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Greetings to You All
This Memorial Day not only remembers the past and those who made sacrifices but has an immediacy none of us can ignore.
Flowers always come to my mind when thinking of people I've lost. Which reminded me of the brave tulips displays in Holland's Keukenhof Gardens each spring, mostly in May, which when travel again becomes possible I can't recommend highly enough as a soul-refreshing visit. Here is a photo from an earlier visit.
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. I loved reconnecting with Peter Robinson Friday whose Chat is on our Home Page for you to enjoy this weekend. Virtual offers many opportunities.
But, we miss you. We miss your faces. Your conversation. The energy in the store and in the room when authors visit.
There are so many things to consider when formulating a plan to reopen. For your safety, and ours, we are working on an appointment calendar, the best hours for shopping. And our policy will include appointments, masks (BYOM!), sanitizer, distancing.
And we have to consider the Virtual Events schedule as they take place in the store where other activity necessarily stops during the videoing.
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
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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/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.
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The May Booknews
Part 2 now as well as Part 1
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First, many books scheduled for May have moved to June-September. I did my best to catch all the new dates.
May is especially rich in paperbacks, large and small format. So there is quite a long list of Picks for the large format. And loads of very good reading in them.
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
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New Podcasts
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Yes, the podcasts have languished while we have been adjusting to all that the pandemic requires of us.
But we've had the happy thought of turning the audio from the Virtual Events into Podcasts. Not all of them yet, but an impressive array with more coming: Walker, Connelly, Baldacci this week. Meanwhile you can listen to Box, Rollins, Deaver, Turow, Clark, Ryan, Rankin, Kim, Mosley, and more.
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.
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Buy Audio Books from The Pen via Libro.fm
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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
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What Are Virtual Events?
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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
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For You:
Free Shipping on orders of $25+ within the US
through May 31
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We always need good books however we define them to be, and right now more than ever.
THROUGH MAY 31: FREE SHIPPING ON ORDERS OF $25 and up within the United States.
PLEASE PREORDER TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT
We often run out of signed books
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Martin Walker
Virtual Book Launch
Monday at Noon
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Martin has been locked down in the Périgord and hopes to visit us in September. But there is an immediate plus to our copies: a postcard from the Périgord featuring Martin's basset hound Balzac enjoying the garden and signed by Martin.
As late spring blossoms in the Dordogne, the two children of a Périgordian sheep farmer learn that they have been disinherited, and their father's estate sold to an insurance company in return for a policy that will place him in a five-star retirement home for the rest of his life. But the randy farmer, a man with a dicky heart but a stash of Viagra, never gets his life of luxury -- he dies before moving in. His unsurprised doctor rules it a heart attack and the old man is cremated. But the change of his will, the policy, and the convenient death raise doubts for Bruno Courrèges, not just the Chief of Police but with a wider departmental remit.
Wielding both French and EU bureaucratic policies to slow down the asset transfer (and question the death), Bruno is led to a new  France-based notaire (lawyer) and absent insurance agent who may be connected to a Russian oligarch with a Cypriot passport. The companies are based in Cyprus, Malta, and Luxembourg. Interestingly the oligarch is connected to Putin. And more so, his lovely and musically talented daughter has turned up at nearby Chateau Rock on the arm of the equally talented son of its aging rock star owner. The chateau and its vineyard, an asset to the commune, are up for sale as part of the rocker's divorce.
In a relatively economical number of pages, Walker weaves these threads together with Bruno's garden and meals, his role as tennis coach etc in village life, and his devotion to his beloved dog Balzac, to his horse Hector, and the rhythms of local life as they withstand intrusion from Paris-based security officials.
As ever, Bruno still makes time for lunch and his friends, two legged and four. The PW Starred Review (mine are always starred for this delicious series) concludes: "Francophiles will relish the evocative descriptions of the Périgord region and its cuisine. Distinctive characters complement the intricate mystery. Readers new to this elegant series will feel right at home."
But why not start with
Bruno, Chief of Police
($16) and binge your way through the very best mystery/escape/travel reading?
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Michael Connelly
Virtual Book Launch
Tuesday 5:00 PM
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TUESDAY MAY 26 5:00 PM
Virtual Book Launch
Michael Connelly
chats about
Fair Warning
(Little Brown $29)
Our Signed copies come with an exclusive printed interview with Mike.
Veteran reporter Jack McEvoy, back in his third investigatin, has  taken down killers before, but when a woman he had a one-night stand with is murdered in a particularly brutal way, he realizes he might be facing a criminal mind unlike any he's ever encountered. Jack investigates - against the warnings of the police and his own editor - and makes a shocking discovery that connects the crime to other mysterious deaths across the country. Undetected by law enforcement, a vicious killer has been hunting women, using genetic data shared by the victims themselves to select and stalk his targets.
Uncovering the murkiest corners of the dark web, Jack races to find and protect the last source who can lead him to his quarry. But the killer has already chosen his next target...
The London Times writes, "He's stumbled on an amazing story. From a murdered young woman to a mind-boggling extrapolation of the dark destinations that DNA testing might lead to."
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David Baldacci
Wednesday 5:00 PM
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This is a Father's Day special so while supplies last we include a free Father's Day card already stamped for you with US postage with our Signed Firsts.
I've reviewed this newest thriller by Baldacci before so here's a customer's take:
"Amos Decker-the FBI consultant with a perfect memory-is working with his partner Alex Jamison to solve a murder that is so  much more than just a small town murder. There's so much going on, you could get whiplash just reading, but to say it's edge of the seat exciting is an understatement. And - spoiler here - Will Robie and his sidekick Jessica Reel make their appearances at just the right time. This foursome makes for an awesome problem-solving team. There are so many bodies, so many people, and so many different crimes happening concurrently, it's hard to track, but track we do. And it adds up to Baldacci having hit a home run again. So what's Decker up to next? Only time will tell."
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Our Remaining May Calendar
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Isaiah Coleridge
Signed books available. Please order quickly to secure yours
THURSDAY MAY 28 6:00 PM 
Signed books available. Please order quickly to secure yours
THURSDAY MAY 28 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.
SATURDAY MAY 30 2:00 PM
Kristen Ashley
chats with John about Dream Maker (Grand Central $7.99)
Signed books available. Please order quickly to secure yours
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Our June Calendar
Please keep checking as more events pop in
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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
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
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What Better Time to Read Classics?
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Carr, John Dickson.
Castle Skull
(Poisoned Pen Press $14.95).
Alison has been murdered. His blazing body was seen running about the battlements of Castle Skull. And so a dark shadow  looms over the Rhineland where Inspector Henri Bencolin and his accomplice Jeff Marle have arrived from Paris. Entreated by the Belgian financier D'Aunay to investigate the gruesome and grimly theatrical death of actor Myron Alison, the two find themselves at the imposing hilltop fortress Schloss Schädel, in which a small group of suspects are still assembled. As thunder rolls in the distance, Bencolin and Marle enter a world steeped in macabre legends of murder and magic to catch the killer still walking the maze-like passages and towers of the keep. This British Library Crime Classic's spirited and deeply atmospheric early novel also features the rare Inspector Bencolin short story "The Fourth Suspect."
When Amanda Garth was born, a nearly-disastrous mix-up caused the hospital to briefly hand her over to the prestigious Garrison family instead of to her birth parents. The error was quickly fixed  , Amanda was never told, and the secret was forgotten for twenty-three years...until her aunt thoughtlessly revealed it in casual conversation. But what if the initial switch never actually occurred, and what if the real accident was Amanda's being "returned" to the wrong parents? After all, her artistic proclivities are far more aligned with painter Tobias, patriarch of the wealthy Garrison clan, than with the uncreative duo that raised her. Determined to discover her true identity within her aunt's bizarre anecdote, Amanda calls on her almost-family, only to discover that the fantasy life she imagines is not at all like their reality. Instead, she encounters a web of lies and suspicions that ensnares her almost immediately.
This her first novel was first printed a century ago as an 18-part serialization in the Times Weekly Edition from February to June, 1920. A single-volume edition was published in the United States in October 1920; the U.K. version was not released until a year later.
 The Mysterious Affair at Styles introduced Belgian detective Hercule Poirot-Christie's most famous character alongside Miss Marple. The novel was written during World War I, and was inspired by Christie's work in a hospital, where she gained an expert knowledge of toxins and cared for wounded Belgian soldiers. Christie began writing it at Styles after a bet with her older sister, who claimed Christie could not write a detective novel without the reader being able to deduce the killer ahead of the ending. Christie won that bet and went on to write 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections.
AND OUT JUNE 2
First published in 1943, this outstanding hard-boiled whodunit from Grafton (1909-1982), the father of MWA Grand Master Sue Grafton, that sends a very junior lawyer nosing around among the dirty secrets of the well-heeled family that dominates Harpersville, Kentucky, in both good ways and bad, introduces Kentucky attorney Gil Henry.
Ruth McClure would like Henry to ascertain the value of some stock her father, John McClure, who died 10 days earlier in a car  accident, owned in Harper Products. Shortly before his death, John had cautioned Ruth that should anything happen to him, she was "to hold tight" to the stock. William Jasper Harper, the company's owner, is offering to buy back the shares from Ruth for almost five times the amount they're selling for. The ante's upped after Ruth's home is broken into and searched-and someone shoots out Henry's tire as he's driving to Harpersville to look into the situation. The lawyer is soon investigating multiple murders, as well as possible financial chicanery.
Series editor Les Klinger's annotations enhance the text. The superior prose and logical but surprising plot twists amply justify this volume's reissue as a Library of Congress Crime Classic, 2nd in the series after Anna Katherine Green's
That Affair Next Door
($14.99). "Series Editor Leslie S. Klinger's conscientious period footnotes contrast amusingly with Grafton's headlong pace."
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More Signed Books
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When you click on the link to order ignore the Audio CD bit, it's a systemic error. The link is to this book
When the eight-year-old daughter of an Oxford College Master  vanishes in the middle of the night, police turn to the Scottish nanny, Dee, for answers. As Dee looks back over her time in the Master's Lodging-an eerie and ancient house-a picture of a high achieving but dysfunctional family emerges: Nick, the fiercely intelligent and powerful father; his beautiful Danish wife Mariah, pregnant with their child; and the lost little girl, Felicity, almost mute, seeing ghosts, grieving her dead mother. But is Dee telling the whole story? Is her growing friendship with the eccentric house historian, Linklater, any cause for concern? And most of all, why is Felicity silent? Roaming Oxford's secret passages and hidden graveyards, Magpie Lane is "Spellbinding and spooky...a dazzling high wire act, superbly absorbing."-Sunday Mirror.
A Starred Review: "
Set in Rome in 89 CE, Davis's engrossing eighth mystery featuring private investigator Flavia Albia finds Flavia in charge of her husband Tiberius's construction business  while he's away dealing with a family illness. As part of her job, Flavia visits gardens bequeathed to the people of Rome by Julius Caesar, to check on the progress of a contract to dismantle a small grotto, where workers have unearthed some old scrolls, a find that may have some financial value. But Flavia's look into whether the writings are legitimate is put aside after the grisly discovery of the nude, strangled body of Victoria Teria, who disappeared during a birthday celebration held for her husband, Cluventius, in the gardens a short time before. Cluventius's subsequent doubts about the official inquiry's effectiveness lead him to hire Flavia to find the murderer, who she learns has been preying on women in the gardens for years. The author's trademark dry wit leavens the gruesomeness of the central plot. Davis convincingly sets a hunt for a serial killer in ancient Rome." I truly loved Davis' Marcus Didius Falco series to which the last two sentences clearly apply.
Just 4 left of our June Historical Fiction Book of the Month
England, 1930. Grieving widows are a familiar sight on Londo
n's Necropolis Railway. So when an elegant young woman in a black  veil boards the funeral train, nobody guesses her true purpose. But Rachel Savernake is not one of the mourners. She hopes to save a life - the life of a man who is supposed to be cold in the grave. But then a suspicious death on the railway track spurs her on to investigate a sequence of baffling mysteries: a death in a blazing car; a killing in a seaside bungalow; a tragic drowning in a lake. Rachel believes that the cases are connected - but what possible link can there be? Rich, ruthless and obsessed with her own dark notions of justice, she will not rest until she has discovered the truth. To find the answers to her questions she joins a house party on the eerie and remote North Yorkshire coast at Mortmain Hall.
The Wall Street Journal's Tom Nolan reviews
"Alan Parks' third tough thriller featuring Glasgow police detective Harry McCoy, takes place (for the most part) in the summer of 1973. The city is sweltering through an oppressive heat wave, and detective McCoy is incensed by workplace  conditions. With his boss on leave, McCoy is being persecuted by the man in temporary charge: a vindictive rival who makes sure that McCoy is shut out of the frantic search for a kidnapped 13-year-old girl. Instead, he's sent to investigate the drug-overdose death of the titular Bobby March, a faded rock star. He's also put (off the record) on the hunt for his regular boss's wandering teenage niece. Mr. Parks, who has worked in the music industry, sprinkles his swift narrative with realistic glimpses of the early-'70s pop scene; and his cast of well-drawn characters, from upper-crusters to low-lifers, makes up a lively repertory company. McCoy himself, with his personal vices and criminal contacts, is hardly your run-of-the-mill, cop-shop hero; at one point, even he wonders if he's lost some vital part of his humanity..."
Taylor, Andrew. The Last Protector (Collins $34.99). I've been a Taylor fan for decades. While he has written all sorts of books, historical fiction is mostly where he works. I quote a British reader:
"James Marwood is occasionally required to act as a spy for the King. His master, Joseph Williamson, the Under Secretary of State to Lord Arlington, and Lord Arlington are desperate to find  evidence (ie, manufacture it) against the Duke of Buckingham and send James to spy on a duel between Buckingham and Lord Shrewsbury, It leaves one man dead and Lord Shrewsbury seriously injured. Our heroine, Cat Hakesby, is married to an elderly architect and seems to be prospering when she runs across an old acquaintance, Elizabeth Cromwell, a meeting which turns out to be anything but coincidental. Drawn against her will into intrigue involving her husband, Buckingham, and the Cromwells, Cat's world collides with James'. Based on certain historical facts Andrew Taylor has woven a gripping tale of plots, favors and the sheer wretchedness of life for women, servants, and the underclass. Learn about the Bawdy House riots, the half-life of the last Protector, the mazer-scourers, and how absolutely foul people can be to others."
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What Can You Do Today?
#ReadIndieForward
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- 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
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Looking for Good Reads?
For you?
For family and friends?
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We have long offered subscription
Books of the Month. So one way to discover something you will enjoy is to order one of the selections. Or just sign up for a club.
For years we've offered a
Mystery of the Month membership. You fill out a profile and we pick the book to send to you. Or
enroll someone in MOM, book to them, charge to you.
This would be an excellent time to order a Book Care Package  to ship to a family member or friend.
One way to do this would be to go to our WebStore, select books and enter the billing information and the shipping addresses.
OR call us at
888-560-9919 or email
[email protected] and let us pick out the books for you.
The Book Care Packages will ship free through April.
OR buy a Poisoned Pen Gift Card for a family member or a friend. It's a thoughtful gift, and books never spoil on the shelf.
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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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We Don't Want to Lose You!
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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.
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Buy Poisoned Pen Gift Cards Online
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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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