Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, recently welcomed her friend, Jonathan Kellerman, for a virtual event and discussion of his latest Alex Delaware novel, Unnatural History. Signed copies of Unnatural History are available through the Webstore. https://tinyurl.com/4mbar2uz

Here’s the description of Unnatural History.

The most enduring detectives in American crime fiction are back in this electrifying thriller of art and brutality from the #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense.

Los Angeles is a city of stark contrast, the palaces of the affluent coexisting uneasily with the hellholes of the mad and the needy. That shadow world and the violence it breeds draw brilliant psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware and Detective Milo Sturgis into an unsettling case of altruism gone wrong.

On a superficially lovely morning, a woman shows up for work with her usual enthusiasm. She’s the newly hired personal assistant to a handsome, wealthy photographer and is ready to greet her boss with coffee and good cheer. Instead, she finds him slumped in bed, shot to death.

The victim had recently received rave media attention for his latest project: images of homeless people in their personal “dream” situations, elaborately costumed and enacting unfulfilled fantasies. There are some, however, who view the whole thing as nothing more than crass exploitation, citing token payments and the victim’s avoidance of any long-term relationships with his subjects.

Has disgruntlement blossomed into homicidal rage? Or do the roots of violence reach down to the victim’s family—a clan, sired by an elusive billionaire, that is bizarre in its own right?

Then new murders arise, and Alex and Milo begin peeling back layer after layer of intrigue and complexity, culminating in one of the deadliest threats they’ve ever faced.

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Jonathan Kellerman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than forty crime novels, including the Alex Delaware series, The Butcher’s Theater, Billy Straight, The Conspiracy Club, Twisted, True Detectives, and The Murderer’s Daughter. With his wife, bestselling novelist Faye Kellerman, he co-authored Double Homicide and Capital Crimes. With his son, bestselling novelist Jesse Kellerman, he co-authored The Burning, Half Moon Bay, A Measure of Darkness, Crime Scene, The Golem of Hollywood, and The Golem of Paris. He is the author of two children’s books and numerous nonfiction works, including Savage Spawn: Reflections on Violent Children and With Strings Attached: The Art and Beauty of Vintage Guitars. He has won the Goldwyn, Edgar, and Anthony awards and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Psychological Association, and has been nominated for a Shamus Award. Jonathan and Faye Kellerman live in California.

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Here’s the conversation with Jonathan Kellerman.

It’s hard to believe Jan. 31st was only two weeks ago. That’s the date The Real Book Spy released his 2023 Reading Guide for thrillers. Although he links to Amazon under Order Now, please be sure to check out The Poisoned Pen’s Webstore for titles of interest. https://store.poisonedpen.com/ And, watch for the authors! Many of them will be appearing at the bookstore for events, both live in-person, or virtually.

I hope The Real Book Spy doesn’t mind that I’m quoting him because I am going to send readers to his site to see the reading guide.

“The goal is to help readers figure out which books they want to prioritize diving into this year. And since we’ll update this list in the coming weeks and months, expect it to grow as new titles will be added frequently. We’ll still be rolling out monthly reading guides, which in the future will better highlight and offer analysis and feedback on specific titles, but for now, browse this list. https://therealbookspy.com/2023/01/31/the-real-book-spys-2023-reading-guide/

“Six or seven years ago, summer was, like, the season for must-read thrillers. Especially action thrillers. Now, there’s a really good balance throughout the year. In fact, I might even argue that spring is just as loaded. July looks especially strong this year, just as an FYI, but February is coming in hot too. And truthfully, there isn’t a down month in sight. That’s great news, so plan your book budget accordingly.”

Check out this list! https://therealbookspy.com/2023/01/31/the-real-book-spys-2023-reading-guide/

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, recently welcomed Kwei Quartey for a virtual event. His latest book, Last Seen in LaPaz, is available through the Webstore. There will be more signed copies available there. https://tinyurl.com/y25rv26p

Here’s the description of Last Seen in LaPaz.

When a whirlwind romance leads to a brutal murder and the disappearance of a young Nigerian woman, PI Emma Djan resorts to dangerous undercover work to track her down in Accra.

Just as things at work are slowing down for PI Emma Djan, an old friend of her boss’s asks for help locating his missing daughter in Accra. According to her father, Ngozi had a bright future ahead of her when she became secretive and withdrawn. Suddenly, all she wanted to do was be with her handsome new beau, Femi, instead of attending law school in the fall. So when she disappears from her parents’ house in Nigeria in the middle of the night, they immediately suspect Femi was behind it and have reason to believe the pair has fled to Ghana.

The case escalates quickly when Femi is found murdered at an opulent hotel in Accra, but there are no signs of Ngozi at the scene. Emma knows if she’s to have any hope of finding Ngozi, she must learn more about Femi, so she digs into his past and discovers he was part of a network of sex traffickers operating across West Africa. Fearing the worst, Emma resorts to dangerous undercover work in a desperate attempt to track Ngozi down before it’s too late.

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Kwei Quartey was born in Ghana and raised by a Black American mother and a Ghanaian father. A retired physician, he lives in Pasadena. He is the author of five critically acclaimed novels in the Darko
Dawson series, as well as two other books in the Emma Djan series, including The Missing American, which was nominated for an Edgar Award for Best Novel.

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Enjoy the conversation with Kwei Quartey.

Kellerman. Hurwitz. Todd. Berry. Those are just a few of the authors scheduled to appear for The Poisoned Pen in the next couple weeks. Check out the upcoming events, and then check the Webstore for books by your favorite authors. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

There’s so much news to share with the announcement that Walter Mosley has been awarded the CWA Diamond Dagger for 2023. Let’s start with his forthcoming live appearance at The Poisoned Pen. He’ll be at the bookstore on Friday, Feb. 24 at 7 PM to talk about and sign his latest book, Every Man a King. You can order your copy through the Webstore. https://store.poisonedpen.com/item/-lOcjb5TGYKrAEfREO5Nnw

Here’s the announcement from the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA).

Walter Mosley is the 2023 recipient of the highest honour in crime writing, the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Diamond Dagger.

The CWA Daggers are now regarded by the publishing world as the foremost awards hosted in Britain for crime writing. Mosley receives the award in the CWA’s 70^th Jubilee year; the CWA was founded in 1953.

The Diamond Dagger recognises authors whose crime writing careers have been marked by sustained excellence, and who have made a significant contribution to the genre.

One of the most versatile and admired writers in America, Walter Mosley was born and raised in Los Angeles, and now lives in Brooklyn and LA.

Walter Mosley is the author of more than 60 critically acclaimed books, that cover a wide range of genres. His work has been translated into 25 languages.

He brought a cast of crime fiction characters into the American canon with his first novel, Devil in a Blue Dress, featuring private detective, Easy Rawlins. Several of his books have been adapted for screen, including Devil in a Blue Dress starring Denzel Washington, the HBO production of Always Outnumbered, starring Laurence Fishburne and Natalie Cole, and Apple TV+’s production of The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey starring Samuel Jackson.

Maxim Jakubowski, Chair of the CWA, said: “I am truly delighted my friend Walter has been deemed worthy of the Diamond Dagger by my colleagues and members of the CWA. His voice has dominated the fiction scene for decades and I can think of no more deserving and ground-breaking an author to be given this ultimate accolade, for the so many things he has contributed to our genre but also to modern society.”

A multi-award-winning author, Mosley was inducted into the New York State Writers Hall of Fame in 2013. His numerous awards include The Mystery Writers of America’s Grand Master Award, a Grammy, and a PEN America’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2020, he was named the recipient of the Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement from Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, and the National Book Foundation presented him with the Lifetime Achievement Award for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.

The CWA Diamond Dagger is selected from nominations provided by CWA members.

Walter Mosley joins icons of the genre who have been recognised with the accolade, Ruth Rendell, Lee Child, Ann Cleeves, Ian Rankin, PD James, Colin Dexter, Reginald Hill, Peter Lovesey, John Le Carré, Martina Cole, Michael Connelly, Elmore Leonard, Sara Paretsky, Sue Grafton, Lawrence Block, Eric Ambler, Ed McBain and CJ Sansom.

Walter Mosley said: “At the beginning of my writing career I was fortunate enough to be awarded the CWA’s New Blood Dagger, otherwise called the John Creasey Award. That was the highest point of my experience as a first book author.  Since then, I have picked up other honours along the way but the only award that comes near the Diamond Dagger is the MWA’s Grand Master nod.  These two together make the apex of a career that I never expected.”

Celia Killen, Walter Mosley’s editor at Weidenfeld & Nicolson, said: “With over sixty books published, numerous bestsellers and multiple awards, Walter Mosley is a master storyteller and a true icon of crime writing. His career has been characterised not only by creative excellence, but by significant contribution to the publishing landscape, notably establishing The Publishing Certificate Program to encourage diversity in all levels of the industry. In 2020, the National Book Foundation presented him with the Lifetime Achievement Award for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. We are incredibly proud to publish Walter and thrilled that his brilliant work is being recognised with this year’s CWA Diamond Dagger.”

One of the UK’s most prominent societies, the CWA was founded in 1953 by John Creasey. As the oldest awards in the genre, they have been synonymous with quality crime writing for over half a century. Its awards started in 1955, with its first award going to Winston Graham, best known for Poldark.

The Diamond Dagger is announced before the annual CWA Dagger Awards, dubbed the ‘Oscars of the crime genre’, due to take place on July 6^th at a glittering gala evening.

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Here’s the description of Mosley’s forthcoming book, Every Man a King.

In this highly anticipated sequel from Edgar Award-winning “master of craft and narrative,” Walter Mosley, Joe King Oliver is entangled in a dangerous case when he’s asked to investigate whether a white nationalist is being unjustly set up. (National Book Foundation)When friend of the family and multi-billionaire Roger Ferris comes to Joe with an assignment, he’s got no choice but to accept, even if the case is a tough one to stomach. White nationalist Alfred Xavier Quiller has been accused of murder and the sale of sensitive information to the Russians. Ferris has reason to believe Quiller’s been set up and he needs King to see if the charges hold.

This linear assignment becomes a winding quest to uncover the extent of Quiller’s dealings, to understand Ferris’ skin in the game, and to get to the bottom of who is working for whom. Even with the help of bodyguard and mercenary Oliya Ruez—no regular girl Friday—the machine King’s up against proves relentless and unsparing. As King gets closer to exposing the truth, he and his loved ones barrel towards grave danger.

Mosley once again proves himself a “master of craft and narrative” (National Book Foundation) in this carefully plotted mystery that is at once a classic caper, a family saga and an examination of fealty, pride and how deep debt can go.

Patrick King from The Poisoned Pen recently welcomed Tom Rob Smith for the virtual launch of his new book, Cold People. You can find copies of that book in the Webstore. https://tinyurl.com/369hc783

Here’s the summary of Cold People.

From the brilliant, bestselling author of Child 44 comes a suspenseful and fast-paced novel about an Antarctic colony of global apocalypse survivors seeking to reinvent civilization under the most extreme conditions imaginable.

The world has fallen. Without warning, a mysterious and omnipotent force has claimed the planet for their own. There are no negotiations, no demands, no reasons given for their actions. All they have is a message: humanity has thirty days to reach the one place on Earth where they will be allowed to exist…Antarctica.

Cold People follows the perilous journeys of a handful of those who endure the frantic exodus to the most extreme environment on the planet. But their goal is not merely to survive the present. Because as they cling to life on the ice, the remnants of their past swept away, they must also confront the urgent challenge: can they change and evolve rapidly enough to ensure humanity’s future? Can they build a new society in the sub-zero cold?

Original and imaginative, as profoundly intimate as it is grand in scope, Cold People is a masterful and unforgettable epic.

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Tom Rob Smith is the author of the acclaimed Child 44 trilogy. Child 44 itself was a global publishing sensation, selling over two million copies. It was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Prize and won the CWA Steel Dagger Award. His most recent novel, The Farm, was a Number One international bestseller. Tom also writes for television and won a Writer’s Guild Award for best adapted series and an Emmy and Golden Globe for best limited series with American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace.

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Enjoy the conversation with Tom Rob Smith.

James Rollins’ latest book, The Cradle of Ice, is the second in his Moonfall series. Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, welcomed Rollins back to the bookstore to discuss the new scientific fantasy. There are signed copies of The Cradle of Ice available in the Webstore. https://tinyurl.com/58dk87tz

Here’s the description of The Cradle of Ice. (Beautiful cover, isn’t it?)

The second book in the New York Times bestselling Moonfall series from thriller-master James Rollins, The Cradle of Ice is a page-turning tale of action, adventure, betrayal, ambition, and the struggle for survival in a harsh world that hangs by a thread.

To stop the coming apocalypse, a fellowship was formed.

A soldier, a thief, a lost prince, and a young girl bonded by fate and looming disaster.

Each step along this path has changed the party, forging deep alliances and greater
enmities. All the while, hostile forces have hunted them, fearing what they might
unleash. Armies wage war around them.

For each step has come with a cost—in blood, in loss, in heartbreak.

Now, they must split, traveling into a vast region of ice and to a sprawling capital of the world they’ve only known in stories. Time is running out and only the truth will save us all.

The Moonfall Series:
The Starless Crown
The Cradle of Ice

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JAMES ROLLINS is the #1 New York Times bestseller of international thrillers, sold to over forty countries. His Sigma series has earned national accolades and has topped charts around the world. He is also a practicing veterinarian, who still spends time underground or underwater as an avid spelunker and diver.

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Enjoy Rollins’ discussion of creating the exotic universe of his books.

As Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, said, Hank Phillippi Ryan doesn’t need an introduction to many people. If you don’t know her, let me reverse this post, and share her biography first.

USA Today bestselling author HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN has won five Agatha Awards in addition to Anthony, Macavity, Daphne du Maurier, and Mary Higgins Clark Awards. As on-air investigative reporter for Boston’s WHDH-TV, she’s won 37 Emmys and many more journalism honors, and her work has resulted in new laws, criminals sent to prison, homes saved from foreclosure, and millions of dollars in restitution for victims and consumers. A past president of National Sisters in Crime and founder of MWA University, her novels include Trust Me, The Murder List, the Charlotte McNally series (starting with Prime Time), and the Jane Ryland series (which begins with The Other Woman). Ryan lives in Boston with her husband, a nationally renowned civil rights and criminal defense attorney.

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Signed copies of Ryan’s latest suspense novel, The House Guest, are available through the Webstore. http://bit.ly/3lffUtP

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Here’s the description of The House Guest.

The House Guest is another diabolical cat-and-mouse thriller from USA Today bestselling author Hank Phillippi Ryan—but which character is the cat, and which character is the mouse?

After every divorce, one spouse gets all the friends. What does the other one get? If they’re smart, they get the benefits. Alyssa Macallan is terrified when she’s dumped by her wealthy and powerful husband. With a devastating divorce looming, she begins to suspect her toxic and manipulative soon-to-be-ex is scheming to ruin her—leaving her alone and penniless. And when the FBI shows up at her door, Alyssa knows she really needs a friend.

And then she gets one. A seductive new friend, one who’s running from a dangerous relationship of her own. Alyssa offers Bree Lorrance the safety of her guest house, and the two become confidantes. Then Bree makes a heart-stoppingly tempting offer. Maybe Alyssa and Bree can solve each others’ problems.

But no one is what they seem. And the fates and fortunes of these two women twist and turn until the shocking truth emerges: You can’t always get what you want. But sometimes you get what you deserve.

Other books by Hank Phillippi Ryan:
Her Perfect Life
The First to Lie
The Murder List
On the House
Trust Me

THE JANE RYLAND SERIES:
The Other Woman / The Wrong Girl / Truth Be Told / What You See / Say No More

THE CHARLOTTE MCNALLY SERIES:
Prime Time / Face Time / Air Time / Drive Time

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Hank Phillippi Ryan is always fascinating. She’s such a storyteller. Check out the conversation.