Patrick Millikin’s recent interview with authors Willy Vlautin and J. Todd Scott is really one you should listen to on Livestream. https://livestream.com/poisonedpen/events/8122126

Their melancholy books could be soundtracks. In fact, Vlautin sings the title song for his book, Don’t Skip Out On Me. And, the three men spend time talking about what would be the background music for Scott’s High White Sun. You can buy signed copies of both books through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Don’t miss the opportunity to hear the authors read from their books, and, in Vlautin’s case, sing. Check out the Livestream link. https://livestream.com/poisonedpen/events/8122126

Sue Grafton’s Y is for Yesterday. Matt Haig’s How to Stop Time. Jack Carr’s The Terminal List. Those are all titles we’ve talked about here on the blog. Haig and Carr both appeared at The Poisoned Pen. You can check the Web Store to order copies. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

What else do these books have in common? Authors Brad Thor and Harlan Coben were just with Megyn Kelly on Today, talking about their recommendations for spring reading. They were enthusiastic about these titles, and others. You can watch the segment here. Then, check back with The Poisoned Pen to order your own picks for spring reading.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0COjc0cBDRc?rel=0&w=560&h=315]

Paige Shelton is now a regular visitor to the Poisoned Pen, as an author who moved to Arizona, and as an audience member. How could we resist sharing CriminalElement‘s .GIFNotes about her new book, Lost Bones and Old Bones? The new Scottish bookshop mystery is due out April 3, but you can order a signed copy now. https://bit.ly/2DGtk6G

Here’s the actual description of the book.

A delightful new mystery featuring bookseller and amateur sleuth Delaney Nichols, set in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Delaney Nichols, originally of Kansas but settling happily into her new life as a bookseller in Edinburgh, works at the Cracked Spine in the heart of town. The shop is a place filled with curiosities and surprises tucked into every shelf, and it’s Delaney’s job to research the rare tomes and obscure artifacts that people come to buy and sell. When her new friends, also students at the medical school, come to the shop to sell a collection of antique medical books, Delaney knows she’s stumbled across a rare and important find indeed. Her boss, Edwin MacAlister, agrees to buy the multivolume set, perhaps even to keep for his own collection.

But not long after the sale, one of Delaney’s new friends is found murdered in the alley behind the Cracked Spine, and she wonders if there is some nefarious connection between the origin of these books and the people whose hands they fell into. Delaney takes it upon herself to help bring the murderer to justice. During her investigation, Delaney she finds some old scalpels in the bookshop’s warehouse—she and discovers that they belonged to a long-dead doctor whose story and ties to thepast crimes of Burke and Hare might be connected to the present-day murder. It’s all Delaney can do to race to solve this crime before time runs out and she ends up in a victim on the slab herself.

*****

And, here’s the link to Adam Wagner’s fun .GIFNotes. https://bit.ly/2GIQMDb

We’re over halfway through March, and, with the Poisoned Pen Bookstore’s schedule as busy as it’s been, I haven’t even had the chance to mention the recent releases from Poisoned Pen Press. Any and all five books can be ordered through the Web Site. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

“Following Return to Umbria, Wagner’s fifth series outing features a likable amateur sleuth who carefully analyzes other people. Rich in details of the food and culture of Italy’s Lombardy region, this atmospheric mystery will be appreciated by fans of Martin Walker’s French-flavored “Bruno” mysteries. Readers of Frances Mayes’s Under the Tuscan Sun may enjoy the colorful descriptions.”
— Library Journal

“George V’s visit to India in 1911 provides the backdrop for Gaind’s excellent sequel to 2016’s A Very Pukka Murder … Golden age fans will appreciate how Sikander works his way through an array of suspects. Once again, Gaind successfully blends detection with history.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“The middle volume in Gaind’s Maharaja Mystery trilogy is both an homage to vintage British whodunits of the 1930s and a wry comedy of manners.”
— Kirkus Reviews

“Edwards (Continental Crimes) has done mystery readers a great service by providing the first-ever anthology of golden age short stories in translation, with 15 superior offerings from authors from France, Japan, Denmark, Austria, Germany, Holland, Mexico, Russia, and elsewhere; even Anton Chekhov makes a contribution .”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“If you’re wondering who can give Stephanie Plum a run for her money, meet Tai Randolph.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Mystery fans will welcome wisecracking characters that aren’t trite and a twisting plot that isn’t tired.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Drawing on historic facts and figures of 1870s Colorado, Parker tells a gripping tale of love, greed and murder in the Old West, with a cast of convincing, larger-than-life characters, including a brief appearance from Bat Masterson himself. Inez is a woman well ahead of her time and a welcome addition to the genre, as is Parker, who has left enough loose ends to beckon readers to the next Leadville mystery.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Barbara Peters, owner of the Poisoned Pen, loves to introduce debut authors and their books to readers. This past week, she introduced Nova Jacobs, author of The Last Equation of Isaac Severy, by reading several reviews of the book. Here’s Bethanne Patrick’s review in The Washington Post, “A hilarious novel about family, death, madness – and math”. https://wapo.st/2FJKOou. Once you get past the possibly scary word, math, you might want to order a copy through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2prG4tF

You can see the interview via Livestream. https://livestream.com/poisonedpen/events/8112998

Here’s the description of The Last Equation of Isaac Severy.

*Book of the Month Club Selection
*Indie Next Pick

“Hugely entertaining… The Last Equation of Isaac Severy is full of delight. Though Ms. Jacobs’s writing has echoes of Thomas Pynchon, Nathanael West and J.D. Salinger, her terrific book displays in abundance a magic all its own.”
—The Wall Street Journal

The Family Fang meets The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry in this literary mystery about a struggling bookseller whose recently deceased grandfather, a famed mathematician, left behind a dangerous equation for her to track down—and protect—before others can get their hands on it.

Just days after mathematician and family patriarch Isaac Severy dies of an apparent suicide, his adopted granddaughter Hazel, owner of a struggling Seattle bookstore, receives a letter from him by mail. In it, Isaac alludes to a secretive organization that is after his final bombshell equation, and he charges Hazel with safely delivering it to a trusted colleague. But first, she must find where the equation is hidden.

While in Los Angeles for Isaac’s funeral, Hazel realizes she’s not the only one searching for his life’s work, and that the equation’s implications have potentially disastrous consequences for the extended Severy family, a group of dysfunctional geniuses unmoored by the sudden death of their patriarch.

As agents of an enigmatic company shadow Isaac’s favorite son—a theoretical physicist—and a long-lost cousin mysteriously reappears in Los Angeles, the equation slips further from Hazel’s grasp. She must unravel a series of maddening clues hidden by Isaac inside one of her favorite novels, drawing her ever closer to his mathematical treasure. But when her efforts fall short, she is forced to enlist the help of those with questionable motives.

The Poisoned Pen’s Hot Book of the Week is Lars Kepler’s The Sandman. It’s been all over the media, including at AZ Central, where Roger Anglen reviewed it for The Arizona Republic. https://bit.ly/2FHxKQz. You can order a signed copy of The Sandman through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2FPrLF4

Here’s the description.

“With its tight, staccato chapters and cast of dangerous wraiths lurking everywhere, The Sandman is a nonstop fright.” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times

The #1 internationally best-selling thriller from the author of The Hypnotist tells the chilling story of a manipulative serial killer and the two brilliant police agents who must try to beat him at his own game.

Late one night, outside Stockholm, Mikael Kohler-Frost is found wandering. Thirteen years earlier, he went missing along with his younger sister. They were long thought to have been victims of Sweden’s most notorious serial killer, Jurek Walter, now serving a life sentence in a maximum security psychiatric hospital. Now Mikael tells the police that his sister is still alive and being held by someone he knows only as the Sandman. Years ago, Detective Inspector Joona Linna made an excruciating personal sacrifice to ensure Jurek’s capture. He is keenly aware of what this killer is capable of, and now he is certain that Jurek has an accomplice. He knows that any chance of rescuing Mikael’s sister depends on getting Jurek to talk, and that the only agent capable of this is Inspector Saga Bauer, a twenty-seven-year-old prodigy. She will have to go under deep cover in the psychiatric ward where Jurek is imprisoned, and she will have to find a way to get to the psychopath before it’s too late–and before he gets inside her head.

*****

The husband-and-wife team of Lars Kepler was just here at The Poisoned Pen, and Roger Anglen interviewed them. If you would like to “meet” the Swedish couple, and see the interview, it’s available on Livestream. https://livestream.com/poisonedpen/events/8111370

Sarah Laskow recently wrote a post called “Book Towns Are Made for Book Lovers” for Atlas Obscura. It can be found at https://bit.ly/2IjEK3z

Laskow discusses the many book towns that have sprung up around the world. However, the true expert on book towns is author Alex Johnson. Laskow talks to Johnson, whose new book, Book Towns is due out next week. If you find the topic fascinating, you can order a copy of Book Towns through the Web Store, and plan your next trip. https://bit.ly/2Hw36WA

On Wednesday, March 21 at 7 PM, Willy Vlautin, author of Don’t Skip Out on Me, will join J. Todd Scott (High White Sun) at The Poisoned Pen. Signed copies of both books are available through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Usually, at this point, there will be a summary of the book. And, there is. But, there’s even more after the summary.

From Willy Vlautin,  award-winning author of Lean on Pete and The Motel Life, comes a powerful exploration of identity and loneliness pulled from deep within America’s soul.

Don’t Skip Out On Me is going to make your heart crumple into a little wad of paper and then open it back up into a perfect paper airplane sailing the skies from the hand of a boy. How does a bi-cultural man find a self when he’s been abandoned by his parents? He invents it, that’s how, with his hands, his fists, and that fist-shaped muscle, a heart. No one anywhere writes as beautifully about people whose stories stay close to the dirt. Willy Vlautin is a secular—and thus real and profoundly useful—saint.”
—Lidia Yuknavitch, author of The Book of Joan

Horace Hopper has spent most of his life on a Nevada sheep ranch, but dreams of something bigger. Mr. and Mrs. Reese, the aging ranchers, took him in and treated him like a son, intending to leave the ranch in his hands. But Horace, ashamed not only of his half-Paiute, half-Irish heritage, but also of the fact his parents did not want him, feels as if he doesn’t belong on the ranch, or anywhere. Knowing he needs to make a name for himself, he decides to leave the only loving home he’s known to prove his worth as a championship boxer.

Mr. Reese is holding on to a way of life that is no longer sustainable. He’s a seventy-two-year-old rancher with a bad back. He’s not sure how he’ll keep things going without Horace but he knows the boy must find his own way.

To become a champion Horace must change not just the way he eats, trains, and thinks, but who he is. Reinventing himself as Hector Hildago, a scrappy Mexican boxer, he heads to Tucson and begins training and entering fights. His journey brings him to boxing rings across the Southwest and Mexico and finally, to the streets of Las Vegas, where Horace learns he can’t change who he is or outrun his destiny.

A beautiful, wrenching portrait of a downtrodden man, Don’t Skip Out on Me narrates the struggle to find one’s place in a vast and lonely world with profound tenderness, and will make you consider those around you—and yourself—differently.

*****

First, there’s the book trailer for Don’t Skip Out on Me.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XIhIn_t2bQ?rel=0&w=560&h=315]

Then, Vlautin performs an acoustic version of “Don’t Skip Out on Me”, the title of his book, and the song Vlautin wrote for Richmond Fontaine.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkk5oNAqpgs?rel=0&w=560&h=315]

Join us Wednesday, March 21 at 7 PM to meet author and songwriter Willy Vlautin.

His is a name you might not recognize, but a voice that you may have heard. Scott Brick is an actor, writer, and the award-winning narrator of over 800 audio books. He can be heard on books by Steve Berry, Preston and Child, Gregg Hurwitz, Clive Cussler, Brad Meltzer, Harlan Coben, Dennis Lehane, and many more.

On Tuesday, March 20, at 7 PM, Brick will be in conversation with Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, and authors Steve Berry and John Lescroart, as he discusses what it’s like to be an audio book narrator.