|
Hi
Yesterday was a reminder of the New Normal as
Diana Gabaldon soldiered in to sign hundreds of orders for her Outlander series.
No,
Go Tell the Bees is not among them and as yet has no publication date. I promise we will let you know when we know.
Other highlights included virtual book launches with Michael Connelly and Martin Walker, and a visit with David Baldacci.
Because internet connections are vulnerable to local conditions, both Walker (in a French village) and Baldacci (with a storm blowing in), were subject to Zoom freezes. The sound quality is much better in the Walker podcast (I hate my voice, I sound like a crake, must be overuse). The Connelly podcast is up including the missing 5 minutes of the video, and by tomorrow Baldacci's podcast too will post.
So much to learn! Meanwhile Joseph Kanon joins me tomorrow on a chat we will post on our
Home Page for the weekend.
We thank you for sticking with us and for your generous orders and attendance at our Virtual Events. I hope you enjoy the more casual book chats, too.
Next up: I am learning Instagram video so I can make some short book recommendations to you on Instagram.
Please understand how grateful we are and by all means please keep the orders coming--they are our lifeblood. YOU are our lifeblood."
We miss you. We miss your faces. Your conversation. The energy in the store and in the room when authors visit.
Downtown Scottsdale is "reopening" next week. We don't want to keep our doors closed so I'll write to you Sunday or Monday about our plan for limited in-store browsing. I will say this: Masks Will Be Required. And the use of sanitizer we provide. More to come.
Meanwhile we have reopened telephone service from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM weekdays, 11 AM-5 PM Saturdays, Closed on Sundays.
It is only one person answering the phone so you may still need to leave a message for a call back as fast as we can make it.
Please call in for Curbside Pickup, same hours. Please phone in your order. Do not email it. No cash transactions so please be prepared with your CC or give it over the phone so your order is processed and ready to go.
Please use the side door in the breezeway and if more than one of you is there, maintain a safe six foot distance.
The webstore and email operate 24/7
For the best service other than curbside pickup please continue to email [email protected]
Our thanks to L
esa,
continuing to work with us from Indiana, is conducting some wonderful discussions with authors on books on our
Blog
that I urge you to read both for fun and inspiration. M
uch love to our social media team which includes Susan on Twitter and Kathy on Pinterest as well as me on Instagram
Barbara and all The Pens
|
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/Sourcebooks, 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.
|
The May BookNotes
|
First, I repeat, many books scheduled for May have moved to June-September. I did my best to catch all the new dates.
Here is the link to the
May BookNotes, truly rich in reading recommendations
There are loads of great large paperbacks for you!
Patrick has updated our puzzle inventory as well as listed new book for May in various formats for you HERE
|
New Podcasts
|
There are many more new podcasts up.
For those who prefer not to stare at a screen but would like to enjoy our conversations with authors, these are for you.
Visit our new Podcasts Easy download links are provided. They should also be available on ITunes.
New: Martin Walker, Michael Connelly, and by tomorrow, David Baldacci. Plus we added Dean Koontz.
|
Buy Audio Books from The Pen via Libro.fm
|
Books bought from Libro.fm create revenue for The Pen
An example of the Buy button is here on The Last Trial book order page
.
|
Congratulations!
|
To Peter Robinson, recipient of the Grand Master Award for Canadian authors
To Martin Edwards, recipient of the British Crime Writers Association's Cartier Diamond Dagger Award.
|
What Are Virtual Events?
|
Please note that all the Facebook Live events can be viewed at any time after the event. They start on Scottsdale Time, 3 hours later than Eastern Daylight Time. Or 3 hours earlier depending on how you envision the time difference.
The programs will appear on our YouTube channel the next day, giving you a choice where to watch them.
I note an Instagram Live event for May 19 at 5 PM in the updated calendar. The Pen is supplying signed copies of Sara Sligar's book.
Zoom can be made safe is there is a host approving participants. So you can participate in our Discussion Clubs which are limited to invitees. Note that Patrick has scheduled the Hardboiled Crime Club to meet May 28 at 7:15 PM
|
Laird Barron
Tonight 5:00 PM
|
Isaiah Coleridge
Signed books available. Please order quickly to secure yours
We first met Isaiah Coleridge in Blood Standard ($9.99) and are treated to rugged remote Alaska where Isaiah is a hitman for hire and the Chicago Outfit is a player. Then in Black Mountain ($9.99) we switch to the Hudson River Valley, more beautiful country marred by violent deeds, where Isaiah is newly established as a PI housed in a body that has taken a ton of punishment. Add an unusual and unwelcome new client.
Ex-NYPD cop Badja Adeyemi had been the bodyguard for Gerald Redlick, a businessman who's now a U.S. senator. When Redlick's company came under scrutiny for corrupt doings, Adeyemi too became a suspect. Now, before he gets sent to prison, Adeyemi wants to ease his sister's mind by having Coleridge investigate the death of her son at a supercollider project site several years earlier. A death ruled to be a suicide. This will lead Coleridge and his equally tough associate, Lionel Robard, to small towns and people with big egos, bigger payrolls, and absolutely zero scruples about doing whatever it takes to win. Plus a cabal of locals who may actually be dangerous. And to a super collider built into the caves-ridden landscape Isaiah now calls home. Barron fills this investigation with unlikely juxtapositions so you have to pay close attention to its development. I like the landscapes, Alaska and the Upper Hudson Valley, more than the people or the crimes
|
Mike Lupica writing Robert B. Parker in conversation with Joe Ide
Tonight 6:00 PM
|
Signed books available. Please order quickly to secure yours
Lupica has not just nailed Parker's voice for Sunny Randall but taken it up a notch. Love a scene where Sunny visits her shrink (Susan, of course) and speculates about who Susan's clearly fabulous man might be.
The plot posits Tony Marcus, upgrading his prostitution business (in the face of strong and sometimes amateur/bored housewives competition) and facing the mysterious disappearance of the woman who not only shares his bed but most of his business secrets, hiring Sunny to find her. The hook: doing the job will cancel out Sunny's welshing on a gun deal that turned them over to the Feds rather than to Marcus. Meanwhile Richie's ex returns from London with their son Richard which spells stepmother (and competition) to Sunny. I have no idea where either of these plot lines is going but enjoying the ride. You will too.
Lupica will be writing Jesse Stone as well so we may see him in September, or....
AND AFTER AT 7:15 PM
Hardboiled Crime Discussion Club
meets with Patrick on Zoom. Email [email protected] for details and an invitation to join if you wish.
|
Kristen Ashley
Saturday 2:00 PM
|
Kristen Ashley
chats with John about Dream Maker (Grand Central $7.99)
Signed books (300+) are sold out but we can restock as Kristen is a local author
Evan "Evie" Gardiner has spent her whole life being the responsible one in her family, but enough is enough. It's time to pursue her own dreams. Evie's finally going to finish that engineering degree she's been working toward. But first she needs to come up with the money to pay for tuition. Working as a dancer at Smithie's club seems like the perfect solution to her problems . . . until her family lands in yet another scrape and comes to Evie for help. Only, this time, her family's recklessness is risking more than her dreams-it's endangering her life.
Daniel "Mag" Magnusson knows a thing or two about desperation and disappointment, but no one notices that his good looks and quick wit hide the painful memories that haunt him. When Evie's family puts her in danger, Mag insists on offering Evie his protection.
|
Our June Calendar
Please keep checking as more events pop in
|
MONDAY JUNE 1 5:00 PM
Signed books available. Please order quickly to secure yours
TUESDAY JUNE 2 7:00 PM
JA Jance
chats about her new Ali Reynolds investigation Credible Threat (Gallery $27.99)
Signed books available. Please order quickly to secure yours. Books will arrive from Jance a bit delayed
WEDNESDAY JUNE 3 5:00 PM
David Pepper
chats about his terrifying political thriller
Signed books available. Please order quickly to secure yours
SATURDAY JUNE 6 1:00 PM
Francine Matthews
chats about Death on Tuckernuck (Soho $27.95), her new Merry Folger Nantucket Mystery
Signed books available. Please order quickly to secure yours
SATURDAY JUNE 6 2:00 PM
Laurie R. King
chats about Riviera Gold (Bantam $28), her new Russell/Holmes mystery set in Monaco, as they search for Mrs. Hudson
Signed books available. Please order quickly to secure yours
MONDAY JUNE 8 5:00 PM
Signed copies of both books available
TUESDAY JUNE 9 5:00 PM
Signed books available. Please order quickly to secure yours
WEDNESDAY JUNE 10 5:00 PM
Sean McFate
discusses his thriller
High Treason (Harper $27.99) with
Brad Taylor
Signed books available. Please order quickly to secure yours
THURSDAY JUNE 11 2:00 PM with John
Signed books available. Please order quickly to secure yours
THURSDAY JUNE 11 3:00 PM with John
Signed bookplates will be available for the August publication
Signed books available in mid-June for Phillips. Please order quickly to secure yours
SATURDAY JUNE 13 2:00 PM
Signed books available. Please order quickly to secure yours
MONDAY JUNE 15 5:00 PM
Tom Clavin
talks with Patrick about Tombstone (St Martins $29.99)
The true story of the Earp brothers, Doc Holliday, and the famous Battle at the OK Corral, by the New York Times bestselling author of Dodge City and Wild Bill
Signed books available. Please order quickly to secure yours
WEDNESDAY JUNE 17 6:00 PM
Gregory Benford and Larry Niven
discuss
Glorious
(Tor $29.99), continuing the hard science Bowl of Heaven novels, with Pat
Signed books by Niven with a bookplate by Benford. Please order quickly to secure yours
FRIDAY JUNE 19th 7:00 PM
SciFi Friday meets on Zoom
to discuss Scott Hawkins'
SATURDAY JUNE 20th 10:30 AM
Croak and Dagger meets on Zoom
to discuss Clare Mackintosh's Let Me Lie ($16)
TUESDAY JUNE 23 Time TBA
James Murray, aka "Murr,"
chats with Pat about Obliteration (Harper Voyager $27.99), in the Awakened universe series
Signed books available. Please order quickly to secure yours
WEDNESDAY JUNE 25 6:00 PM
Michael Elias
chats about his thriller
Signed books available. Please order quickly to secure yours
THURSDAY JUNE 25 5:00 PM
Nina Laurin
joins in with David Bell, Meg Gardiner, and Heather Gudenkauf to discuss her new book A Woman Alone (Grand Central $14.99) as well as work by the other authors
SATURDAY JUNE 27 2:00 PM
Conversation and Cooking
Diana Gabaldon and Theresa Carle-Sanders present
Our copies are signed by Diana while Theresa, a Canadian, includes a signed recipe card for a delicious treat
MONDAY JUNE 29 5:00 PM
Signed books available. Please order quickly to secure yours
TUESDAY JUNE 30 Time TBA
Jill Clark
chats with Liv Constantine (Lynne) about Clark's July First Mystery Book of the Month,
The Last Flight
(Sourcebooks $26.99
)
Signed books available. Please order quickly to secure yours
THURSDAY JULY 2 2:00 PM
Ellie Alexander
chats with John about
THURSDAY JULY 2 5:00 PM
Paul Doiron
chats with Tess Gerritsen about his new Mike Bowditch Maine thriller One Last Lie (Minotaur $27.99)
Signed books available. Please order quickly to secure yours
|
First, A Few Reminders
|
All Signed
McGilloway, Brian. The Last Crossing ($40) only 2 left How about a trip to Ireland?
Tony, Hugh and Karen thought they'd seen the last of each other thirty years ago. Half a lifetime has passed and memories have been buried. But when they are asked to reunite - to lay ghosts to rest for the good of the future - they all have their own reasons to agree. As they take the ferry from Northern Ireland to Scotland the past is brought in to terrible focus - some things are impossible to leave behind... like the legacy of The Troubles.
Rollins, James. The Last Odyssey (Morrow $29) What about Greece this summer? Or Greenland?
James Rollins will take you to both places with his trademark mix of history, science, adventure, and thrills in this Sigma Force novel that retraces Homer in a very modern way.
A lot of our books "fell off the truck" on their way from Jim to The Pen but we have restocked. A great Father's Day gift.
Stabenow, Dana. No Fixed Line (Zeus $29.95) After selling out twice we shipped books to Alaska and back and now have a dozen signed copies of the latest Kate Shugak
Can't travel to Alaska this summer? Then here is the book for you
And a Starred Review for it too: A plane crash in the Alaskan wilderness kicks off Edgar winner Stabenow's excellent 22nd Kate Shugak mystery.
Former State Trooper Jim Chopin, Kate's beau, is called out of retirement to go to the crash site, where he discovers two survivors, children who don't speak English. When the children turn out to be trafficked refugees kept by a drug-smuggling pedophile, PI Shugak, who operates from the national park that contains the crash site, investigates. She goes up against powerful foes from both inside and outside Alaska, including two goons sent by the smuggling ring. As plenty of villains have learned over the decades, this is a woman who shouldn't be underestimated and has plenty of fight left in her. Stabenow's affection for her characters, in particular Chopin, shines through, as does her fondness for the Alaskan country she knows so well. Fans will hope this series goes on forever.
We have 10 Signed Bookplates to go with our copies
In Straub's infectiously warm fourth novel, an acerbic widow grapples - for the first time - with what kind of parent she was and how that shaped her three kids, and their kids, decades later. "Brimming with kindness, forgiveness, humor and love and yet (magically) also a page turner that held me captive until it was finished. This is Emma Straub's absolute best and the world will love it. I love it." -- Ann Patchett
|
Second, New Books
|
I urge you to order them.
Love a good con?
"Part psychological thriller and part morality tale, here is literary suspense at its best. Gorgeous prose, complex characters inhabiting the fascinating worlds of elite Instagram influencers and high-stakes scam artists, a thought-provoking dual narrative, a twisty plot with a shocking, never-saw-that-coming ending-this brilliant novel has it all! I read it in one day in one sitting, mesmerized, and I loved every moment."-Angie Kim. So, I'm with Angie about an unusual thriller powered by two women living in very different social and economic strata when we meet them.... In time events at Lake Tahoe's shore come as a real surprise .... Brown is a gifted stylist and imaginative plotter, sucking you in and delivering surprise after surprise-and never being mean.
In our May British Crime Club Pick, an unsettling fairy tale and a nail-biting mystery mix in a masterfully chilling debut about a broken woman who recounts the story of her disappearance in a final manuscript.
Everyone believes missing prolific novelist Cassandra Tipp is dead. Yet her final manuscript tells two disturbing stories: the one people would rather believe, about an abused girl driven to madness, and the one Cassie dares them to trust, about her faerie companion Pepper-Man, "always in [her], tooth and claw," whose world bled into her own.Pepper-Man always accompanied Cassie, even if no one else could see. Her mother punished Cassie for hiding his morbid trinkets ("a ring made from deer spine, a necklace of frogs' legs and hawthorn") and blood stains from invisible bites--"traces of [Pepper-Man's] love." Her father, "like a bear, just watched it all."
Straddling two worlds, Cassie seems inextricable. Was she spitefully violent toward her hateful sister, or was she counteracting fae curses? Did she kill her husband, or did he just appear to be human when really he was made of twigs enchanted by a spell? Her therapists believed Cassie constructed an alternate world to cope with trauma, but could a place vivid enough to taste be illusion? Bruce crafts an intricate web of trauma. Pepper-Man embodies the grim specter of abuse cloaked in sweetness.
In
a fictionalized account of the Society's founding, Canadian debut novelist Jenner draws on the broad, timeless appeal of Jane Austen for a charming story of an unlikely collection of readers who band together to save what remains of Austen's home. Along the way, their shared passion for the author of Pride and Prejudice brings hope, healing and surprising connections into each of their lives in ways that will gratify bibliophiles in general and Janeites in particular.
Jenner begins in Chawton, Hampshire, in 1932, when farm laborer Adam Berwick meets an American girl "so beyond him in her beauty as to be almost otherworldly." She has come to Chawton to see "the little steward's cottage where the Gosport and Winchester roads intersected, and where Jane Austen had finally found a home for her writing after years of dependency."
A fan of H. Rider Haggard's adventure stories, Adam nevertheless responds to her heartfelt insistence that he read Austen's novels. Imagine what follows....
|
What Can You Do Today?
#ReadIndieForward
|
- Buy a book from your favorite independent bookstore and send it to a loved one. That bookstore could be The Pen. And you can modify it to sending a Pen Gift Card
- Post to social media that you #ReadIndieForward by sending a book to a loved one
- Tag the person receiving the book, tag the independent bookstore you bought the book from, and use #ReadIndieForward
|
Mystery-of-the-Month Club
|
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
|
We Don't Want to Lose You!
|
If you change your email address you will disappear from our Enews mailing list automatically.
We can't tell unless you either
Go to the very bottom of any Enews and Click on
UPDATE PROFILE or go here and fill in the form. You can choose whether to get the Enews alone or the Enews and Event invitations.
or
Email us your new Email address so we can input it for you into The Enews list. Please tell us that's what you want because we cannot just subscribe you.
|
|
Buy Poisoned Pen Gift Cards Online
|
|
|
|
|
|
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
[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,
|
|
|