Jen Johans from The Poisoned Pen recently welcomed Lina Chern for a virtual event at the bookstore. Cherm’s first book featuring Katie True, Play the Fool, is the winner of the Mary Higgins Clark Award. Chern’s sequel is Tricks of Fortune. There are copies available in the Webstore. https://bit.ly/4lH1exu
Here’s the description of Tricks of Fortune.
Tarot card reader extraordinaire Katie True gets embroiled in another local murder when her best friend becomes the prime suspect in this exciting mystery from the Edgar Award-winning author of Play the Fool.
“A delicious blend of suspense and madcap humor.”—Library Journal, starred review of Play the Fool
Katie True has gotten her crap together. . . sort of. Now that the sinister events of the past year have wound down, Katie has finally made her dream come true and opened her own tarot reading room—even if it’s in her sister’s old real estate office in an outdoor strip mall. It’s a good start, but her momentum grinds to a halt when the murder of beloved veteran police officer, Matthew Peterson, shakes her and her small community to the core.
Katie is torn. Lieutenant Peterson had saved her life as a child and holds a special place in her past. Even worse, her closest friend Gina—who knows Katie better than she knows herself—is the primary suspect.
As the investigation unfolds, the details surrounding Peterson’s death become increasingly murky, as does Gina’s innocence. All Katie knows is that following her intuition has gotten her this far. But will her trusty tarot deck help her when the truth about the people she loves is too terrible to face?
Lina Chern’s debut mystery novel, Play the Fool, won the 2024 Mary Higgins Clark Award and was nominated for the 2024 Lefty and Anthony Awards. Her shorter work has appeared in Mystery Weekly, The Marlboro Review, The Bellingham Review, Black Fox Literary Magazine, and The Coil. She lives in the Chicago area with her family.
Enjoy the conversation with Lina Chern as she discusses tarot and her books.
The Poisoned Pen Bookstore is closed today for July 4. That doesn’t mean you can’t reach the bookstore. You can check out the Webstore twenty-four hours a day at https://store.poisonedpen.com/.
Are you looking for books to read this summer? John Charles at The Poisoned Pen put together a program featuring Barbara Peters, owner of the bookstore, along with himself and three authors, Allison Brennan, Jenn McKinlay and Christina Estes who have suggestions for you. Check the Webstore for the titles they recommend. https://store.poisonedpen.com/
And, now, check out the event via the bookstore’s YouTube page.
While I shared the video last week featuring Megan Abbott talking about her latest book, El Dorado Drive, now we have Oline Cogdill’s review from the South Florida Sun Sentinel. You an still order a signed copy from The Poisoned Pen’s Webstore. https://bit.ly/4kopK5s
Thank you, Oline.
Book review: Money and suspense fuel Abbott’s ‘El Dorado Drive’
‘El Dorado Drive’ by Megan Abbott. Putnam, 368 pages, $30
Money — or rather, the lack of it — drives the three Bishop sisters, Debra, Pam and Harper, in “El Dorado Drive,” Megan Abbott’s intelligent, character-driven thriller that spins on the suspense that infiltrates family dynamics.
Abbott is among the smartest of mystery writers, intuitively exploring women’s issues with a view to the universality of these situations, which she brings to the riveting “El Dorado Drive.” She succinctly looks at how the heedless pursuit of money can be soul-numbing, while also exploring the varieties of regret.
The Butler sisters, who grew up in the affluent town of Grosse Pointe, Michigan, were used to the privilege that wealth brings, until the money dwindled after their father lost his job, then died. Debra and Pam married well — very well — until their money ran out because of their husbands’ medical issues, unpaid taxes, bad investments and deadbeat ways. Harper, the one sister who didn’t marry or have children, also is in debt to an unscrupulous creditor. The decline of the auto industry and the economic downturn of 2008, the setting of “El Dorado Drive,” exacerbated their financial problems.
Abbott shows how the illusion of wealth and the appearance that they can afford anything drives the sisters. As savvy and worldly as they may seem, the sisters also are naïve about money, making them ripe for a scam.
Enter “the Wheel,” a secret project started by an acquaintance that purports to be an all-female “circle of giving.” Members contribute an initial $5,000, then attend twice a month parties where they are assured of a windfall. So much money will come to each member that it will be life changing.
Most people would recognize this as a scheme that eventually will fall apart. “It’s not a pyramid,” says one character. “It’s a triangle . . . There’s no hierarchy in triangles.” The Wheel is always “moving,” it’s explained. No one ever stays at the top or at the bottom but always moving throughout the “triangle.”
Of course it’s a pyramid scheme, where success depends on how many other women can be recruited. No taxes, no money trail, just a regular windfall that’s attractive, but, “money ain’t free,” as a character says.
The women also are attracted by the idea of female empowerment, especially since all their money woes can be attributed to the men in their lives. The women are warned to be discreet so that no one suspects where the money is coming from. But instead of paying bills or getting the roof repaired, some can’t help falling back to indiscriminate spending, flaunting renewed wealth with fur coats, high-end purses, luxury cars (even leasing one).
As one character says: “Things can get pretty complicated pretty fast when money’s involved. People have a tendency to get attached.”
At the beginning of “El Dorado Drive,” Abbott reveals that one sister is murdered; of course money is involved.
Abbott skillfully mines the characters’ shallowness while also showing their humanity, the depth of their desperation and how that can lead to bad decisions, and the sisters’ sincere love for each other. Abbott makes the reader empathize and sympathize with her characters. A mother throws an elaborate party for her high school graduate, but isn’t sure how she will pay for his college tuition. Another scrapes together the Wheel’s entry fee but sacrifices paying her daughter’s SAT prep tutor.
The sense of danger simmers below the surface of “El Dorado Drive” as Abbott’s superb plotting and character studies keep the story on point, making this one of the best novels of the year.
Enjoy The Poisoned Pen’s YouTube video with Megan Abbott and Barbara Peters and Jen Johans from the bookstore.
It’s hard to believe it’s time for Deb Lewis’ book picks for July. Although each review should have a link to the Webstore, you can always check the Webstore at https://store.poisonedpen.com/.
For fans of Netflix’s hit SIRENS, follow writer Chloe Hughes as she sinks deeper under the influence of model, socialite, and influencer Clara Holland. Unreliable narrator fans, dig right in!
The newest installment of the Edgar Award winning series featuring Chief of Police Kate Burkholder. I look forward to my yearly trips to Painter’s Mill and this installment delivers with tough gal Kate and all of her 5 man crew on the case of a baffling double homicide. Where else can you find a police procedural, newly wed love and insight into Amish culture? Signed copies available .
Readers who liked recent hits A Most Agreeable Murder and How To Solve Your Own Murder will love this darkly humorous, twisty and light hearted debut mystery set in 1960’s coastal Maine. Each chapter starts with a rule of etiquette from the 60’s and it’s great fun to follow amateur sleuth Billie McCadie as she unravels blackmail, murder, lobster and Jello Salad.
Perfect beachside read for noir-fans! This paperback original follows two small town crooks who get in over their heads: and is a fast paced romp with betrayal, kidnapping, double-dealing and tested loyalties. Wear your sunglasses while reading this one!
Influencers are becoming the norm in our daily life and this thriller takes a look at what happens when one disappears suddenly after inviting her former best friend to write a profile piece about her. Investigating a disappearance is much harder when everything you know about the victim is a lie….paperback original format meant to be read in one big gulp.
Thriller fans, rejoice! Kyle Mills has brought back fan-favorite hero Fade—presumed dead—just in time to tackle one of the deadliest crises our planet could face. If you like your hero fearless, conflicted, and a bad-boy ex-Navy SEAL, dive in. This one doesn’t disappoint and marks the beginning of an exciting new series!
This is planning ahead. Dana Stabenow’s recent newsletter revealed the cover of her forthcoming book, The Harvey Girl. It comes out on Feb. 24, 2026, but it’s already available to pre-order signed copies through The Poisoned Pen. Here’s Stabenow’s note.
Ta dah! Here it is in all its blinding glory, courtesy of editor Greg Rees at Head of Zeus. We launch it at the Poisoned Pen on February 28, 2026. Click through the image above to pre-order your copy, or click here to do same. And here’s a teensy excerpt just for you…
“You won’t be entirely on your own, Miss Wright.”
“No?”
“No. I have hired some, well, you might call it freelance assistance. They are already in place in Montaña Roja.”
Clare felt a sense of foreboding. “Is this freelance help named?”
He told her, and she closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them again she noticed Pinkerton looking particularly smug.
He really must think she would get herself killed this time.
Here’s the summary of the book.
From the award-winning author of the Kate Shugak Mysteries, a thrilling new detective series set during America’s wild boom time and frontier expansion of the nineteenth century.
WELCOME TO THE GILDED AGE. WHERE NOT EVERYTHING GLITTERS.
1890: the Gilded Age, a period of financial success and political corruption. The United States is growing at a breathless rate, with six new states recently added to the Union.
With expansion comes an influx of crime. Outlaw gangs hold sway on the frontier and heists and robberies are commonplace. A lot of businesses shrug off these depredations as the cost of success. Those who don’t hire the Pinkerton Detective Agency to get their money back.
The Pinkertons’ newest operative is twenty-two-year-old Clare Wright. Highly educated, skilled with disguises, and handy enough in a fight, Clare’s future in the agency seems bright. But when she’s introduced to Fred Harvey, she finds herself thrown right into the heady mix of frontier life.
Harvey’s New Mexico hotel has been robbed and Clare is the perfect recruit to solve this mystery. Clare must infiltrate high society and win the confidence of killers like Butch Cassidy as she seeks the truth.
‘Let me recommend Dana Stabenow’ Diana Gabaldon
Dana Stabenow was born in Anchorage, Alaska and raised on a 75-foot fishing tender. She knew there was a warmer, drier job out there somewhere and found it in writing. Her first book in the bestselling Kate Shugak series, A Cold Day for Murder, received an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America.
I would love to share the entire article from Publishers Weekly, “20 Years In, ThrillerFest Mixes Escapism with Engagement” by Lenny Picker. But, I don’t want to violate copyright. Instead, I’m going to share the section that mentions Barbara Peters and The Poisoned Pen Bookstore.
20 YEARS OF THRILLS
David Morrell and fellow ITW cofounder Gayle Lynds spoke with PW about ITW’s humble beginnings and two-decade journey. Lynds credited Barbara Peters, of the Poisoned Pen bookstore and press, with first putting together the conference of thriller writers two decades ago. The conference, along with Lynds and Morrell, featured the authors Lee Child, Clive Cussler, Vince Flynn, and Kathy Reichs.
“It was a wonderful writing conference, with outstanding authors teaching,” Lynds said. “Interestingly, instead of the attendees being dominantly aspiring writers, which all of us had expected, readers came, too—and outnumbered the writers.” That, for Lynds, was the “ah-ha moment. For the first time, we had evidence that readers wanted thriller gatherings, as did we writers. Those of us there talked seriously about starting an organization, which David and I agreed to honcho, and we became co-presidents.” She recalled it as “a wonderful, fascinating, busy time.”
Asked about the role ITW and ThrillerFest play in the business, Lynds responded that, when it began, “although thriller novels often filled bestseller lists, panels about thriller writing were seldom offered at writing conferences, and writing organizations seldom honored thriller novels with awards. So, from their beginning, ITW worked to integrate thrillers into conferences and to draw attention to our field as worthy to receive awards.” To date, Lynds said, “ITW’s growth has been amazing, and inspiring. Any time you start something, you can never be sure how it will turn out I’m proud of all the writers we’ve helped better their craft; the opportunities we’ve given writers to talk face-to-face with agents, publishers, and media people; and the writers who have worked so hard to write top-notch novels and can say ITW helped them in many ways.”
Morrell also recalled that initial gathering in Scottsdale, at the famed Arizona Biltmore hotel.”It occurred to everyone that we were mostly thriller authors at a mystery store event,” he told PW. “Gayle and I began to wonder about an organization for thriller writers. After a year of phone calls and help from many, many people, International Thriller Writers was born.”
Morrell admitted that he is surprised at what ThrillerFest has evolved into in 2025: “Membership and attendance have grown amazingly, as ITW provides a community for thriller writers, encourages new authors, and explores the possibilities of what thrillers can be.” He credited “the generous support of ITW’s members, their officers, committees, event volunteers, and anthology contributors. A lot of people give their time and enthusiasm to help one another and the thriller-author community. Our books may be filled with mayhem, but at ThrillerFest, there are a lot of smiles.”
Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, welcomed authors Meg Waite Clayton and Laura Dave for a virtual event. Laura, author of The Night We Lost Him, acted as guest host as Clayton previewed her forthcoming book, Typewriter Beach.Typewriter Beach will be released July 1, but you can order signed copies through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/444lsvd
Here is the description of Typewriter Beach.
Set in Carmel-by-the-Sea and Hollywood, Typewriter Beach is an unforgettable story of the unlikely friendship between an Oscar-nominated screenwriter and a young actress hoping to be Alfred Hitchcock’s new star.
1957. Isabella Giori is ten months into a standard seven-year studio contract when she auditions with Hitchcock. Just weeks later, she is sequestered by the studio’s “fixer” in a tiny Carmel cottage, waiting and dreading.
Meanwhile, next door, Léon Chazan is annoyed as hell when Iz interrupts his work on yet another screenplay he won’t be able to sell, because he’s been blacklisted. Soon, they’re together in his roadster, speeding down the fog-shrouded Big Sur coast.
2018. Twenty-six-year-old screenwriter Gemma Chazan, in Carmel to sell her grandfather’s cottage, finds a hidden safe full of secrets—raising questions about who the screenwriter known simply as Chazan really was, and whether she can live up to his name.
In graceful prose and with an intimate understanding of human nature, Meg Waite Clayton captures the joys and frustrations of being a writer, being a woman, being a star, and being in love. Typewriter Beach is the story of two women separated by generations—a tale of ideas and ideals, passion and persistence, creativity, politics, and family.
Meg Waite Clayton is the New York Times bestselling author of eight previous novels, including the Good Morning America Buzz Pick and New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice The Postmistress of Paris,The Last Train to London, and The Wednesday Sisters. Her books have been published in twenty-four languages, and have been finalists for the Bellwether Prize (now the PEN Bellwether), the National Jewish Book Award, and the Langum Prize. She also writes for major newspapers and magazines, mentors in the OpEd Project, and is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and the California bar. She lives in California and Connecticut.
Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, recently welcomed Megan Abbott to the bookstore to talk about her new book, El Dorado Drive, and movies. You can order a signed copy of the book through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/4ndKNKF
Here’s the description of El Dorado Drive.
Named a Best Book of Summer by The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, The New York Times, CrimeReads, and more!
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Turnout comes a simmering, atmospheric novel of friendship and betrayal, following a women-led pyramid scheme in suburban Detroit.
“Abbott is a superstar of the suspense genre.” —NPR
All I want is to be innocent again. But that’s not how it works. Especially not after the Wheel.
The three Bishop sisters grew up in privilege in the moneyed suburbs of Detroit. But as the auto industry declined, so did their fortunes. Harper, the youngest, is barely making ends meet when her beloved, charismatic sister Pam—currently in the middle of a contentious battle with her ex-husband—and her eldest sister, Debra, approach her about joining an exciting new club.
The Wheel offers women like themselves—middle-aged and of declining means—a way to make their own money, independent of husbands or families. Quickly, however, the Wheel’s success, and their own addiction to it, leads to greater and greater risks—and a crime so shocking it threatens to bring everything down with it.
Megan Abbott turns her keen eye toward women and money in El Dorado Drive, a riveting story about power, vulnerability, and how desperation draws out our most destructive impulses.
Megan Abbott is the Edgar award-winning author of eleven crime novels, including You Will Know Me, Give Me Your Hand and the New York Times bestseller The Turnout, the winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. She received her Ph.D. in English and American literature from New York University and her writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, the Paris Review and the Wall Street Journal. Dare Me, the series she adapted from her own novel, now streaming on Netflix. Her latest novel, Beware the Woman, is now in paperback.
The International Thriller Writers (ITW) recently announced the 2025 Thriller Award Winners. Congratulations to the winners and nominees. Check out the Webstore for copies of the books by the winners. https://store.poisonedpen.com/
Here are the winners.
Best Standalone Thriller Novel Jason Rekulak – THE LAST ONE AT THE WEDDING, Flatiron Books
Best Standalone Mystery Novel Kellye Garrett – MISSING WHITE WOMAN, Mulholland Books
Best Series Novel David Baldacci – TO DIE FOR, Grand Central Publishing
Best First Novel Marie Tierney – DEADLY ANIMALS, Henry Holt & Co.
Best Audiobook Kate Alice Marshall – NO ONE CAN KNOW, Macmillan Audio, narrated by Karissa Vacker
Best Young Adult Novel Marisha Pessl – DARKLY, Delacorte
Best Short Story Ivy Pochoda – Jackrabbit Skin, Amazon Original Stories
Also receiving special recognition during the ThrillerFest XX Awards Banquet:
