Glen Erik Hamilton, author of the Van Shaw novels, will join Jeff Abbott and Ellison Cooper for a virtual conversation on Facebook, Tuesday, July 14 at 6 PM MT (9 PM ET). July 14 is also release date for the latest book in the series, A Dangerous Breed. Today, Hamilton joins us to talk about book “Distractions”.

A native of Seattle, Glen Erik Hamilton grew up aboard a sailboat, and spent his youth finding trouble around the marinas and commercial docks and islands of the Pacific Northwest. He now lives in Burbank, California, with his family, punctuated by frequent visits to his hometown to soak up the rain.

Hamilton’s books, and the books he suggests, can be ordered through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

*****

The chaos of 2020 has created a growth market for irony. We finally have time away from the office, but we’re busier than ever with homeschooling and learning to work remotely. The highways are wide open, but we have to stay in place.  We have to stay in place, but we need our communities to gather and stand together for justice more than ever.

So perhaps it’s not so strange that as the walls squeeze tighter each day, I’ve reacted by narrowing my focus: finding escape within the pages of a good book. Going in to get out.

Which creates one last contradiction: My schedule is packed, and I’m finding time to read more great books than I have in years. 

If our bodies can’t travel, at least our imaginations—lifted by an excellent story—can take flight. Here are a few books that are making my world feel a little wider.

Murder at the Mena House

by Erica Ruth Neubauer

There’s nothing quite like the joy of discovering a great debut novel. I also love delving into an occasional traditional mystery, especially period pieces, to see how the writer tackles the strict rules and reader expectations of the genre. Those challenges are daunting. Newer authors often lean too far in keeping the tale light and airy, maybe forgetting just how treacherous the fictional worlds of Dame Agatha and her contemporaries could be. Erica Ruth Neubauer doesn’t make that mistake. This is a classic mystery, full of intriguing historical tidbits and suspicious characters. Even better, Neubauer has invented a heroine who is immediately sympathetic and strong, a woman challenging the social mores in the wake of WWI.

The Missing American

by Kwei Quartey

I’m halfway through Quartey’s interwoven tale of Ghanian political intrigue, police corruption, and online swindlers—aided by ritual magic, no less!—and I didn’t want to wait to recommend it.  The first in a new series featuring rookie private investigator Emma Djan, The Missing American has as rich a sense of place and atmosphere as one could hope.  Emma’s boss and mentor, Sowah, reminds me of Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache in his calm, almost humble approach to instructing his subordinates, and seeing that relationship from the junior employee’s point of view is refreshing. I’m looking forward not only to reading the book’s final acts but also seeing an increased focus on these characters in sequels.  

The Ninja Daughter

by Tori Eldridge

Lily Wong’s apartment is painted entirely in a soothing pale green, save for one violently red wall in her home dojo. Because, as she tells us: fighting is easy, tranquility is hard. And while Lily seeks to find some calm amidst her loving but meddlesome family and the attentions of a not-quite-right suitor, it’s a good thing she’s an expert combatant. Her drive to protect women in danger has placed our ninja in the crosshairs of a deadly (and deadly attractive) killer and at least two different gangs to boot. A fascinating blend of martial arts action, cultural collisions, and potential romance that will no doubt fuel future entries in the series. 

The Burglar

by Thomas Perry

I’ve been a fan of Thomas Perry ever since finding Sleeping Dogs, the sequel to his Edgar-winning debut The Butcher’s Boy, in a used bookstore in the mid-’90s.  His recent run of thrillers prove Perry hasn’t lost any momentum.  Most of his protagonists are individuals or married couples who are quiet by nature, largely solitary, and exceedingly proficient at very unusual professions.  Elle Stowell, the heroine of The Burglar, fits that mold perfectly.  Elle would be perfectly content to live a life of pilfering from mansions of Beverly Hills while the owners are summering in Gstaad or wherever.  But when she stumbles onto three murder victims in her latest caper, she quickly becomes the target of pursuers who track her step for step. Breakneck fun from a true master.

Hollywood Ending

by Kellye Garrett

audiobook read by Bahni Turpin

The pandemic hasn’t completely eliminated driving around, and when there are errands to run, I usually have an audiobook keeping me company. And there’s no better company than Dayna Anderson, one-time actress and brand-new P.I.  In this second entry in the series, Dayna is still broke, still enthusiastically motivated to change that status, and chasing the killer of a celebrity publicist.  If only she could get the people on the LAPD tip line to take her seriously. Garrett’s writing frequently causes me to laugh out loud, alarming people nearby.  Her observations about fame—and those who circle the famous, angling for their own celebrity or wealth—are as sharp as ever.  Here’s hoping the divine Dayna has better luck, but not so much that she stops scrambling.  This heroine’s misadventures deserve a long and successful run.

*****

As I said, Glen Erik Hamilton’s latest Van Shaw novel, A Dangerous Breed, is released July 14. You can order signed copies through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2Tt8Afd

“Atmospheric and taut, A Dangerous Breed is a winner.”   — Allison Brennan, New York Times bestselling author

Van Shaw’s past and present collide when an ingenious blackmailer pushes him to the brink in this electrifying fifth novel in Glen Erik Hamilton’s gritty and emotionally powerful thriller series.

An invitation addressed to his long-dead mother sparks Van Shaw’s curiosity about the woman he barely knew. As he digs into young Moira Shaw’s past, he uncovers startling details about her life, including her relationship to a boy named Sean Burke—a boy Moira may have been seeing when she became pregnant. Could this Burke be the biological father who abandoned Van before he was born? Although Van knows all too well that some doors shouldn’t be opened, he decides to investigate the man—only to discover that Burke has an even darker family history than Van’s own.

But Van’s got more immediate problems. His friend Hollis is in a jam, and helping him out accidentally steers Van into the path of a master extortionist named Bilal Nath.  Nath demands that the talented thief mastermind a daring heist targeting a Seattle biotechnology firm, or the blackmailer will destroy the lives of people Van loves. Will Van be forced to steal a viral weapon with the potential to kill thousands? 

With Bilal Nath coercing him into a possible act of domestic terrorism, Van turns to his formidable crew of lawbreaking friends—including Hollis, Big Will Willard, and Willard’s sly and seductive niece Elana—for help. Yet even this team may not be enough. To outwit a brilliant sociopath, Van might just need a cold-blooded killer . . . a criminal whose blood may run through his own veins. 

I’ve been waiting to share this conversation. Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, recently hosted Linda Castillo for the virtual book launch of Outsider, the new Kate Burkholder thriller. Outsider is the Hot Book of the Week at the Pen. You can still order signed copies of it through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2TDPi4M

Here’s the summary of the latest book in the series.

Linda Castillo follows her instant New York Times bestseller, Shamed, with Outsider, an electrifying thriller about a woman on the run hiding among the Amish.

While enjoying a sleigh ride with his children, Amish widower Adam Lengacher discovers a car stuck in a snowdrift and an unconscious woman inside. He calls upon Chief of Police Kate Burkholder for help, and she is surprised to recognize the driver: fellow cop and her former friend, Gina Colorosa.

Years before, Kate and Gina were best friends at the police academy and patrol officers in Columbus, but time and distance have taken them down two very different paths. Now, Gina reveals a shocking story of betrayal and revenge that has forced her to run for her life. She’s desperate for protection, and the only person she can trust is Kate—but can Kate trust her? Or will Gina’s dark past put them all in danger?

As a blizzard bears down on Painters Mill, Kate helps Gina go into hiding on Adam’s farm. While the tough-skinned Gina struggles to adjust to the Amish lifestyle, Kate and state agent John Tomasetti delve into the incident that caused Gina to flee. But as Kate gets closer to the truth, a killer lies in wait. When violence strikes, she must confront a devastating truth that changes everything she thought she knew not only about friendship, but the institution to which she’s devoted her life.

*****

If you’re a fan of this series, or just discovering the Kate Burkholder books, you’ll want to watch the conversation.

When Sherry Harris apologized because she didn’t send her book “Distractions” earlier, I replied that she’s an author. People want to read the books she’s writing, so it’s important that she take care of that first. The author of the Sarah Winston Garage Sale mysteries launches a new series on July 28. From Beer to Eternity is the first Chloe Jackson, Sea Glass Saloon Mystery. You can order Harris’ books, and the books she suggests, through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Sherry Harris is the Agatha Award”“nominated author of the Sarah Winston Garage Sale mystery series and the upcoming Chloe Jackson Sea Glass Saloon mysteries. She is a past president of Sisters in Crime, and a member of the Chesapeake Chapter of Sisters in Crime, the New England Chapter of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and International Thriller Writers.
 
In her spare time Sherry loves reading and is a patent holding inventor. Sherry, her husband, and guard dog Lily are living in northern Virginia until they figure out where they want to move to next.

Harris’ website is https://www.Sherryharrisauthor.com. She blogs at https://www.Wickedcozyauthors.com

I hope you check out some of Sherry Harris’ book “Distractions”.

*****

I’ve read voraciously since mid-March ““ there’s nothing like escaping the real world by visiting fictional friends old and new. Readers often ask me why I wanted to be a writer. I point them straight to my favorite childhood series ““ the Betsy/Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace. The series starts when Betsy is five and ends when she gets married.

Betsy wanted to be a writer and so did I. They are based on the life of Lovelace, a native of Minnesota. The books are set in the late eighteen and early nineteen hundreds. Rereading these books is like getting a warm hug. I highly recommend them to young and young at heart readers.

I’m also rereading one of my favorite but way to short series ““ the Detective By Day mysteries by Kellye Garrett.

Dayna Anderson, a broke actress, turns into a sleuth for the reward money and then finds out she has a knack for solving mysteries. I used to live in the greater Los Angeles area and love revisiting through these books. They have everything ““ great plots, humor, and a dynamic protagonist.

The Pearl Dagger, the third in the Art Deco series, by LA Chandler has been on my TBR pile for way too long.

A visit to the past is always a great way to escape the present! Lane Sanders sails for London to hunt down violent syndicates that are spreading throughout Europe and search for answers about her past. Finn Brodie tags along and has some devils of his own to fight.

In March I read Mimi Lee Gets A Clue by Jennifer J. Chow.

It’s the first in Jennifer’s Sassy Cat series. I haven’t loved a cat in a book this much since I read the first The Cat Who Could Read Backwards by Lillian Jackson Braun a hundred years ago. This series is also set in the Los Angeles area — hmmm, am I missing California? ““ Mimi has opened a pet grooming service so she meets a lot of quirky pet owners. Mimi’s mother is a hoot, too. Mimi is a delight and I can’t wait to hang out with her again.

*****

You can hang out with Sherry Harris’ characters in her most recent books. From Beer to Eternity introduces a librarian who is starting over. It will be released July 28. You can find Harris’ books in the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3iIkCu4

A whip smart librarian’s fresh start comes with a tart twist in this perfect cocktail of murder and mystery—with a romance chaser.

MURDER ON TAP

With Chicago winters in the rearview mirror, Chloe Jackson is making good on a promise: help her late friend’s grandmother run the Sea Glass Saloon in the Florida Panhandle. To Chloe’s surprise, feisty Vivi Slidell isn’t the frail retiree Chloe expects. Nor is Emerald Cove. It’s less a sleepy fishing village than a panhandle hotspot overrun with land developers and tourists. But it’s a Sea Glass regular who’s mysteriously crossed the cranky Vivi. When their bitter argument comes to a head and he’s found dead behind the bar, guess who’s the number one suspect?

In trying to clear Vivi’s name, Chloe discovers the old woman isn’t the only one in Emerald Cove with secrets. Under the laidback attitude, sparkling white beaches, and small town ways something terrible is brewing. And the sure way a killer can keep those secrets bottled up is to finish off one murder with a double shot: aimed at Chloe and Vivi.

“An incredibly enjoyable book.”
—Mystery Scene on Sell Low, Sweet Harriet

*****

The most recent book is Harris’ Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery is Sell Low, Sweet Harriet.

ONE WOMAN’S TRASH . . .
Sarah Winston’s garage sale business has a new client: the daughter of a couple who recently died in a tragic accident while away on a trip to Africa. Their house is full of exotic items from around the world that need to be sold off. When Sarah learns that the deceased were retired CIA agents, the job becomes more intriguing—but when an intruder breaks in and a hidden camera is found, it also becomes more dangerous. And Sarah has enough on her plate right now since she’s investigating a murder on the side at the nearby Air Force base, where her status as a former military spouse gives her a special kind of access.
 
. . . IS ANOTHER WOMAN’S TROUBLE
With so much work piling up, Sarah decides to hire some help. But her assistant, Harriet—a former FBI hostage negotiator—has a rare talent for salesmanship. Which is good, because Sarah may have to haggle for her life with Harriet’s assistance . . .
 
Praise for the Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mysteries

“There’s a lot going on in this charming mystery, and it all works . . . Well written and executed, this is a definite winner.”
—RT Book Reviews, 4 Stars on All Murders Final!

“Full of garage-sale tips…amusing. A solid choice for fans of Jane K. Cleland’s Josie Prescott Antique Mystery series.”
—Library Journal on Tagged for Death
 
“A slam dunk for those who love antiques and garage sales . . .surprising twists and turns.”
—Kirkus Reviews on A Good Day to Buy

John Charles of The Poisoned Pen staff recently hosted two cozy mystery authors, Abby Collette and Ellie Alexander. Collette’s latest books is A Deadly Inside Scoop. The eleventh book in Ellie Alexander’s Bakeshop Mystery series is Nothing Bundt Trouble. You can order books by both authors through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

You can listen to the conversation here.

https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-u7f2k-e201f2

Here’s the summary of Abby Collette’s A Deadly Inside Scoop.

This book kicks off a charming cozy mystery series set in an ice cream shop—with a fabulous cast of quirky characters.

Recent MBA grad Bronwyn Crewse has just taken over her family’s ice cream shop in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and she’s going back to basics. Win is renovating Crewse Creamery to restore its former glory, and filling the menu with delicious, homemade ice cream flavors—many from her grandmother’s original recipes. But unexpected construction delays mean she misses the summer season, and the shop has a literal cold opening: the day she opens her doors an early first snow descends on the village and keeps the customers away.

To make matters worse, that evening, Win finds a body in the snow, and it turns out the dead man was a grifter with an old feud with the Crewse family. Soon, Win’s father is implicated in his death. It’s not easy to juggle a new-to-her business while solving a crime, but Win is determined to do it. With the help of her quirky best friends and her tight-knit family, she’ll catch the ice cold killer before she has a meltdown…

*****

Ellie Alexander’s Nothing Bundt Trouble is here.

This time, Torte’s pastry chef and amateur sleuth finds herself coming out of the oven and straight into the fire in Ellie Alexander’s Nothing Bundt Trouble: A Bakeshop Mystery.

Spring has sprung in Ashland, Oregon, and everything at Torte seems to be coming up buttercream roses. But just when Juliet Capshaw seems to have found her sweet spot—with her staff set to handle the influx of tourists for this year’s Shakespeare festival while she moves back into her childhood home—things take a dramatic turn. Jules discovers a long-forgotten dossier in her deceased father’s belongings that details one of the most controversial cases in Ashland’s history: a hit-and-run accident from the 1980s. Or was it?

Now it’s up to Jules to parse through a whole new world of details from another era, from unraveling cassette tapes to recipes for Bundt cakes, before an old enemy brings the Capshaw “pastry case” to a modern-day dead end.

The Bakeshop Mysteries are:

“Delicious.”—RT Book Reviews
“Marvelous.”—Fresh Fiction
“Delectable.”—Portland Book Review

Nicholas Basbanes has written about book collecting, libraries, paper. It was David McCullough who suggested that he should try a biography. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is the subject of Basbanes’ new book, Cross of Snow. You can order a copy, as well as copies of Basbanes’ other books, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3iEpl0b

A major literary biography of America’s best-loved nineteenth-century poet, the first in more than fifty years, and a much-needed reassessment for the twenty-first century of a writer whose stature and celebrity were unparalleled in his time, whose work helped to explain America’s new world not only to Americans but to Europe and beyond. From the author of On Paper (“Buoyant”–The New Yorker; “Essential”–Publishers Weekly), Patience and Fortitude (“A wonderful hymn”–Simon Winchester), and A Gentle Madness (“A jewel”–David McCullough).

In Cross of Snow, the result of more than twelve years of research, including access to never-before-examined letters, diaries, journals, notes, Nicholas Basbanes reveals the life, the times, the work–the soul–of the man who shaped the literature of a new nation with his countless poems, sonnets, stories, essays, translations, and whose renown was so wide-reaching that his deep friendships included Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Julia Ward Howe, and Oscar Wilde.

Basbanes writes of the shaping of Longfellow’s character, his huge body of work that included translations of numerous foreign works, among them, the first rendering into a complete edition by an American of Dante’s Divine Comedy. We see Longfellow’s two marriages, both happy and contented, each cut short by tragedy. His first to Mary Storer Potter that ended in the aftermath of a miscarriage, leaving Longfellow devastated. His second marriage to the brilliant Boston socialite–Fanny Appleton, after a three-year pursuit by Longfellow (his “fiery crucible,” he called it), and his emergence as a literary force and a man of letters.

A portrait of a bold artist, experimenter of poetic form and an innovative translator–the human being that he was, the times in which he lived, the people whose lives he touched, his monumental work and its place in his America and ours.

*****

Here’s the lengthy interview with Nicholas Basbanes. Barbara Peters, owner of the bookstore, and then Patrick Millikin talked with Basbanes about his books, including Cross of Snow. There’s also a slideshow.

Although Julia Clark’s The Last Flight is the Hot Book of the Week at The Poisoned Pen, it’s out of stock at the moment. That doesn’t mean you can’t order a copy through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3eYUucp

Here’s the summary of The Last Flight.

The New York Times and USA Today bestseller!

“The Last Flight is thoroughly absorbing—not only because of its tantalizing plot and deft pacing, but also because of its unexpected poignancy and its satisfying, if bittersweet, resolution. The characters get under your skin.”—The New York Times Book Review

Two women. Two flights. One last chance to disappear.

Claire Cook has a perfect life. Married to the scion of a political dynasty, with a Manhattan townhouse and a staff of ten, her surroundings are elegant, her days flawlessly choreographed, and her future auspicious. But behind closed doors, nothing is quite as it seems. That perfect husband has a temper that burns as bright as his promising political career, and he’s not above using his staff to track Claire’s every move, making sure she’s living up to his impossible standards. But what he doesn’t know is that Claire has worked for months on a plan to vanish.

A chance meeting in an airport bar brings her together with a woman whose circumstances seem equally dire. Together they make a last-minute decision to switch tickets—Claire taking Eva’s flight to Oakland, and Eva traveling to Puerto Rico as Claire. They believe the swap will give each of them the head start they need to begin again somewhere far away. But when the flight to Puerto Rico goes down, Claire realizes it’s no longer a head start but a new life. Cut off, out of options, with the news of her death about to explode in the media, Claire will assume Eva’s identity, and along with it, the secrets Eva fought so hard to keep hidden.

For fans of Lisa Jewell and Liv Constantine, The Last Flight is the story of two women—both alone, both scared—and one agonizing decision that will change the trajectory of both of their lives.

What better day to offer a podcast with Diana Gabaldon? No, as she tells in episode one, Go Tell the Bees I Am Gone is not yet even finished. But, you can enjoy listening to her read two excerpts here on The Poisoned Pen’s podcast. And, of course, you can order her books through the Web Store at her home bookstore, The Poisoned Pen. https://store.poisonedpen.com/?q=p.diana_gabaldon

Enjoy the podcasts!

Excerpt 1 https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-7h9ut-e187ad

Excerpt 2 https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-wig5k-e187b9

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, recently hosted an international virtual event. Jeffrey Siger discussed Greece and his Andreas Kaldis mysteries set there. Ragnar Jonasson’s books are set in Iceland. Timothy Hallinan’s Poke Rafferty mysteries are set in Bangkok, Thailand. The authors’ books can all be ordered through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

You can watch the conversation here.

Here are the most recent books by Siger, Jonasson, and Hallinan.

Jeffrey Siger’s Island of Secrets was previously published as The Mykonos Mob.

“A perfect setting and first-rate storytelling.” —Ragnar Jónasson, bestselling author of The Dark Iceland series

From international bestselling author, Jeffrey Siger, comes another heart-stopping story of corruption and intrigue.

The case begins for Athens’ Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis with a literal bang when a corrupt former police colonel who runs a protection racket on Mykonos is gunned down. Suddenly, Kaldis is face-to-face with Greece’s top crime bosses on an island whose natural beauty and reputation as an international playground belies the corruption lurking just beneath the surface.

While Kaldis and his Special Crimes unit wrestle for answers, his wife, Lila, meets an American expat named Toni, a finder of stolen goods and a piano player in a gender-bending bar who has a zest for life and no apparent regard for rules. As Lila and Toni bond over a common desire to mentor young island girls trapped in an exploitative and patriarchal culture, they soon find that their efforts intersect with Kaldis’ investigation in ways that prove to be dangerous for all involved…

 (Previously published as The Mykonos Mob)

*****

Ragnar Jonasson’s most recent book is The Island.

The newest superstar on the Icelandic crime fiction scene has arrived with a superb followup to The Darkness.

Shortlisted for the Crime Novel of the Year Award in Iceland
Third Place, Novel of the Year Award 2016 in Iceland, selected by booksellers
One of the bestselling novels in Iceland in 2016

Autumn of 1987 takes a young couple on a romantic trip in the Westfjords holiday—a trip that gets an unexpected ending and has catastrophic consequences.

Ten years later a small group of friends go for a weekend in an old hunting lodge in Elliðaey. A place completely cut off from the outside world, to reconnect. But one of them isn’t going to make it out alive. And Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir is determined to find the truth in the darkness.

Ragnar Jonasson burst onto the American scene with Snowblind and Nightblind, the first two novels in the Ari Thor thriller series, and the praise was overwhelming. With The Darkness, he launched a new series featuring a completely new sleuth, Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdottir of the Reykjavik Police department. The Island is the second book in this series.

*****

Tim Hallinan’s final Poke Rafferty novel is Street Music.

Eight years ago, Poke Rafferty, an American travel writer, and his Thai wife, Rose, adopted a Bangkok street child named Miaow, forming an unconventional intercultural family. That family has weathered extreme challenges—each of its three members carried the scars of a painful and dangerous history—but has stuck together with tenacity and love (and a little help from some friends).
 
Now that family is in jeopardy: the birth of Poke and Rose’s newborn son has littered their small apartment with emotional land mines, forcing Poke to question his identity as a dad and Miaow to question her identity as a daughter. At the same time, the most cantankerous member of the small gang of Old Bangkok Hands who hang out at the Expat Bar suddenly goes missing under suspicious circumstances. Engaged in the search for the missing American, Poke is caught completely off-guard when someone he thought was gone forever resurfaces—and she has the power to tear the Raffertys apart.

Join authors Kimiko Guthrie, James Wade, and Edward A. Farmer for a virtual event at The Poisoned Pen’s Facebook page on Friday, July 3 at 4 PM, 7 PM ET. https://www.facebook.com/thepoisonedpenbookstore/ Books by the authors are available through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/ Blackstone Publishing is the publisher for all three authors.

Here’s Kimiko Guthrie’s Block Seventeen.

Akiko “Jane” Thompson, a half-Japanese, half-Caucasian woman in her midthirties, is attempting to forge a quietly happy life in the Bay Area with her fiancé, Shiro. But after a bizarre car accident, things begin to unravel. An intruder ransacks their apartment but takes nothing, leaving behind only cryptic traces of his or her presence. Shiro, obsessed with government surveillance, risks their security in a plot to expose the misdeeds of his employer, the TSA. Jane’s mother has seemingly disappeared, her existence only apparent online. Jane wants to ignore these worrisome disturbances until a cry from the past robs her of all peace, forcing her to uncover a long-buried family secret.

As Jane searches for her mother, she confronts her family’s fraught history in America. She learns how they survived the incarceration of Japanese Americans, and how fear and humiliation can drive a person to commit desperate acts.

In melodic and suspenseful prose, Guthrie leads the reader to and from the past, through an unreliable present, and, inescapably, toward a shocking revelation. Block Seventeen, at times charming and light, at others disturbing and disorienting, explores how fear of the “other” continues to shape our supposedly more enlightened times.

*****

Here’s the summary of James Wade’s All Things Left Wild.

After an attempted horse theft goes tragically wrong, sixteen-year-old Caleb Bentley is on the run with his mean-spirited older brother across the American Southwest at the turn of the twentieth century. Caleb’s moral compass and inner courage will be tested as they travel the harsh terrain and encounter those who have carved out a life there, for good or ill.

Wealthy and bookish Randall Dawson, out of place in this rugged and violent country, is begrudgingly chasing after the Bentley brothers. With little sense of how to survive, much less how to take his revenge, Randall meets Charlotte, a woman experienced in the deadly ways of life in the West. Together they navigate the murky values of vigilante justice.

Powerful and atmospheric, lyrical and fast-paced, All Things Left Wild is a coming-of-age for one man, a midlife odyssey for the other, and an illustration of the violence and corruption prevalent in our fast-expanding country. It artfully sketches the magnificence of the American West as mirrored in the human soul.

*****

Check out Edward A. Farmer’s Pale.

“Some things just don’t keep well inside this house …”

The summer of 1966 burned hot across America but nowhere hotter than the cotton fields of Mississippi. Finding herself in a precarious position as a black woman living alone, Bernice accepts her brother Floyd’s invitation to join him as a servant for a white family and she enters the web of hostility and deception that is the Kern plantation household.

The secrets of the house are plentiful yet the silence that has encompassed it for so many years suddenly breaks with the arrival of the harvest and the appearance of Jesse and Fletcher to the plantation as cotton pickers. These two brothers, the sons of the house servant Silva, awaken a vengeful seed within the Missus of the house as she plots to punish not only her husband but Silva’s family as well. When the Missus starts flirting with Jesse, she sets into motion a dangerous game that could get Jesse killed and destroy the lives of the rest of the servants.

Bernice walks the fine line between emissary and accomplice, as she tries her best to draw secrets from the Missus’s heart, while using their closeness to protect the lives of the people around her. Once the Missus’s plans are complete, families will be severed, loyalties will be shattered, and no one will come out unscathed.

With a dazzling voice and rich emotional tension, Pale explores the ties that bind and how quickly humanity can fade and return us to primal ways.