Mike Lupica discusses Robert B. Parker’s Hot Property

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Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, welcomed Mike Lupica back to the bookstore for a virtual event. Lupica is now writing Robert B. Parker’s Spenser series. The latest book in that series is Hot Property. There are a few signed copies still available in the Webstore. https://bit.ly/3CGS2YO.

Here’s the description of Robert B. Parker’s Hot Property.

Spenser investigates a case that hits dangerously close to home in this latest installment of Robert B. Parker’s beloved series.

Spenser is waiting out the latest Boston snowstorm when he gets word that Rita Fiore has been shot. Rita’s always been a tricky one: flirting with Spenser for years, she’s an ever-present figure that transcends friendship in Spenser’s circle. But at the end of the day, Rita is family. And family will always be protected.

Both a pit bull in the courtroom and provocateur outside it, Rita is no stranger to controversy. But as one of the city’s toughest lawyers, Spenser knows that there’s no short list of suspects who might want to enact revenge. With Rita’s life hanging in the balance, it’s up to him to get to the bottom of things, even if it means unearthing some unsavory secrets that might just lead him into an age-old game of lies and deceit.

Robert B. Parker was the author of seventy books, including the legendary Spenser detective series, the novels featuring Police Chief Jesse Stone, the acclaimed Virgil Cole-Everett Hitch Westerns, and the Sunny Randall novels. Winner of the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award and long considered the undisputed dean of American crime fiction, he died in January 2010.

Mike Lupica is a Hall of Fame sports columnist and New York Times bestselling author of more than forty works of fiction and nonfiction, in addition to being a frequent co-writer with James Patterson. A longtime friend to Robert B. Parker, he was selected by the Parker estate to continue the Spenser series, after having previously done the same with the Sunny Randall series, and with Jesse Stone.

If you’re a fan of the Robert B. Parker universe, or Mike Lupica, you’ll enjoy this conversation.

Jack Stewart and Steve Urszenyi in Conversation

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Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, recently welcomed authors Jack Stewart and Steve Urszenyi to the bookstore. It was Stewart’s second appearance at the bookstore. This time, he was there to talk about Bogey Spades. Urszenyi appeared at the bookstore for the first time with his second thriller, Out in the Cold. There are signed copies of both books in the Webstore. https://store.poisonedpen.com/.

Here’s the description of Bogey Spades.

Enemies. Allies. It’s hard to tell the difference when peace and world order hang in the balance.

“…makes you feel like you’re in the cockpit…” — Steve Netter, Best Thriller Books

Returning home a hero, TOPGUN pilot Colt Bancroft is called on to resurrect a Vietnam-era light attack squadron. Once soaring high, he finds himself on the dark side of special operations in a conflict he never saw coming. At its front lines, NCIS Special Agent Emmy “Punky” King is confronted with the timeless question—is the enemy of her enemy her friend?

As Colt and his band of Navy SEALs bring the Black Ponies of VAL-4 to the fight, Punky navigates the murky waters of international espionage and an uneasy alliance with a former adversary to uncover a new threat. At its heart is a weapon that could tilt the scales of global power. And the American Vice President is in the crosshairs.

In a world where every decision has repercussions and trust is a double-edged sword, Colt and Punky must forgive past transgressions and forge new alliances to confront an enemy who always seems one step ahead. In this high-stakes game: every choice counts, and the next move could redefine the future.

From author Jack Stewart, a former US Navy Top Gun instructor pilot, comes the third book in the exhilarating Battle Born series. Bogey Spades is perfect for fans of Tom Clancy and Dale Brown.

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.

Here’s the summary of Out in the Cold.

Special Agent Alex Martel is thrown back into a deadly world of deception when a series of attacks threaten to incite World War III in this action-packed thriller.

While sailing across the Mediterranean, the megayacht Aurora is rocked with explosions, taken under siege by unknown assailants. On board are some of Europe’s wealthiest and most powerful political players, including the secretary general of Interpol, a high-ranking Finnish diplomat, and Special Agent Alex Martel—whose lethal sniper skills kick in to bring them safely to shore.

Someone is waging a ruthless campaign of attacks against Finland, one of NATO’s newest members, in an attempt to throw the Alliance into turmoil. Teaming back up with CIA agent Caleb, Alex is thrust into the middle of the fray, pursuing the villains from the waters off of Monaco to the Baltic Sea and home to American soil.

As the US is pulled deeper into the conflict, a global catastrophe seems inevitable. But who is really responsible for these escalating attacks on Finland? The Russians, or someone much closer to home? As new allies surface and old enemies reappear, Alex has no way of knowing who to trust—and she might only have one last shot to keep the world from going to war.

Steve Urszenyi was a paramedic in Toronto and a tactical medic with the Ontario Provincial Police, where he was a specialist in SWAT, CBRNE, HUSAR, and public order operations. Steve is also the former commander of the Province of Ontario’s disaster medical response and all-hazards emergency management team, EMAT, and is a recipient of the Governor General of Canada EMS Exemplary Service Medal and Bar in recognition of his distinguished service. Steve loves touring on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle with his wife, Lynne. They live in Toronto and have two grown children.

Enjoy the conversation with Jack Stewart and Steve Urszenyi.

Celeste Connally and Deborah Benoit in Conversation

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John Charles recently welcomed Deborah Benoit and Celeste Connally for a virtual event at The Poisoned Pen Bookstore. The Gardener’s Plot is Deborah Benoit’s debut mystery. Celeste Connally’s second Lady Petra Inquires mystery is All’s Fair in Love and Treachery. Copies of both are available in the Webstore. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Here’s the description of The Gardener’s Plot.

A woman helps set up a community garden in the Berkshires, only to find a body in one of the plots on opening day.

After life threw Maggie Walker a few curveballs, she’s happy to be back in the small, Berkshires town where she spent so much time as a child. Marlowe holds many memories for her, and now it also offers a fresh start. Maggie has always loved gardening, so it’s only natural to sign on to help Violet Bloom set up a community garden.

When opening day arrives, Violet is nowhere to be found, and the gardeners are restless. Things go from bad to worse when Maggie finds a boot buried in one of the plots… and there’s a body attached to it. Suddenly, the police are looking for a killer and they keep asking questions about Violet. Maggie doesn’t believe her friend could do this, and she’s going to dig up the dirt needed to prove it.

The Gardener’s Plot takes readers to the heart of the Berkshires and introduces amateur sleuth Maggie Walker in Deborah J. Benoit’s Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award-winning debut.

AWARDS

  2023 Minotaur Competition Winner: First Crime Novel winner

DEBORAH J. BENOIT was a legal secretary for 30 years before deciding to pursue more creative endeavors. Her debut novel, The Gardener’s Plot, won the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Competition. Born and raised in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, there’s no place she’d rather call home, even in winter. Determined to never stop learning, Deborah loves sharing her knowledge of gardening, through articles she’s written, in person, and on social media. When not writing or digging up plots in her garden, she can be found working on her latest fiber arts project.

Here’s the summary of All’s Fair in Love and Treachery.

Bridgerton meets Agatha Christie in this dazzling next installment in a captivating Regency-era mystery series with a feminist spin.

21 June, 1815. London may be cheering the news of Napoleon’s surrender at Waterloo, but Lady Petra Forsyth has little to celebrate after discovering that the death of her viscount fiancé three years earlier was no accident. Instead, it was murder, and the man responsible is her handsome, half-Scottish secret paramour Duncan Shawcross—yet the scoundrel has disappeared, leaving only a confusing riddle about long-forgotten memories in his wake.

So what’s a lady to do when she can’t hunt down her traitorous lover? She concentrates on a royal assignment instead. Queen Charlotte has tasked Petra with attending an event at the Asylum for Female Orphans and making inquiries surrounding the death of the orphanage’s matron. What’s more, there may be a link between the matron’s death and a group of radicals with ties to the aristocracy, as evidenced by an intercepted letter.

Then, Petra overhears a nefarious conversation with two other men about a plot to topple the monarchy, set to take place during three days of celebrations currently gripping London.

As the clock counts down and London’s streets teem with revelers, Petra’s nerves are fraying as her past and present collide. Yet while all’s fair in love and war, she can never surrender, especially when more orphaned girls may be in trouble. And to save their lives, the monarchy itself, and even her own heart, Lady Petra must face her fears with the strength of an army of soldiers and fight with the heart of a queen.

CELESTE CONNALLY is an Agatha Award nominee, and a former freelance writer and editor. A lifelong devotee of historical novels and adaptations fueled by her passion for history—plus weekly doses of PBS Masterpiece—Celeste loves reading and writing about women from the past who didn’t always do as they were told.

Enjoy John Charles’ discussion with Deborah Benoit and Celeste Connally.

Rhys Bowen discusses We Three Queens

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It’s the end of 1936, and Georgie and Darcy are back in Rhys Bowen’s We Three Queens. Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen welcomed Rhys Bowen back to the bookstore to celebrate the publication of the new Royal Spyness book. There are signed copies of We Three Queens available in the Webstore. https://bit.ly/3CxiHHs.

Here’s the description of We Three Queens.

New mother Lady Georgiana “Georgie” Rannoch finds herself trying to separate fact from fiction when a murder occurs while a film is being made on the grounds of her estate in a new Royal Spyness Mystery from beloved bestselling author Rhys Bowen.

It’s late 1936, and King Edward is in turmoil, having fallen in love with the scandalously divorced and even more scandalously American Wallis Simpson. He wants to marry her but knows that doing so will jeopardize his crown. Edward confides in his dear friend Darcy, Georgie’s husband, and the couple agree to hide Wallis in their home while Edward figures out what to do.

But unbeknownst to Georgie and Darcy, Sir Hubert, the owner of the estate, has given a film crew permission to shoot a motion picture about Henry the Eighth and Anne Boleyn on the grounds. Trying to keep Mrs. Simpson hidden while raising a newborn baby seems like it couldn’t be any more stressful for the Rannochs, until one of the stars of the film is found murdered on set. Georgie must solve the murder for king and country before scandal threatens to envelop them all.

Rhys Bowen, a New York Times bestselling author, has been nominated for every major award in mystery writing, including the Edgar®, and has won many, including both the Agatha and Anthony awards. She is also the author of the Molly Murphy Mysteries, set in turn-of-the-century New York, and the Constable Evans Mysteries, set in Wales, as well as two international bestselling stand-alone novels. She was born in England and now divides her time between Northern California and Arizona.

Enjoy Rhys Bowen’s discussion of her new book and Wallis Simpson.

Craig Johnson discusses Tooth and Claw

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Although it was release day for Craig Johnson’s Tooth and Claw, he started out his program at The Poisoned Pen by asking the crowd to greet his wife, Judy, in Wyoming. I don’t know if he was rubbing it in that Wyoming is having snow as compared to the weather in Arizona. Johnson talks about the novella, set in Alaska, and said he started it about five years ago. You’ll enjoy his discussion below. You can order a signed copy of Tooth and Claw through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/4hWku9a.

Here’s the description of Tooth and Claw.

In the tradition of Wait for Signs and The Highwayman, Craig Johnson is back with a short novel set in the Alaska tundra where a young Walt Longmire and Henry Standing Bear face off with powerful enemies who will do anything to get what they want.

Tooth and Claw follows Walt and Henry up to Alaska as they look for work after they both returned from serving in Vietnam. While working for an oil company in the bitter cold of winter, they soon encounter a ferocious polar bear who seems hell-bent on their destruction. But it’s not too long until they realize the danger does not lurk outside in the frozen Alaskan tundra, but with their co-workers who are after priceless treasure and will stop at nothing to get it.

Fans of Longmire will thrill to this pulse-pounding and bone-chilling novel of extreme adventure that adds another indelible chapter to the great story of Walt Longmire.

Craig Johnson is the New York Times bestselling author of the Longmire mysteries, the basis for the hit Netflix original series Longmire. He is the recipient of the Western Writers of America Spur Award for fiction and the Mountain & Plains Independent Booksellers Association’s Reading the West Book Award for fiction. His novella Spirit of Steamboat was the first One Book Wyoming selection. He lives in Ucross, Wyoming, population 26.

Enjoy the video as Craig Johnson talks about Tooth and Claw, Alistair MacLean, and post-Vietnam adventures for Walt Longmire and Henry Standing Bear.

Joel Erik Thompson discusses The Bentley Barrister

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Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, recently welcomed a Phoenix author who was a trial lawyer and judge to the bookstore. Joel Erik Thompson talked about his background, and his first date which was an author’s program at the bookstore. Signed copies of Thompson’s legal thriller, The Bentley Barrister, is available through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/4hPvF3k.

Here’s the description of The Bentley Barrister.

Collum Arbuthnot Taylor was a hell of a quarterback even as a kid, but he was always simply CAT to the public, since sportswriters avoid long names, and initials are easier to remember and spell.

He grew up in an orphanage and always pushed himself to be the best, especially playing football. A full-scholarship quarterback at Notre Dame, he was a multiyear All-American. After graduating, he earned both a Heisman Trophy as the nation’s best college football player and a Rhodes scholarship because he’d worked just as hard in his classes as in the stadiums.

He also became the NFL’s first draft pick. But rather than signing to play, he instead went to study law at Oxford on his Rhodes scholarship for a year before signing a pro contract for next season. That signing bonus also bought his first ever car. A Bentley, of course, and directly from the factory in Crewe where they made them, naturally! “Nothing but the best for the best,” according to the media!

As a pro quarterback, he became a Super Bowl MVP a couple of times. Off seasons, he finished law school and was even admitted to practice law. His pro football career ended suddenly and tragically in a deadly car crash that killed his beloved baby girl and his unborn son. It also devastatingly injured his beloved wife who was called Kitten by everyone but CAT. She remains in a traumatic injury care facility known as Sanctuary of the Morning Sun. CAT visits her there every Sunday without fail. But it is unlikely she will ever be able to leave the facility and equally unlikely that CAT would fail to visit her every Sunday. CAT is now focused on courtroom lawyering and caring for his massively injured and now long institutionalized wife, Kitten.

Collum, as we catch up to him, is in the midst of an ugly high-profile murder trial, with ugly racial overtones, and before a belligerent judge he’s fought with since childhood. We’re privy to CAT’s planning and strategy with his staff and in jail visits with his defendant/client. During a critical stage of this trial, CAT answers a late-night phone call. It’s from his best friend and former teammate Racer Roosevelt who has just been arrested a thousand miles away and charged with raping the local TV news anchor.

Can CAT be in two places at once? Never know what you can accomplish until you give it your best shot!

Enjoy the conversation with Joel Erik Thompson.

Phillip Margolin discusses An Insignificant Case

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Although Phillip Margolin appeared at The Poisoned Pen Bookstore to discuss his new book, An Insignificant Case, he and a friend, Dan Bronson, also talked about film adaptations. You can order a signed copy of An Insignificant Case through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/3Z8opIn.

Here’s the summary of An Insignificant Case. The story is inspired by one of Margolin’s early cases.

A new standalone legal thriller from the international bestselling author of GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN.

Charlie Webb is a third rate lawyer who graduated from a third rate law-school and, because he couldn’t get hired by any of the major law firms, has opened his own law firm, where he gets by handling cases for dubious associates from his youth and some court appointed cases. Described as “a leaky boat floating down the stream of life,” Charlie has led unremarkable life, personally and professionally. Until he’s appointed to be the attorney for a decidedly crackpot artist who calls himself Guido Sabatini (born Lawrence Weiss). Sabatini has been arrested – again – for breaking into a restaurant and stealing back a painting he sold them because he was insulted by where it was displayed. But as Lawrence Weiss, he’s also an accomplished card shark and burglar and while he was there, he stole a thumb drive from the owner’s safe.

Not knowing what else Sabatani has stolen, Webb negotiates the return of the painting and “other items’ for the owner dropping charges against Sabatini. But the contents of the flash drive threatens very powerful figures who are determined to retrieve it, the restaurant owner (Gretchen Hall) and her driver (Yuri Makarov) are being investigated for the sex trafficking of minors, and there are others who have a violent grudge against Sabatini. When a minor theft case becomes a double homicide, and even more, Charlie Webb, an insignificant lawyer assigned to an insignificant case, is faced with the most important, and deadliest, case of his life. Going back to his long-time bestselling roots, Phillip Margolin returns with a brilliant standalone legal thriller in the tradition of John Grisham.

PHILLIP MARGOLIN has written over twenty-five novels, most of them New York Times bestsellers, including Gone But Not Forgotten, Lost Lake, and Violent Crimes. In addition to being a novelist, he was a long time criminal defense attorney with decades of trial experience, including a large number of capital cases. Margolin lives in Portland, Oregon.

Enjoy the conversation with Phillip Margolin.