Fiction Review

Do these two books look like they’re in the same series?

That first one, The Secret Life of Anna Blanc, is much more light-hearted than the cover makes it appear. In the “Happy Ever After” blog in USA Today, Joyce Lamb talked to author Jennifer Kincheloe about the book covers. https://usat.ly/2rwaB81

Kincheloe’s books are available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2pYo1sU

What do Don Winslow, Steve Hamilton and Meg Gardiner have in common? Shane Salerno and The Story Factory.

Here’s the story behind The Story Factory. https://bit.ly/2qX1MYH

Intrigued? You can ask Steve Hamilton about it on Wednesday, May 24 at 7 PM. He’ll be at The Poisoned Pen, hosted by Nicholas Petrie.

And, don’t forget, you can buy books by the authors represented by The Story Factory through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Congratulations to the nominees for the 2017 Anthony Awards. The awards, voted on by the attendees at Bouchercon, the World Mystery Convention, will be presented at this year’s convention in Toronto in October.

ANTHONY AWARD NOMINATIONS for 2017

Best Novel

You Will Know Me ““ Megan Abbott [Little, Brown]
Where It Hurts ““ Reed Farrel Coleman [G.P. Putnam’s Sons]
Red Right Hand ““ Chris Holm [Mulholland]
Wilde Lake ““ Laura Lippman [William Morrow]
A Great Reckoning ““ Louise Penny [Minotaur]

Best First Novel

Dodgers ““ Bill Beverly [Crown]
IQ ““ Joe Ide [Mulholland]
Decanting a Murder ““ Nadine Nettmann [Midnight Ink]
Design for Dying ““ Renee Patrick [Forge]
The Drifter ““ Nicholas Petrie [G.P. Putnam’s Sons]

Best Paperback Original

Shot in Detroit ““ Patricia Abbott [Polis]
Leadfoot ““ Eric Beetner [280 Steps]
Salem’s Cipher ““ Jess Lourey [Midnight Ink]
Rain Dogs ““ Adrian McKinty [Seventh Street]
How to Kill Friends and Implicate People ““ Jay Stringer [Thomas & Mercer]
Heart of Stone ““ James W. Ziskin [Seventh Street]

Best Short Story

“Oxford Girl” ““ Megan Abbott, Mississippi Noir [Akashic]
“Autumn at the Automat” ““ Lawrence Block, In Sunlight or in Shadow [Pegasus]
“Gary’s Got A Boner” ““ Johnny Shaw, Waiting to Be Forgotten [Gutter]
“Parallel Play” ““ Art Taylor, Chesapeake Crimes: Storm Warning [Wildside]
“Queen of the Dogs” ““ Holly West, 44 Caliber Funk: Tales of Crime, Soul and Payback [Moonstone]

Best Critical Nonfiction Work

Alfred Hitchcock: A Brief Life ““ Peter Ackroyd [Nan A. Talese]
Letters from a Serial Killer ““ Kristi Belcamino & Stephanie Kahalekulu [CreateSpace]
Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life ““ Ruth Franklin [Liveright]
Something in the Blood: The Untold Story of Bram Stoker ““ David J. Skal [Liveright]
The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer ““ Kate Summerscale [Bloomsbury/Penguin]

Best Children’s/YA Novel

Snowed ““ Maria Alexander [Raw Dog Screaming]
The Girl I Used to Be ““ April Henry [Henry Holt]
Tag, You’re Dead ““ J.C. Lane [Poisoned Pen]

My Sister Rosa ““ Justine Larbalestier [Soho Teen]
The Fixes ““ Owen Matthews [HarperTeen]

Best Anthology

Unloaded: Crime Writers Writing Without Guns ““ Eric Beetner, ed. [Down & Out]
In Sunlight or in Shadow ““ Lawrence Block, ed. [Pegasus]
Cannibals: Stories from the Edge of the Pine Barrens ““ Jen Conley [Down & Out]
Blood on the Bayou: Bouchercon Anthology 2016 ““ Greg Herren, ed. [Down & Out]
Waiting To Be Forgotten: Stories of Crime and Heartbreak, Inspired by the Replacements ““ Jay Stringer, ed. [Gutter]

Best Novella (8,000-40,000 words)

Cleaning Up Finn ““ Sarah M. Chen [CreateSpace]
No Happy Endings ““ Angel Luis Colón [Down & Out]
Crosswise ““ S.W. Lauden [Down & Out]
Beware the Shill ““ John Shepphird [Down & Out]
The Last Blue Glass ““ B.K. Stevens, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, April 2016 [Dell]

How many businesses make it to 200? How many publishing companies? Congratulations to HarperCollins, celebrating 200 years in 2017.

On Saturday, May 20 at 2 PM, three authors who have mysteries with roots in the past will appear at The Poisoned Pen. Gian Sardar is the author of the debut, You Were Here. Radha Vatsal’s historical mystery is Murder Between the Lines. Rosemary Simpson will sign What the Dead Leave Behind. Intrigued?

You can order signed copies of any or all of the books through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

On Sunday, May 21 at 2 PM, Robert Anglen from The Arizona Republic will get the chance to talk to Jo Nesbø about his latest novel, The Thirst.

Even if you can’t make it to the program, you can read Anglen’s take on the novel. Here’s the link. https://bit.ly/2qi70wH

And, you can order signed copies through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2r7Pl8D

Daniel Suarez’ science fiction thriller, Change Agent, is The Poisoned Pen’s Hot Book of the Week. Here’s the summary.

New York Times bestselling author Daniel Suarez delivers an exhilarating sci-fi thriller exploring a potential future where CRISPR genetic editing allows the human species to control evolution itself.

On a crowded train platform, Interpol agent Kenneth Durand feels the sting of a needle—and his transformation begins…

In 2045 Kenneth Durand leads Interpol’s most effective team against genetic crime, hunting down black market labs that perform “vanity edits” on human embryos for a price. These illegal procedures augment embryos in ways that are rapidly accelerating human evolution—preying on human-trafficking victims to experiment and advance their technology.

With the worlds of genetic crime and human trafficking converging, Durand and his fellow Interpol agents discover that one figure looms behind it all: Marcus Demang Wyckes, leader of a powerful and sophisticated cartel known as the Huli jing.

But the Huli jing have identified Durand, too. After being forcibly dosed with a radical new change agent, Durand wakes from a coma weeks later to find he’s been genetically transformed into someone else—his most wanted suspect: Wyckes.

Now a fugitive, pursued through the genetic underworld by his former colleagues and the police, Durand is determined to restore his original DNA by locating the source of the mysterious—and highly valuable—change agent. But Durand hasn’t anticipated just how difficult locating his enemy will be. With the technology to genetically edit the living, Wyckes and his Huli jing could be anyone and everyone—and they have plans to undermine identity itself.

*****

We have signed copies of Change Agent available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2q9vl8h

Jo Nesbø, author of The Thirst, will be at The Poisoned Pen on Sunday, May 21 at 2 PM.

Robert Anglen, from The Arizona Republic, and Patrick Millikin, from The Poisoned Pen, will interview the author that day. But, Nesbø was just interviewed for The New York Times‘ “By the Book”. You can read that interview here. https://nyti.ms/2q5PZGm

Here’s the summary of The Thirst. Don’t forget. You can order signed copies through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2r7Pl8D

#1 International Best Seller

In this electrifying new thriller from the author of Police and The Snowman, Inspector Harry Hole hunts down a serial murderer who targets his victims . . . on Tinder.

The murder victim, a self-declared Tinder addict. The one solid clue—fragments of rust and paint in her wounds—leaves the investigating team baffled.
Two days later, there’s a second murder: a woman of the same age, a Tinder user, an eerily similar scene.
The chief of police knows there’s only one man for this case. But Harry Hole is no longer with the force. He promised the woman he loves, and he promised himself, that he’d never go back: not after his last case, which put the people closest to him in grave danger.
But there’s something about these murders that catches his attention, something in the details that the investigators have missed. For Harry, it’s like hearing “the voice of a man he was trying not to remember.” Now, despite his promises, despite everything he risks, Harry throws himself back into the hunt for a figure who haunts him, the monster who got away.

STARRED REVIEW 
“Exceptional . . . Nesbo depicts a heartbreakingly conflicted Harry, who both wants to forget the horrors he’s trying to prevent and knows he has to remember them in all their grim detail.”
—Publishers Weekly

Some readers may not be familiar with Marie Brennan’s fantasy series, the Lady Trent Memoirs. Within the Sanctuary of Wings is the concluding volume.

Here’s the summary of the book.

Within the Sanctuary of Wings is the conclusion to Marie Brennan’s thrilling Lady Trent Memoirs

After nearly five decades (and, indeed, the same number of volumes), one might think they were well-acquainted with the Lady Isabella Trent – dragon naturalist, scandalous explorer, and perhaps as infamous for her company and feats of daring as she is famous for her discoveries and additions to the scientific field.

And yet – after her initial adventure in the mountains of Vystrana, and her exploits in the depths of war-torn Eriga, to the high seas aboard The Basilisk, and then to the inhospitable deserts of Akhia – the Lady Trent has captivated hearts along with fierce minds. This concluding volume will finally reveal the truths behind her most notorious adventure – scaling the tallest peak in the world, buried behind the territory of Scirland’s enemies – and what she discovered there, within the Sanctuary of Wings.

The Lady Trent Memoirs
1. A Natural History of Dragons
2. The Tropic of Serpents
3. Voyage of the Basilisk
4. In the Labyrinth of Drakes
5. Within the Sanctuary of Wings

*****

When Brennan was at The Poisoned Pen, she came in appropriate costume.

Signed copies of Within the Sanctuary of Wings are available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2q6FT7E

Ace Atkins was recently at The Poisoned Pen, on book tour for Robert B. Parker’s Little White Lies.

Here’s the description of the book.

Boston PI Spenser and right hand Hawk follow a con man’s trail of smoke and mirrors in the latest entry of the iconic crime series. After conning everyone from the cable news shows to the local cops, it looks like the grifter’s latest double cross may be his last.

Connie Kelly thought she’d found her perfect man on an online dating site. He was silver-haired and handsome, with a mysterious background working for the C.I.A. She fell so hard for M. Brooks Welles that she wrote him a check for almost three hundred thousand dollars, hoping for a big return on her investment.

But within weeks, both Welles and her money are gone. Her therapist, Dr. Susan Silverman, hands her Spenser’s card.

A self-proclaimed military hotshot, Welles had been a frequent guest on national news shows speaking with authority about politics and world events. But when he disappears, he leaves not only a jilted lover but a growing list of angry investors, duped cops, and a team of paramilitary contractors looking for revenge.

Enter Spenser, who quickly discovers that everything about Welles is phony. His name, his résumé, and his client list are nothing but an elaborate fraud. But uncovering the truth won’t be easy, as he’ll have to keep the mystery man alive long enough to get back his client’s money. As the trail winds from Boston to backroads Georgia, Spenser will need help from trusted allies Hawk and Teddy Sapp to make sure Welles’s next con is his last.

*****

Although several of the photos are a little dark, we have pictures from the event.

The light’s a little better if you would like to watch the Livestream event. https://livestream.com/poisonedpen/events/7348065

Signed copies of Robert B. Parker’s Little White Lies are available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2q3aZwO