John Charles from The Poisoned Pen recently hosted Christina Dodd for a virtual event. Dodd’s latest book, Point Last Seen, is usually in paperback, but the bookstore has a limited number of signed hardcovers. So, check the Web Store if you’re interested in a signed copy. https://bit.ly/3BbbIRI
Here’s the description of Point Last Seen.
“When it comes to nerve-shredding, edge-of-your-seat suspense, Dodd consistently delivers the goods…Point Last Seen is a gobsmackingly great read.”—Booklist STARRED REVIEW
Perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell, Karin Slaughter and Sandra Brown, New York Times bestselling author Christina Dodd’s all-new thriller, POINT LAST SEEN, will have readers keeping the lights on all night.
LIFE LAST SEEN
When you’ve already died, there should be nothing left to fear… When Adam Ramsdell pulls Elle’s half-frozen body from the surf on a lonely California beach, she has no memory of what her full name is and how she got those bruises ringing her throat.
GIRL LAST SEEN
Elle finds refuge in Adam’s home on the edge of Gothic, a remote village located between the steep lonely mountains and the raging Pacific Ocean. As flashes of her memory return, Elle faces a terrible truth—buried in her mind lurks a secret so dark it could get her killed.
POINT LAST SEEN
Everyone in Gothic seems to hide a dark past. Even Adam knows more than he will admit. Until Elle can unravel the truth, she doesn’t know who to trust, when to run and who else might be hurt when the killer who stalks her nightmares appears to finish what he started…
“No one does high-stakes, high-voltage suspense quite like Dodd.” —Booklist (starred review)
New York Times bestselling author Christina Dodd writes “edge-of-the-seat suspense” (Iris Johansen) with “brilliantly etched characters, polished writing, and unexpected flashes of sharp humor that are pure Dodd” (ALA Booklist). Her fifty-eight books have been called “scary, sexy, and smartly written” by Booklist and, much to her mother’s delight, Dodd was once a clue in the Los Angeles Times crossword puzzle. Enter Christina’s worlds and join her mailing list at www.christinadodd.com.
I hope you enjoy the conversation between Christina Dodd and John Charles.
Patrick King from The Poisoned Pen recently welcomed two authors who write young adult fiction. Both books were published on July 12. Sara Ella’s The Wonderland Trials is the first in her Curious Realities series. Wind Daughter is Joanna Ruth Meyer’s new book. There are signed copies of both books available in the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/
Here’s the description of The Wonderland Trials.
Solve the clues. Face your fears. Win the Trials.
All Alice Liddell wants is to escape her Normal life in Oxford and find the parents who abandoned her ten years ago. But she gets more than she bargained for when her older sister Charlotte is arrested for having the infamous Wonder Gene—the key to unlocking the curious Wonderland Reality.
Soon, Alice receives a rather cryptic invitation to play for Team Heart in this year’s annual—and often deadly—Wonderland Trials. Now she has less than twenty-four hours to find her way into Wonderland where nothing is impossible . . . or what it seems.
The stakes are raised when she discovers players go missing during the Trials each year. Will she and her team solve the clues and find the missing players? Or will betrayal and distrust win, leaving Alice alone in a world of her own? Follow the White Rabbit into this topsy-turvy fantasy where players become prey, a sip of the wrong tea might as well be poison, and a queen’s ways do not always lead one where they ought to go.
Once upon a time, Sara Ella dreamed she would marry a prince and live in a castle. Now she spends her days homeschooling her three Jedi in training, braving the Arizona summers, and reminding her superhero husband that it’s almost Christmas (even if it’s only January). When she’s not writing, Sara might be found behind her camera lens or planning her next adventure in the great wide somewhere. She is a Hufflepuff who finds joy in the simplicity of sipping a lavender white mocha and singing Disney tunes in the car. Sara is the author of the Unblemished trilogy and Coral, a reimagining of The Little Mermaid that focuses on mental health. Her latest journey into the world of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland feels like coming full circle after her time spent chasing the White Rabbit around Walt Disney World. Sara loves fairy tales and Jesus, and she still believes “Happily Ever After is Never Far Away.” Connect with her online at SaraElla.com or find her on Instagram at @saraellawrites.
Here’s the summary of Wind Daughter.
A hauntingly beautiful fairy tale about love and loss, this Echo North companion novel is perfect for fans of the Winternight Trilogy.
In the dark, cold reaches of the north lives a storyteller and his daughter. He told his daughter, Satu, many stories—romances like the girl who loved a star and changed herself into a nightingale so she could always see him shining—but the most important story he told her was his own. This storyteller was once the formidable North Wind, but he lost his power by trading it away in exchange for mortality—he loved her mother too much to live without her. The loss of his magic impacted more than just their family, however, and now the world is unraveling in the wake of this imbalance.
To save the North, Satu embarks on a perilous journey to reclaim her father’s magic, but she isn’t the only one searching for it. In the snow-laden mountains, she finds herself in a deadly race with the Winter Lord who wants the North Wind’s destructive powers for himself.
Satu has the chance to be the heroine of her own fairy tale, only this one has an ending she never could have imagined.
Joanna Ruth Meyer is the author of Beneath the Haunting Sea, and Echo North, which received starred reviews from both Kirkus and Publishers Weekly. She is also the author of Beyond the Shadowed Earth and Into the Heartless Wood. She lives in Mesa, Arizona.
If you enjoy fantasy or fairy tales, check out the conversation with Sara Ella and Joanna Ruth Meyer.
Although Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, was having Internet problems from Santa Fe, she jointly hosted two authors along with Patrick Millikin. William Martin, author of December ’41, and debut author Zac Topping, author of Wake of War, appeared for a virtual event. You can order copies of their books through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/
Here’s the summary of William Martin’s December ’41.
From New York Times bestselling author William Martin comes a WWII thriller as intense as The Day of the Jackal and as gripping as The Eye of the Needle. In December ’41, Martin takes us on the ultimate manhunt, a desperate chase from Los Angeles to Washington, D. C., in the first weeks of the Second World War.
On the day after Pearl Harbor, shocked Americans gather around their radios to hear Franklin Roosevelt declare war. In Los Angeles, a German agent named Martin Browning is planning to kill FDR on the night he lights the National Christmas Tree. Who will stop him? Relentless FBI Agent Frank Carter? Kevin Cusack, a Hollywood script reader who also spies on the German Bund of Los Angeles, and becomes a suspect himself? Or Vivian Hopewell, the aspiring actress who signs on to play Martin Browning’s wife and cannot help but fall in love with him?
The clock is ticking. The tracks are laid. The train of narrow escapes, mistaken identities, and shocking deaths is right on schedule. It’s a thrilling ride that will sweep you from the back lots of Hollywood to the speeding Super Chief to that solemn Christmas Eve, when twenty thousand people gather on the South Lawn of the White House and the lives of Franklin Roosevelt and his surprise guest, Winston Churchill, hang in the balance.
“A remarkable story that will keep you reading late into the night.” —Catherine Coulter, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Vortex
“Instantly cinematic and endlessly entertaining, December ’41 is an absolute page turner.” —Hank Phillippi Ryan, USA Today bestselling author of Her Perfect Life
WILLIAM MARTIN is the New York Times bestselling author of over a dozen novels, an award-winning PBS documentary on the life of George Washington, and a cult-classic horror film, too. In novels like Back Bay, City of Dreams, The Lost Constitution, The Lincoln Letter, and Bound for Gold, he has told stories of the great and the anonymous of American history, and he’s taken readers from the deck of the Mayflower to 9/11. His work has earned him many accolades and honors, including the 2005 New England Book Award, the 2015 Samuel Eliot Morison Award, and the 2019 Robert B. Parker Award. He and his wife live near Boston, where he serves on several cultural and historical institutions’ boards, and he has three grown children.
Here’s the description of Wake of War.
Zac Topping’s Wake of War is a timely account of the lengths those with power will go to preserve it, and the determination of those they exploit to destroy everything in the name of freedom anew.
“I just hope I’m on the right side of history.”
The United States of America is a crumbling republic. With the value of the dollar imploding, the government floundering, and national outrage and resentment growing by the hour, a rebellion has caught fire. The Revolutionary Front, led by Joseph Graham, has taken control of Salt Lake City.
In a nation where opportunity is sequestered behind the gilded doors of the rich and powerful, joining the Army seemed like James Trent’s best option. He just never thought he’d see combat. Now Trent finds himself on the front lines fighting for something he doesn’t even know if he believes in. Destroying innocent lives wasn’t what he signed on for, and he can feel himself slipping away with every casualty.
Sharpshooter Sam Cross was just fourteen when American soldiers gunned down her parents and forced her brother into conscription. Now, five years later, retribution feels like her only option to stitch the wound of her past. She has accepted Joseph Graham’s offer to be his secret weapon. His Reaper in the Valley. But retribution always comes at a cost.
When forces clash in Salt Lake City, alliances will be shattered, resolve will be tested, and when the dust clears nobody will be able to lie to themselves, or be lied to, again.
Zac Topping grew up in Eastern Connecticut where, contrary to popular belief, it’s not all trust funds and yacht clubs. He spent his formative years on the move, as some do, and discovered a passion for writing early in life. He is a veteran of the United States Army and has served two tours in Iraq. He currently lives with his wife in a quiet farm town in Connecticut and works as a career fire fighter. Wake of War is his debut novel.
Check out the conversation with William Martin and Zac Topping.
The Poisoned Pen recently welcomed eight authors for a virtual event, the contributors to the mystery anthology Hotel California. Don Bruns edited the collection, and these seven authors participated in the project: Andrew Child, Reed Farrel Coleman, Jennifer Dombush, Heather Graham, Rick Bleiweiss, Amanda Flower, and John Gilstrap. You can order copies of the books, signed by all the authors, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3OtATBK
Here’s the description of Hotel California.
Featuring a new Jack Reacher story by Andrew Child!
A dangerous drifter, a hired gun, a grisly corpse—you never know who you’ll run into at the Hotel California.
Eight deliciously talented mystery authors have lent their skills of crafting murder and suspense to this collection of gripping short stories. Each of these eight provocative tales is designed to entertain and mystify—and maybe even chill you to your core. Get lost in the wild imaginations of such New York Times bestselling writers as Andrew Child, Heather Graham, Reed Farrel Coleman, and John Gilstrap, plus authors Rick Bleiweiss, Jennifer Graeser Dornbush, Amanda Flower, and Don Bruns. From the titular tale “Hotel California” to a new, original Jack Reacher adventure, these stories have a little something for every mystery lover.
Go ahead. Check in, enjoy some room service, and stay until the very last tantalizing page. Just don’t forget to search the closet or behind the curtains.
ROBERT B. PARKER was the author of seventy books, including the legendary Spenser detective series, the novels featuring Chief Jesse Stone, and the acclaimed Virgil Cole/Everett Hitch Westerns, as well as the Sunny Randall novels. Winner of the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award and long considered the undisputed dean of American crime fiction, he died in January 2010. REED FARREL COLEMAN, author of the New York Times-bestselling Robert B. Parker’s The Hangman’s Sonnet, has been called a “hard-boiled poet” by NPR’s Maureen Corrigan and the “noir poet laureate” in The Huffington Post. He has published twenty-seven previous novels, including nine books in the critically acclaimed Moe Prager series, and most recently, What You Break featuring Gus Murphy. A four-time winner of the Shamus Award, he has also won the Anthony, Macavity, Barry, and Audie Awards. Coleman lives with his family on Long Island.
John Gilstrap is the New York Times bestselling author of Threat Warning (July, 2011), Hostage Zero, No Mercy, Nathan’s Run, At All Costs, Even Steven, Scott Free and Six Minutes to Freedom. In addition, John has written four screenplays for Hollywood, adapting the works of Nelson DeMille, Norman McLean and Thomas Harris. Most recently, he has signed two movie deals for his books. He will write and co-produce the film adaptation of his book, Six Minutes to Freedom, and executive produce the film adaptation of Scott Free. A frequent speaker at literary events, John also teaches seminars on suspense writing techniques at a wide variety of venues, from local libraries to The Smithsonian Institution. Outside of his writing life, John is a renowned safety expert with extensive knowledge of explosives, hazardous materials, and fire behavior. He currently works as the director of safety for a large trade association in Washington, DC. John lives in Fairfax, VA.
Andrew Child was born in Birmingham, England, in May 1968. He went to school in St. Albans, Hertfordshire, and later attended the University of Sheffield where he studied English literature and drama. After graduation Andrew set up and ran a small independent theater company which showcased a range of original material to local, regional, and national audiences. Following a critically successful but financially challenging appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Andrew moved into the telecommunications industry as a “temporary” solution to a short-term cash crisis. Fifteen years later, after carrying out a variety of roles including several which were covered by the UK’s Official Secrets Act, Andrew became the victim/beneficiary of a widespread redundancy program. Freed once again from the straight jacket of corporate life, he took the opportunity to answer the question, what if?
Jennifer Dornbush is an accomplished screenwriter and penned the script for the film version of God Bless the Broken Road. This is her first novel. She lives in Los Angeles, CA.
Amanda Flower is the USA Today bestselling and Agatha Award-winning mystery author of the Amish Quilt Shop Mysteries and the Amish Candy Shop Mystery series. She also writes mysteries as USA Today bestselling author Isabella Alan. In addition to being an author, Amanda is a librarian in Northeast Ohio.
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Heather Graham has written more than two hundred novels and novellas. She is a winner of the Romance Writers of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award, an International Thriller Writers Silver Bullet Award and, in 2016, the ThrillerMaster award from International Thriller Writers. She is an active member of International Thriller Writers and Mystery Writers of America, and is the founder of The Slush Pile Players, an author band and theatrical group. An avid scuba diver, ballroom dancer, and mother of five, she still enjoys her South Florida home, but also loves to travel.
Rick Bleiweiss started his career in music as a rock performer, produced over fifty records, was a songwriter and record company senior executive, and worked with the Backstreet Boys, Kiss, Whitney Houston, and other industry legends. As a publishing company executive, he has acquired works by authors including James Clavell, Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez, and others. In his latest creative endeavor, Rick has crafted the Pignon Scorbion mystery series. Follow Rick and Scorbion at www.RickBleiweiss.com
Burns tried to talk with each author for about five minutes. Check it out.
Paula Munier, author of The Wedding Plot appeared from Vermont for a virtual event for The Poisoned Pen. Barbara Peters, owner of the store, was in Santa Fe, and Patrick Millikin was in Arizona. Isn’t it great that these virtual events can go on with people all over the country? Munier signed copies of The Wedding Plot, and they’re available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3yVD4s9
Here’s the summary of The Wedding Plot.
The Wedding Plot, USA Today bestselling author Paula Munier’s fourth Mercy Carr mystery, finds Mercy and Elvis at a deadly Vermont wedding.
Love never dies a natural death…
When Mercy’s grandmother Patience marries her longtime beau Claude Renault at the five-star Lady’s Slipper Inn, it promises to be the destination wedding of the year. Just as the four-day extravaganza is due to begin, the inn’s spa director Bodhi St. George disappears—and Mercy’s mother Grace sends Mercy and Elvis to find him. But what they discover instead is a stranger skewered by a pitchfork in the barn on the goat farm where St. George lived.
As Mercy tries to figure out who the victim is and where St. George is hiding, the bride and groom’s estranged relations gather for the first of the pre-wedding festivities. Long-buried rivalries and resentments surface—and Mercy realizes that they’re all keeping secrets that could tear both families apart. When Elvis interrupts the escalating melodrama to alert Mercy to an intruder on the estate, she finds a wounded St. George in the cottage where she and Troy are staying. St. George is not who he says he is—but when he escapes from the hospital and disappears again, Mercy thinks he’s gone for good. With the wedding imminent and the families at each other’s throats, she decides finding St. George will have to wait.
The big day arrives—but the danger is far from over. With the families and the festivities still under threat, it’s up to Mercy and Elvis together with Troy and Susie Bear to stop the killer and save the bride and groom—before death do they part.
PAULA MUNIER is a literary agent and the USA TODAY bestselling author of the Mercy Carr mysteries. A Borrowing of Bones, the first in the series, was nominated for the Mary Higgins Clark Award and named the Dogwise Book of the Year. Blind Search was inspired by the real-life rescue of a little boy with autism who got lost in the woods. The Hiding Place debuted in March 2021. Paula credits the hero dogs of Mission K9 Rescue, her own rescue dogs, and a deep love of New England as her series’ major influences. Paula has also written the popular books on writing: Plot Perfect,The Writer’s Guide to Beginnings, and Writing with Quiet Hands, as well as Fixing Freddie and Happier Every Day. She lives in New England with her family and Bear the Newfoundland-retriever rescue, Bliss the Great Pyrenees-Australian cattle dog rescue, pandemic puppy Blondie, a Malinois rescue (much like Elvis in her books), and Ursula The Cat, a rescue torbie tabby who does not think much of the dogs.
Paula Munier is such an interesting guest author. Enjoy the conversation.
Eli Cranor and John Vercher both have books “dealing with high-intensity athletics”. Patrick Millikin welcomed them to The Poisoned Pen for a virtual conversation. Cranor’s novel is Don’t Know Tough, and Vercher’s is After the Lights Go Out. Check the Web Store for signed copies of both books. https://store.poisonedpen.com/
Here’s the description of Eli Cranor’s Don’t Know Tough.
Friday Night Lights gone dark with Southern Gothic; Eli Cranor delivers a powerful noir that will appeal to fans of Wiley Cash and Megan Abbott.
In Denton, Arkansas, the fate of the high school football team rests on the shoulders of Billy Lowe, a volatile but talented running back. Billy comes from an extremely troubled home: a trailer park where he is terrorized by his unstable mother’s abusive boyfriend. Billy takes out his anger on the field, but when his savagery crosses a line, he faces suspension.
Without Billy Lowe, the Denton Pirates can kiss their playoff bid goodbye. But the head coach, Trent Powers, who just moved from California with his wife and two children for this job, has more than just his paycheck riding on Billy’s bad behavior. As a born-again Christian, Trent feels a divine calling to save Billy—save him from his circumstances, and save his soul.
Then Billy’s abuser is found murdered in the Lowe family trailer, and all evidence points toward Billy. Now nothing can stop an explosive chain of violence that could tear the whole town apart on the eve of the playoffs.
WINNER OF THE PETER LOVESEY FIRST CRIME NOVEL CONTEST
Eli Cranor played quarterback at every level: peewee to professional, and then coached high school football for five years. These days, he’s traded in the pigskin for a laptop, writing from Arkansas where he lives with his wife and kids. His fiction has won The Greensboro Review‘s Robert Watson Literary Prize and been a runner-up for The Missouri Review‘s Miller Prize. Eli also writes a nationally syndicated sports column, “Athletic Support,” and his craft column, “Shop Talk,” appears monthly at CrimeReads. His debut novel, Don’t Know Tough, won the Peter Lovesey First Crime Novel Contest. Eli is currently at work on his next novel.
Check out the summary of John Vercher’s After the Lights Go Out.
A harrowing and spellbinding story about family, the complications of mixed-race relationships, misplaced loyalties, and the price athletes pay to entertain—from the critically acclaimed author of Three-Fifths Xavier “Scarecrow” Wallace, a mixed-race MMA fighter on the wrong side of thirty, is facing the fight of his life. Xavier can no longer deny he is losing his battle with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), or pugilistic dementia. Through the fog of memory loss, migraines, and paranoia, Xavier does his best to stay in shape by training at the Philadelphia gym owned by his cousin-cum-manager, Shot, a retired champion boxer to whom Xavier owes an unpayable debt.
Xavier makes ends meet while he waits for the call that will reinstate him after a year-long suspension by teaching youth classes at Shot’s gym and by living rent-free in the house of his white father, whom Xavier was forced to commit to a nursing home. The progress of Sam Wallace’s end-stage Alzheimer’s has revealed his latent racism, and Xavier finally gains insight into why his Black mother left the family years ago.
Then Xavier is offered a chance at redemption: a last-minute high-profile comeback fight. If he can get himself back in the game, he’ll be able to clear his name and begin to pay off Shot. With his memory in shreds and his life crumbling around him, can Xavier hold on to the focus he needs to survive? John Vercher, author of the Edgar and Anthony Award”“nominated Three-Fifths, offers a gripping, psychologically astute, and explosive tour de force about race, entertainment, and healthcare in America, and about one man’s battle against himself.
John Vercher lives in the Philadelphia area with his wife and two sons. He has a Bachelor’s in English from the University of Pittsburgh and an MFA in Creative Writing from the Mountainview Master of Fine Arts program. He is a contributing writer for WBUR Boston’s Cognoscenti, and NPR features his essays on race, identity, and parenting. His debut novel, Three-Fifths, was named one of the best books of the year by the Chicago Tribune, CrimeReads, and Booklist. It was nominated for the Edgar, Anthony, and Strand Magazine Critics’ Awards for Best First Novel.
Enjoy Patrick Millikin’s conversation with Eli Cranor and John Vercher.
Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, welcomed Eve Chase and Lisa Jewell for a virtual event for the bookstore. Eve Chase’s new book is The Birdcage. Lisa Jewell’s The Family Remains comes out in August, but there will be signed copies of that book. You can order copies of both books through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/
Here is the summary of TheBirdcage.
In the spirit of Lisa Jewell and Kate Morton, an emotional mystery set in the rugged remote landscape of north Cornwall full of dark secrets and twists, about three unusual sisters forced to confront the past.
Some secrets need to be set free…
When half-sisters Kat, Flora, and Lauren are unexpectedly summoned to Rock Point, their wild and remote Cornish summer home, it’s not a welcome invitation. They haven’t been back since that fateful summer twenty years ago—a summer they’re desperate to forget.
But when they arrive, it’s clear they’re not alone. Someone is lurking in the shadows, watching their every move. Someone who remembers exactly what they did…
Will the sisters be able to protect the dark past of Rock Point? Or are some secrets too powerful to remain under lock and key?
Eve Chase is the author of Black Rabbit Hall, The Wildling Sisters, and The Daughters of Foxcote Manor. She lives in Oxford, England with her husband and three children.
Here’s the description of The Family Remains.
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jewell comes an intricate and affecting novel about twisted marriages, fractured families, and deadly obsessions in this standalone sequel to the “brilliantly chilling” (Ruth Ware, New York Times bestselling author) The Family Upstairs.
Early one morning on the shore of the Thames, DCI Samuel Owusu is called to the scene of a gruesome discovery. When Owusu sends the evidence for examination, he learns the bones are connected to a cold case that left three people dead on the kitchen floor in a Chelsea mansion thirty years ago.
Rachel Rimmer has also received a shock—news that her husband, Michael, has been found dead in the cellar of his house in France. All signs point to an intruder, and the French police need her to come urgently to answer questions about Michael and his past that she very much doesn’t want to answer.
After fleeing London thirty years ago in the wake of a horrific tragedy, Lucy Lamb is finally coming home. While she settles in with her children and is just about to purchase their first-ever house, her brother takes off to find the boy from their shared past whose memory haunts their present.
As they all race to discover answers to these convoluted mysteries, they will come to find that they’re connected in ways they could have never imagined.
In this masterful standalone sequel to her haunting New York Times bestseller, The Family Upstairs, Lisa Jewell proves she is writing at the height of her powers with another jaw-dropping, intricate, and affecting novel about the lengths we will go to protect the ones we love and uncover the truth.
Lisa Jewell is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of nineteen novels, including The Family Upstairs and Then She Was Gone, as well as Invisible Girl and Watching You. Her novels have sold over 10 million copies internationally, and her work has also been translated into twenty-nine languages. Connect with her on Twitter @LisaJewellUK, on Instagram @LisaJewellUK, and on Facebook @LisaJewellOfficial.
Enjoy the conversation with Eve Chase and Lisa Jewell.
Patrick King from The Poisoned Pen recently welcomed fantasy and science fiction author Jane Lindskold. She talked about her latest novel, Library of the Sapphire Wind, other books in her series, as well as the book she wrote with David Weber, A New Clan. There are copies of the books in the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3aQU9eL
Here’s the summary of Library of the Sapphire Wind.
New fantasy from New York Times best-selling author delivers a cross-generational novel with adult and YA appeal
Instead of mentors, they got monsters . . . That’s what Xerak, Vereez, and Grunwold think when three strange creatures shimmer into being within the circle of Hettua Shrine. Their conclusion is reasonable enough. After all, they’ve never seen humans before. As for Margaret Blake, Peg Gallegos, and Tessa Brown—more usually known as Meg, Peg, and Teg—they’re equally astonished but, oddly enough, better prepared. Then there is the mysterious verse that Teg speaks as they arrive, words that seem to indicate that the Shrine must have been at least partially responding to the request made of it.
Despite doubts on all sides, the three unlikely mentors join forces with the three young “inquisitors” and venture out into the world Peg dubs “Over Where.” First they must find the Library of the Sapphire Wind, destroyed years before. Will they find answers there, or is this only the first stage in their search?
About OverWhere: “Library of the Sapphire Wind is classic Lindskold… If you’re looking for a well-written book with a fascinating cast of characters moving through an inventive and wondrous world, look no further.”—The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
Jane Lindskold? is the award-winning, New York Times best-selling author of more than twenty-five novels. Lindskold has also written in collaboration with David Weber and Roger Zelazny. When she’s not writing or reading, she’s likely being ordered around by a variety of small animals. Lindskold lives in New Mexico.
Here’s the description of A New Clan, written with David Weber.
A NEW NOVEL FEATURING STEPHANIE HARRINGTON IN HONORVERSE PREQUEL SERIES
Sex! Drugs! Rock “˜n’ Roll! And Treecats!
Freshly home from an internship on Manticore, teenaged Stephanie Harrington is up to her eyebrows in trouble.
There’s the new treecat adoptee who needs to be kept from becoming a risk to the carefully guarded secret of just how smart the arboreal inhabitants of Sphinx really are.
There’s the overeager journalist whose campaign to protect the treecats from exploitation as the newest, coolest pet on any planet could threaten the very creatures he seeks to defend.
And there’s the mysterious rash of weird accidents that are plaguing Sphinx’s younger inhabitants—including some of those nearest and dearest to Stephanie.
In trying to get enough proof to get the understaffed authorities of her pioneer planet to act, Stephanie will be called upon to attempt things she never imaged doing—including going undercover into the wilds of the late-night club scene, a realm where her faithful treecat guardian, Lionheart, cannot follow….
With more than eight million copies of his books in print and 33 titles on the New York Times bestseller list, David Weber is a science fiction powerhouse. In the vastly popular Honor Harrington series, the spirit of C.S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower and Patrick O’Brian’s Master and Commander live on—into the galactic future. Books in the Honor Harrington and Honorverse series have appeared on 21 bestseller lists, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and USA Today. Additional Honorverse collaborations include the spin-off miniseries Manticore Ascendant with New York Time best-selling author Timothy Zahn, and with Eric Flint, Crown of Slaves and Cauldron of Ghosts contribute to Weber’s illustrious list of New York Times and international bestsellers.
Best known for his spirited, modern-minded space operas, Weber is also the creator of the Oath of Swords fantasy series and the Dahak Saga, a science fiction and fantasy hybrid. Weber has also engaged in a steady stream of best-selling collaborations: the Starfire series with Steve White; the Empire of Man series with John Ringo; the Multiverse series with Linda Evans and Joelle Presby; and the Ring of Fire series with Eric Flint.
Enjoy the conversation between Jane Lindskold and Patrick King.
Kathy Reichs recently appeared at The Poisoned Pen for the twenty-first Temperance Brennan novel, Cold Cold Bones. There are signed copies available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3IFwXg9
Here’s the description of Cold Cold Bones.
#1 New York Times bestselling thriller writer Kathy Reichs returns with her twenty-first novel of suspense featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan who, after receiving a box containing a human eyeball, uncovers a series of gruesome killings eerily reenacting the most shocking of her prior cases.
Winter has come to North Carolina and, with it, a drop in crime. Freed from a heavy work schedule, Tempe Brennan is content to dote on her daughter Katy, finally returned to civilian life from the army. But when mother and daughter meet at Tempe’s place one night, they find a box on the back porch. Inside: a very fresh human eyeball.
GPS coordinates etched into the eyeball lead to a Benedictine monastery where an equally macabre discovery awaits. Soon after, Tempe examines a mummified corpse in a state park, and her anxiety deepens.
There seems to be no pattern to the subsequent killings uncovered, except that each mimics in some way a homicide that a younger Tempe had been called in to analyze. Who or what is targeting her, and why?
Helping Tempe search for answers is detective Erskine “Skinny” Slidell, retired but still volunteering with the CMPD cold case unit—and still displaying his gallows humor. Also pulled into the mystery: Andrew Ryan, Tempe’s Montreal-based beau, now working as a private detective.
Could this elaborately staged skein of mayhem be the prelude to a twist that is even more shocking? Tempe is at a loss to establish the motive for what is going on…and then her daughter disappears.
At its core, Cold, Cold Bones is a novel of revenge—one in which revisiting the past may prove the only way to unravel the present.
Julie McElwain was guest host when Nev March appeared for a virtual event at The Poisoned Pen. March’s Peril at the Exposition follows Murder in Old Bombay. There are signed copies available in the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3yGCH4Q
Here’s the summary of Peril at the Exposition.
Captain Jim Agnihotri and his new bride, Diana Framji, return in Nev March’s Peril at the Exposition, the follow up to March’s award-winning, Edgar finalist debut, Murder in Old Bombay.
1893: Newlyweds Captain Jim Agnihotri and Diana Framji are settling into their new home in Boston, Massachusetts, having fled the strict social rules of British Bombay. It’s a different life than what they left behind, but theirs is no ordinary marriage: Jim, now a detective at the Dupree Agency, is teaching Diana the art of deduction he’s learned from his idol, Sherlock Holmes.
Everyone is talking about the preparations for the World’s Fair in Chicago: the grandeur, the speculation, the trickery. Captain Jim will experience it first-hand: he’s being sent to Chicago to investigate the murder of a man named Thomas Grewe. As Jim probes the underbelly of Chicago’s docks, warehouses, and taverns, he discovers deep social unrest and some deadly ambitions.
When Jim goes missing, young Diana must venture to Chicago’s treacherous streets to learn what happened. But who can she trust, when a single misstep could mean disaster?
Award-winning author Nev March mesmerized readers with her Edgar finalist debut, Murder in Old Bombay. Now, in Peril at the Exposition, she wields her craft against the glittering landscape of the Gilded Age with spectacular results.
NEV MARCH is the winner of the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award for her award-winning, Edgar finalist debut, Murder in Old Bombay. Leaving a long career in business analysis in 2015, she returned to her passion, writing fiction. She is a member of the Mystery Writers of America and the Crime Writers of Color. A Parsee Zoroastrian herself, Nev lives with her husband and sons in New Jersey.
