Fiction Review

Patrick Millikin from The Poisoned Pen recently hosted three authors involved with a new book, Speculative Los Angeles. Denise Hamilton, editor of the new anthology, discusses the book with contributors Duane Swierczynski and Ben Winters. You can order a copy of the book through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3cefD34

Here’s the description of the unusual anthology.

The debut title in a new city-based anthology series featuring all-new stories with speculative, sci-fi, and paranormal themes–each using distinct neighborhood settings as a launching pad.

“A stimulating anthology of 14 futuristic L.A. fables…Some of the best of these tales seem illumined by the humanistic spirit of the late Ray Bradbury, poet laureate of Southern California fantasy literature.”
—Wall Street Journal

“[Speculative Los Angeles] is a swath of tales that are both wildly imaginative and emotionally grounded, speculations that not only imagine our possible futures but illuminate the collective anxieties of our unsettled and unsettling present.”
—Los Angeles Times

“Speculative Los Angeles is a thrill ride of grand ideas and warnings. Take a place that already defines the future of culture, add fourteen unbound minds, and you get a collection that wows the imagination like no other.”
—Michael Connelly, author of the best-selling Harry Bosch series

“The problem of buying books for others can be solved by offering the equivalent of the literary box of chocolates: the anthology…For Californians, or people who just like the West Coast, there’sSpeculative Los Angeles, edited by Denise Hamilton.”
—Washington Post, recommended by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

“14 writers explore the fantastic in short stories that crisscross LA county, taking readers into alternate pasts, supernatural presents and dystopian futures…Speculative Los Angeles shows the breadth of worlds that can be created inside Los Angeles.”
—Los Angeles Daily News

“14 outstanding stories of weird and uncanny happenings in the City of Angels…Each story presents a fresh take on the magic and strangeness of L.A. past, present, and future, and the characters are representative of the diverse region, caught in situations ranging from surreal to chilling. Readers should snap this up.”
—Publishers Weekly, Starred review, Pick of the Week

As an incubator of the future, Los Angeles has long mesmerized writers from Aldous Huxley to Octavia E. Butler. With its natural disasters, Hollywood artifice, staggering wealth and poverty, and urban sprawl, one can argue that Los Angeles is already so weird, surreal, irrational, and mythic that any fiction emerging from this place should be considered speculative. So, bestselling author Denise Hamilton commissioned fourteen stories (including one of her own) and did exactly that. InSpeculative Los Angeles, some of the city’s most prophetic and diverse voices reimagine the metropolis in very different ways.

In these pages, you’ll encounter twenty-first-century changelings, dirigibles plying the suburban skies, black holes and jacaranda men lurking in deep suburbia, beachfront property in Century City, walled-off canyons and coastlines reserved for the wealthy, psychic death cults, robot nursemaids, and an alternate LA where Spanish land grants never gave way to urbanization.

As with our city-based Akashic Noir Series, each story inSpeculative Los Angeles is set in a distinct neighborhood filled with local color, landmarks, and flavor. Since the best speculative fiction provides a wormhole into other worlds while also commenting on our own, that is exactly what you’ll find here.

Featuring brand-new stories by: Charles Yu, Aimee Bender, Lisa Morton, Alex Espinoza, Ben H. Winters, Denise Hamilton, Lynell George, Stephen Blackmoore, Francesca Lia Block, Duane Swierczynski, Luis J. Rodriguez, A.G. Lombardo, Kathleen Kaufman, and S. Qiouyi Lu.

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If the topic interests you, you’ll enjoy the discussion of how the book came about, and the discussion of the anthology.

It’s always fun to see the variety of authors and books that appear at The Poisoned Pen. Check out the upcoming slate of authors, from all over. Then, after you’ve picked your selections, check out the authors’ books in the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/ There’s entertaining viewing and reading ahead of us!

A recent virtual event at The Poisoned Pen featured Phillip Margolin and friends in conversation. Margolin talked about A Matter of Life and Death, so he could talk about the a death case trial. Dan Bronson is the author of Someone to Watch Over Me. Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, moderated the conversation. You can order a signed copy of Margolin’s book, while Bronson’s book has to be special ordered through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Here’s A Matter of Life and Death.

“A genuine whodunnit” (Kirkus Reviews)–Phillip Margolin, the master of the courtroom thriller, returns with A Matter of Life and Death, a classic mind-bending puzzle, as Attorney Robin Lockwood must face her most challenging case yet, with everything stacked against her client and death on the line.

Joe Lattimore, homeless and trying desperately to provide for his young family, agrees to fight in a no-holds-barred illegal bout, only to have his opponent die. Lattimore now finds himself at the mercy of the fight’s organizers who blackmail him into burglarizing a house. However, when he breaks in, he finds a murdered woman on the floor and the police have received an anonymous tip naming him the murderer.

Robin Lockwood, an increasingly prominent young attorney and former MMA fighter, agrees to take on his defense. But the case is seemingly airtight—the murdered woman’s husband, Judge Anthony Carasco, has an alibi and Lattimore’s fingerprints are discovered at the scene. But everything about the case is too easy, too pat, and Lockwood is convinced that her client has been framed. The only problem is that she has no way of proving it and since this is a death case, if she fails then another innocent will die.

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Check out Someone to Watch Over Me.

“Jack Shannon recalls Raymond Chandler’s description of Phillip Marlowe: “˜Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid.’ Streets don’t come any meaner than those of 1947 Hollywood, where corruption is systemic, where no one is who he or she seems to be, where life is a series of traps, and no man is better prepared to navigate those streets than Shannon, whose voice is as distinctive as Marlowe’s.”—Stephen Galloway, former Executive Editor of The Hollywood Reporter, current Dean of Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, author of Leading Lady: Sherry Lansing and the Making of a Hollywood Groundbreaker

“I cut my teeth on Dashiell Hammett and John D. MacDonald. Unfortunately, I had read all those works before I was thirty and have been enduring a long dry spell. The drought is over. Someone To Watch Over Me is an inside look at how the “˜dream factory’ of the forties produced some blockbuster nightmares, and reminds the reader that noir is much more than gobo shadows dancing on a wall.”—Gerald McRaney, actor (Major Dad)

“If Raymond Chandler had turned a steely eye to the notorious Hollywood casting couch, the result might well be called Someone To Watch Over Me. Dan Bronson gloriously re-animates the tones and textures of the noir novel in its classic era, while zeroing the thematic crosshairs onto subject matter directly relevant to the present day. From the dark allure of Tinseltown to the yacht slips of Catalina Island, and featuring a jaded-yet-resilient lead who knows more than he should about people with both secrets and power, this novel roars along like a Rocket 88, pinning the reader to the seat and never letting off the accelerator. It’s a pulse-pounding, pitch-perfect ride in one of the great genres of American literature, and Dan Bronson drives like a master of the form.”—Malcolm Brooks, author of Painted Horses and Cloudmaker.

“Reading Someone To Watch Over Me is like watching a classic 1940s black and white noir detective movie like The Big Sleep or The Maltese Falcon. There are murders, kidnappings, payoffs, mobsters and coverups in this gritty, inside look at the sleazy side of the post-World War Two motion picture industry. Too bad Humphrey Bogart and Robert Mitchum won’t be available if they make a movie out of this excellent tough guy detective novel.—Phillip Margolin, New York Times bestselling author of A Reasonable Doubt.

“There was Sam Spade, Lew Archer, Travis McGee. Now there is Jack Shannon, intelligent, tough, unafraid, uniquely real, and all too humanly fallible. But Jack Shannon’s beat is completely unlike any you have ever read, and it provides a glimpse into the dark and ugly side of Hollywood’s glamorous Golden Age. This is noir at its best.”—Jameson Parker, recovering actor (Simon and Simon), working writer (Dancing with the Dead)

“A film noir reeling off not on the screen but on the page. The writing is first-rate, full of movie-savvy observation and more than a few dollops of laugh-out-loud humor. A joy to read.”—Douglas Soesbe, screenwriter (Robin Williams’ Boulevard), former Story Editor at Tri-Star and Universal.

“A perfect film noir filled with scoundrels, scandals and skullduggery against the backdrop of the land of make-believe. Someone to Watch Over Me travels the boulevard of broken dreams with plenty of wit, vigor and shocking surprises, delivering one of the best reads I’ve had in a long time.”—Ray Schilaci, The Movie Guys.

Dan Bronson has had many careers: Associate Professor of English at DePauw University, Senior Story Analyst at Universal, Associate Story Editor at Filmways, Executive Story Editor at Paramount, Writer-Producer of HBO’s Ed Harris thriller The Last Innocent Man and NBC’s cult classic Death of a Cheerleader, and author of the memoir Confessions of a Hollywood Nobody.

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Enjoy the conversation between friends.

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, recently hosted Peter Swanson, author of Every Vow You Break, for a virtual event. There are signed copies of his book in the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3r1qdyR

Here’s Every Vow You Break.

“Hitchcockian chills and thrills abound in Swanson’s latest mystery, a twisty tale of survival and deception. ” ““ O, the Oprah Magazine

A bride’s dream honeymoon becomes a nightmare when a man with whom she’s had a regrettable one-night stand shows up in this electrifying psychological thriller from the acclaimed author of Eight Perfect Murders.

Abigail Baskin never thought she’d fall in love with a millionaire. Then she met Bruce Lamb. He’s a good guy, stable, level-headed, kind—a refreshing twist from her previous relationships.

But right before the wedding, Abigail has a drunken one-night stand on her bachelorette weekend. She puts the incident—and the sexy guy who wouldn’t give her his real name—out of her mind, and now believes she wants to be with Bruce for the rest of her life.

Then the mysterious stranger suddenly appears—and Abigail’s future life and happiness are turned upside down. He insists that their passionate night was the beginning of something much, much more. Something special. Something real—and he’s tracked her down to prove it.

Does she tell Bruce and ruin their idyllic honeymoon—and possibly their marriage? Or should she handle this psychopathic stalker on her own? To make the situation worse, strange things begin to happen. She sees a terrified woman in the night shadows, and no one at the resort seems to believe anything is amiss… including her perfect new husband.

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Peter Swanson is the author of seven novels, including The Kind Worth Killing, winner of the New England Society Book Award, and finalist for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger; Her Every Fear, an NPR book of the year; Before She Knew Him, and Eight Perfect Murders. His books have been translated into 30 languages, and his stories, poetry, and features have appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, The Atlantic Monthly, Measure, The Guardian, The Strand Magazine, and Yankee Magazine. He lives outside of Boston, where he is at work on his next novel.

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Enjoy the conversation between Peter Swanson and Barbara Peters. (And, there’s Swanson’s cat in the background.)

Carlene O’Connor was the St. Patrick’s Day guest for The Poisoned Pen. She and Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, discussed Ireland and O’Connor’s mysteries set in Ireland. O’Connor’s latest Irish Village Mystery, Murder in an Irish Bookshop, can be ordered through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2EViDDy

In Carlene O’Connor’s seventh installment of her USA Today bestselling Irish Village Mystery series, the grand opening of a new bookstore in Kilbane becomes the closing chapter of an author’s life–and a whodunit that tests even Garda Siobhán O’Sullivan’s deductive reasoning…

“A mélange of clues from classic mysteries plus plenty of Irish charm produce an enjoyable read.”–Kirkus Reviews

Join a bestselling author and travel to County Cork in Ireland to solve a bookish mystery full of twists in a cozy whodunit perfect for fans of Sheila Connolly, Kate Carlisle, and Laura Childs!

Between training the new town garda and trying to set a wedding date with her fiancé, Macdara Flannery, Siobhán O’Sullivan is feeling a bit overwhelmed. She’s looking forward to visiting the new bookshop and curling up with an exciting novel–only to discover the shelves contain nothing but Literature with a capital L. The owner not only refuses to stock romances, mysteries, and science fiction, but won’t even let customers enter his store unless they can quote James Joyce or Sean Hennessey.

Despite the owner deliberately limiting his clientele, he’s hosting a reading and autographing event featuring up and coming Irish writers who will be taking up residency in Kilbane for a month. Among them is indie author Deirdre Walsh, who spends more time complaining about the unfairness of the publishing industry and megastar bestsellers instead of her own creative works, causing a heated debate among the writers. She seems to have a particular distaste for the novels of Nessa Lamb.

Then Deirdre’s body is found the next day in the back of the store–with pages torn from Nessa’s books stuffed in her mouth. Now, Siobhán must uncover which of Kilbane’s literary guests took Deirdre’s criticisms so personally they’d engage in foul play . . .

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Carlene O’Connor is the USA Today bestselling author of the acclaimed Irish Village Mysteries and the Home to Ireland Mysteries. Born into a long line of Irish storytellers, her great-grandmother emigrated from Ireland filled with tales in 1897 and the stories have been flowing ever since. Of all the places across the pond she’s wandered, she fell most in love with a walled town in County Limerick and was inspired to create the town of Kilbane, County Cork, the setting of her Irish Village Mystery series. Carlene currently divides her time between Chicago and the Emerald Isle. Please visit her online at CarleneOConnor.net.

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Enjoy the conversation.

Harlan Coben’s Win is the Hot Book of the Week at The Poisoned Pen. He recently appeared virtually for the bookstore. If you’re lucky, you can still pick up one of the signed copies of Win. Check the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2PHnWar

Here’s the summary of Win.

From a #1 New York Times bestselling author comes this thrilling story that shows what happens when a dead man’s secrets fall into the hands of vigilante antihero—drawing him down a dangerous road.

Over twenty years ago, the heiress Patricia Lockwood was abducted during a robbery of her family’s estate, then locked inside an isolated cabin for months. Patricia escaped, but so did her captors — and the items stolen from her family were never recovered. 

Until now. On the Upper West Side, a recluse is found murdered in his penthouse apartment, alongside two objects of note: a stolen Vermeer painting and a leather suitcase bearing the initials WHL3. For the first time in years, the authorities have a lead — not only on Patricia’s kidnapping, but also on another FBI cold case — with the suitcase and painting both pointing them toward one man.

Windsor Horne Lockwood III — or Win, as his few friends call him — doesn’t know how his suitcase and his family’s stolen painting ended up with a dead man. But his interest is piqued, especially when the FBI tells him that the man who kidnapped his cousin was also behind an act of domestic terrorism — and that the conspirators may still be at large. The two cases have baffled the FBI for decades, but Win has three things the FBI doesn’t: a personal connection to the case; an ungodly fortune; and his own unique brand of justice. 

You can enjoy the virtual event here.

In a departure for her, Lisa Scottoline takes readers to Rome during World War II in her first historical novel, Eternal. Book release is Tuesday, March 23, but she’s appearing for a virtual event for The Poisoned Pen on Saturday, March 20 at 4 PM PT, 7 PM ET. If you want a signed copy of Eternal, you should pre-order it through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2qOXXCb

Lisa Scottoline. Eternal (Putnam, $28.00 Signed). #1 bestselling author Lisa Scottoline offers a sweeping and shattering epic of historical fiction fueled by shocking true events, the tale of a love triangle that unfolds in the heart of Rome…in the creeping shadow of fascism.

What war destroys, only love can heal.

Elisabetta, Marco, and Sandro grow up as the best of friends despite their differences. Elisabetta is a feisty beauty who dreams of becoming a novelist; Marco the brash and athletic son in a family of professional cyclists; and Sandro a Jewish mathematics prodigy, kind-hearted and thoughtful, the son of a lawyer and a doctor. Their friendship blossoms to love, with both Sandro and Marco hoping to win Elisabetta’s heart. But in the autumn of 1937, all of that begins to change as Mussolini asserts his power, aligning Italy’s Fascists with Hitler’s Nazis and altering the very laws that govern Rome. In time, everything that the three hold dear”“their families, their homes, and their connection to one another”“is tested in ways they never could have imagined.

As anti-Semitism takes legal root and World War II erupts, the threesome realizes that Mussolini was only the beginning. The Nazis invade Rome, and with their occupation come new atrocities against the city’s Jews, culminating in a final, horrific betrayal. Against this backdrop, the intertwined fates of Elisabetta, Marco, Sandro, and their families will be decided, in a heartbreaking story of both the best and the worst that the world has to offer.

Unfolding over decades, Eternal is a tale of loyalty and loss, family and food, love and war”“all set in one of the world’s most beautiful cities at its darkest moment. This moving novel will be forever etched in the hearts and minds of readers.

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Lisa Scottoline is a #1 Bestselling Author, The New York Times bestselling author and Edgar award-winning author of 33 novels, including her latest work, Eternal, which is coming March 23, 2021, her first-ever historical novel.

She also writes a weekly column with her daughter Francesca Serritella for the Philadelphia Inquirer titled “Chick Wit” which is a witty and fun take on life from a woman’s perspective. These stories, along with many other never-before-published stories, have been collected in a New York Times bestselling series of humorous memoirs including their most recent, I See Life Through Rosé-Colored Glasses, and earlier books, I Need A Lifeguard Everywhere But The Pool; I’ve Got Sand in All the Wrong Places; Does This Beach Make Me Look Fat?; Have a Nice Guilt Trip; Meet Me at Emotional Baggage Claim; Best Friends, Occasional Enemies; My Nest Isn’t Empty, It Just Has More Closet Space; and Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog, which has been optioned for TV.

Lisa reviews popular fiction and non-fiction, and her reviews have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Lisa has served as president of Mystery Writers of America and has taught a course she developed, “Justice and Fiction” at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, her alma mater. Lisa is a regular and much-sought-after speaker at library and corporate events. Lisa has over 30 million copies of her books in print and is published in over 35 countries. She lives in the Philadelphia area with an array of disobedient pets, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

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Today, The Poisoned Pen’s virtual events feature three debut authors, including one who takes readers back in time. So, beginning with that virtual event, you can travel through time, and around the world with the next week’s virtual events – Russia, Italy, England, Shanghai. Just check out the full schedule of upcoming events. Then, check the Web Store for the authors’ books. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

St. Patrick’s Day celebrations may not be what they’ve been in the past, but that doesn’t mean you can’t attend a virtual celebration with Carlene O’Connor at The Poisoned Pen. O’Connor will discuss the seventh book in her Irish Village Mystery series, Murder in an Irish Bookshop at 1 PM PT, 4 PM ET on Wednesday, March 17. Signed copies of Murder in an Irish Bookshop, and copies of O’Connor’s other books, are available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2EViDDy

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Carlene O’Connor. Murder in an Irish Bookshop (Kensington, $26.00 signed). In Carlene O’Connor’s seventh installment of her USA Today bestselling Irish Village Mystery series, the grand opening of a new bookstore in Kilbane becomes the closing chapter of an author’s life”“and a whodunit that tests even Garda Siobhán O’Sullivan’s deductive reasoning…

“A mélange of clues from classic mysteries plus plenty of Irish charm produce an enjoyable read.””“Kirkus Reviews

Join a bestselling author and travel to County Cork in Ireland to solve a bookish mystery full of twists in a cozy whodunit perfect for fans of Sheila Connolly, Kate Carlisle, and Laura Childs!

Between training the new town garda and trying to set a wedding date with her fiancé, Macdara Flannery, Siobhán O’Sullivan is feeling a bit overwhelmed. She’s looking forward to visiting the new bookshop and curling up with an exciting novel”“only to discover the shelves contain nothing but Literature with a capital L. The owner not only refuses to stock romances, mysteries, and science fiction, but won’t even let customers enter his store unless they can quote James Joyce or Sean Hennessey.

Despite the owner deliberately limiting his clientele, he’s hosting a reading and autographing event featuring up and coming Irish writers who will be taking up residency in Kilbane for a month. Among them is indie author Deirdre Walsh, who spends more time complaining about the unfairness of the publishing industry and megastar bestsellers instead of her own creative works, causing a heated debate among the writers. She seems to have a particular distaste for the novels of Nessa Lamb.

Then Deirdre’s body is found the next day in the back of the store”“with pages torn from Nessa’s books stuffed in her mouth. Now, Siobhán must uncover which of Kilbane’s literary guests took Deirdre’s criticisms so personally they’d engage in foul play . . .

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Carlene O’Connor comes from a long line of Irish storytellers. Her great-grandmother emigrated from Ireland to America filled with tales and the stories have been flowing ever since. Of all the places across the pond she’s wandered, she fell most in love with a walled town in County Limerick and was inspired to create the town of Kilbane, County Cork. Carlene currently divides her time between New York and the Emerald Isle.

Candice Fox’ standalone, Gathering Dark, was released a year ago in Australia, so the book trailer below features the Australian cover. However, the story is the same in the American edition, to be released on Tuesday, March 16. Fox will be the guest author for the virtual event at The Poisoned Pen, hosted by Adrian McKinty. The event will be at 6:30 PM PT, 9:30 PM ET. You can order Gathering Dark and other books by Fox through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3cyWpnI

Here’s the book trailer for Gathering Dark.

Check out the summary of Candice Fox’ Gathering Dark.

Candice Fox. Gathering Dark (Tor, $27.99 unsigned copies). Gathering Dark is a new standalone thriller set in Los Angeles from #1 New York Times and Globe and Mail bestselling author Candice Fox.

A convicted killer. A gifted thief. A vicious ganglord. A disillusioned cop. Together they’re a missing girl’s only hope.

Dr. Blair Harbour, once a wealthy, respected pediatric surgeon, is now an ex-con down on her luck. She’s determined to keep her nose clean and win back custody of her son. But when her former cellmate begs for help to find her missing daughter, Blair is compelled to put her new-found freedom on the line.

Detective Jessica Sanchez has always had a difficult relationship with the LAPD. And her inheritance of a multi-million dollar mansion as a reward for catching a killer has just made her police enemy number one.

It’s been ten years since Jessica arrested Blair for cold-blooded murder. So when Jessica opens the door to the disgraced doctor late one night she expects abuse, maybe even violence. What comes next is a plea for help…

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Hades, Candice Fox’s first novel, won the Ned Kelly Award for best debut in 2014 from the Australian Crime Writers Association. The sequel, Eden, won the Ned Kelly Award for best crime novel in 2015, making Candice only the second author to win these accolades back-to-back. She is also the author of the bestselling Fall, Crimson Lake and Redemption Point, all shortlisted for Ned Kelly and Davitt Awards.

In 2015 Candice began collaborating with James Patterson. Their first novel together, Never Never, set in the vast Australian outback, was a huge bestseller in Australia and went straight to number 1 on the New York Times bestseller list in the US and also to the top of the charts in the UK. Since then they have written Black & Blue, Fifty Fifty, Liar Liar, Hush Hush in the Harriet Blue series. Her books are printed in fifteen languages.

Born in 1985, Candice is the middle child of a large, eccentric family from Sydney’s western suburbs composed of half-, adopted and pseudo siblings. The daughter of an enthusiastic foster-carer, Candice spent her childhood listening around corners to tales of violence, madness and evil from the cops and childcare authorities who frequented her home.

Bankstown born and bred, she failed to conform to military life in a brief stint as an officer in the Royal Australian Navy at age eighteen. At twenty, she turned her hand to academia, and taught high school through two undergraduate and two postgraduate degrees. She is a crafter, animal-lover and wine drinker living in Sydney.

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Here’s the background of the guest host, author Adrian McKinty.

Adrian McKinty was born and grew up in a working class housing project in Belfast, Northern Ireland during the worst decades of the Troubles. He attended Oxford University on a full scholarship to study philosophy. He fell in love with a girl there and followed her to New York City where he worked as an illegal in bars and building sites and as a Teamster driver for three years before marrying the girl and becoming a US citizen. He taught high school in Denver and Boulder before moving to Melbourne Australia where he decided to write full time.

His Sean Duffy series has currently sold in excess of 250,000 copies since its debut in 2012.

In the last 12 months Adrian’s books have been shortlisted for the Edgar Award, Dagger Award, Anthony Award, Theakston Crime Novel of the Year Award, the Ned Kelly Award and the Prix SNCF.