Marc Cameron, author of Tom Clancy Oath of Office, will be at the Poisoned Pen on Thursday, November 29 at 7 PM to discuss and sign the book. If you can’t make it to the bookstore that night, you can still order a signed copy through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2jUhlLw

Before I send you to an interview at The Real Book Spy, here’s the summary of Tom Clancy Oath of Office, the 19th in the Jack Ryan series.

Marine officer. CIA analyst. President. Jack Ryan has devoted his life to protecting the United States. What if this time, he can’t? President Ryan and the Campus return in the latest entry in Tom Clancy’s #1 New York Times-bestselling series.

Freedom may have finally arrived in Iran. As protests break out across the country, the media rejoices over the so-called Persian Spring. Western leaders are ecstatic. Members of Congress and the Cabinet clamor to back the rebels. Only President Jack Ryan remains wary. 

Meanwhile, he has plenty to handle at home. A deadly strain of flu is ravaging the United States as spring floods decimate the Southeast. An unethical senator wants to bring down the Ryan presidency and is willing to lean on fabricated bot-planted stories to do it. 

But the scariest story is the most closely guarded one. Two Russian nuclear missiles have been hijacked. The Campus gets their first break when Jack Junior connects with a rogue Russian intelligence officer in Afghanistan–only to be abducted soon after arriving. John Clark and the rest of the Campus team race to track the missiles and rescue their colleague.

As sensationalized stories spin out of control and the stolen missiles remain out of reach, President Ryan’s toughest challenge emerges: How do you meet an enemy head on, when he won’t even show you his face?

*****

The Real Book Spy recently asked author Marc Cameron five questions. You can find the interview here. https://bit.ly/2P682oN

It’s not too early to get your tickets to Cassandra Clare’s book signing and conversation with Diana Gabaldon.

Cassandra Clare in conversation with Diana Gabaldon!

December 10th, 2018

Madison Center for the Arts

5601 N 16th St

Phoenix, AZ 85016

This is an off-site, ticketed event.  Please click link to purchase tickets.

https://bit.ly/2r3dhvF

All first editions of QUEEN OF AIR AND DARKNESS will include exclusive reverse-printed jacket art, ten black and white interior illustrations, and a new short story!

Dark secrets and forbidden love threaten the very survival of the Shadowhunters in Cassandra Clare’s Queen of Air and Darkness, the final novel in the #1 New York Times and USA TODAYbestselling The Dark Artifices trilogy. Queen of Air and Darkness is a Shadowhunters novel.

What if damnation is the price of true love?

Innocent blood has been spilled on the steps of the Council Hall, the sacred stronghold of the Shadowhunters. In the wake of the tragic death of Livia Blackthorn, the Clave teeters on the brink of civil war. One fragment of the Blackthorn family flees to Los Angeles, seeking to discover the source of the disease that is destroying the race of warlocks. Meanwhile, Julian and Emma take desperate measures to put their forbidden love aside and undertake a perilous mission to Faerie to retrieve the Black Volume of the Dead. What they find in the Courts is a secret that may tear the Shadow World asunder and open a dark path into a future they could never have imagined. Caught in a race against time, Emma and Julian must save the world of Shadowhunters before the deadly power of the parabatai curse destroys them and everyone they love.

Cassandra Clare will personalize 1 copy of Queen of Air and Darkness and will sign one additional book from the Dark Artifices trilogy.  We will have Lady Midnight (book 1) and Lord of Shadows (book 2) available for purchase at the event.

Diana Gabaldon will sign copies of her books purchased at the event.

Sorry but no previously purchased books will be allowed.

Can’t attend event but wish to purchase a signed copy of QUEEN OF AIR AND DARKNESS?   Click Here!

Poisoned Pen Press author Maggie Robinson was recently interviewed in Bookreporter.com about her new mystery series. Robinson’s first Lady Adelaide Mystery is called Nobody’s Sweetheart Now. You can order a signed copy through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2r5nvfa

And, you can read the interview here. https://bit.ly/2r3x9ir

Here’s the summary of Maggie Robinson’s Nobody’s Sweetheart Now.

A delightful English cozy series begins in August 1924. Lady Adelaide Compton has recently (and satisfactorily) interred her husband, Major Rupert Charles Cressleigh Compton, hero of the Somme, in the family vault in the village churchyard. 

Rupert died by smashing his Hispano-Suiza on a Cotswold country road while carrying a French mademoiselle in the passenger seat. With the house now Addie’s, needed improvements in hand, and a weekend house party underway, how inconvenient of Rupert to turn up! Not in the flesh, but in – actually, as a – spirit. Rupert has to perform a few good deeds before becoming welcomed to heaven – or, more likely, thinks Addie, to hell. 

Before Addie can convince herself she’s not completely lost her mind, a murder disrupts her careful seating arrangement. Which of her twelve houseguests is a killer? Her mother, the formidable Dowager Marchioness of Broughton? Her sister Cecilia, the born-again vegetarian? Her childhood friend and potential lover, Lord Lucas Waring? Rupert has a solid alibi as a ghost and an urge to detect. 

Enter Inspector Devenand Hunter from the Yard, an Anglo-Indian who is not going to let some barmy society beauty witnessed talking to herself derail his investigation. Something very peculiar is afoot at Compton Court and he’s going to get to the bottom of it – or go as mad as its mistress trying.

“With ‘Wrecked’, Ide confirms that he’s among the most original new voices in today’s crime fiction.” That’s a quote from Patrick Anderson’s recent Washington Post review of Joe Ide’s third IQ mystery, Wrecked. https://wapo.st/2DFPoBS

If you’re thinking about a gift for yourself or someone else, there are still signed copies of Wrecked available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2DFQpK

Here’s the summary of Wrecked, if you didn’t read the article.

In this outrageous novel from Joe Ide, “the best thing to happen to mystery writing in a very long time” (New York Times), the case of a young artist’s missing mother sets IQ on a collision course with his own Moriarty.

Isaiah Quintabe–IQ for short–has never been more successful, or felt more alone. A series of high-profile wins in his hometown of East Long Beach have made him so notorious that he can hardly go to the corner store without being recognized. Dodson, once his sidekick, is now his full-fledged partner, hell-bent on giving IQ’s PI business some real legitimacy: a Facebook page, and IQ’s promise to stop accepting Christmas sweaters and carpet cleanings in exchange for PI services.

So when a young painter approaches IQ for help tracking down her missing mother, it’s not just the case Isaiah’s looking for, but the human connection. And when his new confidant turns out to be connected to a dangerous paramilitary operation, IQ falls victim to a threat even a genius can’t see coming.

Waiting for Isaiah around every corner is Seb, the Oxford-educated African gangster who was responsible for the death of his brother, Marcus. Only, this time, Isaiah’s not alone. Joined by a new love interest and his familiar band of accomplices, IQ is back–and the adventures are better than ever.

Here in the United States, we’re celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday. The Poisoned Pen is closed, however feel free to browse and place orders online through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Happy Thanksgiving!

“A grassroots movement to re-wild childhood.” That’s a beautiful description of the reason behind the Poisoned Pen’s current Hot Book of the Week, The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris. Copies are available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2S2L2c8

Here’s the summary of The Lost Words.

FINALIST, WAINWRIGHT PRIZE

In 2007, when a new edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary — widely used in schools around the world — was published, a sharp-eyed reader soon noticed that around forty common words concerning nature had been dropped. Apparently they were no longer being used enough by children to merit their place in the dictionary. The list of these “lost words” included acorn, adder, bluebell, dandelion, fern, heron, kingfisher, newt, otter, and willow. Among the words taking their place were attachment, blog, broadband, bullet-point, cut-and-paste, and voice-mail. The news of these substitutions — the outdoor and natural being displaced by the indoor and virtual — became seen by many as a powerful sign of the growing gulf between childhood and the natural world.

Ten years later, Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris set out to make a “spell book” that will conjure back twenty of these lost words, and the beings they name, from acorn to wren. By the magic of word and paint, they sought to summon these words again into the voices, stories, and dreams of children and adults alike, and to celebrate the wonder and importance of everyday nature. The Lost Words is that book — a work that has already cast its extraordinary spell on hundreds of thousands of people and begun a grass-roots movement to re-wild childhood across Britain, Europe, and North America.

As always, we hope you check the Web Store before ordering any copies of the books. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

 

12th Annual NM-AZ Book Awards Winners Announced The winners in 2018 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards were announced this evening at a gala awards banquet held at the Tanoan Country Club in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Awards were presented in 58 categories, from poetry to history and nonfiction to children’s books. 1,089 books were entered in this year’s awards program and 236 of those entries were selected as finalists, which were announced in September 2018. Entries came from large and small publishers from all across the country. Any books by Arizona or New Mexico authors or publishers were eligible as well as books that focused on either Arizona or New Mexico. Because of that entries came from small, one book publishers as well as large national publishers like St Martin’s Press, Random House, Globe Pequot, and even Penguin Books. Many entries came from academic publishers all across the region. Entries this year were up 7%. The entire list of winners can be DOWNLOADED HERE. The top honors this year went to: Best Arizona Book Arizona’s Deadliest Gunfight Osselaer, Heidi Univ of OK Press Best New Mexico Book ABQ’s North Valley Alexander, Francelle Rio Grande Books Best New Mexico Book Apacheria Farmer, W Michael Globe Pequot Hillerman Award for Fiction Blood on the Cimarron Coley, Mary Hillerman Award for Fiction Stealin’ from the Neighbors Ashurst, Ed Ed Ashurst Publishing Steele Award for History Into the White Sands Varjabedian, Craig UNM Press Steele Award for History Whither the Waters Kessell, John UNM Press Best of Show New Mexico Historical Chronology Bullis, Don Rio Grande Press Best of Show Paul Pletka: Imagined Wests Scott, Amy Univ of OK Press

Tuesday is release date for Steven Havill’s twenty-third Posadas County Mystery, Lies Come Easy. That means it’s the perfect time to share an interview from Bookreporter.com. But, first a little about the book itself. Let’s begin with the fact that you can order a signed copy, or copies of Havill’s other books, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2A5L4Za

Here’s the description of Lies Come Easy.

One blizzardy New Mexico night, Posadas County Deputy Pasquale picks up a toddler scooting his Scamper along the shoulder of State 56.

Yes, it’s horrifying – a child apparently dumped out of a truck by his father. Nearly as horrifying is what unrolls while Christmas approaches after dad Darrell Fisher’s arrest: a request arrives from the US Forest Service to locate a missing range tech and his unit last reported headed for nearby Stinkin’ Springs, and the brutal murder of Constance Suarez in the border town of Regál, population 37.

The Sheriff’s Department is stretched to its limits as its dedicated personnel juggle working cases and caring for citizens with their own relationships and family celebrations. The irony of so much wickedness at the holidays is not lost on anyone. Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman, heading out her door to a crime scene, reflects: “It would be a glorious holiday evening for somebody.”

As their mother joins her colleagues in dealing with the Fisher family, the Forest Service’s absent Myron Fitzwater, the murder, and who knows what else in Regál, Francisco and Carolos, the sons of Estelle and physician Francis, arrange to jet in to spend Christmas with their parents. Francisco the musical prodigy is now a celebrated pianist and composer with an international career. Carlos is thriving at Stanford. Both sons bring special surprises with them. And retired Sheriff Bill Gastner is cooking up a Christmas gift of his own.

In Steven Havill’s twenty-third Posadas County Mystery, family dynamics play a huge role as Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman and the whole department work to pull the right threads out of a tangle of seemingly small lies. It makes for a mix of the mundane with the harrowing. And justice for all will prove elusive.

*****

If you’d like to hear from the author himself, check out Michael Barson’s interview with Steven Havill. https://bit.ly/2PC1u6f

Dana Stabenow has been kind enough to keep readers in the loop when she looks back at her research for her forthcoming book, Death of an Eye. You can order Stabenow’s books, including a signed copy of the new book, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2F9m0Bq

Death of an Eye, the first Eye of Isis novel, will be out first as an ebook. Stabenow will be signing hardcover copies, though, at the Poisoned Pen at 2 PM on Saturday, December 8.

Now, she’s sharing her thoughts about Cleopatra on her website. https://bit.ly/2FrYXqv

If you missed it earlier, here’s the description of Death of an Eye.

Alexandria, 47BCE: Cleopatra shares the throne with her brother Ptolemy under the auspices of Julius Caesar, by whom Cleopatra is heavily pregnant with child. A shipment of new coin meant to reset the shaky Egyptian economy has been stolen, the Queen’s Eye has been murdered and Queen Cleopatra turns to childhood friend Tetisheri to find the missing shipment and bring the murderer to justice.