You do know about The Poisoned Pen’s picks for Books of the Month, don’t you? Although you can order the books through the Web Store, sometimes the store runs out of copies or out of signed copies. If you’re a member of one of the book clubs, you’re guaranteed to receive the copy from your monthly book club. Call the bookstore at (480) 947-2974 or Toll Free: (888) 560-9919 to ask about joining a club. In the meantime, as I said, you can order the books individually through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/
Here are the September Books of the Month at the Pen.
British Crime Club One unsigned hardcover or paperback per month
Alice Feeney’s Daisy Darker is the Hot Book of the Week at The Poisoned Pen. And, you can catch Feeney tonight (Tuesday, August 30) at 7 PM (10 PM EDT) live at the store, or via the store’s Facebook page or YouTube channel. Signed copies of Daisy Darker are available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3wElh8N
Here’s the summary of Daisy Darker.
“Alice Feeney is great with TWISTS and TURNS.” —Harlan Coben
The NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR of Rock Paper Scissors returns with a locked-room mystery when a family reunion leads to murder in a delightfully twisty and atmospheric thriller, as seen on the TODAY show.
“A dysfunctional family meets Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None with a truly gasp-inducing twist. This is the book you’ve been looking for.” —Catherine Ryan Howard, bestselling author of 56 Days
Daisy Darker was born with a broken heart. Now after years of avoiding each other, Daisy Darker’s entire family is assembling for Nana’s 80th birthday party in her crumbling gothic house on a tiny tidal island. The family arrives, each of them harboring secrets. When the tide comes in, they will be cut off from the rest of the world for eight hours.
But at the stroke of midnight, as a storm rages, Nana is found dead. And an hour later, the next family member follows…
Trapped on an island where someone is killing them one by one, the Darkers must reckon with their present mystery as well as their past secrets, before the tide goes out and all is revealed. As seen on the TODAY show and picked by Book of the Month, Daisy Darker’s family secrets and Alice Feeney’s trademark shocking twists will keep readers riveted.
ALICE FEENEY is the New York Times bestselling author of Sometimes I Lie, I Know Who You Are, His & Hers, and Rock Paper Scissors. Her novels have been translated into over twenty-five languages and have been optioned for major screen adaptations. Alice was a BBC journalist for fifteen years and now lives in the Devon countryside with her family. Daisy Darker is her fifth novel.
Mark your calendars for Thursday, September 1 at 6:00 PM (9 PM EDT) when Diana Gabaldon will host AG Riddle, author of Lost in Time, for a virtual event for The Poisoned Pen. Gabaldon says of the book, “Amazing! One of the twistiest time-tales I’ve ever read.” Lost in Time is The Poisoned Pen’s September Notable New Fiction Book of the Month. There are signed copies available in the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3pTWzNO
Here are the copies of Lost in Time as Riddle signed them for the Pen’s customers.
Here’s the summary of Lost in Time.
From the worldwide bestselling author of Departure and Winter World comes a standalone novel about a father and daughter trying to unravel an intricate murder mystery spread across time—with a jaw-dropping twist.
Control the past.
Save the future.
One morning, Dr. Sam Anderson wakes up to find that the woman he loves has been murdered.
For Sam, the horror is only beginning.
He and his daughter are accused of the crime. The evidence is ironclad. They will be convicted.
And so, to ensure his daughter goes free, Sam does what he must: he confesses.
But in the future, murderers aren’t sent to prison.
Thanks to a machine Sam helped invent, the world’s worst criminals are now sent to the past—approximately 200 million years into the past, to the dawn of the time of the dinosaurs—where they must live out their lives alone, in exile from the human race.
Sam accepts his fate.
But his daughter doesn’t.
Adeline Anderson has already lost her mother to a deadly, unfair disease. She can’t bear to lose her father as well.
So she sets out on a quest to prove him innocent. And to get him back. People around her insist that both are impossible tasks.
But Adeline doesn’t give up. She only works harder.
She soon learns that impossible tasks are her specialty. And that she is made of tougher stuff than she ever imagined.
As she peels back the layers of the mystery that tore her father from this world, Adeline finds more questions than answers. Everyone around her is hiding a secret. But which ones are connected to the murder that exiled her father?
That mystery stretches across the past, present, and future ““ and leads to a revelation that will change everything.
A.G. Riddle spent ten years starting and running internet companies before retiring to focus on his true passion: writing fiction. He lives in North Carolina. Visit www.agriddle.com
Is The Hunt actually Faye Kellerman’s final Decker and Lazarus novel? She told Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, that it’s either the final book, or it will be a hiatus until the next one. You can order a signed copy of The Hunt through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3QPnDcO
Here’s the description of The Hunt.
Detective Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus return to Los Angeles when a kidnapping hits close to home—in this breathtaking new thriller from New York Times bestselling author Faye Kellerman.
Peter and his partner, Detective Tyler McAdams, are thrown into an unsolved case and propelled into action when a body is found in the very woods where a man previously went missing in upstate New York.
But that’s not the only crisis that Peter has to deal with.
Teresa McLaughlin, the biological mother of Peter and his wife Rina’s foster son, Gabe, has fled to Los Angeles with her two children in tow, hoping to avoid a court injunction amid a messy divorce. But LA is no escape from her problems—she is found by ruthless men and beaten mercilessly. When she wakes, barely conscious, Teresa discovers that both of her children are gone and frantically calls Gabe for help.
With his mother on the verge of death, Gabe contacts Peter and Rina, as well as his biological father, the notorious Christopher Donatti, a former hit man from a known criminal family who’s now a millionaire in Nevada. By bringing Donatti into the fray, Gabe, Peter, and Rina know they have made a deal with the devil—but they may not be able to recover the kids without him.
As these unlikely allies rally to find the kidnappers before things end tragically, they race headlong toward an explosive confrontation from which no one will emerge unscathed..
Faye Kellerman lives with her husband, New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman, in Los Angeles, California, and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
There are a few technical difficulties in the conversation, but you should still enjoy the event.
Long Gone is Joanne Schaffhausen’s second Detective Annalisa Vega mystery. Schaffhausen recently appeared for The Poisoned Pen, in conversation with Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen. There are signed copies of Long Gone available in the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3QVooB1
Here’s the description of Long Gone.
Long Gone, the next installment of Joanna Schaffhausen’s critically acclaimed Detective Annalisa Vega series.
Chicago detective Annalisa Vega shattered her life, personally and professionally, when she turned in her ex-cop father for his role in a murder. Her family can’t forgive her. Her fellow officers no longer trust her. So when detective Leo Hammond turns up dead in a bizarre murder, Annalisa thinks she has nothing to lose by investigating whatever secrets he hid behind the thin blue line.
Annalisa quickly zeroes in on someone who had good reason to want Hammond dead: a wealthy, fast-talking car salesman who’d gotten away with murder once and wasn’t about to let Hammond take a second shot. Moe Bocks remains the number one suspect in his girlfriend’s brutal unsolved death, and now he’s got a new woman in his sights—Annalisa’s best friend.
Annalisa is desperate to protect her friend and force Bocks to pay, either for Hammond’s death or his earlier crime. But when no one else believes the connection, she takes increasingly risky chances to reveal the truth. Because both Hammond and Bocks had secrets to die for, and if she doesn’t untangle them soon, Annalisa will be next.
Joanna Schaffhausen wields a mean scalpel, skills developed in her years studying neuroscience. She has a doctorate in psychology, which reflects her long-standing interest in the brain—how it develops and the many ways it can go wrong. Previously, she worked for ABC News, writing for programs such as World News Tonight, Good Morning America, and 20/20. She lives in the Boston area with her husband and daughter. The Vanishing Season is her first novel.
Enjoy the discussion of Chicago and, of course, Long Gone.
Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, welcomed Robert Dugoni to talk about his ninth Tracy Crosswhite novel, What She Found. There are signed copies available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3TghcB4
Here’s the summary of What She Found.
An Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling series.
Solving a decades-old disappearance sets Tracy Crosswhite on a dangerous collision course with the past in a pulse-pounding novel by New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni.
Detective Tracy Crosswhite has agreed to look into the disappearance of investigative reporter Lisa Childress. Solving the cold case is an obsession for Lisa’s daughter, Anita. So is clearing the name of her father, a prime suspect who became a pariah. After twenty-five years, all Anita wants is the truth—no matter where it leads.
As all the pieces come together, it becomes clear that Tracy is in the midst of a case that will push her loyalties and her resilience to the limit. What she uncovers will come with a greater price than anyone feared.
Karin Slaughter appeared at The Poisoned Pen on release day for Girl, Forgotten. It features the same character as Pieces of Her. Slaughter said it’s set in the same world, but it’s not a sequel. You can order a signed copy through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3CsrBDS
Here’s the copy of Girl, Forgotten.
“It’s Slaughter’s prodigious gifts of characterization that make her stand out among thriller writers.” — Washington Post
From the New York Times bestselling author of Pieces of Her, comes an electrifying thriller featuring newly minted US Marshal Andrea Oliver as she investigates a cold case with links to her father’s past.
A small town hides a big secret…
Who killed Emily Vaughn?
A girl with a secret…
Longbill Beach, 1982. Emily Vaughn gets ready for the prom. For an athlete, who is smart, pretty and well-liked, this night should be the highlight of her high school career. But Emily has a secret. And by the end of the evening, that secret will be silenced forever.
An unsolved murder…
Forty years later, Emily’s murder remains a mystery. Her tight-knit group of friends closed ranks; her respected, wealthy family retreated inwards; the small town moved on from her grisly attack. But all that’s about to change.
One final chance to uncover a killer…
US Marshal Andrea Oliver arrives in Longbill Beach on her first assignment: to protect a judge receiving death threats. But, in reality, Andrea is there to find justice for Emily. The killer is still out there—and Andrea must discover the truth before she gets silenced, too…
Karin Slaughter is the author of more than twenty instant New York Times bestselling novels, including the Edgar”“nominated Cop Town and standalone novels Pretty Girls, The Good Daughter, and Pieces of Her. She is published in 120 countries with more than 40 million copies sold across the globe. Pieces of Her is a Netflix original series starring Toni Collette, and False Witness, the Grant County, and Will Trent series are in development for television. Slaughter is the founder of the Save the Libraries project—a nonprofit organization established to support libraries and library programming. A native of Georgia, she lives in Atlanta.
It’s always fun to listen to Karin Slaughter. Even though she really wanted to talk about kittens, she did talk about Girl, Forgotten. Enjoy the conversation.
The nineteenth Cork O’Connor book by William Kent Krueger is Fox Creek. Barbara Peters, owner of the Poisoned Pen recently hosted Krueger for a live event at the store to talk about this book and the entire series. You’ll want to pick this one up through the Web Store to get a signed copy. https://bit.ly/3KgKU4P
Here’s the description of Fox Creek.
The latest in the New York Times bestselling Cork O’Connor Mystery Series from the “master storyteller” (Kristin Hannah, #1 New York Times bestselling author) follows Cork in a race against time to save his wife, a mysterious stranger, and an Ojibwe healer from bloodthirsty mercenaries.
The ancient Ojibwe healer Henry Meloux has had a vision of his death. As he walks the Northwoods in solitude, he tries to prepare himself peacefully for the end of his long life. But peace is destined to elude him as hunters fill the woods seeking a woman named Dolores Morriseau, a stranger who had come to the healer for shelter and the gift of his wisdom.
Meloux guides this stranger and his great niece, Cork O’Connor’s wife, to safety deep into the Boundary Waters, his home for more than a century. On the last journey he may ever take into this beloved land, Meloux must do his best to outwit the deadly mercenaries who follow.
Meanwhile, in Aurora, Cork works feverishly to identify the hunters and the reason for their relentless pursuit, but he has little to go on. Desperate, Cork begins tracking the killers but his own skills as a hunter are severely tested by nightfall and a late season snowstorm. He knows only too well that with each passing hour time is running out. But his fiercest enemy in this deadly game of cat and mouse may well be his own deep self-doubt about his ability to save those he loves.
From “an author who never disappoints” (Bookreporter), this is another gripping and richly told addition to a masterful series.
William Kent Krueger is the New York Times bestselling author of This Tender Land, Ordinary Grace (winner of the Edgar Award for best novel), as well as nineteen acclaimed books in the Cork O’Connor mystery series, including Lightning Strike and Desolation Mountain. He lives in the Twin Cities with his family. Learn more at WilliamKentKrueger.com.
William Kent Krueger writes beautiful books. It’s almost as much fun listening to him as reading his books. Enjoy!
Sandra Brown and Ashley Winstead are both from Texas, but they met for the first time before their recent live event at The Poisoned Pen. Barbara Peters, owner of The Pen, welcomed them. Brown’s Overkill is a recent Hot Book of the Week at the bookstore, and it’s the current #1 title on the NYTimes Bestseller List. Ashley Winstead has some similar challenges in writing The Last Housewife. You can find signed copies of both books in the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/
Here’s the description of Overkill.
#1 New York Times bestselling author Sandra Brown delivers a riveting thriller in which a conflict of conscience for a former football star and an ambitious state prosecutor swiftly intensifies into a fight for their lives.
Former Super Bowl MVP quarterback Zach Bridger hasn’t seen his ex-wife, Rebecca Pratt, for some time—not since their volatile marriage imploded—so he’s shocked to receive a life-altering call about her. Rebecca has been placed on life support after a violent assault, and he—despite their divorce—has medical power-of-attorney. Zach is asked to make an impossible choice: keep her on life support or take her off of it. Buckling under the weight of the responsibility and the glare of public scrutiny, Zach ultimately walks away, letting Rebecca’s parents have the final say.
Four years later, Rebecca’s attacker, Eban—the scion of a wealthy family in Atlanta—gets an early release from prison. The ludicrous miscarriage of justice reeks of favoritism, and Kate Lennon, a brilliant state prosecutor, is determined to put him back behind bars. Rebecca’s parents have kept her alive all these years, but if her condition were to change—if she were to die—Eban could be retried on a new charge: murder.
It isn’t lost on Zach that in order for Eban to be charged with Rebecca’s murder, Zach must actually be the one to kill her. He rejects Kate’s legal standpoint but can’t resist their ill-timed attraction to each other. Eban, having realized the jeopardy he’s in, plots to make certain that neither Zach nor Kate lives to see the death of Rebecca—and the end of his freedom.
Sandra Brown is the author of seventy-three New York Times bestsellers. There are more than eighty million copies of her books in print worldwide, and her work has been translated into thirty-four languages. Four of her books have been made into films. In 2008, the International Thriller Writers named Brown its Thriller Master, the organization’s highest honor. She has served as president of Mystery Writers of America and holds an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Texas Christian University. She lives in Texas.
Here’s Ashley Winstead’s The Last Housewife.
“Deliciously unputdownable.” —The Washington Post
“A stunning, disturbing thriller that will have your mind and heart racing.” —Samantha Downing
From the author of the acclaimed In My Dreams I Hold a Knife comes a pitch-black thriller about a woman determined to destroy a powerful cult and avenge the deaths of the women taken in by it, no matter the cost.
While in college in upstate New York, Shay Evans and her best friends met a captivating man who seduced them with a web of lies about the way the world works, bringing them under his thrall. By senior year, Shay and her friend Laurel were the only ones who managed to escape. Now, eight years later, Shay’s built a new life in a tony Texas suburb. But when she hears the horrifying news of Laurel’s death—delivered, of all ways, by her favorite true-crime podcast crusader—she begins to suspect that the past she thought she buried is still very much alive, and the predators more dangerous than ever.
Recruiting the help of the podcast host, Shay goes back to the place she vowed never to return to in search of answers. As she follows the threads of her friend’s life, she’s pulled into a dark, seductive world, where wealth and privilege shield brutal philosophies that feel all too familiar. When Shay’s obsession with uncovering the truth becomes so consuming she can no longer separate her desire for justice from darker desires newly reawakened, she must confront the depths of her own complicity and conditioning. But in a world built for men to rule it—both inside the cult and outside of it—is justice even possible, and if so, how far will Shay go to get it?
Ashley Winstead is an academic turned novelist with a Ph.D. in contemporary American literature. She lives in Houston with her husband, two cats, and beloved wine fridge. You can find her at www.ashleywinstead.com.
Enjoy the conversation with Sandra Brown and Ashley Winstead.
Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, said Catherine Ryan Howard’s latest book, Run Time, had so many elements that she picked it as their Notable New Fiction Book for August. So, they’re waiting for a new batch of signed copies since they sold out of their first collection. You can order copies through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3QCB0gq
Here’s the description of Run Time.
Feeling her stardom fading, struggling soap-actress Adele Rafferty is ready to give up on her dreams when she gets a last-minute offer to play the lead in upcoming horror film Final Draft. Could this be her big break? Will she have redemption for what happened the last time she was on a film set? Adele doesn’t think twice before signing the dotted line.
Camera
Adele quickly makes her way to set, deep into the isolated and wintry woods of West Cork, Ireland, miles away from civilization and cell service.
Action
When real life on set starts to somehow mirror the sinister events portrayed in the script, Adele fears the real horror lies off the page. Isolated and unsure who in the crew she can trust, is there anywhere or any time left to run?
Catherine Ryan Howard is an internationally bestselling crime writer from Cork, Ireland. Her most recent novel, 56 Days, was named a best thriller of 2021 by the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Irish Times; was her second Irish number one bestseller; and won Crime Novel of the Year at the Irish Book Awards. Her previous work has been shortlisted for the Edgar Award for Best Novel and the CWA’s John Creasey New Blood and Ian Fleming Steel Daggers, and she’s been shortlisted for the Irish Crime Novel of the Year multiple times. Her work has been published in seventeen languages, and a number of her novels have been optioned for screen. She lives in Dublin, where she currently divides her time between the desk and the couch.
