Fiction Review

It’s hard to believe that Tony Hillerman’s first Leaphorn and Chee novel, The Blessing Way, came out fifty years ago. At Santafenewmexican.com, under “Pasatiempo”, James McGrath Morris talks about Hillerman and his path to publication. You can find the article, “Tony Hillerman’s ‘The Blessing Way’ at 50” here, https://bit.ly/2VWdGAD.

And, you can order Hillerman’s books, including The Blessing Way, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2uRxzx1

Here’s the summary of The Blessing Way.

“Brilliant…as fascinating as it is original.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch

From New York Times bestselling author Tony Hillerman, the first novel in his series featuring Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn & Officer Jim Chee who encounter a bizarre case that borders between the supernatural and murder—now available in a limited Olive Edition.

Homicide is always an abomination, but there is something exceptionally disturbing about the victim discovered in a high, lonely place—a corpse with a mouth full of sand—abandoned at a crime scene seemingly devoid of tracks or useful clues. Though it goes against his better judgment, Navajo Tribal Police Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn cannot help but suspect the hand of a supernatural killer.

There is palpable evil in the air, and Leaphorn’s pursuit of a Wolf-Witch leads him where even the bravest men fear, on a chilling trail that winds perilously between mysticism and murder.

An American in Europe during World War II. Susan Elia MacNeal, author of the Maggie Hope mysteries, introduced her character when she was in conversation with author Karen Odden at The Poisoned Pen. Hope was an American who decided to stay in Europe when the war broke out, and became Churchill’s secretary in the first book in the series. Now, MacNeal is up to the ninth book of the series, The King’s Justice. You can order signed copies of it, and copies of the other Maggie Hope books through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2wwV282

Can a stolen violin lead secret agent and spy Maggie Hope to a new serial killer terrorizing London? Find out as the acclaimed World War II mystery series from New York Times bestselling author Susan Elia MacNeal continues.

Maggie Hope started out as Winston Churchill’s secretary, but now she’s a secret agent—and the only one who can figure out how the missing violin ties into a series of horrifying murders.

London, December 1943. As the Russian army repels German forces from Stalingrad, Maggie Hope takes a much-needed break from spying to defuse bombs in London. But Maggie herself is an explosion waiting to happen. Traumatized by her past, she finds herself living dangerously—taking huge risks, smoking, drinking, and speeding through the city streets on a motorbike. The last thing she wants is to get entangled in another crime.

But when she’s called upon to look into the theft of a Stradivarius, one of the finest violins ever made, Maggie can’t resist. Meanwhile, there’s a serial killer on the loose in London, targeting conscientious objectors. Little does Maggie know that investigating this dangerous predator will pit her against a new evil—and old enemies. Only Maggie can uncover the connection between the robbery, the murders, and a link to her own past.

*****

If you’re a fan of the Maggie Hope series, you’ll want to eavesdrop on the conversation and learn about one of Winston Churchill’s actual secretaries.

Joshua Hood, author of Robert Ludlum’s The Threadstone Resurrection, recently made his first visit to The Poisoned Pen. Barbara Peters, owner of the bookstore, took the time to ask Hood about his background. He has military background, time with a sheriff’s department, and years on a SWAT team. He talks about that, and why he set the first Adam Hayes novel in Venezuela. You can order a signed copy of Robert Ludlum’s The Threadstone Resurrection through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2PWBUHo

Here’s the description of Hood’s latest novel.

The first novel in an explosive new series inspired by Robert Ludlum’s Bourne universe, The Treadstone Resurrection introduces an unforgettable hero and the shadowy world that forged him…

Treadstone made Jason Bourne an unstoppable force, but he’s not the only one.

Operation Treadstone has nearly ruined Adam Hayes. The top-secret CIA Black Ops program trained him to be an all but invincible assassin, but it also cost him his family and any chance at a normal life. Which is why he was determined to get out. Working as a carpenter in rural Washington state, Adam thinks he has left Treadstone in the past, until he receives a mysterious email from a former colleague, and soon after is attacked by an unknown hit team at his job site.

Adam must regain the skills that Treadstone taught him–lightning reflexes and a cold conscience–in order to discover who the would-be killers are and why they have come after him now. Are his pursuers enemies from a long-ago mission? Rival intelligence agents? Or, perhaps, forces inside Treadstone? His search will unearth secrets in the highest levels of government and pull him back into the shadowy world he worked so hard to forget.

*****

You can listen to the entire conversation here.

There’s always so much to talk about when authors appear at The Poisoned Pen. Steve Berry, author of The Warsaw Protocol, was the first author to appear at the bookstore after Clive Cussler’s death. He and Barbara Peters, owner of the bookstore, discussed Cussler’s kindness to other authors, his contributions to the International Thrillers Writers, and Thrillerfest itself. Then, of course, they talked about Poland and Berry’s book, The Warsaw Protocol. You can order signed copies of that book, and copies of his other books through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/32UZtFA

Here’s the description of the latest Cotton Malone book.

In New York Times bestseller Steve Berry’s latest Cotton Malone adventure, one by one the seven precious relics of the Arma Christi, the weapons of Christ, are disappearing from sanctuaries across the world.

After former Justice Department agent Cotton Malone witnesses the theft of one of them, he learns from his old boss, Stephanie Nelle, that a private auction is about to be held where incriminating information on the president of Poland will be offered to the highest bidder—blackmail that both the United States and Russia want, but for vastly different reasons.

The price of admission to that auction is one of the relics, so Malone is first sent to a castle in Poland to steal the Holy Lance, a thousand-year-old spear sacred to not only Christians but to the Polish people, and then on to the auction itself. But nothing goes as planned and Malone is thrust into a bloody battle between three nations over information that, if exposed, could change the balance of power in Europe.

From the tranquil canals of Bruges, to the elegant rooms of Wawel Castle, to deep beneath the earth into an ancient Polish salt mine, Malone is caught in the middle of a deadly war—the outcome of which turns on a secret known as the Warsaw Protocol.

*****

You’ll want to eavesdrop on the conversation.

I’m going to leave you hanging. You’re going to have to read Betty Webb’s article at CrimeReads to find out how DNA and Webb’s sixth book in the Gunn Zoo mystery series, The Panda of Death, are related. The article is called “Fact, Fiction, and a DNA Surprise”. Check it out here. https://bit.ly/3cBfFjZ

You’ll have the chance to talk to Betty Webb about that article, the Gunn Zoo series, and her Lena Jones series. She’ll be at The Poisoned Pen on Saturday, March 7 at 2 PM to sign The Panda of Death. That book, and her other books, are available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2uhnpCs

Is there anything much cuter than the cover of The Panda of Death?

California zookeeper Theodora Bentley is now happily married to Sheriff Joe Rejas. The Gunn Zoo is celebrating the arrival of Poonya, an adorable red panda, who forms a strong bond with Teddy. All appears fairytale blissful in the small Monterey Bay village of Gunn Landing until Teddy’s mother-in-law, mystery writer Colleen Rejas, has discovered through DNA testing that Joe has sired a son he knew nothing about. Dylan Coyle, 18, arrives to meet his biological family… and then is arrested for murder.

By the end of the book, besides solving the crime, Teddy and Colleen have learned that the term “family” does not always mean blood kin. It often includes those who—although no blood relationship—are still held close in our hearts.

*****

And, just for me, ask Betty about Paris.

There’s so much to love about Russ Thomas’ debut. First, a title called Firewatching is the Hot Book of the Week at The Poisoned Pen. And, it’s a police procedural! It’s a little late to mention that Thomas will be at The Pen on Thursday, March 5 at 7 PM, joining John McMahon (The Evil Men Do), and Don Bentley (Without Sanction). You can order copies of all the books through the Web Store, https://store.poisonedpen.com/, but you can order signed copies of that hot debut here. https://bit.ly/2uXnM9u

The troubled characters in Firewatching reminded me of Ann Cleeves’ characters. If you read it, see what you think.

“A pitch-perfect blend of the best of the old and the best of the new–all the traditional strengths and charms are here, with a fresh and relevant twenty first-century edge. I loved it.”–Lee Child

A taut and ambitious police procedural debut introducing Detective Sergeant Adam Tyler, a cold case reviewer who lands a high-profile murder investigation, only to find the main suspect is his recent one-night stand . . .

When financier Gerald Cartwright disappeared from his home six years ago, it was assumed he’d gone on the run from his creditors. But then a skeleton is found bricked up in the cellar of Cartwright’s burned-out mansion, and it becomes clear Gerald never left alive.

As the sole representative of South Yorkshire’s Cold Case Review Unit, Detective Sergeant Adam Tyler is not expected to get results, but he knows this is the case that might finally kick start his floundering career. Luckily, he already has a suspect. Unluckily, that suspect is Cartwright’s son, the man Tyler slept with the night before.

Keeping his possible conflict-of-interest under wraps, Tyler digs into the case alongside Amina Rabbani, an ambitious young Muslim constable and a fellow outsider seeking to prove herself on the force. Soon their investigation will come up against close-lipped townsfolk, an elderly woman with dementia who’s receiving mysterious threats referencing a past she can’t remember, and an escalating series of conflagrations set by a troubled soul intent on watching the world burn . . .

Jason Pinter, author of Hide Away, is about to go on book tour. In fact, he’ll be at The Poisoned Pen on Monday, March 9 at 7 PM, joining Phillip Margolin, author of A Reasonable Doubt, and Matt Goldman, author of The Shallows. They will all be signing their books, available through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

But, Jason Pinter is also the parent of small children. And, he recently wrote about that, talking with other crime writers as to how they juggle parenting and writing crime novels. You can find the article on CrimeReads as “How to Be a Crime Novelist and a Parent…Without Losing Your Mind or Your Moral Compass.” https://bit.ly/32NZpHN

If you’re not interested in the trials and tribulations of a crime writer, you can still check out Pinter’s Hide Away, the first Rachel Marin thriller.

“Pinter is in fine form with Hide Away. You’ll burn through the pages.” —David Baldacci

From the bestselling author of the Henry Parker series comes a page-turning thriller about a vigilante who’s desperate to protect her secrets—and bring a killer to justice.

On the surface, Rachel Marin is an ordinary single mother; on the inside, she’s a fierce, brilliant vigilante. After an unspeakable crime shatters her life, she changes her identity and moves to a small town in Illinois, hoping to spare her children from further trauma…or worse. But crime follows her everywhere.

When the former mayor winds up dead, Rachel can’t help but get involved. Where local detectives see suicide, she sees murder. They resent her for butting in—especially since she’s always one step ahead. But her investigative genius may be her undoing: the deeper she digs, the harder it is to keep her own secrets buried.

Her persistence makes her the target of both the cops and a killer. Meanwhile, the terrifying truth about her past threatens to come to light, and Rachel learns the hard way that she can’t trust anyone. Surrounded by danger, she must keep her steely resolve, protect her family, and stay one step ahead, or else she may become the next victim.

James Ellroy recently wrote a piece for The Guardian in which he talks about writing The Black Dahlia. The article is in their “How I Wrote” column. It’s hard to become more involved in a case than Ellroy was. The introduction to the article says, “The death of wannabe starlet Elizabeth Short became entwined in Ellroy’s mind with the murder of his mother ““ and inspired his bestselling novel.” You can read Ellroy’s piece here. https://bit.ly/2TDlyoa

You can find Ellroy’s book about the unsolved murder in the Web Store, along with his other books. https://bit.ly/2KUNy3y

Here’s the summary of The Black Dahlia.

The highly acclaimed novel based on America’s most infamous unsolved murder case. Dive into 1940s Los Angeles as two cops spiral out of control in their hunt for The Black Dahlia’s killer in this powerful thriller that is “brutal and at the same time believable” (New York Times).

On January 15, 1947, the torture-ravished body of a beautiful young woman is found in a Los Angeles vacant lot. The victim makes headlines as the Black Dahlia — and so begins the greatest manhunt in California history. Caught up in the investigation are Bucky Bleichert and Lee Blanchard: Warrants Squad cops, friends, and rivals in love with the same woman. But both are obsessed with the Dahlia — driven by dark needs to know everything about her past, to capture her killer, to possess the woman even in death. Their quest will take them on a hellish journey through the underbelly of postwar Hollywood, to the core of the dead girl’s twisted life, past the extremes of their own psyches — into a region of total madness.

*****

If you tend to get caught up in research and history as I do, you can also read about The Black Dahlia case on the FBI’s site. https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/the-black-dahlia

Phillip Margolin appears at The Poisoned Pen on Monday, March 9 at 7 PM to discuss and sign his third Robin Lockwood novel, A Reasonable Doubt. He’ll be joined by Jason Pinter, author of Hide Away, and Matt Goldman, author of the Nils Shapiro books, including The Shallows. Their books can all be purchased through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com

But, today the featured title is A Reasonable Doubt because Adam Wagner did a GifNote for CriminalElement featuring that title. His GifNotes are visual summaries of books. You can find A Reasonable Doubt here. https://bit.ly/38eTpsw

And, you can find A Reasonable Doubt and its summary right here.

A magician linked to three murders and suspicious deaths years ago disappears in the middle of his new act in New York Timesbestseller Phillip Margolin’s latest thriller featuring Robin Lockwood

Robin Lockwood is a young criminal defense attorney and partner in a prominent law firm in Portland, Oregon. A former MMA fighter and Yale Law graduate, she joined the firm of legal legend Regina Barrister not long before Regina was forced into retirement by early onset Alzheimer’s.  

One of Regina’s former clients, Robert Chesterfield, shows up in the law office with an odd request—he’s seeking help from his old attorney in acquiring patent protection for an illusion. Chesterfield is a professional magician of some reknown and he has a major new trick he’s about to debut. This is out of the scope of the law firm’s expertise, but when Robin Lockwood looks into his previous relationship with the firm, she learns that twenty years ago he was arrested for two murders, one attempted murder, and was involved in the potentially suspicious death of his very rich wife. At the time, Regina Barrister defended him with ease, after which he resumed his career as a magician in Las Vegas.  

Now, decades later, he debuts his new trick—only to disappear at the end. He’s a man with more than one dark past and many enemies—is his disappearance tied to one of the many people who have good reason to hate him? Was he killed and his body disposed of, or did he use his considerable skills to engineer his own disappearance?

Robin Lockwood must unravel the tangled skein of murder and bloody mischief to learn how it all ties together.

Did you miss the coconut layer cake at The Poisoned Pen the other day when Joanne Fluke was guest author? Even if you missed the event, you can still get a signed copy of her latest Hannah Swensen mystery, Coconut Layer Cake Murder, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/32DybDv

You can also get “recipes to die for” at CrimeReads, where they have Fluke’s recipes for Cinnamon and Raisin Snap Cookies, Pineapple and Walnut Muffins, and Raspberry Danish. https://crimereads.com/joanne-fluke-has-some-recipes-to-die-for/

If you really only care about the mystery, here’s the description of Coconut Layer Cake Murder.

Bakery owner Hannah Swensen is leaving Lake Eden to help a friend in sunny California. But an unexpected phone call swiftly brings her back to a cold Minnesota winter . . . and murder . . .

When Hannah learns that her sister Michelle’s boyfriend, Detective Lonnie Murphy, is the prime suspect in a murder case, she goes straight from a movie studio sound stage to the Los Angeles airport.
 
Back in frigid Minnesota, she discovers that proving Lonnie’s innocence will be harder than figuring out what went wrong with a recipe. Lonnie remembers only parts of the night he went out to a local bar and ended up driving a very impaired woman home. He knows he helped her to her bedroom, but he doesn’t recall anything else until he woke up on her couch the following morning. When he went to the bedroom to check on her, he was shocked to discover she was dead.
 
Hannah doesn’t know what to believe—only that exonerating a suspect who can’t remember is almost impossible, especially since Lonnie’s brother, Detective Rick Murphy, and Lonnie’s partner, Chief Detective Mike Kingston, have been taken off the case. Before everything comes crashing down on Lonnie like a heaping slice of coconut layer cake, it’ll be up to Hannah to rack up enough clues to toast a flaky killer . . .