John Charles recently welcomed Colleen Gleason for a virtual author chat. Gleason’s latest book, Lady Darling Inquires After a Killer, the first in a series, set during the time of Sherlock Holmes. You can order a copy of the book through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/42T6XsO
Here’s the summary of Lady Darling Inquires After a Killer.
Lady Bridgerton meets The Thursday Murder Club in the first of a charming, Victorian-set mystery series from bestselling author Colleen Gleason.
Lady Darling is a woman “of a certain age.” Fifty, to be specific-which, in the eyes of London society, makes her uninteresting, eccentric, and a little intimidating.
She’s a widow.
An empty-nester (all of her children very successfully married-off).
She’s titled, influential…and very, very rich.
Now she just wants to be left alone to enjoy her pets and her gardens and her books.
Until someone turns up dead at a dinner party, and Lady Darling is on the scene.
What’s a smart, responsible, capable woman to do?
Find the killer, of course!
Learn more about Colleen Gleason and Lady Darling in the video.
John Charles welcomed Frank Verlizzo for a Poisoned Pen virtual event. Verlizzo discussed the first book in his Retro Broadway Mystery series, Scenery of the Crime. You can order a copy through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/4gFL7yI
Here’s the description of Scenery of the Crime.
In this first book of the Retro Broadway Mystery Series, set in 1975 New York City, several bizarrely executed murders involve theatrical ad execs Vic Senso and Bettie Balboa in the far-from glamorous world of backstage Broadway. Behind all the beautiful scenery hides a myriad of potentially life-threatening hazards. Has there ever been a stage-related “accident” that was actually a cover-up for murder?
Legendary actress Helena Baxter is once again starring on Broadway! A weird death on stage places her in the spotlight of suspicion, along with a cast of other suspects, including her dashing British bridegroom, her Hollywood Producer Ex, the demure set designer, the ubiquitous photographer, the watchful general manager, and a catty rival diva.
With assistance from a quirky press agent and her handsome young assistant, Vic and Bettie inadvertently place themselves in grave danger. It will take NYPD Detective Renny Clements and high society psychic, Mizz Mitzi, to make sense of the murders in time to save the lives of their new friends.
Enjoy Frank Verlizzo’s discussion with John Charles.
Thanks once again to Oline Cogdill for two reviews. In the South Florida Sun Sentinel, she discusses Fog and Fury by Rachel Howzell Hall and also the anthology, Double Crossing Van Dine. You can order the books through The Poisoned Pen’s Webstore. https://store.poisonedpen.com/
Book review: ‘Fog and Fury’ about small beach town has realistic characters, brisk plot
Plus, smart ‘Double Crossing Van Dine’ anthology breaks all the rules of detective fiction.
‘Fog and Fury: A Haven Thriller’ by Rachel Howzell Hall; Thomas & Mercer; 395 pages; $28.99
The fog that seems to permeate the small, supposedly peaceful Haven, California, tends to mask the fury that seeps throughout the beach town as new resident Alyson “Sonny” Rush arrives in Rachel Howzell Hall’s aptly titled “Fog and Fury.”
Despite Haven’s nickname of “Mayberry by the Sea,” Sonny is often “blinded” by the persistent fog every morning. The fog, she says, “muffled sound … obscured sight … made the familiar feel foreign.” Haven “ain’t what it seems,” she’s warned about this town of 1,000. People do “bad” things.
Yet Sonny leaves the LAPD after a decade to move to this Northern California town to work as a private investigator for her godfather, Ivan Poole, who also is a former police detective. Sonny and her mother, who has the beginnings of dementia, are among the few Black residents.
Sonny learns immediately how duplicitous Haven can be when her first case involves the family of wealthy Cooper Sutton, her ex-lover who had told her he was divorced. (He isn’t.) He said he would move to Los Angeles. (He wasn’t planning to.) He’s too invested in his career as a real estate developer. He wants to make Haven more attractive to investors.
Sonny’s first case is finding Figgy, a goldendoodle owned by London and Mackenzie, Cooper’s wife and daughter. Mackenzie claims the dog was stolen, but Ivan believes she has hidden the dog to get attention. The dog is safe. But the Sutton family is a toxic mess. Sonny also is hired by the parents of Xander Monroe, a star student and athlete whose recent death was ruled a suicide. The parents refuse to believe Xander killed himself and they distrust what appears to be an incompetent police investigation.
Sonny’s investigations lead to a complex network of corruption, betrayal and lies infesting Haven. Howzell Hall elevates “Fog and Fury” with realistic characters who lead a brisk plot. She infuses her novels with bits of passive racism that hit hard. Haven is so small, and has so few Black residents, that none of the stores stock Black hair care products.
“Fog and Fury” launches a new series for Howzell Hall, whose last several novels have been stand-alones. A trip back to Haven would be welcomed.
Short stories anthology
‘Double Crossing Van Dine,’ edited by Donna Andrews, Greg Herren and Art Taylor; introduction by Catriona McPherson; Crippen & Landru; 310 pages; $22
The Golden Age of Detective Fiction that launched the classic genre novel is considered to be from the 1920s to 1930s. But contemporary readers know that a second Golden Age began in the mid-1980s when the novels became more emotionally involving along with the introduction of detectives from myriad backgrounds and cultures. The genre continues to evolve, seeing several golden ages in the past decades.
Going out on a limb here, many authors from the ’20s and ’30s haven’t survived the test of time, aside from a few, such as Agatha Christie. And going out on another limb here, S.S. Van Dine, the focus of this short story anthology, probably is among those only recognized by readers steeped in the history of mystery fiction.
Van Dine, whose real name was Willard Huntington Wright, was an American art critic, literary editor, biographer and author who wrote the series about detective Philo Vance.
He also penned the “Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Fiction.” The 20 clever short stories in this smart anthology each aims to ignore them, or “break them like kindling,” as author Catriona McPherson writes in her introduction. Crime fiction has been richer when writers discarded these rather fatuous and often useless rules and set their own paths, as the authors of these short stories show.
Each story begins describing one of Van Dine’s rules, then crushing it.
Fort Lauderdale author Elaine Viets’ “Sweet Poison,” about two young women struggling in New York’s Lower East Side during 1921, forgets the rule that “all clues must be publicly stated,” as they deal with the unexpected death of one’s “Wall Street sugar daddy.”
Barb Goffman puts aside the “no love interest” rule in “Baby Love” as a fledgling-but-broke private detective tries to launch his career so he and his very loving wife can afford a baby. Co-editor Greg Herren stifles the “no supernatural” rule with “The Spirit Tree,” in which the solution to a murder comes from beyond. The “only one detective rule” doesn’t work for Delia Pitts’ “Better Together,” which finds two heads are better than one.
Boca Raton author Alan Orloff’s “The Society Set” takes a butler who has several jobs for his persnickety employer on a journey of a jewelry heist that actually embraces Van Dine’s version of a “fascinating crime.” Leigh Perry has a work-around for the “no secret societies” ban in “Guilted Lily,” in which a tight-knit group of grifters seek a score.
Tom Mead dismisses the rule that servants should never be the culprits in “The Tell-Tale Thumb.” Some people, Mead writes, see only the uniform, not the person who hides in plain sight.
The majority of the authors in “Double Crossing Van Dine” have either won or been nominated for awards. A handy brief bio of each of the authors may inspire readers to seek out more of their stories.
Join a virtual event at The Poisoned Pen on Wednesday, October 1 at 5 PM when J.A. Jance discusses her new Joanna Brady novel, The Girl from Devil’s Lake. You can watch the event on the bookstore’s YouTube channel or Facebook page. You can order a signed copy through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/4nlyE5N
Here’s the summary of The Girl from Devil’s Lake.
Arizona County Sheriff Joanna Brady solves her biggest case yet, from a body in the desert to crimes spanning decades and countries, in the thrilling latest installment in the New York Times bestselling suspense series.
Sheriff Joanna Brady is looking forward to the holidays with her busy family, and to celebrating her daughter Jenny’s graduation from the police academy. But the family is interrupted when a body is discovered beneath a flooded bridge in the Arizona desert, and Joanna is called onto the case. A young boy was murdered, and the details of the crime scene tell Joanna two things: This was not the killer’s first murder. And it’s only a matter of time before he kills again.
As Joanna digs deeper into the case, she begins to understand this murder is just one piece of a much, much bigger puzzle. She uncovers unlikely connections between cases of mysterious deaths and missing persons, having long since gone cold, that extend far beyond the confines of her small town and include the discovery of a body near Devil’s Lake, North Dakota. To get justice for the victims and to save the town of Bisbee from a predator, Joanna must chase down every dangerous lead.
Meanwhile, as a dogged journalist is circling the case and privileged information is leaked, Joanna can’t be sure who to trust. Could a prolific killer be hiding in plain sight? And how far will that person go to keep his many crimes hidden?
J. A. Jance is the New York Times bestselling author of the J. P. Beaumont series, the Joanna Brady series, the Ali Reynolds series, six thrillers about the Walker Family, and one volume of poetry. Born in South Dakota and brought up in Bisbee, Arizona, she lives with her husband in Seattle, Washington.
Don Bentlley recently acted as guest host at The Poisoned Pen, hosting David McCloskey, Jack Stewart and M.P. Woodward. McCloskey’s book is The Persian. Jack Stewart’s thriller is Declared Hostile. M.P. Woodward’s latest books are Tom Clancy: Terminal Velocity and Red Tide. There are signed books available through the Webstore. https://store.poisonedpen.com/
Here are the summaries of the authors’ books.
Kamran Esfahani, a dentist living out a dreary existence in Stockholm, agrees to spy for the Mossad after he’s recruited by Arik Glitzman, the chief of a clandestine unit tasked with running targeted assassinations and sabotage inside Iran. At Glitzman’s direction, Kam returns to his native Tehran and opens a dental practice there, using it as a cover for the Israeli intelligence agency. Kam proves to be a skillful asset, quietly earning money helping Glitzman smuggle weapons, run surveillance, and conduct kidnappings. But when Kam tries to recruit an Iranian widow seeking to avenge the death of her husband at the hands of the Mossad, the operation goes terribly wrong, landing him in prison under the watchful eye of a sadistic officer whom he knows only as the “General.” And now, after enduring three years of torture in captivity, Kamran Esfahani sits in an interrogation room across from the General, preparing to write his final confession. Kam knows it is too late to save himself. But he has managed to keep one secret—only one—and he just might be able to save that. In this haunting thriller, careening between Tehran and Tel Aviv, Istanbul and Stockholm, David McCloskey delivers an intricate story of vengeance, deceit, and the power of love and forgiveness in a world of lies.
David McCloskey is the author of the novels Damascus Station, Moscow X, and The Seventh Floor, and is cohost of the podcast The Rest Is Classified. A former CIA analyst, he worked at Langley and in field stations across the Middle East. He lives in Texas.
A treasonous plot. Clandestine actors. World order hanging in the balance.
Elite NCIS investigator Emmy “Punky” King, seasoned in global espionage, uncovers the edges of an intricate international conspiracy following the arrest of a U.S. Marine. Relying solely on her sharp intuition, she starts peeling back layers of a complex mystery that links the U.S. president to a clandestine corporation. As she navigates the corruption, Punky finds herself deep in an escalating game that threatens more than just national security.
Halfway across the world in Eastern Europe, Colt Bancroft and the Black Ponies are thrust into a high-stakes mission to prevent nuclear weapons from falling into the hands of rogue Russian operatives. But when their operation spirals into chaos following an ambush by an unexpected adversary, Colt finds himself navigating the deadly terrain of enemy territory, fighting for survival.
Although separated by continents, their missions are fatally intertwined. Colt must battle against overwhelming odds while Punky races against time to uncover the traitor behind it all—both unaware that if either fails, the world will plunge into chaos.
From Jack Stewart, former US Navy Top Gun instructor pilot, comes Declared Hostile, the intense fourth installment in the acclaimed Battle Born series. This riveting narrative is a must-read for fans of Tom Clancy and Dale Brown, packing high-stakes action and intricate conspiracy into every chapter.
Jack Stewart grew up in Seattle, Washington and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy before serving twenty-three years as a fighter pilot. During that time, he flew combat missions from three different aircraft carriers and deployed to Afghanistan as a member of an Air Force Tactical Air Control Party. His last deployment was with a joint special operations counter-terrorism task force in Africa.Jack is a graduate of the U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN) and holds a Master of Science in Global Leadership from the University of San Diego. He is an airline pilot and has appeared as a military and commercial aviation expert on international cable news. He lives in Dallas, Texas with his wife and three children.
Jack Ryan Jr battles terrorists in the disputed mountains of Kashmir to save a comrade in the latest entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series.
A string of savage murders in the United States seems unrelated until the FBI makes a shocking discovery: a decade ago, all of the murder victims were involved in a raid to eliminate the Umayyad Revolutionary Council, a vicious terror group that—were it not for John Clark and the Campus—would have perpetrated the most devastating attack against critical American infrastructure in history. Now it appears they’re back, with a next-generation leader hell-bent on revenge.
Mary Pat Foley, Director of National Intelligence, greenlights an op for the Campus to cut the head off the snake. Clark taps ex-Delta commando Bartosz “Midas” Jankowski to lead a kill team deep into the mountains to snuff out the charismatic terror leader. But when the hunters become the hunted, it’s up to Jack Rayan Jr. to avert disaster amid a deadly power game of nations vying for control of the disputed region.
On a rapid covert ingress from neighboring India, he’ll traverse the Himalayan wilderness with a rifle on his back and a tough Mujahadin fighter by his side. Jack knows time is growing short—he must save his team and lead them into position to be the first to hit terminal velocity.
“An adrenaline-laced naval thriller ripped straight from tomorrow’s headlines.” —Jack Carr, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Red Sky Mourning
From the New York Times bestselling author behind the Tom Clancy Jack Ryan Jr. books and former U.S. Naval Intelligence officer comes a gripping and timely military thriller.
America’s Navy is stretched to the breaking point. China’s combat fleet grows. And both countries compete for access to advanced semiconductor chips produced only in Taiwan. When the Chinese strike first, casualties mount and high-tech arsenals are exhausted. It’s a war of attrition—and the Chinese are winning.
Rear Adm. Will Cole outgoing operations officer (N3) of the Pacific Fleet is on the brink of retirement. After a thirty-year career, he’s ready to settle down, rebuild his marriage, and pass the torch to the next generation of the “Fighting Coles”: Their oldest, Henry, flies F-18s. Their middle son, Jamie, is a merchant marine officer. Their daughter, Lucy, has a high-tech job with a defense contractor.
But all plans are scrapped when war drums start beating. The Pacific Fleet commander sends Cole stateside to challenge a hardened political bureaucracy into getting serious about the threat to peace in the Pacific. Proven right when the missiles start flying, Cole is ordered to do the impossible: destroy the Chinese fleet and retake Taiwan—before it’s too late. He’ll risk everything in a final fleet amphibious action—his career, his Navy, and his family.
With the pacing of a master storyteller and a flair for riveting action sequences, M. P. Woodward captivates readers while raising important questions about the U.S. Navy’s ability to remain the world’s guarantor of a free sea in the twenty-first century.
From the halls of Washington to the mountains of Taiwan to the waters of the South Pacific, Red Tide is the story of America at war, as depicted through the eyes of one courageous naval family.
M. P. Woodward?is the New York Times best-selling author of the Tom Clancy Jack Ryan Jr. series and The Handler CIA espionage series (The Handler and?Dead Drop).??He served as a U.S. naval intelligence officer before going on to an international career in tech and streaming media.? He lives in Redmond, Washington.
Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, welcomed P.J. Tracy for a virtual event at the bookstore. Tracy is the author of the Monkeewrench novels. It’s been six years since the last Monkeewrench book. Fans have been waiting for The Deepest Cut. There are still a few signed copies available through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/3Vn9yY9
Here’s the description of The Deepest Cut.
The Monkeewrench team is back in a brand-new nail-biting thriller from New York Times bestselling author P. J. Tracy.
Minneapolis homicide detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth arrest a sadistic pair of killers for the murder of several women with the help of Monkeewrench, their eccentric, cyber-sleuth friends and partners. One of the killers dies in custody and the other, Wolfgang Mauer, is sent to a maximum security mental hospital in a rural corner of Minnesota.
There, Mauer plots his escape–and his vengeance. With the help of his mother, a former militia leader and assassin living an extravagant, reclusive life, he schemes to get out of the mental hospital and hunt down the detectives and the Monkeewrench crew that got him a life sentence.
When Mauer successfully escapes, an inexperienced county sheriff is thrown head-first into a massive manhunt for the murderer. When she finds three bodies and discovers that Mauer has kidnapped a young boy, she realizes that Mauer’s escape was just the beginning. With many lives on the line, Magozzi, Gino, and Monkeewrench join in the desperate search effort. The longer he’s at large, the more people will die, and Mauer is on a mission to find those who sentenced him, so they all have targets on their backs.
P. J. Tracy was the pseudonym of mother-daughter writing team P. J. and Traci Lambrecht. Traci spent most of her childhood riding and showing horses. She graduated with a Russian studies major from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, where she also studied voice. Her aspirations of becoming a spy were dashed when the Cold War ended, so she began writing to finance her annoying habits of travel and singing in rock bands. Much to her mother’s relief, she finally realized that the written word was her true calling. They had a long, prolific career together in multiple genres before P. J.’s passing in December 2016. Traci continues to write.
Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, welcomed James R. Benn back to the bookstore to talk about his new book, A Bitter Wind.. She said the two have been together for all twenty of the books in the series, and he’s already submitted the next one in the Billy Boyle series. Benn said when he started the series, he thought he’d have enough material for six or seven books about World War II. There are signed copies of A Bitter Wind available in the Webstore. https://bit.ly/4mp7LNd
Here’s the summary of A Bitter Wind.
To solve a murder at an English airbase, US Army Captain Billy Boyle must immerse himself in the fascinating and secretive world of WWII radio espionage.
Christmas Day 1944: After his last mission put him in the tailspin of the Battle of the Bulge, Captain Billy Boyle travels to southeast England to visit his girlfriend, Diana Seaton, for a brief holiday respite. Diana is engaged in classified work at RAF Hawkinge, including Operation Corona, which recruits German-speaking Women’s Auxiliary Air Force members—many of them Jewish refugees from the Kindertransport rescue—to countermand German orders and direct night fighters away from Allied bombers.
It’s fascinating and critical espionage work, but it’s laced with peril, as Billy finds out. On a scenic Christmas walk along the White Cliffs of Dover, Billy and Diana stumble upon the dead body of a US Air Force officer. In the dead man’s pocket are papers with highly confidential information about radio interception operations. Information worth killing over.
As Billy digs into the secret world of codebreakers and radio jammers stationed at Hawkinge, another body turns up. Now Billy must find out what connects these two men—and who was so hell-bent on silencing them. Enlisting the help of his long-time associates, Billy undertakes another thrilling investigation that brings him to war-torn Yugoslavia, where he must rescue an escaped POW who may be the only person who knows the truth.
James R. Benn is the author of the Billy Boyle World War II mysteries. The debut, Billy Boyle, was selected as a Top Five Book of the Year by Book Sense and was a Dilys Award nominee, A Blind Goddess was longlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, The Rest Is Silence was a Barry Award nominee, and The Devouring was a Macavity Award nominee. Benn, a former librarian, lives on the Gulf Coast of Florida with his wife, Deborah Mandel.
Enjoy James R. Benn’s conversation with Barbara Peters.
It wouldn’t be an appearance by John Scalzi if he didn’t discuss cats. Patrick King welcomed him back to The Poisoned Pen to discuss his latest book and his cats. Scalzi’s book, The Shattering Peace, is the long-awaited book in his Old Man’s War series. It’s been ten years since the last one. You can order a signed copy of The Shattering Peace through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/3K90Udu
Here’s the description of The Shattering Peace.
After a decade, acclaimed science fiction master John Scalzi returns to the galaxy of the Old Man’s War series with the long awaited seventh book, The Shattering Peace
THE PEACE IS SHATTERING
For a decade, peace has reigned in interstellar space. A tripartite agreement between the Colonial Union, the Earth, and the alien Conclave has kept the forces of war at bay, even when some would have preferred to return to the fighting and struggle of former times. For now, more sensible heads have prevailed – and have even championed unity.
But now, there is a new force that threatens the hard-maintained peace: The Consu, the most advanced intelligent species humans have ever met, are on the cusp of a species-defining civil war. This war is between Consu factions… but nothing the Consu ever do is just about them. The Colonial Union, the Earth and the Conclave have been unwillingly dragged into the conflict, in the most surprising of ways.
Gretchen Trujillo is a mid-level diplomat, working in an unimportant part of the Colonial Union bureaucracy. But when she is called to take part in a secret mission involving representatives from every powerful faction in space, what she finds there has the chance to redefine the destinies of humans and aliens alike… or destroy them forever.
JOHN SCALZI is one of the most popular science fiction authors of his generation. His debut, Old Man’s War, won him the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. His New York Times bestsellers include The Last Colony, Fuzzy Nation, Redshirts (which won the Hugo Award for Best Novel), The Last Emperox, The Kaiju Preservation Society, and Starter Villain. Material from his blog, Whatever, has earned him two other Hugo Awards. He lives in Ohio with his wife and daughter.
It is with great regret that The Poisoned Pen Bookstore acknowledges the death of a long-time friend of the crime fiction community and the bookstore. Thomas Perry’s family announced his Sept. 15 death. Perry’s last appearance at the bookstore was delayed due to the fires in Los Angeles, but he appeared in January to discuss his latest book, Pro Bono, with Barbara Peters, owner of the bookstore.
Thomas Perry won a number of awards for his books, beginning with the Edgar Award for Best First Novel for The Butcher’s Boy in 1983. His most recent award was just within the last couple weeks. He won the Barry Award for Best Action Thriller for Hero. The tenth book in his popular Jane Whitefield series, The Tree of Light and Flowers, is tentatively scheduled for release in March 2026.
