In This Issue What's New... Where Are Our Authors... Join Our List Issue:  November, 2008 I know the holiday shopping season doesn't officially start until after Thanksgiving, but I've never been one to wait to shop.  I have a store of holiday and birthday gifts stashed in my closet, including some great Poisoned Pen Press titles which are sure to make their recipients very happy. What's New... Besides the presidential election? I personally can't stop following the race.  But sometimes I need a break-or at least my brain does.  In those moments, I often turn to some of the great new Poisoned Pen Press mysteries. Blacklight Blue  by Peter May. Enzo MacLeod, a Scot teaching on a faculty at Cahors in southwest France, confidently bet that he could use his expertise to crack seven notorious murders described in a book on cold cases by Parisian journalist Roger Raffin. Enzo has in fact solved the first two crimes. But the third is far from his mind right now: he's just been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and he's become the victim of someone who seems intent on destroying his credit and his relationships-and getting him arrested for murder. This is one instance where his Scottish stubbornness might pay off. Having established a safe house to protect his loved ones, besieged now as it were, he sets to work. Are his personal woes somehow connected to the digging he's done into the brutal murder of a rent boy in a Paris apartment sixteen years ago, as Raffin has described? What further remnants of evidence can he review-and can he stay alive long enough to catch the long-hidden killer? This is the third installment in the Enzo MacLeod series, and according to Kirkus Reviews is "a cerebral, chilling tale bound to burnish May's reputation."  (Hardcover, $24.95)   Face of a Killer  by Robin Burcell. In a starred review, Library Journal called this new novel from acclaimed writer Robin Burcell "a terrific new police procedural series." FBI forensic artist Sydney Fitzpatrick questions the guilt of the man about to be executed for her father's murder twenty years earlier.  Now one of her forensic sketches, an old photo, and a rambling suicide note lead to a possible trail of corruption by top US officials, and a meticulous and deadly cover-up by the military and the NSA.   The more Special Agent Fitzpatrick digs into her father's past, the more she finds it riddled with dark secrets and truths, including the fact that her father's distinguished military career was anything but stellar or even routine.   And though she wants nothing more than to learn what really happened to her father, she soon discovers the government will go to any length to protect the secrets it doesn't want revealed, even if it means executing an innocent man on death row-or killing an FBI agent who gets too close to the truth. ($24.95, Hardcover) And don't miss our paperback titles... The Critic, by Peter May. Some people would have killed to be as influential as world renowned wine critic Gil Petty. The problem is, somebody did. Now forensic expert Enzo MacLeod is back to crack this well-chilled case. Four years ago, Petty's body was found strung up like a scarecrow in a French vineyard. Before his death, Petty wielded a great power over the vintners' world: a good review spelled success, a bad one spelled ruin. Now Enzo must face a greedy, envious, and desperate society of winemakers who will do anything to protect their secrets...even if it means killing again. Kirkus Reviews  called The Critic "Another oenophile's tip sheet with the bonus of a finely crafted and surprising mystery." ($14.95. paperback) Cactus Heart, by Jon Talton. It is December of 1999. And David Mapstone, "the kind of modern hero many readers dream of: intellectual but physical, tough but sensitive" is chasing a robber into an abandoned warehouse (Publishers Weekly). But, he doesn't just catch a criminal in the warehouse-he discovers a Depression-era crime.When a cattle baron's grandsons disappeared more than 60 years ago, the police were quick to investigate and execute the offender. But Mapstone discovers that this case is far from over. When another of the cattle baron's heirs turns up dead, Mapstone begins to fear for his own life.($14.95, paperback) Where Are Our Authors...  Donis Casey Nov 8, Grand Opening of Queen Creek Library, 10:00 a.m.- 2:00p.m. Queen Creek, AZ . Nov 16,"Authors and Auction", Four Points by Sheraton Hotel, 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m., Tempe, AZ Mark de Castrique Nov 17, Morrison Library, 7:00 pm, Charlotte, NC Vicki Delany Nov. 8, Chapters, 12 - 4PM, Belleville, Ontario Nov. 15, Chapters, 11 - 2PM , Kingston, Ontario Nov 16, Indigo, 12 - 2PM, Kingston, Ontario J.M. Hayes Nov 16, Authors & Auction, Sheraton Four Points, 3 pm - 5pm, 1333 S. Rural Rd., Tempe, AZ. http://authorsandauction.com/ Larry Karp Nov 1, Seattle Mystery Bookshop, 12 Noon, Seattle, WA (Debut signing, dated copies) Nov 9, Village Books, 4:00pm, Bellingham, WA Nov 10, Third Place Books, 7:00pm, Mountlake Terrace, WA Nov 12, Velma Teague Library, 1:00 pm. Glendale, AZ. Nov 12, Poisoned Pen Bookstore, 7:00pm, Scottsdale, AZ Nov 13, Mysterious Galaxy, 7:00 pm, San Diego, CA Nov 15, The Mystery Bookstore, 3:00pm. Los Angeles, CA Nov 16, Book'Em Mysteries, 2:00 pm. South Pasadena, CA Nov 19, M Is For Mystery, 12 Noon, San Mateo, CA| Nov 21 through Nov 23.  West Coast Ragtime Festival, Sacramento, CA. Ann Littlewood     Nov 18, Workstock, noon-1:00, Portland, OR. Nov 22, Audubon Wild Arts Festival, noon-4:00, Portland,OR. Tim Maleeny Nov. 1, Men Of Mystery, 9AM-4PM, Marriott Hotel, Irvine, CA Nov. 8, Murder & Mayhem in Muskego, 9AM-5PM, Muskego Public Library, Wisconsin Beverle Graves Myers Nov 15, Kentucky Book Fair, 9:00 AM-4:00 PM, Frankfort, KY Frederick Ramsay Nov 1, Men of Mystery Conference, Irvine MarriottHotel, 9:00am to 4:00 pm, Irvine, CA Nov 16, Authors & Auction, Sheraton Four Points, 3 pm - 5pm, 1333 S. Rural Rd., Tempe, AZ. http://authorsandauction.com/ Betty Webb Nov 1, Phoenix Zoo's "Zootique", 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Phoenix, AZ Nov 5, Poisoned Pen, 7 p.m., Scottsdale, AZ Nov 8, Queen Creek Library, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Queen Creek, AZ Nov. 11, Changing Hands' "Big Read" discussion, 7 p.m., Tempe, AZ Nov. 16, R.I.S.K., Scottsdale Methodist Church, 2 p.m., Scottsdale, AZ Nov. 23-24, Scottsdale Art Fest, 10 a.m. -- 2 p.m., Scottsdale, AZ Nov. 30, Clues Unlimited, 1 p.m., Tucson, AZ   Sincerely,   Jessica Tribble Poisoned Pen Press