Here’s a fun Hot Book of the Week to round out the year at The Poisoned Pen, The Clanlands Almanac: Season Stories from Scotland by Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish. According to Patrick Millikin at the bookstore, “We offer up to 1000 copies Signed by Diana Gabaldon with a bookplate signed by Sam and Graham (sent from the UK). One signed copy per customer. These will ship in JANUARY when our Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone project will wrap up and Diana has time to sign this book. Unsigned copies will be available in December.” Check the Web Store for information. https://tinyurl.com/yck2vyzz
Here’s the description of The Clanlands Almanac.
If Clanlands was a gentle road trip through Scotland, this almanac is a top down, pedal to the metal up and down odyssey through the many byways of a Scottish year. An invitation to anyone who picks up the book to join us on a crazy camper van exploration over 12 glorious, whisky fueled months. Mountains, battles, famous (and infamous) Scots, the alarming competitiveness of Men in Kilts, clans, feuds, flora, fauna, with a healthy sprinkling of embarrassing personal reminiscences thrown in. Much is explored, all is shared. It is a camper van cornucopia of all things Alba.
From First Footing to Samhain, Fringe Festival follies to whisky lore, Sam & Graham guide readers through a year of Scottish legends, traditions, historical and contemporary events, sharing personal stories and tips as only these two chalk-and-cheese friends can.
As entertaining as it is practical, The Clanlands Almanac is a light-hearted education in Scottish history and culture, told through the eyes of two passionate Scotsmen. The perfect escapist guide, The Clanlands Almanac is intended as a starting point for your own Scottish discoveries.
Sam Heughan is an award-winning actor and philanthropist, best known for his starring role as Jamie Fraser in the hit TV show Outlander. From his early days at the Royal Court Theatre to his most recent role in the hit action film Bloodshot, Sam has enjoyed a career in theatre, television and film spanning almost two decades. With his growing success and fame, Sam has also lent his voice and platform to raise funds and awareness for many notable charities, including Marie Curie UK and Blood Cancer UK. In recent years he has raised over $5 million for blood cancer research, hospice care and testicular cancer awareness education. Due to his outstanding contribution to charitable endeavors and artistic success he was bestowed by the University of Glasgow and the University of Stirling with an honorary doctorate in 2019.
Graham McTavish has been acting for over 35 years in theatre, film and television. On film and TV he is best known for his roles as Dougal MacKenzie in Outlander, the fierce Dwarf Dwalin in The Hobbit trilogy, and AMC’s cult show Preacher as the Saint of Killers. He has performed in theatre all over the world from the Royal Court Theatre in London to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He is delighted that the dream of his 12-year-old self to be a published author has finally come true!
If you follow the blog or The Poisoned Pen’s Facebook or YouTube pages, you’ve seen Patrick Millikin. He’s the magician behind many of the virtual events, and sometimes he’s the host in front of the camera. Patrick is an author and editor himself, and he’s the noir fan on the staff. He says though, that he reads widely, and his taste is always evolving. If his picks for the Best Books of 2021 are similar to your interests, you might want to check out the Web Store for the titles Patrick recommends. https://store.poisonedpen.com/
Best of 2021
William Boyle. Shoot the Moonlight Out. – A haunting crime story about the broken characters inhabiting yesterday’s Brooklyn, this is the new novel from modern master of neo-noir William Boyle.
Michael Connelly. The Dark Hours. – A Wall Street Journal and South Florida Sun-Sentinel Best Book of the Year
S.A. Cosby. Razorblade Tears. – A Black father. A white father. Two murdered sons. A quest for vengeance.
Abigail Dean. Girl A. – She thought she had escaped her past. But there are some things you can’t outrun.
Percival Everett. The Trees. – An uncanny literary thriller addressing the painful legacy of lynching in the US, by the author of Telephone.
Tod Goldberg. The Low Desert. – Raymond Carver meets Elmore Leonard in this extraordinary collection of contemporary crime writing set in the critically acclaimed Gangsterland universe, a series called “gloriously original” by The New York Times Book Review.
Naomi Hirahara. Clark and Division. – A New York Times Best Mystery Novel of 2021
Set in 1944 Chicago, Edgar Award-winner Naomi Hirahara’s eye-opening and poignant new mystery, the story of a young woman searching for the truth about her revered older sister’s death, brings to focus the struggles of one Japanese American family released from mass incarceration at Manzanar during World War II.
Kathleen Kent. The Pledge. – In this “instantly cinematic and completely compelling” thriller (Hank Phillippi Ryan), Detective Betty has only two weeks to take down her deadliest rival—this time for good.
Richard Lange. Rovers. – Two immortal brothers crisscross the American Southwest to elude a murderous biker gang and protect a young woman in this “utter triumph and delight” from award-winning author Richard Lange (Jonathan Ames, author of A Man Named Doll)
David Swinson. City on the Edge. – An American teen living abroad discovers the truth about himself and his family in this thrilling novel from “one of the best dialogue hounds in the business” (New York Times Book Review).
Vlautin, Willy. The Night Always Comes. – Award-winning author Willy Vlautin explores the impact of trickle-down greed and opportunism of gentrification on ordinary lives in this scorching novel that captures the plight of a young woman pushed to the edge as she fights to secure a stable future for herself and her family.
Shakespeare. Ngaio Marsh. Simon Brett. Elly Griffiths. In a recent article for CrimeReads, author Elly Griffiths tackles the subject of crime fiction and its relationship with the theater. Her piece, called “The Motive and the Cue: Why Crime Fiction and the Theatrical World Have Always Gone Hand-in-Hand”, can be found here. https://tinyurl.com/55umsd9y
Griffiths talks about her grandfather’s connection to the theater world. It undoubtedly influenced her Brighton Mysteries, including the most recent one, The Midnight Hour. You can order a copy of that book through the Web Store. https://tinyurl.com/yc8x8v7a
Here’s the description of The Midnight Hour.
The Brighton police force is on the hunt for another killer, but this time they have some competition—a newly formed all-women’s private eye firm, led by none other than the police chief’s wife.
Newly minted PI Emma Holmes and her partner Sam Collins are just settling into their business when they’re chosen for a high-profile case: retired music-hall star Verity Malone hires them to find out who poisoned her husband, a theater impresario. Verity herself has been accused of the crime. The only hitch—the Brighton police are already on the case, putting Emma in direct competition with her husband, police superintendent Edgar Stephens.
Soon Emma realizes that Verity’s life intersects closely with her own—most notably in their mutual connection, Max Mephisto, who has returned to England from America with his children and famous wife, Hollywood star Lydia Lamont. Lydia, desperately bored in the countryside, catches wind of what Emma and Sam are up to and offers her services. What secret does Lydia know about Verity’s past?
The team of female PIs circle closer to the killer, with the Brighton police hot on their tail. The clues suggest they’re looking for a criminal targeting the old music-hall crew. How long will it be before that trail leads straight back to Max?
ELLY GRIFFITHS is the author of the Ruth Galloway and Brighton mystery series, as well as the standalone novels The Stranger Diaries, winner of the Edgar Award for Best Novel, and The Postscript Murders. She is the recipient of the CWA Dagger in the Library Award and the Mary Higgins Clark Award. She lives in Brighton, England.
Yesterday was release date for the current Hot Book of the Week at The Poisoned Pen. Lyndsay Faye’s collection, Observations by Gaslight, is subtitled “Stories from the World of Sherlock Holmes”. You can order signed copies of the book through the Web Store. https://tinyurl.com/2p8r5fw
Here’s the description of Observations by Gaslight.
One of PopSugar’s Best New Mysteries and Thrillers of December 2021
A new collection of Sherlockian tales that shows the Great Detective and his partner, Watson, as their acquaintances saw them
Lyndsay Faye—international bestseller, translated into fifteen languages, and a two-time Edgar Award nominee—first appeared on the literary scene with Dust and Shadow, her now-classic novel pitting Sherlock Holmes against Jack the Ripper, and later produced The Whole Art of Detection, her widely acclaimed collection of traditional Watsonian tales. Now Faye is back with Observations by Gaslight, a thrilling volume of both new and previously published short stories and novellas narrated by those who knew the Great Detective.
Beloved adventuress Irene Adler teams up with her former adversary in a near-deadly inquiry into a room full of eerily stopped grandfather clocks. Learn of the case that cemented the lasting friendship between Holmes and Inspector Lestrade, and of the tragic crime which haunted the Yarder into joining the police force. And witness Stanley Hopkins’ first meeting with the remote logician he idolizes, who will one day become his devoted mentor.
From familiar faces like landlady Mrs. Hudson to minor characters like Lomax the sub-librarian, Observations by Gaslight—entirely epistolary, told through diaries, telegrams, and even grocery lists—paints a masterful portrait of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson as you have never seen them before.
Lyndsay Faye is the author of six critically acclaimed books: The Paragon Hotel; Jane Steele, which was nominated for an Edgar for Best Novel; Dust and Shadow, a Sherlock Holmes pastiche; The Gods of Gotham, also Edgar-nominated; Seven for a Secret; and The Fatal Flame. She has also published numerous short stories featuring the Holmes character, several of which were collected in 2017’s The Whole Art of Detection. She lives in Queens.
If you’ve spent any time at the website CrimeReads, you’ve probably seen Paul French’s column, “Crime and the City”. This idea came about as an idea between Lisa Levy and French. “So we thought let’s take the world country by country, city by city and see what there is to read, and to coax people out of simply reading American and UK authors and try other worlds, styles, approaches.” It started in March 2017, and has continued since then.
If you’re one of those readers who enjoy traveling the world with crime books, you’ll want to read Dwyer Murphy’s interview with French, and his comments about “Crime and the City”. You can find it here. https://bit.ly/3ecR4nn
Congratulations to the winners and nominees for the 2021 Hugo Awards, presented on the evening of Saturday, December 18, 2021 at a ceremony at DisCon III, the 79th World Science Fiction Convention in Washington, DC, USA. Check the Web Store if you’re interested in any of the books on the list. https://store.poisonedpen.com/
BEST NOVEL
Network Effect, Martha Wells (Tor.com) (WINNER)
The City We Became, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)
Piranesi, Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury)
Black Sun, Rebecca Roanhorse (Gallery / Saga Press / Solaris)
The Relentless Moon, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor Books / Solaris)
Harrow The Ninth, Tamsyn Muir (Tor.com)
BEST NOVELLA
The Empress of Salt and Fortune, Nghi Vo (Tor.com) (WINNER)
Ring Shout, P. Djèlà Clark (Tor.com)
Come Tumbling Down, Seanan McGuire (Tor.com)
Upright Women Wanted, Sarah Gailey (Tor.com)
Finna, Nino Cipri (Tor.com)
Riot Baby, Tochi Onyebuchi (Tor.com)
BEST NOVELETTE
Two Truths and a Lie, Sarah Pinsker (Tor.com) (WINNER)
“The Inaccessibility of Heaven”, Aliette de Bodard (Uncanny Magazine, July/August 2020)
“Monster”, Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld, January 2020)
“The Pill”, Meg Elison (from Big Girl, (PM Press))
“Helicopter Story”, Isabel Fall (Clarkesworld, January 2020)
“Burn, or the Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super”, A.T. Greenblatt (Uncanny Magazine, May/June 2020)
BEST SHORT STORY
Two Truths and a Lie, Sarah Pinsker (Tor.com) (WINNER)
“The Inaccessibility of Heaven”, Aliette de Bodard (Uncanny Magazine, July/August 2020)
“Monster”, Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld, January 2020)
“The Pill”, Meg Elison (from Big Girl, (PM Press))
“Helicopter Story”, Isabel Fall (Clarkesworld, January 2020)
“Burn, or the Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super”, A.T. Greenblatt (Uncanny Magazine, May/June 2020)
BEST SERIES
The Murderbot Diaries, Martha Wells (Tor.com) (WINNER)
The Lady Astronaut Universe, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor Books/Audible/Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction/Solaris)
October Daye, Seanan McGuire (DAW)
The Interdependency, John Scalzi (Tor Books)
The Poppy War, R.F. Kuang (Harper Voyager)
The Daevabad Trilogy, S.A. Chakraborty (Harper Voyager)
BEST RELATED WORK
Beowulf: A New Translation, Maria Dahvana Headley (FSG) (WINNER)
A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia E. Butler, Lynell George (Angel City Press)
FIYAHCON, L.D. Lewis”“Director, Brent Lambert”“Senior Programming Coordinator, Iori Kusano”“FIYAHCON Fringe Co-Director, Vida Cruz”“FIYAHCON Fringe Co-Director, and the Incredible FIYAHCON team
“George R.R. Martin Can Fuck Off Into the Sun, Or: The 2020 Hugo Awards Ceremony (Rageblog Edition)”, Natalie Luhrs (Pretty Terrible, August 2020)
The Last Bronycon: a fandom autopsy, Jenny Nicholson (YouTube)
With virtual events at The Poisoned Pen over for the year, it’s time to highlight a few other books. Ted Flanagan’s Every Hidden Thing is the Hot Book of the Week. You can find signed copies in the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3yKYO9S
Here’s the description of Every Hidden Thing.
Big city politics, nasty secrets, a dirty cop, and a deranged sociopath set the stage for a riveting journey deep into the urban jungle.
The last scion of a once-powerful political family, Worcester mayor John O’Toole has his sights set on vastly higher aspirations. When night shift paramedic Thomas Archer uncovers a secret that could upend the mayor’s career, O’Toole is set on silencing him, and sends Eamon Conroy, a brutal former cop, to ensure the truth remains under wraps.
But O’Toole doesn’t stop there. With bribes, buried secrets, and personal attacks, he wreaks havoc on Archer’s life in an attempt to save himself. Archer’s troubles continue to mount when domestic terrorist and militia member Gerald Knak, who blames Archer for his wife’s recent death, sets in motion a deadly plan for revenge.
With two forces of evil aligned against him, Archer doesn’t stand a chance. But things aren’t always what they seem–and he may just have a few tricks up his sleeve in a last gambit to get out alive.
Ted Flanagan is a Paramedic and former daily newspaper reporter from central Massachusetts whose writing has appeared on Shotgun Honey and Cognoscenti, among other places. In addition, he served as a Recon Marine with 2nd Recon Battalion. He lives with his wife and kids outside of Worcester, Mass.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
Barbara Peters had questions for all of the authors in the recent virtual event.
