With Cozy Con on Saturday, May 7, from 1-5 PM, I thought it might be fun to share my book chat featuring May’s cozy mysteries from Penguin’s Berkley Prime Crime and Obsidian. I did make a mistake in this talk. At one point I listed Dawn Eastman as the author of Catch as Cat Can. Claire Donally is the author. Other than that, check out the book chat. (There’s even a cameo appearance by my cat, Jinx.)

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb-qzsUgBR0&w=560&h=315]

Don’t forget The Poisoned Pen can order any of these mysteries for you.

https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Paige Shelton, author of The Cracked Spine, will be one of The Poisoned Pen’s guest authors at this year’s Cozy Con, Saturday, May 7, 1-5 PM. I asked Paige to sit in the hot seat for some questions.

Paige, please introduce Delaney Nichols & The Cracked Spine.

Hi, everybody! Thanks for letting me drop by. Delaney is a late-twenties, intelligent, well-educated woman who found herself in a situation she never could have predicted: laid-off from the Wichita, Kansas, museum job she loved. She was really good at it too. It’s as she’s in this state of “stun,” the first time the real world has reared some of its unfairness her direction, that she answers an ad to work in a bookshop in Edinburgh, Scotland. Probably all the ramifications haven’t quite set in when she actually accepts the position during a phone call with her new boss, Edwin MacAlister. She had never been out of Kansas before, and she wanted to be bold. She decides that taking a job across the ocean is a good way to begin that bold journey.

There are lots of possibilities with a series that includes a bookstore, a pub, and a taxi driver. Can you give us hints as to the next book in the Scottish Bookshop series?

The bookstore, the taxi driver, and the pub are all included in the second book. More bookshop books will also be involved, specifically an Oor Wullie comic book. Oor Wullie (translantion: Our Willie) is a beloved Scottish character who always seems to get the short end of the stick, no matter how hard he tries. The comic strip has been around since 1936, and some of the annuals are quite valuable. As Delaney is sent on a secretive mission to barter a trade for an annual at a meeting atop a castle, she’s thrown into the middle of another murder. Historical characters William Wallace and Rob Roy make an appearance or two (not in a spectral way, just as their histories might contribute to the modern day story), and it seems that Edwin MacAlister’s past is even more mysterious than Delaney thought it was in the first book. I’m pretty sure this will be the title: OF BOOKS AND BAGPIPES.

Do you have places in Scotland that inspired this series?

Definitely. As I started writing the book I had no firsthand knowledge of Scotland, specifically Edinburgh. I’d read about Scotland, of course, and had seen many pictures but I’d never been there. However a friend of mine got her master’s degree at the University of Edinburgh. I took her out to lunch and brought a map along, asking for her guidance as to where might be a good spot for a bookshop. Turns out there are lots of good spots, but we zeroed in on the Grassmarket area. Then, when my husband, son, and I actually went to Scotland our first stop was Grassmarket, and I knew without a doubt that The Cracked Spine had to be located in this historical area near the Royal Mile and the Edinburgh Castle. There’s actually a bookshop right where The Cracked Spine would be located, though it’s not like The Cracked Spine. Here’s a picture of the outside of the real-life shop that’s there and a picture of the stairway inside it that leads to more bookshelves. The stairway is designed a bit differently in Delaney’s world. The idea of the fictional secret room full of treasures came to me when I saw this stairway; a room that will play an important part throughout the life of the series.

The people we met in Scotland were even more inspiring than the locale. Everyone was helpful and interesting ““ everyone had a story about their personal history or about Scotland to share and they all shared so willingly. I took lots of notes just from conversations and personal stories. I think the thing that surprised me the most was how varied the Scottish accents were to our American ears. When I first had the idea to write the book I was going to make the brogue the same for all the Scottish characters, but that’s truly not the way the voices sounded to us, so I hope I created a somewhat realistic range in the book. We also ventured to the Highlands and even to Loch Ness. There’s no doubt that the country’s beauty and its people surpassed all our expectations. We hope to go back again someday.

What are you working on now?

The publisher and I have been so delighted with the response to THE CRACKED SPINE that we just recently completed negotiations for two more books, so I started working on book three of the Scottish Bookshop series, and just turned in book three of a different series I write: The Rescued Word series.

 

Now, some personal questions. Tell us about living in a haunted house.

When I was seven my family moved to Portales, New Mexico. We lived in the most spectacular house ““ with a marble entryway and a spiral staircase. I was too young at the time to understand that my dad’s salary as a football coach would not realistically allow us to live in such a house. From the second we moved in, I couldn’t step into the dining room. There was some sort of invisible barrier that kept me out. For whatever reason, this didn’t bother me. I just stayed out of the dining room and my parents never pushed me to go into it. I frequently felt pockets of cold air move next to or even through me, and one time the downstairs shower turned scalding hot on my back, but normalized by the time I screamed and jumped out of it (I still remember this very clearly). I used the upstairs shower from then on. There were some other weird things that happened too but they’re not as clear in my mind anymore. It was probably twenty years after we left that house and lived in many more towns and in very un-haunted houses that my parents told me that a teenager had committed suicide in the Portales dining room, and that’s why we could afford to rent such a beautiful place; it was cheap just so someone would move in. My parents hadn’t heard about the suicide because we moved there from out of state. They told me they probably wouldn’t have chosen to live there if they’d known, and we were only there for one year. Hearing about this twenty years later was bothersome but didn’t surprise me much. I have no doubt that the young man’s unhappy spirit was even more agitated with having us ““ maybe just me ““ there. I’d like to go back to Portales and see the house again someday, but I’m not sure I could go inside it. As a kid, otherworldly stuff wasn’t as weird to me as it might be as an adult.

You’re fairly new to Arizona. What discovery have you made? What’s your favorite place to take visitors?

I LOVE Arizona. Really, I do. I’m not just saying that. It was unbelievably hot my first summer, but not as horrible as I thought it would be ““ mostly because staying inside with air-conditioning was an available option. I love the Arizona sky and the winter was perfection ““ beautiful days with cool, sometimes cold evenings when I could make use of my socks, jeans, and sweatshirts. We live where we can watch the sun rise over the Superstition Mountains, and there’s a canal not far from our house where we ride bikes. We’ve ridden outside almost every day since we moved in. We sometimes ride to The Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch, which is one of my favorite places to take visitors. Two others are The Desert Botanical Garden (thanks to Cathy Cole for being the first to show me around the garden), and the Poisoned Pen (cross my heart I’m not just saying that for this post) which always includes a nice stroll through old Scottsdale. I still have so much to explore. I’d love to spend a month or so traveling around the entire state. Maybe someday.

What do you miss about Utah?

Friends, of course ““ not just mine, but my husband’s and son’s too, as well as some delightful neighbors. Basically, the people ““ oh, and the mountains. The mountains are pretty amazing. I also miss our favorite Sushi place: Ichiban. We can’t find anything like it in Arizona, but we’re not giving up the search.

Everyone has a bucket list, whether it’s written or in our head. What’s next on your list? What do you hope to do soon?

I didn’t think I had a bucket list but when a couple of friends were in town a few weeks ago (and we went to the Botanical Garden and Poisoned Pen) I realized that I do have a short one. I’d like to see Pompeii. I would also like to go to Maine, one of the few states I’ve yet to experience in person. At this moment those are the only two things I can think of, but I’m sure the list will grow now that I’ve really started to think about it.

What’s on your TBR (To Be Read) pile right now?

I’ll just go with the three that are on the very top. “Dear Mr. You“ by Mary-Louise Parker, “Nowhere But Here“ by Katie McGarry, and “Fool Me Once,” by Harlan Coben. That’s not a preference list, just what seems to be at the top of the TBR stack at this moment. It will probably grow today. It seems to grow a little every day.

Delaney Nichols is very observant. How would she describe you?

Probably way too flakey for my own good ““ little does she know that I’m almost always in the middle of daydreaming about my characters, so it’s for work. I’m too addicted to Diet Pepsi and chocolate, and frequently severely fashion challenged. My unexpected shifts in focus would probably drive her crazy, but I think we’d ultimately get along because . . . well, books!

Thanks for the fun interview, Lesa! I look forward to seeing you and everyone at Poisoned Pen’s Cozy Con.

Join Paige Shelton and the other guest authors at The Poisoned Pen’s Cozy Con, Saturday, May 7, 1-5 PM.

In May 2012, The Poisoned Pen partnered with Phoenix Public Library’s Burton Barr Library to present the inaugural Cozy Con, featuring a number of cozy mystery authors. Here’s a flashback photo of most of the authors present that day.

This Saturday, May 7, Cozy Con will be held at The Poisoned Pen Bookstore from 1 to 5 PM. John Charles will be the host.

This year’s guest authors include Jenn McKinlay, Paige Shelton, Hannah Dennison, C.S. Harris, Cameron Harvey, Tammy Kaehler, Paul Charles, and Annette Mahon.

Jenn will be signing Vanilla Beaned, the latest in her Cupcake Mysteries. Paige will be signing The Cracked Spine, the first in her Scottish Bookshop series. Hannah will be signing A Killer Ball at Honeychurch Hall, #3 in the series. C.S will be signing When Falcons Fall the latest of her series Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries. Cameron will be signing The Evidence Room, her debut mystery. Tammy will be signing Red Flags, #4 in her Kate Reilly series. Paul Charles will be signing St. Ernan’s Blues, #3 in the Inspector Starrett series. And Annette will be signing Slay Bells, #6 in her locally set St. Rose Quilting Bee series. There may be other authors joining in.

We’ll have refreshments, but we’d love to have everyone bring a plate of cookies, so we have some variety.

Those purchasing a copy of one of the guest author’s books will also be eligible for a drawing of a gift basket.

Cozy Con has been a fun event, so we hope you can join John Charles and the authors for the program.

Can’t get enough of the photos from the Malice Domestic Agatha Awards banquet? We have more to share!

Author Vicki Delany referred to the banquet table pictured below as “The Power Table”. Quite a few award-winners here.

Below is the Sherlock Holmes panel at Malice Domestic.

Quite an awards ceremony and weekend at Malice Domestic!

Robyn Carr will be at The Poisoned Pen on Thursday, May 5 at 2 PM to discuss and sign her new book, What We Find. Because Robyn might be new to some readers, I put her in the hot seat to ask some questions.

Robyn, you may be new to some of our Poisoned Pen blog readers. Please tell us about yourself.

I’ve written 54 novels, most of them contemporary romance and women’s fiction and have been writing for 40 years. I started my career as a young woman writing historical novels—before ebooks and Google and, yes, before computers.

Why did you turn to writing?

I was a young military wife with two small children, held captive in a small apartment while my husband went off to fly helicopters and jets in the Air Force. I was reading romances by the stack and wondered if I could write one. With kids in diapers, I tried it and found that making up a story was nearly as consuming and entertaining as reading one. While the kids literally played at my feet I turned my dining room table into an office. From the time I got up until I had to put dinner on the table, I was at it. Three years and three complete novels later, I sold a book and that was it—I was in for the long haul.

You’re kicking off a new series with What We Find, the Sullivan’s Crossing series. Would you introduce readers to Sullivan’s Crossing?

Sullivan’s Crossing is a general store surrounded by a campground. It sits on a lake at the base of some of Colorado’s most beautiful mountains. Campers escape to Sullivan’s Crossing for weekends and vacations—it’s a getaway, a place to play and enjoy nature. Specific to this little hideaway are the thru-hikers, those hardy souls who have taken on the Continental Divide Trail—3100 miles of hiking trail that stretches from Mexico to Canada. Long distance hikers have to plan very carefully—they have to know where they can find water, rest, clean up and restock their packs. They frequently mail themselves packages to be opened at stopping points—dry socks, clean t-shirts, supplies from water purifiers to first aid supplies. Sully, the owner and proprietor of Sullivan’s Crossing, also runs a post office. And he welcomes the hikers as well as groups and families who vacation there, whether for a weekend or longer. And in his general store he carries everything hikers or rock climbers might need as well as groceries.

Tell us about What We Find, without spoilers.

WHAT WE FIND centers on Maggie Sullivan, a talented neurosurgeon whose life is falling apart. The defendant in the wrongful death suit and on the verge of losing her practice, she decides to take a much-needed break and recharge at the campground and country store that have been owned and operated by her father’s family for generations. But things at Sullivan’s Crossing aren’t as simple as she had hoped. Her father has a heart attack and a brief affair with a hiker on the property suddenly has strings attached. And even though she’s only hours away from her practice, the lawsuit and her professional troubles are still looming. With her life and relationships shifting around her, Maggie finds herself at a crossroads—can she hold onto the life she’s fought so hard to build or is it worth the risk of changing course and possibly losing everything?

You wrote for 30 years before landing on the New York Times Bestseller List, and eventually you had eleven #1 bestsellers. What do you remember about the first time you learned one of your novels hit number one?

Well, I was completely stunned! But even more significant in my memory was the very first time I landed on the New York Times list. It was A Virgin River Christmas and I think it came in at #32. When I heard, I couldn’t breathe for a moment. And then I thought, “Now I can die a happy woman!” I had no idea there was more to come!

Can you give us a hint as to the next book in this series, or the next book to be released?

The next Sullivan’s Crossing book will be out in about a year and I’m not giving anything away. Not yet, anyway. But the next book I’m releasing is titled The Life She Wants. It’s women’s fiction and revolves around Emma Shay, a young woman who goes home to rebuild her life after scandal and loss has left her broke, alone and emotionally whipped. There she encounters her ex best friend, the only person willing to give her a job—cleaning houses. Emma, who not long before employed a housekeeping staff is now doing the cleaning. It’s been called a rags to riches to rags story as Emma is in search of the life she wants.

You were named the winner of the 2016 Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award. What authors have influenced you?

When you get down to it, every author influences me. Reading is not only my passion but my job. Early in my career I was greatly influenced by Rosamund Pilcher, Pat Conroy, John Irving, LaVyrle Spencer, Anya Seton.

You and your husband have certainly traveled. What’s the most beautiful place you’ve ever visited?

We thoroughly enjoyed Scotland. I personally love England and we’re very smitten with Maui, especially when the whales are there!

If friends come to visit, where’s your favorite place to take them?

We live in a suburb of Las Vegas and a mile from our home is a great shopping and dining district—where we’re known to meet friends and our grown kids. We usually take visitors to see Hoover Dam and then a bite to eat at one of our favorite local restaurants. If they want to go to the casinos, we loan them a car!

What were the last books you recommended?

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes, The Rosie Project by Graham Simseon, If You Only Knew and The Best Man by Kristan Higgins and The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah.

Thank you, Robyn, for taking time for the interview.

Interested in Hollywood fashion history and Edith Head? Join The Poisoned Pen staff when we host Renee Patrick, authors of Design for Dying, a new mystery set in Los Angeles in 1937, featuring Edith Head. The program is Tues., May 3 at 7 PM.

The authors will be bringing paper dolls wearing designs by Edith Head. Sounds fun! Plan to join us. https://bit.ly/1TqJ2DF

How do you roll a dead body in a rug? Find out when MAESTRA presents “How to roll a dead body up in a rug.”

https://youtu.be/38g-wfRCj3Q

L.S. Hilton, author of the New York Times bestseller and psychological thriller, Maestra, joins Camille Perri, author of The Assistants, here at The Poisoned Pen on Wed. May 4 at 7 PM. Both authors will be discussing and signing their books. Anyone who buys one of the authors’ books will have the chance to win either a $50 gift card or one of two $25 gift cards.

If you can’t make it to the program on Wednesday, you can order signed copies through the online store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

 

Author Vicki Delany was kind enough to share photos from the recent Malice Domestic Awards banquet where Poisoned Pen Bookstore and Poisoned Pen Press owners Barbara Peters and Robert Rosenwald were honored with the Hercule Poirot Award. Of the award, Malice Domestic’s website says,

“The Poirot Award is presented to honor individuals other than writers who have made outstanding contributions to the Malice Domestic genre. The award is bestowed by the Malice Domestic Board of Directors and presented at the Malice Domestic conference. The Poirot Award is not an annual award.”

Congratulations to Barbara and Rob!

Here are the pictures Vicki sent for the blog.

Matt Coyle, author of Yesterday’s Echo, and Andrew Case, author of The Big Fear, recently appeared at The Poisoned Pen.

Patrick Millikin, the Pen’s expert on noir fiction, interviewed the authors.

From the looks of it, a good time was had by all.

You can have a good time as well by ordering one or both books.

In fact, you can order any of your books through The Poisoned Pen’s online store, https://store.poisonedpen.com/.

Congratulations to the winners of this year’s Agatha Awards, presented at the Malice Domestic conference.

Best Children’s/YA – Andi Unstoppable by Amanda Flower

Best Short Story – “A Year Without Santa Claus” by Barb Goffman, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Jan/Feb 2015

Best Non-Fiction – The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards

Best First Novel – On the Road with Del and Louise by Art Taylor

Best Historical Novel – Dreaming Spies by Laurie R. King

Best Contemporary Novel – Long Upon the Land by Margaret Maron

And, for those of us who were not at the Malice Domestic dinner, Vicki Delany shared what she called a photo of “the power table at Malice”.