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Hello,
I wrote last Enews that the magic of the bookstore is discovery.
In addition to our reviews and curated selections (Picks), an avenue broadening with technology lies in our bringing more authors to you. You can view them, listen to them, and if you attend the "live" events, query them.
Here are five authors, clockwise from upper left:
David Bell, Heather Gudenkauf, Meg Gardiner, Nina Laurin, JT Ellison, talking about their books and craft last Thursday with Patrick and me. Think of it as a mini-conference. Nina lives in Canada, the others are scattered around the US. We are embracing this opportunity to connect authors with you in new ways.
Lesa does a wonderful job of discovery and recommendation in our Blog bringing in lots of authors for more discovery and recommendations.
And you can find Staff Picks and more in our
Webstore
We do rely on your purchases to fund this range of activities. But we think of them as a service to authors too, something to share and expand
.
It's a huge help to Sign Up
family and friends to our Enews. It's free, and adds no daily clutter to your In Box. It will also help expand coverage if you sign up for our You Tube.
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 and more....
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The June BookNotes
plus Booknews
and June Staff and Paperback Picks
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John has curated a very large and delightful list of books for you.
You can learn a lot about us by checking our Picks. Maybe select a staff member whose taste aligns with your own
I also list the
June Books of the Month below. They also appear on our
home page
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More New Podcasts
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There are even more new podcasts up. We can see you are enjoying them. Lots of conversations here!
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 are also available on ITunes and Google Music
New: Michael Elias, famed scriptwriter and relatively new novelist. Be sure to search for earlier conversations
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Shopping with Us
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With infections on the rise in Arizona, we are closed to browsing in the store for now.
But eager to connect with you via phone and curbside pickup
Call us 480-947-2974 for sales and for service
Monday-Friday 11:00-3:00 Saturday 11:00-5:00 Sunday 1:00-4:00
For the best customer service other than curbside pickup please continue to email [email protected]
We will update you on reopening the store for shopping after the Fourth Weekend.
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Diana Gabaldon
Theresa Carle-Sanders
Cooking and Conversation
Saturday 2:00 PM
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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 recipe card for a delicious treat
Sink your teeth into over 100 new easy-to-prepare recipes inspired by Diana Gabaldon's beloved Outlander and Lord John Grey series, as well as the hit Starz original show--in the second official cookbook from Outlander Kitchen founder Theresa Carle-Sanders!
"If you thought Scottish cuisine was all porridge and haggis washed down with a good swally of whiskey,
Outlander Kitchen's here to prove you wrong."--
Entertainment Weekly
This is a big event. Click here for a full description
The Pen's secret chef has prepared a chocolate dessert to go with Lord John's Lunchbox. Don't you wish you could be in the store to taste both?
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Megan Miranda
Riley Sager
Monday 5:00 PM (8 ET)
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Signed copies of both books are in stock and waiting for you!
The hospital administrator who now calls herself Olivia Meyer has put as much distance as possible between her and the drama  that riveted the country two decades earlier when, as sleepwalking six-year-old Arden Maynor, she was swept away during a storm into the drain pipes of her hometown of Widow Hills, Kentucky. The only trace of her, a small shoe, until she is miraculously rescued three days later before a storm would surely have killed her. There was a charitable outpouring of funds as well as fame for her and her single mother.
Olivia has never been able to remember much of her ordeal, but she hates the notoriety and grows distant from her mother. As an adult, Liv restarts her life in Central Valley, NC, with a job she loves. But she's traumatized still and one night out sleepwalking, she stumbles over a dead body. As Liv tries to keep Detective Nina Rigby at bay while she investigates further herself, a succession of suspects emerges....
Interior designer Maggie Holt is shocked to learn after the death of her father, Ewan, that he has left Baneberry Hall, near Bartleby, Vermont, to her. She hadn't realized that Ewan still owned the spooky mansion that Maggie, Ewan, and her mother moved into 25 years earlier. Maggie's parents were able to buy the house cheaply, because of a recent tragedy there-the prior owner smothered his six-year-old daughter with a pillow before killing himself.
The Holt family had their own traumatic episodes in Baneberry  Hall, including Maggie's visions of a ghostly figure, which led to their fleeing into the night just 20 days after they moved in. Ewan, financially struggling, wrote a bestseller about the experience which made pots of money. And then he and Maggie's mother split. Maggie, who still suffers from night terrors, decides to move into Baneberry Hall to get a better understanding of what happened to her. The big question: how much of Ewan's book was true?
In this modern Gothic, "Sager, who makes the house a palpable, threatening presence, does a superb job of anticipating and undermining readers' expectations. Haunted house fans will be in heaven."
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Jill Clark with
Liv Constantine
Tuesday 2:00 PM (5 ET)
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Here is one of the Starred Reviews for our July First Mystery Book of the Month: Some extra Signed copies are available
"In this outstanding thriller, New York socialite Clair Cook, who  has a plan to run away from her emotionally and physically abusive husband, and Eva James, a woman heading home to Berkeley, Calif., who says she's mourning her late husband, meet by chance at an airport bar at JFK before their flights. Claire tells Eva that she would do anything not to go to Puerto Rico, where her husband is expecting her. Eva agrees to fly to Puerto Rico in Claire's place, and the two swap e-tickets and phones. On arrival at Oakland's airport, Claire learns that the Puerto Rico flight has crashed, killing everyone aboard.
Though she's devastated that Eva has died in the crash, Claire takes the opportunity to assume the life Eva left behind only to discover that Eva was not who she said she was and was fleeing her own dangerous past.
The moral dilemmas that the multifaceted, realistic characters face in their quest for survival lend weight to this pulse-pounding tale of suspense." Recommend to you who enjoyed The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine and The Passenger by Lisa Lutz.
And not by chance Liv Constantine will host Clark's June 30th Virtual Event. Her new psychological thriller is
The Wife Stalker
($27.99)
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Global Connections
Ragnar Jonasson (Iceland)
Jeffery Siger
(Greece)
Timothy Hallinan
(Bangkok)
Wednesday 1:00 PM
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Hallinan, Tim.
(Soho $26.95)
Signed copies available, please order quickly to avoid disappointment
Hallinan's ninth and final "Poke Rafferty" novel has Bangkok-based American journalist Poke, his Thai wife, Rose, and their  adopted daughter, Miaow, adjusting to a new family member. Rose has just given birth to a son, and Poke's life is in disarray. He's been known for getting into some scrapes and doing a little detective work on the side, but now he faces the responsibilities of being a father and protecting his family. When his good friend vanishes, he tries to locate him and ends up running into his adopted daughter's birth mother. When she is murdered, Poke is a suspect, but then he tries to solve her murder. This slow-paced, noir-style mystery can be read as a stand-alone, but newcomers will have a richer experience having read the previous books. Raw and atmospheric, this is a solid finale to the series.
"Anyone who has enjoyed a Poke Rafferty novel over the years knows that family life is at the very heart of Hallinan's work and the complex dynamics between Poke, Rose, and Miaow are the true, beautiful mystery at work . . . [in] the typically dizzying, satisfying mixture from Hallinan, whose novels are reliably nuanced and compelling." - -CrimeReads
Jónasson, Ragnar.
The Mist (St Martins $27.99).
Isolation and despair undo the characters in Jónasson's exceptional third and final novel featuring Reykjavík DI Hulda Hermannsdóttir. In February 1988, Hulda, who has returned to work after time off to deal with an unidentified personal issue, is still struggling to get through the day and perform any meaningful work. She's forced into action by her boss when multiple corpses are found on a farm, with indications that the bodies have been there since around Christmas.
 Flash back to a snowy day in December 1987. Einar and Erla Einarsson, who live on a remote farm, answer a knock on the door to an unexpected visitor, who introduces himself as Leó. The couple offer Leó shelter for the night, but Erla becomes suspicious of their guest's account of how he arrived at their home. Jónasson ratchets up the nail-biting tension gradually, alternating the developments at the farm along with the events in Hulda's life that led to her traumatic stupor.
"For fans of dark crime fiction that doesn't pull punches. Know that not everyone emerges alive, and this scenario will trouble Hulda for the rest of her career. Iceland's premier crime writer wraps up the "Hidden Iceland" series with this final chapter." I add that anyone feeling isolated at home will realize there are far worse scenarios out there.
The case begins for Athens' Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis with a literal bang when a corrupt former police colonel who runs a protection racket on Mykonos is gunned down. Suddenly, Kaldis  is face-to-face with Greece's top crime bosses on an island whose natural beauty and reputation as an international playground belies the corruption lurking just beneath the surface. While Kaldis and his Special Crimes unit wrestle for answers, his wife, Lila, meets an American expat named Toni, a finder of stolen goods and a piano player in a gender-bending bar who has a zest for life and no apparent regard for rules.
As Lila and Toni bond over a common desire to mentor young island girls trapped in an exploitative and patriarchal culture, they soon find that their efforts intersect with Kaldis' investigation in ways that prove to be dangerous for all involved... (Previously published as The Mykonos Mob)
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Travel to the 19th Century
Nicholas Basbanes
Wednesday 4:00 PM
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WEDNESDAY JULY 1 4:00 PM
Nicholas Basbanes
discusses his biography of poet William Wadsworth Longfellow,
Cross of Snow
(Knopf $37.50)
The author includes a slide show with his discussion.
Basbanes is a leading bibliophile whose earlier works on book collecting you may know. Questions on collecting as well as on Longfellow welcome on FB Live
Signed bookplates come with our copies
Among the many laudatory reviews of this major literary biography is this Starred one from Kirkus:
For many Americans, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)  is fondly associated with "Paul Revere's Ride," the "most memorized poem in American history." In this comprehensive, affectionate, and astute biography, the first in many years, Basbanes provides a valuable reassessment of the once-beloved poet who fell from grace in the literary establishment just years after his death. For Basbanes, Longfellow was "discreet, loyal, and principled to a fault." Drawing on previously unexplored primary source material, he focuses as much on the private man-especially the influential roles Longfellow's two beloved wives, Mary and Fanny, had on his work-as he does on the public one.
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ThrillerFest 2020
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Check out the International Thriller Writers fabulous virtual
THRILLERFEST with loads of author pairing up for conversation, writing advice, and much more.
It might be your best investment of the summer.
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Grab These for the Weekend
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You Agatha Christie fans, maybe John Dickson Carr too, should grab this double volume. The two novels are a kind of cross between a country house and a locked room murder. The style is a bit ornate for modern taste but wow, you have to appreciate both  Bude's fabulous vocabulary and the way he names things so specifically. In today's vocabulary I'd say he's using "granular details' or he's "drilling down." He wrote these during WWII in a lighthearted manner to entertain people under stress so what could be better reading at the moment? In the first we have a group of theater people gathered at the owner/financier's estate and the unusual murder of a stage designer. In the second, a rich painter who is the village vamp is found in her studio, an apparent suicide. The Introduction by the British Library Crime Classics editor Martin Edwards is well worth reading and illuminates his choice of these two works by Bude. Yay.
Recent MBA grad Bronwyn Crewse has just taken over her  family's ice cream shop in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and she's going back to basics. Win is renovating Crewse Creamery to restore its former glory, and filling the menu with delicious, homemade ice cream flavors-many from her grandmother's original recipes. But unexpected construction delays mean she misses the summer season, and the shop has a literal cold opening: the day she opens her doors an early first snow descends on the village and keeps the customers away.
"Jo Nesbø has ripped the throat out of the serial-killer genre. He's exsanguinated it, soaking up every dark pleasure and wringing  them out onto the page. There's no need to ever read another one, Nesbø has so completely deconstructed the trope with a multi-dimensional novel that blurs lines among crime, psychological procedural and, yes, horror thrillers... [Hole] survives in a literary landscape dreamt up by Stephen King or Edgar Allen Poe... Nesbø shows his true mastery with plots evocative of James Ellroy and Lee Child with crime layered upon crime." -Robert Anglen, Arizona Republic
It's Gamache's first day back as head of the homicide department, a job he temporarily shares with his previous second-  in-command, Jean-Guy Beauvoir. Flood waters are rising across the province. In the middle of the turmoil a father approaches Gamache, pleading for help in finding his daughter. As crisis piles upon crisis, Gamache tries to hold off the encroaching chaos, and realizes the search for Vivienne Godin should be abandoned. But with a daughter of his own, he finds himself developing a profound, and perhaps unwise, empathy for her distraught father. Increasingly hounded by the question, how would you feel?, he resumes the search. As the rivers rise, and the social media onslaught against Gamache becomes crueler, a body is discovered. And in the tumult, mistakes are made.
There will be a new Gamache on September 1, All the Devils Are Here (St Martins $28.99), but as Penny lives in Canada there will be no US book tour or Signed copies
I was going to write this up and then the NY Times said it better although it doesn't underline this is a true thriller!
"The Lion's Den is classic escapist reading, in every sense of the word. On the one hand, the story whisks pasty, vitamin D-deprived readers onto a luxury yacht cruising the French Riviera. We stow away with Belle, an aspiring actress and gimlet-eyed observer, and a gaggle of pals eager to bask in the wealth of their frenemy's much older billionaire boyfriend. There is limoncello. There are breathtaking views and onboard pedicures. On the other hand, there are also bodyguards, surveillance cameras and cabin doors that lock from the outside.
Turns out, this is not your average pleasure cruise. Something fishy is happening - and it's not just the toxic dynamic of the  women along for the ride. Subtlety is not St. John's strong point. She lays a trail of Wonder Bread-size bread crumbs from Belle's complicated childhood in Georgia to the marina where she meets her fellow travelers. But the journey is as entertaining as it is obvious. St. John wraps a fun yarn around a sinister mystery complete with confiscated passports, drugs slipped into drinks and - my personal worst nightmare - tightly controlled meals and sightseeing itineraries. Toss in a dysfunctional family dynamic (the host has her sister and mother in tow) and you're off to the regatta. After all, a vacation gone wrong is great fun, as long as you're not on it."
And, I add, it takes you to the Riviera where it's unlikely you will get to go this summer.
When he's not carrying out heists with his friend Parker, Alan Grofield runs a small theater in Indiana. But putting on shows  costs money and jobs have been thin lately-which is why Grofield agreed to fly to Las Vegas to hear Andrew Myers' plan to knock over a brewery in upstate New York. Unfortunately, Myers' plan is insane-so Grofield walks out on him. But Myers isn't a man you walk out on.... The great Donald E. Westlake, working under his dark pseudonym "Richard Stark" (whose first name inspired "Richard Aleas" and whose last name inspired Stephen King's "George Stark" in The Dark Half), tells the story of a heist plan gone wrong and the price paid by one of Parker's trusted associates.
While many
Hard Case Crime Series
books are out of stock for now, you can search for more and order those we have. The pulp covers are terrific and some of the works by writers like Block and Westlake will surprise you.
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Our July Calendar
New virtuals added nearly every day so please keep checking
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WEDNESDAY JULY 1 2:00 PM A Date with International Crime
Tim Hallinan
discusses his final Poke Rafferty Bangkok thriller
Signed books available
Ragnar Jonasson
discusses The Mist (St Martins $27.99)
WEDNESDAY JULY 1 4:00 PM
Nicholas Basbanes
discusses his biography of Longfellow,
The author includes a slide show with his discussion. Basbanes is a leading bibliophile whose earlier works on book collecting you may know. Questions welcome on FB Live
Signed bookplates come with our copies
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
FRIDAY JULY 3 4:00 PM Meet New Authors
A trio of notable debut novels
Edward A. Farmer
discusses
Pale (Blackstone $26.99)
Our July Fantastic New Fiction Book of the Month
MONDAY JULY 6 6:00 PM Virtual Book Launch
Linda Castillo signs
Outsider (St Martins $27.99_
Signed books available. Please order quickly to secure yours
TUESDAY JULY 7 4:00 PM 
Signed books available
WEDNESDAY JULY 8 4:00 PM
Beatriz Williams
chats about Her Last Flight (Harper $27.99), a thriller drawing inspiration from the life of Amelia Earhart
Signed books available
WEDNESDAY JULY 8 6:00 PM 
David Rosenfelt
chats about Muzzled (St Martins $27.99), an Andy Carpenter thriller
Signed books available
TUESDAY JULY 14 4:30 (7:30 ET) Virtual Book Launch
Please join The Poisoned Pen in partnership with Harper to celebrate the launch of The Order (Harper $29.99) with Daniel Silva and CNN Special Correspondent Jamie Gangel in a conversation!
 To join us, please purchase a copy of
The Order
(Harper $29.99).
Signed copies while they last, one per customer. Additional unsigned copies are available.
Once you make your purchase you will receive the confirmation for your purchase which will include a link and password to register for this special event on Crowdcast.
TUESDAY JULY 14 6:00 PM
Signed books available for all three
WEDNESDAY JULY 15 6:00 0PM
Each of our copies includes a Quinn Colson bumper sticker from Atkins
Signed books available for both
THURSDAY JULY 16 6:00 PM
Signed books available
MONDAY JULY 20 4:00 PM
Australian Author Anna Downes
discusses The Safe Place
(St Martins $26.99)
MONDAY JULY 20 6:00 PM Virtual Book Launch
Books signed by Brad for us available but order soon before we sell out
TUESDAY JULY 21 6:00 PM
Harry Dresden
Signed books available
WEDNESDAY JULY 22 6:00 PM
Signed books available
THURSDAY JULY 23 6:00 PM
SATURDAY JULY 25 2:00 PM Cozy Fun
MONDAY JULY 27 6:00 PM
Signed books available.
TUESDAY JULY 28 5:00 PM
Signed book available
TUESDAY JULY 28 6:00 PM Virtual Book Launch
Signed books available
WEDNESDAY JULY 29 11:00 AM
UK authors Alice Feeney
discusses His & Hers (Flatiron $27.99)
Our July British Crime Club Book of the Month
THURSDAY JULY 30 5:00 PM Virtual Book Launch
Signed books available
THURSDAY JULY 30 6:00 PM
Nicholas Griffin in conversation with John Sandford
about Griffin's
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Our June Books of the Month
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NOTE: We will do a special Enews about a new design for the Books of the Month
You can enroll Dad in a club starting in July. What a great monthly gift. And we are adding two clubs: The International Book of the Month (unsigned) and The SciFi/Fantasy Book of the Month (not all signed).
Note: going forward with July joining a club means your book will ship separately from any other orders, and Free.
OUR JUNE BOOKS OF THE MONTH
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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 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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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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