The Poisoned Pen ended the virtual events of 2021 on a high note, hosting Jane K. Cleland, author of Jane Austen’s Lost Letters. The book is the fourteenth in Cleland’s Josie Prescott Antiques series. You can order a copy through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3DVEinF

Here’s the description of Jane Austen’s Lost Letters.

Jane K. Cleland returns with Jane Austen’s Lost Letters, the fourteenth installment in the beloved Josie Prescott Antiques series, set on the rugged New Hampshire coast.

Antiques appraiser Josie Prescott is in the midst of filming a segment for her new television show, Josie’s Antiques, when the assistant director interrupts to let her know she has a visitor. Josie reluctantly pauses production and goes outside, where she finds an elegant older woman waiting to see her.

Veronica Sutton introduces herself as an old friend of Josie’s father, who had died twenty years earlier. Veronica seems fidgety, and after only a few minutes, hands Josie a brown paper-wrapped package, about the size of a shoebox, and leaves.

Mystified, Josie opens the package, and gasps when she sees what’s inside: a notecard bearing her name—in her father’s handwriting—and a green leather box. Inside the box are two letters in transparent plastic sleeves. The first bears the salutation, “My dear Cassandra,” the latter, “Dearest Fanny.” Both are signed “Jane Austen.” Could her father have really accidentally found two previously unknown letters by one of the world’s most beloved authors—Jane Austen? Reeling, Josie tries to track down Veronica, but the woman has vanished without a trace.

Josie sets off on the quest of a lifetime to learn what Veronica knows about her father and to discover whether the Jane Austen letters are real. As she draws close to the truth, she finds herself in danger, and learns that some people will do anything to keep a secret—even kill.

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JANE K. CLELAND once owned a New Hampshire-based antiques and rare books business. She is the author of nearly twenty novels and short stories in the beloved Josie Prescott Antiques mystery series, is the winner of two David Awards for Best Novel, and has been a finalist for the Agatha, Macavity, and Anthony Awards. Jane is the former president of the New York chapter of the Mystery Writers of America and chairs the Wolfe Pack’s Black Orchid Novella Award in partnership with Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. She won the Agatha Award for both of her books on the craft of writing, Mastering Suspense, Structure and Plot and Mastering Plot Twists. She is part of the fulltime English faculty at Lehman College, a contributing editor for Writer’s Digest magazine, and lives in New York City.

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You can enjoy the virtual event here.

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, recently hosted four thriller authors who are published by Crooked Lane Books. Those authors are Andrew Bourelle, Richard Chiappone, Robert Justice, and Claire Kells. Their books are available through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Each author was asked to give their book pitch.

Andrew Bourelle’s thriller is 48 Hours to Kill.

A prison inmate on furlough learns a terrible secret about his sister’s mysterious death—and descends back into the criminal underworld to uncover the truth, in this action-packed thrill ride James Patterson calls “the best thriller I’ve read all year.”
 

Serving a ten-year sentence in a Nevada prison for armed robbery, Ethan Lockhart hopes that he can one day become a productive, law-abiding member of society. But society has other plans for Ethan. When he’s given a forty-eight-hour furlough to attend his sister Abby’s funeral, he learns that her body was never found—just enough blood to declare her dead instead of missing—and he begins to suspect that there’s more to her death than was reported. Ethan decides to use his forty-eight-hour window to find out what happened. But to get to the bottom of the mystery, he’ll have to return to his unsavory past.

Ethan teams up with his sister’s best friend Whitney in a search for the truth. United in their shared grief, their chemistry—both emotional and physical—also begins to heat up. But romance goes on hold as the suspects mount. Ethan’s old boss, Shark, a mid-level loan shark now heads a criminal empire. As Ethan and Whitney uncover more clues, they become convinced that Shark is responsible for the murder, but they have no proof.

If Ethan is going to solve his sister’s murder in forty-eight hours, he will have to become the criminal he swore he’d never be again.

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Andrew Bourelle is the author of the novel Heavy Metal and coauthor with James Patterson of Texas Ranger and Texas Outlaw. His short stories have been published widely in literary magazines and fiction anthologies. He is an associate professor of English at the University of New Mexico.

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Here’s Richard Chiappone’s The Hunger of Crows.

For fans of Dana Stabenow and The Frozen Ground, Richard Chiappone’s debut novel is a chilling chase through rural Alaska, in which a woman running from her past must outwit the deadly assassins on her tail.

Thirty-something Carla Merino finds herself living in her camper shell in Homer, Alaska, waitressing to stay afloat and hiding from ruthless billionaire military contractor Gordon McKint, who has a secretive personal army and eyes on the presidency. McKint is determined to recover a memento Carla acquired on a one-night-stand that went terribly wrong—an item that could bring his whole world down. When McKint’s men track her to Homer she leaves for another hideout by boat, unprepared and unaware of the dangerous Alaskan weather headed her way.

Cosmo D’Angelo (a former CIA gunslinger) is a man grieving his daughter, living with the sins of his past, and in search of a certain woman (and a good meal) in small-town Alaska. In the era of political secrets and deep fake technology, he was foolish to let Carla take a memento of their tryst. Now, he needs to get it back before McKint’s men find her.

Scott Crockett is a stand-up guy, nursing a broken heart, out fishing alone. But when he finds an overturned boat and a nearly-drowned woman in the rough water, his life will get infinitely more complicated—and dangerous. Together he and Carla must outwit the professional killers sent to recover the deadly memento that threatens both McKint’s political career and her life.

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Two time winner of the Robert Traver Award, Richard Chiappone is the author of three collections of stories or essays. His fiction has appeared in several anthologies and in national magazines. One story was made into a prize winning short film featured at international film festivals. Other stories have been dramatized on BBC Radio. Chiappone is a former senior associate editor at Alaska Quarterly Review, and a long-time organizer of the Kachemak Bay Writer’s Conference.

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They Can’t Take Your Name is Robert Justice’s debut thriller.

Laced with atmospheric poetry and literature and set in the heart of Denver’s black community, this gripping crime novel pits three characters in a race against time to thwart a gross miscarriage of justice—and a crooked detective who wreaks havoc…with deadly consequences.

What happens to a deferred dream—especially when an innocent man’s life hangs in the balance? Langston Brown is running out of time and options for clearing his name and escaping death row. Wrongfully convicted of the gruesome Mother’s Day Massacre, he prepares to face his death. His final hope for salvation lies with his daughter, Liza, an artist who dreamed of a life of music and song but left the prestigious Juilliard School to pursue a law degree with the intention of clearing her father’s name. Just as she nears success, it’s announced that Langston will be put to death in thirty days.

In a desperate bid to find freedom for her father, Liza enlists the help of Eli Stone, a jazz club owner she met at the classic Five Points venue, The Roz. Devastated by the tragic loss of his wife, Eli is trying to find solace by reviving the club…while also wrestling with the longing to join her in death.

Everyone has a dream that might come true—but as the dark shadows of the past converge, could Langston, Eli, and Liza be facing a danger that could shatter those dreams forever?

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Robert Justice is a Denver native. His first novel, They Can’t Take Your Name, was named a runner-up for the 2020 Sisters in Crime Eleanor Taylor Bland Award. He believes that together we can right wrongful convictions.

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Claire Kells’ latest thriller is Vanishing Edge.

For fans of Christine Carbo and Scott Graham, an ex-FBI agent is on a desperate hunt for a party of vanished campers while a killer is on the loose.

The rugged landscape of Sequoia National Park is a challenge on the best of days—but when a park ranger discovers an abandoned exclusive campsite with an empty tent and high-end technical gear scattered on the shores of an alpine lake, the wilderness takes on a sinister new hue.

Thirty-two-year-old Felicity Harland—a former FBI agent who left the service in the wake of a personal tragedy and has taken her skills off the grid—is brought in as chief investigator. As a federal agent with the Investigative Services Bureau, she tackles crimes that occur on National Parks lands: unexplained falls, domestic disputes, and now a possible murder case. 

The private company that set up the exclusive camp won’t reveal their client list, leaving Felicity with zero clues. As she struggles to find a lead, she’s also haunted by a painful past that dogs her at every step. But when she meets Ferdinand Huxley, a Navy SEAL turned park ranger, she begins to see the value in not just working with a partner, but trusting one, too.

The investigation takes Felicity and Hux deep into a wilderness that tests their physical limits to the extreme—and to the mean streets of Los Angeles, where they begin to learn the grisly truth behind the campers’ disappearance.

Bad things happen in the wilderness—and sometimes they’re not accidents.

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Claire Kells is a physician and writer, whose best-selling debut adventure novel Girl Underwater was released in 2015. An avid open water swimmer and outdoor enthusiast, Claire gravitates toward stories of survival, struggle, and redemption. Her experiences as a practicing physician also play an important role in her novels, and she’s grateful for all the fascinating stories her patients have told her over the years. Vanishing Edge is the first installment in a new series featuring a partnership between an ISB agent and park ranger, who solve mysteries set in the National Park system.

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Barbara Peters had questions for all of the authors in the recent virtual event.

The Poisoned Pen recently hosted authors for the first time, Luke McCallin and Ted Bell. McCallin’s fourth Gregor Reinhardt novel is From a Dark Horizon. Sea Hawke is Ted Bell’s twelfth Alex Hawke novel. You can order both books through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Here’s the description of McCallin’s From a Dark Horizon.

In the waning days of World War I, a horrific crime behind the lines sends Lieutenant Gregor Reinhardt on a search for a killer in this electrifying thriller from the author of The Man from Berlin.

It’s the final days of the Great War and four years of grinding conflict has warped more than one man’s mind. When a secret meeting of top brass is called, someone sets off a bomb that kills all the attendees. It looks for sure that one of the men in Gregor Reinhardt’s company is the culprit. But since that man killed himself, the General is looking for someone else to share the blame. Reinhardt must prove his trooper innocent if he hopes to avoid the fate of a co-conspirator.

The search for answers leads Reinhardt deep into a potential conspiracy populated by mutinous soldiers, a mysterious Russian nobleman, and a pair of doctors who may be doing more than treating battlefield injuries. The trenches are home to any number of horrors, but what if the greatest danger is right next to you?

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Luke McCallin‘s experiences working for the United Nations as a humanitarian relief worker and peacekeeper in the Caucasus, the Sahel and the Balkans have driven his writing, in which he explores what happens to normal people—those stricken by conflict, by disaster—put under abnormal pressures. His experiences also inspired a historical mystery series with an unlikely protagonist: Gregor Reinhardt, German intelligence officer and former Berlin detective chased out of the police by the Nazis.
 
The Man From Berlin and The Pale House were both set in Sarajevo during WWII. The Divided City followed Reinhardt’s return home to Allied occupation, and a serial killer loose in the rubble.

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Check out the summary of Sea Hawke.

Alex Hawke is sailing into trouble when an around-the-world journey becomes a fight against terror in the latest exciting adventure from New York Times bestselling novelist Ted Bell.

After saving the kidnapped heir to the British throne, gentleman spy and MI6 legend Alex Hawke is due for some downtime. He’s got a new custom built sailing yacht and a goal: to get closer to his son Alexi during an epic cruise across the seven seas.

But fate and the chief of MI6, Lord David Trulove, have other plans.

There’s an unholy alliance of nations who are plotting to attack Western democracies. The wily intelligence leader plans to use Hawke to drive a knife into the heart of this conspiracy. From an island base off Cuba to a secret jungle lair deep in the Amazon, on the land and the seas, the master spy and his crew of incorrigibles are in for the fight of their lives—the fight for freedom.

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Ted Bell is the former chairman of the board and creative director of Young & Rubicam, one of the world’s largest advertising agencies. He is the New York Times bestselling author of the Alex Hawke series as well as the YA adventure novels Nick of Time and The Time Pirate. He has recently been writer-in-residence at Cambridge University (UK) and visiting scholar at the Department of Politics and International Relations.

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Both authors have interesting stories about their background. Here’s the virtual event.

Although Stephen Spotswood appeared for The Poisoned Pen to discuss his second Pentecost and Parker Mystery, Murder Under Her Skin, Barbara Peters also made an announcement about the first in the series. Spotswood’s Fortune Favors the Dead is the ’20-’21 Nero Wolfe Award winner. You can still order signed copies of Murder Under Her Skin through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3s3AHls

Here’s the summary of Spotswood’s most recent book.

Rex Stout meets Agatha Christie with a fresh twist in the new Pentecost and Parker Mystery, a delightfully hardboiled high-wire act starring two daring woman sleuths dead set on justice as they set out to solve a murder at a traveling circus

Someone’s put a blade in the back of the Amazing Tattooed Woman, and Willowjean “Will” Parker’s former knife-throwing mentor has been stitched up for the crime. To uncover the truth, Will and her boss, world-famous detective Lillian Pentecost, travel south to the circus where they find a snakepit of old grudges, small-town crime, and secrets worth killing for.
New York, 1946: The last time Will Parker let a case get personal, she walked away with a broken face, a bruised ego, and the solemn promise never again to let her heart get in the way of her job. But she called Hart and Halloway’s Travelling Circus and Sideshow home for five years, and Ruby Donner, the circus’s tattooed ingenue, was her friend. To make matters worse the prime suspect is Valentin Kalishenko, the man who taught Will everything she knows about putting a knife where it needs to go. 
To suss out the real killer and keep Kalishenko from a date with the electric chair, Will and Ms. Pentecost join the circus in sleepy Stoppard, Virginia, where the locals like their cocktails mild, the past buried, and big-city detectives not at all. The two swiftly find themselves lost in a funhouse of lies as Will begins to realize that her former circus compatriots aren’t playing it straight, and that her murdered friend might have been hiding a lot of secrets beneath all that ink. 
Dodging fistfights, firebombs, and flying lead, Will puts a lot more than her heart on the line in the search of the truth. Can she find it before someone stops her ticker for good?

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Here’s the introduction to the series with Fortune Favors the Dead.

“Razor-sharp style, tons of flair, a snappy sense of humor, and all the most satisfying elements of a really good noir novel, plus plenty of original twists of its own.”—Tana French

A wildly charming and fast-paced mystery written with all the panache of the hardboiled classics, Fortune Favors the Dead introduces Pentecost and Parker, an audacious new detective duo for the ages.

It’s 1942 and Willowjean “Will” Parker is a scrappy circus runaway whose knife-throwing skills have just saved the life of New York’s best, and most unorthodox, private investigator, Lillian Pentecost. When the dapper detective summons Will a few days later, she doesn’t expect to be offered a life-changing proposition: Lillian’s multiple sclerosis means she can’t keep up with her old case load alone, so she wants to hire Will to be her right-hand woman. In return, Will is to receive a salary, room and board, and training in Lillian’s very particular art of investigation.

Three years later, Will and Lillian are on the Collins case: Abigail Collins was found bludgeoned to death with a crystal ball following a big, boozy Halloween party at her home—her body slumped in the same chair where her steel magnate husband shot himself the year before. With rumors flying that Abigail was bumped off by the vengeful spirit of her husband (who else could have gotten inside the locked room?), the family has tasked the detectives with finding answers where the police have failed.

But that’s easier said than done in a case that involves messages from the dead, a seductive spiritualist, and Becca Collins—the beautiful daughter of the deceased, who Will quickly starts falling for. When Will and Becca’s relationship dances beyond the professional, Will finds herself in dangerous territory, and discovers she may have become the murderer’s next target.

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STEPHEN SPOTSWOOD is an award-winning playwright, journalist, and educator. As a journalist, he has spent much of the last two decades writing about the aftermath of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the struggles of wounded veterans. His dramatic work has been widely produced across the United States. He makes his home in Washington, DC, with his wife, young adult author Jessica Spotswood.

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Check out the conversation between Stephen Spotswood and Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen.

Of course there’s a break from virtual events in the second half of December. But, there are already plans for January 2022. Here is just a short sneak peek of several upcoming events. Don’t forget to check the Web Store for the authors’ books! https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Did you miss the Jungle Red Writers’ Holiday Event, hosted by Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen? Then, you missed the history of the group, and all the fun these authors brings to any event.

The authors are Rhys Bowen, Hallie Ephron, Deborah Crombie, Lucy Burdette, Julia Spencer-Fleming, Hank Phillippi Ryan and Jenn McKinlay.

Enjoy! And, check out their books in the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

S.J. Rozan was one of the recent authors for a virtual appearance at The Poisoned Pen. Family Business is her latest Lydia Chin and Bill Smith novel. There are signed copies available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3rRnj3H

Here’s the summary of Family Business.

The death of a powerful Chinatown crime boss thrusts private eye Lydia Chin and her partner Bill Smith into a world of double-dealing, subterfuge, murder, and—because this is New York City—real estate in this new mystery by Edgar Award-winning novelist S. J. Rozan.

Choi has left the Tong headquarters building to his niece, who hires Lydia and her partner, Bill Smith, to accompany her to inspect it. The building is at the center of a tug-of-war between Chinatown preservation interests—including Lydia’s brother Tim—and a real estate developer who’s desperate to get his hands on it.

When Lydia, Bill, and Choi’s niece go to the building, they discover the Tong members are equally divided on the question of whether the niece should hold onto the building or sell it—and make them rich. Entering Choi’s private living quarters, they find the murdered body of Choi’s chief lieutenant. 

The battle for the building has begun. Can Lydia and Bill escape being caught in the crossfire?

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S. J. Rozan is the author of Paper Son and many other crime novels. She has won multiple awards for her fiction, including the Edgar, Shamus, Anthony, Nero, and Macavity, the Japanese Maltese Falcon, and the Private Eye Writers of America Lifetime Achievement Award. S. J. was born and raised in the Bronx and now lives in lower Manhattan.

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Rozan discussed the Chinese history she wrote about in Paper Son, as well as other topics for the recent event.

When Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, asked the staff to write about their favorite books of 2021, I know we were all a little hesitant. So as not to offend anyone, John Charles and I went in different directions. He picked his favorite debuts of 2021. I’m a librarian and the blogger for The Pen. I chose to write about books in one of my favorite areas. I love novels about bookshops. I’m going to tell you about five books of 2021, provide a quick peek at a mystery coming out in January, and remind you of a classic.

Christmas by the Book is one of those charming seasonal stories about a miracle. Anne Marie Ryan introduces readers to a small English bookshop, a struggling one with a leaky roof and dwindling customers, although the local community loves the store. When Nora and Simon Walden, the owners, sell the book that has been in the store for years, they celebrate by running a contest on their website. “Do you know anyone in Stowford who could use a random act of kindness? We are giving away six books to anyone who needs a bit of hope this festive season.” There’s talk of books, and, of course, a bit of magic involving a community and a bookshop.

John Charles already told you about Jackie Fraser’s The Bookshop of Second Chances when he wrote about his favorite debuts, so I really only need to quote him. “After her personal and professional lives implode, Thea Mottram packs up her bags and leaves Chicago for Baldochrie, Scotland, where she has just inherited a small estate and collection of books from her late great uncle Andrew. Once there, Thea quickly finds she is warmly welcomed by everyone in the small town, except cranky bookseller Edward Maltravers. Who wouldn’t want to escape life’s stresses and strains (even if only for a few hours) by running away to a charming town in Scotland?” I will add I found this book worth reading just for the sassy, strong Thea.

If you love the paranormal in your cozy mysteries, you might want to check out the latest Haunted Bookshop mystery by Cleo Coyle, The Ghost and the Haunted Portrait. Jack Shepard is back! Let’s face it. While the blurb says “Bookshop owner Penelope Thornton-McClure and her gumshoe ghost team up”, many of us who read the Haunted Bookshop mysteries love Jack, the ghost of a private investigator killed in 1949 on the site of the bookshop in Quindicott, Rhode Island. Penelope and her aunt host a launch party and art exhibit at Buy the Book, their bookstore. When two deaths occur, related to a painting that is supposed to be “cursed”, Jack takes Penny back to 1947 to witness a case similar to the current troubles. I like Jack and the bookshop in this cozy series.

The Last Bookshop in London is Madeline Martin’s novel of World War II, an homage to books and reading and the power of books. I’ll admit I sobbed over this one. The job at Primrose Hill Books is the only job Grace Bennett can find in London just before the war begins, but she’s not a reader, and is ill-equipped to help people in the shabby little bookstore. The book starts out on a lighthearted note, but quickly becomes serious as the characters have to cope with the bombings in London, and loss of beloved friends. As I said, though, it’s a tribute to the power of books. When asked what he likes best about reading, one character replies, “It’s going somewhere without ever taking a train or ship, an unveiling of new, incredible worlds. It’s living a life you weren’t born into and a chance to see something colored by someone else’s perspective. It’s learning without having to face consequences of failures, and how best to succeed….I think within all of us, there is a void, a gap waiting to be filled by something. For me, that something is books, and all their proffered experiences.”

A Curious Incident, the sixth book in Vicki Delany’s Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery series, was my favorite. Gemma Doyle, owner of the bookstore, can be very much like Holmes, although she doesn’t realize it. She’s quick to analyze details, and can be cold at times. Gemma’s still quirky, but she shows a surprising side in this one as she assists an eleven-year-old. When eleven-year-old Lauren shows up at Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium, asking for help in finding her lost cat, Snowball, Gemma insists she’s not a consulting detective. Then, Lauren shows up again, and offers Gemma ten dollars to prove Lauren’s mother isn’t a killer. There’s humor, and, of course, a connection to a Sherlock Holmes case in this enjoyable mystery.

I promised a preview of another bookstore-related novel. Vicki Delany’s A Three Book Problem will be released January 11, and you can pre-order it now. A prominent Sherlockian hires Gemma Doyle and Jayne Wilson to cater a traditional English country house weekend. Gemma realizes the guests seem unusual for a Holmes-related weekend, but a poisoned dart soon leads to a murder investigation.

You can look for all of these bookshop-related novels in the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/ Don’t forget one of my favorite ones, though, a classic. Christopher Morley’s The Haunted Bookshop was published in 1919. Here’s the summary from the Web Store.

“The Haunted Bookshop is a fast-paced thriller that deserves a modern audience. From unassuming beginnings as a tale about a lovelorn advertising salesman who visits a charming bookstore, The Haunted Bookshop quickly morphs into a story of paranoia, stalking, and kidnapping. “If you are ever in Brooklyn, that borough of superb sunsets and magnificent vistas of husband-propelled baby-carriages, it is to be hoped you may chance upon a quiet by-street where there is a very remarkable bookshop.” In need of a new client, Aubrey Gilbert steps into a bookstore on a quiet Brooklyn street. There, he meets Roger Mifflin, the store’s owner, who inundates the adman with information on the value of books. Although he fails to get Mifflin’s business, Gilbert is drawn to Titania Chapman, the man’s beautiful young assistant who just so happens to be the daughter of Gilbert’s most important client. As mysterious occurrences begin to pile up—a valuable book is stolen, Gilbert is assaulted, and a strange man is found lurking in the alleyway behind the store—it becomes clear that Titania is in grave danger.”