Fiction Review

C.J. Box and T. Jefferson Parker will be appearing together at The Poisoned Pen on Tuesday, August 13 at 7 PM. Box brings back Cassie Dewell in The Bitterroots, his latest novel, while Parker’s book is The Last Good Guy. You can order signed copies of their books through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com

Here’s the summary of The Bitterroots.

A riveting new novel from New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award-winning author C. J. Box.

The ties that bind can burn you.

Former sheriff’s investigator Cassie Dewell is trying to start her life over as in private practice. She’s her own boss and answers to no one, and that’s just the way she likes it after the past few tumultuous years. All that certainty changes when an old friend calls in a favor: she wants Cassie to help exonerate a man accused of assaulting a young woman from an influential family. 

Against her own better judgment, Cassie agrees. But out by the Bitterroot Mountains of Montana, twisted family loyalty runs as deep as the ties to the land, and there’s always something more to the story. The Kleinsassers have ruled this part of Montana for decades, and the Iron Cross Ranch is their stronghold. They want to see Blake Kleinsasser, the black sheep of the family, put away forever for the assault. As Cassie attempts to uncover the truth, she must fight against a family whose roots are tangled and deadly—as well as the ghosts of her own past that threaten to bring her down. 

With The Bitterroots, master storyteller C. J. Box delivers another searing novel of loyalty, lies, and lethal retribution.

*****

You can also read The Real Book Spy”s review of The Bitterroots here. https://bit.ly/2yRrXC2

*****

Here’s T. Jefferson Parker’s The Last Good Guy.

In this electrifying new thriller from three-time Edgar Award winner and New York Times bestseller T. Jefferson Parker, Private Investigator Roland Ford hunts for a missing teenager and uncovers a dark conspiracy in his most personal case yet.

When hired by a beautiful and enigmatic woman to find her missing younger sister, private investigator Roland Ford immediately senses that the case is not what it seems. He is soon swept up in a web of lies and secrets as he searches for the teenager, and even his new client cannot be trusted. His investigation leads him to a secretive charter school, skinhead thugs, a cadre of American Nazis hidden in a desert compound, an arch-conservative celebrity evangelist–and, finally, to the girl herself. The Last Good Guy is Ford’s most challenging case to date, one that will leave him questioning everything he thought he knew about decency, honesty, and the battle between good and evil…if it doesn’t kill him first.

Priscilla Royal’s latest medieval mystery, her fifteenth, is just out from Sourcebooks/Poisoned Pen Press. The publication of The Twice-Hanged Man means it’s the perfect time for her to discuss why she writes medieval mysteries. You can find her recent essay in CrimeReads. https://bit.ly/2ZKffka

You can order The Twice-Hanged Man through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2OMkn6n

Here’s the summary.

Autumn, 1282

As Edward I wages a bloody conflict with Wales, Prioress Eleanor escorts her younger brother, Robert, and his wife, who is in labor, from their Marcher lands to greater safety at a Wynethorpe manor in a village just inside the English border. They are joined by Brother Thomas, the Prioress’s trusted friend, and Sister Anne, who helps navigate the difficult birth and delivers a baby girl.

Mother and child may be healthy, but Death never wanders far from this beloved Prioress—whether she’s home at Tyndal in Norfolk or traveling the realm. The local abbot begs her help—the village priest has been found dead and standing over him is, a reliable witness says, the ghost of Hywel, the village stonemason who was recently hanged for slaying some sleeping English soldiers.

Bone tired, Brother Thomas questions the village hangman, who assures him that Hywel was hanged once and then, when the weight of the fat felon strung up alongside him broke the beam of the gallows, was hanged again. The experienced executioner checked all the bodily signs—Hywel was dead. But where is his grave? And what secrets are the mysterious locals keeping from the outsiders visiting their troubled home?

There are tributes to Toni Morrison all over the Internet, however The New York Times has a wealth of them all by itself. Start with her obituary. https://nyti.ms/2T8TVCF

Then, because you’re a reader, you might want to check out Tina Jordan’s article, “The Essential Toni Morrison Reader”, https://nyti.ms/2YJZVCV.

After you’ve mourned the loss of another great author, you can check the Web Store, with a warning. Many of her books might be hard to find. But, some are in stock; some will be available in about a week, and others may take longer. But, don’t hesitate to check. https://bit.ly/2ZGpJkL

May she rest in peace.

What is the connection between Singapore and fingerprints? You’ll have to read A.M. Stuart’s article, “Get a Clue: A Brief History of Fingerprints in the 19th Century” to discover that link. It’s available at CriminalElement, https://www.criminalelement.com/19th-century-fingerprints/

But, Stuart’s first Harriet Gordon mystery, Singapore Sapphire, can be ordered through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2YOa0i4

Here’s the description of Singapore Sapphire.

Early twentieth-century Singapore is a place where a person can disappear, and Harriet Gordon hopes to make a new life for herself there, leaving her tragic memories behind her–but murder gets in the way.

Singapore, 1910–Desperate for a fresh start, Harriet Gordon finds herself living with her brother, a reverend and headmaster of a school for boys, in Singapore at the height of colonial rule. Hoping to gain some financial independence, she advertises her services as a personal secretary. It is unfortunate that she should discover her first client, Sir Oswald Newbold–explorer, mine magnate and president of the exclusive Explorers and Geographers Club–dead with a knife in his throat.

When Inspector Robert Curran is put on the case, he realizes that he has an unusual witness in Harriet. Harriet’s keen eye for detail and strong sense of duty interests him, as does her distrust of the police and her traumatic past, which she is at pains to keep secret from the gossips of Singapore society.

When another body is dragged from the canal, Harriet feels compelled to help with the case. She and Curran are soon drawn into a murderous web of treachery and deceit and find themselves face-to-face with a ruthless cabal that has no qualms about killing again to protect its secrets.

Have you read about Robert Pobi’s City of Windows yet? The Poisoned Pen’s Hot Book of the Week introduces “a brilliant, reluctant investigator”. You can order a copy of City of Windows through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2yHEw2B

Here’s the summary of City of Windows.

“City of Windows is moving, breathtaking—a great entertainment.” —The Wall Street Journal 

“A tough, wise, knowing narrative voice, a great plot, a great setting, and even better characters — I loved this.” —Lee Child, New York Timesbestselling author

In the tradition of Jeffery Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme and David Baldacci’s Amos Decker, Robert Pobi’s City of Windows introduces Lucas Page, a brilliant, reluctant investigator, matching wits with a skilled, invisible killer

During the worst blizzard in memory, an FBI agent in a moving SUV in New York City is killed by a nearly impossible sniper shot. Unable to pinpoint where the shot came from, as the storm rapidly wipes out evidence, the agent-in-charge Brett Kehoe turns to the one man who might be able to help them—former FBI agent Lucas Page.

Page, a university professor and bestselling author, left the FBI years ago after a tragic event robbed him of a leg, an arm, an eye, and the willingness to continue. But he has an amazing ability to read a crime scene, figure out angles and trajectories in his head, and he might be the only one to be able to find the sniper’s nest. With a new wife and family, Lucas Page has no interest in helping the FBI—except for the fact that the victim was his former partner.

Agreeing to help for his partner’s sake, Page finds himself hunting a killer with an unknown agenda and amazing sniper skills in the worst of conditions. And his partner’s murder is only the first in a series of meticulously planned murders carried out with all-but-impossible sniper shots. The only thing connecting the deaths is that the victims are all with law enforcement—that is until Page’s own family becomes a target.

To identify and hunt down this ruthless, seemingly unstoppable killer, Page must discover what hidden past connects the victims before he himself loses all that is dear to him.

It was a packed house on the evening Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, turned the mike over to Greaney, author of Red Metal. He discussed books with Jack Carr, author of True Believer, and Stephen Hunter, whose latest Bob Lee Swagger book is Game of Snipers. You can order signed copies of all three books through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com

If you missed the event, you can watch it now.

Here is the summary of True Believer.

“This is seriously good. I mean—seriously. Both author Jack Carr and main character James Reece are the real deal, the action is razor sharp, the suspense is unrelenting, and the tradecraft is so authentic the government will probably ban it—so read it while you can!” —Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Past Tense

“A powerful, thoughtful, realistic, at times terrifying thriller that I could not put down. A terrific addition to the genre, Jack Carr and his alter-ego protagonist, James Reece, continue to blow me away.”—Mark Greaney, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Mission Critical

“True Believer, the highly anticipated new thriller from Jack Carr, is one of this year’s hottest thrillers, and a perfect fit for fans of Vince Flynn, Brad Thor, and Daniel Silva.” —The Real Book Spy

In acclaimed author Jack Carr’s follow-up to The Terminal List, former Navy SEAL James Reece’s skill, cunning, and heroism put the US government back in his debt and set him on another path of revenge. 

When a string of horrific terrorist attacks plagues the Western world during the holiday season, the broader markets fall into a tailspin. The attacks are being coordinated by a shadowy former Iraqi commando who has disappeared into Europe’s underground. The United States government has an asset who can turn the Iraqi against his masters: James Reece, the most-wanted domestic terrorist alive.

After avenging the deaths of his family and team members, Reece emerges deep in the wilds of Mozambique, protected by the family of his estranged best friend and former SEAL Team member. When a series of events uncovers his whereabouts, the CIA recruits him, using a Presidential pardon for Reece and immunity for the friends who helped him in his mission of vengeance.

Now a reluctant tool of the United States government, Reece travels the globe, targeting terrorist leaders and unraveling a geopolitical conspiracy that exposes a traitorous CIA officer and uncovers a sinister assassination plot with worldwide repercussions.

A high-intensity roller-coaster ride, True Believer explodes with action and authenticity that cements Jack Carr as the new leader in political thrillers.

*****

Here’s Stephen Hunter’s Game of Snipers.

“Bob Lee Swagger is a true American literary icon.”–Mark Greaney, New York Times Bestselling Author of Mission Critical

In this blazing new thriller from Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Hunter, master sniper Bob Lee Swagger takes on his biggest job to date…and confronts an assassin with skills that match his own. 

When Bob Lee Swagger is approached by a woman who lost a son to war and has spent the years since risking all that she has to find the sniper who pulled the trigger, he knows right away he’ll do everything in his power to help her. But what begins as a favor becomes an obsession, and soon Swagger is back in the action, teaming up with the Mossad, the FBI, and local American law enforcement as he tracks a sniper who is his own equal…and attempts to decipher that assassin’s ultimate target before it’s too late.

With all-too-real threats and a twisty, masterful storytelling, Game of Snipersis another gripping addition to a bestselling Bob Lee Swagger series.

*****

And, here’s the description of Red Metal by Mark Greaney.

A Russian military strike against Europe could change the balance of power in the West. A stunningly realistic view of modern warfare from a battlefield commander and the New York Times bestselling author of The Gray Man. 

The Russian bear has awakened. Their tanks race across Poland crushing all opposition on a headlong dash for the heart of Germany. Satellite killing missiles blind American forces while Spetznatz teams destroy Allied communications relays. It’s all part of a master plan to confuse and defeat America and her allies.

Ranged against the Russian attack are a Marine lieutenant colonel pulled out of a cushy job at the Pentagon and thrown into the fray, a French Special Forces captain and his intelligence operative father, a young Polish female partisan fighter, an A-10 Warthog pilot, and the captain of an American tank platoon who, along with a German sergeant, struggle to keep a small group of American and German tanks in the fight.

Operation Red Metal is a nightmare scenario made real but could it just be the first move on the Russian chessboard?

Here’s another one of the terrific lists of award nominees that has been recently announced. Congratulations to all of the nominees! Check The Poisoned Pen’s Web Store for the books. https://store.poisonedpen.com

The finalists for the 2019 Ngaio Marsh Awards, honoring the best in New Zealand crime writing, are:

Novel:
This Mortal Boy by Fiona Kidman
Money in the Morgue by Ngaio Marsh & Stella Duffy
The Quaker by Liam McIlvanney
Call Me Evie by JP Pomare
The Vanishing Act by Jen Shieff

First Novel:
One for Another by Andrea Jacka
Crystal Reign by Kelly Lyndon
Call Me Evie by JP Pomare

Nonfiction:
The Great New Zealand Robbery by Scott Bainbridge
The Short Life and Mysterious Death of Jane Furlong by Kelly Dennett
Behind Bars by Anna Leask
The Cause of Death by Cynric Temple-Camp

Winners will be announced September 14

Have you read Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann? Its subtitle is “The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI”. You might want to pick up a copy now before it becomes a movie. You can order a copy through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2LRnYxT

Here are some possible connections to the film; Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro. Check out the latest information. https://bit.ly/2ZlEFEE

Here’s the description of Killers of the Flower Moon.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER   –  NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST 

A New York Times Notable Book

Named a best book of the year by Amazon, Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, GQ, Time, Newsday, Entertainment Weekly, Time Magazine, NPR, Vogue, Smithsonian, Cosmopolitan, Seattle Times, Bloomberg, Lit Hub, and SlateFrom the #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Lost City of Z, a twisting, haunting true-life murder mystery about one of the most monstrous crimes in American history

            In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe.
            Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. One of her relatives was shot. Another was poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more and more Osage were dying under mysterious circumstances, and many of those who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. 
            As the death toll rose, the newly created FBI took up the case, and the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to try to unravel the mystery. White put together an undercover team, including a Native American agent who infiltrated the region, and together with the Osage began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.

It’s a debut novel that’s the current Hot Book of the Week at the Poisoned Pen, Daniel Nieh’s Beijing Payback. You can order a copy of it through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/31056QA

Here’s the description of Beijing Payback.

“Propulsive. . . . Highly enjoyable. . . . It sets up a sequel, one that I very much look forward to reading.” —The New York Times Book Review

A fresh, smart, and fast-paced revenge thriller about a college basketball player who discovers shocking truths about his family in the wake of his father’s murder

Victor Li is devastated by his father’s murder, and shocked by a confessional letter he finds among his father’s things. In it, his father admits that he was never just a restaurateur—in fact he was part of a vast international crime syndicate that formed during China’s leanest communist years.

Victor travels to Beijing, where he navigates his father’s secret criminal life, confronting decades-old grudges, violent spats, and a shocking new enterprise that the organization wants to undertake. Standing up against it is likely what got his father killed, but Victor remains undeterred. He enlists his growing network of allies and friends to finish what his father started, no matter the costs.

Did you miss reading Lou Berney’s November Road last year? It’s really time to catch up if you did. He just won the 2018 Dashiell Hammett Award for Literary Excellence in Crime Writing. The award is presented by the International Association of Crime Writers, North America (IACW/NA).

Here are the other nominees for the award.

Nominees:
William Boyle, The Lonely Witness (Pegasus)
Robert Olen Butler, Paris in the Dark (Mysterious Press)
Lisa Unger, Under My Skin (Park Row)
Sam Wiebe, Cut You Down (Random House Canada)

Berney and the other nominees will be honored at 11 a.m., Friday, November 1, 2019 at Bouchercon in Dallas, Texas.

Check the Web Store for November Road and the other nominated books. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Here’s the description of November Road.

“When people say they want to read a really good novel, the kind you just can’t put down, this is the kind of book they mean. Exceptional.” ““Stephen King, New York Times bestselling author 

Named a Best Book of the Year by Entertainment Weekly“¢ Washington Post“¢ AARP “¢ Newsweek “¢ Dallas Morning News “¢ South Florida Sun-Sentinel “¢ Crime Reads 

Set against the assassination of JFK, a poignant and evocative crime novel that centers on a desperate cat-and-mouse chase across 1960s America—a story of unexpected connections, daring possibilities, and the hope of second chances from the Edgar Award-winning author of The Long and Faraway Gone.

Frank Guidry’s luck has finally run out.

A loyal street lieutenant to New Orleans’ mob boss Carlos Marcello, Guidry has learned that everybody is expendable. But now it’s his turn—he knows too much about the crime of the century: the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Within hours of JFK’s murder, everyone with ties to Marcello is turning up dead, and Guidry suspects he’s next: he was in Dallas on an errand for the boss less than two weeks before the president was shot. With few good options, Guidry hits the road to Las Vegas, to see an old associate—a dangerous man who hates Marcello enough to help Guidry vanish.

Guidry knows that the first rule of running is “don’t stop,” but when he sees a beautiful housewife on the side of the road with a broken-down car, two little daughters and a dog in the back seat, he sees the perfect disguise to cover his tracks from the hit men on his tail. Posing as an insurance man, Guidry offers to help Charlotte reach her destination, California. If she accompanies him to Vegas, he can help her get a new car.

For her, it’s more than a car— it’s an escape. She’s on the run too, from a stifling existence in small-town Oklahoma and a kindly husband who’s a hopeless drunk.

It’s an American story: two strangers meet to share the open road west, a dream, a hope—and find each other on the way.

Charlotte sees that he’s strong and kind; Guidry discovers that she’s smart and funny. He learns that’s she determined to give herself and her kids a new life; she can’t know that he’s desperate to leave his old one behind.

Another rule—fugitives shouldn’t fall in love, especially with each other. A road isn’t just a road, it’s a trail, and Guidry’s ruthless and relentless hunters are closing in on him. But now Guidry doesn’t want to just survive, he wants to really live, maybe for the first time.

Everyone’s expendable, or they should be, but now Guidry just can’t throw away the woman he’s come to love.

And it might get them both killed.