Join John F. Ross at The Poisoned Pen on Wednesday, February 27 at 7 PM when he’ll discuss his book, The Promise of The Grand Canyon: John Wesley Powell’s Perilous Journey and His Vision for the American West. You can order a copy through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2E7BJSO

Ross recently wrote an opinion piece about Powell, “The little know story of how one man turned the Grand Canyon into an icon.” You can read that article here. https://bit.ly/2GGCuG5

Here’s the summary of The Promise of the Grand Canyon.

“A bold study of an eco-visionary at a watershed moment in US history.”-Nature

A timely, thrilling account of a man who, as an explorer, dared to lead the first successful expedition down the Colorado through the Grand Canyon–and, as an American visionary, waged a bitterly-contested campaign for environmental sustainability in the American West.

When John Wesley Powell became the first person to navigate the entire Colorado River, through the Grand Canyon, he completed what Lewis and Clark had begun nearly 70 years earlier–the final exploration of continental America. The son of an abolitionist preacher, a Civil War hero (who lost an arm at Shiloh), and a passionate naturalist and geologist, in 1869 Powell tackled the vast and dangerous gorge carved by the Colorado River and known today (thanks to Powell) as the Grand Canyon.  

With The Promise of the Grand Canyon, John Ross recreates Powell’s expedition in all its glory and terror, but his second (unheralded) career as a scientist, bureaucrat, and land-management pioneer concerns us today. Powell was the first to ask: how should the development of the west be shaped? How much could the land support? What was the role of the government and private industry in all of this? He began a national conversation about sustainable development when most everyone else still looked upon land as an inexhaustible resource. Though he supported irrigation and dams, his prescient warnings forecast the 1930s dustbowl and the growing water scarcities of today. Practical, yet visionary, Powell didn’t have all the answers, but was first to ask the right questions.

Lisa Gardner was back at The Poisoned Pen to discuss and sign her latest D.D. Warren book, Never Tell. Karen Rose, author of Say You’re Sorry, appeared at the store for the first time. Their conversation was filmed, and you can watch it below. You can also order signed copies of their latest books through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com

Here’s the description of Never Tell.

#1 New York Times bestseller Lisa Gardner returns with an unpredictable thriller that puts fan favorites D. D. Warren and Flora Dane on a shocking new case that begins with a vicious murder and gets darker from there.

A man is dead, shot three times in his home office. But his computer has been shot twelve times, and when the cops arrive, his pregnant wife is holding the gun. 

D. D. Warren arrives on the scene and recognizes the woman–Evie Carter–from a case many years back. Evie’s father was killed in a shooting that was ruled an accident. But for D.D., two coincidental murders is too many. 

Flora Dane sees the murder of Conrad Carter on the TV news and immediately knows his face. She remembers a night when she was still a victim–a hostage–and her captor knew this man. Overcome with guilt that she never tracked him down, Flora is now determined to learn the truth of Conrad’s murder. 

But D.D. and Flora are about to discover that in this case the truth is a devilishly elusive thing. As layer by layer they peel away the half-truths and outright lies, they wonder: How many secrets can one family have?

*****

Here’s the summary of Say You’re Sorry.

Introducing the first book in the new pulse-pounding Sacramento series from New York Times bestselling author Karen Rose.

There is a serial killer on the loose, preying on vulnerable women. The only identifiable mark the killer leaves are letters—sometimes one, sometimes two—all carved into the torsos of his victims.  Together they spell “Sydney.” 

When he grabs Daisy Dawson, he believes he has found his next victim. But despite her small stature, she fights back with an expertise that quickly frees her. Before fleeing the scene, Daisy also manages to grab what proves to be crucial evidence: a necklace from around the killer’s neck. 

The necklace is more than a trivial item—it is a link to a cold case that Special Agent Gideon Reynolds has been tracking for seventeen years. With Daisy’s help, Gideon finally has the opportunity to get closer to the truth than ever before. 

But they might not get the chance, as the serial killer has a new target: Gideon and Daisy.

*****

Now, you can catch both Lisa Gardner and Karen Rose, in conversation.

The description of Don Winslow’s The Border says,
“The explosive, highly anticipated conclusion to the epic Cartel trilogy from the New York Times bestselling author of The Force “.

Robert Anglen from The Arizona Republic calls it, “modern literature’s most important crime saga”. Fortunately, if you come to The Poisoned Pen on Monday, February 25 at 7 PM, you can catch Anglen in discussion with Don Winslow.

You can order a signed copy of The Border through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2GEDpXx

You can read Robert Anglen’s recent article about The Border and Don Winslow in USA Today. https://bit.ly/2SnTi6k

And, here’s the description of Winslow’s latest book.

ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF THE YEAR

Washington Post‘s “10 Books to Read in February”

“A harsh, important book.” ““ Stephen King

“Powerful and troubling.” ““ Associated Press

“The publication of [The Border] represents a landmark moment in crime fiction.” ““ Booklist (starred review)

“An action-filled, sometimes even instructive look at the world of the narcos and their discontents.”— Kirkus Reviews

The explosive, highly anticipated conclusion to the epic Cartel trilogy from the New York Times bestselling author of The Force

What do you do when there are no borders? When the lines you thought existed simply vanish?  How do you plant your feet to make a stand when you no longer know what side you’re on?

The war has come home.

For over forty years, Art Keller has been on the front lines of America’s longest conflict: The War on Drugs. His obsession to defeat the world’s most powerful, wealthy, and lethal kingpin”•the godfather of the Sinaloa Cartel, Adán Barrera”•has left him bloody and scarred, cost him the people he loves, even taken a piece of his soul.

Now Keller is elevated to the highest ranks of the DEA, only to find that in destroying one monster he has created thirty more that are wreaking even more chaos and suffering in his beloved Mexico. But not just there.

Barrera’s final legacy is the heroin epidemic scourging America. Throwing himself into the gap to stem the deadly flow, Keller finds himself surrounded by enemies”•men who want to kill him, politicians who want to destroy him, and worse, the unimaginable”•an incoming administration that’s in bed with the very drug traffickers that Keller is trying to bring down.

Art Keller is at war with not only the cartels, but with his own government. And the long fight has taught him more than he ever imagined. Now, he learns the final lesson”•there are no borders.

In a story that moves from deserts south of the border to Wall Street, from the slums of Guatemala to the marbled corridors of Washington, D.C., Winslow follows a new generation of narcos, the cops who fight them, the street traffickers, the addicts, the politicians, money-launderers, real-estate moguls, and mere children fleeing the violence for the chance of a life in a new country.     

A shattering tale of vengeance, violence, corruption and justice, this last novel in Don Winslow’s magnificent, award-winning, internationally bestselling trilogy is packed with unforgettable, drawn-from-the-headlines scenes. Shocking in its brutality, raw in its humanity, The Border is an unflinching portrait of modern America, a story of—and for—our time.

We wanted to share this announcement from Mystery Writers of America, announced on Feb. 21.

MWA Partners with G.P. Putnam’s Sons to Create the Sue Grafton Memorial Award

Posted on February 21, 2019 by Margery Flax “¢ 0 Comments

Presented by G.P. Putnam’s Sons, the award will be given at Mystery Writers of America’s 73rd Annual Edgar Awards in New York City on April 25, 2019

Thirty-five years ago, Sue Grafton launched one of the most acclaimed and celebrated mystery series of all time with A is for Alibi, and with it created the model of the modern female detective with Kinsey Millhone, a feisty, whip-smart woman who is not above breaking the rules to solve a case or save a life. Like her fictional alter ego, Grafton was a true original, a model for every woman who has ever struck out on her own independent way.

Sue Grafton passed away on December 28, 2017, but she and Kinsey will be remembered as international icons and treasured by millions of readers across the world. Sue was adored throughout the reading world, the publishing industry, and was a longtime and beloved member of MWA, serving as MWA President in 1994 and was the recipient of three Edgar nominations as well as the Grand Master Award in 2009. G.P. Putnam’s Sons is partnering with MWA to create the Sue Grafton Memorial Award honoring the Best Novel in a Series featuring a female protagonist in a series that also has the hallmarks of Sue’s writing and Kinsey’s character: a woman with quirks but also with a sense of herself, with empathy but also with savvy, intelligence, and wit.

The inaugural Sue Grafton Memorial Award will be presented for the first time at the 73rd Annual Edgar Awards in New York City on April 25, 2019 ““ the day after what would have been Sue’s 79th birthday ““ and will be presented annually there to honor Sue’s life and work.

The nominees for the inaugural Sue Grafton Memorial Award were chosen by the 2019 Best Novel and Best Paperback Original Edgar Award judges from the books submitted to them throughout the year. The winner will be chosen by a reading committee made up of current National board members, and will be announced at this year’s Edgars Award banquet.

The nominees for the inaugural Sue Grafton Memorial Award are:

Lisa Black, Perish ““ Kensington
Sara Paretsky, Shell Game, HarperCollins ““ William Morrow
Victoria Thompson, City of Secrets, Penguin Random House ““ Berkley
Charles Todd, A Forgotten Place, HarperCollins ““ William Morrow
Jacqueline Winspear, To Die But Once, HarperCollins ““ Harper

ABOUT SUE GRAFTON:
#1 New York Times”“bestselling author Sue Grafton is published in twenty-eight countries and in twenty-six languages—including Estonian, Bulgarian, and Indonesian. Books in her alphabet series, beginning with A is for Alibi in 1982 are international bestsellers with readership in the millions. Named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America, she also received many other honors and awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, the Ross Macdonald Literary Award, the Cartier Diamond Dagger Award from Britain’s Crime Writers’ Association, the Lifetime Achievement Award from Malice Domestic, the Anthony Award given by Bouchercon (most recently the 2018 Anthony /Bill Crider Award for Best Novel in a Series), and three Shamus Awards. Grafton passed away on December 28, 2017.

Robert Dugoni is a favorite at The Poisoned Pen. There are a number of his books, including signed copies of some, available through the Web Store. You can already pre-order his April thriller, The Eighth Sister. https://bit.ly/2EjcY7h

Check out the description of The Eighth Sister.

A pulse-pounding thriller of espionage, spy games, and treachery by theNew York Times bestselling author of the Tracy Crosswhite Series.

Former CIA case officer Charles Jenkins is a man at a crossroads: in his early sixties, he has a family, a new baby on the way, and a security consulting business on the brink of bankruptcy. Then his former bureau chief shows up at his house with a risky new assignment: travel undercover to Moscow and locate a Russian agent believed to be killing members of a clandestine US spy cell known as the seven sisters.

Desperate for money, Jenkins agrees to the mission and heads to the Russian capital. But when he finds the mastermind agent behind the assassinations—the so-called eighth sister—she is not who or what he was led to believe. Then again, neither is anyone else in this deadly game of cat and mouse.

Pursued by a dogged Russian intelligence officer, Jenkins executes a daring escape across the Black Sea, only to find himself abandoned by the agency he serves. With his family and freedom at risk, Jenkins is in the fight of his life—against his own country.

*****

And, then, you can watch Robert Dugoni in action as he defeats “Writer’s Block”. See where a bestselling author finds inspiration.

William E. Butterworth III, known to readers as W.E.B. Griffin, died last week. Michael Barson, publicist for Poisoned Pen Press, was a publicist for Putnam, Butterworth’s publisher, and knew him. Today, he offers a tribute to the man and the author.

I am bidding farewell to one of my favorite authors from my Putnam years—William E. Butterworth III, who passed away February 12 at age 89. He was known at feeding time as Bill, and among us chickens as “Three”. But millions of readers knew him best as WEB Griffin—the W.E.B. drawn from the initials of his real name.

Bill Butterworth wrote multiple best-selling series, but the one that first secured his name on the hardcover bestseller fiction lists was the superb WWII saga of the Marines known as The Corps. He also wrote successful series about the Philadelphia police force, another about the pre-CIA O.S.S., one involving WWII espionage, and another about the history of Special Forces. Several of those began as paperback originals and were published first by Berkley, Putnam’s paperback arm. Earlier in his career he wrote the paperback series based on the M.A.S.H. movie and TV series. He also wrote in numerous other genres under a wide variety of pseudonyms.

But it was Bill’s military fiction that eventually would make him a favorite second only to Clancy in the 80s and 90s—and then in the 00’s he started new series involving counter-intelligence and terrorism. Bill’s fans followed him wherever he went, but I did receive many phone calls over the years from morose veterans who couldn’t believe that the Corps series had been discontinued to give Bill more time to work on the contemporary Presidential Agent series. That one was a huge success but those vets still missed The Corps dearly.

In the course of my 21 years working on the publicity for his books, many of which Bill wrote in collaboration with his talented son Bill Butterworth IV (aka “Four”), Putnam succeeded in getting him to the number one spot on the national bestseller lists with the Presidential Agent series. That was a real thrill, both for Bill and for me.

A veteran of the Korean war, Bill III had politics diametrically opposed to my own, but he never busted my chops about my Lefty ways. He seemed to enjoy our excursions during his book tours through D.C, Florida and Texas. I enjoyed those trips too, even when I was driving him and Bill IV across Alligator Alley from Naples to Ft. Lauderdale, with Three’s beloved stogies burning non-stop all the way across the state. I also learned that Bill was a true wine maven. Those wines I sometime sampled, but I passed on the cigars.

Bill was such a great storyteller, and it was such fun to introduce him to Tom Clancy for the first time, whose publicist I also was at the time. (And it was very cool that the author photograph used on his books during the Oughts was taken by Clancy himself!) 

It was also rewarding to see how those in the military venerated Bill. They knew he had told their combat stories as vividly as anyone ever had, no matter the timeframe or the setting.

I also liked how Bill was the only author I’ve had in 35 years who addressed me only as BARSON! whenever there was something to discuss, which usually involved his travel preparations in transporting him from Argentina, where he lived a good portion of the year, to the States, where he had a home in his beloved Fairhope, Alabama. He was a New Jersey boy by birth, but after being stationed in the South while in the military, something clicked, and there Bill would remain for portions of the next sixty-odd years.

And now, at long last, he is gone. You will be missed by millions of readers, Bill—not the least by me. But some shoes just aren’t meant to be filled. And yours are one such pair.

*****

If you’re looking for books by W E B Griffin, please check the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2XfikrZ

You can read Griffin’s obituary in The New York Times. https://nyti.ms/2Ehwz7V

Author Tosca Lee will be at The Poisoned Pen on Thursday, February 21 at 7 PM. Her latest thriller, The Line Between, is the current Hot Book of the Week. You can order Lee’s books, including a signed copy of The Line Between, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2DS3Bdj

Here’s the description of The Line Between.

n this frighteningly believable thriller from New York Times bestselling author Tosca Lee, an extinct disease re-emerges from the melting Alaskan permafrost to cause madness in its victims. For recent apocalyptic cult escapee Wynter Roth, it’s the end she’d always been told was coming.

When Wynter Roth is turned out of New Earth, a self-contained doomsday cult on the American prairie, she emerges into a world poised on the brink of madness as a mysterious outbreak of rapid early onset dementia spreads across the nation.

As Wynter struggles to start over in a world she’s been taught to regard as evil, she finds herself face-to-face with the apocalypse she’s feared all her life—until the night her sister shows up at her doorstep with a set of medical samples. That night, Wynter learns there’s something far more sinister at play and that these samples are key to understanding the disease.

Now, as the power grid fails and the nation descends into chaos, Wynter must find a way to get the samples to a lab in Colorado. Uncertain who to trust, she takes up with former military man Chase Miller, who has his own reasons for wanting to get close to the samples in her possession, and to Wynter herself.

Filled with action, conspiracy, romance, and questions of whom—and what—to believe, The Line Between is a high-octane story of survival and love in a world on the brink of madness.

You might never look at thrillers in the same way again after reading or listening to Lee Goldberg talk about his latest book, Killer Thriller. He pokes fun at cliches in thrillers and at Hollywood in that book. You can order Goldberg’s books through the Web Store, including a signed copy of Killer Thriller. https://bit.ly/2X3wM6d

Now, you can also watch Goldberg discuss his ideas with Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen.

I’m sure you’re familiar with Kerry Greenwood’s Phryne Fisher mysteries. The books, set in 1920s Melbourne, and published in the U.S. by Poisoned Pen Press, were made into the Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries for television. The books are available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2SCzoth

The television series and the 1920s time period and clothing were so popular in Australia that there was even a costume display tied into it. Now, with a jump forward to 1964, there’s a new series, Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries. You can read all about it in Gemma Nisbet’s article for The West Australian. https://bit.ly/2Gtsakz

Do you subscribe to the newsletter put out by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child? You really should. The current one has news of a forthcoming short story they will send to newsletter subscribers. Here’s where you can subscribe to the Pendergast File newsletter. https://bit.ly/2GquN6R

There are a couple other pieces of news you might want to know about.

–If you’re looking for an early Father’s Day present, or a unique birthday present, there are still a few hundred double-autographed, first-edition copies of VERSES FOR THE DEAD available from the Poisoned Pen Bookstore. You can get one here.

Here’s the other news. The book jacket isn’t available to see yet, but here’s the information about a new series and forthcoming book.

–Finally, we are pleased to announce the launching of a new series of novels, starring our recurring characters Nora Kelly and Corrie Swanson! The first book in the series, entitled OLD BONES, will be published August 27. Nora is directing the archaeological excavation of an old Donner Party encampment in the Sierras of California—a site where horrific cannibalism occurred. At the same time, rookie FBI Agent Corrie Swanson is looking into a bizarre grave-robbing and murder in New Mexico. The two women soon cross paths—and their solo investigations quickly morph into one terrifying ordeal. (Those of you who aren’t familiar with the tragic and gruesome story of the Donner Party can read about it here.)