Fiction Review

Carolyn Hart’s note to Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, indicates that the author is closing out the Death on Demand mystery series with Walking on My Grave.

“From Death on Demand to Walking on my Grave, I’ve loved spending time with
Annie and Max on their sea island. Walking on my Grave is their last
adventure and I will leave them as I found them, young, happy, always there
for each other. My thanks to the wonderful readers who welcomed them. It’s
been fun.”

Here’s the summary of that final book.

In the latest Death on Demand Mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of Don’t Go Home, book seller Annie Darling learns murder and money go hand in hand…

Annie’s friend and fellow shop owner Ves Roundtree is a very wealthy woman. Her rich brother entrusted her with his estate, and upon her death, his fortune is to be divided. Several cash-strapped islanders are in line to collect life-changing inheritances. The problem is, Ves is very much alive.

Ves hosts a dinner for the prospective beneficiaries and feels a chill in the air that has nothing to do with the wintry season. Not long after, she suffers a bad fall that was no accident. Everyone at the table had a motive but not a shred of evidence was left behind.

When one of the suspects is found floating in the harbor and Ves disappears, Annie and her husband Max spring into action to catch a calculating killer before greed takes another life.

*****

The Poisoned Pen has signed copies of the last Death on Demand book, Walking on My Grave. Check the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2pcRS0p

Dana Stabenow’s Less Than a Treason, the new Kate Shugak mystery, is the Hot Book of the Week at The Poisoned Pen. Here’s the summary:

Two thousand people go missing in Alaska every year. They vanish in the middle of mountain footraces, on fishing boats in the Bering Sea, on small planes in the Bush. Now a geologist known for going walkabout with his rock hammer has disappeared from the Suulutaq Mine in the Park. Was it deliberate? An accident? Foul play? Kate Shugak may be the only person who can find out.

But for the fact that Kate, too, is among the missing…

*****

Dana Stabenow will be at The Poisoned Pen on Saturday, May 6 at 2 PM to talk about and sign Less Than a Treason. If you can’t make it, you can still order a signed copy through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2pZVXZS

 

In case you missed the New York Times article, Gregory Cowles recently spoke to Anne Hillerman, author of Song of the Lion.

They discussed Hillerman’s books that continue her father’s (Tony Hillerman) characters. https://nyti.ms/2pESmzt

Here’s the summary of Song of the Lion, as it appears in the Web Store.

A deadly bombing takes Navajo Tribal cops Bernadette Manuelito, Jim Chee, and their mentor, the legendary Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, back into the past to find a vengeful killer in this riveting Southwestern mystery from the bestselling author of Spider Woman’s Daughter and Rock with Wings.

When a car bomb kills a young man in the Shiprock High School parking lot, Officer Bernadette Manuelito discovers that the intended victim was a mediator for a multi-million-dollar development planned at the Grand Canyon.

But what seems like an act of ecoterrorism turns out to be something far more nefarious and complex. Piecing together the clues, Bernadette and her husband, Sergeant Jim Chee, uncover a scheme to disrupt the negotiations and inflame tensions between the Hopi and Dine tribes.

Retired Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn has seen just about everything in his long career. As the tribal police’s investigation unfolds, he begins to suspect that the bombing may be linked to a cold case he handled years ago. As he, Bernadette, and Chee carefully pull away the layers behind the crime, they make a disturbing discovery: a meticulous and very patient killer with a long-simmering plan of revenge.

Writing with a clarity and grace that is all her own, Anne Hillerman depicts the beauty and mystery of Navajo Country and the rituals, myths, and customs of its people in a mystery that builds on and complements the beloved, bestselling mysteries of her acclaimed father, Tony Hillerman.

*****

You can still order a signed copy of Anne Hillerman’s Song of the Lion through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2pBUtlH

Today is release day for Annie Hogsett’s debut mystery with Poisoned Pen Press, Too Lucky To Live. I had the chance to ask her a few questions. Thank you, Annie.

Annie, would you introduce yourself to readers?  

Hi, Readers! I’m Annie Hogsett and I’ve been writing almost my whole life. Little poems my mom liked a lot. Short stories. A truly terrible first attempt called Rain of Terror. Eek! Advertising copy for years and years. If you ever bought something you didn’t really want or need, go ahead and blame me. I have to admit, it was a very fun job. And now Too Lucky to Live. Imagine how thrilled I am.

Tell us about Allie Harper and Thomas Bennington III.

Allie Harper, happily divorced/seriously broke, part-time librarian is equal parts feisty/funny and wounded/insecure. She thinks a lot of things are missing from her life, especially love and money. Then she meets nice, smart, hot Tom Bennington and his $550 million MondoMegaJackpot. Tom’s blindness is a disability, for sure, but he loves teaching English literature and is comfortable in the life he’s carved out for himself. He doesn’t care about money—the jackpot was a total accident. And he doesn’t notice he’s missing out on love and adventure until he meets Allie.

Without spoilers, summarize Too Lucky to Live.

Allie rescues Tom—and his grocery bag with the winning ticket in it—from a crosswalk, after he’s been honked at by a blonde in a Hummer. Tough town, Cleveland. Right after the kissing starts, the Mondo Ball drops, and much murdering ensues. As Allie and Tom climb the learning curve of “How to stay alive when every evil scheming weasel in Cleveland is after you and your ridiculous amount of money,” they find out who they really are—and start to become the amateur sleuths they need to be.

You set your mystery in Cleveland, an unusual setting for a novel. So, where do you take visitors when they come to Cleveland?

First, I take our visitors out on the deck and show them Lake Erie. A surprising number of folks don’t know Cleveland is backed up against a Great Lake, and even many Clevelanders don’t know just how Great our lake is. After that, I’d recommend the West Side Market—a hundred years of history and every single food thing you can imagine in an architectural wonder. If our visitors are music fans, The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is—forgive me—where it’s at. Readers can get a tour of the Rock Hall in Too Lucky to Live. Ms. Erie is part of Allie’s story, too.

What can you tell us about the next book in the series?

Well, it’s a bit of a spoiler if I say, “Tom and Allie are in it.” Read: Still alive. But that’s probably no surprise. I’m excited about Book #2 of The Somebody’s Bound to Wind Up Dead Mysteries, because it builds on characters I love (and one in particular I love to hate) and it takes the “T & A Detectives” into their first real case.

How did you react when you learned Too Lucky to Live would be published?

We were in a restaurant at JFK in New York when I got an email from my now editor. I cried. And then there was champagne—well, sparkling wine. It was an airport, after all. I’m sending our waiter, Glenn, a signed copy of the book, because he was there at the beginning and so excited for me.

When did it really hit you that you’re a published author?

I went to a workshop that was like the many, many I’d gone to as I was trying to learn to be a better writer and find a home for Too Lucky to Live. The presenter asked me who my publisher is. I told her, and I could feel the other writers looking at me the way I’ve been looking at published writers for years—as if I had all the answers. It was spooky. And cool. And, of course, they were wrong.

What authors inspired you?

Agatha Christie, Janet Evanovich, Sue Grafton, Stephen King. I get serial crushes on writers and I’m shocked to discover all the ones I haven’t heard of who are everybody else’s classic favorites. Inspiration for the writing itself? Anne Lamott. Elizabeth Gilbert, and, especially, Julia Cameron, whose The Artist’s Way finally got me off the dime. They tell wannabee writers, “Try this. Do this,” and “You are so not alone.”

What were your favorites books as a child?

Well, after The House at Pooh Corner, I’d say Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, and many, many books about horses. I was not a discriminating reader as a child, and I will never catch up on the 10,000 classics I missed while I was reading about horses.

What author would you like to recommend who you think has been underappreciated?

Brian Doyle, the author of Mink River, one of my favorite novels. I’m shocked by how many avid readers have never heard of him. His writing so touches my heart and its sense of place is wonderfully compelling.

What’s on your TBR pile now?

I’m trying to pare it down. Commonwealth by Anne Patchett for my book group. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead for my other book group. The Long and Faraway Gone by Lou Berney, because everybody says so. I’m not even going to try to describe my ever-rising stack of TBRs by all the fellow Poisoned Pen Press writers I’m discovering as I go. So many mysteries, so little time….

Thanks, Annie! Annie Hogsett’s website is https://www.anniehogsett.com/

Annie Hogsett will be appearing at The Poisoned Pen on Sunday, May 7 at 2 PM as part of the 20th Anniversary Celebration for Poisoned Pen Press. You can order a signed copy of Too Lucky to Live through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2q8PH1X

This week, I have the chance to interview two Poisoned Pen Press debut authors whose books  have just been released. Thomas Kies is the author of Random Road, a mystery that introduces journalist Geneva Chase.

Thomas, please introduce yourself to readers.

My name is Thomas Kies.  During the first week in May, Poisoned Pen Press is releasing my debut novel, RANDOM ROAD.  I’ve worked in various capacities for newspapers and magazines most of my adult life but writing mysteries is something I’ve wanted to do ever since I was a kid.  

When I’m not writing about murder, my day job is President of the Carteret County Chamber of Commerce.  I get to be the cheerleader for this part of coastal North Carolina, which is a great gig.  We have unbelievable beaches, fantastic weather (other than the occasional hurricane), terrific fishing and some of the best restaurants in the state.

I live with my wife Cindy on Bogue Banks, a barrier island here on the coast of North Carolina.   I have three grown children and two grandsons.

Please introduce Geneva Chase.

Geneva Chase is the protagonist of RANDOM ROAD.  Genie is just shy of forty, tall, and attractive enough that it’s not unusual for a man to buy her a drink in a bar. She grew up in Sheffield, Connecticut, a bedroom town to Manhattan, and has worked as a journalist at some of the top newspapers and magazines as well as a short, shame-filled stint with Fox News.  I love her dearly, but Genie has a drinking problem, makes bad choices in men (she’s been married three times) and is a snarky, smart-ass.  

I’m not sure I’d like to spend time with her in real life, but she’s an absolute blast to write.

Without spoilers, tell us about Random Road.

At the very beginning of RANDOM ROAD, six people are found hacked to death in a mansion in an exclusive gated community.  Due to her drinking, Geneva Chase has been reduced to working the crime beat for her hometown newspaper.  She’s hoping that if she can nail this story, it might jump start her career again and get her a job with a major metro daily.

But to do that, she’s got to keep her boozing under control, deal with the married man she can’t quite ditch, and contend with a love affair with her childhood sweetheart. Oh, and not get killed in the process.

I liked Geneva, even with her flaws. Can you give us a hint about the next book? At least I hope there’s a next book!

Geneva Chase finds herself back on the crime beat in DARKNESS LANE.  And that’s about as much as I’m going to tell you at this point, other than the first draft is finished and nobody is who they seem to be.  Oh, and Genie is still a smart-ass.

How did your career working for newspapers and magazines prepare you to write crime fiction?

Working for newspapers and magazines, I had a lot of opportunities to interact with some interesting characters—cops, politicians, artists, and celebrities as well as some very unsavory individuals.   I’ve seen everything from the inside of prison cells to attending fundraisers in some of the most expensive homes on the Gold Coast of Connecticut, been in the kitchens of some of the most exclusive restaurants in New York, backstage at Broadway shows, and seen the inside of brothels and sex clubs. It was an education in the interesting and the bizarre.

What was the most unusual story you covered or wrote during your career?

I can’t say anything specifically about the most unusual story I’ve come in contact with, but I’m always amazed at the efforts some people will go to get money illegally—stealing from charities, embezzling from their employer, taking money from their elderly parents, hiding money from the IRS. And surprisingly, some of the most outrageous crimes are committed by some very wealthy individuals—people who literally don’t need the money.

You currently live on a barrier island off the coast of North Carolina.  Where do you take people when they come to visit you?

This is a tourist area so it’s not difficult to entertain people when they come to visit.  They love the beaches, the museums, the aquarium, outdoor concerts, and we have world class restaurants and chefs here on the Crystal Coast.  Did I tell you I’m the President of the Chamber of Commerce?

What authors inspired you?

I’d be remiss if I didn’t start with Arthur Conan Doyle.  And when I was much younger, I was hooked on the Travis McGee novels by John D. MacDonald as well as the James Bond series by Ian Fleming.  And of course, I love Jonathan Kellerman, Sue Grafton, Janet Evanovich, Michael Connelly and the list could go on and on. And I don’t want to leave out the grand masters—Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and Elmore Leonard.

What’s on your TBR pile?

In addition to mysteries, I love history.  I’m in the process of reading SPQR-A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard.  But I’m looking forward to reading Annie Hogsett’s debut novel—Too Lucky to Live as well as the crime anthology Bound by Mystery edited by Diane DiBiase.  I’m looking forward to meeting Annie and Diane in May when I’m in Phoenix.

What author would you like to recommend who you think has been underappreciated?

I like writers’ conferences because I get to meet writers I haven’t yet had a chance to read.  I’m not sure that makes them underappreciated but I enjoyed discovering Joe Clifford, D.P. Lyle, and Tim Maleeny, all of whom I met at a conference in California. I’d highly recommend their work.

Thank you, Thomas. Thomas Kies’ website is https://thomaskiesauthor.com/

Kies will be appearing at The Poisoned Pen on Sunday, May 7 at 2 PM as part of Poisoned Pen Press’ 20th Anniversary celebration.  Random Road is available through the Web Store, if you’d like to order a copy of this debut. https://bit.ly/2ploZ5l

 

Jeff Guinn’s The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple is the current Hot Title of the Week at The Poisoned Pen. We have signed copies in the Web Store if you would like to order one. https://bit.ly/2pEeaMm

Here’s the description:

By the New York Times bestselling author of Manson, the comprehensive, authoritative, and tragic story of preacher Jim Jones, who was responsible for the Jonestown Massacre—the largest murder-suicide in American history.

In the 1950s, a young Indianapolis minister named Jim Jones preached a curious blend of the gospel and Marxism. His congregation was racially integrated, and he was a much-lauded leader in the contemporary civil rights movement. Eventually, Jones moved his church, Peoples Temple, to northern California. He became involved in electoral politics, and soon was a prominent Bay Area leader.

In this riveting narrative, Jeff Guinn examines Jones’s life, from his extramarital affairs, drug use, and fraudulent faith healing to the fraught decision to move almost a thousand of his followers to a settlement in the jungles of Guyana in South America. Guinn provides stunning new details of the events leading to the fatal day in November, 1978 when more than nine hundred people died—including almost three hundred infants and children—after being ordered to swallow a cyanide-laced drink.

Guinn examined thousands of pages of FBI files on the case, including material released during the course of his research. He traveled to Jones’s Indiana hometown, where he spoke to people never previously interviewed, and uncovered fresh information from Jonestown survivors. He even visited the Jonestown site with the same pilot who flew there the day that Congressman Leo Ryan was murdered on Jones’s orders. The Road to Jonestown is the definitive book about Jim Jones and the events that led to the tragedy at Jonestown.

It’s been four years since Dana Stabenow brought us a new Kate Shugak mystery. Here’s the summary of Less Than a Treason.

Two thousand people go missing in Alaska every year. They vanish in the middle of mountain footraces, on fishing boats in the Bering Sea, on small planes in the Bush. Now a geologist known for going walkabout with his rock hammer has disappeared from the Suulutaq Mine in the Park. Was it deliberate? An accident? Foul play? Kate Shugak may be the only person who can find out.

But for the fact that Kate, too, is among the missing…

*****

Stabenow will be here at The Poisoned Pen on Saturday, May 6 at 2 PM. We’re ready!

You can order signed copies of Less Than a Treason through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2qcNXEH

Mystery Writers of America presented the 2017 Edgar Allan Poe Awards last night. Congratulations to all of the winners.

BEST NOVEL
Before the Fall by Noah Hawley (Hachette Book Group ““ Grand Central Publishing)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR
Under the Harrow by Flynn Berry (Penguin Random House ““ Penguin Books)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
Rain Dogs by Adrian McKinty (Prometheus Books ““ Seventh Street Books)

BEST FACT CRIME
The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer by Kate Summerscale (Penguin Random House ““ Penguin Press)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL
Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin (W.W. Norton – Liveright)

BEST SHORT STORY
“Autumn at the Automat” ““ In Sunlight or in Shadow by Lawrence Block (Pegasus Books)

BEST JUVENILE
OCDaniel by Wesley King (Simon & Schuster ““ Paula Wiseman Books)

BEST YOUNG ADULT
Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse (Hachette Book Group ““ Little, Brown BFYR)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY
“A Blade of Grass” ““ Penny Dreadful, Teleplay by John Logan (Showtime)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD
“The Truth of the Moment” ““ Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine  by E. Gabriel Flores (Dell Magazines)

GRAND MASTER
Max Allan Collins
Ellen Hart

RAVEN AWARD
Dru Ann Love

ELLERY QUEEN AWARD 
Neil Nyren

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER – MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD
The Shattered Tree by Charles Todd (HarperCollins Publishers ““ William Morrow)

Don’t forget to check the Web Store if you’re looking for one of the winners! https://store.poisonedpen.com/

It’s not too early to remind you that The Poisoned Pen will be hosting author Cory Doctorow on Friday, May 12, for an interview by Brian David Johnson, ASU Futurist-in-Residence.

Why am I reminding you right now? Doctorow, author of Walkaway, recently had a discussion with Jeff  VanderMeer at ElectricLiterature.com. The article was entitled,

“Jeff VanderMeer & Cory Doctorow Discuss the Future of Sci-Fi & the World”

“Two modern masters talk biotech, climate change, activism & how sci-fi genre sensibilities have changed.”

Here’s the link to that article. https://bit.ly/2oMNOE4

As mentioned, Doctorow will appear Friday, May 12 at 7 PM at the Doubletree Hilton, 5401 N. Scottsdale Rd., Scottsdale, AZ 85250. It’s free to attend, but a book must be purchased from The Poisoned Pen to get it signed. Doors open at 6:30, and the program starts at 7 PM.

If you can’t make it to the event, you can always buy a signed copy of Walkaway through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2pmNgb8

John Sandford, author of the new Lucas Davenport novel, Golden Prey, and David Joy, author of The Weight of This World, appeared at The Poisoned Pen for an evening filled with discussion of culture, politics, and books.

Hopefully, you’re familiar with John Sandford’s Prey series. But, you might not know David Joy’s work. Here’s the description of The Weight of This World.

Critically acclaimed author David Joy, whose debut, Where All Light Tends to Go, was hailed as “a savagely moving novel that will likely become an important addition to the great body of Southern literature” (The Huffington Post), returns to the mountains of North Carolina with a powerful story about the inescapable weight of the past.

A combat veteran returned from war, Thad Broom can’t leave the hardened world of Afghanistan behind, nor can he forgive himself for what he saw there. His mother, April, is haunted by her own demons, a secret trauma she has carried for years. Between them is Aiden McCall, loyal to both but unable to hold them together. Connected by bonds of circumstance and duty, friendship and love, these three lives are blown apart when Aiden and Thad witness the accidental death of their drug dealer and a riot of dope and cash drops in their laps. On a meth-fueled journey to nowhere, they will either find the grit to overcome the darkness or be consumed by it.

*****

You can watch the discussion, led by Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, on Livestream. https://livestream.com/poisonedpen/events/7204535

If you would like to order signed copies of the books, they’re available through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/