Fiction Review

Jess Lourey’s latest book, The Verdant Cage, is a Dystopian Young Adult thriller. There are signed copies of the book available in the Webstore https://tinyurl.com/3r5vap9x. Although Shannon Baker’s latest book is Scorched Line, Baker reminded the audience she was there to talk with Lourey.

Here’s the description of The Verdant Cage.

“The deft prose is enlivened by action sequences, as well, which are sure to draw readers into the central mystery.”—Kirkus Reviews

The Wall was built to keep them safe. Or so they thought.

For as long as seventeen-year-old Apothecary Rose Allgood can remember, the towering stone Wall surrounding Noah’s Valley has protected her people. No one leaves. No one fights. And no one questions why.

But their paradise has been hiding its thorns. When Rose’s mother becomes the Valley’s first murder victim and her twin brother is swiftly condemned, she alone is searching for the killer. Determined to find the truth and forced to ally with the son of her nemesis to solve the crime, Rose follows a trail of hidden messages, forbidden knowledge, and whispers of a past no one dares remember.

The deeper she digs, the more certain Rose becomes that her mother’s death was no accident. That the Wall isn’t just keeping something out.

It’s keeping something in.

Fans of The Hunger Games, The Grace Year, and The Maze Runner will devour The Verdant Cage—a chilling dystopian thriller about what it takes to rebel when you discover your entire world is a lie.

***Don’t miss out on the stunning DELUXE LIMITED EDITION while supplies last. This breathtaking collectible is only available on a limited first print run in the U.S. and Canada only, a must-have for any book lover.

The Verdant Cage series is best enjoyed in order.
* Book #1: The Verdant Cage
* Book #2: Coming Soon

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Jess Lourey writes about secrets. A bestselling author twice shortlisted for the Edgar Award and the Goodreads Choice Award, she’s also won the ITW Thriller, Minnesota Book, and Anthony Awards. Her work spans young adult, crime fiction, nonfiction, children’s books, and book club fiction. She’s also a TEDx presenter who shares the vulnerable story of her path to becoming a writer.

Her books have reached over a million readers and been translated into more than a dozen languages. She lives in Minneapolis with a rotating batch of foster kittens (and the occasional foster puppy, but those goobers are a lot of work).

Visit jesslourey.com for updates, access to her newsletter, and more information on her VIP reader group.

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Enjoy Baker’s interview with Jess Lourey.

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, welcomed Ally Condie for her first visit to the bookstore. Condie, the author of Reese’s Book Club pick, The Unwedding, was there to talk about her new book, The Girls Trip. There are signed copies of The Girls Trip available in the Webstore. https://tinyurl.com/ydcep7an

Here’s the description of The Girls Trip.

From the author of Reese’s Book Club Pick and instant USA Today bestseller The Unwedding, a novel of suspense and friendship about three friends who decide to disappear from their lives for a few days while on a trip to a national park—only to have one of them vanish.  
 
Hope, Ash, and Caro met at an online book club. Over the past two years, they’ve been there for each other in every way—except in person. When each of their lives reach a crossroads, they decide to meet in real life at the gorgeous Sonnet Resort at Eden National Park.  
 
Hope, an actress, has become entirely too famous and needs to get away from it all. Ash, a successful online entrepreneur, isn’t sure what has happened to her marriage. Caro, a doctor, has lost a patient and doesn’t know if she wants to carry on or start all over. And none of them are telling each other the full story …

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Ally Condie is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Matched Trilogy, and of many other books (including the Edgar Award Finalist, Summerlost). The Unwedding was her adult debut novel, a Reese’s Book Club Pick, and a USA Today bestseller. A former English teacher, she enjoys hiking with her family in the mountains near their home in Utah.

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Enjoy the conversation with Ally Condie.

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, welcomed authors V.E. Schwab and Cat Clarke to the bookstore. Schwab and Clarke are the authors of The Ending Writes Itself. It’s a debut mystery from the authors, writing together for the first time. There are signed copies of the book still available in the Webstore. https://tinyurl.com/mvaurymk

Here’s the description of The Ending Writes Itself.

A PROPULSIVE DEBUT MYSTERY FROM EVELYN CLARKE, THE BRILLIANT AND DIABOLICAL CREATION OF CAT CLARKE AND V.E. SCHWAB

Six authors.

One private island.

Seventy-two hours to write the ending that will change their lives.

Named one of the Most Anticipated Mysteries of 2026 by GoodReads, Marie Claire, and Page Six.

“In the running for the best mystery of 2026. With a trove of tropes that mystery lovers will love, it will remind you, in the best way, of Agatha Christie.”—Stephen King

Arthur Fletch, one of the world’s bestselling novelists, is a reclusive genius known for his iconic protagonists and fiendish twists. When six struggling authors are invited to spend a weekend on his private Scottish island, they arrive to discover a shocking secret: Arthur Fletch is dead . . . and his last book is unfinished.

Desperate to publish the novel, Fletch’s agent and editor have summoned these writers in the hope that one of them will imagine a worthy ending for this final book. To sweeten the deal, they are offering an irresistible prize: in addition to ghost-writing the last chapter––for a mind-boggling sum––they will also help the lucky writer successfully re-launch their own career, guaranteeing future bestsellers. The catch: the writers have just seventy-two hours to finish Fletch’s magnum opus.

It’s the perfect plot. All it needs is a killer ending.

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It was a dark and stormy night (well, it was actually an unusually warm evening in Edinburgh, Scotland) when New York Times bestselling author V.E. Schwab proposed an absurd idea to longtime friend and screenwriter Cat Clarke: that they should write a book together. V had made quite a name for herself, with more than 20 books, including the Shades of Magic series, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, and Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, but had sworn she’d never co-write a novel, let alone one without fantasy. While Cat, following a tumultuous career as an editor and the author of several YA novels, including Girlhood and Entangled, had fled the publishing industry to work in the even more tumultuous film industry, swearing she’d never return to books. And yet, fate—and an irresistible idea—made liars of them both. That night, as they switched from tea to something stronger, Evelyn Clarke was born.

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Enjoy this fast-paced, enjoyable conversation.

Barbara Peters welcomed John Sandford back to The Poisoned Pen on release day for Revenge Prey. This is a little shift for Sandford, a chase thriller all the way through. There are a few signed copies of Revenge Prey still available through the Webstore, https://tinyurl.com/55rs3vct.

Here’s the description of this fast-moving book.

Lucas Davenport must track down a ruthless Russian hit team, in this latest thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author John Sandford.

Leonard Summers—not his real name—is on the run. A former high-ranking Russian intelligence officer who defected to the U.S. after providing critical information about Russian spies in U.S. government service, Leonard,  his wife Martha, and son Bernard have spent the past year holed up in a CIA facility near Washington. After the CIA makes a deal with the U.S. Marshal Service’s Witness Protection Program (WPP), Leonard’s family is transported to Minneapolis. The plan is to hide them in a wooded Minneapolis suburb that resembles their former home and dacha near Moscow.

The Summers are received at their destination by Lucas Davenport and fellow marshal Shelly White. Unbeknownst to them, the WPP group has been tracked by a Russian hit team. And while nobody in the WPP has ever been attacked…Leonard might be the first victim. As shots are fired and enemies dodged, Lucas must move quickly to uncover where the leak is coming from, before the hit team can strike again.

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John Sandford is the pseudonym for the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist John Camp. He is the author of thirty-four Prey novels; two Letty Davenport novels; four Kidd novels; twelve Virgil Flowers novels; three YA novels coauthored with his wife, Michele Cook; and three other books.

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John Sandford’s conversation with Barbara Peters is fascinating. Enjoy the chat.

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, welcomed Mark Pryor back to the bookstore. Pryor has appeared at the bookstore for every one of his Hugo Marston mysteries. His new one is The Most Mysterious Bookshop in Paris. There are signed copies of it available through the Webstore, https://tinyurl.com/nhjadcej.

Here’s the description of The Most Mysterious Bookshop in Paris.

Hugo Marston, former head of security at the U.S. embassy in Paris, has retired and is ready to realize his lifelong dream of owning a mystery and antiquarian bookshop. But when a blackmail scheme targeting a chocolatier leads to murder, Hugo is again called to investigate in the first Paris Bookshop Mystery for readers of Charles Finch, Tasha Alexander, and Lev AC Rosen.

Hugo has led an exciting life as an FBI profiler and the US embassy’s head of security, but now he’s ready to embrace a quieter existence as a bookseller in the Marais district of Paris. His former employer, however, has other plans for him. A prominent American citizen is the COO of a boutique chocolate emporium in Paris, where they’ve received a mysterious and threatening note. A blackmailer who goes by the name The Shadow wants half a million euros or else their “darkest secret will be revealed.”

Eclat de Chocolat is housed in a chateau dating back to the 1700s. The building, which served as a convent in the first half of the twentieth century, where the angelic Sister Evangeline and her order of nuns helped countless orphans during World War II, has been beautifully converted into a chocolate factory. So what dark secrets could a chocolatier be hiding? The COO has no idea.

Involving his friend, Lieutenant Camille Lerens, Hugo begins to investigate. But soon a second note appears on the premises, canceling the blackmail threat. The same day, the body of an employee is found in an old graveyard behind the chocolatier. Now Hugo and Lerens have a murder on their hands, but is it connected to the blackmail attempt? As they dig for secrets and motives, it becomes clear The Shadow’s grave work has just begun . . .

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Mark Pryor is the author of the Henry Lefort and Hugo Marston Mystery Series. Originally from Hertfordshire, England, Mark now lives with his wife in Austin, TX. In addition to his writing, he worked for the Travis County District Attorney’s Office and is currently a partner at a criminal defense firm in Texas. You can visit him online at MarkPryorBooks.com.

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Enjoy Barbara Peters’ conversation with Mark Pryor.

Thanks to critic Oline Cogdill for sharing her review of Jeff Boyd’s Hard Times. She reviewed it first for the South Florida Sun Sentinel. You can order a copy of Boyd’s book through the Webstore. https://tinyurl.com/349xtdsu

Thank you, Oline, for the following review.

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Book review: Gritty ‘Hard Times’ follows a teacher, his students and a corrupt cop on Chicago’s South Side

‘Hard Times’ by Jeff Boyd; Flatiron; 352 pages; $29.99

The fragmented lives of a devoted high school English teacher, his students and his corrupt cop brother-in-law converge on Chicago’s South Side in Jeff Boyd’s gritty, fascinating “Hard Times.”

Boyd effectively delves into how a community comes together in various ways, as he shows how people can rise up to their potential or be dragged down by the violence of the street. The author’s affinity for realistic storytelling with a strong sense of compassion for his characters elevates “Hard Times.”

Buddy Mack is the kind of dedicated English teacher who, against numerous odds, has been able to instill an interest in literature in his students, many of whom are poor or at-risk. Showing movies, especially those based on Shakespeare, has helped. He also has earned their respect by showing he genuinely cares.

Buddy especially is concerned that he may lose three of his students to the streets, as happened with another student not long ago. These students are Zeke, a terrific football player often in trouble; Dontell, who is brilliant but rowdy; and Truth, who is personable and working with his criminal uncle.

Buddy’s brother-in-law, Curtis Thompson, was recently promoted to the Drug and Gang Task Force, but he also been on the take for years. Curtis becomes the focus of an Internal Affairs investigation after shooting one of Buddy’s unarmed students during an attempted arrest.

Boyd takes a solid look at the professional and personal lives of Buddy and Curtis and their connection to the neighborhoods. Buddy’s wife, a successful corporate lawyer and Curtis’ sister, wants to move to a better neighborhood where they will start a family. Meanwhile, Curtis loves his wife and children but is being overwhelmed by his self-destructive ways.

Boyd shows no one lives in a vacuum — rather, a community connects each person to the other. The dreams, plans and choices of the adults and the students create a never-ending cycle. The results sometimes are out of one’s hands.

The author himself taught high school English and is the son of a police officer, so he gives an authentic look at the lives of students, teachers and police officers.

Boyd explores race, class, crime and policing with his assured plotting and crisp dialogue in “Hard Times,” his second novel. He is a talent to watch.

Thank you to critic Oline Cogdill for sharing her review of The Reckoning by Kelli Stanley. You can order a copy of the Renata Drake thriller through The Poisoned Pen’s Webstore. https://tinyurl.com/k3f65j8c

Cogdill’s review was originally published in the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

A secret identity and an open secret drive Kelli Stanley’s ‘The Reckoning’

The harvest’ is an open secret

‘The Reckoning’ by Kelli Stanley; Severn House; 336 pages; $29.99

A young woman trying to escape her past settles in an isolated, unfamiliar town that has its own shady underpinnings in “The Reckoning,” Kelli Stanley’s new series launch.

“The Reckoning” works well as a story about self-reinvention, debilitating grief and ennui in a small town that relies on an illegal business to survive. Stanley also weaves in a look at the 1980s — a time that seems so long ago and yet also, for some, like yesterday.

Renata Drake wants to disappear from everything and everyone she knows, so she leaves Washington, D.C., for Garberville, California, an area she knows nothing about (except she once saw its Humboldt County featured in a flyer). Renata grieves for her deceased sister, Josie, and fears being arrested for meting out her own form of justice for the death.

The several days’ journey to Humboldt reminds Renata of a View-Master reel she received one Christmas, and the California countryside is “a lost world of massive redwood trees.” Economically depressed, Garberville depends on an illicit economy — cannabis production — that is the town’s most open secret.

“The harvest” of marijuana is Garberville’s “curse and blessing,” paying for most everything including the hospital and infrastructure. It also has brought the FBI, who want to shut it down. This is the 1980s, during which legal marijuana was unthinkable.

Renata, now calling herself Nattie, tries to stay below the FBI’s radar and avoid any attention from the town residents. But a new person, especially a young attractive woman, naturally draws curiosity. Nattie takes a job as a janitor at the hospital and finds a refuge in the library, striking up a friendship with the lonely librarian.

Nattie tries to be invisible but is drawn into the investigation of a missing 16-year-old, the third teenage girl to disappear in three years. She constantly checks the Washington, D.C., newspapers that often arrive a week late to see if her actions have been reported.

Stanley melds the setting with character, making each an important part of the other. Nattie wants freedom, which Garberville seems to offer with its rural, open spaces. Yet Nattie — like many of the town’s teenagers — feels confined, because Garberville also feels claustrophobic.

Stanley also has a series on private detective Miranda Corbie set in pre-World War II San Francisco. Her affinity for historical fiction continues with “The Reckoning.”

April looks like a good month for reading, if Deb Lewis’ picks from The Poisoned Pen are any indication. If a link doesn’t take you directly to the book page, check out the Webstore, https://store.poisonedpen.com/. Thank you, Deb, for the suggestions.

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A Violent Masterpiece by Jordan Harper 

This epic crime novel tells a story of Los Angeles power brokers and those at the edge—and a single shattering incident that threatens to bring it all crashing down.

Ghost Town by Tom Perrotta 

From New York Times bestselling author Tom Perrotta, hailed by critics as “the Steinbeck of Suburbia” (Time), “our Balzac of the burbs” (Chicago Sun-Times), and “an American Chekhov” (The New York Times), comes a gripping and darkly nostalgic tale about a tumultuous summer in 1970s suburban New Jersey, from the perspective of a middle-aged writer looking back on a series of events that changed his life—and the story he finally has the courage to tell.

When The Wolves Are Silent by CS Harris 

A brutal string of ritualistic killings terrorizes a city already shaken by economic and political turmoil in this chilling new historical mystery from C. S. Harris, USA Today bestselling author of Who Will Remember.

Guilt by Keigo Higashino

A tour de force crime novel from one of the international masters of the form, where a simple murder case questions the simple notions of good and evil, guilt and redemption.

A Walk In The Park by Kevin Fedarko

This New York Times bestseller from the author of The Emerald Mile is a rollicking and poignant account of an epic 750-mile odyssey, on foot, through the heart of the Grand Canyon.

“You Are Fatally Invited” by Ande Pilego

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • An exclusive thriller writer’s retreat hosted on a private island turns lethal when one of the authors is found murdered.

Pomona Afton Can So Solve a Murder by Bellamy Rose 

A spoiled heiress must investigate her grandmother’s death in order to gain back her trust fund, all while discovering how to be her own person and maybe even falling in love in this “enormously fun, witty, and warm” (Kristen Perrin, nationally bestselling author) rom-com meets murder mystery that is perfect for fans of Only Murders in the Building.

Stakeouts and Strollers by Rob Phillips 

Amateur private investigator and new dad Charlie Shaw gets more than he bargained for when he agrees to track down a young girl’s missing father in Rob Phillips’ 2024 Minotaur Books/Malice Domestic Best First Mystery Novel award-winning debut.

The Survivor by Andrew Reid 

A hijacked New York subway train, an anonymous killer, and a young man trapped by his hidden past converge in a breathless, breathtaking thriller

You Did Nothing Wrong by CG Drews

Dark domestic suspense meets haunted house horror in this unnerving adult debut guaranteed to keep you awake for days afterward, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Don’t Let the Forest In and Hazelthorn

Once Upon a Stranger by Dr Gillian Sandstom 

“If you’ve ever avoided talking to strangers, this book might change your mind about giving them their space. And that, as Gillian so perfectly explains, might change everything.” —Angela Duckworth, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of GRIT

Discover how making connections with strangers leads to positive shifts in our everyday lives, from preeminent researcher and professor of the psychology of kindness Dr. Gillian Sandstrom.

John Charles welcomed an Arizona author to The Poisoned Pen. Rebecca Jenshak’s latest novel is Lucky Shot: A Hockey Romance. There are signed copies of Jenshak’s new book available in the Webstore. https://tinyurl.com/ye8jwtt6

Here’s the summary of Lucky Shot.

Order now and receive the DELUXE LIMITED EDITION—featuring sprayed edges with stenciled artwork—while supplies last.

A writer enlists the begrudging help of a hockey player to finish her new novel in this charming romance by USA Today–bestselling author Rebecca Jenshak.

Author Ruby Madison has exactly six weeks to change her new baseball romance into one about hockey, a sport she knows precisely nothing about. So to get her up to speed, her agent has arranged for her to spend the summer in Moonshot, a small lake town in Montana, where she’ll work with a local expert to completely rewrite the book. She just has one tall, handsome, grouchy problem . . .

Hockey captain Nick Galaxy doesn’t play around. Not while he’s simultaneously raising his preteen son, caring for his elderly father, and leading his team by example both on and off the ice. He doesn’t have time to school the strange woman staying in his guest cabin in the art of hockey, no matter how easy she is on the eyes. If only his meddling dad had considered this before offering up Nick’s services—and property.

As Ruby learns the difference between a hip check and a hat trick, she starts breaking down Nick’s defenses, revealing the gentle nature hiding behind his gruff exterior. But will their summer fling turn into something more? Or will they fall just short of the goal line?

This edition features a never-before-published bonus scene.

Tropes include: grumpy/sunshine, single dad, forced proximity, and found family.

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Rebecca Jenshak is the USA Today–bestselling author of the Moonshot Hockey series, among other new adult romance novels. When she isn’t writing, she can be found cheering on local sports teams, hanging out with friends and family, or curling up with a good book at home in southern Arizona.

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Enjoy the conversation with Rebecca Jenshak.

Lisa Unger’s latest book is Served Him Right. Critic Oline Cogdill recently reviewed Unger’s book for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, and shared the review with us. You can order a copy of the book through The Poisoned Pen’s Webstore, https://tinyurl.com/3buhcsw7

Book review: Revenge is red-hot in Lisa Unger thriller ‘Served Him Right’

‘Served Him Right’ by Lisa Unger; Park Row; 384 pages; $30

Revenge is said to be best served cold, but in Lisa Unger’s engrossing supernatural-esque thriller “Served Him Right,” payback is ladled out red-hot, no holds barred, with no mercy.

Unger, who lives in Clearwater, has a reputation for solid stand-alone thrillers that have landed on bestseller lists, with unusual plots and unconventional motives shrouded in dark-but-not-oppressive atmospheres. That same approach elevates “Served Him Right.”

The novel works well as a story about sisters and sisterhood, toxic relationships, payback, herbs and a touch of the mystic.

Ana Blacksmith doesn’t hold back her feelings, especially when she’s mad, unhappy or in a bad relationship, which is frequently. To commemorate her recent breakup with Paul Hayes, Ana gathers her sister, Vera, and their closest friends for an “ex-orcism,” during which they will purge all references to Paul in any semblance of social media, photographs or memories. While it is acknowledged that one of the women may still have to deal with Paul, as they work at the same firm, the friend pledges as few interactions as possible. And, yes, it’s a festive brunch.

The party has just begun, the drinks poured, when a police detective arrives, informing the gathering that Paul’s body has been found in a shallow grave, near a remote hiking trail they each have visited. Paul was a nasty man, a known sexual harasser, liar, betrayer, cheater and a variety of other attributes, none of them good. No one will miss him. But did Paul deserve to be murdered? Well, the title “Served Him Right” pretty much sums it up.

Ana, with her anger issues and manipulative ways, is the prime suspect, not just to the police but to her sister, relatives and all her friends. If she didn’t do it, everyone believes she at least was involved in Paul’s death. As Vera says, “my sister does have a way of pushing people to their limit, making them do things they wouldn’t without her subtle influence.” Still, Paul had more enemies than anyone realized.

The two sisters could not be more different. Vera has a stable marriage, two bright children and money, while Ana is a hot mess. Despite making a good salary, Ana is supported by Vera because she is always broke and a chronic shopper, and she has a penchant for choosing the worst men. Still, the sisters are extremely close. After their parents died, the sisters were raised by their aunt, a noted herbalist who practiced the “science” of plants.

Unger delves into the lives of each woman, altering the points of view among the friends, sisters and the police. The characters’ personalities keep the suspense high as Unger steers “Served Him Right” into a bit of practical magic.