Did you miss it, or do you want to watch it again? Gregg Hurwitz, author of Out of the Dark: An Orphan X Novel, and Joseph Finder, author of Judgment, were both here recently. They had a conversation with Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen. You can still order signed copies of either or both books through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

You can also still catch the event.

Have you heard of Marlon James’ first book in the Dark Star trilogy, Black Leopard, Red Wolf? It’s the Hot Book of the Week at The Poisoned Pen, but it’s a hot book nationally as well. You can order a signed copy through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2SwbNt6

Here’s the description of Black Leopard, Red Wolf.

“A fantasy world as well-realized as anything Tolkien made.” –Neil Gaiman

“Gripping, action-packed….The literary equivalent of a Marvel Comics universe.” –Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

The epic novel, an African Game of Thrones, from the Man Booker Prize-winning author of A Brief History of Seven Killings

In the stunning first novel in Marlon James’s Dark Star trilogy, myth, fantasy, and history come together to explore what happens when a mercenary is hired to find a missing child. 

Tracker is known far and wide for his skills as a hunter: “He has a nose,” people say. Engaged to track down a mysterious boy who disappeared three years earlier, Tracker breaks his own rule of always working alone when he finds himself part of a group that comes together to search for the boy. The band is a hodgepodge, full of unusual characters with secrets of their own, including a shape-shifting man-animal known as Leopard.

As Tracker follows the boy’s scent–from one ancient city to another; into dense forests and across deep rivers–he and the band are set upon by creatures intent on destroying them. As he struggles to survive, Tracker starts to wonder: Who, really, is this boy? Why has he been missing for so long? Why do so many people want to keep Tracker from finding him? And perhaps the most important questions of all: Who is telling the truth, and who is lying?

Drawing from African history and mythology and his own rich imagination, Marlon James has written a novel unlike anything that’s come before it: a saga of breathtaking adventure that’s also an ambitious, involving read. Defying categorization and full of unforgettable characters, Black Leopard, Red Wolf is both surprising and profound as it explores the fundamentals of truth, the limits of power, and our need to understand them both.

It’s a conversation you won’t see very often. Ian Rankin is in the United States, touring for this latest Rebus novel, In a House of Lies. Linwood Barclay, author of A Noise Downstairs, is this quarter’s writer-in-residence at The Poisoned Pen. You can find books by both authors in the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com

And, you can watch and listen to this conversation, even when you couldn’t make it to The Poisoned Pen for the event.

No matter what I write for today, it can’t compete with the Super Bowl. It appears that Dwyer Murphy felt the same way, and he wrote an entertaining piece for CrimeReads, “Predicting the Super Bowl with Crime Fiction.” https://bit.ly/2GgwHpM

Who would you pick? Michael Connelly?

Or, Dennis Lehane?

I’m not going to give away the final score, but, if you’re a regular at the Poisoned Pen, you’ve probably met some of the current team from LA.

Did you miss James Rollins’ recent visit to The Poisoned Pen? He appeared on release day for his latest Sigma Force novel, Crucible. There was a champagne toast, and a discussion with Barbara Peters, owner of the bookstore. You can order a signed copy through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2t0Yumn

Here’s the summary of Crucible.

In the race to save one of their own, Sigma Force must wrestle with the deepest spiritual mysteries of mankind in this mind-expanding adventure from the #1 New York Times bestselling author, told with his trademark blend of cutting edge science, historical mystery, and pulse-pounding action.

Arriving home on Christmas Eve, Commander Gray Pierce discovers his house ransacked, his pregnant lover missing, and his best friend’s wife, Kat, unconscious on the kitchen floor. With no shred of evidence to follow, his one hope to find the woman he loves and his unborn child is Kat, the only witness to what happened. But the injured woman is in a semi-comatose state and cannot speak—until a brilliant neurologist offers a radical approach to “unlock” her mind long enough to ask a few questions.

What Pierce learns from Kat sets Sigma Force on a frantic quest for answers that are connected to mysteries reaching back to the Spanish Inquisition and to one of the most reviled and blood-soaked books in human history—a Medieval text known as the Malleus Maleficarum, the Hammer of Witches. What they uncover hidden deep in the past will reveal a frightening truth in the present and a future on the brink of annihilation, and force them to confront the ultimate question: What does it mean to have a soul?

*****

Here’s your opportunity to “attend” the James Rollins event. It was recorded.

In less than a week, Jane Harper, Australian author of The Dry, will be here at The Poisoned Pen. Harper’s on tour for her latest book, The Lost Man. She appears at the bookstore on Thursday, February 7 at 7 PM when she’ll discuss and sign her latest book. You can order a signed copy through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2HGHSdO

You can also read a profile of Jane Harper in The New York Times. https://nyti.ms/2SkBU68

Here’s the summary of The Lost Man.

Two brothers meet in the remote Australian outback when the third brother is found dead, in this stunning new standalone novel from New York Times bestseller Jane Harper

Brothers Nathan and Bub Bright meet for the first time in months at the remote fence line separating their cattle ranches in the lonely outback. 

Their third brother, Cameron, lies dead at their feet. 

In an isolated belt of Australia, their homes a three-hour drive apart, the brothers were one another’s nearest neighbors. Cameron was the middle child, the one who ran the family homestead. But something made him head out alone under the unrelenting sun.

Nathan, Bub and Nathan’s son return to Cameron’s ranch and to those left behind by his passing: his wife, his daughters, and his mother, as well as their long-time employee and two recently hired seasonal workers.

While they grieve Cameron’s loss, suspicion starts to take hold, and Nathan is forced to examine secrets the family would rather leave in the past. Because if someone forced Cameron to his death, the isolation of the outback leaves few suspects.

A powerful and brutal story of suspense set against a formidable landscape, The Lost Man confirms Jane Harper, author of The Dry and Force of Nature, is one of the best new voices in writing today.

The current Hot Book of the Week at The Poisoned Pen introduces a new series. Gytha Lodge’s She Lies in Wait is a suspense novel. In fact, I’m keeping you in suspense by not telling you what it’s about yet. Instead, I’ll mention you can order a copy through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2MIEhKN

Here’s the summary of She Lies in Wait.

Six friends. One killer. Who do you trust? A teen girl is missing after a night of partying; thirty years later, the discovery of her body reopens a cold case in an absorbing novel featuring a small-town cop determined to finally get to the truth—for fans of Tana French and Kate Atkinson.

“What a marvel! A corkscrew-twisty, knife-sharp thriller—yet it doubles as a tender ode to loss and longing. Prepare to be haunted.”—A. J. Finn, author of the New York Times bestseller The Woman in the Window

On a scorching July night in 1983, a group of teenagers goes camping in the forest. Bright and brilliant, they are destined for great things, and the youngest of the group—Aurora Jackson—is delighted to be allowed to tag along. The evening starts like any other—they drink, they dance, they fight, they kiss. Some of them slip off into the woods in pairs, others are left jealous and heartbroken. But by morning, Aurora has disappeared. Her friends claim that she was safe the last time they saw her, right before she went to sleep. An exhaustive investigation is launched, but no trace of the teenager is ever found.

Thirty years later, Aurora’s body is unearthed in a hideaway that only the six friends knew about, and Jonah Sheens is put in charge of solving the long-cold case. Back in 1983, as a young cop in their small town, he had known the teenagers—including Aurora—personally, even before taking part in the search. Now he’s determined to finally get to the truth of what happened that night. Sheens’s investigation brings the members of the camping party back to the forest, where they will be confronted once again with the events that left one of them dead, and all of them profoundly changed forever.

This searing, psychologically captivating novel marks the arrival of a dazzling new talent, and the start of a new series featuring Detective Chief Inspector Jonah Sheens.

Praise for She Lies in Wait

“This enjoyably chilling suspense tale . . . conveys both the thrills and the dangers of being a teenager on the brink of adult independence. . . . The fascination of this story is in the character studies of the surviving children, all grown up now and participants in a dark mystery that they all wish had never seen the light of day.”—The New York Times Book Review

“The mystery intrigues and twists, offering enough red herrings and moments of police procedural to please fans of the genre.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Neatly plotted and nicely atmospheric . . . This British import is plausible and eminently satisfying. Encore, please.”—Booklis

Last week, I mentioned it’s time for the mystery award announcements. This week, Malice Domestic has announced the nominees for the 2019 Agatha Awards. The awards will be presented May 4 during Malice Domestic 31. Congratulations to all of the nominees.

Don’t forget to look for the nominated books in the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com

Best Contemporary Novel

Mardi Gras Murder by Ellen Byron (Crooked Lane Books)
Beyond the Truth by Bruce Robert Coffin (Witness Impulse)
Cry Wolf by Annette Dashofy (Henery Press)
Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
Trust Me by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Forge)

Best Historical Novel  

Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding by Rhys Bowen (Berkley)
The Gold Pawn by LA Chandlar (Kensington)
The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime)
Turning the Tide by Edith Maxwell (Midnight Ink)
Murder on Union Square by Victoria Thompson (Berkley)

Best First Novel

A Ladies Guide to Etiquette and Murder by Dianne Freeman (Kensington)
Little Comfort by Edwin Hill (Kensington)
What Doesn’t Kill You by Aimee Hix (Midnight Ink)
Deadly Solution by Keenan Powell (Level Best Books)
Curses Boiled Again by Shari Randall (St. Martin’s)

Best Short Story

“All God’s Sparrows” by Leslie Budewitz (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine)
“A Postcard for the Dead” by Susanna Calkins in Florida Happens (Three Rooms Press)
“Bug Appetit” by Barb Goffman (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
“The Case of the Vanishing Professor” by Tara Laskowski (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine)
“English 398: Fiction Workshop” by Art Taylor (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)

Best Young Adult Mystery

Potion Problems (Just Add Magic) by Cindy Callaghan (Aladdin)
Winterhouse by Ben Guterson (Henry Holt)
A Side of Sabotageby C.M. Surrisi (Carolrhoda Books)

Best Nonfiction

Mastering Plot Twists by Jane Cleland (Writer’s Digest Books)
Writing the Cozy Mystery by Nancy J Cohen (Orange Grove Press)
Conan Doyle for the Defense by Margalit Fox (Random House)
Agatha Christie: A Mysterious Life by Laura Thompson (Pegasus Books)
Wicked Women of Ohio by Jane Ann Turzillo (History Press)

https://store.poisonedpen.com

It will be a “thrilling” night Wednesday, January 30 when Joseph Finder and Gregg Hurwitz appear at The Poisoned Pen. Finder’s on book tour for Judgment, and Hurwitz is touring for Out of the Dark, the latest Orphan X novel. The authors will discuss and sign their books at 7 PM on Wednesday. Of course, you can always order a signed copy through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com

Here’s a sneak peek at both books. First, Finder’s Judgment.

New York Times bestselling author Joseph Finder returns with an explosive new thrillerabout a female judge and the one personal misstep that could lead to her–and her family’s–downfall.

It was nothing more than a one-night stand. Juliana Brody, a judge in the Superior Court of Massachusetts, is rumored to be in consideration for the federal circuit, maybe someday the highest court in the land. At a conference in a Chicago hotel, she meets a gentle, vulnerable man and has an unforgettable night with him—something she’d never done before. They part with an explicit understanding that this must never happen again.

But back home in Boston, Juliana realizes that this was no random encounter. The man from Chicago proves to have an integral role in a case she’s presiding over–a sex-discrimination case that’s received national attention. Juliana discovers that she’s been entrapped, her night of infidelity captured on video. Strings are being pulled in high places, a terrifying unfolding conspiracy that will turn her life upside down.  But soon it becomes clear that personal humiliation, even the possible destruction of her career, are the least of her concerns, as her own life and the lives of her family are put in mortal jeopardy. 

In the end, turning the tables on her adversaries will require her to be as ruthless as they are.

*****

Now, for an actual “sneak peek”, you can check out The Real Spy Guy and his “Five Questions with Joseph Finder”, https://bit.ly/2RXMIIj

He also did “Five Questions with Gregg Hurwitz”, https://bit.ly/2UqAg0y

Here’s the summary of Out of the Dark.

“A shocking stunner in every way. The perfect thriller.” —Robert Crais

When darkness closes in—he’s your last, best hope. Evan Smoak returns in Gregg Hurwitz’s #1 international bestselling Orphan X series. 

Taken from a group home at age twelve, Evan Smoak was raised and trained as part of the Orphan Program, an off-the-books operation designed to create deniable intelligence assets—i.e. assassins. Evan was Orphan X. He broke with the Program, using everything he learned to disappear and reinvent himself as the Nowhere Man, a man who helps the truly desperate when no one else can. But now Evan’s past is catching up to him.

Someone at the very highest level of government has been trying to eliminate every trace of the Orphan Program by killing all the remaining Orphans and their trainers. After Evan’s mentor and the only father he ever knew was killed, he decided to strike back. His target is the man who started the Program and who is now the most heavily guarded person in the world: the President of the United States.

But President Bennett knows that Orphan X is after him and, using weapons of his own, he’s decided to counter-attack. Bennett activates the one man who has the skills and experience to track down and take out Orphan X—the first recruit of the Program, Orphan A.  

With Evan devoting all his skills, resources, and intelligence to find a way through the layers of security that surround the President, suddenly he also has to protect himself against the deadliest of opponents. It’s Orphan vs. Orphan with the future of the country—even the world—on the line.