Crying Blood (Poisoned Pen $24.95 Jan. 29). Casey reports that "the precipitating event in this book is something that happened pre-Oklahoma statehood in 1907, when the eastern half of the area was still the Indian Territory divided among the so-called Five Civilized Tribes including the Muscogee or Creek Nation." Now, in 1915, when Shaw and his boys, his brother James and two nephews go on a fall hunting trip to property bought some years before by their stepfather but then allowed to run wild, they discover an old grave. Or rather Shaw's dog Buttercup flushes it. Shaw sees and hears something that eerily recalls his father, dead at 29 from a swift illness. And that something seems to follow him back home to Alafair and their ten kids and assorted spouses. The "something" takes human form when a young Creek called Crying Blood steals some freshly butchered pork, is apprehended and tied up in the barn—and then ends up brutally murdered, a lance through his heart. So the "something" is more than just the (now dead) boy. What has Shaw stumbled into? Scott Tucker, the sheriff, and Jim Barger, the Sheriff over in Muskogee County, want to know, too.
The Old Buzzard Had It Coming;
Hornswoggled; The Sky Took Him;
The Drop Edge of Yonder ($15 each). This excellent series, praised by Tony Hillerman, Margaret Maron, and Carolyn G. Hart, has been nominated for the Willa and for Oklahoma Book Awards.
Prey on Patmos (Poisoned Pen $24.95 Jan. 29). Saint John wrote the apocalyptic Book of Revelation over 1900 years ago in a cave on Greece’s eastern Aegean island of Patmos. When a revered monk from that holy island’s thousand year-old monastery is murdered in Patmos’ town square during Easter Week, Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis of Greece’s Twenty-First Century Special Crimes Division is called upon to find the killer before all hell breaks loose. Andreas’ impolitic search for answers brings him face-to-face with a scandal haunting the world’s oldest surviving monastic community. On the pristine Aegean peninsula of Mount Athos, isolated from the rest of humanity, twenty monasteries sit protecting the secrets of Byzantium amid a way of life virtually unchanged for more than 1500 years. But today this sacred refuge harbors modern international intrigues that threaten to destroy the very heart of the Church…in a matter of days.
“Using the Greek Orthodox Church as the linchpin for his story, Siger proves that Greece is fertile new ground for the mystery genre. Sure to appeal to fans of mysteries with exotic locations.
”— Library Journal
“The third case for the appealing Andreas will immerse readers in a fascinating culture.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“The author succinctly explains the background to the Eastern Orthodox history and politics. And he deftly weaves into his plot references to real-life scandals linking church and state that will resonate with those in the know. Attuned to the ways and concerns of everyday Greeks, Siger is an equally astute observer of the movers and shakers."
—Athens Plus/The International Herald Tribune. A 3
rd fabulous and unusual thriller after
Murder in Mykonos and
Assassins of Athens ($15 each).
Start with Kate #1,
A Cold Day for Murder (Poisoned Pen $25 Feb. 1), the Edgar winner, now for the first time in a hardcover edition. Eighteen months before, Aleut Kate Shugak quit her job investigating sex crimes for the Anchorage DA’ s office and retreated to her father’s homestead in a national Park in the interior of Alaska. But the world has a way of beating a path to her door, however remote, and in the middle of one of the bitterest Decembers in recent memory ex-boss—and ex-lover—Jack Morgan shows up with an FBI agent in tow. A Park ranger with powerful relatives is missing. Reluctantly, Kate, along with Mutt, her half-wolf, half-husky sidekick, leaves her wilderness refuge to follow a frozen trail through the Park. Her formidable grandmother and Native chief, Ekaterina Shugak, is for reasons of her own against Kate’s investigation, her cousin, Martin, may be Kate’s prime suspect, and the local trooper, Jim Chopin, is more interested in Kate than answers…
(St Martins $25.99 Feb. 1). The 18
th Kate Shugak called "brilliant" in its rave reviews. The residents of Alaska’s largest national park are stunned by the death of one of their oldest members, 87-year-old Old Sam Dementieff. Even Kate Shugak. Sam, a lifelong resident, dubbed the “father” of all of the Park rats—even though he had no children of his own—was especially close to Kate, his niece, but even she is surprised to discover that in his will he’s left her everything, including a letter instructing her simply to, “find my father.” Easier said than done, since Sam’s father is something of a mystery. An outsider, he disappeared shortly after learning about Sam’s existence, taking with him a priceless tribal artifact, a Russian icon. "Kate is at her butt-kicking best as she and Mutt, her inseparable half-wolf, half-husky companion, deal with murder, theft, and deception from Anchorage to the wilderness of Canyon Hot Springs..." --
Publishers Weekly Starred Review.
A Surprise Me Pick.
The Dangerous Edge of Things (Poisoned Pen $24.95;
$15 trade Jan. 29). Meet Teresa Ann “Tai” Randolph. She's barely a week into relocating from Savannah to Atlanta, where she’s camping out at her brother Eric’s place, and pulls into his driveway and discovers a dead woman slumped over the steering wheel of a car. "Since Eric had left that morning for a cruise in the Bahamas and Tai had just inherited Dexter’s Guns and More shop from her uncle, she becomes a person of interest to the APD, even though she swears she never met the corpse when it was Eliza Compton. Digging through her brother’s files, Tai finds business cards for Dan Garrity, senior investigator for the cops, and Marisa Edenfield, executive partner at Phoenix Corporate Security Services, where Eric was doing consulting work. Garrity becomes her detecting mentor, sort of, and Marisa puts her on the payroll to protect company interests (don’t ask). But it’s former Special Ops/ ex-APD guy, Trey Seaver, a total dreamboat even if he’s struggling with a little work- engendered brain damage, who’s with her every step of the way as the plot ricochets past strippers, senators, another dead body, a boyfriend, a trophy wife, a tail or two, a few gunshots and a kiss that takes your breath away. Tai’s next adventure can’t come soon enough. She’s adorable, Trey is worthy of her and Whittle’s first foray into crime fiction is noteworthy." –
Kirkus Starred Review.
Meet all four author’s in person Saturday, January 29th at 5pm at The Poisoned Pen. For more details visit www.poisonedpen.com and check out the events calendar, or call 480-947-2974.
