Oline Cogdill recently reviewed Dwyer Murphy’s The House on Buzzard’s Bay for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, and shared the review with us. The Poisoned Pen does have signed copies in the Webstore. https://bit.ly/4lIDusN And, as an added bonus, after the review, we have an interview with Dwyer Murphy.

Book review: ‘The House on Buzzards Bay’ an engrossing psychological thriller

‘The House on Buzzards Bay’ by Dwyer Murphy; Viking; 288 pages; $30

Longtime friends — especially those who’ve gone through many ups and downs — can have complicated relationships as Dwyer Murphy explores in his engrossing psychological thriller “The House on Buzzards Bay.”

Like a summer vacation, “The House on Buzzards Bay” moves at a languid pace showing the calm, restful days at a beach house, until those peaceful times take an abrupt turn.

Attorney Jim turned the southeastern Massachusetts beach house on Buzzards Bay that he inherited into a summer retreat that his closest friends from college could enjoy. He called it the Nanumett Sand and Swim Club.

Jim and his wife, Valentina, enjoyed hosting their friends, and the couple would make use of the house between those visits. But Jim and Valentina learned that arriving at the house during the winter was not comfortable. The group’s summer visits also dwindled as life choices, careers and family duties took priority.

Now Jim and Valentina want to restart the visits, inviting bestselling novelist Bruce, diplomat Rami, art teacher Maya and her wife, Shannon, who is expecting their first child. The friends have fun reconnecting, and the days are filled with swimming, good food, cocktails and watching Jim and Valentina’s 7-year-old twins enjoy beach life. The friends relish their strong base, that they can pick up as if no time had passed. Except for Bruce.

From the beginning, Bruce is belligerent, taking any opportunity to criticize everyone, often refusing to join meals. Things reach an impasse when Bruce berates Jim for bad parenting, resulting in a physical fight. The next day, Bruce vanishes. The friendships begin to fray when a woman named Camille shows up, claiming Bruce had invited her.

Camille ignites little feuds among the friends. The old house’s creaks intensify as if it is “troubled.” A weird séance led by Camille and a local librarian unsettles the group. A series of break-ins by local teens continue, though Jim oddly denies his house has been targeted. Secrets between Jim and Valentina begin to tumble out, undercutting their marriage.

“The House on Buzzards Bay” is part “The Big Chill” and all simmering suspense, showcasing the talents of Murphy, who lives in Miami-Dade County.

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Check out Patrick Millikin’s interview with Dwyer Murphy.

The CWA (British Crime Writers Association) Awards that were presented recently. Thanks to The Rap Sheet for the list. Because most of the books are British, they might not aways be available through the Webstore. https://store.poisonedpen.com/. Please check!

KAA Gold Dagger:The Book of Secrets, by Anna Mazzola (Orion)

Also nominated: A Divine Fury, by D.V. Bishop (Macmillan); The Bell Tower, by R.J. Ellory (Orion); 

The Hunter, by Tana French (Penguin); Guide Me Home, by Attica Locke (Profile); and I Died at Fallow Hall, by Bonnie Burke-Patel (Bedford Square)

Ian Fleming Steel Dagger:Dark Ride, by Lou Berney (Hemlock Press)

Also nominated: Nobody’s Hero, by M.W. Craven (Constable); Sanctuary, by Garry Disher (Viper); Hunted, by Abir Mukherjee (Harvill & Secker); Blood Like Mine, by Stuart Neville (Simon & Schuster); and City in Ruins, by Don Winslow (Hemlock Press)

ILP John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger:All Us Sinners, by Katy
Massey (Sphere)

Also nominated: Miss Austen Investigates, by Jessica Bull (Michael Joseph); Knife River, by Justine Champine (Manilla Press); Three Burials, by Anders Lustgarten (Hamish Hamilton); A Curtain Twitcher’s Book of Murder, by Gay Marris (Bedford Square); and Deadly Animals, by Marie Tierney (Zaffre)

Twisted Dagger (for “psychological and suspense thrillers”):Nightwatching, by Tracy Sierra (Viking)

Also nominated: Emma, Disappeared, by Andrew Hughes (Hachette Ireland); Beautiful People, by Amanda Jennings (HQ); The Stranger in Her House, by John Marrs (Thomas & Mercer); The Trials of Marjorie Crowe, by C.S. Robertson (Hodder & Stoughton); and Look in the Mirror, by Catherine Steadman (Quercus)

Whodunnit Dagger (for “cosy crime, traditional mysteries, and Golden Age crime” stories):The Case of the Singer and the Showgirl, by Lisa Hall (Hera)

Also nominated: A Death in Diamonds, by S.J. Bennett (Zaffre); Murder at the Christmas Emporium, by Andreina Cordani (Zaffre); A Good Place to Hide a Body, by Laura Marshall (Hodder & Stoughton); A Matrimonial Murder, by Meeti Shroff-Shah (Joffe); and Murder at the Matinee, by Jamie West (Brabinger)

Historical Dagger:The Betrayal of Thomas True, by A.J. West (Orenda)

Also nominated: A Divine Fury, by D.V. Bishop (Macmillan); Banquet of Beggars, by Chris Lloyd (Orion); The Book of Secrets, by Anna Mazzola (Orion); and Poor Girls, by Clare Whitfield (Head of Zeus/Aries)

Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger:The Night of Baby Yaga, by Akira Otani, translated by Sam Bett (Faber & Faber)

Also nominated: Dogs and Wolves, by Hervé Le Corre, translated by Howard Curtis (Europa Editions UK); Going to the Dogs, by Pierre Lemaitre, translated by Frank Wynne (MacLehose Press); The Clues in the Fjord, by Satu Rämö, translated by Kristian London (Zaffre); Butter, by Asako Yuzuki, translated by Polly Barton (4th Estate); 

and Clean, by Alia Trabucco Zerán, translated by Sophie Hughes (4th Estate)

ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-fiction:The Peepshow: The Murders at 10 Rillington Place, by Kate Summerscale (Bloomsbury Circus)

Also nominated: Unmasking Lucy Letby: The Untold Story of the Killer Nurse, by Jonathan Coffey and Judith Moritz (Seven Dials); The Lady in the Lake: A Reporter’s Memoir of a Murder, by Jeremy Craddock (Mirror); Framed: Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions, by John Grisham and Jim McCloskey (Hodder & Stoughton); The Criminal Mind, by Duncan Harding (Michael Joseph); and Four Shots in the Night: A True Story of Stakeknife, Murder, and Justice in Northern Ireland, by Henry Hemming (Quercus)

Short Story Dagger: “A Date on Yarmouth Pier,” by J.C. Bernthal (from Midsummer Mysteries, edited by Martin Edwards; Flame Tree)

Also nominated: “The Glorious Twelfth,” by S.J. Bennett (from Midsummer Mysteries); “Why Harrogate?” by Janice Hallett (from Murder in Harrogate, edited by Vaseem Khan; Orion); “City Without Shadows,” by William Burton McCormick (from Midsummer Mysteries); “A Ruby Sun,” by Meeti Shroff-Shah (from Midsummer Mysteries); and “Murder at the Turkish Baths,” by Ruth Ware (from Murder in Harrogate)

Dagger in the Library (“for a body of work by an established crime writer that has long been popular with borrowers from libraries”): Richard Osman

Also nominated: Kate Atkinson, Robert Galbraith, Janice Hallett, Lisa Jewell; and Edward Marston

Publishers’ Dagger (“awarded annually to the Best Crime and Mystery Publisher of the Year”): Orenda Books

Also nominated: Bitter Lemon Press, Faber & Faber, Pan Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster

Emerging Author Dagger (“for the opening of a crime novel by an unpublished writer,” formerly called the Debut Dagger): Joe Eurell, Ashland

Also nominated: Loftus Brown, Bahadur Is My Name; Shannon Chamberlain, Funeral Games; Hywel Davies, Soho Love, Soho Blood; Shannon Falkson, The Fifth; and Catherine Lovering, Murder Under Wraps

Finally, Mick Herron, author of the Slough House series, had previously been declared this year’s recipient of the CWA Diamond Dagger.

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, recently welcomed Michael Robotham from Australia for a virtual appearance for the bookstore. The White Crow, the second police procedural featuring Philomena McCarthy, is the bookstore’s British Crime Selection for July. If you order it through the Webstore, there are more copies on the way. https://bit.ly/3Tq3nRZ

Here’s the description of The White Crow.

“No one does suspense better.” —Stephen King

Ambitious young London police officer Philomena McCarthy returns in this propulsive thriller by the author of When You Are Mine.

Philomena McCarthy has defied the odds to become a young officer with the Metropolitan Police despite her father and her uncles being notorious London gangsters.

On patrol one night, Philomena finds a barefoot child, covered in blood, who says she can’t wake her mother. Meanwhile, three miles away, a London jeweler has a bomb strapped to his chest in his ransacked store and millions are missing.

These two events collide and threaten Philomena’s career, her new marriage, and her life. In too deep, and falling further, Phil must decide who she can trust—her family or her colleagues—and on what side of the thin blue line she wants to live.

Told in real time from multiple points of view, The White Crow is filled with almost unbearable suspense—a page-turning tour de force that shows Robotham at the top of his game.

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Michael Robotham is a former investigative journalist whose bestselling psychological thrillers have been translated into twenty-five languages. He has twice won a Ned Kelly Award for Australia’s best crime novel, for Lost in 2005 and Shatter in 2008. His recent novels include When She Was Good, winner of the UK’s Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for best thriller; The Secrets She Keeps; Good Girl, Bad Girl; When You Are Mine; Lying Beside You; Storm Child; and The White Crow. After living and writing all over the world, Robotham settled his family in Sydney, Australia.

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Here’s the recent interview with Michael Robotham. However, if you’re interested in earlier ones, Peters reminded the audience they could find other videos by looking at Michael Robotham Poisoned Pen Bookstore on YouTube.

Jen Johans from The Poisoned Pen recently welcomed Lina Chern for a virtual event at the bookstore. Cherm’s first book featuring Katie True, Play the Fool, is the winner of the Mary Higgins Clark Award. Chern’s sequel is Tricks of Fortune. There are copies available in the Webstore. https://bit.ly/4lH1exu

Here’s the description of Tricks of Fortune.

Tarot card reader extraordinaire Katie True gets embroiled in another local murder when her best friend becomes the prime suspect in this exciting mystery from the Edgar Award-winning author of Play the Fool.

“A delicious blend of suspense and madcap humor.”—Library Journal, starred review of Play the Fool

Katie True has gotten her crap together. . . sort of. Now that the sinister events of the past year have wound down, Katie has finally made her dream come true and opened her own tarot reading room—even if it’s in her sister’s old real estate office in an outdoor strip mall. It’s a good start, but her momentum grinds to a halt when the murder of beloved veteran police officer, Matthew Peterson, shakes her and her small community to the core.

Katie is torn. Lieutenant Peterson had saved her life as a child and holds a special place in her past. Even worse, her closest friend Gina—who knows Katie better than she knows herself—is the primary suspect.

As the investigation unfolds, the details surrounding Peterson’s death become increasingly murky, as does Gina’s innocence. All Katie knows is that following her intuition has gotten her this far. But will her trusty tarot deck help her when the truth about the people she loves is too terrible to face?

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Lina Chern’s debut mystery novel, Play the Fool, won the 2024 Mary Higgins Clark Award and was nominated for the 2024 Lefty and Anthony Awards. Her shorter work has appeared in Mystery Weekly, The Marlboro Review, The Bellingham Review, Black Fox Literary Magazine, and The Coil. She lives in the Chicago area with her family.

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Enjoy the conversation with Lina Chern as she discusses tarot and her books.

The Poisoned Pen Bookstore is closed today for July 4. That doesn’t mean you can’t reach the bookstore. You can check out the Webstore twenty-four hours a day at https://store.poisonedpen.com/.

And, check out the author events at YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTbRuLNmD8EhT4WrGGMVW-w

Are you looking for books to read this summer? John Charles at The Poisoned Pen put together a program featuring Barbara Peters, owner of the bookstore, along with himself and three authors, Allison Brennan, Jenn McKinlay and Christina Estes who have suggestions for you. Check the Webstore for the titles they recommend. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

And, now, check out the event via the bookstore’s YouTube page.

While I shared the video last week featuring Megan Abbott talking about her latest book, El Dorado Drive, now we have Oline Cogdill’s review from the South Florida Sun Sentinel. You an still order a signed copy from The Poisoned Pen’s Webstore. https://bit.ly/4kopK5s

Thank you, Oline.

Book review: Money and suspense fuel Abbott’s ‘El Dorado Drive’

‘El Dorado Drive’ by Megan Abbott. Putnam, 368 pages, $30

Money — or rather, the lack of it — drives the three Bishop sisters, Debra, Pam and Harper, in “El Dorado Drive,” Megan Abbott’s intelligent, character-driven thriller that spins on the suspense that infiltrates family dynamics.

Abbott is among the smartest of mystery writers, intuitively exploring women’s issues with a view to the universality of these situations, which she brings to the riveting “El Dorado Drive.” She succinctly looks at how the heedless pursuit of money can be soul-numbing, while also exploring the varieties of regret.

The Butler sisters, who grew up in the affluent town of Grosse Pointe, Michigan, were used to the privilege that wealth brings, until the money dwindled after their father lost his job, then died. Debra and Pam married well — very well — until their money ran out because of their husbands’ medical issues, unpaid taxes, bad investments and deadbeat ways. Harper, the one sister who didn’t marry or have children, also is in debt to an unscrupulous creditor. The decline of the auto industry and the economic downturn of 2008, the setting of “El Dorado Drive,” exacerbated their financial problems.

Abbott shows how the illusion of wealth and the appearance that they can afford anything drives the sisters. As savvy and worldly as they may seem, the sisters also are naïve about money, making them ripe for a scam.

Enter “the Wheel,” a secret project started by an acquaintance that purports to be an all-female “circle of giving.” Members contribute an initial $5,000, then attend twice a month parties where they are assured of a windfall. So much money will come to each member that it will be life changing.

Most people would recognize this as a scheme that eventually will fall apart. “It’s not a pyramid,” says one character. “It’s a triangle . . . There’s no hierarchy in triangles.” The Wheel is always “moving,” it’s explained. No one ever stays at the top or at the bottom but always moving throughout the “triangle.”

Of course it’s a pyramid scheme, where success depends on how many other women can be recruited. No taxes, no money trail, just a regular windfall that’s attractive, but, “money ain’t free,” as a character says.

The women also are attracted by the idea of female empowerment, especially since all their money woes can be attributed to the men in their lives. The women are warned to be discreet so that no one suspects where the money is coming from. But instead of paying bills or getting the roof repaired, some can’t help falling back to indiscriminate spending, flaunting renewed wealth with fur coats, high-end purses, luxury cars (even leasing one).

As one character says: “Things can get pretty complicated pretty fast when money’s involved. People have a tendency to get attached.”

At the beginning of “El Dorado Drive,” Abbott reveals that one sister is murdered; of course money is involved.

Abbott skillfully mines the characters’ shallowness while also showing their humanity, the depth of their desperation and how that can lead to bad decisions, and the sisters’ sincere love for each other. Abbott makes the reader empathize and sympathize with her characters. A mother throws an elaborate party for her high school graduate, but isn’t sure how she will pay for his college tuition. Another scrapes together the Wheel’s entry fee but sacrifices paying her daughter’s SAT prep tutor.

The sense of danger simmers below the surface of “El Dorado Drive” as Abbott’s superb plotting and character studies keep the story on point, making this one of the best novels of the year.

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Enjoy The Poisoned Pen’s YouTube video with Megan Abbott and Barbara Peters and Jen Johans from the bookstore.

It’s hard to believe it’s time for Deb Lewis’ book picks for July. Although each review should have a link to the Webstore, you can always check the Webstore at https://store.poisonedpen.com/.

The Goldens by Lauren Wilson

For fans of Netflix’s hit SIRENS, follow writer Chloe Hughes as she sinks deeper under the influence of model, socialite, and influencer Clara Holland. Unreliable narrator fans, dig right in!

Rage by Linda Castillo

The newest installment of the Edgar Award winning series featuring Chief of Police Kate Burkholder. I look forward to my yearly trips to Painter’s Mill and this installment delivers with tough gal Kate and all of her 5 man crew on the case of a baffling double homicide. Where else can you find a police procedural, newly wed love and insight into Amish culture? Signed copies available
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Etiquette for Lovers and Killers by Anna Fitzgerald Healy 

Readers who liked recent hits A Most Agreeable Murder and How To Solve Your Own Murder will love this darkly humorous, twisty and light hearted debut mystery set in 1960’s coastal Maine. Each chapter starts with a rule of etiquette from the 60’s and it’s great fun to follow amateur sleuth Billie McCadie as she unravels blackmail, murder, lobster and Jello Salad. 

All We Trust by Gregory Galloway

Perfect beachside read for noir-fans! This paperback original follows two small town crooks who get in over their heads: and is a fast paced romp with betrayal, kidnapping, double-dealing and tested loyalties. Wear your sunglasses while reading this one!

Everyone Is Lying To You by Jo Piazza

Influencers are becoming the norm in our daily life and this thriller takes a look at what happens when one disappears suddenly after inviting her former best friend to write a profile piece about her. Investigating a disappearance is much harder when everything you  know about the victim is a lie….paperback original format meant to be read in one big gulp. 

Fade In by Kyle Mills 

Thriller fans, rejoice! Kyle Mills has brought back fan-favorite hero Fade—presumed dead—just in time to tackle one of the deadliest crises our planet could face. If you like your hero fearless, conflicted, and a bad-boy ex-Navy SEAL, dive in. This one doesn’t disappoint and marks the beginning of an exciting new series!  

This is planning ahead. Dana Stabenow’s recent newsletter revealed the cover of her forthcoming book, The Harvey Girl. It comes out on Feb. 24, 2026, but it’s already available to pre-order signed copies through The Poisoned Pen. Here’s Stabenow’s note.

Ta dah! Here it is in all its blinding glory, courtesy of editor Greg Rees at Head of Zeus. We launch it at the Poisoned Pen on February 28, 2026. Click through the image above to pre-order your copy, or click here to do same. And here’s a teensy excerpt just for you…

“You won’t be entirely on your own, Miss Wright.”

“No?”

“No. I have hired some, well, you might call it freelance assistance. They are already in place in Montaña Roja.”

Clare felt a sense of foreboding. “Is this freelance help named?”

He told her, and she closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them again she noticed Pinkerton looking particularly smug.

He really must think she would get herself killed this time. 

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Here’s the summary of the book.

From the award-winning author of the Kate Shugak Mysteries, a thrilling new detective series set during America’s wild boom time and frontier expansion of the nineteenth century.

WELCOME TO THE GILDED AGE. WHERE NOT EVERYTHING GLITTERS.

1890: the Gilded Age, a period of financial success and political corruption. The United States is growing at a breathless rate, with six new states recently added to the Union.

With expansion comes an influx of crime. Outlaw gangs hold sway on the frontier and heists and robberies are commonplace. A lot of businesses shrug off these depredations as the cost of success. Those who don’t hire the Pinkerton Detective Agency to get their money back.

The Pinkertons’ newest operative is twenty-two-year-old Clare Wright. Highly educated, skilled with disguises, and handy enough in a fight, Clare’s future in the agency seems bright. But when she’s introduced to Fred Harvey, she finds herself thrown right into the heady mix of frontier life.

Harvey’s New Mexico hotel has been robbed and Clare is the perfect recruit to solve this mystery. Clare must infiltrate high society and win the confidence of killers like Butch Cassidy as she seeks the truth.

‘Let me recommend Dana Stabenow’ Diana Gabaldon

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Dana Stabenow was born in Anchorage, Alaska and raised on a 75-foot fishing tender. She knew there was a warmer, drier job out there somewhere and found it in writing. Her first book in the bestselling Kate Shugak series, A Cold Day for Murder, received an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America.

Follow Dana at stabenow.com