Fiction Review

Reed Farrel Coleman recently appeared at The Poisoned Pen to talk about his latest book, Sleepless City. Patrick Millikin welcomed him back, and there was a lot to talk about. You can order a signed copy of the book, but you’ll also want to listen to the conversation. https://bit.ly/3JYMF7T

Here’s the description of Sleepless City.

“A tour-de-force! The pace is relentless, the plot smart, his new lead character, Nick Ryan, is a hero for the times…Reed is a brilliant storyteller.” — Louise Penny, #1 New York Times bestselling author

When you’re in trouble, you call 911.

When cops are in trouble, they call Nick Ryan.

Every cop in the city knows his name, but no one says it out loud. In fact, they don’t talk about him at all.

He doesn’t wear a uniform, but he is the most powerful cop in New York.

Nick Ryan can find a criminal who’s vanished. Or he can make a key witness disappear.

He has cars, safe houses, money, and weapons hidden all over the city.

He’s the mayor’s private cop, the fixer, the first call when the men and women who protect and serve are in trouble and need protection themselves.

With conflicted loyalties and a divided soul, he’s a veteran cop still fighting his own private war. He’s a soldier of the streets with his own personal code.

But what happens when the man who knows all the city’s secrets becomes a threat to both sides of the law?

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Reed Farrel Coleman, author of the New York Times bestselling Robert B. Parker’s Debt to Pay, has been called a “hard-boiled poet” by NPR’s Maureen Corrigan and the “noir poet laureate” in The Huffington Post. He has published twenty-five previous novels, including nine books in the critically acclaimed Moe Prager series, and most recently, What You Break, featuring Gus Murphy. A three-time winner of the Shamus Award, he has also won the Anthony, Macavity, Barry, and Audie Awards. Coleman lives with his family on Long Island.

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Enjoy the conversation with Reed Farrel Coleman.

There’s a terrific slate of upcoming events at The Poisoned Pen. Check out this schedule and then check the Webstore for books by your favorite authors. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, recently welcomed Jake Tapper for a virtual event. Tapper’s latest thriller is All the Demons are Here. There are signed copies of the book available through the Webstore. https://tinyurl.com/4jjuhxp2

Here’s the summary of All the Demons are Here.

Bestselling author Jake Tapper’s “absolute page-turner” (Gillian Flynn) transports readers to the 1970s underground world of cults, celebrities, tabloid journalism, serial killers, disco, and UFOs.

It’s 1977. Ike and Lucy, the kids of Senator Charlie and Margaret Marder, are grown up—and in trouble.

US Marine Ike has gone AWOL after a military operation gone horribly wrong. Now he’s off the grid, working on the pit crew of the moody stunt master Evel Knievel and hanging in the roughest dive bar in Montana. His sister Lucy has become the star reporter of a brand-new Washington, DC tabloid breaking stories about a serial killer and falling in with the wealthy, shady British family that owns the newspaper. 

As they deal with the weirdness and menace of the time—celebrities, cults, the rise of tabloid journalism, the death of Elvis Presley, the Summer of Sam, and a time of national unease—Ike and Lucy soon realize that their worlds are not only full of compromises and bad choices, but danger. As their lives begin to spiral out of control, they also spiral towards one another. And the decisions they make could mean life and death not only for them—but also their beloved parents.

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Jake Tapper has written two New York Times bestselling novels, The Hellfire Club and The Devil May Dance, as well as the bestselling nonfiction book The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor, which was turned into a critically acclaimed film in 2020. He is the lead DC anchor and chief Washington correspondent for CNN. A Dartmouth graduate and Philly native, he lives in Washington, DC, with his wife, daughter, and son.

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Enjoy the conversation about music, tabloid newspapers, and more.

An Evil Heart is Linda Castillo’s fifteenth Kate Burkholder mystery. Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, recently welcomed Castillo for this live event at the bookstore. There are signed copies of An Evil Heart available in the Webstore, along with a special bookmark while supplies last. https://bit.ly/46KabPK

Here’s the description of An Evil Heart.

Chief of Police Kate Burkholder investigates the brutal death of a young Amish man in An Evil Heart, the latest installment of the bestselling series by Linda Castillo.

On a crisp autumn day in Painters Mill, Chief of Police Kate Burkholder responds to a call only to discover an Amish man who has been violently killed with a crossbow, his body abandoned on a dirt road. Aden Karn was just twenty years old, well liked, and from an upstanding Amish family. Who would commit such a heinous crime against a young man whose life was just beginning?

The more Kate gets to know his devastated family and the people—both English and Amish—who loved him, the more determined she becomes to solve the case. Aden Karn was funny and hardworking and looking forward to marrying his sweet fiancé, Emily. All the while, Kate’s own wedding day to Tomasetti draws near…

But as she delves into Karn’s past, Kate begins to hear whispers about a dark side. What if Aden Karn wasn’t the wholesome young man everyone admired? Is it possible the rumors are a cruel campaign to blame the victim? Kate pursues every lead with a vengeance, sensing an unspeakable secret no one will broach.

The case spirals out of control when a young Amish woman comes forward with a horrific story that pits Kate against a dangerous and unexpected opponent. When the awful truth is finally uncovered, Kate comes face to face with the terrible consequences of a life lived in all the dark places.

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Linda Castillo is the author of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling Kate Burkholder series, set in the world of the Amish. The first book, Sworn to Silence, was adapted into a Lifetime original movie titled An Amish Murder starring Neve Campbell as Kate Burkholder. Castillo is the recipient of numerous industry awards including a nomination by the International Thriller Writers for Best Hardcover, the Mystery Writers of America’s Sue Grafton Memorial Award, and an appearance on the Boston Globe’s shortlist for best crime novel. In addition to writing, Castillo’s other passion is horses. She lives in Texas with her husband and is currently at work on her next book.

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Enjoy the event and the discussion of the Kate Burkholder books.

Jeremy Bushnell visited The Poisoned Pen a month ago to discuss his latest book, Relentless Melt. The Webstore still has copies in stock if you’d like to order one. https://tinyurl.com/2p8k6tt

Bushnell has been popular recently at http://www.reviewingtheevidence.com.

There’s an enthusiastic review of Relentless Melt posted there. http://www.reviewingtheevidence.com/review.html?id=11876

He’s also the subject of one of their “60 Seconds” interviews. http://www.reviewingtheevidence.com/interviews.html?id=306

One more time, here’s the description of Relentless Melt.

“A supernatural mystery—part Stranger Things, part Enola Homes, but very much itself… This book is way, way over the top—and is sure to delight its intended audience.” — firstCLUE

Stranger Things meets the Golden Age of Detective fiction in a rollicking supernatural detective thriller that introduces Artie Quick, a sales assistant at Filene’s in Boston, who moonlights as an amateur detective.

The year is 1909, and Artie Quick—an ambitious, unorthodox and inquisitive young Bostonian—wants to learn about crime. By day she holds down a job as a salesgirl in women’s accessories at Filene’s; by night she disguises herself as a man to pursue studies in Criminal Investigation at the YMCA’s Evening Institute for Younger Men.  

Eager to put theory into practice, Artie sets out in search of something to investigate. She’s joined by her pal Theodore, an upper-crust young bachelor whose interest in Boston’s occult counterculture has drawn him into the study of magic. Together, their journey into mystery begins on Boston Common—where the tramps and the groundskeepers swap rumors about unearthly screams and other unsettling anomalies—but soon Artie and Theodore uncover a series of violent abductions that take them on an adventure from the highest corridors of power to the depths of an abandoned mass transit tunnel, its excavation suspiciously never completed.

Will Theodore ever manage to pull off a successful spell? Is Artie really wearing that men’s suit just for disguise or is there something more to it?  And what chance do two mixed-up young people stand up against the greatest horror Boston has ever known, an ancient, deranged evil that feeds on society’s most vulnerable?

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Jeremy P. Bushnell is the author of two earlier novels with Melville House: The Weirdness and The Insides. He teaches writing at Northeastern University in Boston, and lives in Dedham, Massachusetts. He is also the cofounder of Nonmachinable, a distributor of optically interesting zines and artists’ books.
 
His website: http://jeremypbushnell.com/

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You can still catch the video of his event for The Poisoned Pen.

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, and Patrick Millikin from the bookstore, recently welcomed a long-time friend, Michael McGarrity. McGarrity’s latest book, The Long Ago, is the current Hot Book of the Week. There are signed copies of the book available in the Webstore. https://tinyurl.com/2s3deujc

Here’s the description of The Long Ago.

A soldier returns home from Vietnam in the early 1960s to search for his missing sister in this gripping story of broken lives and a search for happiness.

Growing up in Montana, siblings Raymond and Barbara Lansdale held their chaotic world together through their shared childhood fantasy of The Long Ago: a distant place where happiness and tranquility reigned, far from the dysfunction at home. But imagination only goes so far. To escape his painful past, Ray joins the army and finds a career that gives him a sense of purpose and the promise of adventure.

Recent news of his kid sister’s disappearance brings Ray home on leave before beginning a stateside assignment almost certain to send him back into the jungles of Vietnam. Determined to find Barbara despite a police investigation that has led nowhere, Ray embarks on a relentless search that takes him from the majestic Montana ranchlands and glitter of Hollywood to the mean streets of L.A. and beyond. As time dwindles, he must confront his worst nightmare. What if Barbara’s search for The Long Ago ended in a shallow, unmarked grave, not in the carefree life she’d once so longed for and imagined?

A spin-off from McGarrity’s nationally best-selling Kevin Kerney family saga, The Long Ago is a richly crafted and enthralling story of grit, determination, and the enduring, restorative strength of love.

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Michael McGarrity is the author of the nationally best-selling Kevin Kerney crime novels, which he concluded in Head Wounds, and the acclaimed American West historical trilogy. A former psychotherapist and deputy sheriff, he lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

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Enjoy the conversation with Michael McGarrity.

Check out Michael McGarrity’s Hot Book of the Week at The Poisoned Pen. McGarrity appears at The Pen on Thursday, July 6 at 5 PM PDT. He’ll sign copies of The Long Ago. Signed copies are available through the Webstore. https://tinyurl.com/2s3deujc

Here’s the description of The Long Ago.

A soldier returns home from Vietnam in the early 1960s to search for his missing sister in this gripping story of broken lives and a search for happiness.

Growing up in Montana, siblings Raymond and Barbara Lansdale held their chaotic world together through their shared childhood fantasy of The Long Ago: a distant place where happiness and tranquility reigned, far from the dysfunction at home. But imagination only goes so far. To escape his painful past, Ray joins the army and finds a career that gives him a sense of purpose and the promise of adventure.

Recent news of his kid sister’s disappearance brings Ray home on leave before beginning a stateside assignment almost certain to send him back into the jungles of Vietnam. Determined to find Barbara despite a police investigation that has led nowhere, Ray embarks on a relentless search that takes him from the majestic Montana ranchlands and glitter of Hollywood to the mean streets of L.A. and beyond. As time dwindles, he must confront his worst nightmare. What if Barbara’s search for The Long Ago ended in a shallow, unmarked grave, not in the carefree life she’d once so longed for and imagined?

A spin-off from McGarrity’s nationally best-selling Kevin Kerney family saga, The Long Ago is a richly crafted and enthralling story of grit, determination, and the enduring, restorative strength of love.

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Michael McGarrity is the author of the nationally best-selling Kevin Kerney crime novels, which he concluded in Head Wounds, and the acclaimed American West historical trilogy. A former psychotherapist and deputy sheriff, he lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Patricia Cornwell recently hosted Barbara Butcher for a virtual event for The Poisoned Pen. Butcher’s nonfiction book is What the Dead Know: Learning About Life as a New York City Death Investigator. You can order a copy through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/3DdoqiN

Here’s the description of What the Dead Know.

A riveting, deeply personal memoir of more than twenty years of death-scene investigations by New York City death investigator Barbara Butcher.

Barbara Butcher was early in her recovery from alcoholism when she found an unexpected lifeline: a job at the Medical Examiner’s Office in New York City. The second woman ever hired for the role of Death Investigator in Manhattan, she was the first to last more than three months. The work was gritty, demanding, morbid, and sometimes dangerous – she loved it.

Butcher (yes, that is her real name, and she has heard all the jokes) spent day in and day out investigating double homicides, gruesome suicides, and most heartbreaking of all, underage rape victims who had also been murdered. In What the Dead Know, she writes with the kind of New York attitude and bravado you might expect from decades in the field, investigating more than 5,500 death scenes, 680 of which were homicides. In the opening chapter, she describes how just from sheer luck of having her arm in cast, she avoided a boobytrapped suicide. Later in her career, she describes working the nation’s largest mass murder, the attack on 9/11, where she and her colleagues initially relied on family members’ descriptions to help distinguish among the 21,900 body parts of the victims.

This is the fascinating and stunning real-life story of a woman who, in dealing with death every day, learned surprising lessons about life—and how some of those lessons saved her from becoming a statistic herself. Fans of Kathy Reichs, Patricia Cornwell, and true crime won’t be able to put it down.

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Barbara Butcher, MPH, was Chief of Staff and Director of the Forensic Sciences Training Program at the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner. She was responsible for overall agency management, strategy, and inter-agency relations. She lives in New York City.

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Enjoy the conversation.

Steve Berry and Grant Blackwood collaborated to write The 9th Man. Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, recently welcomed the authors for the virtual launch of The 9th Man. You can find signed copies of the book in the Webstore. https://bit.ly/431n2dv

Here’s the description of The 9th Man.

From New York Times bestselling author of the Cotton Malone series comes a thrilling, action-packed historical adventure that sends Luke Daniels on an international manhunt for the truth about the assassination of President John Kennedy.

Luke Daniels is in London, between assignments with the Magellan Billet, when he receives a frantic call from an old friend.  Jillian Stein is in trouble.  She made a mistake and now her life may be in danger.  She needs Luke’s help.  Immediately.  Racing to Belgium Luke quickly finds that she was right.  A shadow team of highly-trained operatives are there on the hunt.  Intervening, he finds himself embroiled in a war between two determined sides — one seeking the truth, the other trying to escape the past — a war that has already claimed one life and is about to claim more.   

Thomas Rowland is a Washington insider, a kingmaker, problem-solver, but also a man with a past.  For him everything turns with what happened on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas.  What history has recorded is wrong.  There is more to the story, much more, and Thomas Rowland is at the center of that terrible reality.  But forces are working against him, and Rowland will do anything to keep the world from learning what actually happened on that fateful day, including killing Luke, Jillian and anyone else who might be a threat. 

In a race from Belgium, to Luxembourg, to the bayous of Louisiana and the Wyoming wilderness, to a final confrontation in the Bahamas, Luke Daniels confronts a series of shocking truths which not only rewrite history but will forever change his own life — as he comes face to face with the ninth man.   

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Steve Berry is the New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author of seventeen Cotton Malone novels, five stand-alone thrillers, and several works of short fiction. He has 26 million books in print, translated into over 40 languages. With his wife, Elizabeth, he is the founder of History Matters, an organization dedicated to historical preservation. He serves as an emeritus member of the Smithsonian Libraries Advisory Board and was a founding member of International Thriller Writers, formerly serving as its co?president.

Grant Blackwood is the New York Times bestselling author of the Briggs Tanner series, (The End of Enemies, The Wall of Night, and An Echo of War), the co-author of the Fargo Adventure Series (Spartan Gold, Lost Empire, and The Kingdom) with Clive Cussler, as well as the co-author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, Dead or Alive, with Tom Clancy, and the new thriller, The Kill Switch, with James Rollins. A U. S. Navy veteran, Grant spent three years aboard a guided missile frigate as an Operations Specialist and a Pilot Rescue Swimmer. Grant lives in Arizona, where he is working his own standalone series starring a new hero.

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You’ll want to find out about the new series. Enjoy the event!

Mark Greaney was guest host when Joshua Hood appeared for a virtual event for The Poisoned Pen. Hood’s latest book, The Guardian, is the first in a new military series. There are signed copies of The Guardian available through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/44qQPgF

Here’s the summary of The Guardian.

From the “master of action” (Publishers Weekly) and USA Today bestselling author of Robert Ludlum’s Treadstone series comes a new thriller as intense and fast paced as The Bourne Identity.

As a member of the elite Air Force Pararescue, Travis Lane abides by the motto “These things we do, that others may live.” After an injury forces him to consider retirement, he is blindsided when his brother-in-law is killed in the line of duty, leaving Lane as the sole support for his sister and the family farm they can no longer afford.

Desperate for something to help them keep the farm, Lane accepts an offer to join Broadside Solutions, a private company with specially trained military operatives who provide protection for clients all over the world. But it’s trial by fire when his first mission takes him to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to find and retrieve a kidnapped American in the middle of a densely forested jungle.

Infused with the author’s own experience as a parachute infantryman, this high-octane thriller throws the reader deep into the African jungle on a rescue mission where nothing is as it seems.

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Joshua Hood joined the army after graduating with an English degree from the University of Memphis and served as a squad leader with the 1-508th Parachute Infantry Regiment in Afghanistan, where he was decorated for valor in Operation Furious Pursuit. A former SWAT team member with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department in Memphis, Tennessee, he is a USA Today bestselling author of several books, including Robert Ludlum’s Treadstone series. He lives in Collierville, Tennessee, with his wife and two children.

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Enjoy the conversation about writing and Hood’s latest book, The Guardian.