Fiction Review

Ace Atkins appeared live at The Poisoned Pen for the 50th Spenser novel, Robert B. Parker’s Bye Bye Baby. Because the event was in-person as well as virtual, there are signed copies available of Atkins’ Robert B. Parker’s Bye Bye Baby. https://bit.ly/3fZBAEh

Here’s the summary of Robert B. Parker’s Bye Bye Baby.

Boston PI Spenser takes on a new case in this installment in Robert B. Parker’s iconic New York Times bestselling series.

Carolina Garcia-Ramirez is a rising star in national politics, taking on the establishment with her progressive agenda. Tough, outspoken, and driven, the young congresswoman has ignited a new conversation in Boston about race, poverty, health care, and the environment. Now facing her second campaign, she finds herself not only fighting a tight primary with an old guard challenger but also contending with numerous death threats coming from hundreds of suspects.

When her chief of staff reaches out to Spenser for security and help finding the culprits of what he believes to be the most credible threats, Garcia-Ramirez is less than thrilled. Since her first grassroots run, she’s used to the antipathy and intimidation women of color often face when seeking power. To her, it’s all noise. But it turns out an FBI agent disagrees, warning Spenser that Garcia-Ramirez might be in real danger this time.

It doesn’t take long for Spenser to cross paths with an extremist group called The Minutemen, led by a wealthy Harvard grad named Bishop Graves. Although Graves is a social media sensation, pushing an agenda of white supremacy and toxic masculinity, he denies he’s behind the attacks. As the primary nears and threats become a deadly plot, it’s up to Spenser, Hawk, and a surprise trusted ally to ensure the congresswoman is safe. This is Spenser doing what he does best, living by a personal code and moral compass that can’t ever be broken. 

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Robert B. Parker was the author of seventy books, including the legendary Spenser detective series, the novels featuring Police 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. Ace Atkins is the New York Times bestselling author of twenty-seven books, including ten books in his Quinn Colson series. Handpicked by the Robert B. Parker Estate nearly a decade ago to continue the Spenser series, he’s written nine novels about the iconic private eye. He lives and works in Oxford, Mississippi.

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Enjoy the conversation about Robert B. Parker, his books, and Atkins’ writing of the Spenser books.

Don’t you love discovering debut authors through The Poisoned Pen? The Appeal, Janice Hallett’s debut, is an epistolary novel. Author Hank Phillippi Ryan was guest host, along with The Poisoned Pen’s owner, Barbara Peters, for the recent virtual event featuring Hallett. There are signed bookplates for those who order a copy of The Appeal. https://bit.ly/3fXBGft

Here’s the description of this unconventional novel, The Appeal.

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

Perfect for fans of Ruth Ware and Lisa Jewell, this “dazzlingly clever” (The Sunday Times, London) murder mystery follows a community rallying around a sick child—but when escalating lies lead to a dead body, everyone is a suspect.

The Fairway Players, a local theatre group, is in the midst of rehearsals when tragedy strikes the family of director Martin Hayward and his wife Helen, the play’s star. Their young granddaughter has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, and with an experimental treatment costing a tremendous sum, their fellow castmates rally to raise the money to give her a chance at survival.

But not everybody is convinced of the experimental treatment’s efficacy—nor of the good intentions of those involved. As tension grows within the community, things come to a shocking head at the explosive dress rehearsal. The next day, a dead body is found, and soon, an arrest is made. In the run-up to the trial, two young lawyers sift through the material—emails, messages, letters—with a growing suspicion that a killer may be hiding in plain sight. The evidence is all there, between the lines, waiting to be uncovered.

A wholly modern take on the epistolary novel, The Appeal is a “daring…clever, and funny” (The Times, London) debut for fans of Richard Osman and Lucy Foley.

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Janice Hallett is a former magazine editor, award-winning journalist, and government communications writer. She wrote articles and speeches for, among others, the Cabinet Office, Home Office, and Department for International Development. Her enthusiasm for travel has taken her around the world several times, from Madagascar to the Galapagos, Guatemala to Zimbabwe, Japan, Russia, and South Korea. A playwright and screenwriter, she penned the feminist Shakespearean stage comedy NetherBard and cowrote the feature film Retreat. She lives in London and The Appeal is her first novel.

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Enjoy the virtual event with Janice Hallett.

Some of you might only know P.J. Tracy as the author of the Monkeewrench series. But, Desolation Canyon is the second book in her Detective Margaret Nolan series, following Deep Into the Dark. Desolation Canyon is also the Hot Book of the Week at The Poisoned Pen. You can order copies of Tracy’s books, including signed copies of Desolation Canyon, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3Av3eT8

Here’s the description of Desolation Canyon.

P.J. Tracy “seems to have found her literary sweet spot” (New York Times Book Review) with her dazzling new series, and in Desolation Canyon, fans get a deeper look into the complex characters who call Los Angeles home.

LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan is struggling to move forward after the death of her brother in Afghanistan and taking a life in the line of duty. Her stoic parents offer little support ““ they refuse to address anything difficult, and she’s afraid their relationship is eroding beyond the point of recovery.

The days off are the hardest, because they give Margaret time to think. A moment of weakness leads to cocktails with a colleague—an attraction she knows could be dangerous —at the luxurious Hotel Bel-Air bar. A stroll through the grounds leads to a grim discovery beneath the surface of Swan Lake: the body of a successful attorney who made his fortune in international trade.

It initially appears to be death by misadventure, but the case is anything but straightforward. As a series of shocking revelations emerge, Nolan finds herself confronting a sinister cabal that just might destroy her and everyone she loves.

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P. J. Tracy is the pseudonym of Traci Lambrecht, bestselling and award winning author of the Monkeewrench series. Lambrecht and her mother, P. J., wrote eight novels together as P. J. Tracy before P. J. passed away in 2016. Lambrecht has since continued the Monkeewrench series solo. She spent most of her childhood painting and showing Arabian horses, and graduated with a Russian Studies major from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, where she also studied voice. She now lives outside Minneapolis.

It’s always exciting for The Poisoned Pen to be able to introduce a debut author. And, in the case of Stacy Willingham, her novel A Flicker in the Dark also appeared on the New York Times Bestseller list. So, I’ll link to the Web Store, but no promises you can get a signed copy. It’s a popular debut. https://bit.ly/340njV8

Here’s the summary of A Flicker in the Dark.

A New York Times Bestseller

“A smart, edge-of-your-seat story with plot twists you’ll never see coming. Stacy Willingham’s debut will keep you turning pages long past your bedtime.” —Karin Slaughter

When Chloe Davis was twelve, six teenage girls went missing in her small Louisiana town. By the end of the summer, her own father had confessed to the crimes and was put away for life, leaving Chloe and the rest of her family to grapple with the truth and try to move forward while dealing with the aftermath.

Now twenty years later, Chloe is a psychologist in Baton Rouge and getting ready for her wedding. While she finally has a fragile grasp on the happiness she’s worked so hard to achieve, she sometimes feels as out of control of her own life as the troubled teens who are her patients. So when a local teenage girl goes missing, and then another, that terrifying summer comes crashing back. Is she paranoid, seeing parallels from her past that aren’t actually there, or for the second time in her life, is Chloe about to unmask a killer?

From debut author Stacy Willingham comes a masterfully done, lyrical thriller, certain to be the launch of an amazing career. A Flicker in the Dark is eerily compelling to the very last page.

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STACY WILLINGHAM, author of A Flicker in the Dark, worked as a copywriter and brand strategist for various marketing agencies before deciding to write fiction full time. She earned her BA in Magazine Journalism from the University of Georgia and MFA in Writing from the Savannah College of Art & Design. She currently lives in Charleston, SC with her husband, Britt, and Labradoodle, Mako.

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Here’s your chance to “meet” debut author Stacy Willingham.

Ian Hamilton’s first Ava Lee mystery, The Water Rat of Wanchai, won the Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel, a Canadian award. Now, his fourteenth Ava Lee book is just out, The Sultan of Sarawak. Hamilton’s books can be ordered through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3GV2Qj6

Here’s the summary of The Sultan of Sarawak.

Ava Lee clashes with the most powerful family in Malaysian Borneo in this exhilarating new thriller from bestselling author Ian Hamilton.

After a warehouse owned by the Three Sisters is destroyed under suspicious circumstances, Ava Lee travels to the Malaysian province of Sarawak to investigate. She quickly discovers that the powerful Chong family has a political and economic stranglehold on the province and is likely responsible for the warehouse. As Ava digs deeper into the Chongs, she is shocked to learn of their billion-dollar illegal logging operation in Sarawak, which has decimated the Bornean rainforest and threatens the existence of the Penan — a nomadic Indigenous people who have lived in the region for centuries.

Determined to avenge the harm caused by the Chongs and to put an end to their dominion over Sarawak, Ava follows a money trail that leads back to the Hong Kong real estate market. There, Ava and Sonny Kwok embark on a campaign of terror against the Chong family — attacking their holdings and bank accounts. Can Ava attain the vengeance she seeks? Or will the powerful Chong family triumph once again?

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IAN HAMILTON is the acclaimed author of fourteen books in the Ava Lee series, four in the Lost Decades of Uncle Chow Tung series, and the standalone novel Bonnie Jack. National bestsellers, his books have been shortlisted for the Arthur Ellis Award, the Barry Award, and the Lambda Literary Prize. BBC Culture named him one of the ten mystery/crime writers who should be on your bookshelf. The Ava Lee series is being adapted for television.

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Enjoy Ian Hamilton’s discussion of Ava Lee and the series.

Carolyn Kepnes recently was guest host at The Poisoned Pen for Lisa Gardner, author of One Step Too Far. You can order a signed copy of the second Frankie Elkin novel through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3KuUjFR

Here’s the description of One Step Too Far.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner, a chilling thriller about a young man gone missing in the wilderness of Wyoming…and the secrets uncovered by the desperate effort to find him
 
Timothy O’Day knew the woods. Yet when he disappeared on the first night of a bachelor party camping trip with his best friends in the world, he didn’t leave a trace. What he did leave behind were two heartbroken parents, a crew of guilt-ridden groomsmen, and a pile of clues that don’t add up.
 
Frankie Elkin doesn’t know the woods, but she knows how to find people. So when she reads that Timothy’s father is organizing one last search, she heads to Wyoming. Despite the rescue team’s reluctance, she joins them. But as they hike into the mountains, it becomes clear that there’s something dangerous at work in the woods…or someone who is willing to do anything to stop them from going any further.
 
Running out of time and up against the worst man and nature have to offer, Frankie and the search party will discover what evil awaits those who go one step too far…

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Lisa Gardner is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-one suspense novels, including The Neighbor, which won Thriller of the Year from the International Thriller Writers. An avid hiker, traveler, and cribbage player, she lives in the mountains of New Hampshire with her family.

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Enjoy the discussion of Frankie Elkin and One Step Too Far with Gardner, Kepnes, and Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen.

You might have missed the national book launch of Stephen Hunter’s latest Bob Lee Swagger Targeted. Barbara Peters, owner of the Poisoned Pen, and guest host Jack Carr led the conversation. You can order signed copies of Targeted through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3FQ2icT

Here’s the description of Targeted.

Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times bestselling author Stephen Hunter returns with a taut, white-knuckled thriller featuring master sniper Bob Lee Swagger as he protects a group of political hostages during a perilous standoff and once again proves his title of “true American literary icon” (Mark Greaney, author of Mission Critical).

After his successful takedown of a dangerous terrorist, Bob Lee Swagger learns that no good deed goes unpunished. Summoned to court by the United States Congress, Swagger is accused of reckless endangerment by a hardheaded anti-gun congresswoman. But what begins as political posturing soon turns deadly when the auditorium where the committee is being held is attacked.

Swagger, the congresswoman, and numerous bystanders and reporters are taken hostage by a group of violent operatives. Soon, the very people who had accused him are depending on him to save their lives. Trapped in the auditorium and still struggling with injuries from his last assignment, Swagger must rely on his instincts, his shooting skills, and the help of a mysterious rogue sniper on the outside in order to ensure that everyone makes it out alive.

A heart-pounding and crackling action-packed novel, Targeted proves that Stephen Hunter is “a true master at the pinnacle of his craft. No one does it better” (Jack Carr, Former Navy SEAL Sniper and author of The Terminal List).

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Stephen Hunter has written over twenty novels. The retired chief film critic for The Washington Post, where he won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Criticism, he has also published two collections of film criticism and a nonfiction work, American Gunfight. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

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Enjoy the recent discussion with Stephen Hunter, Jack Carr, and Barbara Peters.

Nick Petrie recently appeared at The Poisoned Pen for his seventh Peter Ash thriller, The Runaway. He’s appeared at the bookstore since his first book, The Drifter. You can still order The Drifter through the Web Store, along with signed copies of The Runaway. https://bit.ly/3fH6QaO

Here’s the summary of The Runaway.

“Petrie has a preternatural talent for ratcheting up suspense.”–New York Times Book Review
 
When Peter Ash rescues a stranded woman, he finds she‘s in far deeper trouble than he could ever imagine in the powerful new thriller in this bestselling and award-winning series.

War veteran Peter Ash is driving through northern Nebraska when he encounters a young pregnant woman alone on a gravel road, her car dead. Peter offers her a lift, but what begins as an act of kindness soon turns into a deadly cat-and-mouse chase across the lonely highways with the woman’s vicious ex-cop husband hot on their trail. The pregnant woman has seen something she was never meant to see . . . but protecting her might prove to be more than Peter can handle.

In order to save the woman and himself, Peter must use everything he has learned during his time as a Marine, including his knowledge of human nature, in order to escape a ruthless killer with instincts and skills that match—and perhaps exceed—Peter’s own.

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Nick Petrie is the author of six novels in the Peter Ash series, most recently The Breaker. His debut, The Drifter, won both the ITW Thriller award and the Barry Award for Best First Novel, and was a finalist for the Edgar and the Hammett Awards. A husband and father, he lives in the Milwaukee area.

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If you’re a fan of this series, you’ll really enjoy the story of Peter Ash’s changes through the series. If you haven’t yet read the books, enjoy the conversation with Nick Petrie and Barbara Peters, owner of the bookstore.

Congratulations to all of the Edgar Award nominees! For readers, it’s a good time to check for unfamiliar titles or your favorite authors in the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Mystery Writers of America Announces 2022 Edgar Allan Poe Award Nominations

January 19, 2022, New York, NY ““ Mystery Writers of America is proud to announce, as we celebrate the 213^th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe, the nominees for the 2022 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2021. The 76^th Annual Edgar® Awards will be celebrated on April 28, 2022 at the New York Marriott Marquis Times Square.

BEST NOVEL

The Venice Sketchbook by Rhys Bowen (Amazon Publishing ““ Lake Union)
Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby (Macmillan Publishers ““ Flatiron Books)
Five Decembers by James Kestrel (Hard Case Crime)
How Lucky by Will Leitch (HarperCollins ““ Harper)
No One Will Miss Her by Kat Rosenfield (HarperCollins ““ William Morrow)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

Deer Season by Erin Flanagan (University of Nebraska Press)
Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian (Harlequin Trade Publishing ““ Park Row)
Suburban Dicks by Fabian Nicieza (Penguin Random House ““ G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
What Comes After by JoAnne Tompkins (Penguin Random House ““ Riverhead Books)
The Damage by Caitlin Wahrer (Penguin Random House ““ Viking Books/Pamela Dorman Books)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

Kill All Your Darlings by David Bell (Penguin Random House ““ Berkley)
The Lighthouse Witches by C.J. Cooke (Penguin Random House ““ Berkley)
The Album of Dr. Moreau by Daryl Gregory (Tom Doherty Associates ““ Tordotcom)
Starr Sign by C.S. O’Cinneide (Dundurn Press)
Bobby March Will Live Forever by Alan Parks (Europa Editions ““ World Noir)
The Shape of Darkness by Laura Purcell (Penguin Random House ““ Penguin Books)

BEST FACT CRIME

The Confidence Men: How Two Prisoners of War Engineered the Most Remarkable Escape in History by Margalit Fox (Random House Publishing Group ““ Random House)
Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York by Elon Green (Celadon Books)
Sleeper Agent: The Atomic Spy in America Who Got Away by Ann Hagedorn (Simon & Schuster)
Two Truths and a Lie: A Murder, a Private Investigator, and Her Search for Justice by Ellen McGarrahan (Penguin Random House ““ Random House)
The Dope: The Real History of the Mexican Drug Trade by Benjamin T. Smith (W.W. Norton & Company)
When Evil Lived in Laurel:  The “White Knights” and the Murder of Vernon Dahmer by Curtis Wilkie (W.W. Norton & Company

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

Agatha Christie’s Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World by Mark Aldridge (HarperCollins Publishers ““ Harper360)
The Unquiet Englishman: A Life of Graham Greene by Richard Greene (W.W. Norton & Company)
Tony Hillerman: A Life by James McGrath Morris (University of Oklahoma Press)
The Reason for the Darkness of the Night: Edgar Allan Poe and the Forging of American Science by John Tresch (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock: An Anatomy of the Master of Suspense by Edward White (W.W. Norton & Company)

 BEST SHORT STORY

“Blindsided,” Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Michael Bracken & James A. Hearn (Dell Magazines)
“The Vermeer Conspiracy,” Midnight Hour by V.M. Burns (Crooked Lane Books)
“Lucky Thirteen,” Midnight Hour by Tracy Clark (Crooked Lane Books)
“The Road to Hana,” Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by R.T. Lawton (Dell Magazines)
“The Locked Room Library,” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Gigi Pandian (Dell Magazines)
“The Dark Oblivion,” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Cornell Woolrich (Dell Magazines)

BEST JUVENILE

Cold-Blooded Myrtle by Elizabeth C. Bunce (Workman Publishing ““ Algonquin Young Readers)
Concealed by Christina Diaz Gonzalez (Scholastic ““ Scholastic Press)
Aggie Morton Mystery Queen: The Dead Man in the Garden by Marthe Jocelyn (Penguin Random House Canada ““ Tundra Books)
Kidnap on the California Comet: Adventures on Trains #2 by M.G. Leonard & Sam Sedgman (Macmillan Children’s Publishing ““ Feiwel & Friends)
Rescue by Jennifer A. Nielsen (Scholastic ““ Scholastic Press)

BEST YOUNG ADULT

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé (Macmillan Children’s Publishing ““ Feiwel & Friends)
Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley (Macmillan Children’s Publishing ““ Henry Holt and Company BFYR)
When You Look Like Us by Pamela N. Harris (HarperCollins ““ Quill Tree Books)
The Forest of Stolen Girls by June Hur (Macmillan Children’s Books ““ Feiwel & Friends)
The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe (Penguin Young Readers ““ G.P. Putnam’s Sons BFYR)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

“Dog Day Morning” ““ The Brokenword Mysteries, Written by Tim Balme (Acorn TV)
“Episode 1″ ““ The Beast Must Die, Written by Gaby Chiappe (AMC+)
“The Men Are Wretched Things” ““ The North Water Written by Andrew Haigh (AMC+)
“Happy Families” ““ Midsomer Murders, Written by Nicholas Hicks-Beach (Acorn TV)
“Boots on the Ground” ““ Narcos: Mexico, Written by Iturri Sosa (Netflix)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD

“Analogue,” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Rob Osler (Dell Magazines)

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THE SIMON & SCHUSTER MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD

The Secret Life of Miss Mary Bennet by Katherine Cowley (Tule Publishing ““ Tule Mystery)
Ruby Red Herring by Tracy Gardner (Crooked Lane Books)
Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara (Soho Press ““ Soho Crime)
The Sign of Death by Callie Hutton (Crooked Lane Books)
Chapter and Curse by Elizabeth Penney (St. Martin’s Paperbacks)

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THE G.P. PUTNAM’S SONS SUE GRAFTON MEMORIAL AWARD

Double Take by Elizabeth Breck (Crooked Lane Books)
Runner by Tracy Clark (Kensington Books)
Shadow Hill by Thomas Kies (Sourcebooks ““ Poisoned Pen Press)
Sleep Well, My Lady by Kwei Quartey (Soho Press ““ Soho Crime)
Family Business by S.J. Rozan (Pegasus Books ““ Pegasus Crime)

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SPECIAL AWARDS

GRAND MASTER

Laurie R. King

RAVEN AWARD

 Lesa Holstine ““ Lesa’s Book Critiques; Library Journal Reviewer

ELLERY QUEEN AWARD

Juliet Grames ““ Soho Books

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The Edgar Awards, or “Edgars,” as they are commonly known, are named after MWA’s patron saint Edgar Allan Poe and are presented to authors of distinguished work in various categories. MWA is the premier organization for mystery writers, professionals allied to the crime-writing field, aspiring crime writers, and those who are devoted to the genre. The organization encompasses some 3,000 members including authors of fiction and non-fiction books, screen and television writers, as well as publishers, editors, and literary agents.

Mystery Writers of America would like to emphasize our commitment to diversity and fairness in the judging of the Edgar Awards. Judges are selected from every region of the country, from every sub-category of our genre, and from every demographic to ensure fairness and impartiality.

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The EDGAR (and logo) are Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by the Mystery Writers of America, Inc.

Lisa Gardner’s One Step Too Far is the current Hot Book of the Week at The Poisoned Pen. It also tops holds lists in public libraries, so you might want to order your own signed copy of it through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/32bD6Ql

Here’s the description of One Step Too Far.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner, a thrilling new novel that sends missing persons expert Frankie Elkin into a national forest in Wyoming looking for a young man who disappeared without a trace.  But when the search team encounters immediate threats to their survival, Frankie realizes she’s up against something very dark—and she’s running out of time

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Lisa Gardner is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-one suspense novels, including The Neighbor, which won Thriller of the Year from the International Thriller Writers. An avid hiker, traveler, and cribbage player, she lives in the mountains of New Hampshire with her family.