible… a Golden Age homage, an elegantly constructed mystery that on every page reinforces the message that everyone counts.” ““New York Times Book Review

From the award-winning author of The Day I Died and The Lucky One, a captivating suspense novel about nurses during World War II who come to Agatha Christie’s holiday estate to care for evacuated children, but when a body is discovered nearby, the idyllic setting becomes host to a deadly mystery.

Bridey Kelly has come to Greenway House—the beloved holiday home of Agatha Christie—in disgrace. A terrible mistake at St. Prisca’s Hospital in London has led to her dismissal as a nurse trainee, and her only chance for redemption is a position in the countryside caring for children evacuated to safety from the Blitz.

Greenway is a beautiful home full of riddles: wondrous curios not to be touched, restrictions on rooms not to be entered, and a generous library, filled with books about murder. The biggest mystery might be the other nurse, Gigi, who is like no one Bridey has ever met. Chasing ten young children through the winding paths of the estate grounds might have soothed Bridey’s anxieties and grief—if Greenway were not situated so near the English Channel and the rising aggressions of the war.

When a body washes ashore near the estate, Bridey is horrified to realize this is not a victim of war, but of a brutal killing. As the local villagers look among themselves, Bridey and Gigi discover they each harbor dangerous secrets about what has led them to Greenway. With a mystery writer’s home as their unsettling backdrop, the young women must unravel the truth before their safe haven becomes a place of death . . .

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Lori Rader-Day is the author of Death at Greenway, The Lucky One, Under a Dark Sky, The Day I Died, Little Pretty Things, and The Black Hour. She is a three-time Mary Higgins Clark Award nominee, winning the award in 2016. Lori lives in Chicago.

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Enjoy the conversation with Lori Rader-Day.