Fiction Review

Patrick Millikin recently welcomed Ramona Emerson to The Poisoned Pen, along with author and guest host Deborah J. Ledford. Emerson’s latest book, Exposure, is the sequel to her National Book Award longlisted novel, Shutter. There are signed copies of Exposure in the Webstore. https://bit.ly/3ZPg3X7

Here’s the description of Exposure.

In the follow-up to the National Book Award–longlisted Shutter, Navajo forensic photographer Rita Todacheene grapples with a fanatical serial killer—and the ghosts he leaves behind.

A dual-voice cat-and-mouse thriller, told from the points of view of a killer who has created his own deadly religion and the only person who can stop him, an embattled young detective who sees the ghosts of his Native victims.

In Gallup, New Mexico, where violent crime is five times the national average, a serial killer is operating unchecked, his targets indigent Native people whose murders are easily disguised as death by exposure on the frigid winter streets. He slips unnoticed through town, hidden in plain sight by his unassuming nature, while the voices in his head guide him toward a terrifying vision of glory. As the Gallup detectives struggle to put the pieces together, they consider calling in a controversial specialist to help.

Rita Todacheene, Albuquerque PD forensic photographer, is at a crisis point in her career. Her colleagues are watching her with suspicion after the recent revelation that she can see the ghosts of murder victims. Her unmanageable caseload is further complicated by the fact that half the department has blacklisted her for ratting out a corrupt fellow cop. And back home in Tohatchi on the Navajo reservation, Rita’s grandma is getting older. Maybe it’s time for her to leave policework behind entirely—if only the ghosts will let her . . .

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Ramona Emerson is a Diné writer and filmmaker originally from Tohatchi, New Mexico. Her debut novel, Shutter, was longlisted for the National Book Award and the Bram Stoker Award, nominated for the Edgar for Best First Novel, a finalist for the PEN America Open Book Award, the PEN/Hemingway Award, and the Macavity, Barry, and Anthony Awards for Best First Novel, and winner of the Lefty Award for Best First Novel. She has a bachelor’s in Media Arts from the University of New Mexico and an MFA in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts. She resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she and her husband, the producer Kelly Byars, run their production company Reel Indian Pictures.

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Enjoy Deborah J. Ledford’s conversation with Ramona Emerson.

It had been five years since Tami Hoag appeared at The Poisoned Pen. Barbara Peters, the store’s owner, welcomed her back to discuss her new book, Bad Liar. There are signed copies of the book available through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/3Yaodb5.

Here’s the summary of Bad Liar.

Masterful #1 New York Times bestselling author Tami Hoag is back with a riveting, emotionally powerful new thriller!

Small-town labels are hard to shake. Hometown hero. Fallen angel. Can anyone ever escape their past?

A murder victim dumped at the dead end of a lonely country road, face and hands obliterated by a shotgun blast, is not the way sheriff’s detective Nick Fourcade wants to start his week. His only lead takes him to the family of a hometown hero suddenly gone missing. Marc Mercier left his home for a weekend hunting trip and hasn’t been seen since.

Meanwhile, sheriff’s detective Annie Broussard begins her first day back on the job after suffering a brutal attack by taking on the case of B’Lynn Fontenot, a mother desperate to find her grown son, a recovering drug addict. Robbie Fontenot has been missing for eight days, but the local police have no interest in the case, telling B’Lynn that an adult has the right to disappear, and a missing addict is no big surprise. But B’Lynn swears her son was turning his life around. Sympathetic to a mother’s anguish, Annie agrees to help B’Lynn, knowing she’s about to start a turf war with the city police.

As Annie searches for Robbie Fontenot and Nick investigates the disappearance of Marc Mercier, it quickly becomes apparent that nothing is as it seems in the lives of either man. And it’s still not clear whether either—or neither—of them might be the unidentified murder victim. Old jealousies and fresh deceits, family loyalties gone wrong and love turned sour all lay a twisting trail that leads deep into the Louisiana swamp, endangering all who cross the path of a bad liar.

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Tami Hoag is the #1 international bestselling author of more than thirty books. There are more than forty million copies of her books in print in more than thirty languages. Renowned for combining thrilling plots with character-driven suspense, Hoag first hit the New York Times bestseller list with Night Sins, and each of her books since has been a bestseller. She lives in California.

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It’s been a while, so enjoy the conversation with Tami Hoag.

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, celebrated the thirty-fifth anniversary of the bookstore on anniversary date, October 3, by hosting Ian Rankin for a virtual event. Along with Patrick Millikin, they talked about the birthday of the store, and did a preview of Midnight and Blue, the next Rebus novel. The book comes out on October 15, but the bookstore will have signed copies. You can order them now through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/3BpIDE8.

Here’s the summary of Midnight and Blue.

The brand new John Rebus thriller from the iconic Number One bestseller Ian Rankin: one of the must-read books of the year.

John Rebus spent his life as a detective putting Edinburgh’s most deadly criminals behind bars. Now, he’s joined them…

As new allies and old enemies circle, and the days and nights bleed into each other, even the legendary detective struggles to keep his head.

That is, until a murder at midnight in a locked cell presents a new mystery. They say old habits die hard…

However, this is a case where the prisoners and the guards are all suspects, and everyone has something to hide.

With no badge, no authority and no safety net, Rebus walks a tightrope – with his life on the line.

But how do you find a killer in a place full of them?

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Ian Rankin is the multimillion-copy worldwide bestseller of over thirty novels and creator of John Rebus. His books have been translated into thirty-six languages and have been adapted for radio, the stage and the screen.

Rankin is the recipient of four Crime Writers’ Association Dagger Awards, including the Diamond Dagger, the UK’s most prestigious award for crime fiction. In the United States, he has won the celebrated Edgar Award and been shortlisted for the Anthony Award. In Europe, he has won Denmark’s Palle Rosenkrantz Prize, the French Grand Prix du Roman Noir and the German Deutscher Krimipreis.

He is the recipient of honorary degrees from universities across the UK, is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Edinburgh and a Fellow of The Royal Society of Literature, and has received an OBE for his services to literature.

Website: IanRankin.net
X: @Beathhigh
Facebook: IanRankinBooks

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You really should watch the video and listen to Peters and Ian Rankin remember the past.

Pat King recently welcomed Ally Carter and Rebecca Throne to The Poisoned Pen. Carter’s new book is The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year. Rebecca Thorne talked about A Pirate’s Life for Tea. There are signed copies of both books in the Webstore. https://store.poisonedpen.com/.

Here’s the summary of The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year.

Knives Out gets a holiday rom-com twist in this rivals-to-lovers romance-mystery from New York Times bestselling author Ally Carter.

The bridge is out. The phones are down. And the most famous mystery writer in the world just disappeared out of a locked room two days before Christmas.

Meet Maggie Chase and Ethan Wyatt:

She’s the new Queen of the Cozy Mystery.

He’s Mr. Big-time Thriller Guy.

She hates his guts.

He thinks her name is Marcie (no matter how many times she’s told him otherwise.)

But when they both accept a cryptic invitation to attend a Christmas house party at the English estate of a reclusive fan, neither is expecting their host to be the most powerful author in the world: Eleanor Ashley, the Duchess of Death herself.

That night, the weather turns, and the next morning Eleanor is gone.

She vanished from a locked room, and Maggie has to wonder: Is Eleanor in danger? Or is it all some kind of test? Is Ethan the competition? Or is he the only person in that snowbound mansion she can trust?

As the snow gets deeper and the stakes get higher, every clue will bring Maggie and Ethan closer to the truth—and each other. Because, this Christmas, these two rivals are going to have to become allies (and maybe more) if they have any hope of saving Eleanor.

Assuming they don’t kill each other first.

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Ally Carter writes books about people who fall in love (while trying to stay alive.) After more than a decade of writing beloved YA titles like I’d Tell You I Love You, but Then I’d Have to Kill You and Heist Society, she launched onto the adult scene with The Blonde Identity. A long-time lover of the holiday rom-com, Ally is also the writer of the Netflix original movie, A Castle for Christmas.

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Here’s the description of A Pirate’s Life for Tea.

Bookshops & Bonedust meets Our Flag Means Death in this cozy fantasy on the low seas, where lesbian pirates find out if enemies actually can become lovers!

This trade paperback release features vivid orange sprayed edges, a beautiful color illustration, and a never-before-seen bonus short story!

Kianthe and Reyna are on the hunt for dragon eggs to save their hometown—but it requires making a deal with Diarn Arlon, lord of the legendary Nacean River. Simply capture the river pirate Serina, who’s been plaguing Arlon’s supply chains, and bring her in for justice. Easy peasy.

Begrudgingly, the couple joins forces with Bobbie, one of Arlon’s constables determined to capture the pirate. Except Bobbie and Serina have a more complicated history than anyone realized, and it might jeopardize everything.

While Kianthe and Reyna watch this relation-shipwreck from afar, it quickly becomes apparent that these disaster lesbians need all the help they can get. Luckily, matchmaking is Reyna’s favorite pastime.

The dragon eggs may have to wait.

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Rebecca Thorne is an author of all things fantasy, sci-fi, and romantic, such as the Tomes & Tea series. She thrives on deadlines, averages 2,700 words a day, and tries to write at least 3 books a year. (She also might be a little hyper-focused ADHD.)

After years in the traditional publishing space, Rebecca pivoted into self-publishing. Now, she’s found a happy medium as a hybrid author, and leans into her love of teaching by helping other authors find their perfect publication path.

When she’s not writing (or avoiding writing), Rebecca can be found traveling the country as a flight attendant, or doing her best impression of a granola-girl hermit with her two dogs. She’s always scheming to move to a mountain town and open a bookshop that serves tea.

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Enjoy the conversation with Ally Carter and Rebecca Thorne.

Hank Phillippi Ryan hosted Joel Dicker for his recent appearance for The Poisoned Pen. Dicker’s new book is The Alaska Sanders Affair. There will be signed copies available through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/3XZzbQC.

Here’s the description of The Alaska Sanders Affair.

“If The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair read like Gatsby by way of David Lynch, then The Alaska Sanders Affair recalls True Detective: there’s something both classic and daring about it. One of the world’s most original voices in crime fiction.” —A. J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window and End of Story

“The Alaska Sanders Affair … transcends pigeonholing with its abundance of plot, subplots and melodramatic U-turns … everything seems to be connected … [and] Mr. Dicker casts an undeniable spell.” —Wall Street Journal

The thrilling new whodunit from Joël Dicker, master of the plot twist and the author of The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair and The Enigma of Room 622.

April 1999. The body of Alaska Sanders is found on the shore of a lake near the quiet town of Mount Pleasant, New Hampshire. The young woman’s death rocks the small community, but the murder is quickly solved. Within days, a suspect is identified and soon convicted. Case closed. Or so it seemed. . . .

Eleven years later, Marcus Goldman, celebrity author and amateur sleuth, picks up a thread that will unravel not only the “open and shut” case of Alaska Sanders, but the very fabric of his best friend,–Sergeant Perry Gahalowood–’s life. Gahalowood, who led the original Alaska Sanders investigation, is hell-bent on finding the truth and setting the record straight. Teaming up with Marcus, he hopes to find redemption by solving the most intricate and trying case of his career.

Set both before and after the events of his phenomenal worldwide bestseller The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair, Dicker’s latest delivers the last word in slow-burn police procedurals. Clue by clue, witness by witness, question by question, his characters painstakingly piece together an unguessable puzzle that could only have been set by this acclaimed master of the plot twist. And as they uncover who Alaska Sanders truly was, other ghosts from the past emerge . . .

Translated from the French by Robert Bononno

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Joël Dicker’s novels have been translated into over forty languages and sold more than fifteen million copies worldwide. Born in Geneva in 1985, Dicker later studied Law. His first novel was awarded the Prix des Ecrivains Genevois. The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair (La Verite sur l’Affaire Harry Quebert) was shortlisted for the Prix Goncourt and won the Grand Prix du Roman de l’Academie Française and the Prix Goncourt des Lyceens.

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Enjoy Hank Phillippi Ryan’s conversation with Joel Dicker.

John Charles recently welcomed Stephanie Wrobel to The Poisoned Pen to discuss her latest book, The Hitchcock Hotel. Signed copies are going fast, but you can order them through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/4eg1wba.

Here’s the description of The Hitchcock Hotel.

“A clever, sinister fun-house ride.” –People

“Jaw-dropping.” –Riley Sager

“Hugely readable and tremendous fun.” –Alex Michaelides

A Hitchcock fanatic with an agenda invites old friends for a weekend stay at his secluded themed hotel in this fiendishly clever, suspenseful new novel from the international bestselling author of Darling Rose Gold.

Alfred Smettle is not your average Hitchcock fan. He is the founder, owner, and manager of The Hitchcock Hotel, a sprawling Victorian house in the White Mountains dedicated to the Master of Suspense. There, Alfred offers his guests round-the-clock film screenings, movie props and memorabilia in every room, plus an aviary with fifty crows.

To celebrate the hotel’s first anniversary, he invites his former best friends from his college Film Club for a reunion. He hasn’t spoken to any of them in sixteen years, not after what happened.

But who better than them to appreciate Alfred’s creation? And to help him finish it.

After all, no Hitchcock set is complete without a body.

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Stephanie Wrobel is an international and USA Today bestselling author. Her debut, Darling Rose Gold, has sold rights in twenty-one countries and was a finalist for the Edgar® Award for Best First Novel. Wrobel grew up in Chicago and now lives in New York City.

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Enjoy the conversation with Stephanie Wrobel.

When Patrick Millikin welcomed author Martin Walker to The Poisoned Pen, they discussed Walker’s latest Bruno, Chief of Police mystery, A Grave in the Woods. But, they also discussed the recent cookbook by Walker and Julia Watson, Bruno’s Cookbook. There are signed copies of both in the Webstore. https://bit.ly/47rtL3v.

Here’s the description of A Grave in the Woods.

Another entertaining and enlightening entry in the Bruno, Chief of Police series, featuring an archaeological dig in the French countryside that unearths World War II–era mysteries—all while Bruno dishes up more culinary magic

When Abby, an American archaeologist, arrives in St. Denis on the heels of her divorce, she hopes to make a new life for herself as a specialist guide for visiting tourists. So when a local British couple discover a grave from World War II on their property, Abby is able to put her training to good use. As it turns out, in the grave are the remains of two German women and an Italian submarine officer who had a big secret to hide. The women are suspected of having had links to the German garrison in Bordeaux during the war. It’s up to Bruno, just recovered from a gunshot wound earlier in the year, to unravel the mystery—and its contemporary relevance. His task is made more difficult by the horrible heat-dome summer, which is raising the temperature for miles around, as unprecedented amounts of rain drench the Massif Central and threaten increasingly dramatic floods
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As Bruno drills to the heart of the case, matters get even more complicated when both Abby’s financially distressed ex-husband and a mysterious dashing Italian naval officer arrive, with very different ideas in mind. Once again, Bruno is left to serve the guilty their just rewards, and his friends, some sumptuous Perigordian cuisine.

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MARTIN WALKER, after a long career of working in international journalism and for think tanks, now gardens, cooks, explores vineyards, writes, and travels. His series of novels featuring Bruno, Chief of Police, are best sellers in Europe and have been translated into more than fifteen languages. He divides his time between Washington, DC, and the Dordogne.

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Enjoy the conversation with Martin Walker.

Patrick Millikin recently welcomed Nicholas Meyer to The Poisoned Pen for a discussion of Sherlock Holmes and Meyer’s latest book, Sherlock Holmes and the Telegram from Hell. There are signed copies of the book available in the Webstore. https://bit.ly/3XV05Jt.

Here’s the description of Sherlock Holmes and the Telegram from Hell.

June, 1916. With a world war raging on the continent, exhausted John H. Watson, M.D. is operating on the wounded full-time when his labors are interrupted by a knock on his door, revealing Sherlock Holmes, with a black eye, a missing tooth and a cracked rib. The story he has to tell will set in motion a series of world-changing events in the most consequential case of the detective’s career.

Amid rebellion in Ireland and revolution in Russia, Germany has a secret plan to win the war and Sir William Melville of the British Secret Service dispatches the two aging friends to learn what the scheme is before it can be put into effect. In pursuit of a mysterious coded telegram sent from Berlin to an unknown recipient in Mexico, Holmes and Watson must cross the Atlantic, dodge German U-boats and assassination attempts, and evade the intrigues of young J. Edgar Hoover, while enlisting the help of a beautiful, eccentric Washington socialite as they seek to foil the schemes of Holmes’s nemesis, the escaped German spymaster Von Bork.

Sherlock Holmes and the Telegram from Hell plunges Holmes into a world that eerily resembles our own, where entangling alliances, treaties, and human frailty threaten to create another cataclysm.

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Nicholas Meyer is the “editor” of several Watson manuscripts, including The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, which spent forty weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. His screenplay of the film received an Oscar nomination. His film credits include writing and directing Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. He wrote and directed Time After Time, co-created Medici: Masters of Florence, and directed The Day After, about nuclear war that attracted the largest audience ever for a television movie. A native of New York City, he lives in Santa Monica, California.

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Enjoy the conversation with Nicholas Meyer.

Lee Child is back with a collection of stories, Safe Enough and Other Stories. It’s the Hot Book of the Week at The Poisoned Pen. Signed copies are available. https://bit.ly/4euWN53.

Here’s the description of Safe Enough and Other Stories.

You know Jack Reacher. Now meet twenty more heroes and heavies from the brilliant mind of legendary crime author Lee Child.

A drug-dealing hit man feels that he must unburden his fears and guilt to a stranger in “Ten Keys.” A rookie cop in “Normal in Every Way” is assigned to the department’s file room, where he makes connections to historic dates that could lead to solving crimes. A methodical bodyguard quits his job when he’s outsmarted. A military mission is planned to perfection. A potential worker for the Manhattan Project is carefully surveilled by an FBI agent. A killer preys on other killers. Taken together, these stories are a riotous calamity of criminals and crime fighters; individually, they are expertly crafted, piercing tales that hit hard enough to leave a mark.

These twenty intriguing, thrilling, and rapid-fire fictions are intimate portraits of humanity at its best and worst, sure to please new and longtime fans of Child and to illuminate a side of the author’s work unknown to Reacher devotees. Featuring a colorful new introduction from the author, the collection stands as the first book written entirely by Child in four years.

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Lee Child was born on October 29, 1954, in Coventry, England, but spent his formative years in the nearby city of Birmingham. By coincidence he won a scholarship to the same high school that JRR Tolkien had attended. He went to law school in Sheffield, England, and after part-time work in the theater he joined Granada Television in Manchester for what turned out to be an eighteen-year career as a presentation director during British TV’s “golden age.” During his tenure his company made Brideshead Revisited, The Jewel in the Crown, Prime Suspect, and Cracker. But he was fired in 1995 at the age of forty as a result of corporate restructuring. Always a voracious reader, he decided to see an opportunity where others might have seen a crisis and bought six dollars’ worth of paper and pencils and sat down to write a book, Killing Floor, the first in the Jack Reacher series.

Patrick Millikin has been a big fan of Willy Vlautin’s for a long time. Author George Pelecanos introduced Millikin to Vlautin’s work. Now, Millikin loves to welcome him to The Poisoned Pen. There are signed copies of Vlautin’s latest book, The Horse, in the Webstore. https://bit.ly/4e6EGmo

Here’s the description of The Horse.

“Willy Vlautin writes about people overlooked by society and overlooked by literature. In The Horse, he tells the story of a tenderhearted man who has a steady talent and a crushing addiction. It is both a work of extraordinary compassion and a really great novel.” — Ann Patchett, New York Times bestselling author of Tom Lake

“A moving tale of suffering and redemption, The Horse portrays the immense gravity of what it takes to be human in tough times, and the elusive grace that might just be grasped from music, animals, and memory.” — Geraldine Brooks, New York Times bestselling author of Horse

Award-winning author Willy Vlautin explores loneliness, art, regret, and hard-won empathy in this poignant novel—his most personal to date—that captures the life of a journeyman musician unable to escape the tragedies of his past.

Al Ward lives on an isolated mining claim in the high desert of central Nevada fifty miles from the nearest town. A grizzled man in his sixties, he survives on canned soup, instant coffee, and memories of his ex-wife, friends and family he’s lost, and his life as a touring musician. Hampered by insomnia, bouts of anxiety, and a chronic lethargy that keeps him from moving back to town, Al finds himself teetering on the edge of madness and running out of reasons to go on—until a horse arrives on his doorstep: nameless, blind, and utterly helpless.

Al hopes the horse will vanish as mysteriously as he appeared. Yet the animal remains, leaving him in a conundrum. Is the animal real, or a phantom conjured from imagination? As Al contemplates the horse’s existence—and what, if anything, he can do—his thoughts are interspersed with memories, from the moment his mother’s part-time boyfriend gifts him a 1959 butterscotch blonde Telecaster, to the day his travels begin. He joins various bands—all who perform his songs once they discover his talent–playing casinos, truck stops, clubs, and bars. He falls in love, and finds pockets of companionship and minor success along the way. Never close to stardom or financial success, he continues as a journeyman for decades until alcoholism and a heartbreaking tragedy lead him to the solitude of the barren Nevada desert.

A poignant meditation on addiction, heartbreak, and the reality of life on the road in smalltime bands, The Horse is a beautiful, haunting tale from an author working at the height of his powers.

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Willy Vlautin is the author of the novels The Motel Life, Northline, Lean on Pete, The Free, Don’t Skip Out on Me, and The Night Always Comes. He is the founding member of the bands Richmond Fontaine and The Delines.

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Willy Vlautin’s backstory for The Horse is a poignant story. Check it out.