Fiction Review

Two Poisoned Pen favorites see their latest novel start at #2 on the New York Times Bestseller List on Sunday, September 30. Shadow Tyrants, the 13th in the Oregon Files series, is by Clive Cussler with Boyd Morrison. Now’s the time to order a signed copy through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2Iadl4m

Here’s the summary of Shadow Tyrants.

Only Juan Cabrillo and the crew of the Oregon stand between two warring moguls and global havoc in this thrilling suspense novel in Clive Cussler’s #1 New York Times bestselling series.

Nearly two thousand years ago, an Eastern emperor charged a small group with safeguarding secrets powerful enough to change the history of mankind. They went down in legend as the Nine Unknown Men–and now two rival factions of their descendants are fighting a mighty battle. Both sides think they are saving the world, but their tactics could very well bring about the end of humankind. Soon, Juan Cabrillo and his team of expert operatives aboard the Oregon find themselves trapped between two power-hungry adversaries, both of whom are willing to use shocking means to accomplish their goals.

Cabrillo and the team must divide and conquer as they fight dual threats, which include a supercomputer at sea and satellites that can wipe out technology across the globe–including the high-tech weapons on board the Oregon. The crew must rely on their unique skills to stop the tyrants in their tracks and save the earth from a dynasty of terror.

Andrew Gross went from writing what he calls “suburban thrillers” to writing historical thrillers. Following the success of The Saboteur and The One Man, Gross’ latest novel is Button Man. Gross will be at the Poisoned Pen on Monday, Sept. 24 at 7 PM to discuss and sign his new book. Can’t make it? You can still order a signed copy through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2Dmjps2

In The Washington Post, Jeff Ayers recently reviewed the novel he calls “rich and compelling”. https://wapo.st/2xC854Q

However, the most interesting story to read comes from The Real Book Spy. He covered “Five Questions with Andrew Gross”. https://bit.ly/2QOn1pa

Hope you can make it Monday night to hear the discussion. If not, here’s the summary of Button Man.

Following up The One Man and The Saboteur, Gross’s next historical thriller brings to life the drama of the birth of organized crime in 1930s New York City from the tale of one family.

After a string of New York Times bestselling suburban thrillers, Andrew Gross has reinvented himself as a writer of historical thrillers. In his latest novel, Button Man, he delivers a stirring story of a Jewish family brought together in the dawn of the women’s garment business and torn apart by the birth of organized crime in New York City in the 1930s.

Morris, Sol, and Harry Rabishevsky grew up poor and rough in a tiny flat on the Lower East Side, until the death of their father thrust them into having to fend for themselves and support their large family. Morris, the youngest, dropped out of school at twelve years old and apprenticed himself to a garment cutter in a clothing factory; Sol headed to accounting school; but Harry, scarred by a family tragedy, fell in with a gang of thugs as a teenager. Morris steadily climbs through the ranks at the factory until at twenty-one he finally goes out on his own, convincing Sol to come work with him. But Harry can’t be lured away from the glamour, the power, and the money that come from his association with Louis Buchalter, whom Morris has battled with since his youth and who has risen to become the most ruthless mobster in New York. And when Buchalter sets his sights on the unions that staff the garment makers’ factories, a fatal showdown is inevitable, pitting brother against brother.

This new novel is equal parts historical thriller, rich with the detail of a vibrant New York City in the 1920s and 1930s, and family saga, based on Andrew Gross’s own family story and on the history of the era, complete with appearances by real-life characters like mobsters Louis Lepke and Dutch Schultz and special prosecutor Thomas Dewey, and cements Gross’s reputation as today’s most atmospheric and original historical thriller writer.

You may have read Diane Johnson’s recent review in The New York Times, “Behind the Kidnapping Case that Inspired Lolita”. She reviews two books. The nonfiction account is Sarah Weinman’s The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel That Scandalized the World. https://nyti.ms/2NldOqy

Weinman will be at The Poisoned Pen on Thursday, Sept. 27 at 7 PM to discuss and sign her book. If you can’t make it that evening, signed copies are available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2PPeH7g

Here’s the summary of Weinman’s The Real Lolita.

“The Real Lolita is a tour de force of literary detective work. Not only does it shed new light on the terrifying true saga that influenced Nabokov’s masterpiece, it restores the forgotten victim to our consciousness.” —David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower Moon

Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita is one of the most beloved and notorious novels of all time. And yet, very few of its readers know that the subject of the novel was inspired by a real-life case: the 1948 abduction of eleven-year-old Sally Horner.

Weaving together suspenseful crime narrative, cultural and social history, and literary investigation, The Real Lolita tells Sally Horner’s full story for the very first time. Drawing upon extensive investigations, legal documents, public records, and interviews with remaining relatives, Sarah Weinman uncovers how much Nabokov knew of the Sally Horner case and the efforts he took to disguise that knowledge during the process of writing and publishing Lolita.

Sally Horner’s story echoes the stories of countless girls and women who never had the chance to speak for themselves. By diving deeper in the publication history of Lolita and restoring Sally to her rightful place in the lore of the novel’s creation, The Real Lolita casts a new light on the dark inspiration for a modern classic.

I’ve heard Walter Mosley say he doesn’t like his work to be pigeonholed. The current Hot Book of the Week at the Poisoned Pen, his John Woman, is one of those titles. You can order a signed copy through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2NXhTQU

Here’s the description of John Woman.

A convention-defying novel by bestselling writer Walter Mosley, John Woman recounts the transformation of an unassuming boy named Cornelius Jones into John Woman, an unconventional history professor—while the legacy of a hideous crime lurks in the shadows.

At twelve years old, Cornelius, the son of an Italian-American woman and an older black man from Mississippi named Herman, secretly takes over his father’s job at a silent film theater in New York’s East Village. Five years later, as Herman lives out his last days, he shares his wisdom with his son, explaining that the person who controls the narrative of history controls their own fate. After his father dies and his mother disappears, Cornelius sets about reinventing himself—as Professor John Woman, a man who will spread Herman’s teachings into the classrooms of his unorthodox southwestern university and beyond. But there are other individuals who are attempting to influence the narrative of John Woman, and who might know something about the facts of his hidden past.

Engaging with some of the most provocative ideas of recent intellectual history, John Woman is a compulsively readable, deliciously unexpected novel about the way we tell stories, and whether the stories we tell have the power to change the world.

Mary Robinette Kowal was at the Poisoned Pen in August with her first two Lady Astronaut novels, The Calculating Stars and The Fated Sky.  Those books, and others by Kowal, are available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2OxQemJ

You might want to pick them up now. According to Andrew Liptak in The Verge, Kowal just signed a six-figure deal with Tor Books to add two more novels to the series, and to write a sci-fi murder mystery novel. Details here. https://bit.ly/2MIJxNc

For those unfamiliar with the series, here’s the summary of the first book, The Calculating Stars.

Mary Robinette Kowal’s science fiction debut, The Calculating Stars, explores the premise behind her award-winning “Lady Astronaut of Mars.” 

Goodreads—Most Popular Books Published in July 2018 (#66)
The Verge—12 fantastic science fiction and fantasy novels for July 2018 
Unbound Worlds—Best SciFi and Fantasy Books of July 2018
Den of Geek—Best Science Fiction Books of June 2018
Omnivoracious—15 Highly Anticipated SFF Reads for Summer 2018

On a cold spring night in 1952, a huge meteorite fell to earth and obliterated much of the east coast of the United States, including Washington D.C. The ensuing climate cataclysm will soon render the earth inhospitable for humanity, as the last such meteorite did for the dinosaurs. This looming threat calls for a radically accelerated effort to colonize space, and requires a much larger share of humanity to take part in the process.

Elma York’s experience as a WASP pilot and mathematician earns her a place in the International Aerospace Coalition’s attempts to put man on the moon, as a calculator. But with so many skilled and experienced women pilots and scientists involved with the program, it doesn’t take long before Elma begins to wonder why they can’t go into space, too.

Elma’s drive to become the first Lady Astronaut is so strong that even the most dearly held conventions of society may not stand a chance against her.

Bouchercon is the largest mystery convention in the world. It recently took place in St. Petersburg, Florida, and Bookreporter.com had a few authors report back. You’ll probably recognize several of the names. Linwood Barclay, Laura Benedict, Lou Berney, Alison Gaylin, William Kent Krueger, Clair Lamb, Carla Neggers, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Alex Segura, Wendy Corsi Staub, Sarah Weinman, and Kate White.

If you check out the piece, you can learn a little about panels, a lot about the bar at mystery conferences, and discover a few new book titles. Check out the piece here. https://bit.ly/2xhakvc

Then, if any of the books appeal to you, check out the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Are you a fan of Kate Atkinson’s books? The author of Life After Life and A God in Ruins now brings us Transcription, a story of espionage during World War II. You can order Atkinson’s books through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2p9zWWi

Transcription is a popular topic this week. Janet Maslin reviews the book in The New York Times. https://nyti.ms/2NebkKt

The Guardian even has a podcast. Lisa Allardice and Sian Cain sit down with Atkinson to discuss her latest book. https://bit.ly/2OtoPCv

Now is the time to discover Kate Atkinson, if you haven’t yet.

A debut police procedural is the Hot Book of the Week at the Poisoned Pen. It’s Caz Frear’s Sweet Little Lies. You can order a signed copy through the Web Store, or you can come to the bookstore today, Sat., Sept. 15 at 2 PM, hear the author, and have her personalize your book. https://bit.ly/2xa3bN2

Here’s the summary of Sweet Little Lies.

In this gripping debut procedural, a young London policewoman must probe dark secrets buried deep in her own family’s past to solve a murder and a long-ago disappearance.

Your father is a liar. But is he a killer?
Even liars tell the truth . . . sometimes.

Twenty-six-year-old Cat Kinsella overcame a troubled childhood to become a Detective Constable with the Metropolitan Police Force, but she’s never been able to banish these ghosts. When she’s called to the scene of a murder in Islington, not far from the pub her estranged father still runs, she discovers that Alice Lapaine, a young housewife who didn’t get out much, has been found strangled.

Cat and her team immediately suspect Alice’s husband, until she receives a mysterious phone call that links the victim to Maryanne Doyle, a teenage girl who went missing in Ireland eighteen years earlier. The call raises uneasy memories for Cat—her family met Maryanne while on holiday, right before she vanished. Though she was only a child, Cat knew that her charming but dissolute father wasn’t telling the truth when he denied knowing anything about Maryanne or her disappearance. Did her father do something to the teenage girl all those years ago? Could he have harmed Alice now? And how can you trust a liar even if he might be telling the truth?

Determined to close the two cases, Cat rushes headlong into the investigation, crossing ethical lines and trampling professional codes. But in looking into the past, she might not like what she finds. . . .

*****

Curious? Don’t forget there was an interview with Caz Frear earlier in the week. Here’s the link if you’d like to read it. https://bit.ly/2oZ2DVW

The recent Poisoned Pen conference was held to celebrate thirty years of Ian Rankin’s publication in the United States. Although Rankin does not have a new book out yet, the bookstore imported copies of Rebus’s Scotland: A Personal Journey. Signed copies are available through the Web Store. If you’re a fan of Rebus or Rankin, you might want to order it. At the moment, Ian Rankin says it’s as close as we’ll get to a memoir. https://bit.ly/2MyxBgY

Here’s a short summary of Rebus’s Scotland.

Ian Rankin’s guide to the places in Scotland that have provided inspiration for his bestselling Inspector Rebus novels.

‘His novels are playing a significant part in redefining Scotland’s image of itself in literature’ INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

In REBUS’S SCOTLAND Ian Rankin uncovers the Scotland that the tourist never sees, highlighting the places that inspired the settings for the Inspector Rebus novels. Rankin also reveals the story of Rebus and how he came into being, who he is, and what his – and Rankin’s – Scotland is like. With over 100 evocative photographs, specially commissioned to reflect the text, REBUS’S SCOTLAND is the perfect gift for anyone interested in Scotland or in the novels of Ian Rankin.

*****

Actually, there’s a podcast to share from the conference. As featured guest and keynote speaker, Ian Rankin talked about “Scottish Crime Fiction”. He’s an expert on the subject, and it’s a fascinating presentation. We hope you enjoy it.

https://poisonedpen.com/recording_1/

Craig Johnson is currently on tour for his latest Longmire book, Depth of Winter. In fact, he’s supposed to be in North Carolina tomorrow, but Hurricane Florence changed his plans. However, his event for Poisoned Pen was filmed for YouTube, and you can watch it, whether you missed him in Phoenix, or you’re going to miss him in North Carolina. You can also order a signed copy of Depth of Winter through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2Qmogf5

Before you watch the video, here’s a short summary of Depth of Winter.

The new novel in Craig Johnson’s beloved New York Times bestselling Longmire series.

Welcome to Walt Longmire’s worst nightmare. In Craig Johnson’s latest mystery, Depth of Winter, an international hit man and the head of one of the most vicious drug cartels in Mexico has kidnapped Walt’s beloved daughter, Cady, to auction her off to his worst enemies, of which there are many. The American government is of limited help and the Mexican one even less. Walt heads into the one-hundred-and-ten degree heat of the Northern Mexican desert alone, one man against an army.

*****

Now, check out Poisoned Pen bookstore owner Barbara Peters’ interview with Craig Johnson.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NR3L8f5AuRw&w=560&h=315]