The Poisoned Pen
Welcome to March
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The Poisoned Pen

 

The Poisoned Pen

4014 N Goldwater Blvd #101

Scottsdale, AZ

85251

 

(480) 947-2974

(888) 560-9919

 

www.poisonedpen.com 

sales@poisonedpen.com 

 

Directions? Hours? Click here.

SIGNED BOOKS FOR YOU
PLEASE PREORDER
where not in stock
Click on the title to order
especially for UK books

Not Myron Bolitar but Windsor Horne Lockwood III, his own book
Signed for us by Harlan
Virtual National Launch
March 15 5 PM PDT

NUMA Files
Virtual with Brown March 8 6:00 PM
Short inscription requests due March 6

CJ Box
Virtual Launch March 1
6:00 PM
Lady Emily
Virtual March 2 6:00 PM

Veronica Speedwell as a kind of Rudolph Rassendyll
Virtual March 2 6:00 PM

Matt Drake
Virtual with Jack Carr
March 3 6:00 PM

Smith College women go to war in 1917
Virtual March 6 2:15 PM with Karen White & Beatriz Williams

Venice's Brunetti
National Virtual Launch
March 9 1:00 PM


A Matter of Life and Death
Robin Lockwood
March 10 6:00 PM

Our March First Mystery Book of the Month
in stock now
A very hot debut

in stock now
Terrific -- read my review in the March Booknews

Her Dark Lies
A Rebecca-like Gothic set on a beautiful Italian isle
Virtual event March 29 but on sale next week

True Crime
Kenda is the host of TVs Homicide Hunter
in stock now

The Gray Man
in stock now
Missing and Endangered
Sheriff Joanna Brady
Bisbee, AZ
in stock now

A Tip for the Hangman
Christopher Marlowe
due in this week
Our delayed February Historical Book of the Month

UK edition
2 left in stock

The Fortunate Ones
A modern Gatsby set in Nashville, TN
in stock now

Archaeologist Ruth Galloway
Due in late February
Liam Campbell #5 at last
in stock now
 
set in Tasmania
Signed UK edition
 
The Missing American
Meet Emma Djan
A brand new Edgar nominee
in stock now

Sleep Well, My Lady
Emma Djan #2
Our International Crime Book of the Month
The Shadow Box
Astonishing double art work: dust jacket and book Boards
in stock now
The Lost Boys
Decker & Lazarus
in stock now
Click on the title to order
especially for UK books
Set in Boston, now we know it starts a series! so don't miss out on a signed first
in stock now

Victorian Mystery
in stock now

in stock now
Carpenter & Quincannon
2 left in stock
Nora Kelly
Signed by both Authors
Comes with fab photo of Doug on horseback
In stock now
American Traitor
Pike Logan & Co
Exciting Taiwan background
in stock now
Hi

First, to reconfirm our opening hours

HOURS:
Mon-Fri 2:00 - 6:00 PM
Sat. 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Sun.: 12:00- 5:00 PM Curbside pickup only!

Please come masked. Please do not come if you are feeling unwell but instead choose curbside pickup.
Please use hand sanitizer on arrival. Gloves are available.
Limited to SIX persons at a time. The Pen is not a large retail space.
Please enter through the front door, not the side doors.
No public restroom

With spring coming an inspired video depicts the Rewilding of Europe, mostly in the Danube Delta. Watching it gives a real lift! I especially love the reintroduction of the Ibis to its winter grounds in Italy. Would you fly over the Alps in that machine?

Yesterday we drove north on I-17 to visit Arcosanti where the Frank Lloyd Wright school of architecture has relocated. The community uses earth casting in construction and for casting its Soleri bells. I have one and now have a sparkling rain chain as shown below too.

















Thank you as ever for your interest and support. Stay safe, stay well, and keep reading!.

Barbara and The Pens

Find us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter 
  
Thank you for supporting The Poisoned Pen since 1989, 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 and more....
Donna Leon
Virtual Book Launch
Tuesday March 9 
1:00 PM
We offer two ways to join this exciting event, Donna's first at The Pen

The purchase of the book is required to attend, or a $5.00 fee

TUESDAY MARCH 9 1:00 PM Virtual Book Launch
Donna Leon discusses Transient Desires (Grove $27)
Click on the title to order and you will get a zoom link on March 8
Signed copies while they last

To join by the $5.00 fee CLICK HERE 

Can it be the 30th for Commissario Guido Brunetti? Yes. And it reflects the Venetian policeman's weariness with his job and his city. The focal point is the culture of the Giudecca, its insularity, and a kind of local boss with an iron grip that may be hard to break. It begins when two young American tourists are dropped off at the hospital's dock, one of them seriously injured. Cameras reveal two young men in a boat (naturally) ferried the women there. They are soon identified as a well-to-do young lawyer and his childhood friend, a boatman. 

Patient and persistent inquiry ensues ringing in the coast guard and naval commandos, yet despite the high action finale the pace is a slow burn and in the end, what is accomplished? Leon increasingly goes for ambiguity, reflecting her view I think of a broken city government, maybe of Italy's government. I have to agree with a reviewer who writes, an aging Brunetti, who blames his tightening trousers on the dry cleaners rather than his eating habits, goes about his day: meeting with informants, lunching with colleagues, and dining with his erudite wife and opinionated children. 

Brunetti feels disillusioned with his retired friends, who can talk of nothing but grandchildren, and mournfully accepts that tourism will eventually destroy his beloved Venice. But meanwhile he loves his family, and really, his work.

The UK Signed edition: Transient Desires (Heinemann $42)
The March Booknews
Part 1

Here is the link to the first of two MARCH BOOKNEWS

Here is the link to the FEBRUARY BOOKNOTES

And use the share feature with both to reach out to readers you know.
Our Podcast Library Keeps Growing
Visit our  Podcasts Almost 70,000 downloads show your interest

Easy download links are provided. They are also available on ITunes and Google Music

Enjoy conversations from our storied past:

AND more new conversations: 

Russ Thomas with Andrew (Child) Grant

Joe Ide

Alexis Landau

Charlaine Harris

William Kent Krueger
Buy Audio Books from Libro.fm & Help The Pen
We have a partnership with Libro.fm

Your purchase of audio books results in a small income stream to the bookstore so we very much appreciate it.

They do frequent specials and update available audios. 
Tips on our Virtual Events
The times listed are Mountain Standard Time UNTIL March 14.

When Daylight Savings kicks in March 14, the times we list will be Pacific Daylight Time. It begins with Harlan Coben in our calendar..

Here is the link to view them on Facebook Live
We try to start them on time at the hour posted. You can sign it a bit early and wait for it to start. Or join later.

You can watch them in real time and comment if you do belong to FB. And you can watch them later at any time that is convenient.

You can listen to them in a subsequent podcast

Here's the link to our You Tube channel 

The Videos go back for some years. Watch those posted to You Tube on your Smart TV. It's a nice change from a small screen

What happend to Charles Finch?
We regret that Mr. Finch was unable to make his event scheduled for Friday February 26.

However we do have copies signed by him of  An Extravagant Death (St Martins $27.99) in stock now.

It's a charmer set in 1878 and mostly in Newport, RI, with a Gilded Age atmosphere....but all is not sparkling.
CJ Box
Virtual National Book Launch
Tonight at SEVEN PM
MONDAY MARCH 1 7:00 PM Virtual Book Launch
CJ Box discusses Dark Sky (Putnam $27.99)

Signed books signed by CJ here are shipping even now!

You fans of Nate Romanowski are going to love this thriller. We learn right away when Joe Pickett's daughter Sheridan, who is employed by Nate, rappels down a cliff where falcons nest and uncovers bow traps, indicating that a poacher is at work. Thus we also get to learn a lot more about Nate and his birds than ever. 

But the main plot kicks off when the governor of Wyoming gives Joe Pickett the thankless task of taking a geeky tech baron who wants to experience harvesting his own food by bringing down an elk with a bow and arrow, on a hunt. 




Tasha Alexander
Deanna Raybourn
Tuesday 6:00 PM
TUESDAY MARCH 2 6:00 PM Victorian Crime
Tasha Alexander and Deanna Raybourn in conversation
Signed books available for BOTH authors
Alexander discusses The Dark Heart of Florence (St Martins $27.99)

Lady Emily and her intelligence agent husband, Colin Hargreaves, travel to Florence to investigate a break-in at the Palazzo di Vieri, the home of Colin's daughter, along with Emily's friend Cécile du Lac, an elegant Parisian with a passion for champagne and bohemian sensibilities. Meanwhile, the body of an informant associated with Darius Benton-Stone, Colin's fellow agent, has been discovered broken and bleeding in the palazzo's courtyard. 

While Colin and Darius investigate, Emily and Cécile, kept out of the men's confidence, keep themselves busy visiting the sights and doing some digging of their own into the dead man's background. They also discover that the Palazzo di Vieri is believed to contain a secret treasure. Could the man have been searching for it? The story tick tocks from 1903 to 15th Century Florence when the Medicis reigned and Savonarola rose, linking the quests rooted in the occupants of the palazzo.

"Alexander effortlessly slips an enormous amount of Florentine history into a narrative that offers a loving portrait of the city and just the right amount of dashing derring-do." I'm glad that Alexander is advancing slowly from the Victorian into the Edwardian era.

Raybourn discusses An Unexpected Peril (Berkley $26)
This is so much fun. How I loved The Prisoner of Zenda when Rudolph Rassendyll nobly takes the place of the King of Ruritania at his coronation while the real king is being drugged by the villain. Anthony Hope wrote this adventure in 1894.* 

Now here we have Veronica Speedwell in a similar role. Why is the lepidopterist bored with life in London? After all, she and her lover, the Hon. Revelstoke Templeton-Vane, better known as Stoker, are living on a lovely estate while they work on a vast collection of objects of natural history and help design an exhibit to honor Alice Baker-Greene, an intrepid mountaineer and feminist, who died in a climbing accident in a tiny mountain kingdom. Princess Gisela of the Alpenwald herself comes to open the exhibit. 

All goes smoothly until Stoker finds Alice's climbing rope among the exhibition items and notices that it wasn't frayed but cut with a knife, turning her fatal accident into murder. Veronica, who'd met and admired Alice, is keen to investigate, but Stoker's not interested in expanding their case files. Their differences are rendered moot when members of the Alpenwald delegation beg Veronica to pose as the wayward Princess Gisela, who often goes off on little trips on her own, in order to avert the scandal that would surely arise if she did not show up for her engagements. The two women look remarkably alike because both are related through Queen Victoria's large family, Now that she has entree to all the Alpenwalders, Veronica, her boredom decisively ended, sets to work sleuthing with the reluctant Stoker. Their discoveries soon put them at odds with a clever killer. 
            
*FYI the 1937 movie of The Prisoner of Zenda starred Ronald Coleman, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and Madeleine Carroll with Raymond Massey, Mary Astor, and David Niven in supporting roles. The 1952 remake starred Stewart Granger, Deborah Kerr, and James Mason and was nearly word-for-word in the screenplay.
Jack Carr hosts Don Bentley
Wednesday 6:00 PM
WEDNESDAY MARCH 3 6:00 PM
Don Bentley in conversation with Jack Carr
Bentley discusses The Outside Man (Berkley $27)

Signed books available

Join us for a lively chat and a small preview of Carr's next thriller The Devil's Hand which we launch here on April 12 at 6:00 PM PDT.

Bentley pits former Defense Intelligence Agency operative Matt Drake, who's living with his wife in Austin, Tex., against an old nemesis known as the Devil, a ruthless crime lord profiting from the chaos in Syria and Iraq. After an assassination attempt in broad daylight on the streets of Austin, Drake-still suffering from PTSD and struggling to find a sense of normalcy in his life-attempts to locate the Devil to enact vengeance. In his search, he stumbles across a sex trafficking operation run by the Middle Eastern crime boss and vows to kill him and free the enslaved women
Denise Hamilton
with Ben Winters and Duane Swierczynski
Thursday 7:00 PM
THURSDAY MARCH 4 7:00 PM
Denise Hamilton in conversation with Ben Winters and Duane Swierczynski
The editor and authors discuss Speculative Los Angeles (Akashic $16.95).

Patrick hosts a book he recommends: The debut title in a new city-based anthology series featuring 14 all-new stories with speculative, sci-fi, and paranormal themes-each using distinct neighborhood settings as a launching pad. "Speculative Los Angeles is a thrill ride of grand ideas and warnings. Take a place that already defines the future of culture, add fourteen unbound minds, and you get a collection that wows the imagination like no other."--Michael Connelly. 

LJ adds, "Many [stories] have a distinctly gritty and postapocalyptic flavor that takes advantage of a uniquely L.A. vibe."
Our March Books of the Month
Please remember: we read all the book club books BEFORE we select them for each month. No algorithms are at work here, just dedicated readers and  booksellers.

Email Karen@poisonedpen.com to join or with questions. It's never too late to sign up for an exciting mystery box. 

OUR MARCH BOOKS OF THE MONTH
The Crime Book of the Month One Signed hardcover First per month
Staples, Will. Animals
 
British Crime Book of the Month One unsigned hardcover or paperback per month
Griffiths, Elly. The Postscript Murders
 
Cozy Crimes Book of the Month One unsigned hardcover or paperback per month
Bennett, SJ. The Windsor Knot
 
Fantastic New Fiction Book of the Month One Signed hardcover First per month
Cantor, Jillian. Half Life
 
First Mystery Book of the Month Club One Signed hardcover First per month
Andrews, Alexandra. Who Is Maud Dixon?
 
Historical Fiction Book of the Month One Signed hardcover First per month
Penner, Sarah. The Lost Apothecary
 
International Crime Book of the Month One Unsigned hardcover or paperback per month
Sten, Camilla. The Lost Village
 
SciFi/Fantasy Book of the Month
One hardcover or paperback per month signed when possible
Neuvel, Sylvain.A History of What Comes Next
Our Full March Calendar
MONDAY MARCH 1 7:00 PM Virtual Book Launch
CJ Box discusses Dark Sky (Putnam $27.99)
Joe Pickett
Signed books available
 
TUESDAY MARCH 2 6:00 PM Victorian Crime
Tasha Alexander and Deanna Raybourn in conversation
Alexander discusses The Dark Heart of Florence (St Martins $27.99)
Lady Emily
Raybourn discusses An Unexpected Peril (Berkley $26)
Veronica Speedwell
Signed books available for both
 
WEDNESDAY MARCH 3 6:00 PM
Don Bentley in conversation with Jack Carr
Bentley discusses The Outside Man (Berkley $27)
Signed books available
 
NEW: 
THURSDAY MARCH 4 7:00 PM
Denise Hamilton in conversation with Ben Winters and Duane Swierczynski
The editor and authors discuss Speculative Los Angeles (Akashic $16.95).

FRIDAY MARCH 5 1:00 PM
Elly Griffiths discusses The Postscript Murders (Houghton $25)
A standalone gem, our March British Crime Book of the Month
 
FRIDAY MARCH 5 6:30 PM
Arkady Martine in conversation with Pat King
Martine discusses A Desolation Called Peace (Tor $26.99)
Teixcalaan # 2
 
SATURDAY MARCH 6 1:00 PM Virtual US launch
The UK's Chris Whitaker in conversation with Hank Phillippi Ryan
Whitaker discusses We Begin at the End (Holt $27.99)
 
SATURDAY MARCH 6 2:15 PM
Lauren Willig in conversation with Karen White and Beatriz Williams
Willig discusses Band of Sisters (Morrow $27.99)
Smith College women go to France in WWI
Signed books available
 
MONDAY MARCH 8 1:00 PM Virtual US Book Launch
SJ Bennett in conversation with Lesa Holstine
Bennett discusses The Windsor Knot (Morrow $27.99)
Our March Cozy Crimes Pick of the Month
 
MONDAY MARCH 8 6:00 PM National Book Launch
Graham Brown discusses Fast Ice (Putnam $29), his last full collaboration with Clive Cussler
Signed books available, short personalization requests due End of Day March 6

TUESDAY MARCH 9 1:00 PM Virtual Book Launch
Donna Leon discusses Transient Desires (Grove $27)
Commissario Guido Brunetti of Venice
The purchase of the book is required to attend, or a $5.00 fee
To join by the $5.00 fee CLICK HERE

TUESDAY MARCH 9 5:00 PM Baseball!
Emily Nemens in conversation with John Shea and Larry Siegel
Nemens discusses The Cactus League ($17)
Shea discusses Willie Mays "24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid" and Rickey Henderson's autobiography "Off Base: Confessions of a Thief
 
WEDNESDAY MARCH 10 6:00 PM
Phillip Margolin discusses 
A Matter of Life and Death (St Martins $27.99)
Robin Lockwood legal thriller
Signed books available
 
THURSDAY MARCH 11 6:00 PM
Joel Rosenburg in conversation with Kyle Mills
Rosenburg discusses The Beirut Protocol (Tyndale House $27.99)
Military fiction

TIME CHANGE MARCH 14: from here all our events are PDT

MONDAY MARCH 15 5:00 PM Virtual Book Launch
Harlan Coben discusses Win (Grand Central $29)
Signed books available
 
TUESDAY MARCH 16 6:30 PM
Australia's Candice Fox in conversation with Adrian McKinty
Fox discusses Gathering Dark  (Forge $27.99)
 
WEDNESDAY MARCH 17 1:00 PM
St. Patrick's Day Party
Carlene O'Connor discusses Murder in an Irish Bookshop (Kensington $27)
Irish Village Mystery #7
Signed books available

WEDNESDAY MARCH 17 2:15 PM
The Pen presents debut authors Julie Carrick Dalton, Nancy Johnson, Sarah Penner
Dalton discusses Waiting for the Night Song (Forge $26.99)
Signed books still available
Johnson discusses The Kindest Lie (Harper $27.99)
Signed bookplates available
Penner discusses The Lost Apothecary (Park Row $27.99), our March Historical Fiction Book of the Month
Signed books available

NEW:
THURSDAY MARCH 18 5:00 PM
Mark De Castrique discusses Fatal Scores (Poisoned Pen $15.99)
Sam Blackman, Asheville, NC, private eye

THURSDAY MARCH 18 7:00 PM
Hardboiled Crime discusses discusses another story in Arnold Han's 3 Steps to Hell (Stark House $23.95)

FRIDAY MARCH 19 7:00 PM
SciFi Friday discusses Leigh Bardugo, The Ninth House ($17.99)
 
SATURDAY MARCH 20 10:30 AM
Croak & Dagger discusses John Le Carre, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold ($16)

SATURDAY MARCH 20 4:00 PM Virtual book launch
Lisa Scottoline' first historical, Eternal (Putnam $28),  set in WWII Rome
Signed books available

MONDAY MARCH 22 6:00 PM Virtual Book Launch
Jacqueline Winspear discusses 
The Consequences of Fear (Harper $27.99)
Maisie Dobbs
And her Edgar nominated memoir, This Time Next Year Well Be Laughing (Soho $20)
Signed books available for both titles

TUESDAY MARCH 23 5:00 PM
Alma Katsu in conversation with Michael Koryta
Katsu discusses Red Widow (Putnam $27)
Signed books available
 
WEDNESDAY MARCH 24 5:00 PM
Nicola Derobertis-Theye discusses The Vietri Project (Harper $27.99)
Signed bookplates available 

WEDNESDAY MARCH 24 Time TBA
Australia's Sulari Gentill and Emma Viskic
Gentill discusses Shanghai Secrets (Poisoned Pen $15.99)
Rowland Sinclair
Viskic discusses Darkness for Light (Pushkin $14.95)
Deaf PI Caleb Zelic
 
FRIDAY MARCH 26 1:00 PM
Jillian Cantor in conversation with Nuala O'Connor
Cantor discusses Half Life (Harper $28)
Our March Fantastic New Fiction Book of the Month
Signed books available
O'Connor discusses
 
MONDAY MARCH 29 5:00 PM Virtual Book Launch
Allison Brennan in conversation with JT Ellison
Brennan discusses Tell No Lies (Mira $27.99)
Ellison discusses Her Dark Lies (Mira $28.99)
Signed books available for both
 
MONDAY MARCH 29 6:15 PM National Book Launch
Will Staples discusses his fiction debut Animals (Blackstone $27.99)
Signed books available
 
TUESDAY MARCH 30 4:00 PM
Cara Black in conversation with Rhys Bowen
Black discusses Three Hours in Paris ($16.95)
Bowen previews her April novel The Venice Sketchbook (Lake Union $24.95/$14.95)
Signed books in April for Bowen
 
TUESDAY MARCH 30 5:15 PM
Ellen Crosby discusses The French Paradox (Severn $30)
Signed books available
 
WEDNESDAY MARCH 31 5:00 PM
Erica Ruth Neubauer discusses Murder at Wedgefield Manor (Kensington $26)
Signed books available

THURSDAY APRIL 1 Virtual Book Launch
Paula Munier in conversation with Margaret Mizushima
Munier discusses The Hiding Place (St Martins $27.99)
Signed books available

We Will Miss...

Lawrence Ferlingetti, age 101.
An unapologetic proponent of "poetry as insurgent art," he was also a publisher and the owner of the celebrated San Francisco bookstore City Lights.

Margaret Maron, age 82.
Margaret Maron, who believed stories have natural beginnings and endings and who enjoyed the serendipitous turns between them, has tied up her final loose end as an author, writing her own obituary before dying on Tuesday at the age of 82.

Maron, who lived with her husband on family land in Johnston County, was a prolific mystery writer who completed two series of fiction books: 10 Sigrid Harald books, about a New York Police lieutenant, and the 20-volume set of Deborah Knott books, about a district court judge in North Carolina. She also authored short stories and magazine pieces.

Margaret won all four major mystery awards with her first for Deborah Knott, The Bootlegger's Daughter. She was a good friend. I was happy to share a table with her at Malice Domestic 2015 when she won another Agatha Award for Best Novel...and teapot. My photo here.
Buy Poisoned Pen Gift Cards Online 
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The Poisoned Pen
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 sales@poisonedpen.com. 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,