Great Summer Reads

Estleman, Loren D. Frames(Forge May). Film archivist Valentine of UCLA busy an old movie theater for his home, a big financial leap but then he's spotted that cache of old film cans in the projection room and in the cellar alongside the skeleton.

Evans, Mary Anna. Findings (Poisoned Pen July). Archaeologist Faye Longchamp has gone from pot hunter to legit. Sadly her mentor is killed in a home-break in where nothing seems to be missing, not even the huge emerald she'd just unearthed and given him. But when cataloguing the broken artifacts Faye realizes her field notes are missing. It all leads to Confederate history, so rich in western Florida around her plantation home.

Davidson, Andrew. The Gargoyle (Doubleday Aug.). A debut impossible to describe and absolutely unforgettable. The man who crashes his car and is pulled burning from the wreckage into a burn unit, the woman who sculpts gargoyles by sleeping on the stone to intuit the shapes within and is tied to the medieval order of the Beguines as well as translations of Dante's Inferno….

De Castrique, Mark. Blackman's Coffin (Poisoned Pen June). Starred Reviews for the start of a series with an Iraqi war vet/amputee who while in rehab in Asheville, is asked to join a security firm and enters into a morass of decades old murder, lost treasure, the work of Thomas Wolfe, the Vanderbilts' Biltmore estate, Carolina geology, and a whole new set of relationships

Looking for a Summer Thriller?

Child, Lee. Nothing to Lose (Bantam $25 May). In narrative structure a classic Western, in scope global. Jack Reacher has no baggage literal or emotional so anyone can start here with his trip from Hope, Colorado, on the High Plains, to Despair. Why is the town so determined to keep him out?

Deaver, Jeffrey. Broken Window (Simon & Schuster June). Identity theft powers the latest Lincoln Rhyme/Amelia Sachs thriller. The villain is really slick but he makes one big error—targeting Rhyme's cousin.

Gardiner, Meg. The Dirty Secrets Club (Dutton June). is a whole group of extreme risk takers who rocket around San Francisco. Two of them meet a shattering end in a spectacular car chase. Brought in to profile the victim's lives to solve their deaths, forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett asks why dead prosecutor Callie Harding had the word "dirty' written in lipstick on her thigh. How did she have time to write it while running from the police—and what was all that?

Ghelfi, Brent. Volk's Shadow (Holt July). Col Volkov is up against villains in Chechnya, a fate of a fabulous Faberge egg, and the life of a man both cop and crook in modern Russia. Phoenix's Ghelfi is up for a 2008 Thriller Award and the Republic just named him Best Rising Author.

Moms Need Some Ideas For Summer?

With summer coming up, it can be hard to entertain your children or grandchildren. Keeping kids reading and their minds active during this long hiatus is important so that going back to school doesn’t become a chore. Furthermore, it’s good to have numerous activities to keep the kids from becoming bored. Fortunately, there are two books which not only provide hours of reading but also keep the kids active with some fun (and inexpensive) activities. Crime Lab:Trap the Spy: ($20) is a book and crime lab set that provides hours of fun for the kids. By using litmus paper, phosphorous powder, UV lights, a microscope and a book, kids learn methods that crime scene investigators use and they can solve the crimes found within the book. The second book,The Master Detective Handbook by Janice Eaton Kilby ($8), follows three junior sleuths as they solve a mystery in their small town. Sprinkled throughout the novel are recipes and activities for the kids to do to help the sleuths solve the mystery. Both books are great fun and don’t forget to sign your kids and teens up for your local public library’s summer reading program!

Back to the Beach

Pearce, Michael. Mark of the Pasha (Poisoned Pen). The 16th and final chapter in the career of the Mamur Zapt, chief of police for Egypt's Khedive under the British Protectorate from Khartoum through WWI. Eccentric, original, filled with local color, clever plots, and the panoply and politics of the Middle East, it entertains while creating insights into today's landscape. Besides, there's an endearing kid and a great automobile.

Peters, Elizabeth. The Laughter of Dead Kings (Morrow Aug.). A new Vicky Bliss for Labor Day reading involves an audacious theft in the Valley of the Kings.


Rong, Jiang.Wolf Totem (Penguin $27 May). This magnificent novel was written by a Chinese academic who in 1967 joined the first wave of intellectuals who moved to nomadic communities on the border with Inner and Outer Mongolia as volunteers. He writes lovingly of the grasslands, the wolves, the ancient ecology where greed was controlled to provide for the future, details the harmonies of Mongol culture and the cult of the wolf, and then shows the impact of an overaccelerated, indifferent Han China laying it all waste.

Summer Pleasures

Essex, Karen. Stealing Athena (Doubleday June). Essex braids the story of Aspasia, the lover of Pericles who constructed the Parthenon, and of Mary, Countess of Elgin, whose beauty and fortune facilitated her husband's deconstruction and export of its beautiful marbles. Read with Susan Nagel's The Mistress of Elgin.

Greenwood, Kerry. Two treats: Phryne Fisher, the Emma Peel of the 1920s, in Queen of the Flowers(Poisoned Pen). This lively series with its Art Deco has been taking Barnes & Noble by storm along with independent bookstores. It's anchored in Melbourne, Australia. Baker Corinna Chapman's second case, Heavenly Pleasures,focused on a landmark Melbourne building, contemporary cooking and crime. So what if chocolate is bad for you? Start with Earthly Delights.

Johnson, Jane. Tenth Gift (Crown May). For Mary Stewart readers, a time-slip tale of a modern Englishwoman who comes into an old diary and the story of the woman who wrote it, of 17th Century Cornwall, a needlewoman of genius who was kidnapped by Barbary pirates and sold into slavery in Morocco. Turns out she's an ancestor of our 21st Century gal.

From Patricia

Howell, Lis. The Chorister at the Abbey (Soho, $25) June. Suzy Spencer, single parent with tv career, and Robert Clark, widower, first met in The Flower Arranger at All Saints, now share his house in Norbridge. Puzzling out who's who during the long setup rewards a reader as the people on this chessboard manuever for their own advantage after the pompous local historian who ran the village shop is murdered. Alexandra, the drab accountant with a secret, and Tom, university student with musical aspirations, both notice the book of psalms the corpse holds. The villagers treat the crime as an inconvenience in the way of solving their own problems during the soggy, dreary winter from Christmas until Easter. The obligatory drinks parties with Marks and Spencer party food ebb and flow with underlying currents as the residents discuss the odd "accidents" happening at the derelict convent. Conflict between the rector offering a traditional faith experience with choir and the upbeat Rev Paul whose youth fellowship swings to a rock band makes the second of the Norbridge Chronicles as compelling as the first.

Toussaint, Maggie. In for a Penny (Five Star, Gale, $26) June 18. Cleo Jones joins the ladies golf league in her small Maryland town because whacking balls releases the anger she carries for her ex-husband until she and her best friend find their banker dead behind the sixth green. The list of people he wronged would stretch past the clubhouse. A detective who has known Cleo like an uncle since childhood suspects the friend of murder but Cleo's own issues come first. Her mother has a health crisis anytime Cleo takes steps to move herself and her two daughters out of the house. But the same mother puts tuna fish and pickle relish in the lasagna. Cleo daydreams about the sexy golf pro but can't entertain him in her bed containing a St. Bernard she is dogsitting. If she can identify the killer, the rest of her life might improve. Non-series romantic suspense: House of Lies and No Second Chance.

Garth Stein's The Art of Racing in the Rain

I would have never come across this book (it's not in the crime genre) but for a librarian conference I went to where the Harper reps gave a presentation on the new books coming out. This book won my heart.
Garth Stein, the author of two novels, How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets and Raven Stole the Moon, and a play, Brother Jones, has and new story, The Art of Racing in the Rain
Garth Stein's The Art of Racing in the Rain. It's the heartbreaking story of how a family comes apart, from the perspective of the family pet, the dog. In this book Stein pulls off a very human story of love and loss.
Book description:
Enzo knows he is different from other dogs: a philosopher with a nearly human soul (and an obsession with opposable thumbs), he has educated himself by watching television extensively, and by listening very closely to the words of his master, Denny Swift, an up-and-coming race car driver.
Through Denny, Enzo has gained tremendous insight into the human condition, and he sees that life, like racing, isn't simply about going fast. Using the techniques needed on the race track, one can successfully navigate all of life's ordeals.
On the eve of his death, Enzo takes stock of his life, recalling all that he and his family have been through: the sacrifices Denny has made to succeed professionally; the unexpected loss of Eve, Denny's wife; the three-year battle over their daughter, Zoë, whose maternal grandparents pulled every string to gain custody. In the end, despite what he sees as his own limitations, Enzo comes through heroically to preserve the Swift family, holding in his heart the dream that Denny will become a racing champion with Zoë at his side. Having learned what it takes to be a compassionate and successful person, the wise canine can barely wait until his next lifetime, when he is sure he will return as a man.
A heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope, The Art of Racing in the Rain is a beautifully crafted and captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life . . . as only a dog could tell it.
Author Interview

One of my Favorites is Back!

Irish author, John Connolly is back with a new Charlie Parker, The Reapers US $26 UK $42 A book that is unique, atmospheric and haunting.

“A brilliantly chilling novel by New York Times bestselling author John Connolly about a chain of killings, linked obscurely by great distances and the passage of years, and the settling of their blood-debts -- past, present, and future. “

“Connolly's triumphant prose and unerring rendering of his tortured characters mesmerize and chill. He creates a world where everyone is corrupt, murderers go unpunished, but betrayals are always avenged. Yet another masterpiece from a proven talent, The Reapers will terrify and transfix.”

Publishers Weekly
The past comes back with a vengeance in bestseller Connolly's unsettling eighth novel to feature ex-NYPD detective turned disgraced PI Charlie "Bird" Parker (after The Unquiet). Parker's confidantes Louis and Angel—an ex—hit man and his lover—are targeted by members of a shadowy group of assassins known as the Reapers, of which Louis was a member. From Gabriel, his father-figure and mentor, Louis learns that the father of one of his long-ago targets is tracking him down bent on revenge. Thrown into the already explosive mix is Bliss, a former colleague of Louis's who went rogue and has his own reasons for wanting Louis dead. When Louis and Angel head upstate for a showdown with the killers, Parker follows as back up. Series fans may initially be disappointed to see Parker on the sidelines, but Connolly's rich prose and compelling plot more than compensate.


"Connolly has crafted one of the most darkly intriguing books this reviewer has encountered in more than three decades of reading crime fiction.... To call this a page-turner is to damn it with faint praise. Veteran crime fans will want to savor every note-perfect word. " -- Booklist (Starred review)

Here is a video of another time John signed at The Poisoned Pen.

Fans of Stephenie Meyer, I have a new author for you who is even better.

Meet Susan Hubbard, author of a new vampire series, The Society of S .
"If you ever want to hide from the world, live in a small city, where everyone seems anonymous." That's the advice of 12-year-old Ariella Montero, who lives with her father in Saratoga Springs, NY, in a house haunted more by secrets than by memories. THE SOCIETY OF S traces her journey south, to Asheville and Savannah, and on to Florida, as she learns that everything she knows about her family is a lie.

Set in Saratoga Springs, Savannah, and Homosassa Springs, FL, THE SOCIETY OF S traces a year in the education of thirteen-year-old Ariella Montero. Under the influence of Keats, Bertrand Russell, T.S. Eliot, and Jack Kerouac, Ari learns that she isn't "normal," and that sometimes the only way to find home is by running away.

Learn more about Ariella and the Society of S here.

THE YEAR OF DISAPPEARANCES ($25 Signed) continues the most surprising vampire story you'll ever read.

Ariella Montero is no stranger to the dark side of life. Half-human, half-vampire, she spent her first thirteen years in exile from both societies.

When her best friend was murdered, Ari ran away to begin a new life in Florida. But, one by one, the people and things she cares most about keep disappearing. And Ari may be next.

She can hypnotize, read minds, and make herself invisible, but can she escape her stalkers? 
Ari's special talents are severely tested as she moves on—from a vampire community in the Sunshine State to college in Georgia to the primeval maze of the Okefenokee Swamp. In contending with the politics of vampire and human cultures, Ari comes face to face with the zombies that are infiltrating America, as well as the demons and shadows that haunt us all.

REVIEWS:

"…the year's most intriguing fiction debut to date." --The Ft. Myers News-Press "...this beautifully written literary novel works as a touching coming-of-age story about a child in search of her missing mother." --The Sacramento Bee

"Award-winning author Susan Hubbard explores a strange, dark world…." --The Tucson Citizen

"Hubbard (Walking on Ice) delineates Ari's world of innocent and uncertain adolescence with uncommon poignance and forgoes sensationalism for sensitivity..." --Publishers Weekly

"Florida author Hubbard offers a surprising twist on this trend: a vampire tale that reads more like a subtle family drama." --The Arizona Republic

"A triumph of modern gothic storytelling. The Society of S is the most unusual coming of age story you'll ever read." --Carolyn Parkhurst, author of The Dogs of Babel

From Patricia

Bartlett, L.L. Dead in Red ($26) June. Ex-insurance investigator Jeff Resnick has a sixth sense that helps solve crimes. But it puts him in harm's way often enough to make him want to muffle his talent. His elderly mentor Sophie challenges him to use his gift for good. Jeff's vision of a red high-heeled shoe after his favorite bartender is murdered starts him on a trail through Buffalo's underworld of foot fetishists and drag queens who have answers. The second Resnick after Murder on the Mind.

Holm, Tom. The Osage Rose ($16) June, pbo. Ex-cop J.D. Daugherty sets up as a p.i. to cash in on cases for Tulsa, Oklahoma's high society in 1921. Hired to find Rose, a young white woman who eloped with native American Tommy, an heir to Osage oil, J.D. and his Cherokee sideman Hoolie flounder through a swamp of lies, racial hatred and gunfights to reach the truth. Holm recreates the boomtown era made to order for a fixer like J.D. Insight into Osage culture and the Cherokee spirit world is a bonus. A professor of American Indian studies at the University of Arizona, Holm writes with authority. First novel.

Lewis, C.S. Prince Caspian ($22 and $8 for mass) May. Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy vanish at the railway station to reappear in Narnia 1300 years after their first visit although only one year has passed in England. Interviewing a fugitive dwarf in the ruins of their castle launches them on an adventure to restore the old Narnia now in thrall to invaders. Read the book and see the film now.

Martin, Kat. Season of Strangers ( $8) June, pbo. After two sisters disappear on a Malibu beach, one of them, Julie, suffers blinding headaches, and the other, Laura, becomes paranoid about alien abductions. When Julie's boss recovers from a heart attack like a different man, she starts assembling puzzle pieces to save Laura. Third paranormal romance after Scent of Roses and The Summit ($8).

Novak, Brenda. Trust Me ($7) June, pbo. Skye Kellerman's testimony put Oliver Burke, the man who knifed her, in prison. She started a victims support group with other survivors. Skye and Detective Willis of the Sacramento PD know Burke will target her when he is paroled in a week. They intend to prove Burke guilty of other murders to stop him. Det. Willis is obliged to play by the rules. Skye is not. First in victims support romantic suspense trilogy.

Spencer-Fleming, Julia. I Shall Not Want ($25) June. Hadley Knox and her two children take refuge with her grandfather, sexton at the Episcopal church where Rev. Clare Fergusson is shepherd-in-residence for the people of Millers Kill, upstate New York. Hadley endures the rigors of basic training and the eager Deputy Flynn's unwanted attentions when she joins the police force. Still staggering under the weight of the events that ended All Mortal Flesh, police chief Russ Van Alstyne needs Hadley's Spanish language skills when a nun driving a van of migrant workers (some legal) draws gunfire that might be related to the Mexican drug trade invading the area. Clare soldiers on, conducting liturgies, hiring one of the migrants and training with the National Guard despite the guilt she carries from the same events. Church calendar headings measure time passing until the bodies of men killed execution style are found during the town picnic. The action spikes like the peaks on a heart monitor while this many characters worthy of concern spend their talents to stop the violence. Russ and Clare's frustration matches the reader's when a crisis interrupts their private encounters time and again. Knockout blows land one after another until a reader must remember to breathe. As long as Spencer-Fleming writes this series, fans shall not want, except the next book. In the Bleak Midiwnter, A Fountain Filled with Blood, Out of the Deep I Cry, To Darkness and to Death, and All Mortal Flesh.

Celebrating the return of Indiana Jones…

Dietrich, William. Rosetta Key (Harper $28 in stock). A world without George MacDonald Fraser and his picaresque characters is a duller place. Fortunately Dietrich has picked up the mantle and created in a bumptious, somewhat bumbling young American, once a kind of apprentice to Benjamin Franklin, an heir to Flashman. First met in Napoleon's Pyramids ($7.99) which ended him fleeing the forces of evil in a hot-air balloon (a relatively new transport developed by France's Montgolfier brothers), Ethan Gage keeps losing—and finding—his feet in the 1799 Holy Land in pursuit of an ancient Egyptian scroll. With a healthy helping of sultry women of unusual powers, fuelled by self interest and an incredible sense of timing, Gage's incredible adventure climaxes at the epic siege of Acre. Dietrich is the author of an all-time favorite adventure novel in Ice Reich and has done Britannia in Hadrian's day.

Rollins, James.Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls (Ballantine $26 pubs May 22; Signed here June 24). Lucas, Spielberg, and Harrison Ford do the movie, Rollins does the official book. Naturally no one is giving the plot away in advance. But we can say that Rollins kicks off the national launch for The Last Oracle , (Morrow $27) here on June 24. A bid to genetically engineer the next great prophet results in a biological meltdown among the children in the experiment. SIGMA must intervene by solving a mystery that dates back to the Oracle at Delphi (where the priestesses were mostly stoned off the vapors). The Greek and Russian threads of this plot are outstanding and the drama of Chernobyl and what to do with the mess today (based, by the way, on the actual plan) makes for an astonishing climatic scene. Plus much of the action takes place on the Mall in Washington, DC. All in all, a knockout summer – or anytime – read.

McCoy, Max.Indiana Jones and the Hollow Earth (Bantam/Lucas $6.99). To set you up for the new movie, try a violent storm, a dying Arctic explorer, and a curious wooden box. Inside it: a slice of Icelandic stone with mythological powers and a journal hinting at a lost civilization. This mix only needs a handy, lovely Danish scientist and some Nazi explorers, no?

Andrei Cherny's inspiring book The Candy Bombers

I Was on Cnn and saw a story on The Candy Bombers. A fascinating bit of history I had never heard of before.
So who were The Candy Bombers?
Well, they were a group of airmen during the Berlin Airlift who followed the lead of a young 27-year-old pilot and started dropping candy tied to little parachutes to the children of Berlin.

click here to see CNN Video.

"On the sixtieth anniversary of the Berlin Airlift, Andrei Cherny tells a remarkable story with profound implications for the world today. In the tradition of the best narrative storytellers, he brings together newly unclassified documents, unpublished letters and diaries, and fresh primary interviews to tell the story of the ill-assorted group of castoffs and second-stringers who not only saved millions of desperate people from a dire threat, but changed how the world viewed the United States, and set in motion the chain of events that would ultimately lead to the dismantling of the Berlin Wall and America’s victory in the Cold War."

Andrei Cherny signs The Candy Bombers Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at 07:00 pm
Don't miss the opportunity to meet this fascinating author!

Killing Rommel by Seven Pressfield

Seven Pressfield's new book ($27)
Killing Rommel is here and we have it signed.
It is a story set in WWII, in the North African campaign, a behind-the-lines raid conducted by two British special forces, the Long Range Desert Group and the SAS (Special Air Service). The Brits' target: the legendary German commander--Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, the Desert Fox. The book is fiction but based on fact.

Click here to Introduce yourself to Killing Rommel with these audio excerpts from the book.

Thomas Cook's Master of the Delta has just arrived

American crime-writer, Thomas H. Cook,has a new novel, Master of the Delta.

In 1954 Mississippi, Jack Branch returns to his father’s Delta estate, Great Oaks, to perform an act of noblesse oblige: teaching at the local high school. Conducting a class on historical evil, Jack is shocked to discover that his unassuming student Eddie is the son of the Coed Killer, a notorious local murderer. Jack feels compelled to mentor the boy, encouraging Eddie to examine his father’s crime and using his own good name to open the doors that Eddie’s lineage can’t. But when Eddie’s investigation leads him to Great Oaks and to Jack’s own father, Jack finds himself questioning Eddie’s motives—and his own.

As the deadly consequences of Jack’s actions fall inescapably into place, Thomas H. Cook masterfully reveals the darker truths that lurk in the recesses of small-town lives and in the hearts of even well-intentioned men.

Cook is the author of the Edgar Award winning novel The Chatham School Affair. He received six Edgar nominations to date, most recently in 2006 for the novel Red Leaves, which was also shortlisted for the CWA Duncan Lawrie Dagger and the Anthony Award, and went on to win the Barry Award and The Martin Beck Award.

Thomas Cook will be signing at The Poisoned Pen Bookstore on Monday, July 7 at 7pm.
Don't miss your chance to meet this wonderful author!

Master of Crisis and Crime article - Publishers Weekly, 4/7/2008

Gordianus returns in THE TRIUMPH OF CAESAR

Fans of Steven Saylor will be happy to see that Gordianus returns in The new Roma Sub Rosa novel: The Triumph of Caesar
USA Today is calling Steven “A modern master of historical fiction.”

In March, Steven appeared with fellow ancient world novelist Steven Pressfield (Gates of Fire) at the Getty Villa in Malibu, California, one of the world’s great museums of the ancient world. You can watch their 84-minute videotaped conversation here at the Getty site.
Steven will be signing Wednesday, May 14, 2008 7 pm at The Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale. For a signed copy of The Triumph of Caesar please call 888 560 9919 or email sales@poisonedpen.com

Are you a Donna Leon fan? Then we have a treat for you...

A note to all of our Donna Leon fans, Grace Brophy has written a new Commissario Cenni Investigation,A Deadly Paradise . So if you are longing for a new Italian mystery, give Grace Brophy a try.
The critics love her and we think you will too…
Praise for Grace Brophy:: "It's not often that an author's first book wins the coveted Tip of the Ice Pick Award."-BookPage "Believable narrative twists combined with excellent characterization, rich dialogue and a finely depicted setting."-Publishers Weekly "A terrific Italian historical police procedural."-Midwest Book Review In the peaceful Umbrian village of Paradiso, the shocking murder and mutilation of an elderly German woman is barely credible. That is, until Inspector Alessandro Cenni of the State Police discovers that this retired cultural attach was not just a difficult tenant, but also a bisexual swinger with an African lover recently in residence, as well as a blackmailer. The dead woman grew up in occupied Venice, and some of her secrets may have been acquired that long ago, during World War II. And the bucolic village is not that innocent: It was the site of a famous, scandalous murder fifty years earlier. Cenni’s boss wants a scapegoat, and the young African lesbian is the obvious target, but Cenni cannot bring himself to close a case without solving the crime and bringing the actual perpetrator to justice. Grace Brophy , a native of New Jersey, lived in Umbria for many years. She now resides in Maine. The Last Enemy, her debut novel, featuring Inspector Cenni, was published to acclaim. PRAISE FOR "A DEADLY PARADISE"
"Brophy not only has found in Umbria a fresh setting for Italian crime fiction, but she has also created a character in Cenni who combines the beguiling personal flaws, slumbering sex appeal, and mysterious detachment of David Hewson’s Leo Falcone and Nic Costa. Readers bitten by the Italian crime bug are sure to succumb to Cenni’s charms." —Booklist
"Brophy has a fine budding series here, with winning characters and settings that include Venice and Murano as well as Umbria, and the ongoing Chiara subplot will have readers anticipating the next installment" —Library Journal
"The author feeds readers just enough information through the twists and turns of the plot to keep them on their toes. . . . delightful, action-packed whodunit with some Italian travel and culture thrown in for good measure." —School Library Journal
"In Cenni’s second appearance . . . Brophy adds new texture to her crisp narrative through the perspectives of several suspects alternating with the Inspector’s clear-eyed analysis." —Kirkus Reviews
"The Commissario follows the trail of the victim's visitors and lover to Venice, where his own past and demons get a good stirring-up too. The lives and secrets reveal in a smooth, compulsive and faultless fashion and later there's another visit to Venice, and cats prove crucial. I loved this book." —Fictionalcities.com
"The latest Cenni Italian police procedural . . . is an engaging case with an incredible setup. Cenni is at his best as he struggles with diplomatic immunity intruding on the crime scene . . . . fans will appreciate Grace Brophy’s entertaining whodunit." —The Mystery Gazette
Consistently intriguing and thoroughly appealing, Commissario Alessandro Cenni is an absolute winner among contemporary protagonists in police procedural mysteries. Compelling characterizations, carefully crafted plotting, and finely rendered Italian settings are the perfectly blended ingredients that make A Deadly Paradise a terrific mystery. Don't miss it! —Bookloons

Claire M. Johnson’s signing on Sunday, May 18 has been canceled

I’m sorry to post that Claire M. Johnson’s signing on Sunday, May 18 has been canceled. We are going to ship to Claire so please call for a signed copy of her new mystery, Roux Morgue, featuring Pastry Chef, Mary Ryan.
Roux Morgue is the sequel to Beat Until Stiff for which Claire won the 1999 Malice Domestic Writers Grant.
And Roux Morgue has the critics raving again:

Publishers Weekly - 2/11/08
Roux Morgue
The growing rift between the “dinosaurs” and the “young brats” on the teaching staff at San Francisco's École d'Epicure fuels the highly amusing action in Johnson's superior second cozy to feature funky pastry chef Mary Ryan (after 2002's Beat Until Stiff ). This enjoyable romp should gain Johnson new fans .

Library Journal - 2/1/08
Girl Power! The chick-lit mystery subgenre has been reinventing itself for a while.
Claire Johnson uses a culinary school in Roux Morgue to illustrate how a young chef can be exceptional both at her profession and snooping around solving murders.

Kirkus - 2/1/2008
Sexual tension, cooking tips and a neatly packaged mystery. All in all, a tasty tale.

You can read more at Reviews for Roux Morgue

From Patricia

Barrett, Tracy. The 100-Year-Old Secret (Holt, $16) May. Florida teen Xena Holmes and her brother Xander, transplanted to London for their father's year as a visiting musician, discover their connection to Sherlock which entitles them to his unsolved casebook. Trained in The Game that wins them points for guessing a person's occupation by his appearance, the resourceful pair have as much fun as the reader will. First in The Sherlock Files series for ages 9-12.

Brightwell, Emily. Mrs. Jeffries Holds the Trump (Berkley, $7) June, pbo. The quiet, successful owner of a medical supply concern drowns face down off a Chelsea wharf. Inspector Witherspoon must learn who killed a man with no enemies. His housekeeper, the steadfast Mrs. Jeffries, with her team of domestic irregulars, proves the victim was solving a crime at the time of his death. The Metropolitan Police Force's secret weapon is just as comfortable in her role as she has been in the other 23 entries in this appealing Victorian series.

Lane, Vicki. In a Dark Season (Bantam, $7) May. After an old woman falls from her porch, a niece no one knows swiftly sorts Aunt Nola's belongings for sale. Widow Elizabeth Goodweather from the neighboring herb farm salvages Nola's quilts and a laptop from the clearout. This is either a concerned relative or a predator cashing in on the development threatening the Marshall County North Carolina way of life. What happened years ago in those hills leads to the answers.
Old Wounds ($7).

Olsen, Gregg., A Cold Dark Place (Pinnacle Kensington, $7) April, pbo. In the wake of a tornado in Washington state, single mom and cop Emily Kenyon suspects the teenage survivor of murdering his entire family on their farm. Emily's daughter disappears with him to support his claim of innocence. Similar crimes in other states may be her only leads. True crime writer/journalist Olsen pens his second convincing thriller following A Wicked Snow ($7).

Upson, Nicola. An Expert in Murder (Harper, $25) June. Loss of privacy is the price playwright Josephine Tey pays for success. When the young woman thrilled to meet her on the train trip from Scotland is murdered in Kings Cross station, Inspector Archie Penrose, well acquainted with Josephine, suspects the death is related to her play, Richard of Bordeaux.
Its pacifist sentiments in a world so scarred by the Great War have made it the surprise hit of the season. The ghosts from Penrose's hellish time in the trenches revisit him during the case. Blending fact and fiction, Upson launches a smart series with crime writer Tey as protagonist. Kudos for the turns of phrase and foreshadowing from the era of London in the 1930's that fix a reader's interest in the individually realized characters.

ROBERT K TANENBAUM signing at the Poisoned Pen,Tuesday May 13

Don't miss author, ROBERT K TANENBAUM, signing at the Poisoned Pen,Tuesday May 13 at 7:00 pm. He will be signing his new thriller, Escape.

Tanenbaum is a Brooklyn boy who served a term as mayor of Beverly Hills, all background along with his career as a DA for the Butch Karp/Marlene Ciampi novels. In Escape, the 20^th in series, newly re-elected, NY DA Karp battles the “insanity of the insanity defense,” as he tries to make Jessica Campbell, a rabble-rousing political science professor at NYU, pay for the murder of her three children. Karp disbelieves her claim that God told her to send them to Him and seeks to prove a motive for this modern Medea. Meanwhile the Sheik and his homegrown jihadists plot a spectacular assault on the city. The Karp daughter Lucy has gone underground, and a motley crew of crimebusters proves their mettle.

No Lesser Plea; Depraved Indifference; Immoral Certainty; Reversible Error; Material Witness; Justice Denied; Corruption of Blood; Falsely Accused; Irresistible Impulse; Reckless Endangerment; Act of Revenge; True Justice; Enemy Within; Absolute Rage; Resolved; Hoax; Fury ($7.99 each); Counterplay; Malice ($10 each).

Antiques to Die For

join us on Thursday, May 8 for a special event with author Jane K. Cleland . Jane will be signing her new mystery Antiques to Die For. The Discussion will be followed by Afternoon Tea at Casa del Encanto ,6939 E First Avenue, 480 970-1355 (two doors west of the bookstore).

“With great dialogue and description, a strong but insecure heroine, and enough inside info about Josie’s business to satisfy an Antiques Roadshow fan—what’s not to like?” —Mystery News
Click here to read an excerpt of Jane's new Josie Prescott Antiques Mystery.
Jane has a trailer for her new book

WOW! To celebrate the publication of ANTIQUES TO DIE FOR, four lucky raffle winners will receive a Josie Prescott personalized martini glass filled with jellybeans .
Come join the fun!