In the past, we’ve shared Jacqueline Winspear’s newsletters here. It’s often fun to share the newsletter before the author appears at The Poisoned Pen, Sujata Massey, author of the forthcoming mystery, The Satapur Moonstone, will be at the bookstore on Saturday, May 25 at 2 PM, appearing at a tea with Jayne Ann Krentz and Meg Tilley. Massey is the bestselling author of the first Perveen Mistry mystery, The Widows of Malabar Hill. Both books are available through the Web Store, and you can pre-order a signed copy of The Satapur Moonstore. https://bit.ly/2Vo7Ub4

Here’s the description of The Satapur Moonstone.

The highly anticipated follow-up to the critically acclaimed novel The Widows of Malabar Hill.

India, 1922: It is rainy season in the lush, remote Sahyadri mountains, where the princely state of Satapur is tucked away. A curse seems to have fallen upon Satapur’s royal family, whose maharaja died of a sudden illness shortly before his teenage son was struck down in a tragic hunting accident. The state is now ruled by an agent of the British Raj on behalf of Satapur’s two maharanis, the dowager queen and her daughter-in-law.

The royal ladies are in a dispute over the education of the young crown prince, and a lawyer’s counsel is required. However, the maharanis live in purdah and do not speak to men. Just one person can help them: Perveen Mistry, Bombay’s only female lawyer. Perveen is determined to bring peace to the royal house and make a sound recommendation for the young prince’s future, but she arrives to find that the Satapur palace is full of cold-blooded power plays and ancient vendettas. Too late, she realizes she has walked into a trap. But whose? And how can she protect the royal children from the palace’s deadly curse?

*****

By now, I hope you’re curious. Here’s Sujata Massey’s Newsletter.

How’s your spring going? I’m enjoying the sun, tulip and daffodil sightings, and a relatively quiet month to write before May and June, when I will be traveling the country to read from The Satapur Moonstone. The tour schedule so far includes Arizona, Delaware, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Texas and Wisconsin. Check in to my website next month to see dates that might include California and Washington State.

This book will be published May 14 in two editions, one from Soho Press, and the other from Penguin Random House India. There’s also an audiobook coming out from Recorded Books.

More international sales in the year ahead: The Widows of Malabar Hill will be published in Korean, Japanese, French and Finnish. And The Satapur Moonstone is coming out in Finland and Italy. Tell your pen pals.

But back to The Satapur Moonstone. Perveen Mistry’s assignment arrives after Sir David, Alice Hobson-Jones’s father, hires her to make contact with a young maharaja and his family living in an isolated palace in the Sahyadri mountains. From the start of journey, Perveen senses something corrupt is occurring at the palace. Check out the first two chapters.

Publishers Weekly said: “Edgar finalist Massey’s second whodunit featuring Bombay attorney Perveen Mistry is even better than the series’ impressive debut.”

And here’s the review from Library Journal: “Massey does a superb job of combining a fascinating snapshot into 1920s British-ruled India with a top-notch mystery. She has created a strong, appealing heroine who is forging her own path in a rapidly changing world… Highly recommended for fans of other intrepid women sleuths such as Elizabeth Peters’s Amelia Peabody and Tasha Alexander’s Lady Emily.”

It would be so much fun to meet in person when I’m on tour. And if I’m not scheduled for your area, would you please pre-order my book? That helps me and my publishers by leaps and bounds.

You can pre-order the US and World English Soho Press edition of The Satapur Moonstone at your local bookshop or with an online retailer.

South Asia residents, please preorder the Penguin Random House India edition!

And remember, library readers have star power. Please request the hardcover, large print edition, or audiobook now: this encourages librarians to order enough for everyone.

Even if I’m not coming to your town, here’s another way we can talk. The Satapur Moonstone Book Club on Facebook Live is gathering at my author page on Facebook thirteen lucky days after publication. We will discuss  everything—research, characters, ending—of The Satapur Moonstone at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT on Monday, May 27 (Memorial Day evening) in a video conference. This means you can see me relaxing my living room with my dogs—and use the sidebar feature on your computer screen to send me questions which I’ll read aloud and answer. You will not be seen, but your questions will be heard loud and clear. If you are outside the US or Canada, please check if the time difference might allow you to join us, because you will be a VIP participant! The best way to remember this event is to sign up as “GOING” on the event page, and Facebook will remind you.

The whole show will be Q&A format and there will be prizes. Please join me!

Warmly,
Sujata
sujatamassey.com

P.S. If someone sent you this free email newsletter—and you’d like more recipes, free fiction, and information about India, Japan and writing several times each year—please subscribe by signing up here. Your name will never be sold, shared or distributed, and you can unsubscribe at any time. Thanks, and I can’t wait to hear from you!

Gmail users report this newsletter sometimes is mistakenly sent into spam. Please add sujata@sujatamassey.com to your address book so you don’t miss an issue!

Audience members paid attention when Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, suggested they would want to show up for a debut novelist David R. Dow. Dow’s Confessions of an Innocent Man is his first novel, but not his first book. You can find copies, including signed copies of Confessions of an Innocent Man, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2ILkH0L

Here’s the summary of Confessions of an Innocent Man.

“Every person wrongfully convicted of a crime at some point dreams of getting revenge against the system.  In Confessions of an Innocent Man, the dream comes true and in a spectacular way.”—John Grisham, New York Times bestselling author of The Reckoning 

A thrillingly suspenseful debut novel, and a fierce howl of rage that questions the true meaning of justice.

Rafael Zhettah relishes the simplicity and freedom of his life. He is the owner and head chef of a promising Houston restaurant. A pilot with open access to the boundless Texas horizon. A bachelor, content with having few personal or material attachments that ground him. Then, lightning strikes. When he finds Tieresse—billionaire, philanthropist, sophisticate, bombshell—sitting at one of his tables, he also finds his soul mate and his life starts again. And just as fast, when she is brutally murdered in their home, when he is convicted of the crime, when he is sentenced to die, it is all ripped away. But for Rafael Zhettah, death row is not the end. It is only the beginning. Now, with his recaptured freedom, he will stop at nothing to deliver justice to those who stole everything from him. 

This is a heart-stoppingly suspenseful, devastating, page-turning debut novel. A thriller with a relentless grip that wants you to read it in one sitting. David R. Dow has dedicated his life to the fight against capital punishment—to righting the horrific injustices of the death penalty regime in Texas. He delivers the perfect modern parable for exploring our complex, uneasy relationships with punishment and reparation in a terribly unjust world.

*****

Barbara Peters and Patrick Millikin tag-teamed for the conversation with author David R. Dow. I think you’ll want to check it out.

John Sandford is back at The Poisoned Pen on Tuesday, April 23 at 7 PM, and he’s returning with a new Lucas Davenport book, Neon Prey. In fact, it’s the featured book in Marilyn Stasio’s latest crime column in The New York Times. https://nyti.ms/2ZmZMqE

Of course, Sandford’s books, along with signed copies of Neon Prey, are available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2Dncbl0

Here’s the description of Neon Prey.

Lucas Davenport tracks a prolific serial killer in the newest nail-biter by #1New York Times-bestselling author John Sandford.

Clayton Deese looks like a small-time criminal, muscle for hire when his loan shark boss needs to teach someone a lesson. Now, seven months after a job that went south and landed him in jail, Deese has skipped out on bail, and the U.S. Marshals come looking for him. They don’t much care about a low-level guy–it’s his boss they want–but Deese might be their best chance to bring down the whole operation.

Then, they step onto a dirt trail behind Deese’s rural Louisiana cabin and find a jungle full of graves.

Now Lucas Davenport is on the trail of a serial killer who has been operating for years without notice. His quarry is ruthless, and–as Davenport will come to find–full of surprises . . .

Congratulations to Vicki Delany, recipient of the Derrick Murdoch Award for 2019. Delany is the author of the Constable Molly Smith mysteries and standalones from Sourcebooks/Poisoned Pen Press. She is also the author of the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mysteries, the Year-Round Christmas Mysteries and other titles. Check the Web Store for copies of her books. https://bit.ly/2KJCKa6

Here is the news release for Vicki Delany’s prestigious award.

DERRICK MURDOCH AWARD 2019

The Derrick Murdoch Award is a special achievement award for contributions to the crime genre. It is awarded at the discretion of the Board Chair of Crime Writers of Canada. Known as the President’s Award when first presented in 1984, it was later renamed in honour of its first recipient, Derrick Murdoch.

The Crime Writers of Canada is pleased to announce its 2019 Derrick Murdoch Award recipient: Vicki Delany.

Ms. Delany is a successful and prolific Canadian writer, author of (so far) 34 published books, both standalones and series. She has been a strong supporter and advocate for Canadian crime writers through her work with the Crime Writers of Canada, including serving two terms as Chair of the organization. In that role she built bridges with publishers and producers and forged a strong relationship between CBC and the Crime Writers of Canada.

Vicki has also been a strong advocate for literacy with her books for the Rapid Reads hi/low books for adults. Her work with libraries across Ontario, including with the Ontario Library Association, strengthened ties between writers and the libraries in their communities. She has spoken before the town council of her own community successfully asking them not to proceed with plans to close village libraries.

She has been an inspiration and mentor to a number of Canadian crime writers, especially female writers, and helped them to launch and craft their own writing careers. Finally, she is one of the founders of the Women Killing It literary festival which has become a much sought after and sold-out event in Prince Edward County every year.

For these reasons and many more, Vicki Delany has lived up to the ideals that inspired this award and continues to contribute greatly to the development and success of crime writing in Canada. We are pleased to offer her the 2019 Derrick Murdoch Award.

The finalists for the Arthur Ellis Awards for 2019 were announced yesterday. The Arthur Ellis Awards are Canadian literary awards, presented annually by the Crime Writers of Canada for the best Canadian crime and mystery writing published in the previous year. Check the Web Store for availability of the titles. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Congratulations to all of the nominees.

Crime Writers of Canada presents the 2019 Arthur Ellis Awards Shortlists for,Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing

The winners will be announced across Canada on Thursday 23 May, 2019

BEST CRIME NOVEL

Ron Corbett, Cape Diamond, ECW Press

Anne Emery, Though the Heavens Fall, ECW Press

Lisa Gabriele, The Winters, Doubleday Canada

Louise Penny, Kingdom of the Blind, Minotaur Books

Loreth Anne White, The Girl in the Moss, Montlake Romance

BEST FIRST CRIME NOVEL
Sponsored by Rakuten Kobo

A.J. Devlin, Cobra Clutch, NeWest Press

Helen C. Escott, Operation Wormwood, Flanker Press

Beverley McLachlin, Full Disclosure, Simon & Schuster Canada

Bill Prentice, Why Was Rachel Murdered?, Echo Road

Nathan Ripley, Find You in the Dark, Simon & Schuster Canada

BEST CRIME NOVELLA
The Lou Allin Memorial Award

Melodie Campbell, The B-Team: The Case of the Angry First Wife, Orca Book Publishers

Vicki Delany, Blue Water Hues, Orca Book Publishers

John Lawrence Reynolds, Murder Among the Pines, Orca Book Publishers

BEST CRIME SHORT STORY
Sponsored by Mystery Weekly Magazine

Melodie Campbell, A Ship Called Pandora, Mystery Weekly Magazine

Therese Greenwood, The Power Man, Baby It’s Cold Outside, Coffin Hop Press

Twist Phelan, Game, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

Linda L. Richards, Terminal City, Vancouver Noir, Akashic Books

Sam Wiebe, Wonderful Life, Vancouver Noir, Akashic Books

BEST CRIME BOOK IN FRENCH

Jean-Philippe Bernié, Un dernier baiser avant de te tuer, Libre Expression

Hervé Gagnon, Adolphus – Une enquête de Joseph Laflamme, Libre Expression

André Jacques, Ces femmes aux yeux cernés, Éditions Druide

Guillaume Morissette, Deux coups de pied de trop, Guy Saint-Jean Éditeur

Johanne Seymour, Rinzen la beauté intérieure, Expression noir

BEST JUVENILE/YOUNG ADULT CRIME BOOK

Linwood Barclay, Escape, Puffin Canada

Michelle Barker, The House of One Thousand Eyes, Annick Press

Kevin Sands, Call of the Wraith, Aladdin

Tim Wynne-Jones, The Ruinous Sweep, Candlewick Press

E.R. Yatscoff, The Rumrunner’s Boy, TG & R Books

BEST NONFICTION CRIME BOOK

Patrick Brode, Dying for a Drink: How a Prohibition Preacher Got Away With Murder, Biblioasis

Thomas Giacomaro and Natasha Stoynoff, The King of Con: How a Smooth-Talking Jersey Boy Made and Lost Billions, 
Baffled the FBI, Eluded the Mob, and Lived to Tell the Crooked Tale, BenBella Books, Inc

Nate Hendley, The Boy on the Bicycle: A Forgotten Case of Wrongful Conviction in Toronto, Five Rivers Publishing

Eve Lazarus, Murder by Milkshake: An Astonishing True Story of Adultery, Arsenic, and a Charismatic Killer, Arsenal Pulp Press

Sarah Weinman, The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel that Scandalized the World, Alfred A. Knopf Canada

BEST UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT (aka The Unhanged Arthur)
Sponsored by Dundurn Press

Jim Bottomley, Hypnotizing Lions

Don Macdonald, Omand’s Creek

Liv McFarlane, The Scarlet Cross

Heather McLeod, One for the Raven

Darrow Woods, The Book of Answers

Lisa Scottoline, author of Someone Knows, and Robert Dugoni, author of The Eighth Sister, were at The Poisoned Pen recently, in conversation with Barbara Peters, owner of the store. It was a rambling discussion about their latest books, film options, Bradley Cooper. Most of all, though, it was about justice. You’ll want to hear this conversation, but you’ll also want to know you can order copies of all the books discussed, including signed copies of Scottoline and Dugoni’s latest books. Check the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

When Barbara Peters hosts an event, the authors don’t talk much about their books. Here are the latest books, and the summaries.

Bestselling and award-winning author Lisa Scottoline reaches new heights with this riveting novel about how a single decision can undo a family, how our past can derail our present, and how not guilty doesn’t always mean innocent.

Allie Garvey is heading home to the funeral of a childhood friend. Allie is not only grief-stricken, she’s full of dread. Because going home means seeing the other two people with whom she shares an unbearable secret.

Twenty years earlier, a horrific incident shattered the lives of five teenagers, including Allie. Drinking and partying in the woods, they played a dangerous prank that went tragically wrong, turning deadly. The teenagers kept what happened a secret, believing that getting caught would be the worst thing that could happen. But time has taught Allie otherwise. Not getting caught was far worse.

Allie has been haunted for two decades by what she and the others did, and by the fact that she never told a soul. The dark secret has eaten away at her, distancing her from everyone she loves, including her husband. Because she wasn’t punished by the law, Allie has punished herself, and it’s a life sentence.

Now, Allie stands on the precipice of losing everything. She’s ready for a reckoning, determined to learn how the prank went so horribly wrong. She digs to unearth the truth, but reaches a shocking conclusion that she never saw coming–and neither will the reader.

A deeply emotional examination of family, marriage, and the true nature of justice, Someone Knows is Lisa Scottoline’s most powerful novel to date. Startling, page-turning, and with an ending that’s impossible to forget, this is a tour de force by a beloved author at the top of her game.

*****

A pulse-pounding thriller of espionage, spy games, and treachery by theNew York Times bestselling author of the Tracy Crosswhite Series.

Former CIA case officer Charles Jenkins is a man at a crossroads: in his early sixties, he has a family, a new baby on the way, and a security consulting business on the brink of bankruptcy. Then his former bureau chief shows up at his house with a risky new assignment: travel undercover to Moscow and locate a Russian agent believed to be killing members of a clandestine US spy cell known as the seven sisters.

Desperate for money, Jenkins agrees to the mission and heads to the Russian capital. But when he finds the mastermind agent behind the assassinations—the so-called eighth sister—she is not who or what he was led to believe. Then again, neither is anyone else in this deadly game of cat and mouse.

Pursued by a dogged Russian intelligence officer, Jenkins executes a daring escape across the Black Sea, only to find himself abandoned by the agency he serves. With his family and freedom at risk, Jenkins is in the fight of his life—against his own country.

*****

You’re going to want to watch the whole event. You have to listen to Robert Dugoni’s story about his trip to Russia. And, of course, Lisa Scottoline is always funny. But, there are serious discussions of justice and bullying. Take a look.

Alafair Burke’s latest novel, The Better Sister, is the Hot Book of the Week at The Poisoned Pen. Burke will be at the bookstore on Wednesday, April 17 at 7 PM, along with Lori Rader-Day, author of Under a Dark Sky. Both authors will discuss and sign their books. The books are carried in the Web Store, including signed copies of the current Hot Book of the Week, The Better Sister. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Here’s the summary of The Better Sister.

Recommended by Barnes & Noble, Entertainment Weekly, Popsugar, Goodreads, CrimeReads, BookBub

Keep your enemies close and your sister closer.

Though Chloe was the younger of the two Taylor sisters, she always seemed to be the one in charge. She was the honor roll student with big dreams and an even bigger work ethic. Nicky—always restless and more than a little reckless—was the opposite of her ambitious little sister. She floated from job to job and man to man, and stayed close to home in Cleveland.

For a while, it seemed that both sisters had found happiness. Chloe earned a scholarship to an Ivy League school and moved to New York City, where she landed a coveted publishing job. Nicky married promising young attorney Adam Macintosh and gave birth to a baby boy they named Ethan. The Taylor sisters became virtual strangers.

Now, more than fifteen years later, their lives are drastically different—and Chloe is married to Adam. When he’s murdered by an intruder at the couple’s East Hampton beach house, Chloe reluctantly allows her teenage stepson’s biological mother—her estranged sister, Nicky—back into her life. But when the police begin to treat Ethan as a suspect in his father’s death, the two sisters are forced to unite . . . and to confront the truth behind family secrets they have tried to bury in the past.

The fire in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris was a loss to that city and the world yesterday. There are no words to describe the tragedy of the destruction of that beautiful building and its treasures. At this time, we can only share some of the history of Notre-Dame, and express sorrow at the loss of a treasure that was built beginning in 1163. The New York Times posted a short history. https://nyti.ms/2VLaIvV

Barbara Peters wrote, “We at The Pen with our deep connection to murder mystery are sensitive to the death of people.

But what of the death of an icon? That stands in the heart of Paris? The tragic loss of centuries of architecture, of art, of history, of its glorious glass, of artifacts stored in its Treasury?

Notre Dame. Irreplaceable. We must all mourn.”

Here’s just a short tribute, in pictures.

Annie Hogsett and Thomas Kies are authors whose first and second books came out from Poisoned Pen Press at about the same time. Their third books are scheduled for release this fall. You can order their books through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com

While we’re waiting, we’ll share a conversation they had with Michael Barson about writing that second novel. Hogsett talks about Murder to the Metal, and Kies’ second book was Darkness Lane.

Michael Barson – What was the single biggest roadblock you discovered in writing your debut novel that affected the way you approached your second book?

 Tom– When I wrote RANDOM ROAD, I didn’t envision that it would be a series. My first book has a very neat ending. Everything is tied up at the end. Everyone, with one notable exception, lives happily ever after. In writing DARKNESS LANE, I had to quickly deconstruct all of that and recreate the flaws that made Geneva Chase interesting in the first place.

Annie– I know this may sound like a flippant answer, but I’m serious: Looking for a publisher. As committed as I was, pre-Poisoned Pen Press, to the story of TOO LUCKY TO LIVE, and to Allie, Tom, and Tom’s accidental $550 million jackpot—all that writing and rewriting often felt like putting a message in a bottle and dropping it into deep water. For MURDER TO THE METAL, knowing someone was actually waiting for the second novel introduced the most compelling incentive I could have imagined. A deadline. Yikes! 

2) You each appeared at a number of public events to promote your first book when they were published… Was there anything about those events, and interacting with the public, that detoured from your expectations? 

Tom– Yes, some of them were very well attended and those events are a hell of a lot of fun. And then…there are the book signings where nobody knows you. Bookstores where the customers didn’t know who Thomas Kies was and had never heard of RANDOM ROAD, customers straining to avoid eye contact. We always managed to sell enough copies that the bookstores have asked me back but sometimes it felt awkward. I will say, the best events are the ones serving alcohol. Don’t know why, just sayin’. 

Annie—Wow. I wish I’d kept a journal last year. Every event I did—a hundred attendees or four—had unexpected moments that were amazing to me. Even sitting behind a stack of books, like a puppy at the pound—that eye contact thing is a bear, Mr. Kies—yielded conversations I loved. One highlight. Tom Bennington, lucky-unlucky lottery winner and significant other of my protagonist, is blind. The Cleveland Sight Center has been a wonderful source of information, inspiration, and friendship for me. They invited me to their book group discussion of TOO LUCKY TO LIVE. It was the rowdiest, warmest, best four-hour book group ever. 

3) Did you find writing the second book in a series more or less difficult than writing the first? Why so? 

Tom—It was nice revisiting the recurring characters. It was like catching up with old friends. But it felt like there was more pressure. The national reviews for RANDOM ROAD were good and I make sure I read every review and comment on Amazon and Goodreads, even the critical ones. And not everyone is going to love, love, love your book. I kept those people in mind as I wrote DARKNESS LANE, determined that the second book would be even better than the first. Even so, I worried. You can ask Annette, my editor, but when I sent her the manuscript, I was a puddle of insecurity.

 Annie—Well, both more and less. A deadline ratchets up the pressure. I had seven years with the first book. About seven months for the second. So, there’s that “Yikes!” again. But in some ways it was easier. I was able to focus and keep going because someone was waiting this time. All that good advice about “sit down and write like it’s your job” is more compelling when it is your job. And writing for publication made my readers more real to me. It was thrilling and energizing. And when it was all done, I was so tired. 

 4) Now having two published books under each of your belts, what advice would you have offered your younger selves as you prepared to begin the work of writing your first mystery novel? 

Tom– When writing your first mystery, don’t hold back. Put everything you’ve got on those pages. Don’t worry about the second book or the third book. From the very first sentence, there has to be tension. Never let up. And remember, dialogue is not action. Tell the reader what your characters are doing as they’re talking to each other. Put the reader in the scene. What does it look like, sound like, smell like? It took me a long time to get RANDOM ROAD published. I wish I knew when I started writing, what I know now. 

Annie– Thanks, Tom. That’s all excellent advice. Now you’ve got me quizzing myself about dialogue v. action. My advice to the younger me is: Trust yourself. I wrote myself a note sometime during the first few days of MURDER TO THE METAL, and it says, “Trust whatever you’re writing while you’re writing it.” I am an incorrigible second-guesser, so that’s what I needed to hear. Also, by the time I got to the second book I understood my characters better, their personalities were more developed. More surprising too. Sometimes they tell me the story. 

5) You both write your novels in the first person– but while Annie’s protagonist Allie Harper is a woman like herself, Tom’s equally convincing protagonist, Geneva Chase, is a woman UNlike himself. Annie, do you have a hankering to try your hand at a first-person male lead someday? And Tom, have you had to do any extra-curricular research to get the voice and thoughts of Geneva to come across persuasively? 

Tom– I enjoy the company of women. I enjoy spending time with them. I watch, observe, and listen. Um…in doing so, one must remember that it’s a fine line from being observant and being creepy. Geneva Chase, the recurring protagonist in the series, is loosely based on two women I worked with at a newspaper in Connecticut. What she looks like, how she moves, her dialogue, the fact that she’s a snarky smartass…all comes from those two lovely ladies. And if I get into a bind, I ask my wife. She keeps me honest. And sometimes, my wife is gobsmacked when she reads something she’s said in the character’s dialogue. Because she doesn’t think I’m listening to her. 

Annie— I handled many of my “write outside your comfort zone issues” by creating a black, ex-CIA agent guy as the first-person protagonist of an earlier, still-unpublished novel. Ill-advised as that may have been, it was a worthwhile exercise. I learned a lot about the challenges of inhabiting a character’s mind and world. I’m not sorry about that guy, but I’m more at home with Allie Harper. I heard her voice before I knew anything about her story. “You know you live in a rough neighborhood when somebody honks at a blind man in the crosswalk.” That was Allie Harper talking to me for the first time. She’s the voice I’d been waiting for. 

“The pitch-perfect setting, an intriguing mystery, a humdinger of a showdown at book’s end, AND some fantastic characters. Is The Mykonos Mob a winner? You’d better believe it!” That’s Cathy Cole’s summary at Kittling: Books, https://bit.ly/2v8YVvD of Jeffrey Siger’s latest Andreas Kaldis mystery, The Mykonos Mob. Siger will be at The Poisoned Pen on Tuesday, April 16 at 7 PM to discuss and sign his book. You can order Siger’s books, including a signed copy of The Mykonos Mob, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2KOiKQ6[

Here’s the description of The Mykonos Mob.

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

When corruption lies deep beneath the surface, how can the truth come to light?

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, Athens’ Chief Inspector Andreas 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 Andreas and his Special Crimes unit wrestle for answers, Andreas’s 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 to improve the lives of the Greek girls they’ve come to care about intersect with Andreas’ investigation in ways that prove to be dangerous for all involved…

The Mykonos Mob is a thrilling police procedural, perfect for readers of Martin Walker and Donna Leon!

Additional Praise for the Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis Series:

“[A] suspenseful trip through the rarely seen darker strata of complex, contemporary Greece.” —Publishers Weekly“Target: Tinos [is] another of Jeffrey Siger’s thoughtful police procedurals set in picturesque but not untroubled Greek locales.”—New York Times
“Siger paints travelogue-worthy pictures of a breathtakingly beautiful—if politically corrupt—Greece.” —Publishers Weekly STARRED review for Sons of Sparta“Siger brings Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis some very big challenges in his seventh mystery set in troubled contemporary Greece…The final plot twist proves well worth the wait, but it won’t take readers long to get there as they will be turning pages at a ferocious clip.” —Booklist STARRED review for Devil in Delphi
“Fans of Adrian McKinty’s Sean Duffy books and other police procedurals that handle violence and political issues with black humor will welcome this outstanding crime novel.” —Library Journal STARRED review for An Aegean April