Fiction Review

Patrick Millikin recently hosted K’wan, the award-winning author of Black Lotus 2: The Vow and more than thirty other novels. His books can be found in the Web Store, https://bit.ly/37izewN

First, here’s K’wan’s biography.

K’WAN is the best-selling, award-winning author of more than thirty novels, including the wildly popular Animal series, Black Lotus, Gangsta, Road Dawgz, Street Dreams, Hoodlum, and Section 8. He has been featured in Vibe, King, Entertainment Weekly, and Time magazine. K’wan was the recipient of the 2012 and 2013 Street Lit Book Award Medals (SLBAM) in adult fiction for Eviction Notice and Animal. His credits also include featured commentary in the documentary Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp (produced by Ice-T) as well as a recurring role as an analyst on TV One’s Celebrity Crime Files. K’wan resides in New Jersey, where he spends his time writing, cooking, and binge-watching reruns of The Vampire Diaries with his teenage daughters.

Check out Black Lotus 2: The Vow.

After the death of a police officer, assassin Kahllah (aka the Black Lotus) is forced out of retirement in an attempt to clear her name while outrunning a mysterious enemy.

“Black Lotus 2: The Vow is full of the cinematic action and drama that K’wan is known for. Readers will be anxiously waiting for the next installment.”
—Urban Reviews

“[A] riveting read from start to finish…Excellent.”
—Exclusive Magazine

“K’wan delivers a lean, tightly plotted tale that balances noir aesthetics with comic book flair. Fans of pulp and urban lit will be well satisfied.”
—Publishers Weekly

“From page one to the last, K’wan’sBlack Lotus 2: The Vow is a high-wire act with no net. A smart refiguring of hard-boiled with a nitro injection of new-age sensibilities.”
—Reed Farrel Coleman, New York Times best-selling author of Walking the Perfect Square

“Like a cool, hip, and fun evening at a vintage drive-in,Black Lotus 2: The Vow takes me back to a time when Jim Kelly, Pam Grier, and Fred Williamson graced the big screen. Throw in some Bruce Lee and a littleThe Last Dragon and you have a hell of a butt-kicking, action-filled ride.”
—Ace Atkins, New York Times best-selling author of The Shameless

“Black Lotus 2: The Vow is a thrilling roller-coaster ride of a mystery that kept me on the edge of my seat!”
—Bernice L. McFadden, author of The Book of Harlan

It’s been months since Kahllah El-Amin, aka the Black Lotus, hung up her pistols, retired from the murder-for-hire business, and finally found peace. But when a police officer is murdered and a familiar flower is left at the crime scene, all signs point to it being the work of the Black Lotus. Someone is trying to frame her. Things get more complicated when the case is handed to Detective James Wolf, a former adversary who has since become a friend.

To clear her name, Kahllah is forced out of retirement and once again must don the mask of the Black Lotus. She races against time to catch the real killer while trying to outrun her most formidable rival. Their deadly game leads to a shocking truth buried under a mountain of lies, as Kahllah attempts to find justice in a world devoid of light.

*****

You can enjoy the conversation here.

Author Jenn McKinlay recently turned moderator to grill her friends and fellow mystery authors, Kate Carlisle and Paige Shelton. Carlisle’s latest book is Premeditated Mortar and Shelton’s is Cold Wind. You can find the books of both authors, and McKinlay’s books, through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Here’s the summary of Premeditated Murder.

Contractor Shannon Hammer gets tangled up in murder at a spooky old asylum in the latest Fixer-Upper Mystery from New York Times bestselling author Kate Carlisle. . . .

Shannon Hammer is about to embark on one of the biggest projects of her career. Her best friend Jane Hennessey has purchased one wing of the Gables, formerly the old state insane asylum, located on a bucolic hillside two miles northeast of Lighthouse Cove. Jane plans to turn her section into a small luxury hotel complete with twenty ocean-view rooms, a spa, and a restaurant.

Shannon is raring to get started on the enormous project and is shocked when a group of unruly protesters shows up at the groundbreaking ceremony and wreaks havoc. She’s even more freaked-out when someone pushes her into a pit of bricks in a closed-off room of the asylum. Despite her close call, Shannon wants nothing more than to get back to work . . . until she finds a body not far from where she was pushed. Now Shannon is determined to get to the bottom of the goings-on at the Gables even if it kills her. . . .

Here’s Paige Shelton’s Cold Wind.

Second in a new series set in Alaska from beloved cozy author Paige Shelton, Cold Wind will chill your bones.

Beth Rivers is still in Alaska. The unidentified man who kidnapped her in her home of St. Louis hasn’t been found yet, so she’s not ready to go back.

But as October comes to a close, Benedict is feeling more and more like her new home. Beth has been working on herself: She’s managed to get back to writing, and she’s enjoying these beautiful months between summer and winter in Alaska.

Then, everything in Benedict changes after a mudslide exposes a world that had been hidden for years. Two mud-covered, silent girls appear, and a secret trapper’s house is found in the woods. The biggest surprise, though, is a dead and frozen woman’s body in the trapper’s shed. No one knows who she is, but the man who runs the mercantile, Randy, seems to be in the middle of all the mysteries.

Unable to escape her journalistic roots, Beth is determined to answer the questions that keep arising: Are the mysterious girls and the frozen body connected? Can Randy possibly be involved? And—most importantly—can she solve this mystery before the cold wind sweeping over the town and the townspeople descends for good?

*****

Join the three mystery authors in conversation.

Marty Wingate’s mystery, Murder is a Must, is the Hot Book of the Week at The Poisoned Pen. Signed copies are available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3gJxakg

Here is the summary of Murder is a Must.

ermined to make the First Edition Library a success, Hayley Burke wasn’t expecting to have to solve an old friend’s murder in this all-new mystery from USA Today bestselling author Marty Wingate.

Hayley Burke, curator of Lady Fowling’s collection of first edition mysteries, is settling into her position at the First Edition Library in Middlebank House. She’s even made progress with Lady Fowling’s former secretary, the ornery Miss Woolgar. The women are busily preparing for an exhibition that will showcase Lady Fowling’s life and letters. Hayley knows the exhibition is a huge undertaking and decides, against her better judgement, to hire Oona Atherton, her former boss from the Jane Austen Centre to help with the planning.
 
     Oona is known for being difficult, but all seems to be going swimmingly until she and Hayley uncover a one-page letter that alludes to a priceless edition of MURDER MUST ADVERTISE signed by several Golden Age of Mystery authors. Oona feels this book could be the focal point of the exhibition and becomes obsessed with finding it.
 
     When they find clues that appear to point to the book being somewhere in the First Edition Library, Oona is certain she’s unraveled the mystery and texts Hayley the good news, but upon arriving back at Middlebank, Hayley finds her old boss dead at the bottom of the stairs. Did her discovery of the rare book get her killed or was it some angry shadow from her past? Hayley must read between the lines to catch a malicious murderer.

John Charles from The Poisoned Pen recently hosted five Kensington authors for a Holiday Cozy Party. Joining him for the virtual party were Maddie Day, Maya Corrigan, Nancy Coco, Liz Ireland and Heather Redmond. You can find their latest books in the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

With five authors, I can’t really summarize their books, but I’ll share the book jackets. The authors talk about their books in the virtual event, so check that out.

I always enjoy John Charles’ opening question when he asks the authors to tell us about their lives before they became authors. Check out their answers, and their comments about their Christmas books.

Patrick Millikin recently hosted Matt Coyle, author of the Rick Cahill books. Blind Vigil is the seventh in the series. Coyle still had the copies to be signed at the time of the virtual event, but signed copies will be in the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2W44OI0

Here’s the summary of Blind Vigil.

Anthony, Shamus, and Lefty Award-winning Author

A friend arrested for murder. A vicious killer lurking in the shadows. A world of darkness.

Blinded by a gunshot wound to the face while working as a private investigator nine months ago, Rick Cahill is now sure of only one thing: he has to start a new life and leave his old one behind.

He’s still trying to figure out what that life is when his onetime partner, Moira MacFarlane, asks for his help on a case she’s taken for Rick’s former best friend. The case is simple and Moira only needs Rick for one interview, but Rick is wary of waking sleeping demons.

Ultimately, he goes against his gut and takes the case which quickly turns deadly. Rick’s old compulsion of finding the truth no matter the cost—the same compulsion that cost him his eyesight and almost his life—battles against his desire to escape his past.

The stakes are raised when Rick’s friend is implicated in murder and needs his help. Can he help the friend he no longer trusts while questioning his own lessened capabilities? His life depends on the answer as a shadowy killer lurks in the darkness.

Perfect for fans of Michael Connelly and John Sandford

*****

Here’s the virtual event with Matt Coyle.

If you missed the virtual event at The Poisoned Pen, you can now catch the video of the two greats as Lee Child, author of The Sentinel interviewed James Patterson who has two new books, Deadly Cross and The Last Days of John Lennon. You can order Patterson’s books here in the Web Store, https://bit.ly/3m1Xese, and The Sentinel here, https://bit.ly/3n2UFal.

Here’s the summary of the latest Alex Cross novel, Deadly Cross.

The murder of a glamorous DC socialite becomes Alex Cross’s deadliest case since Along Came a Spider.
Kay Willingham led a life as glamorous as it was public-she was a gorgeous Georgetown socialite, philanthropist, and the ex-wife of the vice president. So why was she parked in a Bentley convertible idling behind a DC private school, in the middle of the night, with the man who was the head of that school? Who shot them both, point blank, and why? The shocking double homicide is blazed across the internet, TV, newspapers — and across Alex Cross’s mind. Kay had been his patient once. And maybe more.

While John Sampson of DC Metro Police investigates the last movements of Christopher Randall, the educator killed along with Kay Willingham, detective Alex Cross and FBI special agent Ned Mahoney find unanswered questions from Willingham’s past, before she arrived in DC and became known in DC society as someone who could make things happen. They travel to Alabama to investigate Kay’s early years. There they find a world of trouble, corruption, and secrets, all of them closed to outsiders like Cross and Mahoney.

Kay had many enemies, but all of them seemed to need her alive. The harder the investigators push, the more resistance they find when they leave behind the polite law offices and doctors’ quarters of the state capital. Alex Cross will need to use all his skills as a doctor, a detective, and a family man to prevent that resistance from turning lethal…again.

*****

Patterson and Child talk history and music while talking about The Last Days of John Lennon.

The greatest true-crime story in music history, as only James Patterson can tell it.
 
With the Beatles, John Lennon surpasses his youthful dreams, achieving a level of superstardom that defies classification. “We were the best bloody band there was,” he says. “There was nobody to touch us.” Nobody except the original nowhere man, Mark David Chapman. Chapman once worshipped his idols from afar—but now harbors grudges against those, like Lennon, whom he feels betrayed him. He’s convinced Lennon has misled fans with his message of hope and peace. And Chapman’s not staying away any longer. 
 
By the summer of 1980, Lennon is recording new music for the first time in years, energized and ready for it to be “(Just Like) Starting Over.” He can’t wait to show the world what he will do. 
 
Neither can Chapman, who quits his security job and boards a flight to New York, a handgun and bullets stowed in his luggage. 
 
The greatest true-crime story in music history, as only James Patterson can tell it. Enriched by exclusive interviews with Lennon’s friends and associates, including Paul McCartney, The Last Days of John Lennon is the thrilling true story of two men who changed history: One whose indelible songs enliven our world to this day—and the other who ended the beautiful music with five pulls of a trigger.

*****

While Lee Child actually interviewed James Patterson, here’s the summary of The Sentinel as well.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “¢ Jack Reacher is back! The “utterly addictive” (The New York Times) series continues as acclaimed author Lee Child teams up with his brother, Andrew Child, fellow thriller writer extraordinaire.

“One of the many great things about Jack Reacher is that he’s larger than life while remaining relatable and believable. The Sentinel shows that two Childs are even better than one.”—James Patterson

As always, Reacher has no particular place to go, and all the time in the world to get there. One morning he ends up in a town near Pleasantville, Tennessee.

But there’s nothing pleasant about the place.

In broad daylight Reacher spots a hapless soul walking into an ambush. “It was four against one” . . . so Reacher intervenes, with his own trademark brand of conflict resolution.

The man he saves is Rusty Rutherford, an unassuming IT manager, recently fired after a cyberattack locked up the town’s data, records, information . . . and secrets. Rutherford wants to stay put, look innocent, and clear his name.

Reacher is intrigued. There’s more to the story. The bad guys who jumped Rutherford are part of something serious and deadly, involving a conspiracy, a cover-up, and murder—all centered on a mousy little guy in a coffee-stained shirt who has no idea what he’s up against.

Rule one: if you don’t know the trouble you’re in, keep Reacher by your side.

*****

If you’re a fan of the authors, you’ll enjoy the event.

Lars Kepler, the writing husband-and-wife team, made a recent appearance, virtually, for The Poisoned Pen. Their fifth Joona Linna thriller, Lazarus, is now available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2FpnIlX

Robert Anglen, award-winning investigative reporter for the Arizona Republic, interviewed the couple, saying they gave us a heck of a Christmas novel. I wouldn’t think of Lazarus that way, but I do think you can read this thriller without yet having read the earlier ones in the series. Afterwards, you’ll want to go back and pick up the others.

Here’s the summary of Lazarus.

“One of the best thrillers of the year! Kepler treats us readers to a nonstop roller coaster of suspense, taking us deep into the hearts and minds of perfectly realized characters. And, oh, what a villain! Lazarus is the definition of a one-sitting read!” —Jeffery Deaver, New York Times best-selling author of The Goodbye Man 

Sometimes the past won’t stay buried.

All across Europe, the most ruthless criminals are suffering gruesome deaths. At first, it seems coincidental that their underworld affiliations are finally catching up to them. But when two of the victims are found to have disturbing connections to Detective Joona Linna, it becomes clear that there’s a single killer at work. Still, police are reluctant to launch an investigation. If a mysterious vigilante is making their jobs easier, why stand in his way? Joona, however, is convinced this is no
would-be hero. These deaths serve a much darker purpose.

Desperate for help, Joona turns to Saga Bauer. If his hunch is correct, she’s one of the few people who stands a chance at bringing this criminal mastermind down. But Saga is fighting her own demons—and the killer knows just how to use them to his advantage. He continues to strike with impunity, and no one, it seems, is safe. When the killer begins targeting those closest to Saga and Joona, it appears more and more likely that Joona has been right all along, and that tracking down the person responsible will force him to confront a ghost from his past . . . the most terrifying villain he’s ever had to face.

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Now, turn up your volume, and enjoy the virtual event with Lars Kepler.

Patrick Millikin recently introduced Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, and author/editors Laurie R. Kling and Leslie Klinger for a virtual event. King and Klinger appeared to talk about their most recent anthology in their Sherlock Holmes-inspired series of books. Signed copies of In League with Sherlock Holmes: Stories Inspired by the Sherlock Holmes Canon are available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/33MjfEQ

Here’s the summary of In League with Sherlock Holmes.

The latest entry in Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger’s popular Sherlock Holmes-inspired mystery series, featuring fifteen talented authors and a multitude of new cases for Arthur Conan Doyle’s most acclaimed detective.

Sherlock Holmes has not only captivated readers for more than a century and a quarter, he has fascinated writers as well. Almost immediately, the detective’s genius, mastery, and heroism became the standard by which other creators measured their creations, and the friendship between Holmes and Dr. Watson served as a brilliant model for those who followed Doyle. Not only did the Holmes tales influence the mystery genre but also tales of science-fiction, adventure, and the supernatural. It is little wonder, then, that when the renowned Sherlockians Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger invited their writer-friends and colleagues to be inspired by the Holmes canon, a cornucopia of stories sprang forth, with more than sixty of the greatest modern writers participating in four acclaimed anthologies.

Now, King and Klinger have invited another fifteen masters to become In League with Sherlock Holmes. The contributors to the pair’s next volume, due out in December 2020, include award-winning authors of horror, thrillers, mysteries, westerns, and science-fiction, all bound together in admiration and affection for the original stories. Past tales have spanned the Victorian era, World War I, World War II, the post-war era, and contemporary America and England. They have featured familiar figures from literature and history, children, master sleuths, official police, unassuming amateurs, unlikely protagonists, even ghosts and robots. Some were new tales about Holmes and Watson; others were about people from Holmes’s world or admirers of Holmes and his methods. The resulting stories are funny, haunting, thrilling, and surprising. All are unforgettable. The new collection promises more of the same!

*****

Enjoy the discussion!

Patrick Millikin from the Poisoned Pen recently had the opportunity to host Caz Frear, author of Shed No Tears. He’s been handselling her first book, Sweet Little Lies. That book is in the Web Store, while you’ll have to wait a little, but will want to order the new book. https://bit.ly/2L5zgiJ Do pick up the first book. It introduces Cat Kinsella.

Cat is back in Shed No Tears, the third book in the series, following Stone Cold Heart.

Acclaimed and internationally bestselling crime novelist Caz Frear returns with her third superb novel featuring Cat Kinsella, a cop “on par with Susie Steiner’s and Tana French’s female detectives” (Kirkus Reviews).

Four victims. Killer caught. Case closed . . .  or is it? 

Growing up in a London family with ties to organized crime, Detective Constable Cat Kinsella knows the criminal world better than most cops do. As a member of the city’s Metropolitan Police, she’s made efforts to distinguish herself from her relatives. But leading an upstanding life isn’t always easy, and Cat has come close to crossing the line, a fact she keeps well hidden from her superiors.

Working their latest case, Cat and her partner Luigi Parnell discover a connection to a notorious criminal: serial killer Christopher Masters, who abducted and killed several women in 2012. Though the cops eventually apprehended him, his final victim, Holly Kemp, was never found and he never confessed to her murder, despite the solid eyewitness testimony against him. Now, six years later, the discovery of Holly’s remains near Cambridge seems to be the definitive proof needed to close the case.

Still, a few key items of evidence don’t quite line up. As Cat and Parnell look closer, they find discrepancies that raise troubling questions. But someone will do anything to keep past secrets hidden—and as they inch closer to the truth, they may be putting themselves in jeopardy . . . 

*****

Here’s the virtual event featuring Caz Frear.