Jane and the Final Mystery is Stephanie Barron’s last mystery featuring Jane Austen as an amateur sleuth. You can check out the Webstore for that book and others in the series. Here’s the link to Stephanie Barron’s page if you’re looking for the books. https://bit.ly/3ZGk8ei.

Dana Stabenow recently reviewed Jane and the Final Mystery.

Being the fifteenth and final Jane Austen mystery by Stephanie Barron. A friend’s son, William Heathcote, enrolled at Winchester College and handicapped by a severe stammer, has been unjustly persecuted by person or persons unknown, up to and including being charged with a murder he did not commit.

Jane, laid low by what will be her final illness, nevertheless succumbs to the entreaties of her nephew Edward who is a friend of William’s and journeys from Chawton to Winchester to unravel this tangle, clear William’s name, and bring the true murderer to justice.

Which of course she does, for she is Jane. I will be forever grateful to Barron for flying in the face of reality and ending the series on a hopeful note.

It is not the London physician I had hoped to consult, when the prospect of a legacy remained to me; but it is something, indeed, to have a man of science back me.
Who knows, after all, what the future may hold?

In an alternate universe Jane lives on.

In the meantime, I now want to go back and reread all fifteen of Jane’s adventures, beginning with Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor, where Jane and we first meet that Gentleman Rogue, Harold Trowbridge. My favorites include Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron where in interviewing Lord Byron Jane has a tiger by the tail, Jane and the Waterloo Map where Jane investigates a body in a library (I so loved writing that line), and Jane and the Year Without a Summer, where we see the last of the Hero, aka Raphael West.

But they’re all great reads, graced with Barron’s gift of being able to channel Jane’s personality and stile [sic, that’s how they spelled it then], her ability to interpolate lines from all of Jane’s works into the narrative she has created here, and the positive genius she displayed in creating a crime fiction series with Jane Austen as the detective in the first place. But who better? No one has ever been more adept at seeing right through the imperfections and conceits we all share, even if none of Jane’s commit murder to cover them up.

There’s some exciting news about Donna Leon’s Commissario Guido Brunetti book series. Once you’ve checked it out, you might want to get a head start on reading the books. Her current book, A Refiner’s Fire, and many of the earlier books, are available through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/4iCOiYQ.

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Check out the news from “Deadline”, written by Nellie Andrews earlier this week.

“Julian Fellowes To Adapt Detective Brunetti Books As TV Series In Works At 20th Television From Late Producer Ileen Maisel”

You can find the entire article here. https://bit.ly/3Dn5aCq.

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And, Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen Bookstore, hosted Donna Leon a few months ago. You can still watch that conversation on The Poisoned Pen’s YouTube Channel.

Marcia Clark was the most recent guest author at The Poisoned Pen. She’s the last guest author of 2024, so you might want to catch her discussion of her latest book, a nonfiction book called Trial by Ambush. There are still a few signed copies available through the Webstore, but it’s too late to get them before the holidays. If you want a copy, you need to know you’ll get it in 2025. https://bit.ly/41y4moG.

Here’s the summary of Trial by Ambush.

In this dramatic true account about the power of sensationalized crime, one woman’s case is exposed for its sexism, flagrant disregard for the truth, and, ultimately, the dangers posed by an unbridled prosecution.

Unwanted and neglected from birth, Barbara Graham had to overcome the odds just to survive. Her beauty was both a blessing and a curse—offering her too many options of all the wrong kind. Her innate sensitivity left her vulnerable to the harsh realities of the street, where she was left to fend for herself before she reached double digits. Her record of petty crimes spoke to a life that constantly teetered on the brink of disaster.

But in 1953, a catastrophic twist of fate would catapult her out of obscurity and into the headlines.

When a robbery spiraled out of control and escalated into a brutal murder, Barbara became the centerpiece of a media circus. Her beauty enraptured the press, and they were quick to portray her as a villainous femme fatale despite abundant evidence to the contrary—a fiction the prosecution eagerly promoted.

The frenzy of public interest and willful distortion paved a treacherous path for Barbara Graham. In Trial by Ambush, author and criminal lawyer Marcia Clark investigates the case exposing the fallacies in the demonizing picture they painted and the critical evidence that was never revealed.

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California native Marcia Clark is the author of Final Judgment, Snap Judgment, Moral Defense, and Blood Defense, all part of the Samantha Brinkman series. A practicing criminal lawyer since 1979, Clark joined the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office in 1981, where she served as prosecutor for the trials of Robert John Bardo, convicted of killing actress Rebecca Schaeffer, and, most notably, O. J. Simpson. The bestselling Without a Doubt, which she cowrote, chronicles her work on the Simpson trial. Clark has been a frequent commentator on a variety of shows and networks, including Today, Good Morning America, The Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN, and MSNBC, as well as a legal correspondent for Entertainment Tonight.

Follow Marcia on X at @thatmarciaclark.

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Enjoy the conversation with Marcia Clark.

James R. Benn has nineteen Billy Boyle World War II mysteries, and you can find the current one, along with the backlist through The Poisoned Pen’s Webstore. https://bit.ly/41CsiHv. Dana Stabenow recently reviewed the latest in the series, The Phantom Patrol. There are signed copies still in stock. You might want to consider copies for yourself or a loved one with planned arrival after the holidays.

Here’s Stabenow’s review of The Phantom Patrol.

Six months after D-Day, Captain Billy Boyle, Eisenhower’s special agent, is in Paris laying a trap for a group called the Syndicat made up of deserters from everyone’s armies who are stealing everything that isn’t nailed down (which is most everything in the aftermath of the invasion and the liberation of France et al) and selling it for profit.

Except…maybe that isn’t all that is going on, and where Billy’s concerned it usually isn’t. All the usual suspects, Kaz, Mike, Harding, Uncle Ike himself are present and accounted for, along with new characters including J.D. Salinger, at present an agent for the Army’s Office of Special Intelligence

“Hey, Captain Boyle,” Salinger said. “I wish you hadn’t plugged that guy. We could have interrogated him.”
“There was a lot of shooting,” I said. “I thought asking nicely wouldn’t be very effective.”

and a delightfully extended cameo appearance by Major David Niven*, inadvertently seconded from General Montgomery’s staff.

“What the hell! Has Monty sent reinforcements?” asked a GI taking cover in the doorway.
“For this little dustup? I doubt you need our help, Private,” Niven said. “How long as it been going on?”
“Since dawn, sir,” he said. “Say, ain’t you…?”
“Yes, I am. Basil Rathbone, at your service. Now, where can I find your intelligence section?”

Billy is under fire for most of the narrative and the sound of bullets singing past his ears is a great motivator to discover just what the hell is going on, how it relates to his investigation of art thefts, and who the real target is. Naturally, no one at a command level including his boss, Major Harding, believes him when he figures it out and he is left to stop the perps himself, with only Kaz and some, ah, volunteers as backup.

I scrambled to my feet, fear sending me flying forward in one, two, three great strides before I dove and hit the ground. The explosion was a loud pop as the igniter charges went off and released the burning phosphorus at white-hot temperatures. I jumped up and ran as soon as I realized the truck had absorbed the hit from the Willie Peter, which normally would have spread nearly twenty yeards in every direction. I don’t know what went wrong, but I was glad I’d gotten out quickly.

As you will be, because this battle ain’t half over yet. This is perhaps Benn’s best fight scene in all 19 books (although, Sicily and Billy going up against the Panzer division is a close second). His investigation takes Billy and gang to the front lines at the very beginning of the Battle of the Bulge, where Benn does not stint on the horrors of war. The slaughter of US soldiers in the act of surrendering is hard to read, as is the death of [spoiler], whom I liked entirely too well to see the end of, dammit.

I consider myself fairly well read on the events of World War II but Benn always finds something I never heard of. Here it is the Einheit Stielau commando unit, the Nazi force that fielded English-speaking soldiers dressed in American uniforms to spread confusion and fear among the Allied ranks while killing as many of them as possible, whose mission the author turns distinctly to his plot’s advantage.

I really liked Benn’s last Billy Boyle novel, Proud Sorrows, which is a WWII country house murder removed from the scene of battle. The Phantom Patrol may be Benn’s best book set in war. But you should read them all, starting with Billy Boyle, and do not miss the acknowledgements pages in the backs of all the novels. I mean, he doesn’t really have to make much up.

*If you have yet to read David Niven’s two autobiographies, The Moon’s a Balloon and Bring on the Empty Horses, allow me to urge you to do so. They are hands down the best Hollywood biographies you’ll ever read, and I’m guessing by far the most honest.

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Author Dana Stabenow recently reviewed A Grave in the Woods by Martin Walker. There are signed copies of this Bruno, Chief of Police novel available in the Webstore, along with Walker’s other books. But, don’t expect them by December 25. Shipping deadlines mean it’s too late. But, give it to yourself or someone else as a gift after the holidays! https://bit.ly/47rtL3v.

Here’s Stabenow’s review of A Grave in the Woods.

Of Martin Walker’s 17 Bruno novels, all of which I have thoroughly enjoyed (especially the food) this feels like the one that was written straight from the heart. The past is always very much present in these books, but here a secret grave revealing the raped and murdered corpses of two young German women and a murdered Italian officer from the last year of World War II feels somehow more real and more immediate than anything he has written before. Fabiola, the local doctor, in her words.

“My tentative initial conclusion is that each of these women died as a result of a broken neck, cause unknown.” She turned off the microphone and placed a hand on the skull that lolled to one side. Then she stood silently for a long moment before turning to face Bruno and the other men with cold fury in her eyes. “…the fact that they were naked and their necks deliberately broken provokes the inevitable assumption that they were raped and murdered, like so many women in so many wars in so much of our human history…” The four men stood silently as she left, their eyes downcast, not glancing at one another and not following Fabiola as she walked toward the bridge…

The discovery provokes a response from the citizens of St. Denis, its department, France, Italy, and Germany that surprises everyone, but which the mayor as is his wont turns to St. Denis’ advantage by creating a memorial to all the dead of that war. Which action also greatly interferes with Bruno, still in recovery from his wounds from the previous book, investigating a cryptocurrency crime (is there anything other than crime in stories, fact or fiction, about cryptocurrency?) involving a young American divorcée newly moved to France. Which crime of course has international implications and makes J.J. and the general especially cranky.

Later, at dinner at the baron’s, when singers Rod and Amélie debut a song about the newly discovered dead in the hearing of the children and grandchildren of the people who fought the war to end all wars, Bruno himself is provoked to long and deep thought.

Mon Dieu, how that war lives in us, its heirs, Bruno thought. How much it gave the Americans the conviction that they had a duty to save the world. And how it gave the Russians a mission to save, not socialism, but the historic sense of Russia as the land that had saved Europe from the Mongol hordes in medieval times and saved them again from the Nazis in the twentieth century. We live still in the shadow of that war, seek to learn its lessons, talk of a better world in which such grief and loss and torment can never return.

Cue any headline of news of Europe today. As always, an enjoyable read (with whackamole love interest Isabella mercifully restricted to a single phone call) and a breakneck denouement in the middle of an epic flood, but also a thoughtful look at the history of present day realities in Europe, the place that has given and taken so much from the rest of us over the last two millennia. Recommended.

A Snake in the Barley is the fifteenth book in Candace Robb’s Owen Archer series. She appeared virtually for The Poisoned Pen to talk about the latest book, but Barbara Peters and Patrick Millikin from the bookstore both mentioned Robb’s earlier books in the series. You can order the latest book, and the earlier ones in the series, through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/3Bmflqp

Here is the description of A Snake in the Barley.

Where is taverner Tom Merchet? Owen Archer unearths a series of troubling secrets and a dangerous foe intent on retribution when his good friend goes missing.

“A standout . . . Robb reinforces her place among the top writers of medieval historicals” – Publishers Weekly Starred Review

York, 1377. Owen Archer is determined to find his friend, taverner Tom Merchet, who has been missing for five days. His wife, Bess, is frantic with worry.

AN ENIGMATIC STRANGER.

Who is the elusive Widow Cobb that Tom was seen visiting? And who is the man spotted following Tom before he vanished? As Owen hunts for clues, Bess decides to visit the widow’s lodgings and makes a terrifying discovery.

RETRIBUTION IS BREWING . . .

Owen digs up past sins and long-buried secrets that answer some of the questions surrounding Tom’s disappearance. But who is the sly and malevolent figure intent on destroying his friend, and why? A shocking confession will rock Owen to his core . . .

An action-packed, evocative and masterfully plotted medieval mystery in the critically acclaimed Owen Archer series, perfect for fans of C.J. Sansom, Ellis Peters and Paul Doherty.

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Candace Robb has read and researched medieval history for many years, having studied for a Ph.D. in Medieval & Anglo-Saxon Literature. She divides her time between Seattle and the UK, frequently visiting York to research the series. She is the author of eleven previous Owen Archer mysteries and three Kate Clifford medieval mysteries.

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Enjoy the fascinating conversation about British history and the medieval mystery.

Most of you will recognize the name of our guest reviewer, Dana Stabenow. Stabenow is the author of the award-winning, bestselling Kate Shugak series. The first book in the series, A Cold Day for Murder, received an Edgar Award. Now, Stabenow is reviewing some of the backlist from The Poisoned Pen. Check the Webstore here to order a copy of Lindsay Jayne Ashford’s The Woman on the Orient Express. https://bit.ly/4gqCcA1.

Full disclosure: I distrust most novels that feature real world famous people. The writers are too often excessively deferential toward their main character, resulting in more of a hagiography than a novel about a real person.

But I’m happy to report that this is not that book. It’s 1928 and Agatha Christie is on the run from her failed first marriage and the crushing attention from the press that came with it. She is planning to escape to the Caribbean and then she sees an article about Leonard Woolley’s archeological discoveries in Syria. So she boards the fabled Orient Express train from Paris to Istanbul, with Damascus as her final destination.

I do love me a great setting, and Ashford might have been the set designer for the 1974 film of the Christie novel.

The excitement of boarding the train gave way to exquisite relief as she climbed up a tapestry-covered ladder and slipped between damask sheets…

The headwaiter seated Agatha with her back to the engine and asked whether she would prefer Indian or Chinese tea. He went to fetch it while she perused the menu: eggs Benedict, kedgeree, or pancakes with maple syrup?…The newspaper, carefully ironed, was laid out beside silver cutlery that glinted where the sun caught it…

I mean, lead me to it. But Agatha isn’t the only single woman traveling on the Orient Express.

As she lifted the monogrammed porcelain cup to her lips, she spotted a girl at the table opposite.

In fact there are two other women traveling alone on that journey, all bound for Damascus, and each of them have deep-held secrets that will radically change all three of their lives, some for the better, and some…not.

She thought abut how she had pleaded with Archie to stay when he told her about his affair. How she had begged him to give their marriage another chance, to stay for three more months before making a decision. She remembered awful that had been, how cold he was toward her and the rows they had had. Things had become to bad that if she entered a room, he would get up and leave…Eventually, she saw that by trying to cling to him, all she had done was prolong the agony. There were no half measures with Archie.I can’t stand not having what I want, and I can’t stand not being happy. Everybody can’t be happy–somebody has got be unhappy. He’d said it time and again during those three months.

Which tells us everything we need to know about Archie, but all three women are suffering from one man-related malady or another. Suffice it to say that the male character you would least expect to show up does, and does so in whole-hearted and heart-warming style.

Ashford waxes even more lyrical about the desert landscape of the Middle East than she does about the Wagon-Lits service on board the train.

“Oh, look!” Katharine knelt up in bed, her nose against the glass. “It’s the Cilician Gates!…It’s the pass through the Taurus Mountains. Alexander the Great brough his army through here in 333 BC, and Saint Paul passed through his way to visit the Galatians. The train always stops to let people get out and admire the view.”…
“It’s like standing on the rim of the world!” Nancy took Agatha’s arm. The rock beneath their feet dropped almost vertically. They were looking out at a vast plain, hazy with mist in the early sunshine…As she gazed at the vast plain below, the colors changed before her eyes, from a milky violet blue to smoky gray to a pale yellow green.

and

There was something about being in the desert, at daybreak, with the colors of the dawn–pale pinks, corals, and blues–and the pure, cool air that gave everything a sense of wonder…This was what she had dreamed of. Here, in this barren landscape, she was truly away from everything–with the silent morning air, the rising sun, the sand for a seat, and the taste of sausages and tea.

Part tripartite romance, part travelogue, partly a short version of Bonehead Archeology, and a thoroughly enjoyable read, after which you will as I did google for images of the Cilician Gates and Bahr al Milh and Ukhaidir.

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Dana Stabenow

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Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, asked Ian K. Smith to talk about his background writing nonfiction about nutrition and diet. He also discussed his Ashe Cayne novels set in Chicago where he lives. Signed copies of his current one, Eagle Rock, is available in the Webstore. https://bit.ly/4fnMrEt.

Here’s the summary of Eagle Rock.

Billionaire Elliott Kantor, who ruled over a mammoth real estate portfolio in Chicago, was a creature of habit. His trainer came to his house three mornings every week for a five-thirty workout. By six-thirty he was in the car and his driver drove him down into the city where he’d get a shave and trim from his barber every morning, then head over to his offices on Wacker. He always ate breakfast at his desk, had two young assistants who tended to his every whim and demand, then spent all day in and out of meetings growing a business that had already made him one of the wealthiest men in the country. 

There were few surprises in his world. Or so everyone thought, until Kantor died in his sleep at age 77, leaving behind a vast fortune and grieving wife, son, and five grandchildren.

When Simon Kantor enlists Ashe Cayne to explore his father’s death, the probing private investigator learns there was plenty of “activities” Elliott participated in after hours, including a sex traffic ring. And as Ashe and readers will discover this is only the beginning, and as our hero dives deeper and deeper into Elliott’s hidden world, this may be the end for the intrepid Mr. Cayne.

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Ian K. Smith is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Shred: The Revolutionary Diet, as well as Super Shred: The Big Results Diet, Blast the Sugar Out!, The Clean 20, and many other books. His novels include the award-winning The Blackbird Papers and The Ancient Nine, as well as the first three Ashe Cayne Novels: The Unspoken, Wolf Point, and The Overnights. Dr. Smith is a graduate of Harvard, Columbia, and the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine.

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Enjoy Ian K. Smith’s first in-person appearance at The Poisoned Pen.

We just shared Oline Cogdill’s list of Best Mysteries of 2024. Now, with her permission, we’re sharing her Best Debuts and Story Collections of 2024. First, debuts, in alphabetical order. (Links to the Webstore for your convenience are included.)

A couple expecting their first child in two weeks moves to a small Cotswolds town they’ve never visited and into a house they only saw online in The Expectant Detectives. There, they are caught up in the murder of a local shop owner. Wry humor bounces on each page. To say the couple is unprepared for parenthood is an understatement. https://bit.ly/3ZqAbgr.

Two sisters whose lives stalled the night their mother disappeared without a trace 15 years ago face a new uncertain future when her skeleton is found in Knife River. The sisters’ investigation superbly mixes with a thoughtful look at family bonds as the two women begin to appreciate each other while dealing with grief and their mental health strides. https://bit.ly/3ZKm3jv.

A private detective is hired to find a missing businessman suspected of stealing millions of dollars from his construction firm. Twice the Trouble packs in the action as it explores the streets of Orlando, its myriad neighborhoods and the nearby small towns. Central Florida has long needed a new voice in mysteries. https://bit.ly/41nmsJC.

Smoke Kings is a bold, provocative and at times uncomfortable look at race, loyalty and the consequences of revenge as four friends decide to avenge the racially motivated murder of a teenager. They plan to kidnap the descendants of those who committed hate crimes, then force them to make reparations to the victims’ family. https://bit.ly/49fEVcg.

Sometimes, you don’t get what you want, but you get what you need. In Booked for Murder, a woman puts aside her failed career as an actress to move to a small Georgia town where her recently deceased aunt has left her a bookstore. Small-town grudges and feuds abound. https://bit.ly/4ijl9S5.

Blood in the Cut is a confident, hard-charging look at South Florida gentrification, family ties, Cuban-American culture and the changing landscape of Miami with a deep tour of the Everglades. A young man seeks redemption for his criminal past while grappling with who he is and how the three years he spent in prison have changed him. https://bit.ly/4g4Xxz2.

SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS

A rockin’ collection wrapped around the Australian band AC/DC’s album “Back in Black”. https://bit.ly/41idSMq.

The title alone predicts excellence, and the latest in this annual collection of “The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2024” delivers with superior tales by top and emerging writers. These include Megan Abbott, Tananarive Due, Jordan Harper, Gar Anthony Haywood, Toni LP Kelner, Lisa Unger, among others. https://bit.ly/4irjJ85.

These 11 stories use Hanukkah to shadow events that occur around the Jewish holiday rather than its religious significance. Hanukkah — like most holidays that invite family gatherings, personal reflection and uncomfortable realities — can bring out the best and worst in people. Savor the dark, yet energetic stories in Eight Very Bad Nights as you light the menorah. https://bit.ly/3ZkqTCu.

These chilling yet poignant 13 linked stories in Highway Thirteen deliver a unique look at how a small Australian community reels from the aftermath of a killer. The murderer, who died in prison, is named but never shown. Instead, the focus is on the aftermath of havoc, evil and, especially, the trauma of those left behind. https://bit.ly/41rLdED.