Do you recognize any of these authors or books?

Careless Whiskers is Miranda James’ forthcoming Cat in the Stacks mystery. The latest entry in the popular series is due out at the end of January.

Clea Simon’s latest book in her Witch Cats of Cambridge series, An Incantation of Cats, also has a late January release date.

Then, there’s Debra H. Goldstein who will be at The Poisoned Pen on Wednesday, January 8 at 7 PM with her cozy mystery, Two Bites Too Many. What do all these books have in common? Well, first, you can pre-order them through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

All three series also feature cats. Cozy mysteries, a subset of traditional mysteries, are quite popular. But cat cozy mysteries have a large audience. If you love cats, or cozy mysteries, you might want to check out Kelly Faircloth’s article in Jezebel, “Kneading into the Comfort of Cozy Cat Mysteries.” It’s available here. https://bit.ly/2M5tH1u

What would the holidays be without a Christmas mystery from Anne Perry? A Christmas Gathering is the current Hot Book of the Week at The Poisoned Pen. You can order copies of Perry’s books, including a signed copy of A Christmas Gathering, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2DEi5ju

Here’s the description of A Christmas Gathering.

A cold case adds an extra chill to the holiday season as bestselling author Anne Perry whisks readers to an elegant home in the English countryside for a Christmas of secrets, soul-searching, and forgiveness.

As beautiful as it may be, their friends’ country house is not where Lady Vespasia wishes to spend Christmas with her new husband, Victor Narraway. She’d have preferred a relaxing holiday at home with him—especially as Victor, former head of the London Special Branch, seems to be hiding undercover dealings with the other guests who have gathered at the spacious estate.

As tensions grow, the young and beautiful Iris Watson-Watt becomes the center of several men’s focus. Unbeknownst to Vespasia, Iris carries a sensitive package that she must pass to Victor in the hope of unmasking a British traitor. While Victor plots his moves, he is reminded of a similar case from twenty years before, when a young Frenchwoman also carried a clandestine message—one that resulted in her murder, unsolved to this day. Victor has always been tormented by his failure to protect her, and now, with all eyes on Iris, Victor must act fast before history repeats itself.

With the joy of Christmas at risk of being forgotten and Vespasia feeling alone with a distracted husband, Victor must ultimately learn to forgive himself in order to save both his country and the spirit of the holiday.

Here is the press release from Mystery Writers of America as they announce their special awards recipients for 2020.

MWA Announces the 2020 Grand Master, Raven and Ellery Queen Award Recipients

BY MWA · DECEMBER 13, 2019

MWA Announces 2020 Grand Master, Raven & Ellery Queen Award Recipients,
Celebrates 75th Anniversary in 2020

December 13, 2019—New York, NY—Today Mystery Writers of America (MWA) announces the recipients of its three special awards. The board chose Barbara Neely as the 2020 Grand Master, the 2020 Raven Award recipient is Left Coast Crime, and Kelley Ragland will receive the Ellery Queen Award at the 74th Annual Edgar Awards Banquet, which will be held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City on April 30, 2020.

“Mystery Writers of America is thrilled that Barbara Neely is MWA’s 2020 Grand Master,” MWA board president Meg Gardiner said. “Neely is a groundbreaking author, and MWA is delighted to recognize her work, in which she tackles tough social issues with an unflinching eye and a wry sense of humor.”

MWA’s Grand Master Award represents the pinnacle of achievement in mystery writing and was established to acknowledge important contributions to this genre, as well as for a body of work that is both significant and of consistent high quality. Barbara Neely is best known for her Blanche White mystery series, and her debut, Blanche on the Lam, received the Agatha Award, Anthony Award, and the Macavity Award for best first novel, as well as the Go on Girl! Award from Black Women’s Reading Club. Neely published her first short story, “Passing the Word” (1981) in the magazine Essence. Her Blanche White novels, which featured the first black female series sleuth in mainstream American publishing, followed a decade later beginning with Blanche on the Lam(1992), followed by Blanche Among the Talented Tenth (1994), Blanche Cleans Up (1998), and Blanche Passes Go (2000) and are beloved by fans in part because of her unique heroine—an amateur detective and domestic worker who uses the invisibility inherent to her position to her advantage in her pursuit of the truth.

“MWA Grand Master! I hope this doesn’t mean I have to relinquish my position as Empress Regnant of the Multiverse,” Neely said on learning of the award.

Neely’s nomination cited the stories of Blanche White for containing themes and issues that extends beyond mystery and into political and social commentary. “Blanche allows Neely to explore the female beauty. There are other issues that Neely is able to tackle through her writing—such as violence against women, racism, class boundaries, and sexism. Barbara Neely is quoted as saying, “˜That as a feminist mystery writer it is not enough to create strong women, and that maybe the term “˜feminist mystery writer’ is being used too loosely.'”

Neely was born in 1941 in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. According to her biography, she was the only child of African-American descent to attend her elementary and high school in this heavily German influenced community. She attended the University of Pittsburgh where she earned her master’s degree in Urban and Regional planning before beginning a career in the public sector. Neely served as director of Women for Economic Justice, worked in the Philadelphia Tutorial Project, became the director of a YWCA, and headed a consultant firm for nonprofits. In addition, she became a radio producer for Africa News Service, and later, a staff member at Southern Exposure magazine.

Previous Grand Masters include Martin Cruz Smith, William Link, Peter Lovesey, Walter Mosley, Lois Duncan, James Ellroy, Robert Crais, Ken Follett, Martha Grimes, Sara Paretsky, James Lee Burke, Sue Grafton, Stephen King, Mary Higgins Clark, Lawrence Block, P.D. James, Ellery Queen, Daphne du Maurier, Alfred Hitchcock, Graham Greene, and Agatha Christie, to name a few.

The Raven Award recognizes outstanding achievement in the mystery field outside the realm of creative writing. Left Coast Crime will receive the 2020 Raven Award. Left Coast Crime is an annual mystery convention sponsored by mystery fans, both readers and authors, first held in San Francisco in 1991. It is an all-volunteer organization that raises money each year to support a local literacy organization with funds collected through silent and live auctions, and the annual Quilt Raffle. The Left Coast Crime Permanent Committee is Bill and Toby Gottfried, Noemi Levine, Janet Rudolph, Lucinda Surber, and Stan Ulrich.

“We are all agog here at Left Coast Crime by the news that we have been awarded the Raven Award by Mystery Writers of America,” said Surber. “We are truly thrilled and honored to be recognized. Since 1991 Left Coast Crime has been holding annual conventions where readers, authors, critics, librarians, publishers, and other fans can gather in convivial surroundings to pursue their mutual interest in the mystery/crime genre. We strive to create an inclusive environment with many opportunities to build warm and caring friendships through a variety of programming.”

Previous Raven winners include Marilyn Stasio, Raven Bookstore in Lawrence, Kansas, Kristopher Zgorski, Dru Ann Love, Sisters in Crime, Margaret Kinsman, Kathryn Kennison, Jon and Ruth Jordan, Aunt Agatha’s Bookstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Oline Cogdill, Molly Weston, The Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego, Centuries & Sleuths Bookstore in Chicago, Once Upon a Crime Bookstore in Minneapolis, Mystery Lovers Bookstore in Oakmont, PA, Kate’s Mystery Books in Cambridge, MA, and The Poe House in Baltimore, MD.

The Ellery Queen Award was established in 1983 to honor “outstanding writing teams and outstanding people in the mystery-publishing industry.” This year the Board chose to honor Kelley Ragland, associate publisher and editorial director of Minotaur Books. Ms. Ragland came to Minotaur Books in 1993.

On learning she would receive the Ellery Queen Award, Ragland said, “I’m honored and not a little bit stunned to have been recognized by MWA with the Ellery Queen Award. To be added to a list that includes such inspiring professionals in our community, especially St. Martin’s own Ruth Cavin, is truly humbling. My work with mystery authors at Minotaur Books, which celebrated its 20th anniversary this year, and within the mystery community—what I have always found to be the most supportive, generous, and dedicated slice of the publishing world—is a source of great joy to me. Thanks to MWA for this recognition, and their support of all facets of the mystery community, including publishers, writers—especially new writers—and readers.”

Fresh out of college and newly relocated to NYC after growing up in the Midwest, Kelley Ragland started as an editorial assistant at St. Martin’s Press in 1993, became an editor in 1998, and took part in the creation of the St. Martin’s Publishing Group’s crime and suspense imprint, Minotaur Books, in 1999. She became Editorial Director of Minotaur in 2009 and Vice President and Associate Publisher in 2015. Over her twenty-six years at SMPG, she has worked with such authors as Jeffrey Archer, Kelley Armstrong, Linda Barnes, Steve Berry, Allison Brennan, Chelsea Cain, Andrew Gross, Charlaine Harris, Louise Penny, Dana Stabenow, Olen Steinhauer, and many others.
Previous Ellery Queen Award winners include Linda Landrigan, Robert Pépin, Neil Nyren, Janet Rudolph, Charles Ardai, Joe Meyers, Barbara Peters and Robert Rosenwald, Brian Skupin and Kate Stine, Carolyn Marino, Ed Gorman, Janet Hutchings, Cathleen Jordan, Douglas G. Greene, Susanne Kirk, Sara Ann Freed, Hiroshi Hayakawa, Jacques Barzun, Martin Greenburg, Otto Penzler, Richard Levinson, William Link, Ruth Cavin, and Emma Lathen.

The Edgar Awards, or “Edgars,” as they are commonly known, are named after MWA’s patron saint Edgar Allan Poe and are presented to authors of distinguished work in various categories. MWA is the premier organization for mystery writers, professionals allied to the crime-writing field, aspiring crime writers, and those who are devoted to the genre. The organization encompasses some 3,000 members including authors of fiction and non-fiction books, screen and television writers, as well as publishers, editors, and literary agents. For more information on Mystery Writers of America, please visit the website: www.mysterywriters.org

# # #
The EDGAR (and logo) are Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by the Mystery Writers of America, Inc.

Patrick Millikin recently hosted authors Matt Coyle and Carl Vonderau for the last official book event of 2019 at The Poisoned Pen. Matt Coyle is the author of the Rick Cahill series, and Lost Tomorrows is the sixth in the series. Murderabilia is Carl Vonderau’s first published novel. Look for books by both authors in the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com

Here’s the description of Lost Tomorrows.

Perfect for hard-boiled PI fans who like a tainted hero living by his own code

A phone call thrusts Rick Cahill’s past and all its tragic consequences into his present. Krista Landingham, his former partner on the Santa Barbara Police Department, is dead. When Rick goes to the funeral in the city where his wife was murdered and where he is seen as guilty for her death in the eyes of the police, he discovers that Krista’s death may not have been a tragic accident, but murder. Hired by Krista’s sister, Leah, to investigate, Rick follows clues that lead him to the truth, not only about Krista’s death, but about the tragedy that ruined his life. Along the way, Leah shows him that his life can be salvaged and he can feel love again if he can just move beyond his past. But the past is Rick’s present and will always be until he rights his one great wrong. In the end, Rick is left with a decision that forces him to confront the horrific actions he’ll need to take to exact revenge and achieve redemption.

Check the description of Murderabilia.

When you’re the son of a serial killer, you can never escape your past.

William MacNary was eight years old when his father went to prison. Since then, he’s carefully built a life as a family man and a private banker for the wealthy. He tries to forget that his father dismembered and photographed thirteen women. And he tries to forget those exquisitely composed photos of severed hands, heads, and feet that launched the “murderabilia” art market.  

William has not spoken to his father for thirty-one years. No one at his tony bank knows whose son he is. Not until his wife’s colleague is murdered and carved up in the same way his father would have done it.  

All the evidence points to William. And only one person can understand the copycat killer—the monster William hasn’t seen since he was a child. 

Praise:

“Murderabilia [is] a story that will lay a cold finger of dread on the back of your neck. Vonderau is a terrific writer who has written a terrific book.”—Karin Slaughter, New York Times bestselling author of The Good Daughter

“Murderabilia is a fascinating crime novel and a look into the human soul and all that makes us the men and women we become. An excellent read!”—Heather Graham, New York Times bestselling author of A Dangerous Game

“Murderabilia explores the dark corners of the soul in a riveting story sure to grab your attention and keep you reading till the final page. This is a superb debut from a striking new voice.”—William Bernhardt, author of The Last Chance Lawyers

“Murderabilia is a dark, tense, sophisticated story about just how deep and far the sins of the father can reach into the innocent lives of his children. Carl Vonderau is a new (and very scary) voice.”—Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of The Deep End of The Ocean

“Murderabilia offers a rare insider’s view into the mysterious world of private banking. International landscapes, deep family secrets, and religious overtones create the perfect backdrop for a brilliant debut. Vonderau’s fresh prose and heart-stopping twists promise that he is a writer to watch!”—K.J. Howe, internationally bestselling author of The Freedom Broker and Skyjack

*****

And, now here’s the conversation with Patrick Millikin, Matt Coyle, and Carl Vonderau.

Although Alan Furst’s Under Occupation, the current Hot Book of the Week at The Poisoned Pen, is out of the stock at the moment, you can still order a copy. That book, and Furst’s others, can be ordered through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/35kzVSU

Here’s the summary of Under Occupation.

From “America’s preeminent spy novelist” (The New York Times) comes a fast-paced, mesmerizing thriller of the French resistance fighters working secretly and bravely to defeat Hitler.

Occupied Paris, 1942. Just before he dies, a man being chased by the Gestapo hands off a strange-looking document to the unsuspecting novelist Paul Ricard. It looks like a blueprint of a part for a military weapon, one that might have important information for the Allied forces. Ricard realizes he must try to get the diagram into the hands of members of the resistance network. 

As Ricard finds himself drawn deeper and deeper into anti-Nazi efforts and increasingly dangerous espionage assignments, he travels to Germany and along the escape routes of underground resistance safe houses to spy on Nazi maneuvers. When he meets the mysterious and beautiful Leila, a professional spy, they begin to work together to get crucial information out of France and into the hands of the Allied forces in London.

Many of us have already read some of Malcolm Gladwell’s books, The Tipping Point, Blink, Talking to Strangers. If you haven’t, you can order these bestsellers through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2PDjoCR

But, you probably don’t know that Gladwell is an avid thriller reader. In fact, he has his own way of categorizing thrillers, as “Western”, “Eastern”, “Northern”, and “Southern”. Your favorite thriller writers probably fall into one of Gladwell’s categories. But, you’ll have to read the recent article in Open Culture to learn about Gladwell’s tastes and his categories. https://bit.ly/2Picns9

Did you notice that several of the authors who sent us book lists have recent or forthcoming books? I wanted to keep you in the loop with some authors you might not recognize.

Ann Parker is a Sourcebooks/Poisoned Pen Press author. Mortal Music, the seventh book in her Silver Rush series, is scheduled for release at the end of January. You can pre-order Mortal Music through the Web Store, or order Parker’s other books. https://bit.ly/2RJ35qC

Like several of the other authors, Ann has books she wants to suggest as gifts, as well as several she’d like to receive.

Ann Parker’s Gift List (both giving and receiving)

There are so many books I’d love to recommend, it’s hard to choose just a few. But (deep breath) here goes. I’ve picked three, spanning the spectrum from chilling to cozy, that I read recently and thoroughly enjoyed. Let’s start with dark and move toward the light.

A Killing Fire by Faye Snowden 

I was lucky to hear the author read aloud from this book at a local Sisters in Crime event, and I was hooked! Detective Raven Burns returns to a small town in Louisiana, where she becomes tangled in events and memories stemming from her childhood, when she was the unwitting sidekick of her father, Floyd Burns, a serial killer.  If you like dark and atmospheric and a strong-willed but damaged protagonist, then someone should wrap up this book for you, sneak into your bedroom in the dead of night, and leave it for you to read. The Prologue alone sent chills up my spine, and that was just the beginning. This is a book that grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go until you reach THE END…

The Dead Beat Scroll by Mark Coggins 

Do you like The Maltese Falcon? If you do, then this is the book for you. You’ve got San Francisco (and fog!), a modern-day PI who is tough, determined, and a technological luddite (which leads to some interesting situations), and a missing manuscript from the beat generation writer Jack Kerouac. Fantastic descriptions of the original noir city, and plenty of plot twists and snappy dialogue. 

Murder at the Palace (Movie Palace Mystery #1) by Margaret Dumas 

Make yourself a bowl of popcorn and a nice hot cup of cocoa, because if you are looking for a cozy/quirky “light paranormal” mystery, I think you’d enjoy Margaret Dumas’ new Movie Palace Mystery series. And what better place to start than with the first? Protagonist Nora Paige flees LA and her philandering husband to San Francisco and a job at the Palace Theater, a once-grand movie house that shows only classic movies. But, oops! A dead body shows up in the ice machine in the basement! And the ghost of a long-dead usherette from the 1930s suddenly appears!  So suspend your disbelief, settle into a comfy chair, and have fun reading this who-done-it that has well-drawn quirky (there’s that word again) characters and a light comic touch.

As for books I’d like to receive, I need look no further than the list of 2020 reads for our local mystery book club, which meets monthly at our local indie bookstore to discuss the book-of-the-month while drinking tea, and eating jellybeans (yes, that’s what we do). Once again, I’ll mention three that seem to span the spectrum from noir to cozy: 

The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen 

First in the Department Q series, listed as “Scandinavian noir.” (Our little group just can never get enough Scandinavian noir, it seems.)

Gillespie and I by Jane Harris 

This one sounds is billed as psychological suspense with Gothic overtones, set in Victorian 19^th-century Scotland. Sounds good to me!

Hollywood Homicide by Kellye Garrett 

• A cozy mystery set in Los Angeles, and the first book in the A Detective by Day series. This one won a boatload of awards, including the Anthony Award for Best First Novel, the Agatha Award for Best First Novel, and the Lefty Award for Best Debut Mystery Novel.

There are others on our list, but this at least gives you a taste of the variety of books we will be exploring next year. If variety is the spice of life (and of reading!) I think 2020 is shaping up to be a good year.

Mark de Castrique’s seventh Blackman Agency Investigations mystery, Murder in Rat Alley, will be released on December 31. Signed copies of the Poisoned Pen Press/Sourcebooks title can be pre-ordered through the Web Store, or you can order copies of the other books in the series. https://bit.ly/2L2fHmE

Why talk about Murder in Rat Alley right now? Mark just wrote an article for Bookreporter.com called, “The Story Behind the Stories” that provides some background for these books. You can read it here. https://bit.ly/2PuQogk

Then, you can pre-order Murder in Rat Alley. The description is below.

In this unusual spin on the classic spy novel, murder strikes from our wartime pasts…

Iraq War veteran Sam Blackman with his prosthetic leg and his no-nonsense private eye partner Nakayla Robertson love their investigations which always carry a thread from the past—and they love each other. An interracial couple in the new South, the Asheville, NC, pair has surrounded themselves with a terrific support team including an unorthodox lawyer and a veteran cop. They deploy humor both to bind them together and to deflect insults. Plus, it helps deal with the tragedies their work uncovers.

Such a tragedy interrupts a meeting between the PIs and the neighboring law office when a body is unearthed from the grounds of the nearby Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute. During the Cold War it monitored developing space programs. Today it plays a vital role gathering weather and climate data. The body has been in the ground a long time. Why would its discovery spark off a new murder in Asheville’s mountain music scene, the victim found amid the garbage of dark, dank Rat Alley?

She was the fiancée of the man murdered long ago. But surely this case is more than a domestic drama playing out over time….

The Blackman Agency Investigations excel at merging past and present, bringing little-known history to light, and are perfect for fans of James Lee Burke, Stephen Mack Jones, Margaret Maron, and Robert B. Parker.

Actually, author Paige Shelton has just given all of us a gift. She kicked off a new mystery series set in Alaska. You can find signed copies of that new book, Thin Ice, along with Shelton’s other books, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2DiEf8P

If you pick any of her books, or any of her gift suggestions, there’s still time to have them mailed for the holidays by Dec. 16.

Here’s Paige Shelton’s suggested gift titles.

There is no better gift than a book ““ giving or receiving. I have a special shelf just for the book gifts I’ve received, and it’s the shelf I revisit the most. It holds many of the books that changed something in me; either the way I read or the way I write or both. If I were to choose the top book gifts I’ve received, I’d start with:

A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton.
An oldie but a goodie. If, for whatever reason, you have missed this series or you know someone who has, you simply can’t go wrong with this one, the first in the wonderful Kinsey Millhone series. I wish I could read it again for the first time.

Murder in Rat Alley by Mark de Castrique. I managed an early read of this great book. It’s a mystery on top of an old mystery. It’s not Syfy, but there’s mention of aliens, and I loved getting to know the characters. It’s book seven in a series, but I was okay jumping in for the first time, and I think giving this one to someone new to the series would be just fine.  

The Great Alone by Kristen Hannah
Ms. Hannah is an incredible writer, there’s no doubt, but of the books of hers I’ve read, this is my favorite. The story takes place in Alaska in the mid-seventies. Hannah’s writing evokes such a sense of place, I had to blink my way back to reality every time I finished reading a chapter or two. It’s a brutal story with some graphic violence, but the story and the writing are too good to miss.

Books I’ve Put on My Santa List:

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Lots of buzz about this one, and with a title like that!

American Predator, The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21^st Century, by Maureen Callahan
Not to be stuck on serial killers or anything, but I came across this killer when I was working on an Alaska article. Man oh man, this guy was terrifying and I really want to know his story.

And, I could never forget:
Blue Moon by Lee Child
It’s always a good time for a new Jack Reacher fix.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

The Poisoned Pen audience waited nine months to catch up with Greg Iles, author of Cemetery Road. He wasn’t able to make it when the book was first released in hardcover, and the paperback will be released at the end of the year. However, there are still signed copies of the hardcover available, as well as other books by Iles. Just check the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2XvH3Im

Here’s the description of Cemetery Road.

“An ambitious stand-alone thriller that is both an absorbing crime story and an in-depth exploration of grief, betrayal and corruption… Iles’s latest calls to mind the late, great Southern novelist Pat Conroy. Like Conroy, Iles writes with passion, intensity and absolute commitment.”— Washington Post

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Natchez Burning trilogy returns with an electrifying tale of friendship, betrayal, and shattering secrets that threaten to destroy a small Mississippi town.

Sometimes the price of justice is a good man’s soul.

When Marshall McEwan left his Mississippi hometown at eighteen, he vowed never to return. The trauma that drove him away spurred him to become one of the most successful journalists in Washington, DC. But as the ascendancy of a chaotic administration lifts him from print fame to television stardom, Marshall discovers that his father is terminally ill, and he must return home to face the unfinished business of his past.

On arrival, he finds Bienville, Mississippi very much changed.  His family’s 150-year-old newspaper is failing; and Jet Talal, the love of his youth, has married into the family of Max Matheson, one of a dozen powerful patriarchs who rule the town through the exclusive Bienville Poker Club.  To Marshall’s surprise, the Poker Club has taken a town on the brink of extinction and offered it salvation, in the form of a billion-dollar Chinese paper mill.  But on the verge of the deal being consummated, two murders rock Bienville to its core, threatening far more than the city’s economic future.

An experienced journalist, Marshall has seen firsthand how the corrosive power of money and politics can sabotage investigations. Joining forces with his former lover—who through her husband has access to the secrets of the Poker Club—Marshall begins digging for the truth behind those murders.  But he and Jet soon discover that the soil of Mississippi is a minefield where explosive secrets can destroy far more than injustice.  The South is a land where everyone hides truths: of blood and children, of love and shame, of hate and murder—of damnation and redemption.  The Poker Club’s secret reaches all the way to Washington, D.C., and could shake the foundations of the U.S. Senate.  But by the time Marshall grasps the long-buried truth about his own history, he would give almost anything not to have to face it.

*****

If you waited nine months as well, you can catch up with Greg Iles here.