Fiction Review

Does it age us if I say I’ve known Mary Anna Evans for sixteen years? Her first Faye Longchamp mystery, Artifacts, had been released the year before. She and Faye Longchamp both lived in Florida, and Mary Anna was kind enough to appear at the Lee County Reading Festival in Ft. Myers. Now, she’s been kind again, and she agreed to write about book “Distractions”.

Mary Anna Evans is the author of the Faye Longchamp archaeological mysteries, which have received recognition including the Benjamin Franklin Award, the Mississippi Author Award, and three Florida Book Awards bronze medals. She is an assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma, where she teaches fiction and nonfiction writing. Winner of the 2018 Sisters in Crime (SinC) Academic Research Grant. Her website is www.maryannaevans.com. You can find her books, and her “Distractions” in the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

*****

The events in the news these days are too big to ignore, but there comes a time at the end of the day when we need to be distracted. We’re all human and our minds need to rest.

Lifelong readers almost always have comfort reads. We return to them time and again, and they feel different every time because we’re different every time. However, it is my hope that after we’ve worked through this difficult period in our history, we will find that it was a time of renewal. Right now, I’m thinking that if we want renewal, we probably should try doing something new, and that includes looking for something new to read.

With this in mind, I’m going to suggest three books, representing the past, present, and future. The first, And Then There Were None, is a comfort read for many, many people, as it is the bestselling mystery novel of all time and one of the bestselling books of all time. As a crime novelist, I never fail to be amazed by the craftmanship of this book. I will not spoil the ending for those few who do not know it, but And Then There Were None is a case of an author setting out to do something that should have been impossible and somehow wasn’t, at least not for her. The setting is a masterpiece of foreboding. The sense of dread permeates. The cast of characters is large, and yet they are deftly characterized and their destinies are laid out so efficiently that the book is quite short by today’s standards. Most importantly for me, the question of justice is thoroughly explored through the central plot device, which asks, “When the legal system fails, can justice ever be done or must murderers be free to walk among us?” For eighty years, people have been reading Agatha Christie’s answer to this question.

The down side to eighty-year-old comfort reads is that they’re eighty years old. And Then There Were None has never been published in the United States with its original title, which included an unequivocally unacceptable racist term. Even with its current title, and with the unacceptable word deleted from the text and replaced with the word “Soldier,” this story of unremitting evil on Soldier Island shows its age. The characters are all white and all roughly middle-class. (Except, of course, for the servants, who are, in an egalitarian approach to class, as odious as everybody else.)

Christie does offer some forward-thinking moments. A woman who treated an unmarried pregnant woman unforgivably is portrayed as purely evil. A man who is quite cavalier about having caused the death of a large group of Africans is also portrayed as utterly evil. Nevertheless, this book is firmly rooted in the mores of 1940 and the modern reader cannot help but notice.

Fortunately Rachel Howzell Hall has revisited the idea of a cast of irredeemable characters trapped on an island, terrified, as they watch each other die, one by one. Her novel They All Fall Down is an admirable variation on this theme that is made for the present moment.

Her characters come from a variety of backgrounds—Black, Latino, gay, white, Asian. Hall’s choice to stick with a single viewpoint character, instead of dipping in and out of the doomed characters’ heads as Christie did, gives the reader the chance to feel empathy for that character…until she reveals what she did to get lured to this island of death. This requires the reader to decide how far that empathy can go.

They All Fall Down works as homage to a master, but it also works in its own right. In my mystery writing class, I asked my students to read it back-to-back with And Then There Were None, and the juxtaposition triggered some fascinating conversations. Try reading them back-to-back yourself and see if you agree.

If And Then There Were None represents the past, and They All Fall Down represents the present, I’d like to suggest Kellye Garrett’s Hollywood Homicide as the future. Or, rather, as my future, since it came out in 2017 but I am only now reading it. One of my personal responses to the Black Lives Matter movement is to seek out and promote Black authors and their books. Hollywood Homicide won the Anthony Award for Best First Novel, the Agatha Award for Best First Novel, and the Lefty Award for Best Debut Mystery Novel, among many other awards and honors. Kellye herself serves as a national director for Sisters in Crime and was a co-founder of Crime Writers of Color. It seems to me that it will be worth my time to check out her work, and I think it will be worth yours, too.

Enjoy your summer and I’ll look forward to seeing you all at future mystery conferences far and wide!

*****

You can find Mary Anna Evans’ books in the Web Store, including signed copies of the twelfth in the Faye Longchamp series, Catacombs. https://bit.ly/2IrcqLo On her webpage, it says, in some ways, Catacombs is a love letter to her new home, Oklahoma.

What secrets lie deep beneath the surface?

A deafening explosion rocks a historic Oklahoma City hotel, sending archaeologist Faye Longchamp-Mantooth crashing to the marble floor of the lobby. She’s unhurt but shaken—after all, any time something blows up in Oklahoma City, the first word on everyone’s lips is the same: bomb.

Faye is in town for a conference celebrating indigenous arts, but is soon distracted by the aftermath of the explosion, which cracks open the old hotel’s floor to reveal subterranean chambers that had housed Chinese immigrants a century before. Faye is fascinated by the tunnels, which are a time capsule back to the early 20th century—but when the bodies of three children are discovered deep beneath the city, her sense of discovery turns to one of dread…

*****

Wrecked, the thirteenth in the series, is scheduled for release October 20. You can always pre-order it through the Web Store. October isn’t as far away as it sounds.

Some losses cut to the bone…

The suspicious drowning death of Captain Edward Eubank breaks archaeologist Faye Longchamp’s heart. It also confuses her, because he was found in scuba gear and she’s never heard him even mention scuba diving. During their last conversation, he told her that he believed he’d found a storied shipwreck, but when Faye checks it out, she finds nothing there—not a plank, not a single gold coin, nothing. If there’s no treasure, then why is her friend dead?

Surrounded by a community struggling in the aftermath of a major hurricane that has changed the very landscape, Faye grapples not only with the loss of her friend, but with her fears for her daughter, who is being romanced by a man who may be very dangerous.

As a professional with her own consulting firm, Faye had long ago given up her “anything goes” attitude when the law stood between her and an interesting dig. Now that recklessness is back. There’s nothing she won’t do to protect her daughter.

As Maureen Corrigan recently said in The Washington Post, Poisoned Pen Press and the Library of Congress have partnered to reprint underappreciated American mysteries in a series called Library of Congress Crime Classics. One of the earliest ones is written by Sue Grafton’s father, C.W. Grafton. His book, The Rat Began to Gnaw the Rope, is available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3h70p0z

You can find Corrigan’s review here. https://wapo.st/2XC3rSw

Here’s the summary of The Rat Began to Gnaw the Rope.

s this lawyer digging his way to the truth, or digging his own grave?

Short, chubby, and awkward with members of the opposite sex, Gil Henry is the youngest partner in a small law firm, not a hard-boiled sleuth. So when an attractive young woman named Ruth McClure walks into his office and asks him to investigate the value of the stock she inherited from her father, he thinks nothing of it—until someone makes an attempt on his life.

Soon Gil is inadvertently embroiled in scandal, subterfuge, and murder. He’s beaten, shot, and stabbed, as his colleagues and enemies try to stop him from seeing the case through to the end. Surrounded by adversaries, he teams up with Ruth and her secretive brother to find answers to the questions someone desperately wants to keep him from asking.

In this portrait of America on the eve of America’s entry into World War II, C.W. Grafton—himself a lawyer and the father of prolific mystery writer Sue Grafton—pens an award-winning mystery that combines humor and the hard-boiled style and will keep readers guessing until its thrilling conclusion.

Election meddling. Cyber sabotage. The current Hot Book of the Week, David Pepper’s The Voter File, couldn’t be more timely. You can order a signed copy through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2Y7gUAO

Here’s the summary of The Voter File.

“Pepper comes through again with this clever tale of how cyber sabotage of elections, coupled with highly concentrated ownership of traditional media operations, can undermine American democracy.”–President Bill Clinton

A twisty, one-step-ahead-of-the-headlines political thriller featuring a rogue reporter who investigates election meddling of epic proportions written by the ultimate insider.

Investigative reporter Jack Sharpe is down to his last chance. Fired from his high-profile gig with a national news channel, his only lead is a phone full of messages from a grad student named Tori Justice, who swears she’s observed an impossible result in a local election. Sharpe is sure she’s mistaken…but what if she isn’t?

Sharpe learns that the most important tool in any election is the voter file: the database that keeps track of all voters in a district, and shapes a campaign’s game plan for victory. If one person were to gain control of an entire party’s voter file, they could manipulate the outcome of virtually every election in America. Sharpe discovers this has happened–and that the person behind the hack is determined to turn American politics upside down.

The more he digs, the more Sharpe is forced to question the values–and viability–of the country he loves and a president he admired. And soon it becomes clear that not just his career is in jeopardy…so is his life.

Jeffrey Siger’s photo is at the top of his piece, and we’ll talk about his Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis pieces, but it’s a treat to have him joined by his wife, Barbara. I’ve known Jeff for a number of years, and it’s so nice to have them share writing duties here.

Jeffrey Siger was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, practiced law at a major Wall Street law firm, and later established his own New York City law firm where he continued as one of its name partners until giving it all up to write full-time among the people, life, and politics of his beloved Mykonos. The Mykonos Mob is the tenth novel in his internationally best-selling and award nominated Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis series, following up on An Aegean April, Santorini Caesars, Devil in Delphi, Sons of Sparta, Mykonos After Midnight, Target: Tinos, Prey on Patmos, Assassins of Athens, and Murder in Mykonos.

The New York Times described Jeffrey Siger’s novels as “thoughtful police procedurals set in picturesque but not untroubled Greek locales,” and named him as Greece’s thriller writer of record. The Greek Press called his work “prophetic,” Eurocrime described him as a “very gifted American author…on a par with other American authors such as Joseph Wambaugh or Ed McBain,” and the City of San Francisco awarded him its Certificate of Honor citing that his “acclaimed books have not only explored modern Greek society and its ancient roots but have inspired political change in Greece.” He now lives in Greece and the U.S. You can find Siger’s books in the Web Store, https://bit.ly/2jC3gpp

You can also find the books that both Barbara and Jeffrey suggest as “Distractions”. Check in the Web Store for those as well. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

*****

Ahh, distractions. How I love them.  Truth be told, prior to Barbara and I squirreling ourselves away on our farm on the edge of the pandemic’s worldwide epicenter, I was reading at the pace of one or two new mystery/thrillers a week. But then came the plague, and I fell into a very different, but comfortable routine.

I’ve been banging away on the keyboard every day, immersed in a standalone I’d been meaning to write for a half-dozen years, chasing new characters in whatever directions they decided to go. In other words, I’ve been living in a different world, returning to this one only long enough to repair a leaky roof, remove the occasional unwelcome snake from the front porch, or perform otherwise necessary farm chores—like eating and sleeping.

Yes, I know reading provides the same form of escape for many—thank God—but this time writing did the job for me.  I’m happy to say I just finished the first draft of my standalone obsession and look forward to returning to my normal reading routine. In a moment, I’ll tell you the books at the very top of my TBR list.

But first, I think it may be of more interest to you to hear a few insights from my wife on the books she’s been reading over these past months while I’ve been goofing off at the keyboard. So, here they are, in her words:

Friends and family have told me that reading during the Covid crisis has become too difficult for them. They simply cannot stay focused.  But I’m reading the same as always. Perhaps it’s my choice of books, for I’ve been happily accompanying strong female characters through the slower-paced, elegant, and structured settings of Jane Austen novels. I love their modern, often humorous take on human nature, filled with subtle jabs at the pretensions of the wealthy, and silly small-minded behaviors of family members and so-called friends, all still so very relevant today. My return-to-Austen-novels-binge began with her unfinished, eleven-chapter Sanditon, and has taken me (thus far) back through Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, and Persuasion.

Coincidentally, just before the crisis, I’d binged on Charles Todd’s Bess Crawford series (starting with #1, A Duty to the Dead), featuring a devoted, tireless nurse struggling through the illnesses and death of World War I and the 1918 influenza pandemic. These days I often think about Bess, and how her human instincts, pathos, and heroism are reflected in today’s hero nurses. 

What attracts me to Austen’s and Charles Todd’s work is that each is written from the perspective of sharp, intelligent, strong-minded women; women who could be my friends.

Thanks, Barbara. Now on to my picks of two works I cannot wait to read.  I’m sure my choices won’t surprise you, as they’re the newest releases of great authors.

We all know and love Zoë Sharp for her iconic Charlie Fox series, but I cannot wait to read her just released Bones in the River.  It’s the second gripping police procedural in her CSI Grace McColl and Detective Nick Weston thriller series based in England’s Cumbria Lakes region. “Dark, shocking, and exciting, but imbued with intuitive empathy and dry wit throughout” is how one reader described it. 

The novel opens with the death of a local child, and though an accident, the killer makes a panicked decision to hide the evidence. The child’s body is found as a small Lakes town is in the midst of hosting its Appleby Horse Fair, a traditional event drawing the largest gathering of Gypsies and Travellers in Europe.  The discovery quickly turns longstanding prejudices and distrust of Roma into accusations and much more. As one relentless dramatic discovery after another unfolds, Sharp draws us into better understanding what drives the Gypsy stigma, through her vivid characters, engrossing and balanced exploration of complex family issues, and gifted prose.

What more could one ask for in seeking distraction?

For fans of Michael Stanley’s award-winning Detective Kubu series, a treat is in store for us with their latest book, Facets of Death. Actually, it could be labeled first in the series, because it’s the prequel to all that we’ve come to love about these Botswana-based novels featuring David Bengu, whose girth has him nicknamed Kubu (Setswana for “hippopotamus”).  It’s the story of how Kubu applied his keen mind and famous persistence (along with his namesake’s gift for masking one of the deadliest creatures in Africa behind a docile appearance) to overcome the jealousies of his colleagues when he entered the Botswana CID straight from university as a detective, skipping the usual beat cop phase.

When the richest diamond mine in the world is robbed of 100,000 carats in a deadly hijacking, police suspect an inside job, but have no evidence of who it might be. After the robbers are killed execution-style and the diamonds are still missing, suspicion switches to a witch doctor and his son, and the case lands in Kubu’s prodigious lap for him to show the skill and integrity needed to catch those responsible—or find his career at an end.  I’m pretty sure I know how this will end for Kubu, but the great thing about reading Michael Stanley novels is how much you learn about Africa and so many other things along the way…and the masterful story telling that takes you there.

Well, that’s all for now folks.  Here’s wishing for you all to stay safe—and happily distracted.

*****

Jeffrey Siger’s most recent book in the Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis series is Island of Secrets, previously published as The Mykonos Mob.

“A perfect setting and first-rate storytelling.” —Ragnar Jónasson, bestselling author of The Dark Iceland series

From international bestselling author, Jeffrey Siger, comes another heart-stopping story of corruption and intrigue.

The case begins for Athens’ Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis with a literal bang when a corrupt former police colonel who runs a protection racket on Mykonos is gunned down. Suddenly, Kaldis is face-to-face with Greece’s top crime bosses on an island whose natural beauty and reputation as an international playground belies the corruption lurking just beneath the surface.

While Kaldis and his Special Crimes unit wrestle for answers, his wife, Lila, meets an American expat named Toni, a finder of stolen goods and a piano player in a gender-bending bar who has a zest for life and no apparent regard for rules. As Lila and Toni bond over a common desire to mentor young island girls trapped in an exploitative and patriarchal culture, they soon find that their efforts intersect with Kaldis’ investigation in ways that prove to be dangerous for all involved…

 (Previously published as The Mykonos Mob)

International Thriller Writers, Inc. Virtual ThrillerFest XV – 2020 July 6 – July 14, 2020

ITW needs your help. Our community is a special one: collegial, supportive, close-knit. We have switched gears into Virtual ThrillerFest and have included Mega CraftFest, Pitching and Consulting Sessions, CareerFest, Master Class, a Debut Author Presentation, the Thriller Awards, and a host of other activities. We are full speed ahead for our usual July celebration, working to support thriller enthusiasts worldwide.

Here is the registration link: https://thrillerwriters.org/virtual-thrillerfest-2020/

When S.C. Perkins’ first Ancestry Detective mystery came out a year ago, she introduced a series that combines genealogy with Texas history. Now, Murder Once Removed is available in paperback, and the second in the series, Lineage Most Lethal, will be released in July. You can find her books in the Web Store. https://bit.ly/307IhgZ

S. C. Perkins is a fifth-generation Texan who grew up hearing fascinating stories of her ancestry and eating lots of great Tex-Mex, both of which inspired the plot of her debut mystery novel. Murder Once Removed was the winner of the 2017 Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery competition.

She resides in Houston and, when she’s not writing or working at her day job, she’s likely outside in the sun, on the beach, or riding horses. Check out her website at https://scperkins.com/

Perkins’ book suggestions for “Distractions” can be purchased through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

*****

There’s a silver lining in everything, at least I like to think so. For instance, at the start of our stay-at-home time, I felt certain I wouldn’t reach for my TBR pile, but I have. I also thought it might be hard to immerse myself in any book I read, yet that wasn’t the case, either.

Maybe it was the feel of the world slowing down a bit that helped? I don’t know, but these past strange months have turned out to be good for my reading, and I’ve embraced it.

Here are three books I’ve particularly enjoyed—and when I started writing this post, I realized they had a coincidental connection. Each has an underlying, life-affirming theme of the protagonists doing what they must to get through a dark situation before emerging as stronger, more self-aware people who look toward the future.

No matter if you’re reading for a distraction or not, you can’t ask for better than books that remind you to keep putting one foot in front of the other and hope for brighter days ahead.

The King’s Justice, by Susan Elia MacNeal (Maggie Hope series #9)

This is the ninth book in one of my favorite WWII-set mystery series and features former Churchill’s secretary-turned-secret agent Maggie Hope. It’s December of 1942 and Maggie’s emotions are so frayed from her previous two cases that she’s coping by living on the edge. She’s diffusing UXBs—unexploded bombs—smoking and drinking too much, and riding a motorcycle at high speeds through war-torn London. Yet when she’s pulled into the search both a missing violin and a potential copycat serial killer, Maggie has to face the demons in her past or let them consume her once and for all.

Without Sanction, by Don Bentley

Taking place in Austin, Texas, Washington, DC, and Syria, the action in this debut thriller was intense in the best way. Three months after a bloody ambush that left his sniper best friend permanently disabled, Defense Intelligence Agency operative Matt Drake is convinced to return to Syria—though his government backing doesn’t last long. With Washington and possibly his own mind turning against him, Matt must locate and rescue a captured American soldier as well as connect with a scientist asset who has created a devastating biological weapon before it’s too late for all of them.

All the Ways We Said Goodbye, by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White

Truly one I couldn’t put down, this historical novel is written in three timelines and from the point of view of three women connected by war, love, and the Hótel Ritz in Paris. In 1914, Aurélie de Courcelles runs away from the Ritz and her mother to her family estate in Picardy, where she and her father attempt to thwart the Germans as she fights her attraction to a German officer. In 1942, Daisy Villon, raised at the Ritz by her renowned grandmother, puts everything at risk to deliver forged papers to save Jewish families as she falls for the handsome OSS forger. Then, in 1964, widow Barbara “Babs” Langford returns to the Ritz and possibly a new love as she tracks down the wartime legend of a mysterious French agent known as La Fleur who captured the heart of her late husband.

*****

Here’s S.C. Perkins’ mysteries. Murder Once Removed is the first in the series.

S.C. Perkins’ Murder Once Removed is the captivating first mystery in the Ancestry Detective series, in which Texas genealogist Lucy Lancaster uses her skills to solve murders in both the past and present.

Except for a good taco, genealogist Lucy Lancaster loves nothing more than tracking down her clients’ long-dead ancestors, and her job has never been so exciting as when she discovers a daguerreotype photograph and a journal proving Austin, Texas, billionaire Gus Halloran’s great-great-grandfather was murdered back in 1849. What’s more, Lucy is able to tell Gus who was responsible for his ancestor’s death.

Partly, at least. Using clues from the journal, Lucy narrows the suspects down to two nineteenth-century Texans, one of whom is the ancestor of present-day U.S. senator Daniel Applewhite. But when Gus publicly outs the senator as the descendant of a murderer—with the accidental help of Lucy herself—and her former co-worker is murdered protecting the daguerreotype, Lucy will find that shaking the branches of some family trees proves them to be more twisted and dangerous than she ever thought possible.

*****

Lineage Most Lethal is scheduled for a July 21 release.

In Lineage Most Lethal, the captivating second mystery in the Ancestry Detective series, Texas genealogist Lucy Lancaster grapples with a mystery rooted in World War II and espionage.

It’s the week before New Year’s Eve and genealogist Lucy Lancaster is ready to mix work and play at the beautiful Hotel Sutton, enjoying herself while finalizing the presentation for her latest client, hotel heiress Pippa Sutton.

Freshly arrived at the hotel—and determined not to think about Special Agent Ben Turner, who went radio silent on her after one date—Lucy is stopped in her tracks when a strange man comes staggering toward her. She barely has time to notice his weak, sweaty appearance before he presses a classic Montblanc pen onto her hand, gasps, “Keep them safe,” and collapses at her feet, dead.

When Lucy shows the fountain pen to her grandfather, an avid collector and World War II veteran, she’s in for another shock. Not only does Grandpa recognize the Montblanc, he also reveals a secret: he was an Allied spy during the war and the pen is both a message regarding one of his wartime missions and the key to reading a microdot left by the dead man.

On the microdot is a series of ciphers, some decrypted to form names. Could they be the descendants of Grandpa’s fellow spies? When two from the list end up murdered—including the chef at the Hotel Sutton—and Grandpa’s life is put in jeopardy, Lucy’s sure she’s right. And with Lucy’s and Pippa’s names possibly on the list, too, she’s got to uncover the past to protect those in the present.

With a secret Allied mission, old grievances, and traitors hiding behind every corner, Lucy must use her research skills to trace the list’s World War II ancestors and connect the dots to find a killer in their midst—a killer who’s determined to make sure some lineages end once and for all.

Joseph Kanon, author of The Accomplice, Leaving Berlin, Istanbul Passage, Los Alamos, and other thrillers and spy novels. Barbara Peters and Kanon had a low-key conversation about cities, lockdown, and how international cities have changed. You can order Kanon’s books through the Web Store, and, once you’ve seen some of those cities through the author’s eyes, you might want to listen to the book chat again. Here’s where you can find his books. https://bit.ly/32jNjnG

Here’s the book chat between Joseph Kanon and Barbara Peters.

Lucy Burdette is another one of those crime writers who chats about writing and life at Jungle Red Writers. Like Rhys Bowen, Hank Phillippi Ryan, and Jenn McKinlay, she agreed to talk about her recent book “Distractions”. The eighth in her Key West Food Critic Mysteries, Death on the Menu, will be out in paperback at the end of July, while the tenth, in hardcover, will be released in August. That’s The Key Lime Crime. You can order Burdette’s books through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2Md4stM

Clinical psychologist Lucy Burdette has published 15 mysteries, including the latest in the Key West food critic mysteries. Her books and stories have been shortlisted for Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity awards. She’s a member of Mystery Writers of America and a past president of Sisters in Crime. She lives in Madison, CT and Key West, FL.

Check for Lucy Burdette’s book “Distractions” in the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

My pandemic reading has been a disaster. My husband says I am like a teenager with my phone, checking, checking, checking for news. My reading muscles feel like they’ve been injured, and that any push to get past the injury will only make it worse. That translates to terrible concentration, and that means if the first page doesn’t grab me, forget about it. (A good lesson for a writer.)

That’s also why Julia Spencer Fleming’s new book HID FROM OUR EYES went right to the top of my stack. We fans waited a long time for this book and it was worth it. Number nine in the series, the book follows beloved characters Clare and Russ who are struggling to regain their balance as a couple and as individuals after the birth of their son. Three timelines are intricately woven together, with three stories of lovely young women murdered in their prime.

I love fiction set in India and Alka Joshi”s THE HENNA ARTIST was a doozy, with an engaging heroine who claws her way up from a very low point, the family she gathers around her, and astonishing details of India, especially Jaipur.

I was scheduled to hear Lily King talk about her new book WRITERS & LOVERS in Key West right before the city leaders closed down the town. King’s latest features a young writer/waitress in Boston wrestling with the recent death of her beloved mother, a disastrous love life, and many questions about the years she’s devoted to writing a novel. How could a writer resist lines like: “But I can’t go out with a guy who has written 11 1/2 pages in three years. That kind of thing is contagious.”

Next up on my list will be Elly Griffiths’ THE STRANGER DIARIES. I bought it a couple months ago, but her recent Edgar win moves it to the top of the pile.

*****

Now, let’s talk about Lucy Burdette’s Key West Food Critic Mysteries. As mentioned, the latest in the series, The Key Lime Crime, is due out in August.

National bestselling author Lucy Burdette’s tenth Key West Food Critic mystery is piping hot with pie-enthusiasts and murder suspects.

When a fierce rivalry between key lime pie bakers leads to a pastry chef’s murder, food critic Hayley Snow is fit to be pied.

During the week between Christmas and New Year’s, the year-round population of Key West, Florida, faces a tsunami of tourists and snowbirds. It doesn’t help that outrageously wealthy key lime pie aficionado David Sloan has persuaded the city to host his pie-baking contest. Every pie purveyor on the island is out to win the coveted Key Lime Key to the City and Key Zest food critic Hayley Snow is on the scene to report it.

Meanwhile, Hayley’s home life is turning more tart than sweet. Hayley’s new hubby, police detective Nathan Bransford, announces that her intimidating mother-in-law is bearing down on the island for a surprise visit. Hayley offers to escort Nathan’s crusty mom on the iconic Conch Train Tour of the island’s holiday lights, but it becomes a recipe for disaster when they find a corpse among the glittering palm trees and fantastic flamingos. The victim–Au Citron Vert’s controversial new pastry chef–was a frontrunner in Sloan’s contest.

It’s bad enough that Hayley’s too-curious mother-in-law is cooking up trouble. Now, the murderer is out to take a slice out of Hayley. Can she handle the heat of a killer’s kitchen?

Michael Connelly, whose first appearance as an author was at The Poisoned Pen, did his first virtual launch through the bookstore. Connelly signed copies of Fair Warning, the third Jack McEvoy thriller, for the bookstore, but you’ll have to order signed copies quickly. There’s no telling how fast they’ll sell out. Check the Web Store. https://bit.ly/36Lzv9J

Here’s Fair Warning.

The hero of The Poet and The Scarecrow is back in the new thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly. Jack McEvoy, the journalist who never backs down, tracks a serial killer who has been operating completely under the radar–until now.

Veteran reporter Jack McEvoy has taken down killers before, but when a woman he had a one-night stand with is murdered in a particularly brutal way, McEvoy realizes he might be facing a criminal mind unlike any he’s ever encountered.
Jack investigates–against the warnings of the police and his own editor–and makes a shocking discovery that connects the crime to other mysterious deaths across the country. Undetected by law enforcement, a vicious killer has been hunting women, using genetic data to select and stalk his targets.

Uncovering the murkiest corners of the dark web, Jack races to find and protect the last source who can lead him to his quarry. But the killer has already chosen his next target, and he’s ready to strike.

Terrifying and unputdownable, Fair Warning shows once again why “Michael Connelly has earned his place in the pantheon of great crime fiction writers” (Chicago Sun-Times).

*****

You can watch the conversations. Barbara Peters discusses the show, “Bosch” with Michael Connelly, and then Patrick Millikin talks with him about Fair Warning. If you’d rather listen to the podcast, or there’s problems with the video, check out the podcast here. https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-kkwwx-dde2ce

The first half of June is full with virtual events at The Poisoned Pen. Please check back regularly, though. The schedule changes and additional authors may be added to the schedule. Check the Web Store for the authors’ books, including signed copies. https://store.poisonedpen.com/