Wednesday July 8 7 pm, Brad Thor

Meet Brad Thor who makes his first appearance at The Poisoned Pen signing The Apostle (Simon Schuster $27) on Wednesday July 8 at 7 pm

Every politician has a secret. And when the daughter of a politically-connected family is kidnapped abroad, America's new president will agree to anything - even a deadly and ill-advised rescue plan - in order to keep his secret hidden.Master of suspense and #1 New York Times bestselling author Brad Thor returns with his most riveting international thriller yet.

Brimming with the kind of ripped-from-the-headlines authenticity Brad Thor's internationally bestselling novels are known for, The Apostle doubles down on the blockbuster success of The Last Patriot ($10) and reaffirms Thor's status as the master of the political thriller.

Here is a short review of The Last Patriot, a most intriguing thriller:

632 AD. Deep within the Uranah Valley of Mount Arafat, the prophet Mohammed shares with his closest companions a final and startling revelation. Within days, he is assassinated.

September, 1789. US minister to France, Thomas Jefferson, charged with forging a truce with the violent Muslim pirates of the Barbary Coast, makes a shocking discovery: one that could forever impact the world's relationship with Islam. Present day.

When a car bomb explodes outside a Parisian cafe, Scot Harvath is thrust back into the life he has tried so desperately to leave behind. Saving the intended victim of the attack, Harvath becomes party to an amazing and perilous race to uncover a secret so powerful that militant Islam could be defeated once and for all without firing another shot or dropping another bomb. But, as desperate as the US government is to have the information brought to light, there are powerful forces just as determined that Mohammed's mysterious final revelation remain hidden forever.

Wednesday July 1 Ridley Pearson 7 pm

Join us for an evening with author Ridley Pearson Wednesday July 1 at 7 pm

also with views of Shanghai where he and his family have just lived for a year. Pearson is bringing us a power point show of the city AND a nifty prize from Shanghai to give away in store.
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And a mail order customer prize as well for those purchasing Killer Summer (Putnam $24.95) before July 1.

Ridley writes to us, "Every year the Sun Valley Center for the Arts and Humanities (Sun Valley, Idaho) throws a fund-raising wine auction that attracts the well-heeled from around the world to bid up wine bottles into the stratosphere, all for a good cause. As patrons grow more and more 'cheerful' with the free wine at the dinner, the prices soar, as do the egos of those bidding. It's a sight to behold.

"I've always wanted to write about the event. That backdrop ran headlong into some research I stumbled upon. I'm a Google freak, and when I discovered that some bottles from Thomas Jefferson's wine collection had sold for over $600,000. I knew I'd landed on my next thriller:, the third for Sheriff Walt Fleming who exists in part thanks to the real sheriff who takes all this in good part.

"Even the savviest readers will be fooled as Pearson drags poor Walt and friends through a series of clever twists and turns in this fast-paced nail-biter."-- Publishers Weekly

And I thought you'd enjoy this comment from, all of things, the Romantic Times:

"Fleming is up against a criminal mastermind trying to settle a score. As always, Pearson's taut plotting ensures plenty of twists and heart-pounding action."

Read Walt's earlier cases in Killer Weekend; Killer View ($10 each).

Click Here to View the trailer of Killer Summer

We willl also draw for three lucky people to head to the wine bar with Ridley and Barbara to sample a wine flight or two in the spirit of Jefferson. And further, we will have a special prize for a drawing for all those ordering Killer Summer who live outside the Phoenix Metro area.

Finally, a word to Ridley's fans about Boldt:

"Boldt's Broken Angel" is a long short story appearing in Thriller 2 (Mira $25 Signed already by Cussler and Deaver) that catches the reader up on developments in Boldt's career, his continued attraction to Daphne Matthews, and pits him against an unusual killer. This story is meant as an interlude to the next Boldt novel which Ridley hopes to write in the coming year! A short preview: As Boldt is demoted to sergeant, he picks up a case involving a woman going missing from a Seattle office building.

Too soon, there's another woman missing, and this one hits much closer to home. Boldt's deepening affection for co-worker, Daphne Matthews, can no longer be denied. Through the terror of this case, Boldt finds a way to finally speak the truth...

Or so says Ridley, who signs the story while he's here.

Tues. June 30 Eric Stone 7 pm

Meet author Eric Stone Tuesday, June 30 at 7 pm

Stone, author of the Ray Sharp series of detective thrillers set in Asia and based on fact, comes live and in person in Arizona next week, with a slide show of the locales where the books are set, and with Chinese rock & roll.

Prizes. Cold Drinks. And Nuts to you (almonds)


Stone signs Shanghaied (Bleak House $25; $15 tpbk).

"Whatever Stone is smoking, I want some. This is bizarre but believable, tough but tender, and fast but considered. Highly recommended." - Lee Child

"Like Ray Sharp, Stone breaks all the rules and gets away with it. There's nothing normal about this book, yet it's the abnormal that makes it sensational." - Colin Cotterill, author of the Dr. Siri series of mysteries set in Laos. Dr. Sir's new adventure in The Merry Misogynist (Soho $24) publishes in August.

"Stone puts real people square in the middle of a steamy, photographically real Asia, and cranks the velocity all the way up to THRILL. I enjoyed every moment." - Timothy Hallinan, author of Breathing Water (Morrow $25 Signed here on Aug. 29), a dark and amazing new case for travel writer Poke Rafferty and his Bangkok family

"The outcome of this gritty crime novel will shock readers." - Library Journal. No kidding!!

What really happened to the world's largest fireworks display? Corrupt bankers, vicious American veterans, a dumpling accident, a subway chase, and the reason the Dalai Lama eats meat. Ray Sharp is on his deadliest adventure yet, accompanied by his colleague and friend, the diminutive and foul-mouthed - in four languages - Wen Lei Yue.

Ray Sharp has appeared in Living Room of the Dead; Flight of the Hornbill; Grave Imports ($15 each).

Sunday June 28 at 2:00 pm LISA SEE

Spend the afternoon with author Lisa See 2pm

Lisa signs Shanghai Girls (Random $25), a marvelous look at two of the city's 1930s Beautiful Girls who, daughters of a gambling father, must enter arranged marriages and emigrate to Los Angeles after the Japanese arrive. It is just extraordinary in its portraits of the two cities and of displacement not just from home but from family. I was moved to tears, outrage, and laughter.

See, who has written of the immigrant experience of her own family in On Gold Mountain, portrays it here in moving ways that speak to our world today. Do not miss this extraordinary event with the bestselling author. Refreshments and fun.

Sat. June 27 Clive Cussler, James Rollins, and Brent Ghelfi

Join us Sat. June 27 at 6 for an eveing at the library with authors Clive Cussler, James Rollins and Brent Ghelfi

Event begins at 6:00 pm at the Scottsdale Public Library










Be our guests for an evening that is part of our ongoing Pot Luck Series: as Clive Cussler participates in a program with James Rollins and Brent Ghelfi. We will provide drinks and the Cussler Collectors Society is contributing refreshments.

Bring something to share if you like.

If your time is short we will have presigned copies of Cussler and Rollins so you don't need to wait for the signing line.

While this is not a ticketed event and is free to all, admission to the signing line comes only with a purchase of the new Cussler or Rollins from The Poisoned Pen at the event or earlier at the bookstore.

Clive Cussler signs Medusa (Putnam $30), cosigned by Paul Kemprecos.

Kurt Austin and NUMA face off against a deadly virus that is decimating the world (remember, this was written before the swine flu scare, but the possibility is always with us). Research using a newly discovered jellyfish shows some promise, but alas, these Blue Medusa creatures start dying. As the pandemic spread towards China, NUMA has to ask if a triad is behind the outbreak.... We still have Signed Arctic Drift ($28) by Clive and Dirk, and Corsair ($28) by Clive and Jack DuBrul.

And here's a bonus: Thriller 2: Stories You Just Can't Put Down (Mira $25) Signed by Clive..

Clive edits and supplies introductions to the 23 stories.Jeffery Deaver's "The Weapon," about the limitations of torture, and Ridley Pearson's "Boldt's Broken Angel," which features a race to prevent a cop's death, bookend the all original 23 stories in the sequel to 2006's Thriller: Stories to Keep You Up All Night ($10). Deaver as signed his story; Pearson July 1; Maleeny July 14. We can hold your order until then.

James Rollins The Doomsday Key (Morrow $28).

Three murders on three continents are all marked by a fiery symbol burned into their flesh: a Druidic pagan cross. The bizarre murders thrust Sigma Force-an elite and covert arm of the Department of Defense's DARPA unit-into a global hunt to find the Doomsday key, an ancient remedy that could be the only hope for mankind to survive the prophecies of an Irish Saint who predicted the end of the world in our generation.

If you've never read Rollins, my own favorite is the opening scene in Map of Bones ($7.99), astounding carnage in the famous medieval cathedral at Cologne. And The Last Oracle ($7.99) is a terrific and imaginative fusion of the ancient oracle at Delphi with modern technology and Chernobyl and other terrifying stuff.

Rollins also signs Jake Ransom and the Skull King's Shadow ($17). Poisoned Pen staffer Pat King says this:

James Rollins had captured something magical in Jake Ransom and the Skull King's Shadow; Jake Ransom, a 12 year old budding archaeologist, receives a strange invitation to a London exhibition of Mayan ruins his parents uncovered in a fateful and deadly dig. However, once he arrives in London, he and his sister, Kady, are thrust into a world of danger and magic as they try to uncover the secrets of the Skull King's Shadows. Jake Ransom is part Indiana Jones, part James Bond and part Harry Potter; however he is one of the most enigmatic characters in YA Lit today. And yet I hesitate to call it Young Adult Lit since it is one of those strange amalgams that appeals to adults as much as it does with teens. Personally, I can't wait for its sequel.

Brent Ghelfi previews The Venona Cable

Much praised by James Sallis, Brad Thor (who signs here July 8), Lee Child, and Greg Iles, Ghelfi is in Martin Cruz Smith territory but with a kind of anti-hero in Alexei Volkovoy. First met in Volk's Game ($14) and Volks' Shadow ($14 signed first edition), Volk becomes involved in Cold War espionage and disinformation when a famous Hollywood filmmaker is found dead in Moscow and decrypted documents from the Venona Cables are released. What does just one crucial difference on a marked-up intercept make and why must Volk suddenly clear his long-missing pilot father's name? It's a great read.

THURSDAY JUNE 25 7 pm Hardboiled Crime with Seth Harwood

Join Patrick's Club for a night with Seth Harwood signing Jack Wakes Up a noir debut (Three Rivers $13.95)

What does a movie-star one-hit-wonder and ex-drug-addict do when he's cleaned up, down on his luck, and running out of money?
In the three years since Jack Palms went clean: no drugs, no drinking, no life, he's added fourteen pounds of muscle, read 83 books, and played it as straight as anyone can ask him. Now, when an old friend from L.A. calls, he hits the streets of San Francisco to help a group of Czech drug buyers make one big score, a single drug deal that he hopes will set him up for life.

“Jack Wakes Up rocks! It's a fast, smooth ride on a highway not found on any map.” —Michael Connelly, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Brass Verdict

“Exhilarating . . . reads like a long-lost Mickey Spillane tale as directed by Robert Rodriguez.”
—Megan Abbott, Edgar Award winning author of Queenpin

“A cold, refreshing slap of glorious mayhem that doesn’t allow you to blink until you turn the last page.”
—Jason Pinter, bestselling author of The Mark

Faye and Aliza Kellerman are stopping by to sign Prism!

New book just available...Faye and Aliza Kellerman are stopping by the store (6/25) to sign PRISM. Reserve your copy today. 480 947 2974

Prism takes us to a slightly alternate universe in which medicine and health care do not exist, and in which sick people are allowed to die without any care. Set in New Mexico and California, the novel features three teens who fall through a cave at Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico while on a field trip. They are plunged into a frightening parallel universe—seven weeks in the past, in which their "normal" worlds of family and high school remain the same…except for the fact that no medicine exists and when people die in the street they are picked up and disposed of.

WEDESDAY JUNE 24 7 pm Steve Maritini

Maritini discusses Guardian of Lies (Morrow $27) and signs your books which will then be locked away and be available for pickup on July 14, the official on-sale day.

This is a special appearance at The Poisoned Pen following Steve Martini's special appearance at the Arizona Bar Association Convention June 24.

Attorney Martini has created one of my favorite fictional leads, Paul Madriani, who for some books has been practicing in San Diego. Moving from courtroom theater to that of an espionage stage, Madriani is caught up in the story of a woman accused of a bloody murder and million-dollar heist. The conspiracy Madriani must unravel for his client taps into Cold War Secrets and involves priceless gold coins, an aging American spy, a former Soviet soldier now disenchanted with old loyalties, a missing nuclear device from the days of the Cuban Missile Crisis, stuff in Costa Rica, and a totally ruthless, skilled assassin called the Mexicutioner.

Think of the evening as a party. We'll have prizes! refreshments! fun! And the paperback of his latest novel, Shadow of Power ($7.99) is available. In fact our discussion will in part center on some of its issues and the presidential campaign Martini imagines as the background to the thriller.

TUESDAY JUNE 23 7 pm Michael Baden

TUESDAY JUNE 23 7 pm Michael Baden


Baden signs Skeleton Justice (Knopf $25.95)

NYC is on high alert for a most bizarre serial killer-a strange kind of thief who stalks his victims and sedates them before vials of their blood. As the attacks escalate to torture and then to murder, forensics medical expert Dr. Jake Rosen and litigator Manny Manfreda (a shopaholic) begin to suspect there is a connection among the "random" victims. And to a case of a preppy kid whose prank has spiraled way wrong. But this is a darker tale at its heart, connected to Argentina's Dirty War.

Dr. Baden, who hosts HBO's Autopsy, has been in the news recently as he has been hired by David Carradine's family to do an independent investigation into the actor's death. The family has hired forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden, a former chief medical examiner for New York City who appears on HBO cable TV show "Autopsy," to look into the death when Carradine's body returns to the U.S.

Thai television said the body was flown home to Los Angeles early on Saturday. Click here to read more.

This is a wonderful CSI Night, a chance to hear about many of Dr. Baden's most famous cases.

Bone up on the former Chief Medical Examiner of New York City's credentials -- which include Chairman of the Forensic Pathology Panel of the U.S. Congress Select Committee on Assassinations that re-investigated the deaths of President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1970s. He was the forensic pathologist member of a team of U.S. forensic scientists asked by the Russian government to examine the newly found remains of Tsar Nicholas II, Alexandra and the Romanov family in Siberia in the 1990s. He has been an expert witness for prosecutors or defense attorneys in the deaths of Medgar Evers, John Belushi, Yankee Manager Billy Martin, Marlon Brando's son Christian, O.J. Simpson, Jayson Williams, Kobe Bryant, Robert Blake, Phil Spector and Las Vegas hotel owner Ted Binion. He has investigated deaths in Croatia, Serbia, Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, Monaco, Panama, England, Canada, Zimbabwe and other countries for attorneys and human rights group --. by clicking here

Wednesday, June 17 Jeffery Deaver

Join us Wednesday, June 17 at 7 pm for an evening with author Jeffery Deaver as he signs his new book Roadside Crosses (Simon $26) a new Kathryn Dance thriller.

The Monterey Peninsula is rocked when a killer begins to leave roadside crosses beside local highways—not as memorials but as announcements of his intention to kill. And to kill in particularly horrific and efficient ways: using the personal details about the victims that they've carelessly posted in blogs and on social networking websites. The case lands on the desk of Kathryn Dance, the CBI's foremost kinesics—body language—expert. She and Deputy Michael O'Neil follow the leads to Travis Brigham, a teen whose role in a fatal car accident has inspired vicious attacks against him on The Chilton Report, a popular blog. And then, Travis vanishes….

http://www.jefferydeaver.com

Tues. June 16 7 pm CJ Box

CJ Box signs Below Zero (Putnam $26), a Joe Pickett novel.

Box is the winner of the 2009 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel for Blue Heaven ($7.99), a zinger set in Idaho that is not part of the Pickett series

This 2009 Edgar winner brings you another amazing, twistily plotted Joe Pickett thriller in Below Zero (Putnam $26). A returning nemesis and grief fuel the plot where fab falconer Nate Romanowski plays a critical role and Governor Rulon is in the game. Great stuff. And I remind you that Box has brought his every book to The Poisoned Pen because your enthusiasm for his work means so much.

A simple phone message shakes Joe Pickett's oldest daughter Sheridan to the core. To Joe, exiled to a remote county by Governor Rulon, it's impossible that April could have survived the massacre described in Winterkill ($7.99) six years before. He's never forgiven himself for not saving her. But Sheridan thinks yes when the girl texts memories of family incidents only April could know. Meanwhile, a dying Chicago mobster named Stenko and a young girl cross the country with Stenko's extreme environmentalist son doing violence to those careless of carbon footprints before Stenko croaks. Add a couple of dumbasses shooting animals with bow and arrow….

Thursday June 11 at 7 pm ANDIE RYAN

Shakedown (Lenox $24: $16 trade pbk) is a crackerjack first novel.

We will hold a drawing for 5 $10 Poisoned Pen Gift Cards for attendees, courtesy of the publisher!

Barbara writes, Our June Surprise Me! Pick surprised me not with its classic villain-hero tug-of-war, which is well done, but with how human a face-and with what suspense-the author painted an insider trading scheme, financial shenanigans, a corporate meltdown. What happens at Sledd Payne feels both real and like a parable. Tom Hollister, who thinks he's been bribed to whitewash a scandal but discovers he's in a murder conspiracy as well as company crimes, is a compelling flawed hero. The love story is woven with the murder and the financials so well that even a novice in such matters can understand and follow the action, This is a real discovery book.

This reader comment sums up my reaction: "The page-turner is not only timely but appeals to a wide audience, as Ryan weaves a love story and murder into the financial scandal. It's a trifecta that is a winner...So well written that even a novice in financial matters will be able to understand-not only understand, but easily follow-the heart stopping action."

Wednesday June 10 at 7 pm, CRAIG JOHNSON

What a ride is Dark Horse (Viking $25). I swear Johnson gets better every book. He writes me he's bought a new cowboy hat for his book tour. Go, Craig.

Walt Longmire, that often conflicted, frequently rueful, shrewd sheriff of Wyoming's Absaroka County, is a man I call a true hero for he's afraid-but he acts anyway. Then there's Walt's friend, Henry Standing Bear, as stalwart a backup as you'd like, and the new recruit, Dog. He is one, a big one.


But the heart of this novel lies in a remarkable and missing horse called Wahoo Sue whose spirit breathes life into the nearly defeated Mary Barsad. Mary is charged with murdering her husband, the rat who abused her and Wahoo Sue. Her plight sends Walt undercover, posing as an insurance man, over in Campbell County to see what the dickens is about to blow Powder River country sky high if Mary and the lid on the crime aren't kept locked down in Walt's jail....

Dark Horse is, deservedly, an Indie Next Pick for June, made by independent bookstores nationwide. This book is a perfect gift for Father's Day as it stands on its own -- and stands out.

Regarding Craig's new hat, here's what he says:

"Got a new hat a few months back for the tour of THE DARK HORSE, and those of you in the west know just how traumatic that can be. It's kind of like, and I'm guessing here, when a woman gets a new hairstyle. You know the old saying, 'Never approach a bull from the front, a mule from the back, or a woman with a new hairstyle from any direction'.

I tried the darn thing on about twelve times before buying it and then shipped it off to my hat guru, Mike Thomas, at H-Bar Hats in Billings for a little tweaking. As usual, it was back within the week -- transformed into a wonderful facsimile of the one Jimmy Stewart wore in all those Anthony Mann westerns such as The Naked Spur, The Man From Laramie, and Winchester '73. He did a fantastic job, but when I pulled said hat from the box, something else came out with it-another hat.

It was a silver-belly, conservative, cattleman's crown with a moderate brim; handsome, but not mine. I figured Mike must've accidentally stuffed somebody else's hat in on top of mine and then shipped it off. No big deal, I'd just put it back in the box and return it to him. Then I got to thinking--Mike is a gracious soul and given to giving gifts, so I tried it on.

It dropped down over my ears in a more than comical fashion.
Definitely not mine.

I pulled it off and looked at it again, thinking for sure there must've been a mistake, but my answer was there in the liner. You see, in THE DARK HORSE, a young woman picks up the undercover sheriff's hat to move it and reads the inside of the 7 ¾". She surmises that since Walt's hat is local, he must be, too."

The Cold Dish, Death Without Company, Kindness Goes Unpunished, Another Man's Moccasins ($14 each).

Tuesday, June 9 at 7 pm JACK BALLENTINE AND FREDERICK RAMSAY

Here we go, a cops' night out. You might think Phoenix and Chesapeake Bay are separate beats, but the authors will show you not... Ballentine, Jack. Murder for Hire (St Martins $26).

Ballentine became a Phoenix police officer in 1978 and quickly rose to the top as one of the world's most successful undercover operatives, posing as a hit man. His work led to 24 convictions out of 24 indictments on murder conspiracy charges. He is a three-time Police Officer of the Year, and has been awarded both the International Investigator of the Year and the Medal of Merit. Here is his story running from vengeful spouses and partners to the criminally insane. In assuming an alternate identity among bikers, strippers, junkies, and thugs, he developed an intricate network of sources who fed his work while he tried to live with a new wife and stepson in Mesa.

In Choker (Poisoned Pen $25), Ramsay lets his inner thriller writer out by sending Picketsville, Virginia, Sheriff Ike Schwartz on a time out over on Chesapeake Bay. Too bad his old friend Charlie Garland at the CIA has a puzzle to solve: a relative's missing fiance last known to have been piloting a small plane over the Bay on the Fourth. Ike, no friend to idle hands, starts poking around into duck blinds and such... conscious that Yom Kippur is just days away and thus a clock could be ticking....

"Ramsay is best when contrasting the smooth professional spies and military men with lively amateurs like the cranky Bunky Crispins, a fiercely independent waterman who shows that it's possible to be a patriot and a rebel at the same time." - Publishers Weekly A fast-paced thriller that's quite a departure from Ramsay's Picketsville mysteries." - Kirkus Reviews. Ramsay never writes the same mystery twice, and with each book the reader learns more about the intrepid and capable Ike. Here the author combines a Tom Clancy-like knowledge of ground-to-air missiles with a Robert Ludlum-like spy adventure to leave the reader awaiting the next Ike Schwartz. - Library Journal Artscape; Secrets; BuffaloMountain; The Stranger Room ($15 each).Fred, who lives in Surprise, Arizona with wife Susan, is a retired clergyman and a hilarious, often surprising speaker.

Thursday, June 4 at 7 pm, MICHAEL CONNELLY

MICHAEL CONNELLY will be here to talk and sign books for you.

Mike's first appearance here with his Edgar-winning debut, The Black Echo ($7.99), our wonderful audience is what draws him, and all the other authors back so please come and welcome him once again. You never know when showing up is going to be one of those "I was There" moments in years to come. And it closes the circle between the storyteller, which is what Mike is, and the listener. I sometimes think of our author events as analogous to that circle that gathered around the bards of old by the fire....

But hey, it's a new age. The Scarecrow (Little Brown $27; Dennis McMillan $125 Lt. Ed.; $40 CD), is a quest after a serial killer working below the radar, after the story of a lifetime when reporter Jack McEvoy is cut loose from the LA Times, after what's up with FBI agent Rachel Wallace, but also after what makes the news, and who's reporting it, in an internet age.

Here are some comments from former reporter Connelly:

"The Internet is so much a part of it (the novel) on multiple levels," the author said. "There is the demise of the newspaper industry, Jack is facing off with an Internet killer, and then places like the collocation centers I never had to step into. A few Googles and before you know it, I was taking a ride through centers in Australia and New Zealand.....

"I am a walking contradiction," Connelly confessed. "This book is a torch song for the newspaper industry that's deteriorating, and maybe I'm part of the problem."

Click here to read the entire article by Dolores Tropiano in the Arizona Republic:

We have Connelly's earlier work in stock including The Brass Verdict ($17 Signed); Crime Beat (Little Brown $26 Signed), selections from a decade of his reporting; Echo Park (Little Brown $27 Signed); In the Shadow of the Master (Harper $26 Signed by Connelly as editor). The paperbacks of his novels are ($7.99) each.

Wednesday, June 3 at 7:00 pm, ALAN BRADLEY

Please join us for an evening with UK author Alan Bradley. Wednesday, June 3 at 7:00 pm

The greatest gift you readers can give a brand new author is an audience, a chance to talk about the work. You might not wish to buy it, but to listen and encourage a new writer is an investment in the future of storytelling. We encourage you to come to our events for this purpose: just to listen.

Bradley signs Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Bantam $23), a fantastic first novel with a snarky young girl detective's voice that will delight all fans of British (and other) mystery.

The summer of 1950 hasn't offered up anything out of the ordinary to Flavia de Luce: bicycle explorations around the village, keeping tabs on her neighbours, relentless battles with her older sisters, plotting revenge in their home's abandoned Victorian chemistry lab. Poisons are her passion.... An English country house, an original voice, a nifty plot-what more could the mystery reader want?

Do not miss this fresh first novel which Laurie R. King calls "wickedly clever, dead true, and in an original voice," brilliant, unpredictable, and not easily fazed. PLUS this small and lime green book with a lovely stamped cover rather than a dust jacket positively leaps into your hands. And is perfect for reading in bed.

Bradley is a winner of the British Crime Writers Association's Debut Dagger Award, so you budding authors will want to hear his story of his route to publishing. He lives in British Columbia, was first published in England by Orion, and is touring two stops in the US, Houston and Scottsdale.

Note: Bradley will also appear with me at the Tempe Public Library, 3500 S Rural Road, Tempe 480 350 5553 at 3:30 pm. Books will be for sale after the talk.

Tuesaday, June 2 Author Robert K Tanenbaum

Join us for an evening with author Robert K Tanenbaum as he signs his new book Capture (Pocket $26)

When a rising starlet from Spanish Harlem dies from a gunshot wound in the downtown penthouse of an eccentric and famous Broadway producer, NY DA Butch Karp and his hard-charging wife, Marlene Ciampi, smell drama—not suicide. Meanwhile, a group called the Sons of Man kidnaps Karp's daughter, Lucy, leaving Karp coded clues if he wants to save her and thwart an imminent terrorist attack. Karp wages war against crime and terrorists from the DA's office.

Saturday, May 30 Rebecca Cantrell 2 pm

Join us for an afternoon with author Rebecca Cantrell as she signs Trace of Smoke (Forge $25), a First Mystery Club Pick set in 1931 Berlin with crime reporter Hannah Vogel. The author is making a trip here from Hawaii for our program.

It's 1931 in Berlin and hardbitten crime reporter Hannah Vogel is nonetheless devastated to see a photo of her brother's body posted in the Hall of the Unnamed Dead. Ernst, a cross-dressing lounge singer at a seedy club, had many secrets, reams of lovers, and a penchant for trouble. But still….

Hannah delves into the city's underbelly to flush our his killer but the arrival of 5-year-old Anton on her doorstep claiming that Hannah is his mother and Ernst his father adds a new thread and leads to her probe of scandals in the ranks of the rising Nazi Party….

Is it a classic case of evil happening when good men do nothing? Or too little? There is so much of a similar vein loose in today's world, is it time to review the past? Along with Jonathan Rabb's marvelous 1930s Berlin novel Shadow and Light (Farrar Strauss $27 Signed), spring brings us Cantrell's take.

WEDNESDAY, May 27: LEE CHILD brings his brother ANDREW GRANT to see us. 7 pm at the Scottsdale Public Library on Drinkwater.

LEE CHILD brings his brother ANDREW GRANT talk and sign their new books at this Library Fundraiser Wednesday, May 27. Doors open at 6 pm. The talk begins at 7 pm

Scottsdale Public Library is on Drinkwater just south of Indian School Rd.

Civic Center Library

3839 N Drinkwater Blvd,
Scottsdale, AZ 85251

Tickets are $29 and include a copy of either Gone Tomorrow by Child or Even by Grant.

There is a Companion ticket available for $2.00

To get Gone Tomorrow and/or Even autographed, copies of the book must be purchased at the event or ahead of time from The Poisoned Pen.

For more information please call: 480 947 2974 Signed books are also available!

NOTE: No matter how many we order, in the past we have always sold out, so please purchase your copy quickly to avoid disappointment.

THURSDAY, May 21 at 7 pm, GEORGE PELECANOS

George Pelecanos signs The Way Home (Little Brown $25)

Since his first book, A Firing Offense, in 1992, George Pelecanos has been building a body of work that has built upon the hardboiled template created by his predecessors (Chandler, Crumley, Price and others) and created a type of novel wholly his own. The lens of his early autobiographical books has expanded into a kind of social history of Washington, D.C. as examined through the crime novel.

The Way Home is a remarkable novel about fathers and sons, the passage of time, the imprint of the past, violence and survival, among other things. Of course, at the end of the day, it is a story about people and situations. The first section of the book deals with 16-year old Chris Flynn's time in a juvenile reformatory. He seems destined to a life of crime and degeneracy. Fast forward ten years, Chris has straightened himself out a bit, works a steady job for his father's flooring company. He's not on the college track, but he's comfortable. Then, on a standard carpet installation, he and a coworker find a bag of money tucked into some floorboards...

WEDNESDAY, May 20 at 7 pm, Australia's Ned Kelly Award winner GARRY DISHER in his first visit and JOHN SHANNON

WEDNESDAY, May 20 at 7 pm, we have two wonderful authors, Australia's Ned Kelly Award winner GARRY DISHER in his first visit and JOHN SHANNON

Disher signs Blood Moon. (Soho $24)"

Hal Challis and his police team investigate the brutal beating of the chaplain of a prestigious school and the murder of the woman in charge of punishing local land use violations. But will Challis and Ellen Destry's new romantic relationship interfere with their work? Australian Disher "has packed this police procedural with the kind of detail that enthralls fans of the genre and with deftly sketched characters."-Ft. Worth Star-Telegram. "Disher creates the kind of complex, edgy, principled yet flawed characters it's a pleasure to worry about." - Kirkus Starred

Review.Shannon signs Palos Verdes Blue (Pegasus $25)

PI Jack Liffey. Liffey takes an assignment to find Blue, the missing teenaged daughter of his ex-wife's best friend. His search takes him into a tense feud between Palos Verdes' wealthy teen surfers and a group of Mexican day-laborers who camp in the area's ravines.Over the course of eleven books, Shannon has shown us the real Los Angeles (if such is possible), taking us on a tour of LA County's various ethnic communities.

If you like Raymond Chandler, Michael Connelly, Nathanael West and Joan Didion, you need to read John Shannon.

TUESDAY, May 19 at 7 pm, JOHN SANDFORD

Sandford signs Wicked Prey (Putnam $26.95)

What better theater for a new Lucas Davenport thriller than St. Paul during the Republican Convention of 2008? Crashing the party will be a crew of professional stick-up men who've spotted opportunity and weakness points in security. It's going to be a huge headache for Davenport, but not as pounding as the threat from Randy Whitcomb, wheelchair-bound after a stray bullet struck the pimp and petty thief. Sure he blames Davenport for the hit, and sure he could just shoot the cop, but more fun might be had in targeting Davenport's 14-year-old adopted daughter....This Lucas Davenport reads like an Elmore Leonard or Stephen Hunter;s fabulous Night of Thunder (Simon & Schuster $26)-except that Davenport is in the Twin Cities. You can't beat this pro author for hard-hitting, nail-biting suspense.