Fiction Review

Is there anything better than discovering a debut author? Erik Storey was at the Poisoned Pen with his first novel, Nothing Short of Dying.

Can we entice you with the description from the Web Store? “Hailed by bestselling writer William Kent Krueger as “the year’s best thriller debut,” this furiously paced ride into harm’s way features a drifter with lethal skills, whose mission to rescue his abducted sister pits him against a ruthless meth kingpin and his army of killers.

Sixteen years. That’s how long Clyde Barr has been away from Colorado’s thick forests, alpine deserts, and craggy peaks, running from a past filled with haunting memories. But now he’s back, having roamed across three continents as a hunter, adventurer, soldier of fortune, and most recently, unjustly imprisoned convict. And once again, his past is reaching out to claim him.

By the light of a flickering campfire, Clyde receives a frantic phone call from his sister Jen. No sooner has she pleaded with him to come rescue her than the line goes dead. Clyde doesn’t know how much time he has, or where Jen is located, or even who has her. All he knows is that nothing short of dying will stop him from saving her.

Joining Clyde in his against-all-odds quest is a young woman named Allie whose motivations for running this gauntlet are fascinatingly complex. As the duo races against the clock, it is Allie who gets Clyde to see what he has become and what he can still be.

Vivid with the hues and scents of Colorado’s backcountry, and thought-provoking in its exploration of how past, present, and future collide to test resolve, Nothing Short of Dying is, above all, a propulsive, action-driven race against the clock.”

Of course, we have signed copies available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2bRvHGT

And, we’d love to have you “meet” Erik Storey. We have a Livestream event of his program. https://livestream.com/poisonedpen/events/6210700

Andrew Gross appeared at The Poisoned Pen on publication day for his book, The One Man.

Because this book is a departure from his earlier books, here’s the summary from the Web Store. “Poland. 1944. Alfred Mendl and his family are brought on a crowded train to a Nazi concentration camp after being caught trying to flee Paris with forged papers. His family is torn away from him on arrival, his life’s work burned before his eyes. To the guards, he is just another prisoner, but in fact Mendl – a renowned physicist – holds knowledge that only two people in the world possess. And the other is already at work for the Nazi war machine.

Four thousand miles away, in Washington, DC, Intelligence lieutenant Nathan Blum routinely decodes messages from occupied Poland. Having escaped the Krakow ghetto as a teenager after the Nazis executed his family, Nathan longs to do more for his new country in the war. But never did he expect the proposal he receives from “Wild” Bill Donovan, head of the OSS: to sneak into the most guarded place on earth, a living hell, on a mission to find and escape with one man, the one man the Allies believe can ensure them victory in the war.

Bursting with compelling characters and tense story lines, this historical thriller from New York Times bestseller Andrew Gross is a deeply affecting, unputdownable series of twists and turns through a landscape at times horrifyingly familiar but still completely new and compelling.”

Interested? You can buy a signed copy at the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2blrCt2

We do have photos from the event.

If you would like to see the event you missed, or watch it again if you were there, it’s available via Livestream. https://livestream.com/poisonedpen/events/6210670

The Poisoned Pen recently hosted Meagan Beaumont, author of Blood of Saints, and Arthur Kerns, author of The Yemen Contract.

When Patrick Millikin interviewed them, he said he couldn’t think of anything the books or authors had in common, other than the books are both thrillers. If you like thrillers, you can read the summaries and order signed copies through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

You could also watch the Livestream event https://livestream.com/poisonedpen/events/6176782, and that may give you a flavor of the books.

Although I linked to the Livestream program https://livestream.com/poisonedpen/events/5722778 showing Michael Koryta’s appearance at the Poisoned Pen on his Rise the Dark book tour, I didn’t have photos to share.

Here’s Koryta getting ready to sign books in that back room.

Patrick Millikin showing Rise the Dark.

Michael Koryta addressing the audience.

And, don’t forget, you can get signed copies of Rise the Dark through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2blguR3

There’s so much to mention in Charles Finch’s recent USA Today review of Caleb Carr’s Surrender, New York.

Here’s the review. https://usat.ly/2bPQ7TR

I could mention all of Charles Finch’s Charles Lenox mysteries. https://bit.ly/2c0366H

Home by Nightfall is his 2015 mystery, and The Inheritance will be out in November.

Or, we could talk about Finch’s references to Sherlock Holmes. Here, references to Sherlock Holmes often bring up Laurie R. King. She’ll be appearing here October 1 to talk about two books, Mary Russell’s War, and Echoes of Sherlock Holmes. https://bit.ly/2bJylPl

With mystery readers, you never know where one book review will take you.

Marilyn Stasio just reviewed books by two of the August authors at the Poisoned Pen. Stasio’s Crime column in The New York Times features reviews of Michael Koryta’s Rise the Dark and Erik Storey’s Nothing Short of Dying. https://nyti.ms/2b8HgIC

Koryta was just at the Pen, and Storey will be here Wednesday, August 24 at 7 PM. And, of course, signed books by both authors are available through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com

Michael Koryta was just at The Poisoned Pen on his book tour for Rise the Dark.

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

“Mark Novak’s greatest mystery may be his own…

Rise the dark. These were the last words written in Lauren Novak’s notebook before she was murdered in a strange Florida village. They’ve never meant anything to the police or to her husband, investigator Markus Novak. Now the man he believes killed her is out of prison, and draws Markus to the place he’s avoided for so long: the lonely road where his wife was shot to death beneath the cypress trees and Spanish moss in a town called Cassadaga.

In Red Lodge, Montana, a senseless act of vandalism shuts the lights off in the town where Sabrina Baldwin is still trying to adjust to a new home and mourning the loss of her brother, who was a high voltage linesman just like her husband, Jay. As the spring’s final snowstorm calls Jay deeper into the mountains, chasing the destruction on the electrical grid, Sabrina is abducted by Garland Webb, the man Markus Novak believes killed his wife. Drawing them all together is a messianic villain who understands that you can never outpace your past. You can only rise against the future.”

Intrigued? If you would like to hear Michael Koryta discuss Rise the Dark, along with other topics, with Patrick Millikin, check out the Livestream event. https://livestream.com/poisonedpen/events/5722778

And, don’t forget, you can order signed copies of Rise the Dark through the Web Store.

https://store.poisonedpen.com

The European Union Intellectual Property Office recently released a report saying €1.3 billion is lost every year across the EU due to fake spirits and wine. That report “shows that 4.4% of legitimate sales of spirits and 2.3% of legitimate sales of wine are lost each year due to counterfeiting of alcoholic drinks. Those lost sales translate into 4,800 jobs directly lost across the spirits and wine sectors in the EU, as legitimate manufacturers employ fewer people than they would have done in the absence of counterfeiting.”

Sound familiar? It might, if you read Jeffrey Siger’s Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis mysteries. Here’s the description of his last book, Devil of Delphi.

Delphi once stood at the center of the world, a mountainous, verdant home to the gods, where kings and warriors journeyed to hear its Oracle speak. The Oracle embodied the decree of the gods—or at least the word of Apollo. To disobey risked…everything.

Young Athenian Kharon chooses modern Delphi to rebuild his life among its rolling hills and endless olive groves. But his dark past is too celebrated, and his assassin’s skills so in demand, that his fate does not rest entirely in his own hands. Greece is being flooded with bomba, counterfeits of the most celebrated alcoholic beverages and wine brands. The legitimate annual trillion-dollar world market is in peril. So, too, are consumers—someone is not just counterfeiting booze, but adulterating it, often with poisonous substances. Who is masterminding this immensely lucrative conspiracy?

Kharon learns who when the ruthless criminal gives him no choice but to serve her. Her decrees are as absolute as the Oracle’s, and as fearsomely punished. Kharon agrees, but dictates his own payoff. And his own methods, which allow his targets some choice in the outcomes.

When Kharon unexpectedly shoots a member of one of Greece’s richest, most feared families, he draws Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis into the eye of a political and media firestorm threatening to bring down Greece’s government. Think “Breaking Bad,” Greek-style.

*****

Jeffrey always seems to have his pulse on Greece’s problems. You can order a signed copy or a paperback of Devil of Delphi through the Web Store.  https://bit.ly/2b2rtAS

Watch here for an interview with Jeffrey Siger, and information about the new Andreas Kaldis mystery, Santorini Caesars, due out in September.

Lucy Feldman recently wrote a post for the Wall Street Journal called “Three Approaches to Thriller Writing”. She discusses three authors who are hot this month, Megan Abbott, author of You Will Know Me, Blake Crouch, the author of Dark Matter, and the man she calls “The Franchise Player”, James Patterson. You can find the article here. https://www.wsj.com/articles/three-approaches-to-thriller-writing-1469122570

And you will find books by the authors through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com

Lisa Scottoline kicked off her book tour for Damaged at The Poisoned Pen. Damaged is the latest Rosato & DiNunzio novel.

We have pictures from this program, beginning with Scottoline signing books in the back room. That’s quite a few books to sign!

Then, there’s that long walk from the front of the store.

Patrick Millikin introduced Lisa Scottoline.

The blurb on the Web Store’s page says, “Damaged finds Mary DiNunzio, partner at the all-female law firm of Rosato & DiNunzio, embroiled in one of her most heartbreaking cases yet.” Here’s Lisa talking about the book.

It was a full house for the event.

I’ve been in one of those signing lines for Lisa Scottoline. She’s funny and kind.

If you missed the event, you can watch it via Livestream. https://livestream.com/poisonedpen/events/5722768  This is one event you really want to listen to, if you’ve never heard Lisa Scottoline.

As always, we have signed copies of Damaged available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2bkVtWs