John Charle recently welcomed Julie Soto and debut author Deidra Duncan for a virtual event at The Poisoned Pen. Soto is the author of The Thrashers and Duncan’s first book is Love Sick. You can order copies of both books through the Webstore. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Here’s the summary of The Thrashers.

Either you’re in or you’re out.

Welcome to the Thrashers, the elite friend group at New Helvetia High.

They’re everything everyone wants to be.

Jodi Dillon was never meant to be one of them. Julian, Lucy, Paige, and the infamous Zack Thrasher are rich, sophisticated, and love attention. Jodi feels out of place, but Zack’s her childhood best friend, so she’s in.

Then Emily Mills, who desperately wanted to be a Thrasher, dies—and the whispers about the Thrashers begin. As Emily’s journal surfaces, detectives close in, and Jodi faces an impossible choice: betray her friends or protect herself.

But as eerie messages and strange occurrences escalate, it becomes clear—Emily isn’t done with them yet.

A twisty thrill-ride of unforgettable drama and suspense that “encapsulates the vulnerability of adolescents playing adult games” (Ali Hazelwood) from USA Today bestselling author Julie Soto, The Thrashers will keep you up at night desperate to read just one more page.

“A tour-de-force YA debut from Julie Soto.” – Alexa Donne

“For fans of Karen McManus and Kara Thomas, The Thrashers had me holding my breath, sweaty-palming my e-reader, and dying to flip each page to see what would happen next.” – Susan Lee

“Expertly plotted and full of flawed, morally gray characters you still can’t help rooting for, The Thrashers is one of the best books I’ve read this year.” – Evelyn Skye

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JULIE SOTO (she/her) is a USA Today bestselling author, playwright, and actress originally from Sacramento, CA. Her musical Generation Me won the 2017 New York Musical Festival’s Best Musical award, as well as Best Book for her script. She is a musical theater geek, fandom nerd, and the author of many spicy fan fictions. Julie now lives in Fort Bragg, CA, with her dog, Charlie. She is probably drinking coffee as you read this.

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Here’s Deidra Duncan’s debut novel, Love Sick.

“Heartfelt and smart, Love Sick is just what the doctor ordered.”—Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka, authors of The Breakup Tour

Their bedside manner needs a little work…
Love may be the best medicine, but first-year resident Grace Rose isn’t prescribing it anytime soon. Not since her ex broke her heart in med school, and especially not since hearing the rumor that she slept her way into the OB-GYN program. (Spoiler alert: So not true.) With her social anxiety already in full spiral, Grace is determined to set the record straight. But after a tense first encounter with fellow resident Julian Santini—with his annoying good looks and witty charm—she realizes that her reputation may never fully recover.

Julian didn’t mean to offend Grace. After all, he’s just as fed up with the toxic “BrOB-GYN” culture as she is. He’s got his own drama to triage anyway—like proving that he earned his spot in this residency, not simply lucked into it. Still, something about Grace gets under his skin…and not always in a bad way.

Forced to work together through grueling shifts and sleepless nights, Grace and Julian try to cut back on the bickering for the sake of their training. Before long, however, a different kind of tension exposes the cracks in their truce. With their hearts in critical condition, will they accept that love is the best remedy of all?

Grey’s Anatomy meets The Hating Game in this delicious, laugh out loud rom-com set in the world of a tight-knit group of OB-GYN residents—written by a practicing physician.

For fans of:

• Workplace Enemies to Lovers
• Close Proximity
• Medical drama from a real doctor
• Pulse (on Netflix) meets The Love Hypothesis with a hint of Scrubs

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DEIDRA DUNCAN is a board-certified OB/GYN and lover of all things angsty and romantic. Based in Florida, she spends her days either delivering babies or lounging in the sun with her kids and husband. deidraduncan.com

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Enjoy the conversation with Julie Soto and Deidra Duncan.

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, recently submitted some summer book suggestions to https://www.nextavenue.org/summer-reading-titles-shine/. Patricia Corrigan asked five independent booksellers for their summer recommendations in her article, “Summer Reading Titles Shine.” Peters said I could include her suggestions here. You’ll want to check the Webstore for those books. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

“Barbara Peters knows something about murder mysteries. As a retirement hobby, in October 1989 she opened The Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale, Arizona. Then, in 1997, with her husband Robert Rosenwald, Peters established Poisoned Pen Press, which has won numerous Raven and Quill Awards from the Mystery Writers of America.”

“I began The Poisoned Pen as a tiny mystery bookstore, but today it’s broadened out into mostly fiction, including classics, romance, fantasy and sci-fi,” Peters told Next Avenue. The shop presents almost 600 author events a year, most of them available for live-streaming. 

Peters’ top pick for summer reading is “The Blue Horse: A Porter Beck Mystery” by Bruce Borgos. Peters said the book offers “a briskly paced and surprising plot, once again stretching beyond local borders.”

Peters also likes “Nightshade” by Michael Connelly, an author who has been hailed by Real Book Spy as “the undisputed master of the modern crime novel.” The book introduces a new detective, Peters said, “whose beat is Catalina Island, a low-key posting — until it isn’t.” 

The Thursday Murder Club Reconvenes

Laurie King’s new book “Knave of Diamonds” is “a new chapter in the story of Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes that embroils Russell in the infamous disappearance of the Irish Crown Jewels from an impregnable safe in Dublin Castle after her black-sheep Uncle Jake knocks at the couple’s door,” said Peters. “Vivid characters, reliable history and a strong plot, compellingly written, characterize this long-running series.”

For later this summer, Peters urged readers to watch for “You Belong Here” by Megan Miranda, due out July 29, and also the paperback edition of “Last Seen” by J.T. Ellison, available August 1. Peters reported, “These two authors reliably thrust strong women into danger!”

Jen Johans from The Poisoned Pen recently welcomed two authors from Toronto for a virtual event at the bookstore. Nita Prose, author of The Maid and other mysteries was guest host for Sue Hincenbergs, whose debut novel is The Retirement Plan.You can still order copies of The Retirement Plan through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/3EYV783

Here’s the description of The Retirement Plan.

“The perfect cocktail of well-plotted, good-hearted, murderous fun.” —Nina Simon, bestselling author of Mother-Daughter Murder Night

THEY’D KILL TO BE WIDOWS.

Three best friends turn to murder to collect on their husbands’ life insurance policies… But the husbands have a plan of their own in this darkly funny debut that will delight readers from the first laugh to the final twist.

After thirty years of friendship, Pam dreams of her perfect retirement with Nancy, Shalisa, Marlene, and their husbands—until their husbands pool their funds for an investment that goes terribly wrong. Suddenly, their golden years are looking as dreary as their marriages.

But when the women discover their husbands have seven-figure life insurance policies, a new dream forms. And this time, they need a hitman.

Meanwhile, their husbands are working on their own secret retirement scheme and when things begin to go sideways, they fear it’s backfired. The husbands scramble to stay alive…but soon realize they may not be quick enough to outmaneuver their wives.

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Sue Hincenbergs is a former television producer who has worked on multiple award-winning programs. She lives in Toronto with her (very much alive) husband, her scruffy, middle-aged rescue dog, Kramer, and the rooms full of the stuff her three sons left behind when they moved out. The porch light is always on in case one comes by for a visit. The Retirement Plan is her first novel. 

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Enjoy the conversation with Sue Hincenbergs and Nita Prose.

Pat King welcomed Chuck Wendig back to The Poisoned Pen to discuss his latest creepy novel, The Staircase in the Woods. There are still a few copies in the Webstore, if you’d like to order one. https://bit.ly/43aY2mc

Here’s the description of The Staircase in the Woods.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A group of friends investigates the mystery of a strange staircase in the woods in this mesmerizing horror novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Accidents.

“Chuck Wendig weaves his magic once more, turning a lonely staircase in the woods into a searing, propulsive, dread-filled exploration of the horrors of knowing and being known.”—Kiersten White, author of Hide and Lucy Undying

Five high school friends are bonded by an oath to protect one another no matter what.

Then, on a camping trip in the middle of the forest, they find something extraordinary: a mysterious staircase to nowhere.

One friend walks up—and never comes back down. Then the staircase disappears.

Twenty years later, the staircase has reappeared. Now the group returns to find the lost boy—and what lies beyond the staircase in the woods. . . .

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Chuck Wendig is the New York Times bestselling author of Wanderers, The Book of Accidents, Wayward, and more than two dozen other books for adults and young adults. A finalist for the Astounding Award and an alumnus of the Sundance Screenwriters Lab, he has also written for comics, games, film, and television. He’s known for his popular blog, terribleminds, and books about writing such as Damn Fine Story. He lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, with his family.

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Enjoy the conversation with Chuck Wendig.

John Charles from The Poisoned Pen recently welcomed author Natalie Jenner to the bookstore. Jenner’s new novel, Austen at Sea, is available to order through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/3GN3tjw

Here’s the description of Austen at Sea.

Two pairs of siblings, devotees of Jane Austen, find their lives transformed by a visit to England and Sir Francis Austen, her last surviving brother and keeper of a long-suppressed, secret legacy.

In Boston, 1865, Charlotte and Henrietta Stevenson, daughters of a Massachusetts Supreme Court Justice, have accomplished as much as women are allowed in those days. Chafing against those restrictions and inspired by the works of Jane Austen, they start a secret correspondence with Sir Francis Austen, her last surviving brother, now in his nineties. He sends them an original letter from his sister and invites them to come visit him in England.

In Philadelphia, Nicholas & Haslett Nelson—bachelor brothers, veterans of the recent Civil War, and rare book dealers—are also in correspondence with Sir Francis Austen, who lures them, too, to England, with the promise of a never-before-seen, rare Austen artifact to be evaluated.

The Stevenson sisters sneak away without a chaperone to sail to England. On their ship are the Nelson brothers, writer Louisa May Alcott, Sara-Beth Gleason—wealthy daughter of a Pennsylvania state senator with her eye on the Nelsons—and, a would-be last-minute chaperone to the Stevenson sisters, Justice Thomas Nash.

It’s a voyage and trip that will dramatically change each of their lives in ways that are unforeseen, with the transformative spirit of the love of literature and that of Jane Austen herself.

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NATALIE JENNER is the author of the instant international bestseller The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls. A Goodreads Choice Award runner-up for historical fiction and finalist for best debut novel, The Jane Austen Society was a USA Today and #1 national bestseller, and has been sold for translation in twenty countries. Born in England and raised in Canada, Natalie has been a corporate lawyer, career coach and, most recently, an independent bookstore owner in Oakville, Ontario, where she lives with her family and two rescue dogs. Visit her website to learn more.

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Enjoy the conversation with Natalie Jenner.

Patrick Millikin recently welcomed Jeffery Deaver and Alex Finlay to The Poisoned Pen. They celebrated their new books, as well as Deaver’s birthday. Deaver’s latest book, a Colter Shaw novel, is South of Nowhere. Alex Finlay’s new book is Parents Weekend. There are signed copies of both books available in the Webstore. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Here’s the description of South of Nowhere.

The New York Times bestselling master of suspense returns to his beloved series, adapted for TV (CBS’s Tracker, starring Justin Hartley) as reward seeker Colter Shaw races against the clock to save a flooding town from a full-fledged disaster, where the culprit lurks in the plain sight.

When a levee collapses in Hinowah, a small town in Northern California, Colter Shaw is brought on by his sister, Dorion, a disaster response specialist, to help locate a family swept away by the raging water, with mere hours to survive. 

But after a surprise attack along the river obstructs Colter’s urgent search, the siblings are forced to consider a new reality: Is the levee at risk of failing from natural causes, or is someone sabotaging it? Colter and Dorion must race against a ticking clock to uncover the truth and save the citizens before the village washes out completely, destroying everything and everyone in its path.

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Jeffery Deaver is the #1 international bestselling author of more than forty novels, three collections of short stories, and a nonfiction law book. His books are sold in 150 countries and translated into 25 languages. His first novel featuring Lincoln Rhyme, The Bone Collector, was made into a major motion picture starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. He’s received or been shortlisted for a number of awards around the world, including Novel of the Year by the International Thriller Writers and the Steel Dagger from the Crime Writers’ Association in the United Kingdom. In 2014, he was the recipient of three lifetime achievement awards. A former journalist, folk singer, and attorney, he was born outside of Chicago and has a bachelor of journalism degree from the University of Missouri and a law degree from Fordham University.

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Here’s the summary of Alex Finlay’s Parents Weekend.

From the bestselling author of If Something Happens to Me, comes one of the year’s most anticipated thrillers.

In the glow of their children’s exciting first year of college at a small private school in Northern California, five families gather over dinner and cocktails for the opening festivities of Parents Weekend. As the parents stay out way past their bedtimes, their kids—five residents of Campisi Hall—never show up to dinner.

At first, everyone thinks they’re just being college students, irresponsibly forgetting about the gathering or skipping out to go to a party. But as the hours tick by and another night falls with not so much as a text from the students, panic ensues. Soon the campus police call in reinforcements. Search parties are formed. Reporters swarm the small enclave. Rumors swirl and questions arise.

Libby, Blane, Mark, Felix, and Stella—The Five, as the podcasters, bloggers, and TikTok sleuths soon call them—come from very different families. What drew them out on that fateful night? Could it be the sins of their mothers and fathers come to cause them peril—or a threat to the friend group from within?

Told from each family’s point of view—and marking the return of FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller from Every Last Fear and The Night Shift—Parents Weekend explores the weight of expectation, family dysfunction, and those exhilarating first days in the dorms when friends become family.

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ALEX FINLAY is the bestselling author of several acclaimed novels, including the 2024 national bestseller, If Something Happens to Me. His work regularly appears on best-of-the-year lists and has been translated into twenty-five languages and sold around the world. Nearly all of Alex’s books have been optioned or are in development for film and television. Alex lives in Washington, D.C. and Virginia.

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Enjoy the conversation with Jeffery Deaver and Alex Finlay.

Sarah Penner is on book tour for her third novel, The Amalfi Curse. Olivia Fierro was guest host at The Poisoned Pen. There are signed copies of The Amalfi Curse available in the Webstore. https://bit.ly/44md7n5

Here’s the description of The Amalfi Curse.

“This intoxicating story blends old-world magic and modern-day mystery with a delicious dash of amore.” —People 

Powerful witchcraft. A hunt for sunken treasure. Forbidden love on the high seas. Beware the Amalfi Curse…

Haven Ambrose, a trailblazing nautical archaeologist, has come to the sun-soaked village of Positano to investigate the mysterious shipwrecks along the Amalfi Coast. But Haven is hoping to find more than old artifacts beneath the azure waters; she is secretly on a quest to locate a trove of priceless gemstones her late father spotted on his final dive. Upon Haven’s arrival, strange maelstroms and misfortunes start plaguing the town. Is it nature or something more sinister at work?

As Haven searches for her father’s sunken treasure, she begins to unearth a centuries-old tale of ancient sorcery and one woman’s quest to save her lover and her village by using the legendary art of stregheria, a magical ability to harness the ocean. Could this magic be behind Positano’s latest calamities? Haven must unravel the Amalfi Curse before the region is destroyed forever…

Against the dazzling backdrop of the Amalfi Coast, this bewitching novel shimmers with mystery, romance and the untamed magic of the sea.

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Sarah Penner is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of The Lost Apothecary and The London Séance Society. Her books have been translated into more than forty languages and her debut, The Lost Apothecary, has sold over one million copies worldwide. A graduate of the University of Kansas, Sarah spent thirteen years in corporate finance and now writes full-time. In her free time, Sarah enjoys hiking, yoga, and cooking. She also sits on the Board of Directors at her local animal shelter, Friends of Strays. Sarah and her husband, Marc, live in Florida. To learn more, visit SarahPenner.com.

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Enjoy the conversation with Sarah Penner.

Mystery Writers of America announced the winners of the 2025 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, nonfiction and television published or produced in 2024. Congratulations to all! It’s never too late to check the Webstore for copies of the winning books. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

BEST NOVEL
The In Crowd by Charlotte Vassell (Penguin Random House – Doubleday)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR
Holy City by Henry Wise (Grove Atlantic – Atlantic Monthly Press)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL 
The Paris Widow by Kimberly Belle (Harlequin Trade Publishing – Park Row Books)
 
BEST FACT CRIME
The Infernal Machine: A True Story of Dynamite, Terror, and the Rise of the Modern Detective by Steven Johnson (Penguin Random House – Crown)
 
BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL
James Sallis: A Companion to the Mystery Fiction by Nathan Ashman (McFarland Publishing)
 
 BEST SHORT STORY
“Eat My Moose,” Conjunctions: 82, Works & Days by Erika Krouse (Bard College)

BEST JUVENILE
Mysteries of Trash and Treasure: The Stolen Key by Margaret Peterson Haddix HarperCollins – Quill Tree Books)
 
BEST YOUNG ADULT

49 Miles Alone by Natalie D. Richards (Sourcebooks – Sourcebooks Fire)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY
“Episode One” – Monsieur Spade, Written by Tom Fontana & Scott Frank (AMC)

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OTHER AWARDS
 
ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD – Endowed by the family of Robert L. Fish.
“The Jews on Elm Street,” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, September-October 2024 by Anna Stolley Persky (Dell Magazines)
 
THE SIMON & SCHUSTER MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD – Presented on behalf of Simon & Schuster
The Mystery Writer by Sulari Gentill (Sourcebooks – Poisoned Pen Press)

THE G.P. PUTNAM’S SONS SUE GRAFTON MEMORIAL AWARD – Presented on behalf of G.P. Putnam’s Sons. 
The Comfort of Ghosts by Jacqueline Winspear (Soho Press – Soho Crime)
 
THE LILIAN JACKSON BRAUN MEMORIAL AWARD – Endowed by the estate of Lilian Jackson Braun.
The Murders in Great Diddling by Katarina Bivald (Sourcebooks – Poisoned Pen Press)
 
SPECIAL AWARDS

PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED ON JANUARY 15, 2025 

GRAND MASTER
Laura Lippman
John Sandford
 
RAVEN AWARD
Face in a Book Bookstore & Gifts, El Dorado Hills, CA
 
ELLERY QUEEN AWARD
Peter Wolverton, St. Martin’s Press

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, said Brad Taylor and Don Bentley have both appeared at the bookstore for all their books, even if it was only virtually. Bentley acted as guest host to discuss Brad Taylor’s latest Pike Logan book, Into the Gray Zone. There are signed copies of the book available in the Webstoe. https://bit.ly/4iC8B7f

Here’s the description of Into the Gray Zone.

“A knockout punch of a novel.” —Mark Greaney

Pike Logan uncovers a geopolitical scheme that has spiraled out of control in India in this latest pulse-pounding thriller from New York Times bestselling author and former special forces officer Brad Taylor. 

While on a routine security assessment in India, Taskforce operator Pike Logan foils an attempted attack on a meeting between the CIA and India’s intelligence service. Both government agencies believe it’s nothing more than a minor terrorist attack, but Pike suspects that something much more sinister is at play. After another terrorist operation at the Taj Mahal, he begins to believe that outside powers are attacking India in the gray zone between peace and war, leveraging terrorist groups for nothing more than economic gain. But the separatists conducting the operations have their own agenda.

After a massive slaughter and kidnapping of hostages during an elaborate Indian pre-wedding party, two global powers are destabilized, and only Pike Logan and his team can de-escalate the tension by rescuing the captives. What follows is a race against the clock that winds through the bustling markets of Old Delhi, the luxurious resorts of Goa, and the epic halls of the Taj Mahal. It will take everything that Logan and the taskforce have to foil an intricate plot that leaves countless lives in the balance.

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Brad Taylor, Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.), is a twenty-one-year veteran of the U.S. Army Infantry and Special Forces, including eight years with the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment—Delta, popularly known as Delta Force. Taylor retired after serving more than two decades and participating in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, as well as classified operations around the globe. His final military post was as assistant professor of military science at The Citadel. Brad is a New York Times bestselling author of eighteen Pike Logan thrillers and is a security consultant on asymmetric threats for various agencies. He lives in Charleston, South Carolina, with his wife and two daughters.

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Enjoy the conversation with Brad Taylor and Don Bentley.

Maha Khan Phillips spoke with Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, at 1 AM in London. Phillips’ The Museum Detective is an archaeological mystery dealing with Pakistan, not Egypt as in many historical mysteries involving archaeology. Copies of the series debut can be ordered through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/3EPGOCC

Here’s the description of The Museum Detective.

Inspired by a real-life antiquities scandal in Pakistan, this gripping series debut introduces archaeologist Dr. Gul Delani, whose investigation into the discovery of a mummy gets complicated—and personal—when it collides with her years-long search for a missing family member. Perfect for fans of Sue Grafton and Elsa Hart.

When Dr. Gul Delani receives a call in the middle of the night from the Sindh police, she thinks they may have finally found her niece, Mahnaz—a precocious, politically conscious teenage girl who went missing three years prior. Gul has been racked with grief since Mahnaz’s disappearance and distracts herself through work: a talented curator at the Museum of Heritage and History in Karachi, she is one of the country’s leading experts in archaeology and ancient civilizations, a hard-won position for a woman.

But there is no news of Mahnaz. Instead, Gul is summoned to a narcotics investigation in a remote desert region in western Pakistan. In her wildest dreams, Gul couldn’t have imagined what she’d find there: amid a drug bust gone wrong, there is a mummy—life-size, seemingly authentic, its sarcophagus decorated with symbols from Persepolis, the capital of the Achaemenid Empire. The discovery confounds everyone. It is both too good to be true, and for Gul, too precious to leave in careless or corrupt hands.

Aided by her team of unlikely misfits, Gul will stop at nothing to get to the bottom of it, even as her quest for the truth puts her in the throes of a dangerous conspiracy and threatens to collide with her ongoing search for Mahnaz. A portrait of a city fueled by corruption and a woman relentlessly in pursuit of justice, The Museum Detective is an exciting, gritty new crime thriller that announces a whip-smart and brilliant sleuth and builds to a stunning, emotional conclusion that readers won’t soon forget.

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Maha Khan Phillips was born in Karachi, Pakistan. She is the author of Beautiful from This Angle, The Mystery of the Aagnee Ruby, and The Curse of Mohenjodaro. She is a multiple award-winning financial journalist and editor who writes across a number of different journals and magazines. She lives in London with her husband and son and frequently visits Pakistan, where she has a keen interest in exploring archaeological sites.

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Enjoy the conversation with Maha Khan Phillips.