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Hello,
Check out the
Scottsdale Dazzle canal art from the Soleri Bridge before it ends. And there is a host of other holiday things to do.
I took this photo last night when strolling the bank with the wonderful author Joseph Kanon who was dazzled at being outdoors at 65 degrees when it was freezing in NYC. We dined outside as well under a full moon.
In another venue for art, the
Phoenix Art Museum has several exhibition on display including some dazzling scenes of the West, fashion illustrations, and a collection of collectible automobiles called Legends of Speed.
I love the women in the drawing-- perfect for crime fiction, no?
Check podcasts on Google or on iTunes or
on Podbean. We have just added two: Sulari Gentill and Annie Hogsett. More to come now that we solved a technical glitch.
Do check our BLOG regularly. Lesa updates awards, news, and interviews.
And there are new videos for you: SIX! I did most of the interviews and yet I watch them and fall in love with the authors all over again.
Much love to our social media team. And thank you for supporting the authors!
Barbara and all The Pens
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Thank you for supporting The Poisoned Pen, frequently named Best Specialty Bookstore by the
New Times
and by the
Arizona Republic
, one of 45 Great American Indie Bookstores 2013; Best Locally Owned and Operated Business: Scottsdale 2016; and Poisoned Pen Press, winner of the 2010 Ellery Queen Award from the Mystery Writers of America and named the 2011 Best Local Publisher by the
Arizona Republic and now the mystery imprint at Sourcebooks.
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A Holiday Booknews
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To make your holiday shopping easy -- Thanksgiving is late this year and shortening up your time -- I have listed
Free gift wrap, Poisoned Pen logo merchandise, a membership in our Mystery of the Month Club which can be customized for the recipient, books for holiday reading, gift book ideas, puzzles, books & beverage combos, Best American Writing 2019 in several fields, gift ideas spread over a wide range of subjects, and my annual roundup of new cookbooks, always winners.
Don't forget you can sign anyone up for our Enews which is free.
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The November Booknews Staff Picks, and November Releases Lists
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And here is the link to the
October BookNotes brimming with good reading. John reviews lots of books not covered in our other publications so do take time to enjoy them!
Do browse our
Web Store . New additions are frequently made to upcoming books and events.
Please remember:
See It Here. Buy It Here.
Thank you for your business. I remind all of you reading this, that it only takes buying one book a month by each of you to keep us here!
Or merchandise, or a gift card. Or, a new audio book option.
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Libro.FM for November
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See AudioBooks "We Are Thankful For"
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Update to Janet Evanovich's 26th Plum
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starts a trilogy. There is a surprise at the end you fans will want
 to know
Thus 26 is the perfect book to give as a gift to someone new to the world of Stephanie Plum. Signed and ready to ship.
If you scroll through our
Evanovich inventory
you will see we have many Signed firsts of her earlier novels you can grab - -most of them a single copy so don't delay.
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Bonnie MacBird
Tonight 7:00 PM
Sherlock!
Plus chocolate treats baked by Rob
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THURSDAY NOVEMBER 14 7:00 PM
Winter, 1890, finds the newly famous Sherlock Holmes facing his worst adversary to date - a diabolical villain bent on destroying some of London's most admired public figures, philanthropists, in singularly gruesome ways.
 A further puzzle is that suicide closely attends each of the murders. With the stalwart but often blundering Watson at his side, Holmes tracks the killer through fog-bound London, battling both an envious new man at Scotland Yard and a vengeful journalist as he follows a complex trail leading from performers to princes, artists to anarchists. Mycroft Holmes' role is puzzling to our sleuths, but when brother Mycroft disappears, Holmes's response makes even Watson wonder how close to the flames his friend has traveled. Has Sherlock Holmes himself made a deal with the devil?
There is no supernatural force at work in this complex book, the third of MacBird's adventures for the immortal pair of sleuths after
Art in the Blood
and
Unquiet Spirits
($15.99 each).
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A Mystery Tea Sunday
2:00 PM
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SUNDAY NOVEMBER 17 2:00 PM
PI Earl Marcus returns one night to his home in rural Georgia to find a shooting victim, an unidentified young man, in his yard. Marcus embarks on a surreptitious quest, aided by his best friend, Rufus Gribble, to uncover who committed the killing and why. A cell phone in the victim's car leads to the Harden School, an isolated institution whose purpose is gay conversion therapy for troubled teenage boys. Complicating the investigation is the school's connection to Jeb Walsh, a corrupt local politician, white supremacist, and old antagonist of Marcus.
National Park Mystery #5
Graham's approach to our National Parks for a mystery series is different from that of Nevada Barr. It combines each park's special culture and heritage with archaeology. Here, the oil and gas industry is juxtaposed against the beauty of nature. Chuck Bender's contract for preservation work in Utah's Arches National Park is disrupted by a sudden death that turns out to be only the first of several. Where will it all end? "Arches Enemy is not only an adventurous and fascinating mystery, it delivers important insight on ancestral cultures and their sacred lands. Only a truly gifted novelist is able to keep a reader turning pages while imparting extensive knowledge about the people, the landscape, and the park system"-Christine Carbo. Graham's other foci have been Estes National Park, Yellowstone, Yosemite, The Grand Canyon... order them all. They make very nice gifts for those not necessarily readers of mystery but interested in our national parks.
Timber Creek K-9 #5
An explosion rocks the Timber Creek, Colorado, community building where Deputy Mattie Cobb and her boyfriend,
 veterinarian Cole Walker, are attending the Celebration of Summer dance. When Cole and Mattie investigate, they discover a burning van and a gunshot victim who turns out to be Nate Fletcher, the son-in-law of prominent ranchers. Mattie's German shepherd K-9 partner, Robo, detects traces of cocaine during a sweep of the van, leading Mattie to suspect drug running. When another man is shot and attacked by an animal in the mountains, Mattie fears something more sinister is afoot. Meanwhile, Cole adjusts to single fatherhood while Mattie struggles with her painful past. The interactions between Mattie and Robo will tug the heartstrings of every dog lover as it has in the previous four cases they have worked together.
Mercy and (her dog) Elvis #2
"
There's so much to praise here: Munier's deep knowledge of the culture of hunting (especially the bow-and-arrow variety); her brisk, incisive characterizations; the way she maintains a taut line of suspense throughout; and, best of all, her portrayals of wounded yet still courageous pairs of humans and dogs. A not-to-be-missed K-9 mystery." -Booklist
Former Army MP Mercy Carr has tightly bonded with a canine-Elvis, a retired bomb-alerting Belgian Shepherd who belonged to Mercy's lover, killed in action, leaving them both bereft and allied in grief. The murder of architect Alice de Clare, who was found on the estate of Vermont billionaire Daniel Feinberg with an arrow through her heart, propels Munier's sequel to 2018's
A Borrowing of Bones
($7.99). Daniel hires former military MP Mercy Carr and her bomb-sniffing Belgian shepherd, Elvis, to investigate. Mercy's love interest, game warden Troy Warner, and his search and rescue dog, Susie Bear, lend a hand. They're aided by nine-year-old math whiz Henry Jenkins, a possible witness, whose father was in love with Alice. The killer could be among the well-heeled hunting party that Daniel is hosting...
The story is based on the true on of an autistic boy who went missing in Vermont wilderness.
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Thriller Night
Cameron & Gragg
Tuesday 7:00 PM
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TUESDAY NOVEMBER 19 7:00 PM
Father Pat West, S.J. was a buddy of the young Jack Ryan when  they were both undergraduates at Boston College. Father West left a comfortable job in the philosophy department at Georgetown to work with the poor in Indonesia. Now he's been arrested and accused of blasphemy against Islam. President Ryan is desperate to rescue his old friend, but he can't move officially against the Indonesians. Instead he relies on the Campus team to find out who is framing the priest. There's one other twist to the story. President Ryan discovers a voicemail on his private cell phone....
Gragg follows his well-received debut,
The Red Line
($17), about  a near-future war in Europe, with an action scenario that pits the U.S. and its allies against a massive Pan-Arab coalition led by Algerian cleric Muhammad Mourad (aka the Mahdi or the Chosen One). Marine 1st Lieutenant Samuel Erickson leads a platoon a hundred miles behind enemy lines in the North African desert. Lieutenant Commander Bradley "Blackjack" Mitchell, a pilot who flies missions from a carrier off the Egyptian coast, more than once rescues Erickson and his men as they battle their way to Cairo. "The weapons are cutting-edge, the political background solid, and the military tactics on point." I must admit to be puzzled by one of the final choices made by a character which raises the question whether compassion can lead to future catastrophe. For those interested in why Mourad is called the Mahdi, review British colonial history in Egypt at Khartoum, 1885. But in a broader sense it means "an eschatological redeemer of Islam."
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Laurie R. King
with Dana Stabenow
Next Thursday 7:00 PM
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THURSDAY NOVEMBER 21 7:00 PM
A Kate Martinelli novella
Inspector Kate Martinelli has worked the SFPD's Homicide Detail for nearly thirty years. She knows all about how a cop builds a case bit by bit to create a clear story from the scattered pieces of  evidence. Until the day her fifteen-year-old daughter, Nora, happens to ask about an aunt she'd never met. Kate's kid sister died in the 1980s, a wild young woman who lost control of a car and hit a tree, end of story ... except it isn't. Because once Kate begins to look, seeking to reassure Nora that it was only a senseless accident and not the suicide a small town's gossip made it, she starts to find pieces that don't fit the picture. Holes in the evidence. Mismatched fragments that change the story Kate has told herself all these years-the story that for her, was the beginning of everything. What did happen in Diamond Lake that night? Was it an accident, or a hushed-up suicide? Or was her sister's death something darker yet?
Following an "Appreciation" by noted Sherlockian Leslie S.  Klinger, King blends vivid historical settings with narrative sleight-of-hand, from a novella composed of Mary Russell's teenage diaries to the story of how, in her nineties, Miss Russell came to send her Memoirs to Laurie R. King, and from Mrs. Hudson's own investigation to a tale of young Russell's beloved Uncle Jake-and, a Christmas investigation by Sherlock Holmes and his very young assistant. And two key reasons to grab this: 1. The Marriage of Mary Russell, never before recounted. 2. "Stately Holmes," a title I have pressed King to use for over 20 years! And here applied to the story of a Christmas conundrum. 
Dana will Preview her 22nd Kate Shugak No Fixed Line (Head of Zeus $29.95) and the launch party which includes an Ice Cream Social on January 11.
Note: There is no US paperback, our website is showing a British edition. Please be careful when you click to order.
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Our November Calendar
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HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL
We will be closed Thanksgiving Day
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 21 7:00 PM
A Kate Martinelli novella
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 22 7:00 PM
Three Legged Dog plays
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 23 2:00 PM
Manor Cat Mystery #1 1912 England
Romance for a NC bookseller
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 24 3:00 PM!! 
Spenser
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 30
Small Business Saturday
Join us for Treats, Special Sales, and in honor of
the 10th SB Saturday, some $10 Gift Cards to
give away
NOVEMBER DISCUSSION CLUBS
Please buy your copy from The Pen. Anyone welcome but remember you risk spoilers if you don't read the selection in advance
SciFi Friday
: November 15 7:00 PM
Croak & Dagger
: Saturday November 16 10:30 AM
($15.95
Hardboiled Crime:
Wednesday November 20 7:00 PM
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Our December Calendar
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TUESDAY DECEMBER 3 7:00 PM Book Launch Party 
A heist novel targeting Iran's crown jewels
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 4 7:00 PM Double Book Launch Party
Sam Blackman, PI
Paige Shelton
signs Thin Ace (St Martins $26.99)
Starts a series set in Alaska
THURSDAY DECEMBER 5 7:00 PM
We've held on to first prints since March! 
SATURDAY DECEMBER 7 11:00 AM
Former Commissioner Bud Selig
signs
(Harper $28.99). Foreword by Doris Kearns Goodwin
SATURDAY DECEMBER 7 2:00 PM
December SciFi/Fantasy Book of the Month starts the Blood & Bone modern western fantasy series
SUNDAY DECEMBER 8 2:00 PM
Patricia Smith
signs Remember (Polis Books $15.99)
Psychological suspense/social anxiety
TUESDAY DECEMBER 10 7:00 PM 
DECEMBER DISCUSSION CLUBS
Please buy your copy from The Pen. Anyone welcome but remember you risk spoilers if you don't read the selection in advance. The clubs each include a Holiday Party with the regular meeting
Coffee & Crime:
Saturday December 14 10:30 AM
Share your favorite book of any sort of 2019
SciFi Friday
: December 20 7:00 PM
Croak & Dagger
: Saturday December 21 10:30 AM
Hardboiled Crime
: Thursday December 19 7:00 PM
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A Few New Books
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SIGNED
FBI Agent Atlee Pine's life was never the same after her twin sister Mercy was kidnapped-and likely killed-thirty years ago. After a  lifetime of torturous uncertainty, Atlee's unresolved anger finally gets the better of her on the job, and she finds she has to deal with the demons of her past if she wants to remain with the FBI. Atlee and her assistant Carol Blum head back to Atlee's rural hometown in Georgia to see what they can uncover about the traumatic night Mercy was taken and Pine was almost killed. But soon after Atlee begins her investigation, a local woman is found ritualistically murdered, her face covered with a wedding veil-and the first killing is quickly followed by a second bizarre murder. Atlee is determined to continue her search for answers, but now she must also set her sights on finding a potential serial killer before another victim is claimed in a small town full of secrets-some of which have plagued Atlee her entire life... Meet Atlee in
Small Road to Mercy
($16.99).
DeMille, Nelson/Alex.
The Deserter
(SimonSchuster $28.99).The father/son team debuts a blistering thriller, our November Surprise Me Book of the Month, featuring a brilliant and unorthodox Army investigator, his enigmatic female partner, and their hunt for the Army's most notorious-and dangerous-deserter.
Dialogue: "Why do most soldiers desert?" "To avoid the rigors of  military service. Including the risk of death." "Is that why Captain Kyle Mercer deserted?" "I doubt it." "Me too." It gets no clearer. After they interview the man who says he spotted Mercer, Maggie Taylor says, "So he spotted a bearded white guy in a dimly lit whorehouse while drunk. Great I.D." And Brodie thinks, sure, there were times when your sole witness was shit and unreliable. But Kyle Mercer was out there, a fugitive with lethal skills. You had to run down every lead, even if it took you to hell...or Caracas! But neither Brodie nor Taylor can imagine the hell they are plunging into.
Todd, Charles.
A Cruel Deception (Morrow $27)
WWI nurse Bess Crawford is trying to figure out what direction her postwar career should take while serving in a Wiltshire surgical  clinic when she's summoned to the Queen Alexandra's headquarters in London to meet with the Matron, Mrs. Minton, whose son, Lawrence, is in Paris as part of the British delegation attending the peace conference. A friend has informed Mrs. Minton that, despite Lawrence's assurances, he hasn't been attending meetings. In fact, he may have disappeared. Bess agrees to travel to Paris and look into Lawrence's circumstances. When she finally tracks him down in a small village at the home of a friend, she discovers he's addicted to laudanum and plagued by somnambulism. And refusing to seek help or even discuss his deterioration. The general muddle all find themselves in reflects, I think, Bess's own muddle over what path to follow, and with whom, as the muddle of discharging troops back into civilian life and of the peace talks grows. Signed by both Charles and Carolyn Todd.
UNSIGNED
Ireland, Sandra.
Bone Deep
(Gallery $16). Our British Crime Book of the Month actually takes place in Scotland and is written by a Yorkshire woman. It's a modern Gothic.
A 70ish retired academic, a student of folk tales and local legends, is working on a new book. The widowed Mac, as she prefers to be  called, lives and works alone on the large property adjacent to the ancient water mill manned by her husband Henry until his death. It sits silent, the wheel no longer grinding. Her only child, Arthur, inevitably an expert baker having grown up with flour, insists Mac hire an assistant. And so Lucie comes to live in the cottage. Her job is ostensibly to transcribe Mac's notes but her duties turn out to be varied and surprising. As does the arrival of her sister's lover, who is also Lucie's. Mac and Lucie, both fierce women, are determined to keep their secrets well guarded. They spill out anyway... This is an engaging and surprising modern gothic in the spirit of Kate Morton, Liz Nugent, and Ruth Ware wherein a story is never just a story and hidden secrets surface within clearly defined boundaries such as a country house or estate.
It's a lovely season in the South of France replete with the usual complex family dynamics. Examining magistrate Antoine Verlaque, married at last, and happily, to advocate Marie Bonnet, is resolved to make this a Noel they can both enjoy, even attending the annual packed carol sing at the Cathedral Saint-Sauveur. Then the poisoning of a young man sends the Aix community into a tailspin and creates a list of suspects almost as packed as the carol service...
McGarrity, Michael. Residue ($15.95).
A long-unsolved missing person case becomes a homicide  investigation when the bones of Kim Ward are unearthed in Las Cruces, New Mexico, forty-five years after her disappearance. Compelling forensic and anecdotal evidence quickly shifts suspicion to Ward's old college boyfriend: former Santa Fe Police Chief Kevin Kerney. With damning evidence against him compiled by his own son, New Mexico State Police Lieutenant Clayton Istee, Kerney is arrested. He has no alibi and not a single witness to speak for him. Under intense media scrutiny and 24/7 police surveillance, Kerney must rely solely on the help of his wife, Sara, and a renowned criminal defense lawyer to discover if there are any remaining clues that can exonerate him or lead to the killer.
Olive Belgrave, who was once an unemployed gentlewoman but is now a 1920s full-fledged private investigator, is summoned to London's upscale Mayfair neighborhood by Lady Agnes, whose  uncle, Lord Mulvern, an "eminent Egyptologist and possessor of a cache of mummies," died a month earlier. A brief note the uncle left behind suggests he was driven to suicide by a mummy's curse. Unfortunately, the tabloids are still cranking out scandalous stories with headlines such as "Mummy haunts Mayfair town house." Over tea, Lady Agnes tells Olive, "I want you to get to the bottom of this curse nonsense... Oh, I don't want you to debunk the curse. I want you to prove Uncle Lawrence was murdered." Suspects abound. Olive's good friend, clever Jasper Rimington, is on hand to serve as a sounding board and to provide a bit of backup. A good plot, elegant prose, and a charming narrative voice all add up to our November History/Mystery Paperback Book of the Month.
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Our November Books of the Month
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NOVEMBER BOOKS OF THE MONTH
British Crime Club
One unsigned hardcover or paperback per month
Cozy Crimes Club
One unsigned hardcover or paperback per month
Discovery Club
One paperback or hardcover per month
First Mystery Club
One Signed First per month 
Hardboiled Crime Club
One signed First per month
History/Mystery Club
One Signed First per month
History Paperback
One per month
Modern First Editions
One Signed First per month
SciFi/Fantasy/Horror Club
One Signed First per month
Surprise Me! Club
One Signed First Per Month
Thriller Club
One Signed First per month
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Parking, Drinks & Dining
and a generous offer from Arcadia Farms Cafe
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We suggest when you can you come early to The Pen (chairs go down around 5:00 PM or 1:00 PM for afternoon events), reserve your seat(s), and explore our vibrant Old Town Scottsdale neighborhood.
Parking is more difficult sometimes because of the restaurants (editorial comment -- the City of Scottsdale's parking policies suck!).
We've given you locations beyond our parking lot.
Good News: Arcadia Farms Cafe has generously offered us its parking for evening events when needed. You can also park just south of our lot between the alley and Main Street.
One reason we don't have a cafe or bar in The Pen is there isn't enough dedicated parking to allow one.
Enjoy --there are all sorts of food and beverages on offer.
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Mystery-of-the-Month Club
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Looking for something new to read each month and aren't sure what to choose? Let us help... And it makes a great gift for Dad!
The Mystery-of-the-Month Club is individually tailored to each customer's specific tastes. Just let us know what kinds of mysteries you enjoy, whether your looking for signed hardcover books or paperbacks, and we'll take it from there!
For more information, drop Patrick King a line at
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The Poisoned Pen
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Is a full service general bookstore with a specialty in fiction of all kinds, and in history. When books are not on our shelves we can order them for you quickly or, if British, it takes a little longer.
Email any requests to
[email protected]. It's all part of the experience. Thank you for supporting The Poisoned Pen.
Winner, 2001 Raven Award from the Mystery Writers of America! Winner,
2012 The Arizona Republic and the New Times Best of Phoenix and Best of Scottsdale, Best Bookstore! 2013 Arizona Republic's Critics' Choice and Reader's Choice Best Specialty Bookstore
12-time Nominee, Publishers Weekly's Bookseller of the Year
Winner, James Patterson Page-Turner Award
Poisoned Pen Press, Winner, The 2010 Ellery Queen Award from The Mystery Writers of America
Member of the Crime Writers of Canada, British Crime Writers Association, The American Booksellers Association,
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