Fiction Review

What do Karen Dionne’s The Marsh King’s Daughter and Peter Blauner’s Proving Ground have in common?

They’re two of the five summer thrillers reviewed in Charles Finch’s New York Times article “Summer Thrillers: Daring Escapes and Other Acts of Derring-Do” https://nyti.ms/2rnHt5W

The Poisoned Pen also has signed copies of most of the books listed. Blauner already appeared at the bookstore, and Dionne will be at the Pen on Saturday, June 17 at 2 PM, joining Joseph Finder.

Interested? You can order books through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com

Looking for more than those five thrillers? Don’t forget to ask the staff at the store. They’re always ready to help you find the book to fit your mood.

As promised yesterday, today I have the link to Robert Anglen’s review of Stephen Hunter’s G-Man for azcentral.com. Here’s Anglen’s review. https://bit.ly/2roshFw

We hope you can join us on Thursday, June 8 at 7 PM to hear Hunter talk about G-Man.

Stephen Hunter’s G-Man is the Hot Book of the Week at The Poisoned Pen. He’s going to be here on Thursday, June 8 at 7 PM. We can summarize the book for you.

From bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Hunter, the latest episode in the Bob Lee Swagger saga, which finds Bob uncovering his family’s secret tommy gun war with 1930s gangsters like John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson.

Ryan Philippe currently stars as Bob Lee Swagger on the hit USA Network series Shooter.

1934. The depths of the Depression were marked by an epidemic of bank robberies and the swashbuckling, Tommy-gun-toting outlaws who became household names. John Dillinger. Bonnie and Clyde. Pretty Boy Floyd. Hunting them down was the new U.S. Division of Investigation—soon to become the FBI—which was determined to nab the most dangerous gangster this country has ever produced, a man so violent he scared Al Capone and was booted from the Chicago Mob—Lester Gillis, better known as Baby Face Nelson. To stop him, the Bureau recruited the most talented gunman of the time—Charles Swagger, World War I hero and sheriff of Polk County, Arkansas.

Eighty years later, Charles’s grandson Bob Lee Swagger has finally decided to sell the family homestead, but when the developers begin to tear down the house, they uncover a strongbox hidden in the foundation. Enclosed is an array of memorabilia dating back to 1934—a much-corroded federal lawman’s badge, a .45 automatic preserved in cosmoline, a mysterious gun part, and a cryptic diagram—all belonging to Charles Swagger. Fascinated and puzzled by these newly discovered artifacts, Bob is determined to find out what happened to his grandfather, who died before Bob was born, and why his own father, whom he worshipped, never spoke of Charles. But as he investigates further, Bob learns that someone is following him, that someone is sharing his obsession with finding out what Charles Swagger really left behind.

Alternating between Bob’s present-day search to uncover his grandfather’s legacy and Charles’s relentless pursuit for the nation’s most notorious outlaw in the Midwest of the 1930s, G-Man is a thrilling, action-packed addition to Stephen Hunter’s bestselling Bob Lee Swagger series.

*****

Even better, though, you can listen to Stephen Hunter talk about G-Man. Here’s the link to a recent interview on Down Range TV. https://bit.ly/2snEpoC

Tomorrow, you can read Robert Anglen’s review of the book before the bookstore appearance. And, of course, we have signed copies of the book that you can order. https://bit.ly/2syPbYx

I’m in New York City for Book Expo. Yesterday, Marcus Sakey, author of the forthcoming novel, After Life, did a signing of advanced copies of that book for librarians. He said to tell everyone at The Poisoned Pen hi!

After Life is soon to be a movie from producers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer.

Here’s the book summary.

Soon to be a major motion picture from Imagine Entertainment and producers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer.

Between life and death lies an epic war, a relentless manhunt through two worlds…and an unforgettable love story.

The last thing FBI agent Will Brody remembers is the explosion—a thousand shards of glass surfing a lethal shock wave.

He wakes without a scratch.

The building is in ruins. His team is gone. Outside, Chicago is dark. Cars lie abandoned. No planes cross the sky. He’s relieved to spot other people—until he sees they’re carrying machetes.

Welcome to the afterlife.

Claire McCoy stands over the body of Will Brody. As head of an FBI task force, she hasn’t had a decent night’s sleep in weeks. A terrorist has claimed eighteen lives and thrown the nation into panic.

Against this horror, something reckless and beautiful happened. She fell in love…with Will Brody.

But the line between life and death is narrower than any of us suspect—and all that matters to Will and Claire is getting back to each other.

From the author of the million-copy bestselling Brilliance Trilogy comes a mind-bending thriller that explores our most haunting and fundamental question: What if death is just the beginning?

*****

You can pre-order a copy of the July release through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2rlL8ze

When Peter Blauner was at The Poisoned Pen on book tour for Proving Ground, I didn’t have the chance to share the Livestream event. Patrick Millikin interviewed him. You might want to check out the video. https://livestream.com/poisonedpen/events/7348075

Here’s the description of the book.

A must read. I couldn’t put the sucker down.” – Stephen King

Nathaniel Dresden never really got along with his father, an infamous civil rights lawyer who defended criminals and spearheaded protest movements. As an act of rebellion, Natty joined the U.S. Army and served in Iraq, coming back with a chest full of commendations and a head full of disturbing memories.

But when his father is found murdered near the peaceful confines of Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, Natty is forced to deal with the troubled legacy of their unresolved relationship. He also has to fend off the growing suspicions of NYPD Detective Lourdes Robles, a brash Latina cop with something to prove, who thinks Natty might bear some responsibility for his father’s death. Though truth be told, the list of people – cops and criminals – who wanted David Dresden out of the way is long. The search for answers leads Natty and Lourdes into an urban labyrinth where they must confront each other – and the brutal truths that could destroy them both.

Proving Ground, New York Times bestseller and Edgar Award winner Peter Blauner’s first novel in more than a decade, is a sweeping crime novel, an intricate story about the quest for redemption, and a vibrant portrait of contemporary New York City, all told in Blauner’s singular voice.

If you’d like to order a signed copy, it’s available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2sje6iF

Critic Oline Cogdill recently wrote a piece for Mystery Scene that celebrated the 20th anniversary and the history of Poisoned Pen Press. Due to copyright, I won’t reprint the article, but I’ll certainly encourage readers to check out the story, including photos of publisher Robert Rosenwald, and his wife, executive editor Barbara Peters. https://bit.ly/2qtL5Ek

If you don’t know the history of the award-winning Poisoned Pen Press, you’ll want to check it out.

Jay Baron Nicorvo’s The Standard Grand is June’s Modern First Pick for The Poisoned Pen. Here’s the synopsis.

Nicorvo is a bracingly original writer and a joy to read.” – Dennis Lehane

“A desperate masterpiece of a debut” that tells a huge-hearted American saga – of love, violence, war, conspiracy and the aftermath of them all.” – Bonnie Jo Campbell

“Nicorvo’s muscular and energetic prose will stun readers with its poignancy, while providing a punch to the solar plexus.” – Booklist (Starred Review)

“A dash of Coetzee, a dram of Delillo, but mostly just the complicated compassion of Jay Nicorvo. The Standard Grand is a brutally beautiful novel.” – Pam Houston, author of Contents May Have Shifted

“It seems possible that Nicorvo has ingested all the darkness of this life and now breathes fire.” Nick Flynn, author of Another Bullshit Night in Suck City

When an Army trucker goes AWOL before her third deployment, she ends up sleeping in Central Park. There, she meets a Vietnam vet and widower who inherited a tumbledown Borscht Belt resort. Converted into a halfway house for homeless veterans, the Standard – and its two thousand acres over the Marcellus Shale Formation – is coveted by a Houston-based multinational company. Toward what end, only a corporate executive knows.

With three violent acts at its center – a mauling, a shooting, a mysterious death decades in the past – and set largely in the Catskills, The Standard Grand spans an epic year in the lives of its diverse cast: a female veteran protagonist, a Mesoamerican lesbian landman, a mercenary security contractor keeping secrets and seeking answers, a conspiratorial gang of combat vets fighting to get peaceably by, and a cougar – along with appearances by Sammy Davis, Jr. and Senator Al Franken. All of the characters – soldiers, civilians – struggle to discover that what matters most is not that they’ve caused no harm, but how they make amends for the harm they’ve caused.

Jay Baron Nicorvo’s The Standard Grand confronts a glaring cultural omission: the absence of women in our war stories. Like the best of its characters – who aspire more to goodness than greatness – this American novel hopes to darn a hole or two in the frayed national fabric.

*****

Nicorvo wrote about the inspiration and background of the book for Poets & Writers e-newsletter. https://bit.ly/2rvKous

You can order a signed copy through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2raL0T2

Oh, you don’t know about Modern Firsts? You should check out the information about the book clubs. Those are book clubs to receive books, not to discuss them. The information is here. https://poisonedpen.com/book-clubs/

The Arthur Ellis Awards were just announced this week. Crime Writers of Canada present the Arthur Ellis Awards (named after the working name of Canada’s official hangman) to recognize excellence in Canadian crime writing. Awards are presented in six categories for works in the crime genre published for the first time in the previous year by authors living in Canada, regardless of their nationality, or by Canadian writers living outside of Canada.

Derrick Murdoch Award – Christina Jennings

Best Crime Novel – The Fortunate Brother by Donna Morrissey

Best First Crime Novel – Strange Things Done by Elle Wild

Best Crime Novella – Rundown by Rick Blechta

Best Crime Short Story – “A Death at the Parsonage” by Susan Daly, The Whole She-Bang 3, Toronto Sisters in Crime

Best Juvenile/YA Crime Book – Masterminds by Gordon Korman

Best Crime Nonfiction Book – A Daughter’s Deadly Deception: The Jennifer Pan Story by Jeremy Grimaldi

Do you remember this book? Here’s the synopsis.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.” January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb….

As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends—and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society—born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island—boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.

Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society’s members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.

Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises, and of finding connection in the most surprising ways.

*****

Now, here’s the link to the latest news. For all of those who loved the book, some of the cast of Downton Abbey are in the process of filming the movie. https://bit.ly/2rYuHcd

“The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is already in production in the U.K. with Lily (James) in the lead role as journalist Juliet Ashton, who becomes intrigued by a secret book society established during the German occupation of the Channel Islands during World War Two.”

While you wait for the movie, you can always pick up a copy of the book through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2rYuea1

Steve Hamilton was just here on book tour for Exit Strategy, and his latest novel is The Poisoned Pen’s Hot Book of the Week. Here’s the summary.

In the stunning follow-up to the New York Times bestseller The Second Life of Nick Mason, the remarkable hero fights to take back control from the crime lord who owns his life, as he races to complete a daring and dangerous new mission…

Nick Mason has been given a true mission impossible: Infiltrate WITSEC, the top-secret federal witness-protection program that has never been compromised, locate the three men who put his boss Darius Cole behind bars for life, and kill them.

But first he has to find them—they’re ghost prisoners locked down around the clock in classified “deep black” locations by an battalion of heavily armed U.S. marshals charged with protecting them—and the clock is ticking. Cole is appealing his conviction, and these witnesses are either his ticket to freedom or the final nail in his coffin. If they testify, Darius Cole will never step foot in the outside world again. If they are killed, he will walk out a free man.

As he risks everything to complete his mission, Mason finds himself being hunted by the very man he replaced, the ruthless assassin who once served, then betrayed, Darius Cole. Rather than waiting to be Mason’s next victim, he has escaped witness protection to hunt down and kill Mason himself.

In an action-packed journey that leads from a high-security military installation in the Appalachian Mountains to a secret underground bunker hidden far below the streets of New York City, Nick Mason will have to become, more than ever before, the lethal weapon that Darius Cole created.

*****

We have signed copies! If you would like to order any, they are available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2qUeM06