Fiction Review

I immediately thought of Thomas Kies when I asked authors to either tell me about their favorite holiday book or their favorite books of 2018. Kies is the author of two mysteries featuring reporter Geneva Chase, Random Road and Darkness Lane. Both books, as well as the books Kies suggests, are available through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Thank you, Tom, for taking the time to write a post.

*****

I was asked to write about either my favorite Holiday book or my three favorite books from 2018.  Hands down, A CHRISTMAS CAROL is my favorite holiday book. No need to recount the story because we all know it, but a couple of little-known facts are: the book was published on December 17, 1843 and was sold out in three days. By the end of 1844, thirteen editions had been printed. Dickens began writing the novella in October and finished it in six weeks to have it ready before Christmas.

One last fact, Mark Twain was in the audience when Dickens did a reading (more a performance than a reading) in New York and gave him a tepid review.  “There is no heart.  No feeling.  It is nothing but glittering frostwork.”

So, let me talk about three of my favorite mysteries from this year.  I was lucky enough to be on two panels at the Poisoned Pen Press Mystery Conference over Labor Day weekend and met a wonderful group of writers.  Among them were Hank Phillippi Ryan, Stephen Mack Jones, and Ian Rankin.  While I was there, I scored their latest novels and signatures and read them while riding out Hurricane Florence here on the coast of North Carolina less than two weeks after the conference.

Hank Phillippi Ryan’s book, TRUST ME, is a gripping psychological thriller featuring a grieving journalist playing a cat and mouse game with an accused killer claiming her innocence of a horrifying murder.  According to the cover, there are three sides to every story.  Yours, mine, and the truth. After reading her book, I say “Amen to that.”

Stephen Mack Jones’ AUGUST SNOW is a fast-paced thriller taking place in Detroit and featuring an ex-cop solving the murder of a wealthy socialite.  This is a rollercoaster ride of cyber-terrorism, mercenaries, race, and urban decay. This was Mr. Jones’ debut novel and I look forward to his second.

Ian Rankin is the Scottish Grand Master of mystery writing.  He’s been at it for thirty years and I had the unique opportunity to talk with him about his lead character, Detective Inspector John Rebus, now retired (sort of).  After meeting Mr. Rankin, I read RATHER BE THE DEVIL (and of course, now I need to get his latest, IN A HOUSE OF LIES, already a bestseller in the UK.  By the way, Rankin’s novels are best read with a Scottish burr and a tumbler of Laphroaig.

What makes these books so special to me is that not only are they terrific mysteries, but I’ve met the authors and talked with them and when I read their work, I could hear their voices in my head.

If you want to give the mystery reader in your life a great holiday gift, of course you can buy them that mystery/thriller they want.  I encourage it.  But better yet, sign them up for a mystery conference. There’s nothing like the experience of being with people who love a good mystery, both writers and readers.  

Register HereView the Schedule

Meet the New Desert Nights, Rising Stars Writers Conference Over the last 15 years, we’ve prided ourselves on creating an intimate space where writers of all backgrounds, genres, and levels of experience can come together through the celebration and study of literary craft, culture, and community. This year, we’re making that experience even better. More Affordable Conferences are investments. Lowering the registration costs to $250 (down from $350 last year) makes the conference more affordable. Single day passes are available, too. Easier to Attend You’re busy. Condensing the schedule from three days down to two without losing any sessions makes attending easier to fit in. More Community Programs We’re all here. New fellowship programs, pre-conference workshops, and the Desert Nights, Rising Stars literary fair create more opportunities for writers to make real connections with each other outside of sessions, bringing the community in closer to what we do. Strengthened Values What we’re doing is important. Diverse, comprehensive sessions take deep dives into literary craft and engage with critical issues in society and literature. Come see what we’ve been up to. Meet our faculty, view the schedule, and learn more about this year’s Desert Nights, Rising Stars Writers Conference at https://piper.asu.edu/conference. Don’t forget! Early registration ends December 31

Register HereView the Schedule

Ruth Reichl was the last editor of Gourmet. She’s a chef and food writer, so her third selection for “What I’m Reading” isn’t surprising. In short videos, Penguin Random House asks writers what they’re reading. You can check for Reichl’s books, including My Kitchen Year, and the other books she suggests in Poisoned Pen’s Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com

Dana Stabenow recently sent me this post, with a request that I share it here. It’s about writing, and giving back. 

by Dana Stabenow

1989 I was busily engaged in sending novels to New York agents and watching them return like little homing pigeons. That spring a story appeared in the local paper about a retreat for women writers on Whidbey Island in Washington state. It was calledHedgebrook. I thought, “What a wonderful opportunity for some lucky writer, but they’d never take me.” My best friend, Katherine Gottlieb, read the same storyand called me to say, “You should apply.” It took her a week of nagging until Ifinally did, and in the fall of that year I flew to Seattle, took the bus up tothe Mukilteo ferry, and was met on the other side by Holly Gault, the thenchef/manager in residence who drove me the rest of the way.

It was an old farm with five (we watched the sixth cottage go up while I was there) beautiful new post-and-beam cottages with stained glass windows and hand-woven throws, in a quiet, iconically Pacific Northwest setting where every morning I’d look up to see wild rabbits carousing out front or Nancy marching by with a rifle to scareoff the deer. On a clear day, the Seattle skyline was only a distant reminderof the madding world. I rode the farm bike to the library in Freeland and tothe beach to dig for clams and Holly took us up to Coupeville for mussels and beer.

And I wrote. I worked on anovel, I wrote a short story inspired by something I saw on the beach, I even wrote a sonnet, my one and only, and left it behind in the cottage journal.It’s pretty bad.

 Dana’s  original piece from Waterfall Cottage journals shared with her permission.

I was there for two weeks. I had all day in Waterfall Cottage to work without interruption, and every evening over dinner I could talk shop and tell war stories with my fellow residents, author Kathleen Alcala, poet Amy Pence, and author Susan Brown. It was a seminal, no, it was the seminal moment of my career. It was the first time anyone had ever acted around me like writing was a real job (“Sit down,”Nancy said when I got up to help clear the dinner dishes, “you’ve already doneyour work for the day.”) and it was the first time I’d ever been in the companyof other women writers. It turned out I wasn’t the only person who thoughtadjectives were important.

I sold my first book the following year. So when I unexpectedly found myself with four acres of view property in Homer, Alaska, it wasn’t much of a stretch to imagine what to do with it. When Hedgebrook invited me back for their 25th anniversary they toldme they could have as many as 1,400 applications for 40 spaces in a singlesemester. Unquestionably there is a need. I started a nonprofit corporation andbegan a capital campaign fund which has to date raised $500,000 of the $1million it will cost to build a main house and six cabins. We have two grant applicationspending and if they come through we will begin construction in April 2019, andwe hope to be in operation in 2020.

There is a direct line from my residency at Hedgebrook to the subsequent publication of the first of my thirty-four novels, to my appearance on the New York Times bestseller list, to my winning an Edgar award, to being named Individual Artist for the Governor’s Arts Awards in 2007.

And there is a direct line from Hedgebrook to Storyknife. It is my hope that, like Hedgebrook, Storyknife will build a sustainable community where women writers will find the support and encouragement they need to succeed. 

Hedgebrook led the way. We are only following them.

Dana Stabenow’s books, including signed copies of her latest one, Death of an Eye, can be ordered through Poisoned Pen’s Web Store, https://bit.ly/2E1Ifci

Her website is https://stabenow.com

Nick Petrie, author of the January release in the Peter Ash series, Tear It Down, recently sent a list of some of his suggestions of “Great Books for Gifts”. You can pre-order Tear It Down, and order Petrie’s gift suggestions through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com

Tear It Down hits the bookstores January 15, 2019! Dear Reader,   My family spends as much time reading as breathing, so our holiday season is filled with books.  If you  need some gift ideas, these are a few of my favorites this year.    November Road, by Lou Berney. A mob enforcer is on the run after the Kennedy assassination when he meets a young woman with two daughters.  Trouble follows them all.  A lovely portrait of love and a vanished America, this book is on a zillion best-of-2018 lists, and for good reason.  Lou Berney is an award-winning writer and a lovely guy, too.    How It Happened, by Michael Koryta. Michael Koryta published his first novel before he graduated from college.  He’s a super-talented writer with a great sense of character, and also for setting.  This book is set on the Maine coast, which really comes alive in the telling.  The story is based on a disappearance that happened when Michael was a young reporter, and he never quite got it out of his head ““ and you won’t get this one out of yours, either.   The High White Sun by J. Todd Scott.  This is the second in an epic trilogy about the border country of Texas, told from the point of view of a young Sheriff.  Scott is an active-duty federal agent who knows his stuff, and has a bit of the poet in him, too.  I can’t wait for the 3rd in the series, coming in March. I read a lot of crime fiction, of course, but I love memoir, too. If you’re interested in real life, try these:   Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef, by Gabrielle Hamilton. My first jobs were in food.  I scooped ice cream, flipped pizzas, washed dishes and cooked and served at multiple restaurants ““ all before the age of 20.  This wonderful memoir reminded me of all the things I loved and hated about those jobs, but also shone new light on the work and a life lived in kitchens.   Outlaw Platoon, by Sean Parnell. Sean Parnell wrote this memoir about his time as a lieutenant in the 10th Mountain Division, commanding a platoon in Afghanistan.  It’s exciting and heart-wrenching and extremely well-written.  If you’re interested in the visceral experience of war at ground level, Outlaw Platoon delivers.   Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life, by William Finnegan. I’m not a surfer, but I’d like to be.  This memoir tells the tale of a life lived almost entirely for surfing, from a Hawaii childhood to life as a surf bum in Micronesia to surfing hurricane swells off Long Island.  I never thought there was this much to know about surfing, or that it would be so damn interesting.  Or maybe I just identify with the level of obsession. Now, the obligatory #ShamelessSelfPromotion.  I love to give and receive books for holiday gifts, and I especially like to pre-order books for my friends and family, to spread out the holiday season.  I write a little note about the book and when it will arrive and tuck it into their stockings.  When you pre-order Tear It Down, the book will land in your mailbox on January 15th.   And if you pre-order from any of the stores on my tour, whether in person or online, I’ll be happy to sign and personalize your copy.  (Personalized copies make great gifts, too – although they won’t arrive until after I’m in that town on tour.)   I hope you get to spend some time with friends and family at this festive time of year.  Please know that I’m thinking of you with immense gratitude.   Nick Upcoming Events My 2019 book tour starts January 14 at Boswell Books in Milwaukee.  I’d love to see you there! Upcoming tour events are still being finalized, but I’ll note them on Facebook and my Events page as they get locked in. Reviews Publisher’s Weekly called my work “Propulsive…Petrie is a master of orchestrating convincing mayhem.”  New York Times-bestselling author Lee Child said, “Lots of characters get compared to my own Jack Reacher, but Petrie’s Peter Ash is the real deal.  The writing is terse and tense, full of wisdom and insight, and the plot is irresistible.” If any of this grabs your interest, you can read more on my website. My first novel, The Drifter, won the 2016 Thriller Award, the Wisconsin Library Association’s 2016 Literary Award, and the Barry Award.  It was also short-listed for the Edgar and Anthony Awards, as well as the Hammett Prize.”‹My second novel, Burning Bright, was on Entertainment Weekly’s Must List, and a later EW review noted, “Petrie’s writing is smooth, almost melodic, and he’s very, very good at ratcheting up  stomach-churning tension.”In a review of Light it Up, Apple’s iBooks said, “With its crackling dialogue and jaw-dropping twists, Nick Petrie’s third book about combat veteran Peter Ash — an exceptionally franchise-worthy hero — is a gripping, action-packed thriller.”Thanks again for a few minutes of your valuable time — I hope you enjoy my new book.  Find me on Facebook or Twitter and please let me know what you think! Nick Petrie received his MFA in fiction from the University of Washington and won a Hopwood Award for short fiction while an undergraduate at the University of Michigan. His work has been nominated for and won multiple awards.  A husband and father, he has worked as a carpenter, remodeling contractor, and building inspector. He lives in Milwaukee.

(There is one correction to Petrie’s list. J. Todd Scott’s The High White Sun is now scheduled for a June release.)

I recently asked authors to tell us their favorite holiday mystery, or write about their favorite books read during 2018. Clea Simon is the author of a number of mysteries, many of which feature cats. Her latest mystery is A Spell of Murder. You can find her books in the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2QsdtDX

Clea Simon’s website is www.CleaSimon.com. Today, she’s talking about her favorite readings of 2018. Check the Web Store for these titles. https://store.poisonedpen.com

*****

Earthly Remains, Donna Leon: Leon has always been more about her characters and their moral dilemmas than any straightforward crime, and this installment goes even further in that direction. Taken out of the city he loves for a brief respite, Brunetti learns once again how to row and also to face issues of mortality and grief in a book that encompasses pollution, climate change, and the unforgivable.  Just a splendid book.

The Switch, Joseph Finder. Finder excels at everyman heroes – believable, relatable protagonists forced by unspeakable circumstances into doing the impossible. In”The Switch,” possibly his best book yet, seemingly identical laptops are switched at airport security. Who hasn’t thought about this? The rest, however, will defy whatever you’ve imagined. Just wonderful high-speed fun.

Hope Never Dies, Andrew Shaffer.  The premise is ridiculous: Joe Biden discovers that a long-time Amtrak conductor has been found dead, an apparent suicide. A map, with Biden’s home address marked, is found on the body. I picked this up for a lark, a bit of nostalgia for a time when the administration was run by good guys, and I found a well-written, well-plotted whodunit. Think of Biden as a kind of everyman gumshoe, with Obama popping in and out as he is Holmesian Svengali. Yes, really!

Honorable mention: Sue Grafton’s “Y is for Yesterday” and Attica Locke’s “Bluebird Bluebird”

*****

Thank you, Clea!

Many readers may not associate The Poisoned Pen Bookstore, Poisoned Pen Press, or Poisoned Pen authors with the West. You’d be wrong. Along with an essay about the state of Western writing and history, True West Magazine recently published their Best of the West 2019. https://truewestmagazine.com/best-west-2019-western-books/

Congratulations are in order. Under the Best Fiction category, Poisoned Pen Press author Ann Parker won Best Mystery for A Dying Note: A Silver Rush Mystery.

Two books from Poisoned Pen Press were honored under 20th to 21st Century Western Mystery Fiction. Congratulations to Reavis Z. Wortham for Gold Dust: A Red River Mystery, and Steven F. Havill for Lies Come Easy.

Poisoned Pen Press was named Best Regional Publisher of Westerns, and The Poisoned Pen Bookstore was named Best Specialized Bookstore.

Check out the article in True West Magazine. https://truewestmagazine.com/best-west-2019-western-books/

Then, look for the authors’ books in the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com

A book from Poisoned Pen Press, P.F. Chisholm’s A Suspicion of Silver, is the current Hot Book of the Week. You can order a signed copy, or other books in the Sir Robert Carey series, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2EoAMrP

Author Dana Stabenow says readers of A Suspicion of Silver are “In for a real treat”.  Here are Stabenow’s comments from her website. https://stabenow.com/2018/12/10/24496/

“A wrong-side-of-the-blanket cousin of Queen Elizabeth I, perspicaciously able, perennially broke, persistently in love with the married Lady Elizabeth Widdrington, Sir Robert is fresh off saving James the VI/I’s life from a double assassination attempt. With the whole-hearted if covert backing of Sir Robert Cecil he is now tasked by James to catch and kill the would-be assassin, a thoroughly creepy serial killer, and along the way if he can figure out how the the German silver miners in Keswick are stiffing the queen out of her share of the take, so much the better. It doesn’t help matters that his surly Sergeant, Henry Dodd, is missing and presumed dead.

“Chisholm displays a masterful hand in drawing several plot lines from the previous novels to a resoundingly satisfying conclusion, and in setting a terrific hook on the last page. Mickey Spillane, who famously said “The last line sells the next book,” would have given her a standing ovation for this one. I have never loved Sir Robert more.”

*****

Here’s part of a 5 Star review on Net Galley.

“In the previous episode in this excellent historical series, Sir Robert Carey had just foiled a heinous plot to kill King James of Scotland. Now he is in pursuit of the perpetrator who managed to escape over the border. It’s possible he has gone to ground in his home turf, a copper mine run by his family in England … This series gets better with each book and this is the best one so far, although it is definitely advisable to read them in order. Chisholm is so good at depicting the feel of a time and place and the historical details feel spot on, even when describing the operation of a 16th century copper mine and smelter.”

*****

And, here’s what it says about A Suspicion of Silver on the Web Site. 

Edinburgh, 1593. The new year begins. 

Sir Robert Carey has just foiled a double plot against King James. He rides for Leith hunting the would-be assassin now identified as Joachim Hochstetter, also known as Jonathan Hepburn. Has he taken ship for the Continent, or ridden nearly 130 miles south and west into England? There at Keswick, his family, originally from Augsburg, runs a mining operation that pays a royalty to Queen Elizabeth in gold. It’s ruled by the widow Radagunda Hochstetter, his mother. 

Sir Robert’s other problem? His dour, difficult, and now treasonous henchman, Sergeant Henry Dodd, has disappeared somewhere on the snowy moors. Why can’t anyone find Dodd’s body? 

Before going after Hochstetter, Carey must escort Dodd’s widow back to her home at Gilsland. It’s a complex operation involving a cart, Widow Ridley and Skinabake Armstrong. That’s the man who sold Janet Dodd to Wee Colin, the Elliot headman, on her way to Edinburgh before Dodd disappeared. 

If Hochstetter goes to ground in Keswick, how far will the colony of German miners go to protect Radagunda’s favourite child? He may be an outlaw in Scotland, and King James certainly wants his head, but Carey has no official authorization to kill the man in England. 

Predictably, the Hochstetter family is politely obstructive. But something else is going on. What in the name of everything unholy is that well-known reiver, Wattie Graham of Netherby, doing so far over the border in peaceful Keswick? 

Sir Robert is tested to the utmost in chasing the traitor (underground), solving a murder, arranging a duel – and then his courtship of another man’s wife takes a deadly turn.

Poisoned Pen Press author Jane Tesh recently did a Q&A with Michael Barson for Bookreporter.com. Tesh’s Death by Dragonfly is the sixth in her Grace Street Mystery series. You can order it, as well as her other titles, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2EdC8EL

You can read the interview here. https://bit.ly/2zSwAMV

Here’s the summary of Death By Dragonfly.

Flamboyant actor Leo Pierson’s Art Nouveau treasures have been stolen, including a one-of-a-kind Lalique glass dragonfly he claims is cursed. David Randall, 302 Grace Street’s private eye, agrees to recover the valuables before he realizes murder has raised its ugly head in the Parkland art community. Samuel Gallant of the museum board is missing, until Randall and his landlord/consultant Camden find Gallant’s body stuffed in a museum closet. When another board member suffers a fatal accident and the art critic for the Parkland Herald is attacked, Randall suspects the stolen dragonfly is indeed cursed. He investigates Richard Mason, curator of the Little Gallery, whose artwork consists of ugly mechanical sculptures, and Nancy Piper, finance manager at the Parkland Art Museum. 

Meanwhile, Camden struggles against psychic visions he’s had since birth, taking pills to limit sudden intense visions. His wife, Ellin, fends off Matt Grabber, a television celebrity healer threatening to take over her Psychic Service Network and using his two large pythons to emphasize his bid. The pythons take a liking to Camden, upping his stress level, while he takes more pills hoping his visions – and the snakes – disappear. Kit, a new tenant at Grace Street, is a young rock star who is also psychic. As Camden becomes more addicted, Kit becomes an early warning system, alerting Randall to the next attack. 

Randall works to solve the murders, find the jeweled collection, help Cam, deter Grabber and his pythons, romance the young lovely Kary, and avoid stray curses. A spirit on the Other Side surprisingly requests his help, a spirit with ties to the stolen pieces of Art Nouveau.

Jonathan Lethem appeared at The Poisoned Pen while on book tour for The Feral Detective. There are still signed copies of the book available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2QoaSuI

Here’s the summary of The Feral Detective.

Jonathan Lethem’s first detective novel since Motherless Brooklyn

“One of America’s greatest storytellers.” —Washington Post

Phoebe Siegler first meets Charles Heist in a shabby trailer on the eastern edge of Los Angeles. She’s looking for her friend’s missing daughter, Arabella, and hires Heist to help. A laconic loner who keeps his pet opossum in a desk drawer, Heist intrigues the sarcastic and garrulous Phoebe. Reluctantly, he agrees to help. The unlikely pair navigate the enclaves of desert-dwelling vagabonds and find that Arabella is in serious trouble—caught in the middle of a violent standoff that only Heist, mysteriously, can end. Phoebe’s trip to the desert was always going to be strange, but it was never supposed to be dangerous. . . .

Jonathan Lethem’s first detective novel since Motherless Brooklyn, The Feral Detective is a singular achievement by one of our greatest writers.

*****

Patrick Millikin from The Poisoned Pen had the chance to interview Lethem. You can watch the interview here.