Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Shannon signs The Devils of Bakersfield; Stansberry signs Ancient Rain


We have a double event Thursdays, May 15, 2008 at 7 pm. Two of Patrick's favoites, John Shannon and Dominic Stansberry will be signing their new mysteries. Shannon signs The Devils of Bakersfield while . Stansberry signs Ancient Rain.
From Patrick:
Domenic Stansberry. The Ancient Rain ($25 Signed)
"Stansberry's always been a favorite of mine and his new book, the third in his excellent series featuring jaded PI Dante Mancuso is his best yet. Mancuso's buddy Bill Owens has been charged with a thirty-year old killing from back in the day when Owens was involved with a lefty political activist group that pulled all sorts of mostly benign publicity stunts. A staged bank holdup went awry, however, and an innocent bystander was killed. Now, all these years later, Mancuso has to recreate the original investigation in an attempt to clear Owen's name. As always, Stansberry's descriptions of the culture and atmosphere of San Francisco are top notch. Also, if you've never read his very fine Edgar-nominated stand-alone, The Confession, don't miss it. It's one of the finest seedy psychologist novels I've ever read."
John Shannon. The Devils of Bakersfield ($25 Signed)
"Regular /Booknews/ readers have been listening to me sing the praises of John Shannon's beautifully written Jack Liffey series for nearly a decade, and I continue to insist that these books are modern classics of Los Angeles crime fiction. Finally, some of Shannon's early books are coming back into print, including the first Liffey, The Concrete River. Through ten books now, Shannon has taken his PI and single-father Liffey systematically through different cultural enclaves of LA. Now he turns his attention to Bakersfield, where Liffey and his pregnant eighteen year-old daughter Maeve have escaped for a weekend trip. The Liffeys walk into a political climate that borders on the hysterical. A long-established evangelical group has targeted teenage girls as potential satanists and it isn't long before Maeve is falsely arrested and thrown into the volatile brew."

Steven Saylor signs Wednesday, May 14, 2008 7 pm



Steven Saylor signs
The Triumph of Caesar Wednesday, May 14, 2008 7 pm.
The new Roma Sub Rosa novel:
Gordianus returns in
THE TRIUMPH OF CAESAR

“Gordianus plunges into the scary, fascinating world of Roman plots and betrayals...Fast-paced action, a deeply realized main characer, and accessible history make this series first-rate on all fronts.” —Booklist

“It is 46 BC, and Julius Caesar has vanquished his rivals and conquered the world for Rome. But will he survive his triumphant return to a city where public pageantry masks private grievance, where banquet guests chew on broken promises, and where shrewd men and women angle for power, knowledge, stature, riches, sex — the spoils of peace? From its opening sentence, The Triumph of Caesar is rich with intrigue and the aura of Roman history. Steven Saylor’s clear-eyed detective-narrator, Gordanius the Finder, is the perfect guide to the city, bringing its mysteries to light and bringing its monumental characters — Antony, Cicero, Brutus, Calpurnia, Cleopatra — to life, even as he cuts them down to size.” —Evan Carton, author of Patriotic Treason: John Brown and the Soul of America

“Just ten pages into The Triumph of Caesar, I had learned more Roman history from Steven Saylor than from all my high school and college professors combined...Saylor whips up more than enough plot, character, and suspense to carry the mystery to a satisfying conclusion—but it’s the historical backdrop and detail that set The Triumph of Caesar apart.” —Mike Shea, Texas Monthly

“No contemporary novelist approaches Saylor’s continued ability to bring ancient Rome to life.” —Kirkus

Read Steven’s essay “Gordianus Lives!” (from the Spring issue of Mystery Readers Journal).

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 - 2/11/08Roux MorgueThe 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 - 2/1/08Girl 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 - 2/1/2008Sexual tension, cooking tips and a neatly packaged mystery. All in all, a tasty tale

Friday, May 9, 2008

Tuesday May 13 at 7:00 pm


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.

Robert K. Tanenbaum is one of the country’s most respected and successful trial lawyers and legal experts. He has never lost a felony case. He has held such prestigious positions as Homicide Bureau Chief for the New York District Attorney’s Office and Deputy Chief Counsel for the Congressional Committee investigations into the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

He has taught Advanced Criminal Procedure at the University of California Berkeley, Boalt Hall Law School, and has conducted continuing legal education (CLE) seminars for practicing lawyers in California, New York, and Pennsylvania.

He is the USA Today, Los Angeles Times, and New York Times bestselling author of eighteen novels, including Counterplay, Fury, Hoax, Absolute Rage, Enemy Within, True Justice, Act of Revenge, Reckless Endangerment, and Malice. He is also the author of the true-crime books Badge of the Assassin and The Piano Teacher: The True Story of a Psychotic Killer. He lives in Los Angeles.

You can read an excerpt or to watch an interview here.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Charlaine Harris will be at The Poisoned Pen Bookstore Friday, May 9th at 7:00 pm


One of my favorite authors, Charlaine Harris will be at The Poisoned Pen Bookstore Friday, May 9th at 7:00 pm to sign From Dead to Worse ($25), a new Southern Vampire Mystery, featuring Sookie Stackhouse.

I love this series with has been translated into 24 languages and has become a bestseller across the world. Fans of Kim Harrison and Laurell K. Hamilton will love Sookie Stackhouse, the barmaid with a disability, she can read minds. Sookie as a tan, blue-eyed, buxom blonde, but although she's young, fit and good looking, she has trouble with suitors.Being able to read her date's minds is a big turn-off and her reputation as a weirdo doesn't make her very attractive either. She leads a lonely life until this guy walks into the bar and she refreshingly can not read his mind...
Soon to be an HBO series, True Blood is adapted from this mystery series written by Charlaine Harris, starring Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse, a psychic waitress who battles vampires and other supernatural creatures in Louisiana.
SPECIAL SNEAK PREVIEW: Chapter One of From Dead to Worse Don't miss this chance to meet this awesome author. For more information or to reserve a copy of any of Charlaine's books you can call 480 947 2974 or visit wwwpoisonedpen.com. Charlaine will inscribe her books and we can ship to anywhere!Berkley has just brought Charlaine Harris's beloved Aurora Teagarden mysteries back into print. Cozy-readers, if you missed these you now have a second chance to treat yourself.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Tea with Author Jane Cleland

Join us at The Poisoned Pen on May 8 for a discussion/signing with author Jane Cleland. Jane will sign Antiques to Die For — Discussion 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
Since Josie Prescott left a high-paying job in New York to set up shop as an antiques appraiser on the rugged New Hampshire coast, her life has not gone exactly according to plan. In many ways, it's gone better: She has a booming business, good friends and neighbors, and even a promising romance.

But dead bodies do seem to keep crossing her path. And now her friend Rosalie has been killed just hours after confiding a secret to Josie, leaving a bereaved twelve-year-old sister, Paige, who reminds Josie of herself when her mother died. It turns out that Rosalie had other secrets too: a mysterious treasure she told her sister she was leaving behind—and a secret admirer who now seems to be turning his creepy attention to Josie! This leaves Josie to solve the crime while helping Paige and her own business to stay afloat.

Monday, May 5, 2008

The June Poisoned Pen Calendar

We have a blockbuster June coming up and I wanted to make sure you had the chance to add these to your calendar.

The June Poisoned Pen Calendar
4014 N Goldwater
Scottsdale
480 947 2974
www.poisonedpen.com

JUST TO BE SURE
THURSDAY MAY 22
John Sandford 7:00 pm
Sandford signs Phantom Prey (Putnam $26.95).

Change of date
WEDNESDAY MAY 28
Hardboiled Crime Club 7:00 pm
Ross Macdonald, The Way Some People Die ($13).

MONDAY JUNE 2
Craig Johnson 7:00 pm
Johnson signs Another Man's Moccasins (Viking $23.95).

TUESDAY JUNE 3
Andrew Gross 7:00 pm
Gross signs Dark Tide (Morrow $26).

TUESDAY JUNE 3
Jonathan Santlofer 7:00 pm
Santlofer signs The Murder Notebook (Morrow $25).
The authors both speak and do a joint signing at the
End of their program.

THURSDAY JUNE 5
Laurell K. Hamilton 6:30pm
Fundraiser for the Scottsdale Public Library 3839 N Drinkwater Boulevar sponsored by The Poisoned Pen bookstore.
This is a Ticketed Event ($30 includes the book)
Available ONLY by advance purchase at The Poisoned Pen or if room allows at the auditorium door.
Bestseller Hamilton who led the way for authors like Stephenie Meyer
And Charlaine Harris published her 16th Anita Blake Vampire novel
Blood Noir (Berkley $26).

SAUTRDAY JUNE 7
Steve Martini 1:00 pm
Martini speaks about Shadow of Power (Morrow $25.95). He speaks at 1:00 pm and signs together with Child after both programs conclude.

SATURDAY JUNE 7
Lee Child 2:00 pm
Child signs a new Jack Reacher, Nothing to Lose (Bantam $25).

MONDAY JUNE 9
Loren D. Estleman 7:00 pm
Estleman signs Frames (Forge $24.95), the first full novel for
Hollywood film archivist sleuth Valentine. Link to his movie trivia contest at www.lorenestleman.com

WEDNESDAY JUNE 11
The 2008 MWA Grand Master Bill Pronzini signs a new case
For his Nameless Detective in Fever (Forge $25). He is joined by his wife Marcia Muller, a previous Grand Master and author of the Sharon
McCone PI series who signs The Ever-Running Man (Grand Central $25).
This is Pronzini's first appearance here and a very Rare joint event for the mystery star couple.

THURSDAY JUNE 12
John Connolly 7:00 pm
Signs a new Charlie Parker Thriller, The Reaper (Atria $26).

FRIDAY JUNE 13
Maggie Sefton 7:00 pm
Sefton signs Dyer Consequences (Berkley $23.95).
Knitters and knitting clubs encouraged to attend

SATURDAY JUNE 14
Coffee and Crime 10:30 am
Read JA Konrath, Whisky Sour ($6.99)

SATURDAY JUNE 14
Douglas Preston 6:00 pm Wine/Cheese/Dessert, 7:00 pm slide show of Florence and program
Preston signs The Monster of Florence (Grand Central $26), based on investigation with Italian journalist Mario Spezi into this real life serial killer, work that got them both jailed in Italy.

MONDAY JUNE 16
Don Winslow 7:00 pm
Winslow signs Dawn Patrol (Knopf $24), but first we will screen a few scenes from the movie of The Death and Life of Bobby Z which went straight to DVD.

TUESDAY JUNE 17
Andrei Cherny 7:00 pm
Arizona author Cherny signs The Candy Bombers (Putnam), a moving story of the Berlin Airlift and the effects it had on the development of democracy in Germany.

WENESDAY JUNE 18
Meg Gardiner, Jacqueline Winspear 7:00 pm
Gardiner signs The Dirty Secrets Club (Dutton $24.95) and chats with her host Winspear who signs the latest Maisie Dobbs 1930s case, An Incomplete Revenge (Holt $24).

THURSDAY JUNE 19
Karen Essex 7:00 pm
Essex signs Stealing Athena (Doubleday $23), an historical novel based on the purchase of the Elgin Marbles by Lord Elgin over two centuries ago. – and a hot topic today,

TUESDAY JUNE 24
James Rollins 7:00 pm
The National Launch party for his new SIGMA thriller The Last Oracle (Morrow $26.95) which is a knockout blending ancient Greece and the Oracle at Delphi with a rogue, nuclear Russia and a military branch of US Intelligence conducting much of the action on the Washington DC Mall. Terrific!

WEDNESDAY June 25
Jeffery Deaver 7:00 pm
Deaver signs Broken Window (Simon & Schuster $26.95). Deaver also appears at 3:00 pm at Sunrise Mt. Branch Library, 21200 N 83rd Ave.
Peoria, AZ 85382. Phone 623-773-7557.

THURSDAY JUNE 26
Hardboiled Crime Club 7:00pm
Charlie Stella, Shakedown ($15).

MONDAY JUNE 30
Deborah Crombie 7:00 pm
Crombie signs Where Memories Lie (Morrow $24.95).
Crombie also appears at the Mustang Library July 1 at 10:30 am and the Velma Teague Library in Glendale on July 2. Details at www.poisonedpen.com

TUESDAY JULY 1
David Hewson, Denise Hamilton 7:00 pm
Hewson previews Garden of Evil (Bantam $24), where the Roman cops go after a wicked killer and a lost Caravaggio masterpiece, both in an ancient palazzo. LA journalist Hamilton signs Last Embrace (Scribner $25), a Hollywood noir.

Monday, April 28, 2008

May 7 at 7 pm meet atuthors Martha Egan and Michael Norman


May 7 at 7 pm meet Michael Norman as he signs Silent Witness, the sequel to The Commission.
Sam Kincaid and Kate McConnell must once again look beneath the obvious in an increasingly dangerous scenario.
The armored car robbery went terribly awry, leaving two people dead. One was a member of the gang believed responsible for the crime. Walter Bradshaw, the 45-year-old leader of the Reformed Church of the Divine Christ, is charged with capital murder and aggravated robbery. Bradshaw leads an arch-conservative, anti-government group of Mormon polygamists who were once a part of Warren Jeffs’ Fundamentalist Church. Captured after a high-speed chase, Bradshaw currently sits in a cell at the Utah State Prison, awaiting trial for the armored car fiasco. The rest of the Bradshaw gang remains at large.
Then two days before Bradshaw’s preliminary hearing, Arnold Ginsberg, one of two witnesses to the robbery, is stabbed and bludgeoned to death in a parking garage in downtown Salt Lake City. That same evening, the second witness, 24-year old University of Utah student Robin Joiner, narrowly escapes being kidnapped as she walks across campus to her car....
This is the sequel to The Commission, named one of the best books of 2007 by Publishers Weekly.

Martha Egan will sign Coyota, a New Mexican mystery
Nena Herrera-Casey is the coyota, the youngest, in her large Mexican-American family. Her life in Albuquerque seems placid enough, teaching Spanish part-time at the University and selling handicrafts imported from south-of-the-border at the flea market. But Nena has nightmares, vivid, chilling, violent and recurring. When she overhears two Drug Enforcement Agents' whispered conversation, she becomes unwittingly entangled in a mysterious "accident", a fiery plane crash that kills a former student. Was the conversation she overheard actually the plot to murder him? As her life unravels, rogue DEA agents conspire to set her up on bogus drug charges. And her worst nightmare stalks her through the Mexican desert.

Elizabeth Zelvin May 5th at 7:oo pm

Meet debut author Elizabeth Zelvin as she signs Death Will Get You Sober

On Christmas Day, Bruce Kohler wakes up in detox on the Bowery in New York City. He knows it’s time to change his life, but how can he stay sober without dying of boredom?

When homeless alcoholics start to die unexpectedly, Bruce is surprised to find he cares enough to want to find out why. Most of them had been down and out for many years, but Bruce’s friend Guff was different: a cynical aristocrat with a trust fund and some secrets.

Two old friends give Bruce a second chance and agree to help him with his investigation: his best friend, Jimmy, a computer genius and history buff who’s been in AA for years, and Jimmy’s girlfriend Barbara, a counselor who sometimes crosses the line between helping and codependency.

Barbara works a night shift at the detox and confronts a counselor who might still be dealing drugs. Bruce gets a job temping for Guff’s arrogant nephew. Between the three of them, suspects start piling up. The trail leads back to the detox. Or does it?

In Death Will Get You Sober, Bruce discovers that the church basements of AA are a small world in the big city of New York. As he grapples with staying sober, he finds that not drinking is only the beginning of coming back to life---a life he finds he wants to keep when it’s threatened by a killer.

Saturday, May 3 from 10:30 am – 2:30 pm

Earlene Fowler, author of the beloved 12 book mystery series featuring Benni Harper, curator of the Folk Arts Museum and Artists Co-Op, will be with us for a Writer's Workshop.
This workshop will consist of two two-hour sessions: Creating Memorable Characters; and The Art of Rewriting. Earlene Fowler will provide detailed handouts and answer questions.The cost of the seminar is $10 and includes refreshments.

Hannah Dennison and Carolyn G. Hart


Thursday, May 1st and 7 pm

Come meet Carolyn G. Hart, author of the Death on Demand series, as she warmly introduces Hannah Dennison. Hannah will sign A Vicky Hill Exclusive! (Berkley $6.99), the debut introducing Vicky Hill, a reporter who will do almost anything to get that front-page story.

Carolyn will sign her 18th Death on Demand mystery. where Max and Annie Darling are at it again, plunging into the middle of a murder scene, in Death Walked In

"This tight, Agatha Christie-style puzzler will keep readers guessing to the end." Publishers Weekly

Thursday, April 24, 2008

British Author Peter Lovesay will be signing Headhunter Wednesday, April 30 at 7 pm

Headhunters by Peter Lovesey. Soho Crime. $24.00

Peter Lovesey returns with his thirtieth novel, and second to feature Chichester DCI Henrietta Mallin. When two girls, Jo and Gemma, begin an innocent conversation about killing one of their bosses, that’s really all it is: innocent. But things take an abrupt change when Jo discovers the body of a half naked woman on Selsey Beach a short time later. When a second body turns up, also the victim of an apparent drowning, Hen Mallin and her team are handed the task of discovering if the deaths are accidental or if there’s a killer on the loose whose preferred method of dispatch is water. Lovesey is on the top of his game here and fans of the traditional British mystery won’t be disappointed. All the clues are laid bare, but things in Lovesey’s novels are rarely what they seem, especially when he sets his sights on placing the seemingly innocent in a tangled web of deceit.


Dan Fesperman will be signing Tuesday, April 29

Dan Fesperman signs his new book The Amateur Spy Tuesday, April 29 at 7 pm.
A book the critics are calling..." vivid and dramatic... Mr Fesperman is especially good on the murky frontier where journalists, aid-workers and spies trade information, each seeking something for nothing. He is honing the genre of intelligent political thrillers. Foreign correspondents should note: they now have some new standards to match."
—The Economist (read the full review here)


"A fine thriller to add to his impressive body of work."
—Susanna Yager, The Sunday Telegrap

From Dan's Page
Burned out by years of humanitarian aid work, Freeman and Mila Lockhart retreat to a tranquil Greek island. But on the first night of their new life they are surprised by three intruders who seem to know everything about Freeman—including a terrible secret he has kept from Mila—which they use to recruit him to spy on an old Palestinian friend in Jordan. Overnight, Freeman is plunged into the maelstrom of the Middle East—and is quickly in over his head.

In suburban Washington, meanwhile, a prosperous Arab-American couple, Aliyah and Abbas Rahim, are still grieving the death of their daughter. Abbas, an esteemed surgeon, blames meddlesome American officials, and Aliyah fears he may be reeling dangerously toward radicalism. Her efforts to head him off take her to Jordan, where, like Freeman, she is soon overwhelmed by circumstances.

As their paths converge, Freeman and Aliyah must swiftly separate fact from illusion, enemy from friend, even as they worry about the loved ones they left behind. The consequences of failure could be catastrophic. A blistering novel of intrigue, The Amateur Spy recasts the spy novel for the post-9/11 world—anyone might be watching, everyone is suspect—and it is Dan Fesperman's most accomplished and galvanizing thriller yet.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Saturday at the Poisoned Pen

Saturday, April 26
Author Charlie Stella signs Mafiya at 1 pm.



Then at 2 pm Ridley Pearson signs Steel Trapp: The Challenge, is the first book in a new YA series by bestselling author Ridley Pearson. Steven “Steel” Trapp is a science geek extraordinaire, with a photographic memory. Once he’s seen something, he can remember it in vivid detail. He has a memory like a steel trap, which is where he gets his nickname. Set at a Washington D. C. Science Fair this fast paced story will keep you guessing right to the end.

Lisa Jackson is signing Friday, April 25 at 7 pm

New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jackson delivers her most harrowing novel yet as a young woman's determined hunt for a serial killer draws her into a twisted psychopath's unspeakable crimes.
Come meet author Lisa Jackson as she signs her new book Lost Souls .
We will be raffling off a t shirt. Come join the fun!