Fiction Review

Sheila Campbell is a founding partner of Wild Blue Yonder. She spends a couple months a year in France, and leads group tours for Politics & Prose bookstore in Washington, D.C. She’ll be at The Poisoned Pen on Tuesday, Jan. 29 at 7 PM to talk about tours.

Jan Carbett, a long-time customer at The Poisoned Pen took one of the tours, and offered to write a short post about the trip. (She caught my attention, and I”m looking at one of the tours in 2019.)

Thank you, Jan!

*****

Early in 2017 The Poisoned Pen newsletter had a short paragraph about trips to Paris, France with two different authors. One, Mark Pryor, was a mystery author. 

I had always wanted to go to Paris and I loved mysteries. I’ve been a PP customer for 20+years. So I read his books, loved them and sent an email to Sheila Campbell and started thinking about going. I trusted going on this trip because of my long association with the Poisoned Pen. Sheila was very patient with all my questions and concerns  and answered every one. It would be my first trip out of country all by myself with only myself to rely on to reach my destination, get to my hotel and meet the rest of the group.

It was FABULOUS! Several days we had a choice of two sets of activities led by either Sheila or Donna and each evening we all met for a delicious wine & cheese gathering to hear about the other half of the day’s trip and tell about our own.

Our author, Mark Pryor, took all of us out on walks where he had set a couple of his books and to where some of the murders had taken place. He also showed us the street and building he had set as his main character’s home and the real cafe he chose as his character’s favorite hangout.

His family was there with him and we saw them several times also. They gave us some insight into what it is like having a successful writer in the family.

I am so glad I went. This coming Tuesday, January 29 at 7 pm both Donna and Sheila will be at The Poisoned Pen to talk about their business and I am looking forward to joining them. I hope readers of this blog will also come and let us know you read it in this blog.

It’s award season, or at least the time when awards are announced. Once you’ve checked out this list of nominees, check the Web Store for the books. https://store.poisonedpen.com

Deadly Pleasures Magazine recently announced the nominees for the 2019 Barry Awards. Winners will be announced on October 31 at the Dallas Bouchercon Opening Ceremonies. Congratulations to all the nominees.

Best Novel
Lou Berney, NOVEMBER ROAD (Morrow)  
Michael Connelly, DARK SACRED NIGHT (Little, Brown)
Allen Eskens, THE SHADOWS WE HIDE (Mulholland)
Craig Johnson, DEPTH OF WINTER (Viking)
Mindy Mejia, LEAVE NO TRACE (Atria)
Abir Mukherjee, A NECESSARY EVIL (Pegasus)

Best First Novel
Oyinkan Braithwaite, MY SISTER, THE SERIAL KILLER (Doubleday)
Karen Cleveland, NEED TO KNOW (Ballantine) 
John Copenhaver, DODGING AND BURNING (Pegasus) 
Caz Frear, SWEET LITTLE LIES (Harper)
James A. McLaughlin, BEARSKIN (Ecco)
C. J. Tudor, THE CHALK MAN (Crown)

Best Paperback Original 
Christine Carbo, A SHARP SOLITUDE (Atria) 
David Mark, DEAD PRETTY (Blue Rider Press) 
Dervla McTiernan, THE RUIN (Penguin) 
Sherry Thomas, THE HOLLOW OF FEAR (Berkley) 
Emma Viskic, RESURRECTION BAY (Pushkin Vertigo)

Best Thriller
Jack Carr, THE TERMINAL LIST (Atria)
Dan Fesperman, SAFE HOUSES (Knopf)
Mick Herron, LONDON RULES (Soho)
Anthony Horowitz, FOREVER AND A DAY (Harper)
Nick Petrie, LIGHT IT UP (Putnam)
James Swain, THE KING TIDES (Thomas & Mercer)

Yesterday, Mystery Writers of America announced the 2019 Edgar Award nominations. Once you read the list of nominees, you might want to check the Web Store for copies of the books. https://store.poisonedpen.com

Congratulations to all of the Edgar Award nominees. Here’s the press release.

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NEW YORK, Jan. 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Mystery Writers of America is proud to announce, as we celebrate the 210^thanniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe, the Nominees for the 2019 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2018. The Edgar® Awards will be presented to the winners at our 73^rd Gala Banquet, April 25, 2019 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City.

BEST NOVEL

The Liar’s Girl by Catherine Ryan Howard (Blackstone Publishing)
House Witness by Mike Lawson (Grove Atlantic ““ Atlantic Monthly Press)
A Gambler’s Jury by Victor Methos (Amazon Publishing ““ Thomas & Mercer)
Down the River Unto the Sea by Walter Mosley (Hachette Book Group – Mulholland)
Only to Sleep by Lawrence Osborne (Penguin Random House ““ Hogarth)
A Treacherous Curse by Deanna Raybourn (Penguin Random House ““ Berkley)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

A Knife in the Fog by Bradley Harper (Seventh Street Books)
The Captives by Debra Jo Immergut (HarperCollins Publishers – Ecco)
The Last Equation of Isaac Severy by Nova Jacobs (Simon & Schuster – Touchstone)
Bearskin by James A. McLaughlin (HarperCollins Publishers – Ecco)
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (Penguin Random House ““ G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

If I Die Tonight by Alison Gaylin (HarperCollins Publishers ““ William Morrow)
Hiroshima Boy by Naomi Hirahara (Prospect Park Books)
Under a Dark Sky by Lori Rader-Day (HarperCollins Publishers ““ William Morrow)
The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani (Penguin Random House ““ Penguin Books)
Under My Skin by Lisa Unger (Harlequin ““ Park Row Books)

BEST FACT CRIME

Tinderbox: The Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberation by Robert W. Fieseler (W.W. Norton & Company – Liveright)
Sex Money Murder: A Story of Crack, Blood, and Betrayal by Jonathan Green (W.W. Norton & Company)
The Last Wild Men of Borneo: A True Story of Death and Treasure by Carl Hoffman (HarperCollins Publishers ““ William Morrow)
The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk Wallace Johnson (Penguin Random House – Viking)
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara(HarperCollins Publishers – Harper)
The Good Mothers: The True Story of the Women Who Took on the World’s Most Powerful Mafia by Alex Perry(HarperCollins Publishers ““ William Morrow)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

The Metaphysical Mysteries of G.K. Chesterton: A Critical Study of the Father Brown Stories and Other Detective Fiction by Laird R. Blackwell (McFarland Publishing)
Dead Girls: Essays on Surviving an American Obsession by Alice Bolin (HarperCollins Publishers ““ William Morrow Paperbacks)
Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s by Leslie S. Klinger (Pegasus Books)
Mark X: Who Killed Huck Finn’s Father? by Yasuhiro Takeuchi (Taylor & Francis – Routledge)
Agatha Christie: A Mysterious Life by Laura Thompson (Pegasus Books)

BEST SHORT STORY

“Rabid ““ A Mike Bowditch Short Story” by Paul Doiron (Minotaur Books)
“Paranoid Enough for Two” ““ The Honorable Traitors by John Lutz (Kensington Publishing)
“Ancient and Modern” ““ Bloody Scotland by Val McDermid (Pegasus Books)
“English 398: Fiction Workshop” ““ Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Art Taylor (Dell Magazines)
“The Sleep Tight Motel” ““ Dark Corners Collection by Lisa Unger (Amazon Publishing)

BEST JUVENILE

Denis Ever After by Tony Abbott (HarperCollins Children’s Books ““ Katherine Tegen Books)
Zap! by Martha Freeman (Simon & Schuster ““ Paula Wiseman Books)
Ra the Mighty: Cat Detective by A.B. Greenfield (Holiday House)
Winterhouse by Ben Guterson (Macmillan Children’s Publishing Company ““ Henry Holt BFYR)
Otherwood by Pete Hautman (Candlewick Press)
Charlie & Frog: A Mystery by Karen Kane (Disney Publishing Worldwide ““ Disney Hyperion)
Zora & Me: The Cursed Ground by T.R. Simon (Candlewick Press)

BEST YOUNG ADULT

Contagion by Erin Bowman (HarperCollins Children’s Books – HarperCollins)
Blink by Sasha Dawn (Lerner Publishing Group ““ Carolrhoda Lab)
After the Fire by Will Hill (Sourcebooks ““ Sourcebooks Fire)
A Room Away From the Wolves by Nova Ren Suma (Algonquin Young Readers)
Sadie by Courtney Summers (Wednesday Books)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

“The Box” – Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Teleplay by Luke Del Tredici (NBC/Universal TV)
“Season 2, Episode 1” ““ Jack Irish, Teleplay by Andrew Knight (Acorn TV)
“Episode 1” ““ Mystery Road, Teleplay by Michaeley O’Brien (Acorn TV)
“My Aim is True” ““ Blue Bloods, Teleplay by Kevin Wade (CBS Eye Productions)
“The One That Holds Everything” ““ The Romanoffs, Teleplay by Matthew Weiner & Donald Joh (Amazon Prime Video)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD 

“How Does He Die This Time?” ““ Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Nancy Novick (Dell Magazines)

* * * * * *

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD

A Death of No Importance by Mariah Fredericks (Minotaur Books)
A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder by Dianne Freeman (Kensington Publishing)
Bone on Bone by Julia Keller (Minotaur Books)
The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey (Soho Press ““ Soho Crime)
A Borrowing of Bones by Paula Munier (Minotaur Books)

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

SOURCE Mystery Writers of America

I had the chance to meet Stephen Mack Jones, author of August Snow, last September. He’ll be back at the Poisoned Pen on Sunday, February 10 at 2 PM to talk about the second book in the series, Lives Laid Away. You might not want to wait that long to pick up a copy of the book. Lives Laid Away is the current Hot Book of the Week at the Poisoned Pen. You can order signed copies of it through the Web Store, along with a copy of August Snow. https://bit.ly/2S2JUc6

Here’s the summary of Lives Laid Away.

Detroit ex-cop August Snow takes up vigilante justice when his beloved neighborhood of Mexicantown is caught in the crosshairs of a human trafficking scheme.

When the body of an unidentified young Hispanic woman dressed as Queen Marie Antoinette is dredged from the Detroit River, the Detroit Police Department wants the case closed fast. Wayne County Coroner Bobby Falconi gives the woman’s photo to his old pal ex-police detective August Snow, insisting August show it around his native Mexicantown to see if anyone recognizes her. August’s good friend Elena, a prominent advocate for undocumented immigrants, recognizes the woman immediately as a local teenager, Isadora del Torres.

Izzy’s story is one the authorities don’t want getting around—and she’s not the only young woman to have disappeared during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid, only to turn up dead a few weeks later. Preyed upon by the law itself, the people of Mexicantown have no one to turn to. August Snow, the son of an African-American cop and a Mexican-American painter, will not sit by and watch his neighbors suffer in silence. In a guns-blazing wild ride across Detroit, from its neo-Nazi biker hole-ups to its hip-hop recording studios, its swanky social clubs to its seedy nightclubs, August puts his own life on the line to protect the community he loves.

On Monday, January 28 at 7 PM, historian Gary L. Stuart will appear at the Poisoned Pen to discuss his recent biography, Call Him Mac: Ernest W. McFarland, the Arizona Years. Copies will be available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2R24aFX

Here’s the description of Call Him Mac.

The political life of Ernest W. McFarland—lawyer, judge, senator, governor, Supreme Court justice, and businessman—is well documented. Less well known is his life as a family man, country lawyer, rural judge, and visionary.

In Call Him Mac, Gary L. Stuart renders a nuanced portrait of a young, ambitious, restless, and smiling man on the verge of becoming a political force on his way to the highest levels of governance in Arizona and America. Stuart reveals how Mac became an expert on water law and a visionary in Arizona’s agricultural future. Using interviews with friends and family and extensive primary source research, Stuart spotlights Mac’s unerring focus as a loving husband, father, and grandfather, even in times of great personal tragedy. Mac’s commitments to his family mirrored his sense of fiduciary duty in public life. His enormous political successes were answers to how he dealt with threats to his own life in 1919, the loss of his first wife and three children in the 1930s, and a political loss in 1952 that no one saw coming.

Stuart writes the little-known story of how Arizona’s culture and citizens shaped this energetic, determined, likable lawyer. The fame Mac created was not for himself but for those he served in Arizona and beyond. Mac’s unparalleled political success was fermented during his early Arizona years, the bridge that brought him to his future as an approachable and likable elder statesman of Arizona politics.

*****

The SanTan Sun News recently ran an excellent article providing the background for the author and the book. https://bit.ly/2DoyIOQ

I recently mentioned that An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen debuts at #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list on January 27. The two authors appeared at the Poisoned Pen, and celebrated with champagne. You can celebrate as well by ordering a signed copy of An Anonymous Girl. https://bit.ly/2CHeoYz

If you missed the earlier summary, here it is.

The instant #1 New York Times bestseller (January 2019)!

Seeking women ages 18″“32 to participate in a study on ethics and morality. Generous compensation. Anonymity guaranteed.  

When Jessica Farris signs up for a psychology study conducted by the mysterious Dr. Shields, she thinks all she’ll have to do is answer a few questions, collect her money, and leave. 

Question #1: Could you tell a lie without feeling guilt?

But as the questions grow more and more intense and invasive and the sessions become outings where Jess is told what to wear and how to act, she begins to feel as though Dr. Shields may know what she’s thinking…and what she’s hiding. 

Question #2: Have you ever deeply hurt someone you care about?  

As Jess’s paranoia grows, it becomes clear that she can no longer trust what in her life is real, and what is one of Dr. Shields’ manipulative experiments. Caught in a web of deceit and jealousy, Jess quickly learns that some obsessions can be deadly.

Question #3: Should a punishment always fit the crime? 

From the authors of the blockbuster bestseller The Wife Between Us comes an electrifying new novel about doubt, passion, and just how much you can trust someone.

Praise for The Wife Between Us:

“A fiendishly smart cat-and-mouse thriller” —New York Times Book Review

“[A] seamless thriller that will keep readers on their toes to the very end…Readers will enjoy the dizzying back-and-forth as they attempt to figure out just who to root for and as the suspense ratchets up to one hell of a conclusion.” —Booklist

*****

Even better, you can celebrate with the authors and the Poisoned Pen by watching the YouTube video.

Katherine Arden is the author of the fantasy series, The Winternight Trilogy. Those books are The Bear and the Nightingale, The Girl in the Tower, and the latest book, already a New York Times best seller, The Winter of the Witch. All three books are available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2TYvIht

Here’s the summary of The Winter of the Witch.

Following their adventures in The Bear and the Nightingale and The Girl in the Tower, Vasya and Morozko return in this stunning conclusion to the bestselling Winternight Trilogy, battling enemies mortal and magical to save both Russias, the seen and the unseen.

“A tale both intimate and epic, featuring a heroine whose harrowing and wondrous journey culminates in an emotionally resonant finale.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Reviewers called Katherine Arden’s novels The Bear and the Nightingale and The Girl in the Tower “lyrical,” “emotionally stirring,” and “utterly bewitching.” The Winternight Trilogy introduced an unforgettable heroine, Vasilisa Petrovna, a girl determined to forge her own path in a world that would rather lock her away. Her gifts and her courage have drawn the attention of Morozko, the winter-king, but it is too soon to know if this connection will prove a blessing or a curse.

Now Moscow has been struck by disaster. Its people are searching for answers—and for someone to blame. Vasya finds herself alone, beset on all sides. The Grand Prince is in a rage, choosing allies that will lead him on a path to war and ruin. A wicked demon returns, stronger than ever and determined to spread chaos. Caught at the center of the conflict is Vasya, who finds the fate of two worlds resting on her shoulders. Her destiny uncertain, Vasya will uncover surprising truths about herself and her history as she desperately tries to save Russia, Morozko, and the magical world she treasures. But she may not be able to save them all.

Praise for Winter of the Witch

“Katherine Arden’s Winternight Trilogy isn’t just good—it’s hug-to-your-chest, straight-to-the-favorites-shelf, reread-immediately good, and each book just gets better. The Winter of the Witch plunges us back to fourteenth-century Moscow, where old gods and new vie for the soul of Russia and fate rests on a witch girl’s slender shoulders. Prepare to have your heart ripped out, loaned back to you full of snow and magic, and ripped out some more.”—Laini Taylor

“Luxuriously detailed yet briskly suspenseful . . . A striking literary fantasy informed by Arden’s deep knowledge.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Visceral descriptions of battle, an atmospheric sense of place, and some truly heartbreaking moments of loss make this a gut-wrenching read, but there’s ample hope and satisfaction to be found as Vasya chooses her own unique path to triumph.”—Booklist

*****

Thanks to Penguin Random House, there’s a short video of author Katherine Arden talking about her writing habits.

I’m aging myself when I say I read all the mysteries by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo in the early ’70s. Amish Raj Mulmi’s wrote an article for Scroll.in, “Before Lisbeth Salander: The couple that invented Nordic with the Martin Beck series of books”. If you’re interested in the history of Scandinavian crime writing, or crime fiction in general, you’ll want to read this article. https://bit.ly/2MgQsOX

While there’s a slight delay in getting copies of Roseanna, the first in the Martin Beck series, most of the others are easily available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2ASTJzA

Curious? Here’s the summary of Roseanna.

With a New Introduction by Henning Mankell. The masterful first novel in the Martin Beck series of mysteries by the internationally renowned crime writing duo Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö (“the best writers of police procedurals in the world”), finds Beck hunting for the murderer of a lonely traveler.

On a July afternoon, a young woman’s body is dredged from Sweden’s beautiful Lake Vattern. With no clues Beck begins an investigation not only to uncover a murderer but also to discover who the victim was. Three months later, all Beck knows is that her name was Roseanna and that she could have been strangled by any one of eighty-five people on a cruise. As the melancholic Beck narrows the list of suspects, he is drawn increasingly to the enigma of the victim, a free-spirited traveler with a penchant for casual sex, and to the psychopathology of a murderer with a distinctive–indeed, terrifying–sense of propriety.

Yesterday, I mentioned that Nick Petrie was going to appear with Matthew Quirk at The Poisoned Pen on Thursday, Jan. 17 at 7 PM. Quirk’s latest novel is The Night Agent. You can order his books, including a signed copy of The Night Agent, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2RP7yZj

Here’s the description of The Night Agent.

“Plenty of breathless one-more-chapter, stay-up-late suspense wrapped around a meaty and timely story … irresistible.”
   — Lee Child

To find a Russian mole in the White House, an FBI agent must question everything. . . and trust no one

To save America from a catastrophic betrayal, an idealistic young FBI agent must stop a Russian mole in the White House in this exhilarating political thriller reminiscent of the early novels of John Grisham and David Baldacci.

No one was more surprised than FBI Agent Peter Sutherland when he’s tapped to work in the White House Situation Room. From his earliest days as a surveillance specialist, Peter has scrupulously done everything by the book, hoping his record will help him escape the taint of his past. When Peter was a boy, his father, a section chief in FBI counterintelligence, was suspected of selling secrets to the Russians—a catastrophic breach that had cost him his career, his reputation, and eventually his life. 

Peter knows intimately how one broken rule can cost lives. Nowhere is he more vigilant than in this room, the sanctum of America’s secrets. Staffing the night action desk, his job is monitoring an emergency line for a call that has not—and might never—come. 

Until tonight.

At 1:05 a.m. the phone rings. A terrified young woman named Rose tells Peter that her aunt and uncle have just been murdered and that the killer is still in the house with her. Before their deaths, they gave her this phone number with urgent instructions: “Tell them OSPREY was right. It’s happening. . . “

The call thrusts Peter into the heart of a conspiracy years in the making, involving a Russian mole at the highest levels of the government. Anyone in the White House could be the traitor. Anyone could be corrupted. To save the nation, Peter must take the rules into his own hands and do the right thing, no matter the cost. He plunges into a desperate hunt for the traitor—a treacherous odyssey that pits him and Rose against some of Russia’s most skilled and ruthless operatives and the full force of the FBI itself. 

Peter knows that the wider a secret is broadcast, the more dangerous it gets for the people at the center. With the fate of the country on the line, he and Rose must evade seasoned assassins and maneuver past jolting betrayals to find the shocking truth—and stop the threat from inside before it’s too late.

*****

Do you want a hint as to what you might hear on Thursday night? The Real Book Spy asked Matthew Quirk five questions earlier this week. You can find that interview here. https://bit.ly/2D9zTkU

Thursday, Jan. 17 at 7 PM, the Poisoned Pen will host Nick Petrie, author of the Peter Ash novels, and Matthew Quirk, author of The Night Agent. Petrie will discuss and sign his latest, Tear It Down. Tear It Down is the current Hot Book of the Week at the Poisoned Pen. You can order signed copies of the books by both authors through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Here’s the summary of Petrie’s Tear It Down.

In the new edge-of-your-seat adventure from national bestselling author Nick Petrie, Peter Ash pursues one case–and stumbles into another–in the City of the Blues.

Iraq war veteran Peter Ash is restless in the home he shares with June Cassidy in Washington State. June knows Peter needs to be on the move, so she sends him to Memphis to help her friend Wanda Wyatt, a photographer and war correspondent who’s been receiving peculiar threats. When Peter arrives in Memphis, however, he finds the situation has gone downhill fast–someone has just driven a dump truck into Wanda’s living room. But neither Wanda nor Peter can figure out why.

At the same time, a young homeless street musician finds himself roped into a plan to rob a jewelry store. The heist doesn’t go as planned, and the young man finds himself holding a sack full of Rolexes and running for his life. When his getaway car breaks down, he steals a new one at gunpoint–Peter’s 1968 green Chevrolet pickup truck. 

Peter likes the skinny kid’s smarts and attitude, but he soon discovers that the desperate musician is in far worse trouble than he knows. And Wanda’s troubles are only beginning. Peter finds himself stuck between Memphis gangsters–looking for Rolexes and revenge–and a Mississippi ex-con and his hog-butcher brother looking for a valuable piece of family history that goes all the way back to the Civil War.

*****

Curious? Do you want to hear a little more before the event on Thursday night? Doug Miles recently interviewed Nick Petrie, discussing Tear It Down on “Talk Across America”. https://youtu.be/VEFExoyU3X4