Kristina McMorris & The Ways We Hide

John Charles recently welcomed Kristina McMorris, author of The Ways We Hide, to The Poisoned Pen. There are signed copies of the book in the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3Bda9RB

Here’s the description of The Ways We Hide.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Sold On A Monday—over a million copies sold!—comes a sweeping World War II tale of an illusionist whose recruitment by British intelligence sets her on a perilous, heartrending path.

As a little girl raised amid the hardships of Michigan’s Copper Country, Fenna Vos learned to focus on her own survival. That ability sustains her even now as the Second World War rages in faraway countries. Though she performs onstage as the assistant to an unruly escape artist, behind the curtain she’s the mastermind of their act. Ultimately, controlling her surroundings and eluding traps of every kind helps her keep a lingering trauma at bay.

Yet for all her planning, Fenna doesn’t foresee being called upon by British military intelligence. Tasked with designing escape aids to thwart the Germans, MI9 seeks those with specialized skills for a war nearing its breaking point. Fenna reluctantly joins the unconventional team as an inventor. But when a test of her loyalty draws her deep into the fray, she discovers no mission is more treacherous than escaping one’s past. 

Inspired by stunning true accounts, The Ways We Hide is a gripping story of love and loss, the wars we fight—on the battlefields and within ourselves—and the courage found in unexpected places.

The Queen’s Gambit meets The Alice Network in this epic, action-packed novel of family, loss, and one woman’s journey to save all she holds dear?including freedom itself.” ?Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author of The Forest of Vanishing Stars


Kristina McMorris is a New York Times bestselling author of two novellas and six novels, including the runaway bestseller Sold on a Monday. Initially inspired by her grandparents’ WWII courtship letters, her works of fiction have garnered more than twenty national literary awards. Prior to her writing career, she owned a wedding-and-event planning company until she had far surpassed her limit of YMCA and chicken dances. She also worked as a weekly TV-show host for Warner Bros. and an ABC affiliate, beginning at age nine with an Emmy Award-winning program. A graduate of Pepperdine University, she lives near Portland, Oregon, where (ironically) she’s entirely deficient of a green thumb and doesn’t own a single umbrella.


McMorris talks about her new book, and the inspiration for the book in the event.

Deanna Raybourn & Killers of a Certain Age

John Charles recently hosted Deanna Raybourn at The Poisoned Pen when she appeared to discuss her delightful new book, Killers of a Certain Age. There are copies of the book, a former Hot Book of the Week at The Pen, available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3eKo4XB

Here’s the summary of Killers of a Certain Age.

Older women often feel invisible, but sometimes that’s their secret weapon.

They’ve spent their lives as the deadliest assassins in a clandestine international organization, but now that they’re sixty years old, four women friends can’t just retire ““ it’s kill or be killed in this action-packed thriller by New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award-nominated author Deanna Raybourn.

Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie have worked for the Museum, an elite network of assassins, for forty years. Now their talents are considered old-school and no one appreciates what they have to offer in an age that relies more on technology than people skills.

When the foursome is sent on an all-expenses paid vacation to mark their retirement, they are targeted by one of their own. Only the Board, the top-level members of the Museum, can order the termination of field agents, and the women realize they’ve been marked for death.

Now to get out alive they have to turn against their own organization, relying on experience and each other to get the job done, knowing that working together is the secret to their survival. They’re about to teach the Board what it really means to be a woman—and a killer—of a certain age.


Deanna Raybourn is the New York Times bestselling author of the Edgar Award”“nominated Veronica Speedwell Mysteries, as well as the Lady Julia Grey series and several stand-alone works.


2022 Anthony Award Winners

The final awards presented at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention are the Anthony Awards, named for Anthony Boucher, well-known writer and critic. Check the Web Store for the winning books. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Congratulations to the 2022 Anthony Award winners.

Best Novel

Razorblade Tears by S. A. Cosby 

Best First Novel

Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala 

Best Paperback/Ebook/Audiobook Oriignal

Bloodline by Jess Lourey

Best Anthology

This Time for Sure: Bouchercon Anthology 2021, Edited by Hank Phillippi Ryan

Best Short Story

“Not My Cross to Bear” by S.A. Cosby

Best Critical/Non-Fiction

How to Write a Mystery: A Handbook from Mystery Writers of America edited by Lee Child with Laurie R. King 

Best Children’s/Young Adult

I Play One on TV by Alan S. Orloff

Mike Lupica discusses Robert B. Parker’s Fallout

Patrick Millikin recently welcomed Mike Lupica for a virtual event to discuss the latest Jesse Stone novel, Robert B. Parker’s Fallout. Millikin provides all the background for the writers who picked up Parker’s various series. You can find signed copies of Robert B. Parker’s Fallout in the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3B6CJEf

Here’s the summary of Fallout.

When two seemingly unconnected mysterious deaths occur on his watch, police chief Jesse Stone must pull out all the stops to unravel the truth and stop a killer from striking again.

The small town of Paradise is devastated when a star high-school baseball player is found dead at the bottom of a bluff just a day after winning the team’s biggest game. For Jesse, the loss is doubly difficult—the teen was the nephew of his colleague, Suitcase Simpson, and Jesse had been coaching the young shortstop. As he searches for answers about how the boy died and why, he is stonewalled at every turn, and it seems that someone is determined to keep him from digging further.

Jesse suddenly must divide his attention between two cases after the shocking murder of former Paradise police chief, Charlie Farrell. Before his death, Farrell had been looking into a series of scam calls that preyed upon the elderly. But how do these “ghost calls” connect to his murder? When threats—and gunshots—appear on Jesse’s own doorstep, the race to find answers is on. Both old and new enemies come into play, and in the end, Jesse and his team must discover the common factor between the two deaths in order to prevent a third.


Robert B. Parker was the author of seventy books, including the legendary Spenser detective series, the novels featuring Chief Jesse Stone, and the acclaimed Virgil Cole/Everett Hitch westerns, as well as the Sunny Randall novels. Winner of the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award and long considered the undisputed dean of American crime fiction, he died in January 2010.
Mike Lupica is a prominent sports journalist and the New York Times bestselling author of more than forty works of fiction and nonfiction, including cowritten novels with James Patterson. A longtime friend to Robert B. Parker, he was selected by the Parker estate to continue the Sunny Randall and Jesse Stone series.


Enjoy the event as Mike Lupica talks about the world of Robert B. Parker.

Barry Awards 2022

It’s that time of years when various crime fiction awards are announced. The Barry Awards, voted on by the readers of Deadly Pleasures magazine, were announced this week at the annual Bouchercon World Mystery Convention. Check the Web Store for the books. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Congratulations to all of the winners.

Best Mystery/Crime Novel

RAZORBLADE TEARS, S. A. Cosby (Flatiron Books)

Best First Mystery/Crime Novel

SLEEPING BEAR, Connor Sullivan (Emily Bestler/Atria)

Best Paperback Original

THE GOOD TURN, Dervla McTiernan (Blackstone)

Best Thriller

FIVE DECEMBERS, James Kestrel (HardCase Crime)

Macavity Awards 2022

The Macavity Awards were presented at Bouchercon on Thursday, Sept. 22. Congratulations to all of the winners! Check for the books in the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

BEST MYSTERY NOVEL

Razorblade Tears by S. A. Cosby (Flatiron Books) 

BEST FIRST MYSTERY NOVEL

Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala (Berkley)

BEST MYSTERY SHORT STORY

“Sweeps Week,” by Richard Helms (EQMM, July/August 2021)

BEST NONFICTION/CRITICAL

How to Write a Mystery: A Handbook from Mystery Writers of America edited by Lee Child with Laurie R. King (Scribner)

BEST HISTORICAL MYSTERY: Sue Feder Memorial Award

Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara (Soho Crime) 

Mike Maden & Clive Cussler’s Hellburner

Clive Cussler’s Hellburner is the most recent Oregon Files novel. Mike Maden, author of that book, recently appeared at The Poisoned Pen, and he signed copies of the book. You can order signed copies of Clive Cussler’s Hellburner through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3qjY0p6

Here’s the description of Clive Cussler’s Hellburner.

Juan Cabrillo and the crew of the Oregon must track down a nuclear torpedo before it unleashes World War III in this electrifying new installment of the #1 New York Times bestselling series.

    When Juan Cabrillo fails to capture the leader of Mexico’s most dangerous drug cartel and loses an Oregon crew member in the process, he’s determined to get revenge. Little does he know that the explosion he just narrowly escaped was merely the latest flash of violence from a machine of war that has existed for decades, dating from the bloodiest episode in Armenia’s history.

    Cabrillo’s Corporation of mercenaries may have finally met its match in The Pipeline—a criminal syndicate passed down from father to son across generations. A group that sits with its finger on the trigger of a torpedo so deadly it could level entire cities. With millions of innocent civilians hanging in the balance, the Oregon‘s crew must unravel a tangle of drug-smuggling routes and international conspiracies spanning from the Aegean Sea to the Indian Ocean, putting their lives on the line to find the weapon before its countdown hits zero.


Clive Cussler was the author of more than eighty books in five bestselling series, including Dirk Pitt®, NUMA Files®, Oregon Files®, Isaac Bell®, and Sam and Remi Fargo®. His life nearly paralleled that of his hero Dirk Pitt. Whether searching for lost aircraft or leading expeditions to find famous shipwrecks, he and his NUMA crew of volunteers discovered and surveyed more than seventy-five lost ships of historic significance, including the long-lost Civil War submarine Hunley, which was raised in 2000 with much publicity. Like Pitt, Cussler collected classic automobiles. His collection featured more than one hundred examples of custom coachwork. Cussler passed away in February 2020.

Mike Maden is the author of the critically acclaimed Drone series and four novels in Tom Clancy’s #1 New York Times bestselling Jack Ryan Jr. series. He holds both a master’s and Ph.D. in political science from the University of California at Davis, specializing in international relations and comparative politics. He has lectured and consulted on the topics of war and the Middle East, among others. Maden has served as a political consultant and campaign manager in state and national elections, and hosted his own local weekly radio show for a year.


Mike Maden talks about Juan Cabrillo, drones, adventure, and future warfare in this latest event.

Craig Johnson, Longmire & Hell and Back

Craig Johnson is such a storyteller that you can listen to him talk about all kinds of subjects, including “Longmire” as well as his new book Hell and Back. He appeared at The Poisoned Pen, so there are signed copies of Hell and Back available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3cOlJue

Here’s the description of Hell and Back.

A new novel in the beloved New York Times bestselling Longmire series.

What if you woke up lying in the middle of the street in the infamous town of Fort Pratt, Montana, where thirty young Native boys perished in a tragic 1896 boarding-school fire? What if every person you encountered in that endless night was dead? What if you were covered in blood and missing a bullet from the gun holstered on your hip? What if there was something out there in the yellowed skies, along with the deceased and the smell of ash and dust, something the Northern Cheyenne refer to as the Éveohtsé-heómÄ—se, the Wandering Without, the Taker of Souls? What if the only way you know who you are is because your name is printed in the leather sweatband of your cowboy hat, and what if it says your name is Walt Longmire . . . but you don’t remember him?

In Hell and Back, the eighteenth installment of the Longmire series, author Craig Johnson takes the beloved sheriff to the very limits of his sanity to do battle with the most dangerous adversary he’s ever faced: himself.


Craig Johnson is the New York Times bestselling author of the Longmire mysteries, the basis for the hit Netflix original series Longmire. He is the recipient of the Western Writers of America Spur Award for fiction and the Mountain & Plains Independent Booksellers Association’s Reading the West Book Award for fiction. His novella Spirit of Steamboat was the first One Book Wyoming selection. He lives in Ucross, Wyoming, population 25.


Craig Johnson talks about television, books, history, actually, anything that comes to mind.

The Hugo Awards

Congratulations to the winners of the Hugo Awards.The Hugo Awards are annual awards for the best science fiction and fantasy works of the previous year. Here’s a short list of some of the winners. Check for the books in the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Best Novel

  • ***A Desolation Called Peace, by Arkady Martine (Tor)
  • The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, by Becky Chambers (Harper Voyager / Hodder & Stoughton)
  • Light From Uncommon Stars, by Ryka Aoki (Tor)
  • A Master of Djinn, by P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom / Orbit UK)
  • Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir (Ballantine / Del Rey)
  • She Who Became the Sun, by Shelley Parker-Chan (Tor / Mantle)

Best Novella

  • Across the Green Grass Fields, by Seanan McGuire (Tordotcom)
  • Elder Race, by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tordotcom)
  • Fireheart Tiger, by Aliette de Bodard (Tordotcom)
  • The Past Is Red, by Catherynne M. Valente (Tordotcom)
  • ****A Psalm for the Wild-Built, by Becky Chambers (Tordotcom)
  • A Spindle Splintered, by Alix E. Harrow (Tordotcom)

Best Series

  • The Green Bone Saga, by Fonda Lee (Orbit)
  • The Kingston Cycle, by C. L. Polk (Tordotcom)
  • Merchant Princes, by Charles Stross (Tor UK / Tor)
  • Terra Ignota, by Ada Palmer (Tor Books)
  • ***Wayward Children, by Seanan McGuire (Tordotcom)
  • The World of the White Rat, by T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon) (Argyll Productions)

Best Graphic Story or Comic

  • DIE, vol. 4: Bleed, written by Kieron Gillen, art by Stephanie Hans, lettering by Clayton Cowles (Image)
  • ***Far Sector, written by N.K. Jemisin, art by Jamal Campbell (DC)
  • Lore Olympus, vol. 1, by Rachel Smythe (Del Rey)
  • Monstress, vol. 6: The Vow, written by Marjorie Liu, art by Sana Takeda (Image)
  • Once & Future, vol. 3: The Parliament of Magpies, written by Kieron Gillen, illustrated by Dan Mora, colored by Tamra Bonvillain (BOOM!)
  • Strange Adventures, written by Tom King, art by Mitch Gerads and Evan “Doc” Shaner (DC)

Best Related Work

  • Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman’s Fight to End Ableism, by Elsa Sjunneson (Tiller Press)
  • The Complete Debarkle: Saga of a Culture War, by Camestros Felapton (Camestros Felapton)
  • Dangerous Visions and New Worlds: Radical Science Fiction, 1950 to 1985, edited by Andrew Nette and Iain McIntyre (PM Press)
  • “How Twitter can ruin a life”, by Emily St. James (Vox, Jun 2021)
  • ***Never Say You Can’t Survive, by Charlie Jane Anders (Tordotcom)
  • True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee, by Abraham Riesman (Crown)

Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book (not a Hugo)

  • Chaos on CatNet, by Naomi Kritzer (Tor Teen)
  • Iron Widow, by Xiran Jay Zhao (Penguin Teen / Rock the Boat)
  • ***The Last Graduate, by Naomi Novik (Del Rey Books)
  • Redemptor, by Jordan Ifueko (Amulet Books / Hot Key Books)
  • A Snake Falls to Earth, by Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido)
  • Victories Greater Than Death, by Charlie Jane Anders (Tor Teen / Titan)

Laurie R. King & Back to the Garden

Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Laurie R. King recently introduced her new novel and new character at The Poisoned Pen. You can order a signed copy of Back to the Garden through the Web Store. https://tinyurl.com/2s3rajt7

Here’s the description of Back to the Garden.

A fifty-year-old cold case involving California royalty comes back to life—with potentially fatal consequences—in this gripping standalone novel from the New York Times bestselling author of the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series.

A magnificent house, vast formal gardens, a golden family that shaped California, and a colorful past filled with now-famous artists: the Gardener Estate was a twentieth-century Eden.

And now, just as the Estate is preparing to move into a new future, restoration work on some of its art digs up a grim relic of the home’s past: a human skull, hidden away for decades.

Inspector Raquel Laing has her work cut out for her. Fifty years ago, the Estate’s young heir, Rob Gardener, turned his palatial home into a counterculture commune of peace, love, and equality. But that was also a time when serial killers preyed on innocents—monsters like The Highwayman, whose case has just surged back into the public eye.

Could the skull belong to one of his victims?

To Raquel—a woman who knows all about colorful pasts—the bones clearly seem linked to The Highwayman. But as she dives into the Estate’s archives to look for signs of his presence, what she unearths begins to take on a dark reality all of its own.

Everything she finds keeps bringing her back to Rob Gardener himself. While he might be a gray-haired recluse now, back then he was a troubled young Vietnam vet whose girlfriend vanished after a midsummer festival at the Estate.

But a lot of people seem to have disappeared from the Gardener Estate that summer when the commune mysteriously fell apart: a young woman, her child, and Rob’s brother, Fort.

The pressure is on, and Raquel needs to solve this case—before The Highwayman slips away, or another Gardener vanishes.


Laurie R. King is the award-winning, bestselling author of seventeen Mary Russell mysteries, five contemporary novels featuring Kate Marinelli, and many acclaimed standalone novels such as Folly, Touchstone, The Bones of Paris, and Lockdown. King is an Edgar Award winner and was also named the 2022 Grand Master by Mystery Writers of America. She lives in Northern California, where she is at work on her next Mary Russell mystery.


Enjoy the recent event as Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, welcomes Laurie R. King back to the bookstore.