Fiction Review

When Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, discussed Elevator Pitch with author Linwood Barclay, she said he was “weaponizing technology”. He responded that he thinks he’s going to write about a toaster next. No matter what he chooses to write about, you can order copies of Barclay’s books, including a signed copy of Elevator Pitch, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2Ohv2BY

Here’s the summary of Elevator Pitch.

“One hell of a suspense novel.” â —Stephen King

The New York Times bestselling author of A Noise Downstairs and No Time for Goodbye returns with an edge-of-your-seat thriller that does for elevators what Psycho did for showers and Jaws did for the beach—a heart-pounding tale in which a series of disasters paralyzes New York City with fear.

It all begins on a Monday, when four people board an elevator in a Manhattan office tower. Each presses a button for their floor, but the elevator proceeds, non-stop, to the top. Once there, it stops for a few seconds, and then plummets.

Right to the bottom of the shaft.

It appears to be a horrific, random tragedy. But then, on Tuesday, it happens again, in a different Manhattan skyscraper. And when Wednesday brings yet another high-rise catastrophe, one of the most vertical cities in the world—and the nation’s capital of media, finance, and entertainment—is plunged into chaos.

Clearly, this is anything but random. This is a cold, calculated bid to terrorize the city. And it’s working. Fearing for their lives, thousands of men in women working in offices across the city refuse leave their homes. Commerce has slowed to a trickle. Emergency calls to the top floors of apartment buildings go unanswered.

Who is behind this? Why are they doing it? What do these deadly acts of sabotage have to do with the fingerless body found on the High Line? Two seasoned New York detectives and a straight-shooting journalist must race against time to find the answers before the city’s newest, and tallest, residential tower has its ribbon-cutting on Thursday.

With each diabolical twist, Linwood Barclay ratchets up the suspense, building to a shattering finale. Pulsating with tension, Elevator Pitch is a riveting tale of psychological suspense that is all too plausible . . . and will chill readers to the bone. 

*****

Would you like to experience the conversation with Linwood Barclay? Check out the video of the recent event.

The following news release will be of interest to everyone who appreciates classic crime novels.

*****

Classic American crime novels will see new life in a new publishing collaboration between the Library of Congress and Poisoned Pen Press, an imprint of Sourcebooks. The Library of Congress Crime Classics series will feature a rich and diverse selection of books originally published between the 1860s and the 1960s, the Library announced today.

Titles are drawn from the Library’s collection of hard-to-find and out-of-print books, with cover designs inspired by images from the Library’s collections.

The series will launch in Spring 2020 with the publication of three books: “That Affair Next Door” by Anna Katharine Green (1897), “The Rat Began to Gnaw the Rope” by C. W. Grafton (1943) and “Case Pending” by Dell Shannon (1960).

Series editor and mystery expert Leslie S. Klinger, a two-time Edgar®-winner for his critical and editorial work, has selected lesser known titles that represent a range of genres, from “cozies” to police procedurals. Along with the original text of the novel, each book includes a contextual introduction by Klinger, as well as a brief author biography, notes, recommendations for further reading and discussion questions for book clubs and classrooms.

“Early American crime fiction is not only entertaining to read, it also sheds light on the culture of its time,” said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. “It’s fascinating to read these books and reflect on the evolution of our society’s perceptions of race, gender, ethnicity and social standing.”

Each of the three spring titles represents a “first.” Green’s “That Affair Next Door” features the first female detective—Amelia Butterworth—to appear in a series, long predating Miss Marple. C. W. Grafton, father of detective novelist Sue Grafton and author of “The Rat Began to Gnaw the Rope,” is one of the first crime writers to add humor to the hard-boiled style of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. Dell Shannon, author of “Case Pending,” is not only one of the first women to write police procedurals, she also boldly depicted a Mexican-American detective working in a Los Angeles that had not forgotten the 1943 “zoot suit” riots targeting young Chicanos.

Poisoned Pen Press President Robert Rosenwald, who publishes the successful British Library Crime Classics series in the United States, is delighted with the collaboration. His grandfather, Lessing Rosenwald, donated his extraordinary collection of 2,653 rare books to the Library of Congress.

“My family has deep roots at the Library of Congress,” he said. “It’s an honor to continue the Rosenwald tradition of sharing books from the past with readers of the present.”

The award-winning crime and mystery publisher founded in 1997 became an imprint of Sourcebooks in January 2019. Sourcebooks, the largest woman-owned trade book publisher in North America, is led by founder and CEO Dominique Raccah, who was recently named Publisher of the Year by “The Strand Magazine.”

“We’re incredibly excited to be working with the Library of Congress on the reissue of classic American mysteries and helping readers rediscover these great stories,” Raccah said. “Poisoned Pen Press is a legendary and award-winning publisher, and we are thrilled to work with the Library of Congress to create a new way for readers to discover great American mysteries.”

*****

For more, check out the information about the three books to be published in spring 2020. https://www.loc.gov/item/prn-19-091/

What Rose Forgot by Nevada Barr is the current Hot Book of the Week at The Poisoned Pen. Don’t believe us? Check out Kim Ode’s review in The Orlando Sentinel. https://bit.ly/2kH2yaV

Now that you’ve read the review, you can order Barr’s books, including a signed copy of What Rose Forgot, though the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2kH2SXb

Here’s the Web Store summary of What Rose Forgot.

* POPSUGAR’s “New Thrillers That Should Be on Your Radar This Year”
* Women.com’s “12 New September Books Worth Canceling Plans For”

In New York Times bestselling author Nevada Barr’s gripping standalone, a grandmother in her sixties emerges from a mental fog to find she’s trapped in her worst nightmare

Rose Dennis wakes up in a hospital gown, her brain in a fog, only to discover that she’s been committed to an Alzheimer’s Unit in a nursing home. With no memory of how she ended up in this position, Rose is sure that something is very wrong. When she overhears one of the administrators saying about her that she’s “not making it through the week,” Rose is convinced that if she’s to survive, she has to get out of the nursing home. She avoids taking her medication, putting on a show for the aides, then stages her escape.

The only problem is—how does she convince anyone that she’s not actually demented? Her relatives were the ones to commit her, all the legal papers were drawn up, the authorities are on the side of the nursing home, and even she isn’t sure she sounds completely sane. But any lingering doubt Rose herself might have had is erased when a would-be killer shows up in her house in the middle of the night. Now Rose knows that someone is determined to get rid of her.

With the help of her computer hacker/recluse sister Marion, thirteen-year old granddaughter Mel, and Mel’s friend Royal, Rose begins to gather her strength and fight back—to find out who is after her and take back control of her own life. But someone out there is still determined to kill Rose, and they’re holding all the cards.

Starz is adapting Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad crime novels for television. They just released the trailer, based on the first two books in the series, In the Woods and The Likeness. Although not all of us have Starz, we can read the books. The Poisoned Pen makes them available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2m02JOs

Here’s the summary of the first in the series, In the Woods.

The bestselling debut, with over a million copies sold, that launched Tana French, author of The Witch Elm and “the most important crime novelist to emerge in the past 10 years” (The Washington Post). 

“Required reading for anyone who appreciates tough, unflinching intelligence and ingenious plotting.” —The New York Times

Soon to be a Starz series

As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But on this warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent woods. When the police arrive, they find only one of the children gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled sneakers, and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours.

Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret. But when a twelve-year-old girl is found murdered in the same woods, he and Detective Cassie Maddox—his partner and closest friend—find themselves investigating a case chillingly similar to the previous unsolved mystery. Now, with only snippets of long-buried memories to guide him, Ryan has the chance to uncover both the mystery of the case before him and that of his own shadowy past.

Richly atmospheric and stunning in its complexity, In the Woods is utterly convincing and surprising to the end.

*****

And, here’s the trailer for “Dublin Murders”.

Here’s all the information about a special upcoming ticketed event, Janet Evanovich’s appearance for Twisted Twenty-Six.

MONDAY NOVEMBER 11 7:00 PM Janet Evanovich debuts Twisted Twenty-Six (Putnam $28)

Order VIP Tickets to attend the November 11 publication party @ 7:00 PM DoubleTree Resort 5401 North Scottsdale Road Scottsdale AZ 85250

$33 admits one person with one copy of the book. Doors open 6:00 PM. Cash Bar. Free valet Parking. Can’t attend? Then please order the book to pick up or be shipped to you. https://bit.ly/2kNWFsm

Special VIP Tickets $ 33.00 – ticket holders get special seating up front as well as priority admittance to the signing line following the program.

Ticket price includes one first edition copy of TWISTED TWENTY-SIX.

Additional copies as well as earlier titles by Janet Evanovich will be available for purchase.

Janet Evanovich. TWISTED TWENTY-SIX.

This isn’t just another case. This is family.

How far will Stephanie Plum go to protect the one person who means the most to her? The stakes have never been higher in this latest adventure from #1 New York Times bestselling author Janet Evanovich.

Grandma Mazur has decided to get married again – this time to a local gangster named Jimmy Rosolli. If Stephanie has her doubts about this marriage, she doesn’t have to worry for long, because the groom drops dead of a heart attack 45 minutes after saying, “I do.”

A sad day for Grandma Mazur turns into something far more dangerous when Jimmy’s former “business partners” are convinced that his new widow is keeping the keys to a financial windfall all to herself. But the one thing these wise guys didn’t count on was the widow’s bounty hunter granddaughter, who’ll do anything to save her.

Do you want to read Linwood Barclay’s “elevator pitch” for his new thriller, Elevator Pitch? You’ll have to check it out in the article in The Daily Telegraph. He answers a few questions there. https://bit.ly/2kBoLqQ

Or, you could show up at The Poisoned Pen on Wednesday, Sept. 18 at 7 PM to hear him give that pitch in person. If you can’t make it, you can still order a signed copy of the book through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2mfYDlz

Here’s the summary of Elevator Pitch.

“One hell of a suspense novel.” â —Stephen King

The New York Times bestselling author of A Noise Downstairs and No Time for Goodbye returns with an edge-of-your-seat thriller that does for elevators what Psycho did for showers and Jaws did for the beach—a heart-pounding tale in which a series of disasters paralyzes New York City with fear.

It all begins on a Monday, when four people board an elevator in a Manhattan office tower. Each presses a button for their floor, but the elevator proceeds, non-stop, to the top. Once there, it stops for a few seconds, and then plummets.

Right to the bottom of the shaft.

It appears to be a horrific, random tragedy. But then, on Tuesday, it happens again, in a different Manhattan skyscraper. And when Wednesday brings yet another high-rise catastrophe, one of the most vertical cities in the world—and the nation’s capital of media, finance, and entertainment—is plunged into chaos.

Clearly, this is anything but random. This is a cold, calculated bid to terrorize the city. And it’s working. Fearing for their lives, thousands of men in women working in offices across the city refuse leave their homes. Commerce has slowed to a trickle. Emergency calls to the top floors of apartment buildings go unanswered.

Who is behind this? Why are they doing it? What do these deadly acts of sabotage have to do with the fingerless body found on the High Line? Two seasoned New York detectives and a straight-shooting journalist must race against time to find the answers before the city’s newest, and tallest, residential tower has its ribbon-cutting on Thursday.

With each diabolical twist, Linwood Barclay ratchets up the suspense, building to a shattering finale. Pulsating with tension, Elevator Pitch is a riveting tale of psychological suspense that is all too plausible . . . and will chill readers to the bone. 

When mystery readers see Nevada Barr’s name, most of us expect an Anna Pigeon mystery. However, she’ll be at The Poisoned Pen on Tuesday, Sept. 17 at 7 PM to discuss her standalone thriller, What Rose Forgot. You can order a signed copy through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2lVZCXO

Here’s the summary of What Rose Forgot.

* POPSUGAR’s “New Thrillers That Should Be on Your Radar This Year”
* Women.com’s “12 New September Books Worth Canceling Plans For”

In New York Times bestselling author Nevada Barr’s gripping standalone, a grandmother in her sixties emerges from a mental fog to find she’s trapped in her worst nightmare  

Rose Dennis wakes up in a hospital gown, her brain in a fog, only to discover that she’s been committed to an Alzheimer’s Unit in a nursing home. With no memory of how she ended up in this position, Rose is sure that something is very wrong. When she overhears one of the administrators saying about her that she’s “not making it through the week,” Rose is convinced that if she’s to survive, she has to get out of the nursing home. She avoids taking her medication, putting on a show for the aides, then stages her escape.

The only problem is—how does she convince anyone that she’s not actually demented? Her relatives were the ones to commit her, all the legal papers were drawn up, the authorities are on the side of the nursing home, and even she isn’t sure she sounds completely sane. But any lingering doubt Rose herself might have had is erased when a would-be killer shows up in her house in the middle of the night. Now Rose knows that someone is determined to get rid of her.  

With the help of her computer hacker/recluse sister Marion, thirteen-year old granddaughter Mel, and Mel’s friend Royal, Rose begins to gather her strength and fight back—to find out who is after her and take back control of her own life. But someone out there is still determined to kill Rose, and they’re holding all the cards.

*****

And, here’s a link to Adam Wagner’s visual guide to What Rose Forgot, published at CriminalElement. https://bit.ly/2kJWUof

As Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen says, it’s always fun to introduce a debut author. Sara E. Johnson, author of Molten Mud Murder, a mystery set in New Zealand, recently appeared at the bookstore. You can order a signed copy of the debut through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2PKbISm

Peters introduced the Johnson, and now you can “meet” her and hear about New Zealand and the book via the video.

Here’s the description of Molten Mud Murder.

Is the past better left undisturbed, or unearthed?

When a body is found half-submerged in a molten mud pot in one of Rotorua’s famous geothermal wonderlands, forensics expert Alexa Glock spots a way to prolong her stay in New Zealand, which she has been visiting for work. Teeth are her expertise, and the investigation needs her help, as other ways of identifying the body may have… melted away.

Joining Detective Inspector Bruce Horne and his team, Alexa discovers that the murder victim, a city councilman, had trespassed on an island sacred to the Maori. The ancient punishment for such a transgression is disaster, demonic possession, or death… and when she visits the island to investigate, the same outcome is promised for her. Alexa doesn’t believe in ancient spirits returning to exact revenge, and when another victim turns up dead she begins to wonder whether the real threat is something—or someone—much closer to home.

Geneva Chase, the protagonist in Thomas Kies’ series, is a journalist and an alcoholic. She’s currently appearing in the third book in his series, Graveyard Bay. With a distinctive protagonist, he turns to the topic of “4 Iconic Crime Protagonists Who Are Even More Memorable Than Their Stories.” Kies’ article appears on CrimeReads at https://bit.ly/2ke3cw6.

Kies’ Graveyard Bay can be ordered through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2NHg1bS

Here’s the description of Graveyard Bay.

Time is running out…

The nude bodies of a corrupt judge and a Jane Doe are found under the icy, black waters at Groward Bay Marina, chained to the prongs of a mammoth fork lift. A videotape points to Merlin Finn, a ruthless gang leader with a proclivity for bondage and S&M who had recently broken out of prison. In the videotape, he’s wearing a black leather bondage mask.

With the newspaper she works for about to be sold and her job in jeopardy, journalist Geneva Chase investigates pill mills, crooked doctors, and a massive money laundering scheme in an attempt to identify the murdered woman and find the killer. Along the way, she finds herself working with a disgraced New York cop and a host of other unlikely characters with ties to the criminal underworld.

Geneva is clearly hot on the killer’s trail, but when she is kidnapped and held at the mercy of the criminals she hoped to stop, it looks like her chance to uncover the darkness that has seeped through her hometown may be lost forever.

William Kent Krueger’s latest novel, This Tender Land, appears at #3 on The New York Times Bestseller list on September 22. Did you miss his appearance at The Poisoned Pen? He and Barbara Peters, owner of the bookstore, discussed books, and much more. But, you can not only still watch the event, you can order a signed copy of This Tender Land through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2lPfdc0

Here’s the description of This Tender Land.

“If you liked Where the Crawdads Sing, you’ll love This Tender Land…This story is as big-hearted as they come.” —Parade 

A magnificent novel about four orphans on a life-changing odyssey during the Great Depression, from the New York Times bestselling author of Ordinary Grace. 

1932, Minnesota—the Lincoln School is a pitiless place where hundreds of Native American children, forcibly separated from their parents, are sent to be educated. It is also home to an orphan named Odie O’Banion, a lively boy whose exploits earn him the superintendent’s wrath. Forced to flee, he and his brother Albert, their best friend Mose, and a brokenhearted little girl named Emmy steal away in a canoe, heading for the mighty Mississippi and a place to call their own.

Over the course of one unforgettable summer, these four orphans will journey into the unknown and cross paths with others who are adrift, from struggling farmers and traveling faith healers to displaced families and lost souls of all kinds. With the feel of a modern classic, This Tender Land is an en­thralling, big-hearted epic that shows how the magnificent American landscape connects us all, haunts our dreams, and makes us whole.

*****

This is a conversation you’ll want to watch.