Page Turner is a new feature on KJZZ, the Public Radio Station in the Phoenix, Arizona area. While they can’t cover all of the 50,000 books published each month, they are now asking local booksellers and critics to talk about one book. Patrick Millikin from The Poisoned Pen picked a book called Keeping Lucy by T. Greenwood.
Here’s the link to Page Turner featuring Patrick Millikin.
Greenwood recently appeared at The Poisoned Pen, so you can order a signed copy of Keeping Lucy through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2JmB2bK
Although Millikin talks about the book, here’s the summary of it.
PopSugar’s 30 Must-Read Books of 2019 Good Housekeeping’s 25 Best New Books for Summer 2019 Better Homes & Gardens 13 New Books We Can’t Wait to Read This Summer
The heartbreaking and uplifting story, inspired by incredible true events, of how far one mother must go to protect her daughter.
Dover, Massachusetts, 1969. Ginny Richardson’s heart was torn open when her baby girl, Lucy, born with Down Syndrome, was taken from her. Under pressure from his powerful family, her husband, Ab, sent Lucy away to Willowridge, a special school for the “feeble-minded.” Ab tried to convince Ginny it was for the best. That they should grieve for their daughter as though she were dead. That they should try to move on.
But two years later, when Ginny’s best friend, Marsha, shows her a series of articles exposing Willowridge as a hell-on-earth–its squalid hallways filled with neglected children–she knows she can’t leave her daughter there. With Ginny’s six-year-old son in tow, Ginny and Marsha drive to the school to see Lucy for themselves. What they find sets their course on a heart-racing journey across state lines—turning Ginny into a fugitive.
For the first time, Ginny must test her own strength and face the world head-on as she fights Ab and his domineering father for the right to keep Lucy. Racing from Massachusetts to the beaches of Atlantic City, through the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia to a roadside mermaid show in Florida, Keeping Lucy is a searing portrait of just how far a mother’s love can take her.
“A heartfelt tale of true friendship, a mother’s unstoppable love, and the immeasurable fortitude of women.” – Booklist
One author she included is Warren C. Easley, author of No Way to Die, a Sourcebooks/Poisoned Pen Press title. Check the Web Store for all of the titles. https://store.poisonedpen.com/
But, beyond the short summary in Wang’s piece, here’s the description of No Way to Die.
When nothing is as it seems, can the truth survive?
Attorney Cal Claxton, now well-established in his Oregon law practice after breaking off his career as a high-powered LA prosecutor, just wants to go fishing with his daughter, Claire, and he knows the best place—the coastal area south of Coos Bay. But their vacation takes a dark turn with the discovery of a body in the river.
As an investigation is launched into the suspicious death, Cal and Claire find themselves drawn into the life of the local bookshop owner and vocal environmental activist, whose grandson was convicted for murder at age sixteen. She believes he was wrongly accused and convinces Cal to reexamine the case. Together, Cal and Claire dig deep into the secrets and crumbling alliances that form the foundation of this small coastal community, and what they find could spell doom for them both…
Quite a while ago, Dana Stabenow shared her dream of Storyknife, an Alaskan retreat for women writers. It’s time for an update.
In the last three years, close to three-hundred people joined author Dana Stabenow to build a writers retreat for women. Through their donations of money, time, skill, and enthusiasm, Storyknife has come into being ““ six cabins and a main house containing the kitchen, a communal dining area, library, and conversation area. Construction began in May this year, and by March 2020, everything will be ready for residents.
You helped us build it, and now they will come.
Will you donate $50 to Storyknife? This amount would keep the lights on for one writer for a month. You will bring them the clarity they’ll need to keep working through the long days.
From April through October every year, groups of six women will spend a month at Storyknife. They will be provided with the time and space to explore their craft without distraction. Every aspect of a residency at Storyknife is steeped in a profound generosity of spirit so that each woman writer knows she and her work are valuable. Storyknife residents carry away both this affirmation and a living community of women writers to assist their valuable work wherever they go.
Your support is an invaluable part of that experience. Women’s stories are vital and important. Currently, those stories whether expressed in poems, plays, novels, essays, or memoirs are not published, reviewed, or promoted as often as the work of men. Storyknife can change that. Like a pebble dropped into a clear pond, the ripples of one woman’s poem, one woman’s novel, one woman’s memoir can move outward into the world making space for the next woman.
Donations are gratefully accepted via our secure online donation form or by check to PO Box 75, Homer, AK 99603.
Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions at [email protected] or 907-491-1001. Thank you.
Sincerely, Erin Coughlin Hollowell Executive Director of Storyknife
Storyknife Writers Retreat is a registered 501(c)3. All donations are tax-deductible.
CWA SHORT STORY DAGGER Danuta Kot writing as Danuta Reah: “˜The Dummies’ Guide to Serial Killing’ in The Dummies’ Guide to Serial Killing and other Fantastic Female Fables (Fantastic Books)
Highly commended Teresa Solana: “˜I Detest Mozart’ in The First Prehistoric Serial Killer and Other Stories by Teresa Solana (Bitter Lemon Press)
It’s always a treat for readers and fans when Diana Gabaldon talks about her Outlander series. The Poisoned Pen recently hosted an event in which Gabaldon and Tara Bennett, author of The Making of Outlander the Series: The Official Guide to Seasons Three and Four, talked about the book and the series. You can order that book, and the earlier one about season one and two, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2M1jR0X
Here’s the summary of the book.
See how the story of Jamie Frasier and Claire Beauchamp Randall comes to life on the screen with this official, photo-filled companion to the third and fourth seasons of the hit Starz television series based on Diana Gabaldon’s bestselling Outlander novels.
From its very first episode, the Outlander TV series transported its viewers back in time, taking us inside Diana Gabaldon’s beloved world. From the Scottish Highlands to the courts of Versailles to the shores of America, Jamie and Claire’s epic adventure is captured in gorgeous detail.
Now travel even deeper into the world of Outlander with this must-have insider guide from New York Times bestselling author and television critic Tara Bennett. Picking up where The Making of Outlander: Seasons One & Two left off, this lavishly illustrated collectors’ item covers seasons three and four, bringing readers behind the scenes and straight onto the set of the show. You’ll find exclusive interviews with cast members, including detailed conversations with Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan (on-screen couple and real-life friends), as well as the writers, producers, costume designers, set decorators, technicians, and more whose hard work and cinematic magic bring the world of Outlander to life on the screen.
Every page features gorgeous full-color photographs of the cast, costumes, and set design, including both official cast photography and never-before-seen candids from on set. The Making of Outlander: Seasons Three & Four is the perfect gift for the Sassenach in your life—and the only way to survive a Droughtlander!
*****
But, here’s what you’re really waiting for. You might not have been able to attend the event, but you can virtually.
Readers may recognize Donis Casey as the author of the Alafair Tucker mysteries. She’s going to be at The Poisoned Pen on Tuesday, October 29 at 7 PM for the official launch of the book that is a spin-off from that series, The Wrong Girl. Fans of silent films may want to check out the new book. Or, if you’re a fan of the Alafair Tucker books, you’ll want to see what happens with Blanche Tucker. You can order the books, including a signed copy of The Wrong Girl, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2PACQyp
Casey will be joined by Martin Edwards, award-winning author of Gallows Court on October 29. But, today, I have a Q&A with Donis Casey. Thank you, Donis, for answering questions.
Donis, readers know you as the author of the Alafair Tucker mystery series. Why did you decide to spin off that series?
I had spent a dozen years writing a series about Alafair Tucker, raising ten rambunctious children with her on a farm in Oklahoma during the booming 1910s. The tenth book in that series was set in 1919, and as I began to ponder ideas for my next novel I realized that the kids were mostly raised now. I began to wonder what was going to happen to each of them in the future. So in order to satisfy my own curiosity and shake things up a bit, I decided to follow one of the children into the Roaring Twenties and see what became of her. As it turns out, she left Oklahoma altogether and had a really exciting life.
Would you tell us what you can about “Bianca Dangereuse?”
Bianca Dangereuse is the fictional heroine of a silent movie serial called “The Adventures of Bianca Dangereuse”. Sixteen-year-old Blanche Tucker arrives in Hollywood just as United Artists Studios is expanding, and Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford are looking for a girl to star in a series about an intrepid adventuress.
Please summarize The Wrong Girl, without spoilers.
Blanche Tucker is a teenaged girl who grew up on a remote farm in the middle of nowhere, the eighth of ten children, who sees her mother and older sisters settled happily into domestic life when, according to the movie magazines, the whole world is exploding with adventure ““ just not here in her little hometown of Boynton Oklahoma. Blanche is longing to escape her drop-dead dull life when dashing Graham Peyton roars into town and convinces the headstrong, naive teenager to run away with him to a glamorous new life as an actress and the wife of a rich stage and movie impresario. As it turns out, Graham’s intentions are less than honorable, and Blanche finds herself running for her life in Arizona. By some sheer luck and a lot of derring-do, Blanche makes it to Hollywood after all. Five years later, in 1926, Blanche Tucker has transformed herself into Bianca LaBelle, a major star of the silent screen, and Graham Peyton’s bones are uncovered by a storm on the beach near Santa Monica, California.
You used some of your family history in the Alafair Tucker series. What kind of research did you do in order to write about Hollywood in the 1920s?
I read history books, of course, and I always read newspapers for the area and time period I’m writing about. But the most helpful research came from reading innumerable 1920s-era movie magazines, watching silent movies by the dozens, and reading biographies and autobiographies of screen stars to learn how they got started, the arc of their careers, and what their real lives were really like (as real as each star would admit to).
One review said fans of early Hollywood would appreciate the story of how stars were born and kept their status during Hollywood’s silent era. Would you address this topic?
One thing I learned right away is that the movie industry was (and still is) really tough on young women. However, in the really early years of Hollywood, 1900 through the early ’20s, women had a lot more influence and power than they did later, when the studio system and moguls like Samuel Goldwyn and the Warner Brothers began to take over the business in the late 1920s. Movie studios often made up backgrounds and lifestyles for their stars, and their publicists and the industry journalists were only too happy to spread the fiction to the fans. Studios were even known to persuade gay actors and actresses to marry one another so they could show the movie-going public how wholesome their lives were. Studios could ruin actors’ careers just as easily. When wildly popular comedian Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle was falsely accused of rape in 1921, three juries acquitted him of wrongdoing and even publicly apologized for putting him through his trials. But the studios decided that the scandal was too sordid and too public, and besides, Arbuckle was too big a star and had become too powerful and expensive to hire, so his career was never the same again. What happened to Fatty also served as a timely warning to other actors under contract. No one was too big to take down if they didn’t toe the line. In Bianca’s time, young women and men were flocking to California looking for fame and fortune, and getting used and taken advantage of, just like they are today, but fortunately for her, she found a couple of rich and powerful patrons who took her under their wings and got her started in the business. She learned her lessons well.
I read a review that said some of the plot points include con men playing on young women and sexual abuse. Were you planning to include these points before the “Me, Too” movement? They seem logical for a mystery about Hollywood in the early 20s, but I was curious about your thoughts.
I didn’t particularly think about the Me Too movement when I conceived of this book. I mainly remembered what it was like to be a fifteen year old girl and think you know everything, and guess what? You don’t. The world really can be as ugly as your folks warned you about. Fortunately for me and for Blanche, our folks also taught us invaluable lessons about self-reliance, self-defense, and how to think outside the box, if I may use a metaphor that Blanche wouldn’t have understood. I thought of Me Too more after the book was done. Because of course, me too ““ as well as every other woman who was ever too young and too trusting.
If there’s another Bianca Dangereuse book in the works, can you tell us anything about it?
There is. I set the series up to be like a movie serial in that not every detail is wrapped up in the end. The second book, which is currently under construction, deals with the death of the first great lover and screen idol, and Bianca’s dear friend, Rudolph Valentino.
You must have watched some movies set in this time period, or made during the period, before writing the book. Do you have any favorite films or film stars?
Oh, my gosh, yes, I’ve watched dozens and dozens of silent movies to get the feel of the era, understand the zeitgeist, check out the production values, be inspired by some of the more clever title cards to create my chapter headings. Some of the old time movies and actors are quite impressive. Lillian Gish is fantastic, very naturalistic. Valentino got better and better with every movie he made. I spent a lot of time watching Douglas Fairbanks movies, and carefully studied The Thief of Bagdad, which was a hoot. Bianca had a small part in that movie (in my fantasy world). I also watched a number of others, especially Tom Mix movies, since he’s also a character in the book. He was my dad’s favorite cowboy star.
And, a final question. When you did research about Hollywood and the silent era, what were the most useful books you used?
One book that I kept going back to over and over (and am still occasionally referring to) is Hollywood Confidential : How the Studios Beat the Mob at Their Own Game, by Ted Schwartz. It’s an eye-popping history of early and golden-age Hollywood that tells how organized crime found an early foothold in Hollywood, and how the studio system arose to eventually out-mob the mob.
I’ve been to the places I’m writing about in southern California, especially Santa Monica and Los Angeles. I have felt the air and smelled the sea, so I know the feel, smell, colors, and vibe of the area. But I’m writing about what these places were like 100 years ago, so I have to superimpose the sensory feel of 21stCentury SoCal over the black and white images of Southern California in the 1920s. There are lots of online images contemporary with the 1920s for me to work with. Some of my favorite images come from an odd source, the Southern California Water and Power Museum.
Blanche Tucker longs to escape her drop-dead dull life in tiny Boynton, Oklahoma. Then dashing Graham Peyton roars into town. Posing as a film producer, Graham convinces the ambitious but naive teenager to run away with him to a glamorous new life. Instead, Graham uses her as cruelly as a silent picture villain. Yet by luck and by pluck, taking charge of her life, she makes it to Hollywood.
Six years later, Blanche has transformed into the celebrated Bianca LaBelle, the reclusive star of a series of adventure films, and Peyton’s remains are discovered on a Santa Monica beach. Is there a connection? With all of the twists and turns of a 1920s melodrama, The Wrong Girl follows the daring exploits of a girl who chases her dream from the farm to old Hollywood, while showing just how risky—and rewarding—it can be to go off script.
I just couldn’t resist saying Michael Connelly was recently at The Poisoned Pen to talk about the “Hot” Book of the Week, The Night Fire. It really is the current Hot Book of the Week. You can order copies of Connelly’s books, including this latest Renee Ballard and Harry Bosch novel, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2RtzGgK
The bond between Bosch and Ballard tightens as they become a formidable investigation team. And they soon arrive at a disturbing question: Did Thompson steal the murder book to work the case in retirement, or to make sure it never got solved? Written with the intense pacing and masterful suspense that have made Michael Connelly “the hard-boiled fiction master of our time” (NPR), The Night Fire continues the unofficial partnership of two fierce detectives determined not to let the fire with burn out.
*****
Barbara Peters and Patrick Millikin had a short conversation with Michael Connelly. He was on a very tight schedule for this tour. But, it’s fascinating to listen to them talk about Connelly’s first book tour. You might want to watch the video.
John Sandford was enthusiastic about his conversation with author John Connolly, visiting from Ireland, and on book tour for A Book of Bones. He said he is a long-time fan. If you’re a fan, or just discovering Connolly’s books, you can find them in the Web Store. Signed copies of A Book of Bones are available. https://bit.ly/2BwhX2A
Here’s the description of A Book of Bones.
“Complex, pulse-pounding…Connolly’s nuanced characterizations and facility at creating spooky atmospherics make it easy to suspend disbelief about the threat of cosmic horror from other dimensions.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Private Investigator Charlie Parker returns in this heart-pounding thriller as he seeks revenge against the darkest forces in the world, from the internationally bestselling author of the acclaimed The Woman in the Woods.
He is our best hope.
He is our last hope.
On a lonely moor in northern England, the body of a young woman is discovered. In the south, a girl lies buried beneath a Saxon mound. To the southeast, the ruins of a priory hide a human skull.
Each is a sacrifice, a summons. And something in the darkness has heard the call.
Charlie Parker has also heard it and from the forests of Maine to the deserts of the Mexican border, from the canals of Amsterdam to the streets of London, he will track those who would cast the world into darkness.
Parker fears no evil—but evil fears him.
With John Connolly’s signature “blend of crime and supernatural horror” (Crime Reads), A Book of Bones is a terrifying and suspenseful thrill ride that will keep you guessing until the very last page.
*****
Please join the audience as they welcome John Connolly to The Poisoned Pen.
If you only recognize the names of Jane Harper and Kerry Greenwood when you think of Australian authors, you’re missing out. Every year, I mention the winners of the Ned Kelly Awards. But, this year, The Poisoned Pen will host four authors from Australia, including Ned Kelly Award winner, Sulari Gentill. The event takes place on Tuesday, November 5 at 7 PM. The four authors received a grant to do a short tour in the U.S. They will all be at Bouchercon, the world’s largest mystery convention, held in Dallas this year, at the end of October. Then, they’ll be at The Poisoned Pen.
I’ve interviewed Sulari Gentill several times for Poisoned Pen’s blog. Sourcebooks/Poisoned Pen Press is her U.S. publisher. Her blog pieces are a joy to read. If you’d like a little background, you should check out “Sulari Gentill: In the Hot Seat” from 2016. Her answer as to where she takes visitors is still one of my favorite answers to that question. https://bit.ly/1Vw5ZL2 Gentill will be signing A Murder Unmentioned when she’s at the bookstore.
I haven’t met or interviewed the other three Australian authors who will be on the tour. You can order the books by all four authors through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/ You might want to read the blurbs ahead of time. If you’re interested in historical mysteries set in Australia, three of the authors write those. If you want to look for a thrilling read, check out all the books.
Robert Gott will be signing The Holiday Murders, set in Melbourne in 1943.
Jock Serong has two books, On the Java Ridge and Preservation.
Emma Viskic’s Resurrection Bay was a finalist for the CWA Gold Dagger and the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger Awards.
You might want to plan now for the Tuesday, November 5 program so you can welcome our Australian guests to The Poisoned Pen.
Authors James R. Benn and Martin Limon recently joined Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, for a far-ranging conversation about time periods, settings, characters, and labeling genres. Benn is on book tour for When Hell Struck Twelve. Limon’s latest book is G.I. Confidential. Both books are the fourteenth in the series. You can order signed copies through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/
You can eavesdrop on the conversation, if you’d like.
As I said, James R. Benn’s latest Billy Boyle mystery is When Hell Struck Twelve. Here’s the description.
In the 14th Billy Boyle mystery, US Army detective Billy Boyle and Lieutenant Kazimierz travel into the heart of Nazi-occupied Paris on a dangerous mission: ensure a traitor to the French Resistance unwittingly carries out a high-stakes deception campaign.
August, 1944: US Army detective Billy Boyle is assigned to track down a French traitor, code-named Atlantik, who is delivering classified Allied plans to German leaders in occupied Paris. The Resistance is also hot on his trail and out for blood, after Atlantik’s previous betrayals led to the death of many of their members. But the plans Atlantik carries were leaked on purpose, a ruse devised to obscure the Allied army’s real intentions to bypass Paris in a race to the German border. Now Billy and Kaz are assigned to the Resistance with orders to not let them capture the traitor: the deception campaign is too important. Playing a delicate game, the chase must be close enough to spur the traitor on and visible enough to ensure the Germans trust Atlantik. The outcome of the war may well depend on it.
*****
Martin Limon’s G.I. Confidential is a Sueno and Bascom mystery.
US Army CID Agents George Sueño and Ernie Bascom become entangled with a pushy tabloid reporter as they investigate a series of violent bank robberies throughout South Korea.
South Korea, 1970s: A rash of armed robberies at local Korean banks doesn’t concern the American military—until a fatality occurs, and proof surfaces that US soldiers are behind the crimes. The case has been assigned to CID Agents Jake Burrows and Felix Slabem, but they certainly won’t do anything that might make 8th United States Army look bad. So Sergeants George Sueño and Ernie Bascom have decided to step in and investigate the robberies—and murder—themselves.
George and Ernie have their own problems to worry about, namely Katie Byrd Worthington, a pesky reporter for the Overseas Observer—an unsanctioned English-language tabloid that has found strong roots in South Korea. Katie has published a story that implicates Army higher-ups in both sex trafficking and treason, and the pressure is on for the CID to disprove her claims. But what if they aren’t false? As George and Ernie dig deeper into the case, they find themselves the targets of a very unflattering publicity campaign, but perhaps also something much more dangerous.
